This was one of the most beautifully honest book I have read this year. Diving into this audiobook I was captured by how quickly I was hooked by not just the story but Sasha as a character. Set in 2006 a woman in her late twenties invites us into her life which is full of a beautiful friendships, not so beautiful friendships, enemies, a difficult ex, and a very eventful dating life. Struggling to deal with growing up in she shadows of her mothers expectations and an absent father Sasha is a complex character we fall in love with so easily. She's not perfect and that is what makes her so special. She battles between believing she needs to be a people pleaser or simply find ways to make people dislike her so she can prove a bigger point and her vulnerability to us as the reader is something so special.

Realising early on her current relationship is no longer serving her and finally breaking free from it life is opening a new chapter for Sasha Renee but her guard may slowly be falling down when she meets Langston Germaine and the complicated way the meet and grow together.

I loved Sasha Renee. She was a character who honestly felt like my sister or a best friend and when she was addressing the reader it felt personal, like listening to a voice note from a friend or reading a diary. She was honest and raw and I honestly felt as though she was so well written she felt like a real person I wanted a conversation with however, when speaking to characters in the book we can see how guarded she is and what she hides. We see throughout the book that while she comes across as confident she has a lot of insecurities too which show throughout her friendships and building romantic relationships.

I did feel as though the book half way through moved very quickly which threw me a little and I wasn't the biggest fan of Langston at times as a romantic partner but he grew on me and I loved the almost thriller vibe we got in parts of this book related to her previous relationships touching so well on male rejection, entitlement, abuse and violence. There were some very serious topics we saw pop up and the very real feeling of this book was a breathe of fresh air. This was a raw and real story that did not hide away from the very real lows and highs of life. The focus on friendships, god and self growth and love was truly captivating and I was left wanting nothing but the best for Sasha Renee and I was of course crying my eyes out when I finished this book.

The audio narration was fantastic! Full of character and delivering the humour focused lines so well I was able to fly through this book.

I would highly recommend this book!

I first want to add this disclaimer. This is the audio version of a book published in the early 2000's, so some if it is outdated (for example, the mention of Dominick's on 87th street in Chicago, that particular chain is no longer around. but it was during the original publication ) Now back to this story. I read it when it first came out, and I enjoyed it as much as i did back then. The story still shocked me and left me flabbergasted. Sasha was so relatable, and she worked my nerves sometimes. This story had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I completed it in an entire day. And the characters have stuck in my mind after finishing it. The author has been one of my favorites for a while and this story is part of the reason why.

This book was very triggering but spoke to the importance of faith. If a contemporary romance that is Christian based is what you are looking for, this is it. While not necessarily something I would normally read it was fine. It was heavier than I anticipated it being, pacing was not great but it didn’t impact the plot which was crazy!

I found this to be a very interesting story but check your trigger warnings before starting.

Ａｕｄｉｏｂｏｏｋ Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ
🌟🌟🌟🌟|| (4/5)
The Gospel According to Sasha Renee by Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts is book 1 in the Grace Women's Trilogy.

Honey, Sasha worked my nerves the entire book. She is very relatable, but man, she made me mad. This book is about Sasha handling tests of faith, Sasha's insecurities toward relationships, and her negative thinking/mind spiraling out of control. I wanted to like her, but every time she did something, she just irritated me. Lol. But I enjoyed this book a lot. I finished it in 1.5 days.

Feisty and stubborn Sasha Billingsly has never had it easy. As a young girl growing up in the shadow of her mother's expectations and the absence of a father's love, she learned early on that she would have to please people to gain love and acceptance…or find ways to make people dislike her so she could prove they were out to get her.

That is, until God intervened profoundly in her life, delivering both the help of a soulmate, Langston Germaine, and the unseen forces of the spirit realm.

The audiobook is narrated by Bahni Turpin, who did a good job telling the story and bringing the characters to life. She was easy to listen to and understand. Listened at 2x speed.

Thank you, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this audiobook, it may be one I will forget the name of in the future however it had such a beautiful impact and the voice of Bahni Turpin was like listening to gospel just absolutely beautiful!

In this we meet Sasha who is fiercely passionate about being herself with the audience however in public to everyone else not so much because well she was raised to simply get up and get on with things. You don’t complain and you don’t show your softness etc but within all this all she really is looking for is acceptance and love. Unfortunately she looks for it in all the wrong places with the wrong people.

She goes through all types of things from love dilemmas, childhood wounds with both parents to friends who are actually frienemys it’s all in there!

So within her story we find her talking almost as if it is journal entries and expressing all her deepest emotions, her lessons, her understanding of self and others and her compassion to forgive, grow and move on.

This is just a beautiful cozy warm fuzzy heartfelt audiobook that really makes you refill your cup of faith in all that is good 🫶🏽

Huge gratitude and thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ELC in return for an honest review. Wishing best wishes to all for publication on 20th May 🙏🏽📚🎧❤️