The Endless Road to Sunshine

By: Nicky James

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's Summary

My name is Jason Atkinson, and I married a serial killer.  

My world shattered on a cold April morning when they took my husband away in cuffs. 

The life I knew, the man I loved, and the world I believed in was nothing but a lie. He stole my trust, my happiness, and my faith in humanity, and I’m not sure how to move on. 

With my mental health hanging by a thread and a media circus following me everywhere I go, escape seems like the only answer. 

Shedding my old life and starting fresh. 

A new city. A new job. A new name. 

Maybe everyone will leave me alone and let me wallow in peace. 

But Skylar Dawson, a student almost twenty years my junior, has a different plan. 

Everything about him is endless - his eyes, his smile, even his babbling mouth. 

He shines with a blinding inner light I can’t ignore. 

He’s a ray of sunshine in my dark world. 

Skylar Dawson will not be ignored. 

But will his energy and patience run out when he realizes I’m too tormented and broken to love him back? 

This is a hurt/comfort, student/teacher, grumpy/sunshine, age gap (25/43) MM romance novel with a moderate amount of angst.

©2021 Nicky James (P)2021 Nicky James

Epic Narration!!!

THE STORY:
Nicky James know how to write!!!
Her ability to pair and balance her characters is so very well done.

Jason Atkinson has just discovered that his husband, the man he has known for 20 years, is a serial killer. What follows is the heartache and the guilt that Jason suffers. How could he have been so blinded? How could he have not known? What could he have done different to prevent the loss of life of these innocent men?
Jason is spiraling. The guilt consumes him.
In walks Skylar. Skylar is too young. Skylar is too happy. Skylar is everything Jason doesn't want. Skylar is everything Jason needs.
Skylar is the perfect Sunshine to Jason's Grumpy!!

The Endless Road to Sunshine is not just a grumpy meet sunshine book. It's not just a teacher/student book. The Endless Road to Sunshine is everything. The writing is exceptional! The story is unique. The characters are endearing.

This book (to me) is not very angsty, but has the right amount of angst that should please most of Mrs. James's avid readers.
Well done on another great story Mrs. James!!!!

ADD THIS BOOK TO YOUR TBR!!! You will not be disappointed!!

THE NARRATION:
Oh My Gawd!!!
Nick J Russo did an AMAZING job with this narration. His performance of both main characters was PHENOMENAL The emotions in the voices gave me goosebumps!! Mr. Russo's narration was REAL and it was RAW!!!

I was not able to put this audio down!! Forget real life!! Nick J Russo commandeered my entire Sunday.

Amazing!!!❤️

This was such an angsty, gritty and emotional, thriller dark romance

I absolutely adore Nicky James writing.

I was drawn into the story from the very beginning and listened to this one in a day. It was so good and had me at the edge of my seat.

The narrator performed an exemplary audio delivery and narration.

Absolutely recommend this dark romance!

Great Listen

I listened to this straight through, could not pull the earbuds out of my ears, until about two hours left in the book I only listened with one earbud in (when you finish the book you’ll understand). Definitely makes your heart pound, hope there is a book 2. Definitely worth the credit.

OH WOW!

Ok I have no idea what I expect when I started this … but oh wow it delivered. Great genuine characters and lots of unsuspecting twists.
Absolutely loved it. And amazing narrator.
Very enjoyable and highly recommendable.

Intense, broody and satisfying.

I've read a couple of Nicky James books before and listened to Nick Russo's narration. He's a magician with his voices and an amazing performer. I'd pretty much listen to anything he narrates. I found this book to be more broody, dark and titillating than I expected. I felt that Jason wallowed excessively in his misery so much that it became a bit too much at times. Some of the storyline was fairly predictable - which I don't mind, because it all makes sense. And there were enough twists and surprises that kept it interesting too. Skyler's character was a lot. He was annoying and adorable all at the same time. Overall I enjoyed the listen. The last few chapters I couldn't put down until I was finished. Kept me on edge. I'd liked to have seen a few more storylines developed and although I left satisfied, there were a couple of closure I'd like to have seen. The m4m sex descriptions were borderline erotica, so if you're sensitive you might find this awkward.

