The Choice

Nicholas Sparks

Summary: 
Travis Parker has it all: a good job, great friends, a dream home in North Carolina. And in this dedicated pursuit of the good life, Travis has absolutely no interest in a woman ruining it all. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door.

Despite his extra neighborly efforts, the alluring redhead simply will not warm to him, rebuffing his every attempt.
But Travis is strangely compelled to get closer to her, leading them both down a road where they will face tough decisions, shocking revelations and heart-wrenching consequences.

How far would you go to keep the promise of love alive.

Plot:

As those who are familiar with Sparks’ novels know, most of them are about two people falling in love…then something terrible happens and their love has to withstand it. And even though this is the case in almost all his stories he manages to add something special to them most of the time, making it all new again. However, while this story was nice, it was quite predictable all the way through. The romance and love was beautifully portrayed, but I needed something more to capture my attention. While the summary tries to make this book sound exciting and emotional etc. it wasn’t that way for me.

Characters:

Sparks has a way of creating extremely lovable, but essentially flawed characters. The type of characters you start to care for, and the ones in this book weren’t any different. I liked both the main characters, although my favorite was Stephanie, the main character’s sister. She’s the type of person I admire, strong, self assured and funny. All in all the characters weren’t very memorable, but quite likable. The type you really like while reading about them, but forget about soon after.

Who should read this:

13+ as there are some mild mature content. Lovers of romance will probably like this book, and anyone who is a fan of Sparks. However if you’re looking for something new, exciting or thought provoking this isn’t the right book. Go read the notebook, or a walk to remember…my personal favorites of his so far.

My rating:

This was a mildly entertaining book, that I’ll probably only remember if I actually read it again. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t exactly get me excited either. I’ll give it a 3/5

Quote:
“Staring at the stars was like staring backward in time, since some stars are so far away that their light takes millions of years just to reach us. That we see stars not as they look now, but as they were when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The whole concept just struck me as…amazing somehow.”