Sometimes he's lucky, sometimes he's not!

I find Nicholas Sparks to be extremely hit or miss. I LOVED The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, not so much for The Wedding and The Best of Me. I also hated Message in a Bottle. I know some Sparks fans will find that sacrilegious but I couldn't find a single character to relate to in this fan favorite. It seemed that after A Walk to Remember, Sparks seemed to have lost his way. He was looking for a magic formula that would speak to readers that had come to expect a certain type of book from him. The trouble is, what he ended up with was a writing formula that felt like just that - a FORMULA. I mean, I knew what was going to happen in The Best of Me less than 50 pages in. Why bother reading when you have it, literally, all figured out? I picked up The Lucky One reluctantly. I just wasn't sure I could handle another disappointment, since this year hasn't exactly been stellar so far. Happily though, The Lucky One was a refreshing return to all those things that I loved so much about the Notebook. The characters were real, believable and likable - all of them. Except for the ones who aren't supposed to be likable that is. I loved Beth, Ben, Nana and Zeus. I really loved Logan but hated that he is called Thibault for most of the early part of the book. Thibault is the name of an old man or a character in a Shakespearian play, not a romantic lead. Once I got past that though, it was a wonderful story. If you enjoyed early Sparks works like Notebook and A Walk to Remember, then I highly recommend The Lucky One.

The Last Song

What is it about Nicholas Sparks that always makes me cry? He spins the most wonderful stories and they always make you feel. In this case, I remembered how hard it was to make friends in a new place, the strain between father/daughter as a girl becomes a young woman, and the bittersweet pangs of first love.

This is a story of Ronnie and Jonah who haven't seen their father since their parents divorce. Now they are leaving their lives in Manhatten to spend the summer in a small North Carlina beach town with their Dad. Ronnie and her father have some unresolved issues between them and Steve ( Ronnie's Dad) has some unresolved issues with his own father.

Will they find a way to reconnect before it's too late?

This is a great read, and another taste of summer. I would recommend this book highly to all my friends, especially any who enjoyed A Walk to Remember and the Notebook.