Nights in Rodanthe - Nicholas Sparks

It may surprise my usual readers to find I do enjoy a good romance or tearjerker every now and again. However, I am no fan of the Mills & Boon types of stories, my tastes are for the gentle romances rather than the bodice-ripping or gushing stories.
I came across an American author, Nicolas Sparks, whose books I can recommend to both women and men. A highly acclaimed author who frequently gets into the New York Times Bestseller list, his ...
...made into films.

The Plot
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Adrienne Willis is the divorced mother of three children who have now grown up and provided her with grandchildren, but her daughter Amanda has recently lost her husband and with two young sons to bring up is not coping emotionally with her loss. Adrienne was divorced herself at the age of forty-five so is no stranger to loss but she has a secret that she has kept for fourteen ... more

It may surprise my usual readers to find I do enjoy a good romance or tearjerker every now and again. However, I am no fan of the Mills & Boon types of stories, my tastes are for the gentle romances rather than the bodice-ripping or gushing stories.
I came across an American author, Nicolas Sparks, whose books I can recommend to both women and men. A highly acclaimed author who frequently gets into the New York Times Bestseller list, his novels have been translated into over thirty languages and some made into films.

The Plot
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Adrienne Willis is the divorced mother of three children who have now grown up and provided her with grandchildren, but her daughter Amanda has recently lost her husband and with two young sons to bring up is not coping emotionally with her loss. Adrienne was divorced herself at the age of forty-five so is no stranger to loss but she has a secret that she has kept for fourteen years, a story that she hopes will help Amanda to understand that now she needs to heal for the sake of her children.

Wtitten as a tale told from mother to daughter sitting at the kitchen table sharing a bottle of wine gradually the story unfolds as Amanda looks with new eyes at the mother she has taken for granted as always being happy and content with her life, something many people can identify with. For Amanda, missing her dead husband can never concieve of a time when her own mother coped alone with her own grief .

Adrienne, recently coping with her divorce looks after a small inn in a little town called Rodanthe while her friend attends a wedding. Only one guest is expected, the enigmatic Paul Flanner, another person coping with his own problems, another lonely soul who will find a kind of peace in the short time he spends in the storm-racked town. Thrown together over the space of just five days both find the love, courage and faith to go on with their lives, but to what end? For both Adrienne and Paul are recovering from a past that has to put aside before they can move on and must for a while separate before they can hopefully be together again for life.
This is really all I can give away the story is a journey of the senses and needs to be read as this to fully appreciate it.

Style and characters
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sparks has that rare insight into the characters of both men and women, he paints a canvass of ordinary life and the thoughts and feelings of real human beings. Although there are no dramatic moments in his stories he writes with great simplicity and a keen eye to those little things that we almost take for granted turning them into a beautiful heart wrenching and deeply moving love story.
Every page reveals a small treasure whether he is setting a scene or bringing his characters to life. In this book the storm is a backdrop to more complex emotions that unravel with delicacy and is truly believable. Even the fringe characters are brought to life with all their hopes dreams and failures. Mundane things like cooking a meal or lighting a fire are treated with the same sensitivity as the actual physical contact between lovers. We have all experienced that heightened feeling of using all our senses when moved by love or loss that magical time when the world seems brand new, Sparks reminds of us this and tugs at the heartstrings. We want the characters to be happy and to overcome obstacles but life is never the stuff of fairytale endings, a theme consistent in many of this authors books, instead we learn about an enduring love that changes the lives of everyone it touches if only for a brief space in time.

Summary
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This is another gentle but haunting tale that Sparks is so good at writing. The dialogue is exceptional avoiding hackneyed phrases flowing with ease, never repeating itself. As a would-be writer I know how very difficult this is to achieve. Describing that deep love that sometimes only comes once in a lifetime the raw passion of the narrative had me reaching for the tissues again and again. I could actually feel and remember that first contact between lovers when the air seems charged with electricity.
I loved every moment of the book and didn't want it to end. I wanted to feel that way myself for just one more time in my life. It takes a lot to reawaken those feelings and not find it clichéd but Sparks is a master at this.
I hear you thinking, "Well this isn't much of a plot and I'm not really into romances", but give this one a try and prove me right or wrong.
At just 224 pages you can read this in one day or in about three hours as I did.

You can find this on Amazon for about £1.69 for a used copy, I couldn't find the book at the normal Amazon price possibly as it was written in 2002. It's a good book to start off with if you are new to this author.

I'll leave you with just a taster from the book, a letter from Paul to Adrienne,
"I love you now for what we've already shared, and I love you now in anticipation of all that's to come. You are the best thing that's ever happed to me. I miss you already but I'm sure in my heart that you'll be with me always. In the few days I spent with you, you became my dream."
Oh to be loved like that!

So grab some chocolates, pour a glass of wine and whatever age or gender you are slip back into a dream of love lost or fulfilled and don't forget to keep those tissues handy, you'll need them.
Lisa
 

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