Book #1: The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK. 

Which was a surprise to me because Nicholas Sparks and I have had a very hit or miss relationship. I think this book was very relatable to my particular life which led me to just adore it. It had a lot of elements that I identified with and I just loved it.

Things that I loved about this book: 

1. Set in North Carolina (as most of the books I have read by Sparks tend to be). I basically spent every summer of my childhood running around with my cousins and relatives in major cities of North Carolina. I have great love for that area and it made the story seem so homey and familiar.

2. Nana. They way she gave advice through nonsensical one-liners, how she couldn't be slowed down by anything, how she always knew before someone revealed information to her but she never brought it up first. Made me miss my own grandmothers a great deal.

3. Beth and Ben. Beth has Ben pretty early in life (pregnant senior year of high school). Yet she never once has any regrets for having her son in her life and always puts him first. She listens to him and supports him unconditionally and it is a beautiful relationship. Also I loved that Beth was a pretty rational character in this book who was not prone to overreactions or dramatics. It was refreshing to see a level-headed woman dealing with the things she went through.

4. Thibault.  I think my favorite thing about Logan is that he is an ex-military individual who really did not have many PTSD symptoms prior to the death of his best friend Victor.  His time in Iraq haunts him but he is still able to be a very normal person.  I think Hollywood has glamorized veterans to be these completely broken people who can not function when they return to civilian life.  Although this is true for a number of individuals there are also people on the other end of the scale as well that we don't get to hear about as often.  Also when he gives the "lucky charm" photo to Ben just to keep him safe - ugh - it was just so sweet.

5. Zeus. Zeus saves Ben in the end of the story and I was so glad.  Just the whole relationship with Ben and Zeus is amazing.

6. Southern traditions.  Although I was completely creeped out by Clayton and his life choices, I loved how at the end of his tale that Beth does not speak ill of him and regards him as a loving father who gave his life in order to try to save their son.  Southern traditions run deep in this book - you don't speak ill of the dead.  Not to mention the college town life of Chapel Hill and their obsessive love for sports teams, the ordering at the crab restaurant in Wilmington, the sweet tea at the local pizzeria, heck the only thing that was missing was a trip to Krispy Kreme for some hot ones!

7. This is real life.  There are a lot of loose ends in this book but I actually enjoyed not having everything wrapped up in a pretty bow by the end.  We never know how Drake dies (Thibault has no affiliation with him in the military).  We never find out what else was on the camera disc that Clayton was so afraid of since Thibault destroys it without looking at it.  We don't see much of the relationship with Clayton's family and Beth.  Some people like everything to have an answer but that is not how real life works and it made the book more realistic to me.

Things that I did not love about this book: 

Nothing. Except it was made into a movie. That was drastically different than the book. And it would take way too long for me to explain my rants in this post. Read the book, skip the movie.

Overall Rating: ★★★★★ 

Five star read! It was just so good!!! Rethinking that maybe I should check out some more Nicholas Sparks books since most of my disappointments have come from watching the films...