Friday, February 21, 2014

Gentle Reads Annotation


The Best of Me: A Novel by Nicholas Sparks
 
 
Summary: Two soon-to-be high school seniors, Amanda and Dawson, fall in love in the spring of 1984.  However, people with the stereotypical “small-town” mindset set the odds against them.  Soon, the two go different ways in life.  Years later, the two are reunited when returning to the small town of Oriental for a funeral.  It is discovered that neither the lives of Amanda nor Dawson have turned out as they once predicted.  Their desire for one another is evident, but the two must decide whether their love can exist within their current lives.

Genre:  Mainstream Fiction, Love, Gentle

Appeals:

Pacing – Sparks builds emotion through slow scenes meant to capture the different moments of Amanda and Dawson’s relationship.

Characterization – Realistic characters that are easy to relate to who face realistic challenges that are presented throughout the course of the story. 

Storyline – A heartwarming and heartbreaking journey for two individuals who were told they were wrong for each other but yet truly loved one another. 

Tone/Mood – Sparks book a tone that is realistic and melancholy.

Frame/Setting – Small town North Carolina

Read Alikes:

In A Class By Itself by Sandra Brown

Mike, Mike and Me by Wendy Markham

The Last Time I Saw You I by Elizabeth Berg

Bring Me Home For Christmas by Robyn Carr

A Lady of His Own by Stephanie Laurens

2 comments:

  1. When I ask what authors people like when helping with installing the Overdrive app so they can read e-books on their tablets, Nicholas Sparks is one of the most mentioned names. I've never read anything by him, but I keep his name in mind when helping with Overdrive. (My go-to mental list also includes James Patterson because he has books in so many different categories, the Lightning Thief, and Bueno Nacho -- a Kim Possible story.)

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  2. This was the first Nicholas Sparks I read. I found that it was about what I thought it was. I was surprised that the prose was a bit more than I thought it would be. In my opinion, nothing special but nothing wrong with it. Certainly something I could recommend to patrons if they are asking about a certain type of book.

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