The Return
By Nicholas Sparks
Release Date: September 29, 2020
Audiobook Available from WV Reads!
2 Stars - This is more the story of Trevor the man than a romance of Sparks' usual caliber. And readers should really go in knowing that. He's a doctor, former military, and struggling to piece together the last moments of his beloved grandfather's life. He returns to small town North Carolina for this new mission. He meets the beautiful deputy sheriff Natalie and connects with a few other quirky residents. I can say expect Spark's classic writing style to stay strong but maybe not the storyline.
Trevor was an interesting and likable hero. He wasn't quite laidback or outgoing, but he seemed to make a solid effort always to reach out to people and put them at ease. Natalie was the mysterious side of the couple, as we did not get her point of view. The plot twist with her past is terrible, and it completely knocked down my opinion of the book. Her personality was practically non-existent. Her decisions questionable. I could sympathize a little with her situation but not much if I'm being honest.
Trevor would ask Natalie about herself constantly, trying to pry open her shell. Then inwardly, he would think she wasn't sharing important stuff about her life. I wondered if he would prefer she write a bio and hand it over to him. Like dude, she really just met you. I'd like to note, this cover was somewhat marketed as a Christmas novel but was really not Christmas-y at all. A couple points from me that kept this good, not great. I have nothing but respect for injured war heroes like Trevor but I generally avoid the scarred-hero trope. Also, the background is sometimes presented in "info-dumps" here and we get some dull paragraphs of unexciting details. And there was so much about bees. Kyf Brewer is a great narrator, but his characters could use a little work. He has an excellent voice I but I struggled at times to recognize different people. This book has a lot of potential but was just not destined to be a favorite of mine. If you're new to Nicholas Sparks, read an older one first. And if you're a fan of his like me, know you might want to skip this one.
(NS)
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