Audiobook Review: Reverence by Raena Rood
Reverence
Series: Reverence #1
Author: Raena Rood
Narrator: Missy Brooks
Audio Published: April 4, 2023
Audiobook: 8 hours 52 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 26-28, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
REVERE THE VOLUNTEER
Inside the walls of Vita Nova, safety comes at a terrible price.
The elderly and chronically ill face mandatory euthanasia, while the “Volunteer Program” offers citizens a week of luxury and adoration—before their execution.
Kira Liebert works with the Volunteers, granting their every wish. Despite losing her sick mother to the Compulsory Program, she believes in the system that keeps their overcrowded city alive.
Until Will Foster walks into her office.
Young, handsome, and volunteering to die for the good of the city, Will has just one request for his Final Week: He wants to spend it with Kira.
Unable to refuse a Volunteer’s last wish, she’s swept into an unexpected journey that takes her beyond the barricade—into the dangerous Unregulated Zone where lawless marauders roam among crumbling buildings and overgrown highways.
What Kira discovers will shatter everything she believes about Vita Nova, forcing her to confront the darkness within the system she once trusted.
Jessica’s Review:
Revere the Volunteer
I can’t recall how I came across Raena Rood’s Reverence series, but the book description gave me similarities of Matched by Allie Condie and other YA Dystopian novels from the 2010s. I enjoyed those books then, so I listened to Reverence and enjoyed it! Reverence is the first in a trilogy and I plan on reading them all! Or in my case listen to them once they are available.
Reverence has an interesting premise that can also be controversial: There was a worldwide plague and what was formerly known as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is now known a Vita Nova. Vita Nova closed itself off to the outside world. Now, at age 60 everyone is ‘sacrificed’ ‘For the Good of All’. Those who are sick become ‘Compulsories’ and will be euthanized ‘for the good of all’. “For the Good of All” is due to the diminished resources and fear of the Lawless (IE Outsiders). I personally have issues with this idea of forced euthanasia on the older and sickly. There is also a “Volunteer Program”: Any resident of Vita Nova can volunteer to be euthanized in exchange for one last week of luxury and whatever they want. And the ‘any resident’ part is shown in this novel, which I was not expecting at all!
Now meet Kira, our FMC, who the novel follows. Two years after losing her mother to city policies, Kira now works with Volunteers to help them with their last week and help get them what they desire. Subsequently she beings to work with one Volunteer: Will. And his only wish is to spend his last week with Kira. But nothing naughty: Remember we have Christian themes throughout this novel!
Being this is a Dystopian novel, of course things are not as they seem. There are discoveries and realizations Kira makes and there is so much more that is to come in the next two novels of the series.
Though Reverence is YA, it is more ‘grown up’ than Matched dealing with adult themes (death, euthanasia, grief, manipulation of society and more), but it also stays clean. I don’t recall any foul language, ‘extreme’ violent content, or sexual content. The Christian themes that come to play in the novel are not ‘in your face’. I am speculating that the Christian themes will come more to the forefront as the series progresses. I don’t have a problem with this at all.
The narrator for Reverence is Missy Brooks and I enjoyed her narration. She really portrayed Kira well!
I look forward to the next in the series, Rebellion. The series has been completely released and is available in e-book and in physical form. I asked the author about the audiobooks since the first is available and she is optimistic for a late November/early December release.
Until I can continue the series, will you choose to ‘Revere the Volunteer’?
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: The Unexpected Journey by Emma Heming Willis
The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path
Author: Emma Heming Willis
Narrator: Emma Heming Willis
Published: September 9, 2025
Audiobook: 8 hours 57 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 15-18, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
The day Emma Heming Willis’ husband, Bruce Willis, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), all they were given was a pamphlet and told to check back in a few months. With no hope or direction, Emma walked out of that doctor’s appointment frozen with fear, confusion and a sense that her world had just fallen apart.
In fact, it had. Bruce and Emma had their story written, their future mapped out. Yet all those dreams crumbled with that diagnosis, and Emma felt alone and more isolated than ever. How would she care for her husband while parenting their young daughters?
At that devastating time, Emma just wanted someone who’d been through it to tell her, “This feels terrible right now. Your life is in shambles. But it’s going to be okay. Here are some things to think about and put in place so you cannot just survive but thrive.”
With The Unexpected Journey, Emma has written the book she wishes she’d been handed on the day of Bruce’s diagnosis: a supportive guide to navigating the complicated, heartbreaking, and transformative experience that is caregiving for your loved one. Weaving her personal journey as a care partner with the latest research and insights from the world’s top dementia, caregiving, and integrative experts she offers the guidance and wisdom caregivers everywhere so desperately need to hear, including:
- A diagnosis isn’t just a label, it’s a starting point. It helps you better understand your person’s behavior and respond with more clarity and compassion.
