4.5 stars. I really liked this. It was recommended right as I needed a new book, and it was there included in Kindle Unlimited, both text and audio. So I downloaded, started it up, and finished it in just a couple of days.

While I was glad to have access to the text, I experienced this completely in audio format (sometimes if I get confused I NEED to double check the text, that never happened here). The author was the narrator, and while he was good, his voice just didn't quite match what I imagined on my own, didn't have quite the range of some professional narrators (although he did stay consistent with the voices and accents).

The story jumped around in time a bit ... it was actually very organized, but I don't know if I totally felt that listening to the audio. It was a bit more obvious when I looked back on the Kindle copy text. The story is divided into seven parts, each with it's own "title" and chapters. The first five start out in the present day, with grown-up Sam, telling the "present day story", then move to his memories. The first section is his birth and toddlerhood. The second section is around six years old. Part three is older elementary school years. Part four is high school ... At section five, the story moves to the present day and stays there for a while, before moving back to more high school memories.

Section six sticks to the present day and finishes up that main portion of the "present day" story. Section seven jumps forward 10 years to wrap everything up (then there's the epilogue, which is a little more of a wrap up). I continued to listen to the author's notes, which were interesting too.

There were times I was almost in tears. The story, both Sam's childhood and his present day, had lots of touching times and excitement to keep my interest. It's a story that will stick with me. There was some sex/proFanity, which would be the only reason I wouldn't recommend it to some (who are sensitive to that). I'm glad it was recommended to me.