Audiobook Review: The Unexpected Journey by Emma Heming Willis
The Unexpected Journey: Finding Strength, Hope, and Yourself on the Caregiving Path
Author: Emma Heming Willis
Narrator: Emma Heming Willis
Published: September 9, 2025
Audiobook: 8 hours 57 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: September 15-18, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 5 stars
Book Description:
The day Emma Heming Willis’ husband, Bruce Willis, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), all they were given was a pamphlet and told to check back in a few months. With no hope or direction, Emma walked out of that doctor’s appointment frozen with fear, confusion and a sense that her world had just fallen apart.
In fact, it had. Bruce and Emma had their story written, their future mapped out. Yet all those dreams crumbled with that diagnosis, and Emma felt alone and more isolated than ever. How would she care for her husband while parenting their young daughters?
At that devastating time, Emma just wanted someone who’d been through it to tell her, “This feels terrible right now. Your life is in shambles. But it’s going to be okay. Here are some things to think about and put in place so you cannot just survive but thrive.”
With The Unexpected Journey, Emma has written the book she wishes she’d been handed on the day of Bruce’s diagnosis: a supportive guide to navigating the complicated, heartbreaking, and transformative experience that is caregiving for your loved one. Weaving her personal journey as a care partner with the latest research and insights from the world’s top dementia, caregiving, and integrative experts she offers the guidance and wisdom caregivers everywhere so desperately need to hear, including:
- A diagnosis isn’t just a label, it’s a starting point. It helps you better understand your person’s behavior and respond with more clarity and compassion.
- Taking care of yourself is not optional; it’s mandatory. It will make you a better care partner. It’s not selfish, it’s self-preserving.
- You don’t have a choice about being on the dementia caregiving journey. But you do have a choice in terms of how you approach it and reframe it.
- Caregivers are human so you aren’t always going to be patient and selfless. You have challenges and struggle with conflicting emotions and that’s okay.
Ultimately, The Unexpected Journey shows you how to care for yourself while doing one of the hardest, most heartbreaking jobs in the world. Because if you don’t take care of yourself, you are not going to be able to look after anyone else—especially your loved one with dementia.
For anyone caregiving for a loved one with any form of dementia, and even for those caregiving for other conditions, The Unexpected Journey shows that you are not alone. As Emma writes, “I know that no two caregiving journeys are the same, but we are connected by the same unchosen thread. It’s not an easy path for you, your loved one or your family. But I’m here to let you know that you are not alone, and, in time, you will find your footing, and a way forward.”
Jessica’s Review:
Don’t go into this book thinking you will learn about her life with Bruce Willis, The Unexpected Journey is a book written for those who have found themselves on the journey of Caregiving, whether expected or unexpected and this is why I wanted to listen to it. I am not on this journey but this book will definitely help those who find themselves in this situation.
We do get one chapter of how the couple met and their love story, but Willis’ love story continues down this path of being a caregiver for her husband along with caring for their young children. Willis seemingly wrote the book that she wished she had been able to read when all she was given was a pamphlet of some information at the beginning of their journey.
She acknowledges that she has more resources than most caregivers, but she shares her story of navigating loss, confusion, fear, love, and managing day-to-day life also while parenting. Willis gives information to help a caregiver reach what can be attainable for them. She gives research and advice from medical and wellness experts. This book would benefit caregivers of individuals with various diseases but specifically if ‘their person’ is suffering from FTD (frontotemporal dementia). ‘Their person’ is the term that Willis uses, and it is a good term to use.
Willis is very candid and upfront. She emphasizes the importance of how small things can add up. She also states that taking care of yourself first as a caregiver is extremely important. Many times a caregiver passes away before the one being cared for (their person) does. The author does mention this, but the chapters of the book are structured so that each one can be read independently, which results in some overlap of information. Again, this is for the person reading the book who is a caregiver, and one chapter may be more important in their specific journey.
Emma Heming Willis also narrated The Unexpected Journey and listening to it I felt the heart and soul she put into this book. She really wants to help other caregivers. This is an informative and heartfelt book that is a must read for caregivers. Thank you to Willis for writing what she feels will help others.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: When Your World Ends by Dawn Mann Sanders
When Your World Ends: God’s Creative Process for Rebuilding a Life
Author: Dawn Mann Sanders
Narrator: Dawn Mann Sanders
AUDIO To Be Published: September 16, 2025
Audiobook: 6 hours
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: July 21-26, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
How do you rebuild your life after it falls apart?
Catastrophic events often feel like the end of the world. When we feel like we have nothing left, we sometimes wish for our own end too. Yet God keeps waking us up every morning—a sign that God wants us to keep living when our world ends. We must find our way to the new life that awaits us on the other side of loss. But how?
