Nicholas Sparks – Read Write Reflect

The Rescue

Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing)

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If you’re a parent, if you love Nicholas Sparks’ books, if you’re a romantic … you will definitely enjoy this one.

Denise is the pretty single mother of a little boy who is struggling with a speech delay. She’s lonely. She’s lost both her parents and she’s in a new town. Her life hasn’t been easy and it hasn’t been fair. Did I mention she’s lonely?

Taylor is the rugged volunteer firefighter who rescues Denise and her son after a car accident. He has plenty of friends but he’s single and and he’s carrying a heavy burden. His self-loathing causes him to sabotage every relationship. He just can’t allow himself to be happy.

Denise is different to anyone Taylor has met. He falls in love with her and he becomes a doting father figure to her son. But of course, he’s back on the same destructive path. And it costs him his relationship with Denise.

[Spoiler alert]. Denise and Taylor are both broken, wounded people. Taylor knows he’s truly in love with Denise and that he can’t destroy this relationship. There’s too much at stake. In desperation, he opens up to her and shares the heart-breaking burden he’s carried for so long. Denise understands suffering – she’s been dealing with it for many years. She’s there for Taylor; she’s the perfect one for him. This is a special match.

Life can be hard and this book doesn’t sugar-coat the impact of life’s hardships. But it’ll touch your heart and leave you feeling that there’s someone for everyone and that true love has a remarkable impact on the human heart.

The Choice

Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing)

This is without doubt one of my favorite Nicholas Sparks books. The characters are exceptionally well developed and truly come alive. The romance is tender, believable and will draw you in. There’s humor and heartache, tears and tenderness. You won’t want to put the book down and it will be worth every minute of your time. I highly recommend it.

The books follows the story of Travis Parker (the local veterinarian) who falls in love with his new neighbor, Gabby Holland (who has moved to town to become a PA in the local medical clinic). Gabby already has a boyfriend whom she hopes to marry but she’s unhappy in her relationship and the reader knows that she is settling for second best. As the relationship with Travis blossoms, Gabby knows that she’s fallen in love and this time it’s real.

[Spoiler alert] Fast forward some years and Travis and Gabby are married with two daughters. Their lives are picture perfect until the accident. Now Gabby lies in a coma and Travis faces “the choice” – will he follow Gabby’s wishes (expressed years ago) and allow her to die or will he hold on and hope against hope that she recovers? The intensity of Travis’s love is too great. He cannot let Gabby go. In the epilogue, we learn that his decision was the right one: Gabby awakens; life is restored; patience and enduring love are rewarded. It will melt your heart. Read it.

This is one of those rare cases where the movie is just as good as the book and perhaps even better. Benjamin Walker and Teresa Palmer do an incredible job of bringing alive the leading characters. It’s hard not to fall in love with them.

The movie mostly follows the book. One departure from the book is in the details of the accident. In the book, both Gabby and Travis are both in the vehicle when they have the accident and Travis is driving (too fast in poor conditions). In the movie, Gabby is driving alone in the rain because Travis has failed to turn up in time for their date. Nonetheless, the movie captures the very same feelings — Travis believes that he’s responsible for what happened to Gabby and that if he’d made different decisions, better choices, the accident wouldn’t have happened.

Tag: Nicholas Sparks

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