The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

Summary:
When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives.

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, The Lucky One is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I've only read three books by Nicholas Sparks, but I think The Lucky One is my favorite so far. It was definitely the most engaging and best written compared to The Last Song and Dear John. Even though these romance novels aren't my favorite books ever, I still enjoyed reading The Lucky One.

I'm not a huge fan of plain romance, usually I like some action or dystopia along with it. Nicholas Sparks seems to have won over the hearts of many women but I've never been all that impressed with his work. Lucky for me, The Lucky One is one of his better books. I liked the plot and I was interested in the characters, which made me want to keep reading.

The Lucky One is very readable; I read it in about a day. The pages just kept flying by and it wasn't a chore to read. The only thing I don't like about Nicholas Sparks's books is that they seem shallow: we never get to really know the characters. I would like more of a connection and more insight into their feelings and motivations.

Overall, I liked The Lucky One and thought it was one of Nicholas Sparks' better novels. These aren't my favorite books ever, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10.
FTC: borrowed from a friend.

2008/Grand Central Publishing/326 pages.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

Summary:
Her parents' divorce left 17-year-old Veronica Miller embittered and confused. Three years later, "Ronnie" still seethes with anger toward her father, a musician and teacher who has abandoned hectic New York City for the quiet beach town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Nevertheless, she reluctantly agrees to her mother's altruistic plan that for the good of all concerned, she should visit her estranged father in his new home. As the story of The Last Song unfolds, novelist Nicholas Sparks weaves his magic, threading together the intricate story of three very different people tied inextricably together. (from GoodReads)

Review:

I was a little wary about reading this book. I haven't seen the movie (which is a good thing) but I knew that Nicholas Sparks wrote this book with Miley Cyrus in mind for the lead character (why in the world, I have no idea). Once I read the author's notes in the back, I realized that a producer called Nicholas Sparks saying that Miley was interesting in doing one of his movies, and did he have anything laying around? Sparks didn't, but of course he set out to write the screenplay first and then the book. Which is the oddest thing I've ever heard of. Anyway, I didn't know all this in the beginning, but I set out reading The Last Song not sure what to expect.

The good thing is that I enjoyed The Last Song more than Dear John. Since this book is newer maybe Sparks has improved his writing style, but I'm not really sure. I liked the story better, the ending better, and the characters better than I did in Dear John. In the beginning of reading The Last Song I was trying really hard to not imagine Miley Cyrus as Ronnie. And it actually wasn't too difficult; although, if I had seen the movie it probably would have been impossible.

As for the plot, Ronnie is supposed to be the bad kid, the rebellious teenager who sneaks out, talks back, and has an all-around rude attitude. But, Ronnie was the parent's dream rebellious child (or maybe Spark's imagining of what he thinks a rebellious child is). Besides stealing a bracelet once and hanging around some sketchy people, she doesn't sleep around, do drugs or drink. I thought it was a tad unrealistic that she didn't do anything bad, but I didn't mind so much because I don't condone those things at all.

So Ronnie and her brother Jonah visit their father for the summer and she falls in love with a rich kid named Will. I liked Will and I liked their relationship, although Sparks doesn't go that in-depth in their feelings and emotions. I didn't really feel anything when they said they loved each other, so I think Sparks needs to work on not distancing his characters.

This wouldn't be a Nicholas Sparks novel if there wasn't some TRAGIC EVENT that is supposed to illicit some emotion. I was spoiled beforehand so I knew what happened, and while I was sad for all the characters, I wasn't actually sad. I didn't cry and I didn't really feel anything deeper than some sympathy for everyone in the book.

That being said, The Last Song wasn't a bad novel at all and I would recommend it to fans of Nicholas Sparks. It had a cute romance and a sad ending if you like to cry over books/movies, but it wasn't an amazing novel.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

FTC: borrowed from a friend.

2009/Grand Central Publishing/390 pages.

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

After graduating from high school, John Tyree just goes through the motions of living. No ambitions, no career, he's just living from job to job. The relationship with his father is strained, as they have nothing in common, and there's no one he can turn to. After a few years of floating around, John decides to join the army, and it's the best thing for him. He learns disclipline, patriotism and has a group of guys that he would give his life to protect. But it's during his summer leave that everything changes. That is when John first meets Savannah, who is beautiful, sweet and unlike any girl he's ever met. They start spending time together and before he knows it, he's in love with her. But at the end of two weeks, John has to return to Germany and it's harder than ever now that he's leaving someone behind. Savannah and John vow to keep in touch, but will their love conquer the boundaries of time and space?

So, the phenomenon that is Dear John. I first heard of this book when I saw the movie trailer a few months back, and thought the movie looked really cute. I didn't give much thought into reading the book until one of my friends (who happens to be a guy) was practically in love with this book. He's one of those people who rarely, if ever, picks up a book, so the fact that he liked this one so much (a romance at that) made me want to read it. And as it gets closer to the movie release date, Dear John is becoming a craze at my school. Seriously, everyone has read, is reading or wants to read this book. It's starting to feel a little like Twilight. So I decided to pick it up. Here's my review:

It seems to me that Dear John is one of those books that appeal to non-readers. This is my first Nicholas Sparks book and I've found that his writing is simple and the story easy to follow. Everyone (and this is mostly people who don't do a lot of reading) rave about this book. I, however, was a little disappointed because I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I don't know if it's because I've read some amazing books that non-readers haven't or if it just wasn't the book for me, but it wasn't the masterpiece that people are making it out to be. It wasn't all bad; like I said the story is cute and easy and doesn't take that much brainpower. The thing that bothered me was that it seemd like Nicholas Sparks was writing superficially because the book doesn't go into much detail nor does it speak in-depth about the character's thoughts and feelings. This book was based on emotion and the fact that the characters were kind of blah is sort of disconcerting. I also didn't understand why the book was titled Dear John if Savannah only writes two letters the whole book (that the reader can actually read). The whole story seemed kind of rushed if you ask me.

I know it sounds like this book is awful, but it wasn't. I did enjoy reading, I just wasn't that impressed overall. I'm still looking forward to seeing the movie (Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum are two of my favorite actors) and I have a feeling I'll like the movie more than the book.

7 out of 10.