Dawn Sanders has traveled this path before and lived to tell the tale—not once but twice. After a divorce and then the sudden death of her second husband, Dawn discovered a buried treasure in Genesis 1: God’s process for creating new life out of chaos. In When Your World Ends, Dawn digs deep into the creation story and unearths a seven-step process by which God brings us out of the void and into new beginnings. With her unique perspective, authenticity, and courage, Dawn meets those who are starting over and guides us into renewed hope.
Jessica’s Review:
Dawn Mann Sanders has experienced a great loss twice in her life, so she writes based of those experiences and of course, the Bible. This book is not for a quick fix, but for a spiritual journey. With a vulnerability and wisdom from a two-time experience of loss, Sanders shares her personal journey through her loss and how she found purpose, peace, and healing on the other side. When we are experiencing our particular loss, we cannot see ourself coming out on the other side for the better. And we also need God to help us come through.
Throughout the book, Sanders gives the Bible verses she uses. This book can be used for many types of loss, though Sanders’ focus is on the unexpected death of her second husband Reggie. For myself, being just over a year post divorce I felt would have benefitted more from Sanders talking more of her first loss, the loss of her first husband due to divorce. Though not a death, divorce is like a death, but the person is still alive.
I did benefit from this audiobook, but as I am visual, I feel I would have benefitted much more with a physical copy of this book. I found myself wanting to go back and listen to parts of the book again, but with an audiobook, this is much harder to do that just going back x number of pages to re-read. Whatever loss you might experience is, you feel like you won’t make it through, but you will and end up on the other side, and better off as well. It’s all a part of the journey that God has planned for us. And we may not see what that purpose is while going through the experience, after time we can look back and see that God does in fact know what He is doing.
Sanders also narrates the book, which added a personal touch. Many thanks to the publisher for granting me an advanced copy to listen to and review.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Audiobook Review: The New Single by Tamsen Fadal
The New Single: Finding, Fixing and Falling Back in Love With Yourself After a Break-Up or Divorce
Author: Tamsen Fadal
Narrator: Tamsen Fadal
Published: June 30, 2015
Audiobook: 7 hours 5 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: November 25-28, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Starting over doesn’t have to be so hard.
After the shock of a relationship change it can be tough to get out of bed in the morning, much less be at your best. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With a realistic and proven game plan to help you get where you want to be, The New Single is the essential roadmap to surviving the split-up and starting over, ninety days at a time:
– Embracing the person you are today
– Radiating confidence
– Taking better care of yourself inside and out, from career and finances, to home, health, and fitness
– Avoiding toxic patterns and dangerous missteps
Tamsen Fadal is empathetic and incisive about relationships and breakups: she learned many of the lessons in The New Single the hard way. Now, with candor and humor, she’s sharing her secrets, stories, and sometimes painful lessons.
Jessica’s Review:
This is going to be a bit of a personal review for me.
I never would have pictured that 2024 went the way that it did: My husband telling me something on January 6, 2024 that turned my life upside down. Couples counseling didn’t work and I realized the marriage was over. Being devastated, I had to start over and with the help of some great friends, I did. I found the apartment that God had meant for me (which is its own short story) and took two of the three cats (apartments only let you have two pets otherwise I would have taken all three). I have started over with my new chapter and I think I am doing pretty good: Yes, I still have times of sadness and I know that will continue, but I am getting better.
I discovered Tamsen Fadal in 2024 talking about her book coming out in 2025: How to Menopause: Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim Your Life, and Feel Even Better than Before along with her documentary The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause that is out now and I have watched it. I am of ‘that age’ where I am beginning to experience peri-menopause symptoms, so I look forward to her upcoming book and learning what every woman goes through in their life.
I came across The New Single for free in my Audible account and it is also narrated by Fadal, so I decided to listen to it and it did help me! Everything mentioned in self-help books will not apply to every reader, which includes this one: Everyone is different and goes through their own life changes. This book is geared towards women who have gone through a breakup of a long-term serious relationship or a divorce, and a lot of it seemed geared for me. I didn’t have children with my ex-husband, so I did skip over the parts where children are mentioned.
Fadal’s book was written after her divorce and in some ways I identified with her. Her book is meant to help the reader/listener after their particular life change occurs and to empower themselves and learn to love themselves again as they start over. There were good tips and suggestions given to the reader.
This is a great self-help book for those who will need it. And if I could give Fadal a hug I would!
This review is posting on my site a little more than a month after I wrote it. It is posting on January 6, 2025, which is one year from when my now ex-husband told me “I love you, but I’m not in love with you” on January 6, 2024. I’ve come so far from that life changing day and looking forward to what happens next! If you are going through a hard time like I did, I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it really WILL get better! You will survive it and come out better in the end! It’s a new chapter for you like it was for me.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK