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.
Showing posts with label recommend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recommend. Show all posts
Monday, June 25, 2012
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.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
One More Day
In 1988, Dex and Emma have only just met. He's a bit of a player. She's a bit of a hippy. Their friendship seems unlikely and yet, the book follows Emma and Dex, the various ups and downs of their friendship, over the next twenty years. It is a very interesting concept because the book only focusing on that one day, so we only get a glimpse into their lives, but it is enough of a look, from both perspectives to get an understanding of what is happening. This was a difficult book for me because I found Dex to be a bit of a pratt. I didn't know why he and Emma just couldn't work it out.
Still the book was well written, with an interesting concept. It is worth checking out.
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