My Name Is Sam … and Heaven Is Still Shining Through — the audio version — has been released for a couple of weeks and has already made a splash. However, I hadn’t had a chance to listen to the entire 4:31 reading by narrator Kristen Kopp until this weekend on a round trip from Maine to Massachusetts. I’ll tell you. I had listened to blurbs during the production process, but I was blown away at final project — and I knew the plot and storyline!

Readers have commented the book was like sitting down over a cup of coffee {some suggested a glass of wine} and talking with an old friend. That, of course, was the intent.

Listeners, I think, will be equally entertained, despite the occasional Canadian rendition of some words over Jersey speak. As the author I stitched the words, sentences, and scenes together. As the narrator Kristen brought them to life.

I can’t honestly review the audiobook. I might be a little biased. But in all honesty, this was the best audiobook I’ve listened to, based on one of  the best stories I’ve read in a long, long time. I  slowed down to squeeze in another on the road chapter. I laughed, thinking to myself, did I really write that? I choked back tears as Sam faced unexpected challenges and disappointments. I couldn’t stop the tears during some of the other somber scenes.

Those were the emotions that welled  up when I wrote the book. Those were the emotions every time I rewrote, edited, and read the manuscript. And those were emotions that surfaced as Kristen put a voice to Samantha’s journey.

While I don’t feel comfortable critiquing my own work, I welcome your thoughts. If you have Audible and an extra credit, I would be honored if you used it and posted a review — good or bad {I would prefer good, but I do have broad shoulders as long as the evaluation is  honest} If you don’t have Audible or an extra credit, send me a comment or e-mail me a request. I will supply a link for a download to the first five petitioners. You may be asked to sign up for an introductory free trial by Audible. The same review caveat applies.

I have to add, chances are you won’t like the book — in any version — if you are a squeaky clean, always living in the Light Christian. I never intended to preach to the choir. There are a few colloquialisms and off color comments sprinkled in the book. I haven’t counted them {it’s a subjective count} but I would say less than a baker’s dozen,and always appropriate for the scene or conversation. And there is some sex, albeit — I hope — tastefully depicted.

I wanted the characters to be real, warts and all as they say. I wanted non-Christian readers to be able to enjoy the story while perhaps getting a subliminal and uplifting Christian message nestled in the background. I wanted them to see the bruises and bumps we get as we take over our lives from the Lord. I wanted them to see a practical way to hang on to an Anchor. Sometimes it get slippery. I wanted them to see through everything, God loves us and walks with us and carries us and comforts us — just as a friend.

I wanted Christian readers to see themselves and their struggles as well, and affirm that same message of forgiveness and love.

The audiobook does that in another venue. I hope you agree.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. — Melody Beattie.