Sorry for my lack of updates, but let's get back to it!
Synopsis courtesy of Barnes & Noble:
After U.S. Marine Logan Thibault
finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during
his tour of duty in Iraq, he experiences a sudden streak of luck —
winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat. 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 woman in the photograph out of his mind and he
sets out on a journey across the country to find her. But Thibault is
caught off guard by the strong attraction he feels for the woman he
encounters in North Carolina - Elizabeth, a divorced mother — and he
keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and
Elizabeth embark upon a passionate love affair, his secret soon
threatens to tear them apart — destroying not only their love, but also
their lives.
My Review:
First off, I'm not a huge Nicholas Sparks girl. I've read A Walk To Remember and have seen AWTR, The Notebook, Dear John, and The Last Song film adaptations. There is typically a stigma with Nicholas Sparks books, for me at least, that the novels always end tragically. I'm not going to tell you how this novel ends, but I was pleasantly surprised.
There were certain elements to this novel that obviously lacked believability. First, Logan walks all the way from Colorado to North Carolina with his dog Zeus. I'm sure this is possible, but plausible is another story. Logan finds a picture of Beth (a woman he doesn't know) while serving in Iraq and after a series of unfortunate events believes that this picture holds a special meaning. He figures out where the picture was taken from evidence in the photo and sets out to find Beth.
There is obviously a romantic element to Logan finding Beth's picture -- the idea of love at first sight -- but at the same time while reading this I had a major creepiness factor. It almost sounds stalkerish that he would go out of his way to figure out who she was and where she lived and then set out there. He comes into her life and doesn't tell her who he is, how he knows of her, or anything. Logan lets Beth believe that he is a wanderer and doesn't tell her anything further as they slowly fall in love.
Similar to other Nicholas Sparks novels there is an antagonist trying to tear apart Logan and Beth. The largest factor in any problems Logan and Beth have though is Logan's inability to be honest with Beth, which was my major issue with the novel. I understand Sparks is trying to create tension and conflict between the characters, but the 'stalker' factor never really died down for me despite Logan having true feelings for Beth.
I did see the movie version of this book and I will say that the film cut out major elements of the story. I don't usually recommend that people see a movie first and then read the book, but this was one case where I would. After reading the book the movie was a big let down, despite Zac Efron's cute factor.
Overall I would say this is actually a good read, and one of the better Nicholas Sparks stories I have experienced, but only if you can get past how Logan discovers Beth. Some people will see it as 'fate', but others will see it similar to how I did.
Grade: B
