“True Believer” by Nicholas Sparks

“True Believer” by Nicholas Sparks
2005, Warner Books
ISBN: 0-446-53243-6

“True Believer” by Nicholas Sparks is a terrific love story in only the way that Nicholas Sparks can write them. You just can’t go wrong with him telling a story to you. It feels that way too, just you and the book and shut out the rest of the world while you devour this book.

Jeremy Marsh is worldly and works as a free-lance writer who has come to excel at uncovering hoaxes. His latest expose was in the field of the paranormal, specifically with a channel. Interestingly enough, that’s what I do, so finding this particular book was doubly interesting to me. In any case, he receives a letter inviting him to come expose a ghost story in a sleepy little town in North Carolina.

Ghostly lights is what they are. They show up in a haunted cemetery. Jeremy takes the bait and is drawn into the lives of people who have an entirely different rhythm to their lives than he does.

He also meets Lexie who is the librarian and is in much the same boat as he is in as far as a satisfying love life goes. Neither expects much to happen. He is only there to do the story for a few days. She is not at all interested in having a short fling. But, you never know what’s going to happen when sparks fly and souls cleave together.

As always, the sign of a really good book for me is when I cry at the end. And, I cried with this book a long time after it was finished.

“The Choice” by Nicholas Sparks

“The Choice” by Nicholas Sparks
2007, Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-44-57992-6


“The Choice” by Nicholas Sparks is about the choices we make that affect our lives forevermore. Travis Parker lives by himself. He is not a hermit because he enjoys spending time with friends who go back many years. They are all married and all have kids, but he is a bachelor.

Gabby moves in next door. When the two of them meet it is both embarrassing and a clash of natures that you would think would totally ensure they would never exchange a civil word to each other in this lifetime. However…..

This is a wonderful story about falling in love. I have enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve ever read by Nicholas Sparks. I was not surprised that this was such a good book. And, for those who can understand…I shed a few tears as I made my way through it.

“At First Sight” by Nicholas Sparks

“At First Sight” by Nicholas Sparks
2005, Warner Books
ISBN: 978-0-446-69846-7


I think the sign of a great storyteller is the ability to grab onto the most mundane thing and craft a story out of it. Nicholas Sparks does a really good job with, “At First Sight”. Don't get me wrong, love is not mundane, but there are lots of love stories out there and this one is definately different.

I loved, too, the look into the mind of a writer. Being one (unpublished, but one nevertheless) I love to hear of writing related experiences and to see just how a master storyteller weaves a story.

Jeremy and Lexie meet and fall in love. Fast. Within weeks she learns that she is pregnant and they determine to marry. His family and friends are alarmed and seek to caution him about the dangers of tying the knot too soon. He will not listen, but what happens is that seeds of doubt are planted.

This is a story about learning how to love despite misunderstandings and anger. It is learning more about yourself as an individual and about how to be a couple.

This is a terrific book for young people just starting out their lives as adults not sure of themselves in a world full of people of the opposite sex. I wish I’d come upon it when I was in my 20’s.

“The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks

"The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks
2008, Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-446-57993-3

"The Lucky One" by Nicholas Sparks is a really, really good book. I really couldn’t put it down once I’d started. Nicholas Sparks is a terrific writer and you can figure whatever you read by him is going to be a good read.

In The Lucky One" Logan is a Marine in Iraq. He finds a picture in the sand one day. It is a picture of a young woman. For some reason he is beguiled, but he figures that whoever has lost this photo will want it back. He pins it up on the bulletin board and it sits there day after day with nobody claiming it. One day he walks by and takes it off the board to put it into his pocket. And, that’s when his luck changed.

After that he couldn’t lose at poker games, games he’d managed to lose a significant amount of money in when he’d first started playing them. That was the first thing that happened. Then, there were all the near misses where he survived attacks and bomb blasts. He didn’t think anything of it, but his friend Victor was convinced that it was because of the picture he’d kept in his pocket.

When he got out of the Marines he and Victor decided to visit and catch up on a fishing trip. As they talked Victor told Logan that he’d been seeing ghosts of all their fellow Marines who had died in Iraq. Then, tragedy struck and Victor died in a senseless accident that, by rights, should have killed Logan too.

That’s when Logan decided to find the young woman in the photograph.

I’m not telling you any more. It would spoil the story. This is a riveting book, a mystery, a romance and an all around terrific novel.