Tag Archives: Nicholas Sparks

Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks – a Review

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Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks – a Review

 

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Description:
Colby Mills once felt destined for a musical career, until tragedy grounded his aspirations. Now the head of a small family farm in North Carolina, he spontaneously takes a gig playing at a bar in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida, seeking a rare break from his duties at home.

But when he meets Morgan Lee, his world is turned upside-down, making him wonder if the responsibilities he has shouldered need dictate his life forever. The daughter of affluent Chicago doctors, Morgan has graduated from a prestigious college music program with the ambition to move to Nashville and become a star. Romantically and musically, she and Colby complete each other in a way that neither has ever known.

While they are falling headlong in love, Beverly is on a heart-pounding journey of another kind. Fleeing an abusive husband with her six-year-old son, she is trying to piece together a life for them in a small town far off the beaten track. With money running out and danger seemingly around every corner, she makes a desperate decision that will rewrite everything she knows to be true.

In the course of a single unforgettable week, two young people will navigate the exhilarating heights and heartbreak of first love. Hundreds of miles away, Beverly will put her love for her young son to the test. And fate will draw all three people together in a web of life-altering connections . . . forcing each to wonder whether the dream of a better life can ever survive the weight of the past.

 

 

Review:

Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks is another one of his excellent standalone novels. Dreamland has two POV’s that focus on Colby, and a different one focusing on Beverly.   We meet Colby, our hero, who runs a farm in North Carolina, with his sister, Paige and Aunt; he loves writing songs, but gave it up to assume his responsibility to be the head of the family and restore the farm.  While things seem to be working good, Colby, accepts a three-week gig at bar in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida with his sister and aunt, encouraging him to take a break.

While performing his music, he meets Morgan Lee, who also loves music, and plans to move to Nashville.  Colby finds himself falling hard for Morgan, who knows what she wants, coming from a wealthy family, musical education and a wonderful voice. Morgan and Colby begin to spend more time together, romantically and musically.  It was nice to see them write songs, with each helping each other with the words.  Colby thinks Morgan can become a big star, with her voice, and as they fall in love, she tries to convince him to join her in Nashville.   But an unexpected crisis will change everything.  Will Colby and Morgan find a way to be together?

The other POV, deals with Beverly, who is on the run with her six-year-old son, fleeing her abusive husband.  She begins a new life in a small town; living in a house, and finances are low.  Beverly knows she needs to get a job, and while Tommy is in school, she looks around for a cash paying job, since she left without her id.  Beverly knows her husband has contacts, and works for Homeland; she continues to be alert. Then she discovers unusual things in the house, as well as a truck that keeps stopping by the house; she panics and makes plans to run again.

Reading through the first half of the book, I was sort of confused, as to how these POV’s fit in the story.  But when we get closer to the last quarter, there is a major twist that throws us for a loop. 

Dreamland is a wonderful story of responsibility, family, tragedy, music and love.  I loved Colby and Morgan together, as they made a wonderful couple, and their songwriting was terrific.  Beverly’s story was scary and tense, with a surprising twist. Dreamland was so very well written by Nicholas Sparks, which kept me unable to put the book down.  I suggest you read Dreamland.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

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Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks – Dual Review

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Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks – Dual Review

 

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Description:
Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At thirty-six, she’s been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family’s cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.

Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother’s early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways.

Illuminating life’s heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties — and asks the question, How long can a dream survive?

 

 

Barb’s Review:
Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks is a standalone novel, which was a wonderful heartwarming story of true love and heartbreak that will cover decades.

Tru Walls, our hero, is a safari guide in Zimbabwe, having lived all his life in Africa.  Tru is divorced and content with his life as a guide, but he wants to know more about his deceased mother’s past, and decides to fly to Sunset Beach, North Carolina, accepting an invitation to meet his biological father, whom he never knew.

Hope Anderson, our heroine, is staying at the beach house the family has owned for many years, preparing for it to be placed on the market.  Hope’s father is suffering from ALS, and Hope takes the time at the beach house to think about her difficult days ahead, as well as if she has a future with her boyfriend of six years

When Tru is staying at his father’s house prior to meeting him, he enjoys the beach surroundings, and sees a dog running amok.  Tru rescues the dog, and meets Hope, the dog’s owner.  A friendship develops where both Tru and Hope find themselves comfortable to talk about both of their lives, as we learn so much about each of them.  It was so nice to see them fall for each during their conversations of life. Hope will take Tru to the local places including a place nearby where people put in letters/notes in a mail box for anyone to view.  

What follows is a sweet heartwarming slow built romance between two people from different worlds, yet so perfect for each other.  This was also a heart wrenching story of two people; their back history, as well the future. It is a story of love, family, sacrifice, heart ache and destiny.

Nicholas Sparks wrote a wonderful story that he describes at the start as a true story, and he makes us love both Tru and Hope. We felt the sadness, as life had other plans for them; Hope with her boyfriend, and her desire to have children (Tru was no longer able to have children); Tru needing to live near his young son and his job.   What makes this great is that destiny will find a way to for them to  meet again.  I really loved this story, more than I ever expected.  I suggest you read Every Breath.

 

Sandy’s Review:

EVERY BREATH by Nicholas Sparks is a stand alone love story focusing on forty-two year divorced father and safari tour guide Tru Walls, and thirty-six year old, trauma nurse Hope Anderson.

Told from third person perspectives EVERY BREATH takes the reader back to the year 1990 focusing on one week in the life of forty-two year divorced father and African safari tour guide Tru Walls, and thirty-six year old, trauma nurse Hope Anderson. Tru Walls, a safari guide born and raised in Zimbabwe, has come to America in search of answers about his mother and her past. Meeting trauma nurse Hope Anderson stirred something deep within our story line hero, something he would always remember including the love for a woman who was torn between head and heart. Fast forward to 2014 wherein Tru will reconnect with the woman he has never stopped loving only to discover she has never stopped loving him in return.

Divided into two parts (1990 and 2014) EVERY BREATH is a story based in reality brought about by a journal and letters found in an isolated mailbox called Kindred Spirit near the dunes of Sunset Beach, North Carolina. The mailbox, belonging to everyone and no one, is a treasury of love letters from the lost; stories of then and now; a place for dreams and happily ever afters to live on when someone dies. Nicholas Sparks uses artistic license to spin a love story spanning decades focusing on two people whose lives went in opposite directions eventually meeting to form their own happily ever after. Reflective in nature EVERY BREATH reconnects with the past revealing twenty-plus years of pain, heartache, failures and success eventually meandering back to Sunset Beach where it all began.

An imaginative, heart breaking and emotional story line EVERY BREATH looks at love and loss; family and duty; reconnection, dreams, and hope. Uniquely Nicholas Sparks EVERY BREATH is a wonderful love story that will captivate and enchant as you reflect upon your own life of what ifs and whys. Every city and town should have their own ‘Kindred Spirit’ in the hopes of living on in the minds of others.

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