The Road Home by Richard Paul Evans – an #Audiobook Review

Rosepoint Publishing:  Five of Five Stars

Title: The Road Home: The Broken Road Series by Richard Paul Evans

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Religious and Inspirational Fiction

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

• ASIN:B07L3CCDBC

Listening Length: 5 hrs., 52 mins.

Release Date: May 7, 2019

Source: On Loan from Local library

Title Link: The Road Home

Book Blurb:

From number-one New York Times best-selling author Richard Paul Evans, the dramatic conclusion in the riveting Broken Road trilogy – a powerful redemption story about finding happiness on a pilgrimage across iconic Route 66.

Chicago celebrity and pitchman Charles James is supposed to be dead. Everyone believes he was killed in a fiery plane crash, a flight he narrowly missed. But thanks to that remarkable twist of fate, he’s very much alive and ready for a second chance at life and love. Escaping death has brought Charles some clarity: the money, the fame, the expensive cars; none of it brought him true joy or peace. The last time he was truly happy was when he was married to his ex-wife, Monica, before their relationship was destroyed by his ambition and greed, which involved bilking people out of thousands of dollars through pyramid schemes.

In the exciting and provocative series that began with The Broken Road and The Forgotten Road, Charles is still on his pilgrimage across the iconic Route 66 in The Road Home. He intends to finish his trek from Amarillo to Santa Monica, despite learning his ex-wife is now engaged. With the initial reason for his trip in jeopardy, he still has lessons to learn along the way before he discovers – and arrives at – his true destination.

My Review:

Oh my stars, such a beautifully written novel, read by the author! He knows how to inject the right amount of emotion where it is needed and uses an understated technique that grabs your interest and won’t shake loose.

I’m such a fan of audiobooks!

They bring a whole new dimension to a narrative you don’t get when reading. Better than a movie, conjures the verbal picture in your mind as did the old radio shows–hanging on to each word.

Charles James is an extremely wealthy celebrity, gaining his money through all the wrong channels. He escaped death by misplacing his briefcase/laptop and going back to retrieve it, discovers the plane had left the gate and departed. It crashed, killing everyone on board. He’s reported dead.

But it’s the proverbial second chance, isn’t it!–handed to him on a platter. What is he going to do with it? Lacking joy or peace, the money can’t give him the relationship he had with his ex-wife or the true friends he’d lost climbing the ladder. He has decided to go on a pilgrimage to find his ex-wife and himself in the process by walking Route 66.

Route 66? Are you nuts? That’s 2,500 miles through some of the most brutal landscape in America which originally ran through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona established in 1926. It is a trip from Chicago (where Charles James begins his journey) to Santa Monica. Through part of America’s heartland, endless miles of corn and wheat fields to the extreme temperatures and hostile environment of the Mojave Desert. Eventually by-passed by the interstate highway system, Route 66 became “Historic Route 66” and gradually began fading into obscurity.

The short chapters are headed with interesting sayings, many worth saving. This final series entry begins in Texas and proceeds west through the last three states of the route, finding interesting characters along the way, towns almost forgotten, ghost towns, and long stretches of miles with no services at all. The descriptions are nostalgic, the lessons provide an ah ha! moment you can use in your own life.

The conclusion draws a pleasant picture of rewarding those who gave of themselves along his journey with no expectation of reward and the eventual meeting of his ex. Does it provide his “happily ever after?” You’ll have to read or listen for yourself. (And I recommend you do so!)

This charming literary fiction novel, the third in the series, is engaging, often emotional, but totally worth investing in the time to listen, share, or buy and read. (I will be searching for the first two!) This one, however, was cleverly integrated so that it functioned well as a standalone and provided one of those “feel good” books you don’t want to end. You may also want to check out the first two in the series:

I received my download copy from the library. You may find a copy in your own library, and I recommend as a must read (or listen). Trust me.

The Author: Richard Paul Evans
When Richard Paul Evans wrote the #1 best-seller, The Christmas Box, he never intended on becoming an internationally known author.

Officially, he was an advertising executive, an award-winning clay animator for the American and Japanese markets, candidate for state legislature and most importantly, husband and father. The Christmas Box was written as an expression of love for his (then) two daughters. Though he often told them how much he loved them, he wanted to express his love in a way that would be timeless. In 1993, Evans reproduced 20 copies of the final story and gave them to his closest relatives and friends as Christmas presents. In the month following, those 20 copies were passed around more than 160 times, and soon word spread so widely that bookstores began calling his home with orders for it.

His quiet story of parental love and the true meaning of Christmas made history when it became simultaneously the #1 hardcover and paperback book in the nation. Since then, more than eight million copies of The Christmas Box have been printed. The Emmy award-winning CBS television movie based on The Christmas Box starred Maureen O’Hara and Richard Thomas. Two more of Evans’s books were produced by Hallmark and starred such well-known actors as James Earl Jones, Vanessa Redgrave, Naomi Watts, Mary McDonough and Academy award winner Ellen Burstyn. He has since written 10 consecutive New York Times bestsellers and is one of the few authors in history to have hit both the fiction and non-fiction bestseller lists. He has won three awards for his children’s books including the 1998 American Mothers book award and two first place Storytelling World awards. Evans’s latest book, The 5 Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth, is now available.

Of his success, Evans says: “The material achievements of The Christmas Box will never convey its true success, the lives it has changed, the families brought closer together, the mothers and fathers who suddenly understand the pricelessness of their children’s fleeting childhood. I share the message of this book with you in hopes that in some way, you might be, as I was, enlightened.”

During the Spring of 1997, Evans founded The Christmas Box House International, an organization devoted to building shelters and providing services for abused and neglected children. Such shelters are operational in Moab, Vernal, Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah and Lucre, Peru. To date, more than 16,000 children have been housed in Christmas Box House facilities.

As an acclaimed speaker, Evans has shared the podium with such notable personalities as President George W. Bush, President George and Barbara Bush, former British Prime Minister John Majors, Ron Howard, Elizabeth Dole, Deepak Chopra, Steve Allen, and Bob Hope. Evans has been featured on the Today show and Entertainment Tonight, as well as in Time, Newsweek, People, The New York Times, Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, USA Today, TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, and Family Circle. Evans lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife, Keri, and their five children.

©2019 V Williams

Attributes: Audiobook graphic – Findaway Voices

Map of Route 66 – KissPNG

Pics Route 66 – Wikipedia