Another hit by Nicky James

Nicky James and Nick Russo are an unbeatable combination. Great story with perfect combination of romance, angst, deep emotion, and intrigue. Wonderful characters is brought to life by Mr. Russo. Highly recommended

AMAZING!!

This book was amazing from beginning to the end...
Nick out did himself in his narration of the story.
This is my first time listening to this author, He out did himself with this book.
I couldn't put it down.
I look forward to hearing more of his Stories.

This one made me pinch the bridge of my nose

I’ve listened to several Nicky James novels, all narrated by Nick Russo. While some were generally enjoyable, a few were ok, this one - gack. I say this knowing that both the author and narrator have huge, vocal followings. I will be an outlier.

First Nick J Russo. Very good with voices and characters, you always know who’s speaking and generally sets a good tone for the book. I do struggle with his speech pattern where he adds an “L” to words ending with a “W.” Jaw becomes jawl, raw become rawl, and one I hadn’t noticed until this book; gnaw became gnawl. For as practiced as he is with dialects, it seems impossible that he cannot control that. I noticed more odd pronunciations in this title and it just got old.

Then there is the story. The plot is stretched so thin you can see through it. Almost nothing in this story is a surprise. James would have been better served to tighten the storyline and decide what was her focus. There were so many rambling offshoots. Worse than that is how lazy her writing skills are in the book. I can tell when the author falls back on words/phrases like “rising bile”, and while we get plenty of bile in this one, it’s the relentless use of “pinch the bridge of my nose” that churning pages is the goal. She over uses it in all the books I’ve heard so far, but this title it was nearly a drinking game scenario. No excuse for that.

Then the characters. Jason was insufferable with the constant whining. She could have taken him darker, angry, shy, but instead chose whining. Skylar was also insufferable. He could have just two of the dozen over the top personality traits James saddled him with, and he would still have been a lot. He was hard to take, and behaved more like a teenager than a world traveled 25 year old. He was poorly conceived and I had a tough time getting behind this couple.

The serial killer storyline was hard sell for me. Everyone and their dog has a serial killer title in their catalog. The general idea might have worked, but it never rang true - based on what we learn of the victims, it makes sense that Jason became a focus of the press. But rather than making that a plot element, it instead is used to make Jason the tiresome basket case he is. I believe the story was laden with missed opportunities, and should have been much better.

I found this title, while listenable because of the soothing tones of the narrator, isn’t worth listening to. James can do better - Clashing Hearts, from the hometown Jasper series does a much better job of telling a focused story. Unless you are a diehard James fan, I would not recommend this book.

Fantastic

Its Nicky James and Nick J Russo - what is there to say - this is a wonderful combination.

As you can imagine - Nicky will tear your heart out before giving it back tied with a bow.

These characters are so well thought out and written. They are as real as you and me.

I got shivers down my spine at stages but there are so many awwwww moments as well.

5 stars

Fabulous

Great story, great writing. Chef’s kiss to the depth and details of psychoanalysis and emotion.

Really enjoyed the tension between MC. The climax in the end almost turned into some sort of thriller, which I can honestly do without, but great book anyway.

The narrator is AMAZING, so much dynamics and emotion. Definitely one of my favorite! Made the book even more enjoyable.

Ridiculous. These men are idiots

Forgive me for not being able to suspend disbelief for the whole 13 hours of this audiobook. I get that some authors like writing flawed characters, but my god, Nicky James wrote a pair of idiots here. I have no idea how Jason navigated everyday life being so oblivious. His character is one-dimensional - a betrayed man who was clueless to the fact that his husband was killing any man who glanced his way. I could understand Morgan's psychopathic behavior staying under the radar for a few years, but TWENTY, no, that was too much for me. Jason was apparently a historian, and yet he had NEVER traveled, That was another thing I rolled my eyes at. This man is in his forties and he still isn't able to read body language...or tell when a person is being a creep. My sympathy for him vanished after a couple of hours. Jason WALLOWED in his guilt. There comes a point in all traumatic experiences that we have to admit the part we played, and what we are not responsible for. Jason was self-consumed and not self aware AT ALL.
Skylar was a cute character who was in some ways more mature than his older lover. But my god, he was a dumb ass too. Who in their right mind would think it was a good idea to visit the serial killer husband of your boyfriend. I swear, I nearly DNF at that point and left the audio for a few days. The author seems to like to angst-bait, which is a cheap, forgettable thrill in my experience. Shame. The narration was great.

