Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: The Long and Winding Road 
SERIES: Bear Otter and the Kid #4
AUTHOR: TJ Klune
NARRATOR: Sean Crisden
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: December 19, 2017
LENGTH: 10 hours, 23 minutes
BLURB:
Family is not always defined by blood. It’s defined by those who make us whole—those who make us who we are.
And here, at the end, Bear and Otter will be tested like they’ve never been before.
There’s a knock at the door from a little girl who has nowhere else to go.
There’s a phone ringing, bringing news they do not expect.
There’s a brother returning home after learning how to stand on his own.
As these moments converge, all of their lives will change forever.
Beginning in Bear, Otter, and the Kid, and continuing in Who We Are and The Art of Breathing, TJ Klune has told a saga of family and brotherhood, of love and sacrifice. In this final chapter, the events of the past pave the long and winding road toward a future no one could have imagined.
REVIEW:
Do you remember how it all began?
I do.
It was a heart-breaking and devastating first meet all those years ago. We’ve followed these guys for a long time now. When we got to know them they were really only two. A solid team, alone among people who tried their best to love them. Yet they were so very afraid to let them in
I’m his big brother. For the longest time, I was all he had. It’s not like that anymore
We were there through the ups and the downs. We’ve cried with them, laughed with them. We’ve done so much with these people. They’ve become part of our family. And it’s always hard to say goodbye to family. But sometimes you have to let go. And that doesn’t mean there won’t be visits in the future, but for now, it’s time to move on.
The Long and Winding Road is written in three parts, the past, present and the future. And while the past doesn’t bring any surprises it does bring clarity. We get to experience the missing years when the Kid was at college, breaking our hearts all over again – but then, what else is new with this series? We experience the happy moments and the scary moments when Bear and Otter finally are ready for more children. We meet Corey and Kori for the first time (kind of). Then we go back to where it all began, back to Seafare.
Then there is the now. When everything changes in the span of an afternoon. With the ring of a doorbell and the ring of a phone. Life changes in an instant – just as life in Seafare has a tendency to. We know this, that’s nothing new. It’s life. So we follow them when they are trying to figure everything out. We watch them live. Because when we first met them, they weren’t living, they were only existing. They have come so fare since then. They are not alone anymore – it was inevitable.
family is not defined by blood. It’s not always who you’re born to that you’re stuck with. It’s what you want it to be, what you make of it. It’s the people around you who see you at your worst and are not afraid to pick up the pieces when you fall apart. It’s the people who can call you on your bullshit. It’s the people who look at you each time they see you like they haven’t seen you in years. It’s the people who you fight for. It’s the people you’d lay down your life for. It’s the scariest thing in the world, but, if you let it, it’s also the greatest.
There are a lot of times while listening (or reading) this book you think: so that happened…. or more likely just what did Bear just say??? I know I really should be used to it by now, but still…. It’s nice to know that some things stay just the same.
Lastly, we see snippets from the future. We realise that life have moved on in Seafare. There have been ups and downs while we’ve been gone. But it’s a life well lived. It’s a bit bittersweet to say goodbye. But it is time. It won’t be forever, and we know that life will go on, with all that it entails.
Sean Crisden was great. There were so many moments during this book that I wondered at Crisden’s ability to keep from laughing like a maniac. Especially when Bear is… being Bear. Asking, ahem interrogating Anna about pregnancy and what to expect. Every tangent he goes on…. I don’t know how he did it, because I sure burst out laughing more than once. He captured the characters and situations just right and every second I spent listening I was there, in Seafare experiencing it all alongside these wonderful people.
Roads can diverge.
It’s tough but true.
It’ll be okay. In the end.
So you’ll go one way.
And we’ll go another.
Maybe one day we’ll meet again.
But even if we don’t, remember this:
We have lived.
We have loved.
We have lost.
But we’re standing. For all that we are, we’re still standing.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: