The Choice

Rating: 5

Wow. I loved this book so much that it took a whole receipt to document the amount of times it made me cry. Yes, I track that sort of thing. To me, the more I cry, the better the book. This book didn't do anything "extra". It was a solid contemporary romance standalone that met all of my expectations.

It started off with a bang: fast-moving plot and character introductions. It was very difficult to put down. After that, it drifted into a steady pace, which was perfect for romantic developments! Most of the book actually takes place over one weekend, and the couple falls hard. I really liked them together, though Gabby was a bit high-strung and all over the place. Their dates were fun to watch.

Part of this book is told by Travis ten years after he and Gabby met. I got the wrong interpretation of the situation until they were in the same room. I thought the papers in his back pocket were divorce papers. Darn you, Nicholas Sparks. I know you set it up like that on purpose!

So what is the choice? At first I thought it had to do with Gabby choosing between her boyfriend and Travis. As it turns out, Travis is the one who has to make a choice, and it is heartbreaking. I was very satisfies with the ending, though I almost wanted the other alternative simply so I could cry harder. I was holding some tears back.

I am very aware that Nicholas Spark follows the same formula in his books. This one actually had some similarities to The Vow, which is movie that up until now I thought was a Nicholas Sparks book. Well, I guess he didn't do a repeat after all. Anyway, I always like the characters he creates, so I will continue to read more books by him in the future. Due to the formula writing, I probably won't read another one for a few months just to keep things fresh. That and I don't want to run out of his books.

So . . . the mood of this book is light-hearted on their dates and very dramatic the rest of the time.

Now I'm sure many people would say that this book glorifies adultery, but I don't think so. I think it is a realistic tale of someone thinking she knows what she wants and then finding something better. She doesn't go running to Travis expecting to have an affair. She tries to fend off his flirtations and set boundaries. With that being said, she is still responsible for the decisions that she makes and adultery is never right, even it is to be with your soul mate. All she had to do was call he boyfriend and end it. It's clear that she was settling from the beginning.

How the love triangle wraps up wasn't really showed, which is my only qualm with this book. We know the decision she makes, but we don't get to she the conversation or the aftermath of it. It's just--bam--ten years into the future. We also don't see how Gabby reacts to his choice, but at least Sparks points out that she hasn't said anything to Travis about it at the point where the book closes. I would assume she was happy with it, but I guess we'll never know.

If you like this book, go watch The Vow with Channing Tatum in it, the pick up another book by this author. If you love tears, I recommend A Walk to Remember A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks for obvious reasons. PS. It's not like the movie, and judging by the trail for the Choice, it won't be like the book either.

I read this in my Cloud Reader in one sitting, with a short break for a soup dinner for my husband and myself. (My husband has bronchitis and I am currently battling cancer, so soup is all we wanted). I love this book. I was a little disappointed with some of the choices made in part I, but the choice made in part II more than redeemed everything. This is a very ~healing~ book. I loved it. I don't read a lot of fiction, and I am not one to sit in front of the television set, but I have seen "The Notebook" three times. My daughter wanted me to read "The Last Song", and I read her copy of it in one sitting, this past weekend... 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM, . . . 3:00 AM... and it was worth it.

Then I began to search for the other titles written by Nicholas Sparks. Yes, I am that clueless, remember I don't watch much TV so I didn't know what a celebrity he is. I also read about his activities in North Carolina. I knew from reading "The Last Song" that he is a wonderful father. Only a wonderful father could possibly write a book like that one. Nicholas Sparks understands a depth of love that keeps downloading from Heaven, and those who learn to love so much are incredibly blessed.

