The Prodigal Son

The Goode Brothers

De: Sara Cate

Narrado por: Teddy Hamilton, Dane Anderson, Ava Lucas

I’ve been alone long enough.

As a chart-topping country singer, I’m living the dream. While my family is all back in Austin, embracing their happily-ever-afters, I’m on the road on a sold-out tour.

I should feel ecstatic, yet all I am is lonely.

Maybe that’s why I find myself drawn to a fan who pops up at one of my shows. Something about the way he watches me on stage has me thinking…he knows my secret. And after the first kiss, I can’t seem to let him go. But Jensen Miles has some secrets of his own:

He isn’t just a regular fan. He’s a preacher.

And not just any preacher—the new preacher at my dad’s church.

Where I come from, preachers don’t have filthy mouths and dirty hookups, let alone with a male country singer.

But Jensen has scars like mine. They just run deeper.

We can’t stay away from each other, though. One night turns into nearly every city of the tour; the two of us sneak around backstage, onto tour buses, and in hotel rooms. And while I’ve never been happier…I’m tired of hiding.

With Jensen, I might be able to escape the monsters from my past—even if the scariest one has just been set free. With Jensen, we can outrun our demons together.

With Jensen, I’m finally ready to come home.

©2025 Sara Cate (P)2025 Sara Cate

Beautiful

Such a great story, amazing narration!! I loved it so much. Great wrap up for the Goodes. Highly recommend!

Wow! Powerful, emotional & healing. What a story!

WOWZA! I knew Isaac's story was going to be emotional, but listening to this was heartbreaking at times. Sara Cate delivers a very moving & beautiful story about 2 tortured souls, who yearn to find love & be loved without guilt or shame from others.

Theo Virgil is the chart-topping country singer who has kept his true identity, Issac Goode, a secret for years. He's had loads of success, but at the end of the day, he's a lonely man. He's had to deal with a very strained family relationship the past few years because of his sexual orientation. He sets out on his own, leaving his brothers behind. He misses his family but is hopeful that one day, they will all be reunited.

He meets Jensen one night after one of his concerts & their chemistry is instantaneous.🔥 Jensen has secrets as well, and they are hard & so painful. These two try to help each other navigate love, coming out & working through traumatic pasts together. It's a story about healing & hope, reuniting with loved ones & recognizing that LOVE is LOVE. "Nothing is hopeless."

This book is FIRE ya'll. The scenes are HOT & touching. I found myself rooting for these two so hard! There's tension, angst & steam that will leave you needing to fan yourself!

🎤Let's talk narration: Teddy Hamilton just absolutely BLEW me away in this performance. His portrayal of Issac was spectacular, voicing all the hurt, pain & rejection Issac experiences, and the new & exciting feelings he has for Jensen. Dane Anderson was terrific as well. Here's a man who only wants to do what's right but has been told his whole life that he's wrong. Listening to what happened to Jensen in his youth & the pain he experienced was agonizing. I was completely engrossed in this story because of these two narrators. Absolutely tremendous! 🙌

There are some VERY heavy topics covered in this story, and all are handled so beautifully & with genuine care. This story is powerful & is one that will stick with you for a very long time. As someone who dealt with the death of a brother who hid his sexuality from his family because of shame, finding out after his death, made this story HIT IN THE BIGGEST WAY! This story is beautiful & healing & everyone can benefit from listening to it as a human.
Issac + Jensen forever 🤘 Please read the trigger warnings before going in.

Thank you, @saracatebooks, for a copy of the ALC. The Goode Brothers series has been fantastic!

10/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a truly compelling and beautiful story. The turmoil and heartache of these men goes straight to the heart. These men were born for each other. Soulmates. The spice was SPICING hard, obsessed and posessive MCs, romance is top tear.

Narrators were amazing!!!!

spice 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶
swoon ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

11/10 will always recommend!

