Finding Noel

Series: The Noel Collection, Book 1

Written and Narrated By: Richard Paul Evans

Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins

Dude! the monotone of the narration! That said, just enough Darkness to engineer a sorta Light that’ll bring that ol’ Christmas Lump to the throat

Ya know what? I did NOT read the Publisher’s Summary but got Finding Noel because it was, oh yehhhh, on sale, and jeeps, it’s by the King of Christmas, Richard Paul Evans.

Now IGNORE the Publisher’s Summary that says “a young woman, adopted into a LOVING—Caps all mine—family” cuz our heroine, Macy, was taken in by an atrocious family after surviving the death of her mother, and her father’s all-consuming addictions that led him to put both his girls up for adoption. Macy’s little sister, whom she’d always mothered and kept safe, is taken by a good family. Macy? Noooo.

Okay, so now you know.

But our story, Finding Noel, begins with crud hitting the fan, like, BIG TIME, in our Hero, Mark’s, young life, all at the same time. The university he’d enrolled in on scholarship faced financial woes, thus ending his scholarship and his run at higher education. No longer enrolled, his work/study job ends, leaving him in even direr straits. He’s so ashamed, he doesn’t tell anyone in his family this, keeps writing fun fun fun letters home, even as the only employment he can find is in janitorial work. So when his mother dies, calls to the university go nowhere, he’s been outed, and he doesn’t find out about his mom until way later. A phone call from his dad? Do NOT come home; you’re not welcome, you little lying clod of dirt. And then at work, he’s accused of stealing, and he’s pretty much done with life and considers suicide. On his way back to his little apartment, his car ups and breaks down in blizzard-like conditions. God is soooo NOT on his side.

He treks through the blinding snow and a young woman at a closed coffee shop allows him inside to use the phone. Sensing his low spirits, like, reeeeally low spirits, she offers a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. It brings such relief, and when she gives him a ride home? He can’t help it; no longer suicidal, he’s even a bit smitten.

The two start spending time together, and things develop as a sorta low-key romance, but memories and dreams start occurring for Macy. Early on, before she’d been taken to the Courthouse, her father gave both her and her little sister (Whose name she can’t remember at this point, so young was she, so traumatic the parting of ways was) an ornament from their mom before she died. The ornaments are red globes that say “Noel” on them, and Macy has kept hers safe and intact through much change and suffering. Soon, Macy, with Mark by her side, begins a search to find her sister, discovering along the way that the records were sealed aaaages ago.

With help, and God smiling upon her, she has a lead, which leads her to a marvelous woman from her past who can help guide her. Information is followed, and through this all, both Mark and Macy grow closer and closer, and Mark KNOWS she’s The One for him.

His proposal? Offered with such sincerity and openness of heart leads to a reSOUNding… THUD. Macy is anything BUT warm and receptive. Which breaks Mark’s heart and sends him flying back to Alabama on a One-Way ticket. Which brought me to the first Lump In Throat: What happens when Mark and his ever-distant, oh so cold, father meet in a graveyard.

>Sniffle<

Now all this is desPITE author Richard Paul Evans narrating this himself. And dude! could you read any LESS enthusiastically?! Good cow man! An inflection here and there would be nice. Some warmth and emotion would be even MORE nice and sooo appreciated! I mean, whazzaaa?! I like Lumps in m’ Throat, but hey! I’d like even more to sob the ugly kinda sob that I do so well when I fall hook, line, sinker for a tender yet heavy plot! You know, like the one you wrote here… but which you canNOT infuse with basic compassion to save your life!

So, Boooo! to subpar narration, but Yay! to one Lump, two Lumps, three to four more Lumps in the Throat, and a desperate need for a tissue to dab at the corners of my eyes.

Yup, King O’ Christmas indeed. And I full-well intend to obtain and listen to another of his stories in the future.

Cuz I’m Easy like that. So suuuue me…!