I spend the better part of the day reading "The Choice", on Cloud Reader, I didn't go search for my Kindle but I will transfer the book to Kindle when I find it. I am about to download another book by Nicholas Sparks. I plan on reading them all. I just haven't decided which one to read next...

update March 31, 2013

I have read several of Nicholas Sparks' books, and find myself very disappointed. Only one book told the story of a couple with enough moral character to wait until marriage, the others seem to give the message that as soon as a couple feels love for one another it is a reason for sex. In "The Rescue", Taylor talks to Denise about not being able to recapture the feelings of that "first time". In extra-marital affairs there is this feeling of having crossed the river but something is missing. The missing factor is that "the first time" is meant to be after the marriage vows, and in this respect, the marriage is built on a strong foundation. In our culture this is very rare, but people need to acknowledge this, talk about it, and re-build their relationships and marriage on the strong foundation of acknowledging past mistakes, forgiving one another and beginning anew on a deeper understanding of just and right morals. It would help if someone as famous as Nicholas Sparks would change his formula to reflect a deeper strength of character.

THE CHOICE by Nicholas Sparks is his 13th bestselling romance novel. I first read the book eight years ago. I must say it was even better the second time around. The story has now been made into a motion picture to be released in February 2016, thus the recent hyped interest in the novel that appears in the top ten category of all the bestselling book lists. Hollywood has recognized this exceptional storyteller and adapted 10 of Sparks' novels to films. The ten have grossed almost one billion dollars at theaters. The only criticism of Sparks’ writings that I have heard is that his stories most often have very sad endings. Well, maybe so. Nicholas Sparks writes about life and love. These two conditions tug at our heartstrings, but this is how our lives are experienced. The story takes place in Beaufort, NC. Travis Parker, a young veterinarian meets Gabby Holland, a physician’s assistant and a recently moved-in neighbor with a pregnant dog. Gabby also has a longtime boyfriend, Kevin, and that problem becomes an emotional dilemma for her. Should she stick with Kevin or strike off with her more exciting new neighbor. Travis and Gabby fall madly in love over a weekend while Kevin is out of town on business. The story is divided into two parts. Part I describes how Gabby resolves her dilemma. The second part brings us to the present while Travis reveals bits and pieces of life with Gabby during their 11 years of marriage, graphically describing how he makes the ultimate choice following a horrific life threatening tragedy. Sparks does not mince words. His stories are short, quick reads—but in this narrowed time he captures the reader and holds him tight until the end. I place, The Choice, in the top five percent of love stories I have read. Here Sparks is at his finest. The reader may find some dust in his eyes while reading Part II. I give the Choice a strong 5-star-plus rating. There is no better writer in this genre than Nicholas Sparks.

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks is a great book and keeps you guessing about the choices that Travis and Gabby had to make throughout the book. Nicholas Sparks in true fashion was making me cry throughout it as I was listening to the book and of course wondering with what was going on with Travis and Gabby.

Travis Parker is a small town guy, that was having a good time living his life the way that he has been for a while. He is a happy-go-lucky type of guy. Gabby Holland, a city girl, with a boyfriend that she has been dating since college moves in next door to Travis. These two meet with Gabby making a complete utter foul of herself over a misunderstanding. The chemistry between them is pretty instantaneous.

These two where funny, awesome, and complete romantics with each other especially throughout the flashbacks that Travis was taking us through. Mr. Sparks really knows how to really make someone fall in love with the characters, all the while keeping you guessing at his actual plan for the characters.

This is my first audiobook review and Holter Graham's reading of this book is superb. He has a really good voice for reading this Nicholas Sparks' book. I love the way he use a different voices for each character. The voice he uses for when he is reading something from a girl is pretty funny. Okay his voice for reading all of the characters and just the regular things from the book is pretty awesome.

I will totally recommend this book for any adult readers that read my blog since I am pretty sure that this Nicholas Sparks book isn’t for teenagers but then again I could be wrong. Either way I will recommend this book to anyone that asks me about it. Nicholas Sparks books can be read by themselves or with the audiobook reader if you are too busy in your life to sit down and read the book like a normal person. I am going to say that I love being able to do an audiobook and I can’t wait to do it again sometime soon.

