Saturday, September 26, 2020

The Return by Nicholas Sparks

A special thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Trevor Benson, an orthopedic surgeon, was wounded by a mortar explosion while working in Afghanistan. Plagued with injuries, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, he decides to take some time at his late grandfather's dilapidated cabin before going back to medical school, this time to study psychiatry. 

Keeping busy with home improvements and tending to his grandfather's beehives, the last thing Trevor expects is to meet someone. Natalie Masterson is a deputy in town and very detached, but it turns out Natalie has a heartbreaking reason to keep her feelings guarded. 

Trevor discovers that his grandfather was friends with a teenage girl from the trailer park down the road. Callie, who claims to be 19, works as a waitress at the local restaurant in town. She keeps to herself and when pressed, offers Trevor very little information about the mysterious circumstances of his grandfather's death. But he can't shake the feeling that there is more to the story.

In his quest to learn what happened to his grandfather, and unravel Natalie and Callie's secrets, Trevor will learn the true meaning of love and forgiveness, and the strength it takes to triumph over tragedy.

The Return was fine and by fine I mean that it's a nice book. But it just wasn't for me. In fact, I think I've simply outgrown Sparks' books—nothing will live up to The Notebook and The Wedding

Of late, Sparks' books have been very formulaic. They feature the same people. It's like he just recycles his characters and gives them new names—they are literally that unoriginal, right down to their mannerisms and what they eat and drink. Swap out the small town for another made up small town and you've got a new Sparks book. 

It would be remiss if I also didn't point out that Nicholas Sparks has been getting a lot of negative press lately and I was even torn to read/review this book. But I always honour my obligations and had committed to this review before I was made aware of the controversy. 

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NICHOLAS SPARKS has sold over 100 million copies of his books. His novels include fifteen #1 New York Times bestsellers, and all of his books, including Three Weeks with My Brother, the memoir he wrote with his brother, Micah, have been New York Times and international bestsellers, and were translated into more than fifty languages. Eleven of Nicholas Sparks’s novels—The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, The Lucky One, The Last Song, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Message in a Bottle—have been adapted into major motion pictures.

Sparks lives in North Carolina.

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