A Bend in the Road

Nicholas Sparks was one of my mother's favorite authors. I hauled her to Detroit...a city that only the brainless or those with a death wish venture onto their highways to reach...to see and meet one of her favorite authors. I'm glad I did this as she passed away 6 months later. He was a delightful man, and I really enjoyed meeting him. For some reason I loved watching the movies that had been made from his books...but the books themselves just didn't "do it" for me. When my library asked if I would lead a discussion group for their monthly book read group...of course i said yes...I should have asked "what book are they reading"? I couldn't, nor did I really want to say no since it was the groups book read. I'm glad I read it. I found show more it was a quick and easy read. It won't be at the top of my recommendation or "let's read this one again" list...but as a Nicholas Sparks book goes, I would choose this one if I HAD to recommend one. One thing I liked was his writing style. He starts the story off with a narration recalling how events of his life intertwined with those of the story's two main characters. By doing this the reader was able to feel sympathy for the narrator as he retells the story of how Miles and Sarah learn to love again after tragic events uproot both of their lives. Miles Ryan is a small-town county sheriff in North Carolina, with a 7-year-old son, Jonah. Miles and Jonah's lives were turned upside down 2 years prior when tragedy strikes, and they bury a wife and mother. Miles is left with no answers and no one to charge for the crime that was committed. After years of obsession, he finds himself looking ahead and wanting to rebuild a life. One with love, and happiness and one... with a wife. Sarah Andrews, a schoolteacher, had just moved to the town after leaving Baltimore to be closer to her parents. She's just gone through a nasty divorce and the last thing she's looking for is love considering she had been deeply and emotionally hurt by her ex-husband. When a student in her class is in need of extra help, she meets Deputy Ryan, and the sparks fly. Neither one of them expected for their feelings to come so fast and so hard, and when a secret is revealed that could rip apart the very love story they created, forgiveness and understanding may be their only hope. My library group loved it and I have to say it wasn't "half bad". Not quite 5 stars but worth 4.5 show less

"A Bend in the Road" is a love story written by a man, and my last few brushes with male authors in this genre led me to believe that they have something good going here.

The plot goes down easy - it is predictable and accessible. Miles lost his wife and high school sweetheart Missy to a hit and run accident. The driver is still at large. Miles is left to raise their son Jonah alone.

Two years later, the deputy sheriff of a small town is called into a meeting with Sarah Andrews, Jonah's new second grade teacher. Apparently, Jonah's past teachers have not pushed him in is education after his mother died. Miles agreed to let Jonah take extra classes with Sarah.

Sparks fly between the teacher and deputy sheriff, with Miles being charmingly show more uncertain on how to make his move.

Sarah is not without her own sob story. She was happily married to an ambitious man, who abruptly withdrew his love and affection as soon as he discovered that Sarah was unable to give him children.

Miles and Sarah's newfound happiness seems settled, especially when Jonah approves, but there is still this little matter of Missy's killer that haunts Miles.

Certain chapters were written from the POV of the hit and run driver, the true story unfolding as the Miles chases a lead that may destroy what he has with Sarah, not too long after they decided they are serious about their relationship. Miles does something uncharacteristic, which leads him to getting suspended.

But when we learn the real story, we are made to wonder if Miles and Sarah's love is strong enough to survive it.

I said this story is predictable, so guess away.

This is my first Sparks novel and according to reviews on Amazon, it's not his best. However, I am impressed enough consider picking up his other books, most of which have been made into movies or for TV.

(2006) show less

Yes, I'm a book snob. I admit it. And yet, I'm not above enjoying a trendy popular book. I gladly read the entire Twilight series, for pete's sake!

But it took everything I had to force my way to the end of this book. I overlooked the dull sentence structure, the lifeless characters...even managed to get over that horrendous grammatical error that set me off in the early chapters. But Sparks is so damn heavyhanded with his forshadowing, it ruined what might otherwise have been a mildly interesting turn of events.

The saving grace was that because of all these things, it was the work of a few hours to read the whole thing. So now I have done my duty as an American bookseller and have versed myself in the immensely popular Nicholas show more Sparks. But truthfully? I didn't really care about Sarah and Miles any more than I cared about Bella and Edward. show less

Yes, I'm a book snob. I admit it. And yet, I'm not above enjoying a trendy popular book. I gladly read the entire Twilight series, for pete's sake!

But it took everything I had to force my way to the end of this book. I overlooked the dull sentence structure, the lifeless characters...even managed to get over that horrendous grammatical error that set me off in the early chapters. But Sparks is so damn heavyhanded with his forshadowing, it ruined what might otherwise have been a mildly interesting turn of events.

The saving grace was that because of all these things, it was the work of a few hours to read the whole thing. So now I have done my duty as an American bookseller and have versed myself in the immensely popular Nicholas show more Sparks. But truthfully? I didn't really care about Sarah and Miles any more than I cared about Bella and Edward. show less

Nice story with an interesting plot, but not enough oomph. I did like the interplay of the first person account of the hit and run driver. It definitely added to the story and made it more interesting. Overall though, it was entirely too predictable and the characters didn't seem to be fleshed out enough. To top it off, the ending seemed abrupt.

I listened to this book while driving to DC and back with my Mom, and it kept us entertained. I think some of the plot points were pretty predictable and that Nicholas Sparks dragged it out too long, but I still enjoyed it overall.

I read this all day at work last night and was about 90% into it when I got home and couldn't put it down. even though I had to get up and work a 14 hour shift tonight I tried justifying staying up to read it to myself because if I didn't finish it I would just think about it all night and not sleep anyway right? well I finished it and still stayed up all night thinking about it. this is the third Nicholas sparks novel I have read and although the main focus of all three is a love story they are all completely different books, because most of his covers are all the same, a couple embracing and looking very much in love, I worried that the stories would all be the same only different characters and settings. that's not the case, the show more first one I read was a tragedy, the second was a thriller, and this one was more of a drama/crime mystery novel, I can't wait to see what the next one is. one other thing I can say about Nicholas sparks is that he knows how to write a great ending. show less