This one's okay there's something significant about it that stands out, but there's also nothing about it that makes me angry. It's a pretty average rate overall

I love books, audiobooks, and musicals so this seemed like a triple threat! This audiobook would be great for a family road trip!

The story was well written, and the narrator was able to successfully do a variety of characters. Personal preference, male narrators are not my favorite, and I’m well aware that colored my opinion. In my defense, my husband wanted to know if I was listening to the Bible on audio! 😉

As a believer, I wanted to love this so much because I believe this genre has so much to offer! While I appreciate the effort and thought put into a Christian musical, which are scandalously rare, I just had to mark this one DNF.

From the opening prologue and throughout the other songs, I immediately recognized snippets of musicals that my family loves and has watched on repeat. One or two get a pass, but the continued familiarity was a turn off. I 100% can see where it would be difficult for those influences not to impact new works though.

All that said, I would love to hear more from this author along the same lines with more original songs and an ensemble cast!

I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️ because my personal experiences and preferences obviously played heavily into this review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Skinny Leg Press for this audio ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This the first of its kind book I have listened to in both a retelling of a biblical story as well as a musical. For those that haven't listened to this type of story before - this is a chapter book that has standard audio at the beginning of the chapter and voice actors who are reading the book, and at the end the break out into a song somewhat summarizing what was just read. The singers and narrator were good but I don't know if I would listen to this type of book again and I did not find the story overall captivating.

I adore a good musical. Symphony of Life has wonderful musical numbers scattered throughout the audiobook.

I loved those.

The story was okay. The voice actors did a great job. But, it didn't hook me to the point of it being truly memorable.

It was great fun getting to know some interesting fictional characters from 1st Century Jewish colony of the Roman Empire. The stories of the bible come to life through these characters and we can more deeply understand and apply the meaning of the stories as we see more deeply the people that could have been living them. The musical format was fun and engaging.

This is a fantastically entertaining retelling of the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan. It creatively ties in multiple other parables, and weaves stage-musical style songs throughout the story. I listened to it with my kids on the way to school in the mornings and it held all of our attention equally. Obviously, the author had to take creative liberty to create a cast full of characters, and she did a great job. They’re a quirky group, full of personality, and I laughed more than I thought I would at a Biblical retelling. The story is full of all of the forgiveness and grace that you’d expect, plus some extra unexpected laughs. Very well-done and I definitely recommend for any Bible-believing fans of musicals and humor! Thanks to NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Loved this, hope one day to see it as a musical. Have done a tiktok about it and will be sharing that video to my Facebook.

I listened to this book as an audiobook— the narrator is really great and is able to do many voices to express the characters of the story of the Good Samaritan—this would be a great way to listen or learn about this story from the Bible. As a trained musician, singer and composer myself I can attest that the music is excellent though with today’s political climate I personally would go back and rewrite some of the lyrics here and there . The music and style is reminiscent of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and would make a good stage musical . I found the storyline a slow burn for me but the narrator did an excellent job bringing the characters to life — which some characters you like —some you hate—which is definitely the point.

Thanks to NetGalley and Skinny Leg Press for this ARC . This is my honest review .

Such a fancinating and fun retelling of the good Samaritan!!!

This was such an incredible audiobook! I really felt like I was transported to a whole new musical, the narrator was simply absolutely phenomenal! The book itself was also done so well, keeping my attention throught the entire story and painting such a richly detailed world! I'd absolutely recommend this to anyone especially my fellow Christians!

This was a very entertaining audiobook. I couldn't help but dance along. It did help me feel closer to Jesus as well.
I loved everything about this. I will definitely be recommending this to everyone.

Wow.
I can't say I've ever read a musical book before.
Definitely wasn't expecting to ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' LOVE IT!!!
What a fun story of grace, forgiveness & love for one another. I loved this.

This is my first audiobook, or book in general, that has this type of narration. I found very interesting that this is a musical and from what I read about the physical edition, it provides QR codes to listen to all the parts from your phone. I adore that you can interact with this book!

On the storry side, I found it very nice and it was sentimental to me to revisit this story of the Good Samaritan, since the last time which was when I was in school.
From the narration you understand that the flow of the book goes nicely and that the author has made a great job there.

Overall I would recommend this story to everyone who loves Jesus and His parables and I find that it would be a great audiobook for parents to listen with their children.

Symphony of Life was a quick read. The characters are well written and developed. I really enjoyed the audiobook. The narrators sing parts of the story and it really brought the story to life. The story follows different characters and with the audiobook at first it is hard to kept up with whose POV you get. It didn't really affect the enjoyment of the story though.

I really enjoyed Symphony of Life.

This is a cool musical audiobook. The story was interesting and good.
I liked the narrators.
The music was very good too!

I really like the musical aspects of this book. I only wish that it was all a musical. IT also had humor and gave me a couple chuckles.

The most unique audiobook I’ve heard. I listen to well over 100 audiobooks per year plus read many others, definitely one of my favorites. Joel, the horrid tax collector becomes the victim rescued by the Good Samaritan. This book is cheeky, witty, delightful and Joel gets his swift kick in the pants. There are quite a few catchy songs throughout. This book will definitely make you laugh aloud. I plan to listen to more by this author. Highly recommend.

I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Symphony of Life: A Musical Retelling of The Good Samaritan
Suzette Bruggeman
This is a Broadway style musical with a focus on “love your neighbor”. The setting is ancient Jerusalem when Rome ruled over Judea. The story centers around Joel, an unscrupulous Jewish tax collector. Tax collectors worked for the Roman Empire, he was seen as a sinful figure of ill-repute, self-enriching, corrupt and traitorous to the Jewish community. All Jews had to pay a tax to the Roman Empire, a local person was commissioned to collect the tax. The Roman state would set a fixed amount of money each region had to pay. It was up to the local tax collector to decide who paid the taxes and how much they would pay. Tax collectors were regarded as sinners and traitors. Most tax collectors demanded more money than they were supposed to receive; they would pocket the extra.
Few people liked Joel; he abused his power and authority. Many would like to see Joel harmed and someone attacked him. Joel began to heal not only in his body but also his mind; as he heals he has a change of attitude and heart. A message is brought forth through this musical, a message of joking, deception, and errors.
A beautiful tale.

This book was a surprise it had music within it as well as the story the storyline was quite interesting and knowledgeable I really enjoyed the entire book it was more like a musical to me it was like being at a plate and I found it quite entertaining and well organized and would recommend it for anyone who enjoys music recommend it

As a theater lover, the music is wonderful! Extremely talented singers.

don’t know what I was expecting with this at all but it was entertaining, hilarious at times. “Love is like wetting your pants” metaphor will never leave my mind!

A fun musical retelling of the good samaritan. I loved the music and the story, it made this seemingly simple and some could even call it "boring" ; story in the bible come to life.

I recommend this to all that find it hard to connect to the Bible, Lovers of musicals, music and the Lord. I also think any fans of The Chosen would also enjoy listening to this. It's perfect for your commutes or a chill Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the audiobook!