The Road Before Us

Title: The Road Before Us

Author: Janine Rosche

Publisher: Revell

Genre: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Dual-time,

Source: Library

My Review:

The Road Before Us is the first book I have read by Janine Rosche, but it will not be the last.

Content warnings: parental kidnapping, PTSD for veterans of war, war crimes, sexual harassment and assault, character with dementia, racism

Now that I've got all that out of the way, I don't know exactly what to say about the book. Honestly, had I known all that was in the book, I wouldn't have read it, BUT, it was all handled with care and sensitivity. It just made for a heavier read at times.

This story has a multi-generational cast of characters. You have 89-year-old Benny, her adult foster son, Bridger, and Benny's financial advisor, Jade. After an unfortunate set of events, these three take a road trip down Route 66, following the path Benny and her deceased husband took in 1956. At each stop, Benny shares her memories of that location from her and Paul's trip. 

Jade also has memories from her childhood of driving down Route 66, so we also get flashbacks to 2003 and her journey. 

There are so many layers to the story, it's like peeling an onion; you keep going deeper and deeper before you finally reach the center. The author did a fantastic job of keeping the reader engaged in the story, even during the hard moments. The cast is wonderful, and the story is deep. I recommend it to those who enjoy contemporary stories with depth, and themes of forgiveness, redemption, and a story that has a lot to unpack.

★★★★/5

Synopsis (Amazon):  

How far would you go to fix the mistakes you've made and regain the trust you lost? For Jade Jessup, the answer is 2,448 miles. Once one of Chicago's significant financial advisors, Jade lost her credibility when her fiancé (and coworker) stole millions of dollars from their clients in a Ponzi scheme. Now she's agreed to help one of them--an aging 1960s Hollywood starlet named Berenice "Benny" Alderidge--seek financial restoration.

Jade sets off along Route 66 with Benny and her handsome adult foster son, Bridger, who is filming a documentary retracing the 1956 trip that started the love story between Benny and her recently deceased husband, Paul. Listening to Benny recount her story draws Jade into memories of her own darker association with Route 66, when she was kidnapped as a child by a man the media labeled a monster--but she remembers only as daddy.

Together, all three of these pilgrims will learn about family, forgiveness, and what it means to live free of the past. But not before Jade faces a second staggering betrayal that changes everything.