I am giving The Choice by Nicholas Sparks a 5 butterfly rating because of course the book was fabulous and something that I love.

Anyways until next time enjoy this book review brought to you by

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"How far should a person go in the name of love?"

I've always enjoyed reading Nicholas Sparks' books because of the wonderful, sappy love stories he writes, not to mention his superb ability to make me cry like a baby. A lot of his stories follow similar plots with differences in characters and circumstances, of course, but nevertheless, he always crafts beautiful, heartwarming stories that keep me interested. Most of his books I've loved, others not quite as much. I enjoyed The Choice even though it wasn't one of my favorites and it was a fairly quick read for me. The story is told in two different times, in 1996 and 2007, with enough descriptions to help readers fill the gap and understand all that happened in between those years.

Gabby Holland is a physician assistant, intelligent, and new to Beaufort, North Carolina. She takes a job at the local pediatrician's office to be closer to her boyfriend who, ironically, never seems to have time for her and is always golfing. Gabby makes friends with her neighbor, Travis Parker, after she indignantly accuses his dog of impregnating her beloved Molly. Travis is the town veterinarian, alongside his father, and also enjoys nearly every outdoor activity. He has traveled the world and enjoys spending his weekends out on the boat with his close friends and their families. The first time he meets Gabby, he is enchanted with her and the two start spending a lot of time together. In the second part of the story, we are fast-forwarded to 2007 where Travis must make one of the most difficult decisions of his life, a choice that no person should have to make.

The Choice is an emotional tale of love, romance and the choices that we sometimes have to make, no matter how hard they may be. Even though this wasn't one of my favorite Nicholas Sparks books, I still enjoyed it and think it is worth reading. I am someone who prefers to read the book before I see the movie and I am definitely interested in the movie as well because I've enjoyed seeing how the books are adapted into films. If you are a Nicholas Sparks fan, go ahead and read The Choice because it's a beautiful, emotional story about true love!

I enjoy reading books by this author because they flow easily and have not only romance but some kind of emotional journey as well. This always gets me to thinking. The stories are told in a way that makes them seem real and the characters always make me feel as if I know them. This story about Gabby and Travis was very sweet but I felt as if the love between them came to quickly. Gabby shows up at Travis's door demanding he help her with a problem she thinks he is half responsible for. This is also the moment where the two found a quick connection despite Gabby already being in another relationship with another man. This some what complicated Gabby's life but Travis knew he wasn't going to give up on her being with him. Their relationship seemed almost perfect when tragedy came into their lives. Travis was left pondering how far he would go for love. This story was some what predictable. I found this story had a few twists and turns and flowed easily. The situation Travis found himself in was very heart wrenching and left me wondering what choice he would make which also had me wondering what I would do if I were ever in that situation. I however feel that the ending was to rushed and this left me disappointed. I enjoyed reading this book but feel that some parts of it could've been better. I can't wait to read his next book.

The title “The Choice” is very hard to understand until the end of part I and all of part II. And I will state that everyone has choices everyday throughout their life. Once I understood that the title was appropriate and made sense to me. I forgot to add that surprisingly this Nicholas Sparks book was (and appreciated) a Kindle Unlimited book.

Let me start by stating that this book was not easy to read. The way Sparks wrote the book I was constantly in concerned (not sure about the heroine, Gabby - my initial concern was she was just a whiner) and catch up mode. Then I finally decided that Gabby was just displaying how she was raised. She isn’t portrayed as a southern debutant but she was actually raised (against her personality) to actually be one when she wasn’t. And that created personal angst that she was constantly working through. And then this is actually 2 books and the 2nd starts 7-8 years after the 1st book finishes. The Hero Travis has his own demons that don’t really become evident until well into part II. And his part of the story really takes over and is part II. And let me state that CHOICES are constantly brought to the front and center. Sadly when a person thinks about this our lives are constant choices we have to make. Anyway this book although hard to read (in my opinion) it is definitely worth it. And it’s also very emotional, just be warned.

