Fifteen Minutes: A Novel by Karen Kingsbury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Title: Fifteen Minutes: A Novel
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Narrator: Kirby Heybourne
Length: Unabridged; 12 hours 1 minute
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published: October 29, 2013
Genres: Fiction; Christian Fiction

Visit my review/blog HERE!

My Rating: ✮✮✮✮

Synopsis:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a dramatic story about fame, true love, and the cost of having it all.

Zack Dylan made a promise to God and his college sweetheart as he left his family’s horse farm in Kentucky to compete on the popular reality television show Fifteen Minutes: If he makes it, the fame won’t change him.

Overnight, Zack is the nation’s most popular contestant, a country singer with the looks and voice of a young Elvis. As his star rises, Zack is asked to compromise and quiet his beliefs, and also some­thing more. Something Zack could never have imagined. Just as America is falling in love with Zack, just as he’s on the verge of winning it all, his choices lead him to the brink of personal disaster.

At the same time, Reese Weatherly, a thera­peutic horse instructor, is no longer sure about her relationship with Zack, or the wedding they had dreamed about. While Zack advances from one round of the competition to the next, an offer comes to Reese—one that will take her to a home halfway around the world.

Then Chandra Olson—reigning diva pop star and one of the Fifteen Minutes judges—intervenes. Chandra has suffered so much public pain and pri­vate agony since her days as a Fifteen Minutes contestant. Now she wants just one thing: meaning.

Can Chandra’s private losses help Zack find his way, or will his fifteen minutes of fame cause him to lose the life he once loved? Fifteen Minutes is a story of character, compromise, and the cost of having it all. A story that raises the question: Who are the real winners?

My Review:
I must say that I don't really read much Christian Fiction, but was happy with the content of Fifteen Minutes. It wasn't overly Godly or religious, but was enough to know that Karen Kingsbury is comfortable writing about her faith and beliefs, which I really respect. I found the Fifteen Minutes really grasped me and I had to know what happened to Zack on the show and where that left him and Reese. I also found the sub stories of Kelly and Chandra very interesting and liked how they were woven in with the stories of Zack, Zoe and Reese.

The narrator, Kirby Heybourne did a wonderful job reading the book. The only quirk that I had was not with the narrator in particular, but the fact that when it came to a song in the book, the song or lyrics were just read. I think that it would have made this book over the top, and possibly that 5th star read for me if the songs would have actually been sung. It didn't even have to have music to accompany it, aA' Capella would have been just fine, at least for me! I was able to easily following Kirby's reading and kept in tune with the story just fine. He did a great job of distinguishing between characters and made the listening of Fifteen Minutes an enjoyable experience.

I thought that the characters were well thought-out and thorough. I felt like they came from a different breed than the characters I usually read about in mystery and suspense books, however, that different breed was quite refreshing! I thought that there was a great amount of diversity between the characters and they mixed well together to create a great novel. However, I was quite irked by the Zoe kink in the story and every part of that annoyed me, from the beginning and her introduction, to the end result. I felt like she instigated it all from the very beginning to the end, and was disappointed that Zack just let it go when he was confronted with information that she was behind it! That's about the only thing that really got to me, other than the songs not being sung!

The story was a great, lesson-learning story, that I am thrilled to have been able to read. I didn't necessarily care for the ending too much, because I felt like it left too much open, left too much for me to guess what happened. I would have liked a more defined ending as to this is exactly what happened. I could easily see the theme of the book and the point that Kindbury was trying to convey to her readers that even people with the strongest faith, can be changed in a matter of seconds, without even realizing it, that it is harder to be true to yourself and your faith than you may think that it is.

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Fifteen minutes while driving, and found myself just wanted to drive more or wait in the car just a little bit longer just so that I could listen to a little bit more. This was my first read/listen by Karen Kingbury, as well as my first real Christian Fiction book, but I can assure you that it won't be my last from either! I really did enjoy this book!



Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book by the Publisher, Simon & Schuster Audio via Audiobook Jukebox in return for an honest, unbiased review.

View all my reviews