I can't believe this is the end, but it is perfect

This is the final book in the Goode Brothers series and follows the elusive brother that we have had small glimpse of in previous books, Isaac. While he may be Isaac to his friends and family, to the world he is Theo Vigil the hot new country star. In order to stay hot in the charts and the hearts of his female fans, he has to hide his true self which make his life extremely lonely. That is until he meets Jensen Miles, a fan and pastor in Isaacs hometown. While falling for each other was easy, being able to live their lives gets more difficult by the day. They both bring quite a bit of baggage to the relationship and have a common foe so to speak, but they are ready to face their demons head on together to try and find their happily ever after. This was such an excellent story, and a great way to close this series as much as I didn’t want it to end. I loved seeing all the Goode men, their partners and their mother all thriving and “reuniting” with Isaac more. There was so much pain that all these characters felt, but to see them healing and coming together was wonderful. While this book has a lot of heart and feelings, it is NOT without its STEEEEAAAAMMMM!!! There really is such a chemistry between Isaac and Jensen that is palpable from the moment they meet. And without giving away too much, I was not expecting the one who was the more dominant in the bedroom ;-)

This book was narrated in DUET (my favorite style) by a fan (and my) favorite Teddy Hamilton and Dane Anderson. They both add so much to these characters and they paired extremely well together. Both of them fit their characters like a glove. Ava Lucas is also featured on this audiobook, and she brings a very fresh air to it playing the various females. All in all, this was a wonderful story, perfectly narrated and I would highly recommend to all.

I couldn’t get enough

The book I’ve been waiting for in this series. Our questions for Issac is answered and the answer was better then I could imagine. Theo/ Issac and Jensen both have their past, both has their fears about coming out, both have been ingrained with the idea that their choice for love was wrong. I love how the author approached this subject and how she shows that no matter who you choose to love we are all worthy of a true love no matter what it looks like. I was not prepared for her giving Truitt a redemption, but I’m glad she did. Not that he deserved it in the past books but it showed such closure for everyone and gave a new view to the story. Jensen and Isaac were perfect together. Their love pure, true , and the strength even through their trials persevere giving us one amazing love story. Narrators Teddy Hamilton, Ava Lucas, and Dane Anderson deliver this emotional and impactful audio experience. Bringing each character and their emotions to the surface for the listener. They did a superb job job and it was a phenomenal listen.

Teddy as Isaac was perfection!

I was really looking forward to this book!! Church hurt/comfort is one of my go to “tropes”. Isaac and Jensen’s story was different than I expected but I loved this take on conversion therapy and I loved the perspective she took on their dad.
Dane and Teddy killed this narration and let’s say preacher Dane was 🥵. I was here for it.

Beautiful story, beautifully performed

My goodness do I love the Goode Brothers world. This series represents EVERYTHING that is Sara Cate at her best. It’s intoxicatingly seductive, unapologetically provocative, and endlessly sexy, while also being a deftly substantive, psychologically intense and emotionally powerful existential study of humanity…of identity. Sara’s best work effortlessly marries the tintillating with the emotionally profound, her prose espousing the very curiosity and heartfelt openness that is so clearly at the core of all of her characters’ journeys…a thematic value that is the beating heart of this entire series.

It’s what I love most about her work- the clear and cutting and bold point of view. So like the rest of the series, The Prodigal Son is sultry and wildly entertaining while also being complex and emotionally affecting. It’s a traumatic but beautiful story of the purity and healing power of unconditional love found between two unexpected lovers who have shared one tragic truth- our world was not made to love them, even if they are so worthy of it’s love. And it’s a story unapologetic in one heartbreaking truth- that LOVING, despite being the most core of our human emotions, takes more courage and bravery and risk for some, simply because of who they are.

At the core of this story is love and connection…though it is layered with a history of pain and trauma and hurt. Sara Cate clearly has infused her heart and soul into this story- the tenderness of her storytelling, the empathy, the authenticity of these characters’ stories and voices. It’s unflinching, its moving, and I felt it down to my toes. The longing, the angst, the existential confusion, the PASSION. Because of course this is Sara Cate after all- so for as much emotional destruction as she creates, she gives us SO MUCH HEAT. Jensen and Issac are both intensely compelling characters- and their delicately woven psyche is also beautifully unraveled. I’ve always found SC’s writing to be deeply meta- she has a profound ability to psychologically unpack her characters in ways that not only let us cut deep into their core, but they somehow cut into our own. And she truly flays Isaac and Jensen in the best ways- dissects them so we can know them, so they can know themselves, and ultimately so they can finally worth through the baggage that has paralyzed them both to lean into the life changing connection they find in each other. It’s a hard fought journey, but one so full of healing and hope and RIGHTNESS.

