The Best of Me ~Nicholas Sparks~

Generally I'm not a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks. I used to be when I was more into reading the 'romance' genre, but as of late, his writing seems cheesy to me. Because of this reason, I went into this book with low expectations.

I'm not going to say it exceeded my expectations by far, since the first half of the book was poorly-written; however, as the book proceeded, I enjoyed it more. Because the book is about the relationship between two lovers, one who is married, I was afraid that the relationship would turn into a sexual one. But it didn't. Which is rather surprising. Especially because Nicholas Sparks has a habit of over-adding sexual innuendos and coitus.

Therefore, I was pleased when the book had some enjoyable elements. One of the reasons that I like Nicholas Spark's writing is that a love story from a guy's perspective tends to skip the nitty-gritty lovey-dovey details; whereas, a woman romance writer tends to write like "when he touched me I felt like the most important thing in the world" or "his lips were soft" etc. Gag.

I also liked that Sparks changed perspectives so many times throughout the book. It kept me in suspense, but more importantly, it showed me even the minor character's thoughts and ideas. It was interesting to see a person's view of someone vs. who they actually were.

I like the name Dawson. And the lead male character's name is Dawson. So, I liked that.

The end of the book had me in tears. I was expecting a happy ending, and so when the book ended with a heart-wrenching plot twist, I put on some music and cried. All in all, I'm glad I read the book because it was a fun change and also, I feel like my worldview on love is maybe a little bit different now.

Not sure if it's a good thing or not that Nicholas Sparks is changing my worldview on love, but it happens.

 “Because you aren't just someone I loved back then. You were my best friend, my best self, and I can't imagine giving that up again." He hesitated searching for the right words. "You might not understand, but I gave you the best of me, and after you left, nothing was ever the same.” 

“I gave you the best of me, he'd told her once, and with every beat of her son's heart, she knew he'd exactly done that.”  

“Love, after all, always said more about those who felt it than it did about the ones they loved.”

 ~Nicholas Sparks

"Everybody stares, as she goes by
'Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes
Watch her when she's lighting up the night
Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl
And it's a lonely world
But she gon' let it burn, baby, burn, baby
This girl is on fire." 

-Alicia Keys (Koryn Hawthorne version)