Emotional and so PERFECT

OH my goodness!!
If there ever was an audio which is perfection... IT IS. Phew, I have no words for this audio. NO WORDS.

I already loved the ebook, I have it in paperback too, but WOW, I never thought the audio would be this awesome. The voices were so perfectly fitting and the way Skylar was moaning!!!! I never blush on audiobooks, but now I did. I had to go back and listen to it again because I wasn't believing what I was hearing. It was mind blowingly amazing. Nick J Russo did the best job with this audio!

WOW.

And after I calmed myself down there were other scenes I had to listen to again becaue they were so, so emotional, and oh god, have I said it already how amaing this audio is?! The story itself is emotional as f, but listening to it with Nick's voice, PERFECTION.

If you don't know what to listen to, or you're new to audiobooks and/or Nicky's books, believe me, YOU NEED THIS in your life. No audiobook was ever this perfect.

wow what a emotional beautiful performance

listening to nick j russo bring Jason and skyler's journey to life was beautiful emotional and fantastic

I could feel every emotion from Jason and skyler through nick j russo's performance I loved it I cried alot but by the time I finished my heart was incredibly full and complete

nicky James's beautifully written words and nick's narration was the perfect combination thank you both

Captivating

This was a pageturner because Jason allows all kinds of weirdos in his life, including Skylar, and I was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Writing and characters were good, but in the end the story turned into clichés.
Narration was good, but sometimes he lost my focus and couldn't I determine which point of view I was hearing.

ETA: one annoyance was the millenial Skylar wanting to research newspapers and not going on line but filing through actual newspapers. Even the author has never done this before, because she believes you can research 18 months of papers in 2 hours tops.

Nicky and Nick!

I had high expectations! They were more than fulfilled. The best word to describe it - Emotional.

But we need to focus on the performance! Sky’s insecurity in his bubbly chattering personality. The anger and hurt when Jason breaks! 13 hours of emotions! I know Nick is good, but this was above and beyond!

Loved it!

Story: emotional, riveting and so well written! I don’t know if Nicky James is able to write a bad book. I highly doubt it!
This story was an absolute gem and pure pleasure to listen to.
Narration: great performance!

Absolutely Brilliant 💖💖

Wow what can I say simply amazing loved book by Nicky James but listening to audio is something else it's on another journey the pain heartache, despair all the emotions of what Jason is going through you feel it you cry with him wanting to hold and comfort him help him and when he meets Skyler who's all sunshine, smiles and his love of life he's so captivating he made me laugh at all his constant chatter to Jason never shutting up his love of music and dancing so cute & beautiful and Nick J Russo as done an absolutely amazing job of bringing them to life the voices he uses sent tingles down my spine he brings all the emotions through for Jason & Skyler it's so captivating and beautiful I couldn't stop listening to it Recommend so much if you love book try this you won't be disappointed deserves more than 5 stars 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

This story is above stars

I listen to a lot of audio books and I don’t feel qualified to review this because it is just so good. If I thought the book was more than five star the audio is too high to rate. Nick J. Russo. I can’t say much that hasn’t been said about him. He does so much more than a narration. He brings the characters and emotions to life. When he vocalized the meeting between Morgan and Jason I had to stop and breathe. He has made a believer out of me and I will follow him now.

Seldom do I run across a story that grabs me from the beginning and holds on till the end. This story is so full of heartbreak. Sorrow for relationships between family. Sorrow for romantic relationships. Sorrow for characters so broken I just wanted to be able to do something. The blurb tells a small overview of what this story is about but it just can’t describe the emotion involved. How does a person survive being blind for twenty years. How does a person face a reality when the reality is so horrific. How can a person grow up knowing they are never good enough and yet have a positive outlook. Somehow this author has the rare talent of delivering characters and stories that make me unhappy to end her books and leave behind the characters. They just come to life and make me want to hold on like an old friend. I love the sassiness of Skylar. I felt for Jason. How can anyone face such an experience. I love the secondary characters who are so there for their friends. I found this story exceptional since there are few I take the time to reread but this is one of the few that I will put on my list.
Should be more than five stars