The Song

By: Chris Fabry

Narrated by: Eric G. Dove

Jed King's life has been shaped by the songs and mistakes of his famous father. He wants to sing his own song, but the words and melody are elusive. Haunted by the scars inflicted by his broken family, Jed's dreams of a successful music career seem out of reach... until he meets Rose.

As romance quickly blooms, Jed pens a new song and suddenly finds himself catapulted into stardom. But with this life of fame comes temptation, the same temptation that lured his father so many years ago.

Set in the fertile mid-South, this quest for success leads Jed and Rose on a journey that will force them to deal with the pain of loss, failure, and the desire to be who God created them to be.

Lyrical and deeply honest, The Song asks the hard questions of love and forgiveness. When even the wisest of men are fools in love, can true love persevere?

©2014 City on a Hill Studio, LLC. (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Scripture taken or paraphrased from the Holy Bible, New International Version,® NIV.® © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Very true to life

Another great book from Chris Fabry! Portrays characters very realistically.very true to life. Has deep feeling and emotions. Recommend this book.

in love with forgiveness

It is a beautiful story to live by and I understand that forgiveness comes in all colors and shapes

Unfulfilling

First of all, The Song is not a romance. There's no real feeling of love because it's undercut by the misery the author brings with the heartbreaking storyline, one-dimensional characters and an ending that feels more like a HFN. It's a difficult story to read in the sense of having a redemptive arc, because there wasn't any "showing" of the work that Jed had done to redeem himself. His rehab stint was glossed over and even the pastor's talk with him was strained. I have to admit that I'm very tough on cheaters and it was apparent to me that Jed wasn't truly sorry. He's sorry he got caught. And he wouldn't have been caught if that pesky other woman wouldn't have shown up at his house to tell his wife and son who she was. Did Jed pitch a fit? No. Did he throw her out? No. He watches her go to her car and swallow more pills. I firmly believe that they'll end up hooking up somewhere down the road. That being said, the story starts out well. Jed King is a musician whose star is on the rise thanks to the love of his new wife. He met Rose at a wine festival and was immediately smitten with her. On their honeymoon, he wrote her a love song that was the impetus for his instant fame, but it's also the song that's the impetus for ruining his life. There is a lot about this story that is good, but not great. Most of the story is spent in sorrow, anger and sin. Jed's father was a rockstar who fell, over and over again, and it appears that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. There is little of Rose and Jed's love story that we are able to see or experience before he goes out on the road and loses himself to drugs, drink and infidelity. The majority of the story actually centers on and describes Jed's growing excitement of his edgy, wild, sexy bandmate who is bringing something into his life that Rose can't begin to give him. He is thrilled to have someone who "loves him" without his having to beg like he has to beg his wife for sex. She makes him feel things! And she's the one who gives him the drugs that start his addiction. Jed is written as a caricature of the horndog rock god and it makes him one dimensional. He yells at Rose that the worst thing he ever did was to marry her! How can he ever come back from something so evil. Spoiler: he can't and didn't. We learned nothing about his time in rehab, other than he was there. We learned nothing about how he grovels and begs Rose for another chance at marriage. He doesn't. The only thing the author did right regarding this couple is he didn't have Rose walk in on Jed and Shelby in the middle of sex. I am disappointed that the feel of the writing wasn't in the least bit romantic. Jed was unable to speak to her kindly, lovingly, with real emotion. By the end, he actually did something that I considered a grand gesture, but it was too little, much too late. I'm glad that Rose didn't welcome him back immediately because her body betrayed her, but, in the end, I couldn't believe in their happy ending.
Triggers: cheating, alcohol, drugs, addiction, death of animal
The narration is well-done by Eric Dove. His voice, intonaton and pace were good,. Sometimes I feel that the quality of the narration is bogged down because of the difficult material the narrator voices.