Book Review / Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who has captured his heart.

But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else.

Dear John, the letter read... and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life.




Published:    7th August 2007
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This book is both beautiful and heartbreaking and in most cases at the same time.  We follow John who has been brought up by his father alone who rebels against is father and enlists, to get away.  What he doesn't realise is that before he goes he meets Savannah who will change his life in so many ways.

What I loved about this book the most was actually not the relationship between John and Savannah but the relationship between John and his father.  You see them at the beginning of the novel as a relatively normal-ish father and son.  When John grows older he rebels, as most of us do at some point when we are younger.  When John gets back from duty and begins to spend more and more time with Savannah, Savannah opens his eyes to a part of his father that he had never thought about before but explains so much. 

As with most of Nicholas Sparks' novels, there is so much more to this story than just a simple love story. 

Book Review / The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life -- boating, swimming, and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies -- he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door. Despite his attempts to be neighborly, the appealing redhead seems to have a chip on her shoulder about him...and the presence of her longtime boyfriend doesn't help. Despite himself, Travis can't stop trying to ingratiate himself with his new neighbor, and his persistent efforts lead them both to the doorstep of a journey that neither could have foreseen. Spanning the eventful years of young love, marriage and family, The Choice ultimately confronts us with the most heartwrenching question of all: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?



Published:     30th September 2007
Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

One of the things that I adore in Nicholas Spark's novels is the simplicity in the romance.  You have Travis Parker who has a great live but no romance.  You have Gabby who has a good live, works hard and moves in next door to Travis.  You just have two people who may not get on at times get drawn together and one thing leads to another.  

This story follows their journey throughout many many years from when they first met to later on when they obviously know each other a lot more.  As with most of Nicholas Sparks' novels there is a touch of tragedy in this story which ties in with the title of this story, The Choice.  

It is best to go into this novel really not knowing much.  Just delve in and let the characters take you on a journey. 

Book Review / The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

After thirty years of marriage, Wilson Lewis, son-in-law of Allie and Noah Calhoun (of The Notebook), is forced to admit that the romance has gone out of his marriage. Desperate to win back his wife, Jane's, heart, he must figure out how to make her fall in love with him... again. Despite the shining example of Allie and Noah's marriage, Wilson is himself a man unable to easily express his emotions. A successful estate attorney, he has provided well for his family, but now, with his daughter's upcoming wedding, he is forced to face the fact that he and Jane have grown apart and he wonders if she even loves him anymore. Wilson is sure of one thing--his love for his wife has only deepened and intensified over the years. Now, with the memories of his in-laws' magnificent fifty-year love affair as his guide, Wilson struggles to find his way back into the heart of the woman he adores.





Published:     2003
Publisher:  Vision
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

This is my favourite book of all time and has been since the first time I read it.  If it is possible, I adore this book more and more every time I read it.  I know on Goodreads that this is marked down as being book 2 in a series, the first book being the Notebook and although I would strongly recommend reading the Notebook first as you will have more understanding of certain parts of this story, you don't have to. 

What I love about this book is that it is simply a love story.  A love story about two people who have been together for so long that maybe they have forgotten how to be in love.  There are obvious events that happen in this story, especially the reveal at the end, which I would love to talk to you about but I won't as they will spoil the part parts of this story. 

What I would recommend is that if you are interested in reading this story and haven't done so already, pick up The Notebook first  If you enjoy that you will like his one and you will get a deeper understanding of some aspects of this story and the meaning behind some of the characters' motivations.   I will say that this is not one of those stories that has a lot of twists and turns.  It is purely the journey the characters are going through and the twist at the end is definitely worth following the journey on. 

Book Review / The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks; but there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: He can't fall in love.

BookPage calls Nicholas Sparks, "a modern master of fateful love stories," and his phenomenal bestsellers- The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, and A Walk to Remember- have made him one of America's most beloved storytellers. Here, in his newest work, Sparks tells a story about making the greatest commitment of all...loving someone forever.

The Rescue

When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks - risks no one else in the department would ever take - to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can't bring himself to make: He can't fall in love. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over, as soon as the relationship starts to become truly intimate.

Then, one day, a raging, record-breaking storm hits his small Southern town. Denise Holton, a young single mother, is driving through it when her car skids off the road. With her is her four-year-old son, Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything. Unconscious and bleeding, she-but not Kyle-will be found by Taylor McAden. And when she wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear to both of them: Kyle is gone.

During the search for Kyle, the connection, the lifeline, between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor doesn't know that this rescue will be different from all the others, demanding far more than raw physical courage. That it will lead him to the possibility of his own rescue from a life lived without love. That it will require him to open doors to his past that were slammed shut by pain. That it will dare him to live life to the fullest by daring to love.

In The Rescue Nicholas Sparks weaves his inimitable spell, immersing us in the passions and the surprising complexities of modern relationships-and in doing so, teaching us something about our own.

Published:     2000
Publisher:  Warner Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

Just like with mostly all of the books written by Nicholas Sparks, I have read this book so many times now I know this story by heart but delving into this story one more time was wonderful.

The main part of the story is where we see Kyle disappear and there is then a search to find him.  He is only a young child so it is more a race to get to find him before something bad happens to him.  

What I loved the most was the relationships that build up between Denise and Taylor and between Taylor and Kyle.  Kyle has severe learning disabilities so it does make it difficult if not impossible at times to form new relationships with new people he meets but quite quickly it appears that Kyle likes Taylor.

A truly wonderful story that contains the perfect amount of romance, drama and intrigue.

Book Review / Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson

Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace.

But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either...





Published:     5t March 2019
Publisher:  William Morrow
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

I can't tell you how much I loved this book!  I have only read one other book by this author before but I am beginning to see a style coming out in his writing.  I am not sure yet whether it is a style that is going to continue throughout all of his books but I can tell you from the two books I have read so far, I am loving it!  He has a way of telling you what is happening and revealing something major about the story early on so you know but still somehow has a way of surprising me.   I am sure that I am not explaining this to its best potential but you just need to pick up one of his books (and I would most certainly recommend this one) to find out what I mean.

What I loved about this story was her suspense.  You have Hen who have moved into a new neighbourhood but is instantly suspicious of one of her neighbors.  There's an object there that shouldn't be there that might mean that they are living next door to murderers.   What follows is this quest by Hen of trying to find out if they are.  There are quite a few twists and turns in this story that kept me on my toes. 

An amazing thriller that I just could not put down!

Book Review / UR by Stephen King

Reeling from a painful break-up, English instructor and avid book lover Wesley Smith is haunted by his ex-girlfriend's parting shot: "Why can't you just read off the computer like everyone else?" He buys an e-book reader out of spite, but soon finds he can use the device to glimpse realities he had never before imagined, discovering literary riches beyond his wildest dreams...and all-too-human tragedies that surpass his most terrible nightmares.









Published:     12th February 2009
Publisher:  Storyville LLC
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

A very intriguing read.  If there is a story about book or about reading, no matter what happens I am definitely going to pick it up.  In this story, you have Wesley who reads e-books on his reader but he soon finds out that he can do a lot more with his reader.

This was a very short read but there's a lot packed into the pages.   The pacing at the start of the story was a bit slow but it soon picked up and I was hooked.  I wanted to find out what was going to happen next.

This was such a fun read and it does seem to make reference to some other book(s) of Stephen King's so I am intrigued to find out what that is about.