Monday, October 17, 2011

Book Review: The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

Summary: THE BEST OF ME is the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they've taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past.


Review: Nicholas Sparks is by far one of my favorite authors ever. That being said, I rated this one more harshly than other books because I expected something that would make me laugh, cry, and sigh with how amazing the love is, like all of his other books did. Sadly, I could only give this one four stars. The fist thing that just didn't do it for me was the romance between Dawson and Amanda. I could tell they loved each other by the recap of their past and how they fell in love, but the present time in the book that they spent together didn't radiate the normal, intense passion that has been in his other books. I really enjoyed the main characters but I didn't connect with them. I wish we could have actually read about them falling in love in high school because then their love would have been more real 20 years down the road. So I was a bit bored in the first half of the book because I expected more passion and drama than what I actually got. The second half of the book, though, is what really saved the story. So many things happen that my heart was actually racing because I was so anxious to figure out what was going to happen next. Once the initial twist happened though, the book was slightly predictable so I knew what was going to happen in the last chapter of the book well before it actually occurred. Because of this, I didn't cry like I have in many of Sparks' other books, but I was still happy with the ending (though I would have been happier with a happier ending...). So overall The Best of Me was a very enjoyable book, but I didn't fall in love with it like I have with all of his other books. I still can't wait to see what they do with the movie for this! Yet another Nicholas Sparks creation to look forward too :)




5 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your review and have been anxious to read this book for some time now.

    Blessings,
    Patricia aka Mamaw

    http://itstimetoreadmamaw.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great review. I liked how you summed up exactly the good and bad for you. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great review!! I am leery of Sparks novels. I HATE sad endings...It sounds like this one is sad???

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great review! I agree 100% with all of it! I loved the book (read it in a day as I do with all of his books) but would have preferred more high school days as well and I tore through the pages dying to see what was coming next but then as soon as "a certain something" occured, I knew exactly how it was going to conclude! (Very predictible) I still cried like a baby though and like always my daughter comes in the room (she's 21) and says "Mom, you must be reading Nicholas Sparks" and her jiding makes me cry even more...I must say that I hadn't even gotten through the acknowledgements before I was in tears! I'm such a wooooooos!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Best of Me was the first time for me reading Nicholas Sparks' work.

    I agree with you 100% that the story is very predictable. I mean, it's like I could read half of the novel then close my eyes and write the ending myself.

    I am quite disappointed, since Sparks is one of the most famous authors out there, and to tell you the truth I had a big expectation for this book.

    Great review!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...