That pretty much sums up this book… before I delve deeper into what inspired me and what didn’t and why I gave this book 3 stars, let me repeat that the book is worth reading although there is a lot of “filler” that I think could have been avoided had the author been more creative in telling a longer story. Toward the end, I found myself skimming a lot to get to the point… something I don’t like to do! *********** Warning – Plot Spoilers from here on ********* I pretty much read this book straight through, but I did find myself putting it down more often than I normally would because there were a lot of parts that seemed to be simply extraneous bits to fill out the novel. Quite honestly, those parts became boring; especially toward the end of the novel where we needed the story to move forward. That said, Nicholas Sparks is a great romantic writer… one of the best I’ve read and I found myself laughing, rooting for the protagonists, and more than a few times with a tear in my eye! At first you think the title “The Choice” is going to be about Gabby choosing between Travis and Kevin, but soon enough the reader realizes that it has to be Travis because there is hardly any character buildup of Kevin and what is mentioned is warm, but not enough to make you cheer for him in any way at all. The Prologue gives us a sense of this as well, though still leaving the reader uncertain. You wonder what exactly happened and did it have to do with Gabby’s choice. The Author does a great job of creating suspense without being too cumbersome, however in this case, it is far too drawn out… particularly in Part II. I’m a stickler for continuity of story as well… when there are glaring mistakes in a book, it distracts from my enjoyment and there are two huge holes for me.

1. When Travis first invites Gabby out with his friends and their kids, it’s on Saturday and they spend the day parasailing on the boat, and then he and Gabby end up having a grilled shrimp dinner alone where he invites her on a motorcycle ride the next day (Sunday). After the ride which would be at minimum late afternoon considering all that happened, including lunch etc., he asks Gabby out to dinner for the following evening, which would be Monday. She counters by offering to cook dinner for him at her house which he accepts. Then...all of a sudden it’s Sunday again… this is the type of thing that gets in my head in a novel and brings me out of the story because I’m stuck on the glaring fact that the weekend all of a sudden has three days, two of which are “Sunday.”
2. This is minor, but still any author worth reading who wants a reader immersed in the story does adequate research on what they write about. In the novel, Travis is reminiscing about a vacation he and Gabby took to Cancun and he mentions they visited “Aztec” ruins. Most anyone who knows anything about Cancun and the Mayan Peninsula, knows it’s just that… “Mayan” ruins. The Aztec Empire was located to the north in what is now Central Mexico and Mexico City. Finally, an Epilogue is a final comment or conclusion to a book and in this case the epilogue should have been the final chapter. It doesn’t read like an epilogue at all in my mind… it’s a continuation of the story… not a comment or final conclusion. I’m not a writer nor a literary critic, but the obvious point in calling it that was to continue the suspense and buildup of the actual choice which was, as we find out, centered around Travis’ decision to continue Gabby’s life support instead of honoring her living will. This again is very predictable though… even if Gabby had ended up dying, it would not have been due to this choice as the book never really lead us to believe Travis would make that decision…there was only one choice for him and if Gabby ended up dying, it would not be because Travis chose to end her life support... this sort of took a lot of the intensity out of the book for me and lessened the final impact of her coming out of the coma. However... the title is "The Choice" so there it is!! With all this said…. the one thing I enjoyed more than anything about this book was the way the author described the love between Travis and Gabby with such sweetness and emotion. Anyone who has ever been in love can relate! Nicholas Sparks is the master of putting that feeling into words with such a delicacy and intimacy that it stirs the heart like not many writers do… at least for me! The other part of the book I really enjoyed was the “push-pull” dialog between Travis and Gabby… it was very well written, undeniably witty, and you could see them falling in love bit by bit – or possibly realizing bit by bit how deeply affected or already in love they were…. And that is what makes this book definitely worth reading!!!