by Lisa Hemsley

Created on: June 22, 2010

This book was an absolute must read for me, it is the follow on from the Notebook which I found so emotional and gripping. Don’t get me wrong you don’t have to have read the Notebook to understand this book but it is a follow on with the characters.

In this book we still have Noah who is still living in his nursing home and the story is about his son-in-law Wilson who is married to Jane. He is telling us the story of how he forgot his 29th wedding anniversary and how he intends to make up for it and how he has decided to change. He tells us how for some reason he has got stuck in a rut and he no longer feels that he knows his wife and how life is just the same old routine every day.

Wilson is planning a massive surprise for Jane to make up for what he did and we are treated to the details and the plans he is making, he does get help from Noah and learns a lot from him. Wilson talks to Noah as he knows how in love with his wife he was before she passed away. Noah on the other hand is believed to be going slightly crazy as he is spending his days by the lake talking to a swan who he thinks is something more than just a swan, but we soon learn that he is quite the full shilling.

Wilson and Jane are in for a shock when their daughter turns up with the news that she is getting married in a week and she asks her Mom to help arrange everything. Wilson is pleased with this as he is too able to help and show Jane that he really is trying to change and be more of the loving husband which he believes she deserves.

I will not reveal any more of the plot, because I don’t want to spoil it for you but just what is Wilson planning for his 30th Wedding anniversary and will the wedding plans be completed on time?

I was completely hooked on this book right from the very first page. I think Nicholas Sparks has a wonderful writing style which make for very easy reading and also very emotional reading. For some reason he is able to put across so many emotions in his writing and again in this book I was fighting back tears at the end. I loved the way he carried this book on from the Notebook and I did enjoy finding out about Noah’s children and I am so pleased that Noah was still alive in this book as he was a great addition to the story.

All of the characters were wonderful and I loved them all. I think the fact that the story was mainly centred around Wilson and Jane was not too overpowering as we still had other characters involved, especially the daughter who was planning the wedding. I did like how Noah was portrayed and how he bought his own little side story to the book with his relationship with his swan.

I thought that the setting for the book was good as it was still based around New Bern and the surrounding areas which we did learn a lot about from The Notebook which helped me when trying to visualise the story in my head. I also liked the inclusion of Noah’s house and thought that this worked extremely well in the book.

This book was written by Nicholas Sparks and was published by Sphere. It has a retail price on the back cover of £6.99 but it is available cheaper on places like EBay and Amazon.

I am just now hoping that this book will be made into a movie just like the Notebook was as it would make for great and emotional viewing. I am going to recommend this book to all women as it has a wonderful story and is very easy to read. I also think that some men should read this so they too might see that us women do like them to be romantic at times!

Have a tissue handy for the last paragraph!

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