Book Review #1

I used to put a mini (as in 1 line) review of each book on my bookshelf section, but then last night, lying in bed I had an idea, why not actually try and write sensibly about each book after I've read it and just list what I've read on my bookshelf, so here goes, trumpet fanfare please, my first proper book review!

The Lucky One - Nicholas Sparks

I've read several of Sparks' books now, I started with 'Dear John' which I was inspired to read having heard the review of the film (if you don't already subscribe to the BBC 5live Mayo & Kermode films podcast you should do, witty, entertaining & usually spot on with their assessment of current film releases) the film of the book was pretty much panned, however I liked the sound of the book and that got me hooked on the author.
Sparks is American and is a pretty prolific writer, which I like - a decent back catalogue for me to plunder, but he's male and yet writes almost love stories, I'm sure if they were written by a woman they would be condemmed as 'chic-lit', his female voice is also very authentic.

And so to my review of 'The Lucky One'.
Logan Thibault is the hero, an ex-marine who after surviving 3 stints in Iraq, walks across the US with his faithful Alsation Zeus, from Colorado to North Carolina to try to find the woman in a photograph. The woman is Beth, whose brother was also a marine, who lost said photo out in the desert in Iraq before dying in a friendly fire incident.
Logan wants to find Beth because his superstitious friend convinced him that the photo was what was keeping him safe and therefore he owes the woman a debt and until this is repaid there is an imbalance.
The fly in the ointment is the ex-husband, a loathsome deputy sherrif whose family seems to run the local town and who thinks that Beth should concentrate the rest of her life on raising their son (Ben).
I loved this story (in part, I'm sure due to the fact that 2 of the main characters share names with 2 of the 'men' in my own life) although I spent the last third on tenterhooks waiting for the seemingly inevitable sad ending - he's done that with 1 of the books of his that I've read, but I'm wise to him now, I know to brace myself!
It's not a hard read, but it is definitely worthwhile. The film rights have been sold to Warner Brothers and it is currently rumoured that Zac Efron is lined up to play Logan Thibault.
Enjoy!