- Taking care of yourself is not optional; it’s mandatory. It will make you a better care partner. It’s not selfish, it’s self-preserving.
- You don’t have a choice about being on the dementia caregiving journey. But you do have a choice in terms of how you approach it and reframe it.
- Caregivers are human so you aren’t always going to be patient and selfless. You have challenges and struggle with conflicting emotions and that’s okay.
Ultimately, The Unexpected Journey shows you how to care for yourself while doing one of the hardest, most heartbreaking jobs in the world. Because if you don’t take care of yourself, you are not going to be able to look after anyone else—especially your loved one with dementia.
For anyone caregiving for a loved one with any form of dementia, and even for those caregiving for other conditions, The Unexpected Journey shows that you are not alone. As Emma writes, “I know that no two caregiving journeys are the same, but we are connected by the same unchosen thread. It’s not an easy path for you, your loved one or your family. But I’m here to let you know that you are not alone, and, in time, you will find your footing, and a way forward.”
Jessica’s Review:
Don’t go into this book thinking you will learn about her life with Bruce Willis, The Unexpected Journey is a book written for those who have found themselves on the journey of Caregiving, whether expected or unexpected and this is why I wanted to listen to it. I am not on this journey but this book will definitely help those who find themselves in this situation.
We do get one chapter of how the couple met and their love story, but Willis’ love story continues down this path of being a caregiver for her husband along with caring for their young children. Willis seemingly wrote the book that she wished she had been able to read when all she was given was a pamphlet of some information at the beginning of their journey.
She acknowledges that she has more resources than most caregivers, but she shares her story of navigating loss, confusion, fear, love, and managing day-to-day life also while parenting. Willis gives information to help a caregiver reach what can be attainable for them. She gives research and advice from medical and wellness experts. This book would benefit caregivers of individuals with various diseases but specifically if ‘their person’ is suffering from FTD (frontotemporal dementia). ‘Their person’ is the term that Willis uses, and it is a good term to use.
Willis is very candid and upfront. She emphasizes the importance of how small things can add up. She also states that taking care of yourself first as a caregiver is extremely important. Many times a caregiver passes away before the one being cared for (their person) does. The author does mention this, but the chapters of the book are structured so that each one can be read independently, which results in some overlap of information. Again, this is for the person reading the book who is a caregiver, and one chapter may be more important in their specific journey.
Emma Heming Willis also narrated The Unexpected Journey and listening to it I felt the heart and soul she put into this book. She really wants to help other caregivers. This is an informative and heartfelt book that is a must read for caregivers. Thank you to Willis for writing what she feels will help others.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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Audiobook Review: The Vile Thing We Created by Robert P. Ottone
The Vile Thing We Created
Author: Robert P. Ottone
Narrators:
Patrick Donohue
Alicia Love
Published: April 18, 2023
Audiobook: 10 hours 13 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 21-24, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Lola and Ian had what they thought was the perfect relationship. Vacations. Fine dining. A healthy sex life. But when their childless lifestyle begins impacting their social lives, they decide to take the natural next step.
But what happens when that next step cracks the perfect foundation Lola and Ian have built? What happens when that next step is anything but natural?
Robert P. Ottone’s The Vile Thing We Created is a terrifying vision of parenthood in the tradition of Ira Levin and Thomas Tryon.
Jessica’s Review:
I have only ever seen the movie Rosemary’s Baby, but The Vile Thing We Created has some similarities to it. We have a bi-racial couple, Ian and Lola Sumner. This couple is not likable and very selfish. They have what they feel is a dream life: He is a teacher and she bakes from home. They have a lot of sex (which is detailed throughout the book), Lola smokes pot, and they feel they just have ‘The Life’. But then the couple start being excluded from events in their friend group: A belief that this is because they have no children and all of their friends do. So, Lola and Ian decide to just have a baby: A decision that they later regret.
There is a supernatural element in the novel, and it picks up the further you get in the story. It starts with Ian’s mother giving the couple baby gifts with a seven-point star on it. They are led to believe that it means “good luck”. Ian also grew up around that symbol.
We see Lola go through a very traumatic birth and then an array of emotions which includes not feeling love for her newborn. Her lack of feelings is not what she expected. We see a case of extreme postpartum depression.
The novel picks up at around 60% where the baby named Jonesy is now talking and he becomes quite the character. Patrick Donohue did a great job with his portrayal of Jonesy! In his narration. Jonesy is a unique child starting with his appearance: He has one blue eye and one brown eye.
The supernatural element picks up in this last 60%. Both narrators did a good job with their narrations. Yes, this is a horror novel, but more psychological horror than terror. This is a good novel to pick up and read in October! And lesson learned: If you don’t feel that need to have a child, then don’t cave to societal pressure and ‘just have one’: You never know what you just may give birth to!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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