Book Review: A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks

Book Title: A Walk To Remember

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Britni’s Blog Score: 10 miracles out of 10

Britni’s Blog Rating: Recommended for teenage readers.

I thought that it was only fitting that I review a romance for Valentine’s Day. A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks is one of the more recent classics and also one of the best romances that I’ve read.

The Plot. Landon Carter looks back to forty years ago, to the time when he fell in love with the last girl in the world he thought he’d ever fall for—Jamie Sullivan, the minister’s daughter.

The Cast. Seventeen-year-old Landon is a senior at Beaufort High. He’s seen as a good student by his teachers and a fairly responsible kid by his mother, but he doesn’t have any real aspirations for himself. Landon puts in the minimum amount of energy in life, doing only what he has to do to get through, and he cares too much about what is high school friends think about him.

Jamie is quite the opposite of him. The daughter of the preacher, she wears unflattering clothes with no makeup, she carries a Bible with her school books, and she doesn’t take part in the social drama of high school. She’s an outcast with no friends and she’s made fun of by her schoolmates, including Landon at first.

When Jamie and Landon begin spending time together, she changes him. She sees more in him than he sees in himself. Her faith in him, coupled with the fact that she holds him to a higher standard than anyone else in his life does, pushes him to become a better person. He finds himself secretly adding money to her fundraising efforts and caring about people that he felt immature apathy towards.

The Message. Sparks shows in this well-crafted romance the difference that one person can make to another. Landon never saw himself becoming such a caring young man. He never thought he’d be setting high standards and goals for himself. But the role that Jamie plays in his life helps him to become better in so many ways. Love can change a person in miraculous ways.

My Recommendation. This is a very clean romance story. There’s no sex in it and almost no swearing, so I think that it’s suitable for younger readers as well as older ones. This was the first Nicholas Sparks book that I’d read; I must have been about seven or eight the first time I read it.

My Notes. This book is one of my favorites not only for the characters, but for the emotions that leap off of the page to touch your heart. When I was reading this book, I felt all kinds of emotional ups and downs with each turn of the page and each new revelation.

In Conclusion. A Walk To Remember was a beautifully written romance novel that puts a twist on typical expectations. Written from the male perspective and playing with the stereotype of a good girl falling for a bad boy, this book is one of my favorites.

And what better time to read this novel than during the Valentine’s season?