Play Book Tag discussion

Yup! Made me cry.

Nicholas Sparks never fails to evoke emotions. This story is told by one of the main characters, Langdon Carter, who is looking back 40 years to his senior year of high school. He came from a wealthy family, his father was in the US Congress and often absent because of his responsibilities in DC. According to Langdon, is mother was a good, kind woman and there are no issues with his parents marriage. However, the rest of his family history is a bit of disgrace considering how they accumulated their wealth. The former generation has a reputation in the town of Beaufort, on the coast of North Carolina.

This could easily be called a young adult novel with the young protagonist. In most of the Sparks novels I've read in the past, the characters are older but in this retrospective look, the main characters are just 17. Jamie Sullivan is an odd girl who is in Langdon's grade. She's the fire-and-brimstone minister's daughter and is almost too good for her fellow classmates. She does many kind things as she goes about her day with a smile on her face, rescuing injured animals and convincing the local vet to care for them. She visits the local orphanage on a regular basis and she always carries her well-worn bible everywhere with her. She and Langdon are worlds apart. He's a bit of a bad boy in the late 50s but actually just a mischief maker. He makes fun of the minister whose favorite word seems to be "fornicator" by hiding out behind a tree with his buddies and calling out the word as the minister walks by.

Circumstances throw Jamie and Langdon together, to his great chagrin. He has had girlfriends before and even recently broke up with one girl. His friends make fun of him when they spot the two together. I'm not sure I want to see the movie, but I might. This will pull at your heartstrings, have a box of tissues near by at the end of the book; I assume the movie would be the same. It wasn't that the storyline was completely unexpected but this is Nicolas Sparks after all and he will get you.

This was a favorite movie for me as a teen, it has quite a bit of nostalgia for me, and yes I cry EVERY TIME. I also cried when I finally got around to reading the book too.

Sparks makes me cry every single time! I have not read one of his books in years but he has a new one coming out and I like the cover so I may give it a whirl.