Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Dear John
by Nicholas Sparks
Pub. Date: August 2007 (is that right?)
Genre: Fiction
288pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life--until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love--and face the hardest decision of his life.

Why I Picked It:
I picked this up after seeing a preview for the movie version of the story. It looks like a great chick flick, and so I downloaded the audiobook.

My Review:
This is Nicholas Sparks so you know how it goes... Boy sees girl, boy rescues girl's purse from the ocean, girl thanks boy and bam! It's love at first sight. They feel like they've known each other forever... They are going to be together forever... forever... forever... At least until life and war intervene...

I know I sound negative, jaded, blah. BUT, I sure found a lot of excuses to plug my earbuds in to listen to a little more - on the way home from taking Andrew to school, while I cleaned house, folded laundry, worked out... I finished this one in 2 days, and it's over 9 hours of audio.

I'm glad I didn't even read the synopsis before I downloaded and listened to the book. In fact, I was about halfway through the book when I started setting up this post and was SHOCKED to find out the details. I had no idea that was coming! Mr. Sparks, how so very Notebook of you to throw in another man! Oh the dilemna, oh the heartache, oh the inevitability of true love!

On a side note, I really enjoyed the relationship between John and his father, watching it unwind itself from being angry, forced and strained and then take an turn with a little understanding to become a warm, close friendship that they both cherished.

I've been struggling as I'm trying to read books that I'm not finding enjoyable lately. I am trying to finish them merely because their author's name fits my 2009 author challenge. I don't like reading to be in forced in this manner, and I'm about to just throw in the towel on it because the books I want to read aren't meeting my own requirements. Anyway, this was a great break from that. (As well as being my 6th "S" author for the year.) It was easy, engaging, and romantic... I give it 4 stars.... And almost want to download another Nicholas Sparks, but I think it'll irritate me too much to stay on the same vein of book.