When Stars Rain Down is a well-written portrayal of life and race relations in rural Georgia in the mid 1930s. The plot moves at a fitting pace, and the characters are well-developed and unique. The first person narrative allows for deep insight into the main character’s thoughts and feelings. The author paints vivid pictures of the setting with her words, and her expressive prose evokes a myriad of emotions. I appreciated the faith element which flows genuinely throughout the story. I really like this author’s style, but the actual story was just so-so for me.
I received a copy of this book in e-book form from the publisher via netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Review also published on blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

Beautiful. Emotional. Expressive. Heart-wrenching.

Opal Pruitt is Seventeen, soon to be Eighteen in the Summer of 1936. On the cusp of adulthood, Opal has never kept company or been the victim of violence, but she’s about to experience both.

Living in a neighborhood called “Colored Town” in Parsons, Georgia, racism, and segregation run rampant. No one is safe from the KKK, not even kind, hard-working, well-respected families who keep to themselves.

Opal and her Granny keep house for Miss Peggy, who treats them like family or close to. The work makes Opal and her granny proud and provides a stable income to boot. For Opal, having the love and support of her granny and the rest of her family is almost enough. The only other thing she wants is to marry a good honest man. Though her granny isn’t quite ready for Opal to do so, she begins keeping company with a young man from Colored Town who has big dreams and a huge heart.

When tragedy strikes, everything is torn asunder. Families, friendships, and relationships are destroyed.

Teardrops fell.

Truth is, big, fat tears, rolled steadily down this girl’s cheeks.

What can I say? My love for “When Stars Rain Down” by Angela Jackson-Brown knows no bounds. The writing, the characters, and the storyline gripped me from the first sentence and didn’t let go till the last. My heart still aches for the characters in this novel and I think it will for a while.

The writing here is lovely, lyrical, and poetic. “When Stars Rain Down” broke my heart and yet, I loved it desperately. It will most assuredly appear on my Goodreads best-of-list for 2021. For me, the character development is the backbone of this story as I adored the characters of Granny and Opal. Though this novel contains a difficult subject matter, it is brilliantly done and I highly recommend this powerhouse of a novel to lovers of character-driven literary fiction and historical fiction.

Thank you to Netgalley, Thomas Nelson, and Angela Jackson-Brown for the arc.

Published on Goodreads on 2.1.21.

Opal is an almost 18 year old lady who lives in Georgia in 1936. She and her granny work for Miss Peggy. A terrible storm is coming to Opal and her family.

I loved the characters of Opal and Granny. Granny had so much faith and live for those around her. She kept a cool head even during times that were beyond imaginable. Opal experienced such awful things and yet she kept going each day and did everything she could to be there for her family.

I did not care for the character of Lovenia. I didn't see how that fit in with the story.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

This is a sad story, but one full of truth. So many books are being written right now (especially by white writers) about Black characters in the immediate pre- and post-Civil Rights era in the South that end with what white writers think is triumph and uplift: Black women going to college, or joining the movement and bringing about serious material or social change to their communities, or marrying into white families, or being accepted by white society. But not every Black woman wanted those things: Opal, a young Black woman, wants the love of her family, to marry a good man, and to feel safe. She works alongside her grandmother as a cleaner for a white family. While this particular family is "good," some of their relatives are members of the KKK, intent on terrorizing the small Black community to which Opal and her grandmother belong. There is a Klan raid on their community, and later Opal is almost raped. Opal finds herself attracted to the white family's son and to the Black preacher's son; she has to rethink her Christianity a bit after coming into contact with the work of the local roots woman; and she has to grapple with how her employers view her. The end of the book is a little pat and neat, but the trauma and fear the author describes is harrowing, and real, and needs to be recognized.

When a book makes you cry so hard and long that your family comes running to see what’s happened, you know you’ve landed in the world of an unforgettable book. Angela Jackson-Brown took me on a beautiful, heartbreaking journey in When Stars Rain Down, and it’s one I won’t soon forget.

