Love at first sight? For me, not this time

I need to start this review by saying … I love Nicholas Sparks’ books and I’ve read most (?) of them. The problem with this is that when I read a Sparks’ book, I start with the presumption that it’s going to be phenomenal. Most of the time, I’m right, but this time I was a little disappointed.

And I also didn’t realize until too late that this was a “book 2,” by which I mean to say, I haven’t read book 1. I think this impacted my ability to appreciate the book.

That said, it was good book but probably my least favorite Sparks. I didn’t feel like it had the same character development (quite possibly because I haven’t read book 1). It was also a little too predictable. I pretty much guessed exactly what was going to happen and then I was disappointed that I was right!

The good

There were three things I really like about this book.

It’s relatable. If you’re married/have been married and if you have had kids, you’re bound to relate to at least some parts of it.

It has a message without being “preachy”. It’s going to touch you. It’s going to make you think.

The epilogue of the book is great. I predicted how things would play out so the conclusion wasn’t impactful for me. But the epilogue was and I enjoyed it.

The bad

Usually, I find that I love the characters that Nicolas Sparks creates. Here, I didn’t really warm to the two main characters all that much. I found Lexie just a little too self-centred and Jeremy’s writer’s block got old.

(spoiler alert) Part of the story involves some mysterious emails that Jeremy received. I found this part unrealistic and contrived. The emails turn out to be from his best friend but I never felt I really felt this was satisfactorily resolved and explained.