Every Breath

by Nicholas Sparks

From Goodreads:

In the romantic tradition of The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with a story about a chance encounter that becomes a touchstone for two vastly different individuals — transcending decades, continents, and the bittersweet workings of fate.

Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At thirty-six, she’s been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family’s cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.

Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother’s early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways.

Illuminating life’s heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties — and asks the question, How long can a dream survive?

My thoughts on this book:

I just finished Every Breath this morning and it turned out to be pretty good. Once I got about half way through I was leary with the direction the book was taking, but by the end it came together nicely.

Hope is in a relationship that she isn’t exactly content with. Her boyfriend Josh doesn’t seem to be committing and after six years she wonders what their future holds. Her dad has been diagnosed with a debilitating health condition and she doesn’t know how much time they have left together. She plans a visit to their family cottage on Sunset Beach because her family has decided to sell it and she needs to help prepare. During that week, Hope meets Tru who is on a temporary visit  from Africa to meet his father for the first time. Tru’s hope is to learn more about his mother while he’s there. When Tru and Hope meet, they have a genuine interest in each other. It’s love at first sight and they can’t stop thinking about one another.

“Through the window, he was able to see into the kitchen as Hope emerged from around the corner, a towel draped over her shoulder, and pulled two cups from the cabinet. She interested him. That she was beautiful there was no doubt, but it wasn’t simply that. There was a an air of vulnerability and loneliness behind her smile, as if she was wrestling with something troubling. Maybe even a few somethings.”

As their time comes to a close, their family circumstances get in the way and they have to make a difficult decision regarding their future together. Will they follow their hearts?

Nicholas Sparks writes beautiful romances. I’ve been reading his books for as long as I can remember and I’m used to his writing. With that said, the romance in this book felt like insta-love and went way to quick for me. The two meet–they are totally physically attracted to one another–then they are in love in just a matter of a few days. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t think two people can have a quick connection like Tru and Hope did, it’s just that for me it felt rushed and I wanted more development to their relationship. Another issue I had was that even with the strong connection they feel for each other, they go separate ways and live separate lives, and decades later they still feel the same. It’s like this huge piece of their time apart never happened even with zero communication in between. I get that we make decisions in life and we have to take the road that follows, but feeling as strong as these two did and knowing the options that Hope had in her current relstionship, their decisions just didn’t feel right to me. I wanted them to stay together and it just wasn’t going to happen,  but regardless I found it to be a good story. These are just my personal opinions on the story itself based on the characters’ backgrounds and choices.

I still enjoyed the book! I loved that even though it’s a work of fiction, parts of it were true. I even had a few tears as they read through some of the letters from Kindred Spirit: a mailbox in North Carolina that really exists. The writing is beautiful and detailed. The characters had depth with their own histories. It just really felt good to get back into a Spark’s novel.

3.5-4****

Find this book on Goodreads and Amazon:

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 16, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1538728524
• ISBN-13: 978-1538728529

Thanks for reading my review of Every Breath. Have you read this book? Do you like Nicholas Sparks? Feel free to share your thoughts or suggestions below. Have a wonderful day!

❤ Mischenko