I loved this entire series, but this one will forever leave an imprint on my heart….truly Sara Cate at her finest, and what a powerful tribute and statement to what REAL love should be.


AUDIO RE-READ UPDATE: My goodness, the audio made me love this book even more. Teddy Hamilton ATE THIS PERFORMANCE UP. The heartache, the vulnerability, the depth of Isaac all come out beautifully in his performance. One of his best. And Dane Anderson was also great as Jensen and you could really feel him bringing his all to the performance. And Ava Lucas as an addition (as Goode Mama) was fantastic too- really rounded out the audio experience.

🏳️‍🌈 MM romance
🖤 hurt/comfort
🏳️‍🌈 Country music celebrity x pastor
🖤 forbidden
🏳️‍🌈 age gap (10+ years)
🖤secret identity
🏳️‍🌈 Mental Health Rep
🖤Found family
🏳️‍🌈Trauma

Beautiful Conclusion

I waited for the audio to be available to read this one, and WOW! I am so so glad I did! Sara Cate weaves a beautiful and powerful story between Isaac and Jensen, but the audio took it to an entirely different level! Teddy Hamilton (FAVORITE) and Dane Anderson were absolutely wonderful as Isaac and Jensen, and Ava Hunter was fantastic in her contribution as well! Duet narration, and I cannot get over how much this one enhanced the story! This may be one of my favorite audios this year, if not all time!

I have been looking forward to Isaac's story throughout this entire series, and it did not disappoint! I don't want to spoil this book or the series for anyone, but how he and Jensen come together, their insane chemistry, how they face their traumatic pasts together, & overcome what comes their way, is just beautiful! I absolutely loved this story (if ya can't tell by now lol), and I also loved the healing that comes with it too, not just for Isaac/Jensen, but the entire Goode family.

I am so sad that this series is over, but my heart is so full from this conclusion!

Perfect Narration.

First of all this casting was top tier. Dane and Teddy absolutely nailed these characters and brought them to life in the best way, plus having Ava narrate the female characters was brilliant! This was a re read for me and I didn’t think it could hit any harder but it blew me away listing to this audiobook. I loved all the books in this series but this one stole the show. It’s beautifully moving, heartfelt and so spicy! I loved every second of it and will be recommending this to everyone! Absolutely phenomenal!

Phenomenal Story & Listen🎧Compelling & Emotional!

Sara Cate’s “Goode Brothers” series is among my all-time favorites, and this book, with its exceptional writing, intricate plot, and complex characters, is a prime example of why. This book is Isaac’s story, the youngest Goode brother, and the one who got away, or rather ran away and became a country music artist, Theo Vigil, a rising star. Introduced in the earlier books with brief glimpses into his life and relationship with his brothers. All that left you wanting to know more, or rather needing to know more, and Cate delivers, in a way, bringing us full circle. Isaac is not out in the public eye, since maintaining a certain image for his fans was important, but it is getting harder for him, and he is living a lonely life. That changes for him after meeting Jensen Miles, someone he met after his show and felt an instant connection with. Jensen Miles lives and works in Isaac’s hometown, but he comes with baggage, secrets and past demons. It was great getting to know these characters, both amazing, solid characters, despite their hardships and upbringing. I loved watching them get to know each other and see their relationship morph into something so much more. Cate weaved a complex and mighty fine web around these two, bringing their two worlds together and showing they have a lot more in common. It was also great to see the Goode brothers come together and watch the estranged Isaac reunite with his family, Truett excluded, mostly anyway. I loved all the layers of this story and how it all played out, with a perfect balance of drama, angst, some heartrending moments, heartfelt emotions, and steamy romance. Sara Cate, thank you for this amazing story, series and emotional rollercoaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 Teddy Hamilton, Dane Anderson, and Ava Lucas did a fantastic job voicing the characters and delivering a perfect portrayal of each. I loved how they took each role and made it their own, sounding believable and just as I imagined the characters to sound. Hamilton nailed it as Isaac and Anderson as Jensen, delivering amazing performances, grasping every aspect of their character’s personality and demeanor, as well as their every emotion. Ava Lucas jumps in covering various female roles and was just as amazing. These superbly talented voice artists are entertaining storytellers, and their riveting performance keeps you glued to the story.