not the best, but still good.

I have NEVER went on this long of a hiatus from blogging, and reading. But apparently fall is the biggest time of year for us in the on-the-side photography business, so I have been neck deep in sessions and editing. Not that I'm complaining. Since my last post, I am no longer a twenty-something. I am officially 30. And while celebrating all week, and then the week after at the beach was a blast, I am now sitting here at my kitchen counter, being 30, and that's not easy. I did get to read the latest Nicholas Sparks novel the day it was released, which made things a little better. Other than the fact that the main characters were 28, and I am now officially older than Nicholas Sparks characters.

See Me was definitely more on the thrilling side of things compared to Sparks' typical plotlines, although he has become more suspenseful as of late. Colin is an ex-con, on a five year probation period that will end with him in prison if he gets into one more fight at a bar. He is in college trying to get a degree in elementary education, changing his life around. And Maria is a lawyer, daughter of Mexican immigrants, who hasn't had much luck in love. They meet by chance, and immediately realize that despite Colin's past, and how wary it makes Maria and her family, they are meant to be. While there relationship blooms, neither realizes that Maria is in fact being stalked by someone who held a serious grudge about a case Maria was on when she was assistant to the DA in Charlotte. Once the stalker reveals themselves, and the police have little they can do about it, will Colin throw his life away to protect Maria?

another spark's crowd pleaser.

Nicholas Sparks' latest novel The Longest Ride has a love story for the young and the old(er). Told in three different perspectives, and two separate storylines, we first meet 90-something Ira and his late wife, Ruth. Although I am in my twenties, Ira and Ruth's story was my favorite of the two. The story opens with Ira who has just gotten into a car accident that has him pinned in his vehicle. It is winter time in North Carolina, and the weather is cold, worrying Ira more and more as the chapters pass. In his car, he is able to see and speak to his wife Ruth, who died nine years previously. Together, they rehash their love story, showing readers how love can indeed conquer death.

Twenty-one year old Sophia is a senior in college and a sorority girl, although she doesn't act like the traditional form. She has just gotten over a breakup when she meets Luke at a country barn party after her and her girlfriends travel to a bull riding show. Luke has been riding bulls since he could walk, and he's extremely good at it. He and Sophia hit it off instantly, despite their obvious differences (she's an art history major from Jersey with immigrant parents, he works on his family's ranch, rides bulls and is super country). Their love story is sweet, but a little immature for my taste. Probably because I'm getting older. I just couldn't help but fall in love with Ira and Ruth, to me, they trumped.

I'm sure you all are wondering how Sparks managed to intertwine two couples who are not related and 70 years apart in age. Let's just say he did so in his Sparks kind of way.

the latest nicholas sparks.

Nicholas Sparks novels are every woman's guilty pleasure. OR every woman's normal pleasure, just guilty for me because I pretend to NOT be the hopeless romantic mush type of female, when in all reality I own every Sparks novel and cry every time I watch The Notebook, just like the rest of you saps.

In Sparks latest The Best of Me he sticks to his usual style. Teenage boy meets teenage girl, parents get in the way, college gets in the way, jail gets in the way, and grown up boy sees grown up girl twenty years later and they hash it all out. Dawson Cole grew up in a family of criminals, it was literally built in to his DNA. The Cole's are the type of people who would murder their own kin, just because they felt like it. Dawson grew up wanting to be anything but a member of that family, receiving beatings instead of hugs for his efforts at school. Amanda Collier grew up in a family of over-privileged snobs. She had a beautiful fiery spirit and would never be given her parents blessing to live happily ever after with a Cole. Amanda went to college, an accident sent Dawson to jail, and their love (a passionate Sparks novel kind of love) was not strong enough to survive. Both of them now forty-two, the death of a close friend brings them together again. Amanda in an unhappy marriage with three children, and Dawson in a content but not exactly happy life, alone.

You see, there are some people who fall in love over and over. And there are others who can only seem to do it once.

new nicholas sparks.

Nicholas Sparks scares the crap out of me whenever I read his books. He does not mess around, he WILL kill off your favorite character, it's been done before. You can understand my anxiety while reading his latest, Safe Haven, about a woman who ran away from an awful past, and falls in love with an amazing man (and widower) along with his two young children. Hello? Nicholas Sparks waits for characters to find love and then RIPS it away from them. It's what he's known for.

You can tell from the beginning that there is something off about Katie. She moved to the small town of Southport, North Carolina, alone. She is young, pretty and quiet, and in a small town secrets are not secrets for very long. Her past is revealed pretty easily to Alex. Southport is his late wife, Carly's hometown, they planned to raise their children here, and when she passed away a few years earlier, he couldn't bare to move away. He owns the general store in town and watches Katie pretty closely for weeks until he realizes that she is obviously in hiding. Just by her mannerisms, and his experience as a detective in the military he can tell that she is keeping a very dark secret.

Katie does let Alex into her life, she trusts him with her secret and her heart, but what happens when her past meets her present and endangers her and everyone she loves? Will Sparks live up to his reputation and end their story before it even really begins? I had to bite my nails and wait it out, and so do you friends.

sparks new book to movie!

Would you like to know what I love about Nicholas Sparks novels? Yes? Alright, I'll tell you: Things are never what they appear to be. He usually gives us a little hint, a tiny bit of foreshadowing, but usually, readers are surprised.

"The Last Song" was a breathe of fresh air. Sparks last few novels have been a sort of let down for me. I just adored Ronnie as our main character. A seventeen year old wild child, with a conscience. Even though I am twenty-four, I can relate to a teeny bopper character more than one in their thirties or forties. It has a bit of "The Notebook" themes, but is entirely different as well.

Ronnie is forced to live in North Carolina for the entire summer, with her crafty (but cute) ten year old brother, and her father who bounced out on her family. She hasn't spoken to him in THREE years. But of course, things are not what they seem. Reading as this young woman falls in love, learns to forgive and changes lives...it's beautiful. Really. You won't be disappointed!

"The Lucky One"

“The Lucky One” was actually a pretty good book. It took me about a chapter to get into it. I don’t know why I think that Nicholas Sparks will ever top “The Notebook” because it is not possible, and I have all these expectations of Nicholas Sparks since that book, and he never exceeds them. I can’t really blame him, that love story is like no other. But this new story was good. It was easy reading; I wasn’t bored. It actually seemed like a book that a man could enjoy as well. Sparks main male character had been in the marines, so he spoke of war often. I don’t necessarily enjoy reading about it, but I know a lot of you would. It was worth reading for sure.