What I Loved:

• The author’s masterful depiction of 1930’s small town southern culture
• The main characters of Opal and Birdie. The character development here is outstanding, and I felt like I knew both of them as dear and treasured friends.
• It’s never easy to read about a time and place that was so tragic and appalling, but it’s also necessary because we must bear witness to the atrocities of history so that we may learn from them and play our parts to create a better world. This is an #ownvoices book that gets it right in every way.
• The ending was bittersweet yet realistic. There are no pretty bows to wrap up the Jim Crow south, but these characters chose to live in love and faith in spite of everything – and they inspired me deeply.
• The faith element in When Stars Rained is so authentic and profound that it’s truly believable and deeply-felt. If you struggle, as I sometimes do, with Christian fiction that can be affected or overly saccharine, then I hope you will give this remarkable book a chance. It is a truly amazing read and one that I will purchase for my personal collection after having read the advanced readers’ copy.

My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This will be in stores on April 13, and you’re going to want to grab your own copy.

This book takes place in parsons GA in 1937 and while slavery is no longer, the town is clearly segregated into the white and colored sections. The KKK is up and running and the fear and hate is clear and they get away with burning down a chicken coup and cause misery.
The main characters include Opal Pruitt and her granny Birdie with her 3 sons. The love of family and religious spirit is totally present.
It is opal’s 18th birthday and she is celebrating at a festival in the town. She is growing up and has feelings for two boys. One is white and opal works at his granny’s home. The other is black and she went to school with him. Both boys have their issues to deal with in the story.
The book ends in sadness with love of family, life and the spirit that guides us.
I would recommend this story because the strain between black and white is ever present 85 years later.
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.
Historical fiction

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The year is 1936, and though slavery is in the past, segregation and racism still run rampant. 17-year-old Opal finds herself in love with two different boys, both of whom come with their own set of challenges. At the same time, the KKK have made their way into Opal’s neighborhood, and the community is torn apart. A great piece of historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this book! I think the story has the ability to open a dialogue between different sets of people and help everyone understand the fear that people lived in when the KKK ran rampant through the states. I spent many summers and spring vacations in Georgia with my Grams and Auntie so I know the heat, but I also know the love in the South. It is a challenge for most people to try to think about a time when it was ok to just burn down someone’s chicken coup and receive no harsh punishment. The atrocities that Colored town had to endure are unimaginable but still so relevant today that it’s disheartening. I feel like I fall into the quote from the book, “One good white man by hisself can’t right all the wrongs in the world” but can’t I try? In today’s social media driven environment, it really only takes a small group of people to spur a change, but it takes a collective thought change from both sides to succeed. If I’m willing to do better and raise my children better, then the mistrust laid upon all white people should be lifted too. I felt that the characters that seemed to genuinely care for Opal and her family really did want the best for them and resented the horrible white men that were perpetrating such hate when it was not the collective thought of all white people. I think the family bond reaches all families, black white Asian or whatever, we all have our family to lean on and find support through. I found myself feeling like Opal and knowing that the book was going to come with sadness and I wasn’t wrong. By the last few chapters I was so invested in Granny and Opal that I needed the tissues. I cried, I laughed, I learned and I enjoyed every minute of the book. It was well written and used language common for the time and location. It definitely made me long for some sweet tea and Georgia peaches.

The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt can sense a nameless storm coming. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming eighteenth birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. This was a great book and thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

A powerful tale of race relations in Georgia in 1936. It was difficult to read some parts of how the African Americans were treated, but it is definitely a story that needed to be told. Still relevant today with the racial tensions in our country. I look forward to more from this new-to-me author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson and was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.

Angela Jackson-Brown gives you a reason to love historical fiction. When Stars Rain Down is a very good story set in Parsons, Georgia during the sweltering summer of 1936.!

Opal Pruitt has an upcoming 18th birthday and things begin to change in more ways than one. However, "as hard as she works in the home of the widow Miss Peggy, Opal enjoys having something to look forward to."

But of course, this is the Jim Crow South and Colored Town is moving right along while jealousy is always lurking in the shadows. The Ku Klux Klan has decided to wreak havoc shaking the residents in every way. In addition, Opal is attacked and for a time being doesn't remember who assaulted her.

In between the fear and anger, Opal is torn between two men-fighting feelings she's never experienced before. Can she navigate the journey into womanhood? Can she remain steadfast to her Granny's Christian values?

I really enjoyed this novel. Ms. Jackson-Brown did a great job allowing the reader to feel the characters, the small town, the sun, and the tension of segregation and inequality (in my head I was screaming Black Lives Matter). I also liked her juxtaposition of religion-traditional vs. African spirituality.

The author's writing style reminded me of J. California Cooper and Bernice McFadden. Thank you for the opportunity to preview your book and thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

I will post this review to my Goodreads and Instagram page upon publication on 4/13/2021.