The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks



Dawson Cole was born into the rebellious and dangerous Cole family in Oriental, North Carolina. But Dawson is different, unlike his family he didn’t want to be violent and get into trouble. One day in chemistry class, he meets Amanda.

Amanda Collier was born into a wealthy family and has big plans to graduate from Duke. When she meets Dawson, they fall in love despite their families differences.

When Amanda’ parents refuse to pay her tuition if she continues to see Dawson, Dawson makes a difficult decision in letting her go so she can pursue her dreams. Twenty-five years later, they are reunited with the death of Tuck, and older friend of theirs. They are forced to confront the realities that they live in, neither of them having the future they imagined.

This was my first Nicholas Sparks novel, and nobody warned me that it was going to be so sad! My god it broke my heart. Anyways…

I liked the whole basic plot of the story, it was interesting and nicely paced, though maybe a little slow at times. The story was entrancing and there were some surprisingly suspenseful action scenes. I liked how the author shifted between points of view and the different characters so you didn’t get too bored and you were able to understand everyone’s thinking. I liked all the characters, except maybe Abee and Ted, but even then I still understood their motives and everything. The romance was so real, and it makes me so sad to see how things didn’t work out for them. I also liked how Sparks kept the reader guessing, and even though I assumed mutiple times about things, I turned out to be wrong.

My only complaints were the author’s enter button seemed to have been broken for a while. And also how sad it was. The story could have gone either way, but instead it took a sad turn. :(

I was reading some other reviews, and I noticed that a lot of them said that the whole “Dawson seeing a spirit” was cheesy, but I liked it because it kinda put an ongoing mystery into the story, one which I did not see at all. Also, they complained about how predictable the story was. Maybe it’s just me and my hope for a happy ending, but I DID NOT see that coming. I had my suspicions set in a different area.

All in all, I loved this book no matter how sad it was. I liked how everything came together nicely in the end and how touching it all was. It’s being turned into a movie, and I’m interested in seeing how they will interpret it.

If you’re a fan of Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult, then I would recommend this one. I loved it, even with the dramatic twists. 5 out of 5 stars.