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Where the Road Bends
by David Rawlings
I received this book free to review; however, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive compensation at no cost to you.
Where the Road Bends
by David Rawlings
Christian Fiction
Hardcover, Audiobook & ebook, 304 Pages
June 2, 2020 by Thomas Nelson
Fifteen years after college graduation, four friends reconnect to keep a long-ago promise and go on a trip of a lifetime in the Australian Outback.
Eliza needs to disconnect from her high-powered fashion job to consider the CEO position she’s just been offered. Lincoln hopes to rekindle a past relationship and escape from another one. Bree looks forward to a fun getaway from home and her deeply buried disappointments. Andy wants to disappear from the mess he’s made of his life—possibly forever.
Dropped at a campsite in the middle of nowhere, the friends quickly discover they aren’t the same people they once were, and they begin to confront hard truths about one another—and themselves. Then a bizarre storm sweeps across their camp, scattering them across the desert. Wondering if they are part of some strange escape game, each of the friends meets a guide to help them find exactly what they need: purpose, healing, courage, and redemption.
But they’ve already traveled far down the road of life and course-correcting to become the people they were meant to be won’t be easy.
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Where the Road Bends Book Review
Where the Road Bends is a character driven allegory in which we meet four former college friends who made a promise at graduation to meet in the Australian Outback 15 years later. When you’re young and fresh out of college, you have lots of dreams and plans. One thing most of us plan is not losing touch with our closest friends. But, inevitably, we go our separate ways and get on with our lives. Thanks to social media, we may keep in touch or at least like each others’ status updates. However, that closeness we once felt is gone. And that’s exactly what’s happened with Lincoln, Eliza, Bree and Andy.
Eliza and Bree are the only two who’ve somewhat kept in touch. Yet, even they don’t really know what’s going on in each other’s lives. They’re like we are: they share what they want us to see. Do any of us really show our true selves on social media? Rarely.
As I read, Where the Road Bends, I could relate with the fears the characters had…fears of the truth coming out. That social media shine fades in “real” life. Andy doesn’t even have a social media presence. Yet it’s Andy who is the most fearful about his friends learning his secret.
From the book’s synopsis, I figured that the storm that scatters the friends and the guides that lead them would be focus of Where the Road Bends, and it is. I could understand the spiritual significance of these journeys. However, if I weren’t a Christian, I wouldn’t have understood that one of the journeys is especially significant nor would I have gleaned spiritual insight. If the guides had been reflections of Christ, I think this would have made a great impact. Since this book’s genre is Christian fiction, I wish the journeys would have been more of a Christian spiritual journey rather than a spiritual journey of self discovery. I still would have enjoyed the book for the well written story, but I’m not sure that it would lead me to Christ.
Where the Road Bends is an intriguing and enjoyable novel that shows us we all have the ability to change. If you look at your life and find you’re not where you want to be or you’re not happy, take the bend in the road that leads to where you want to be.
About the Author
David Rawlings is an Australian author, and a sports-mad father of three who loves humor and a clever turn of phrase. Over a 25-year career he has put words on the page to put food on the table, developing from sports journalism and copywriting to corporate communication. Now in fiction, he entices readers to look deeper into life with stories that combine the everyday with a sense of the speculative, addressing the fundamental questions we all face.
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This isn’t my typical read, but it sounds really good! A little mysterious is you will.
This sounds like a very interesting story. The kind of book I enjoy reading.