I finished one book and started and read another in the time I was home before leaving again. Lemme tell you about those two!
Second Chance by Jane Green - This book has a great plot line. Tom is killed in a terroristic attack and this brings together his old schoolmates -- now approaching their 40's and all with some sort of well, that's life type of problems -- problems almost anyone can relate to. Saffron is carrying on an affair with a married man. Holly is desparately unhappy in her marriage. Paul and his wife are struggling with infertility and Olivia is lonely. Tom's death brings them back together and forces them to be introspective about their own lives.
The book had the potential to be great. There's something about a life being snuffed away too quickly that makes us all examine our own lives, where we are, our happiness or unhappiness. And the book is okay but it's not what it could have, should have been. Holly is the character that is the most hashed out but we're all left feeling like we don't know the other characters as well as we know her. In addition, the book lacked a lot of the humor you find in Jane Green books. Like I said, it was okay but it's honestly probably not something I'd ever read again. (The mark of a great book for me is that I can read it over and over. And over. And over).
The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks - Do you ever wonder if Nicholas Sparks is as romantic as the men he writes about in his books? I'm not gonna lie, every time I read one of his novels I can't help but think "yeah, nuh-uh, no way, notta gonna happena" because really? I mean REALLY? And when women tell me that THEIR man is like one of the leads in a Nick Sparks book I automatically assume she's just lying and an asshole. I'm just sayin'.
The Best of Me is the story of Dawson Cole, the cliched Boy from the Wrong Side of the Tracks, and Amanda Collier, the Cheerleader and Everything Girl. They fall in deep love in high school but, of course, her parents interfere and break up their relationship. They both leave the small North Carolina town where they were raised, but find themselves back 25 years later following the death of an old friend. You don't even have to read the book to know where the story goes from there. It's Nichoals Sparks after all! They rediscover their love but Amanda is faced with choosing between Dawson and her own troubled marriage. Not only that, but there is the (kinda weird, honestly) angle of a couple of Dawson's cousins who are hell bent on revenge for something-or-nother that happened 20 years in the past.
Thing is -- the book is good. It's Nicholas Sparks and he is absolutely amazing and character development. Seriously. This guy could write about a serial killer and make you feel like he has some sort of redeeming characters. You find yourself liking both Dawson and Amanda and, as the book goes on, pulling for them. The book is predictable (especially if you've read any other Sparks books). It's supposed to be a tear jerker. Maybe it would be for some people but the predictability sort of took out the "boo hoo" factor for me. It's a good enough book, an easy read but it's also most definitely not one of his best.
