Every Breath

I should first start with, I am not a reader. I have read probably 15 books in my life and most of them were required through school. The Great Gatsby & The Giver are my favorite books that I was forced to read and didnt appreciate them until the 2nd time I actually read them. But anyways... I have always loved Spark's movies. I regret reading this book so quickly. I couldn't put it down. I finished it this morning ( 3 emotionally draining days) with tears running down my face. The story is beautiful and the fact that it was over was even more saddening. Tru & Hope's love story is so touching. And its not just love but Real love. Deep love. It's really all the feels you would expect from this Author. If you love Spark's movies, you will love the books so much more. You really feel like you knows these characters. You're invested in them and it's all because of how beautifully these books are written and how deep the words hit you. It's nothing short of poetic how this man writes. As well as falling in love with the Characters, you cant help falling in love with the Author. I also love how Spark's wrote himself into this one. Not that hes the main character, but how he learned of Kindred Spirit and how he went on a mission to find Tru & Hope. And how he wrote in the end how much these people touched and even changed him really made me dive in deeper. 4 hours later I'm still reeling from this book. I'm writing this review and all I cant think of is how much I want to go back and read it again.

I suggest do not read the epilogue, because while doing so(balling my eyes out) I was disappointed.

I have 3 more books in my read list for this Summer, but I will come back to this book. This book will definitely be one of those books I read 1x a year. The pictures are from a letter Tru & Hope read at the Kindred Spirit and it's beautiful and it shows only a fraction of the poetic nature of this story.

While preparing this review, I had to do just as I did while reading the novel – take breaks to let my emotions subside so I could see to read (or write), for a lot of emotions came to the fore. By the way, I strongly recommend adding the Audible Edition to your library at the reduced price of $9.47.

Firstly, due to my own personal circumstances. My father, not long before he passed on eight years ago, had urged me to read and study Nicholas Sparks’s style of writing. Dad was not moved by many authors, so I noted that, but did not then do as he urged. In just the introduction to the novel, I quickly understood why Dad was so moved.

Also, though, my first marriage was a story not so very different, in the essential ways, from the true story behind the novel. I, too, spent time in Africa (Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, and I am convinced I shall one day return to that magical, awe-inspiring land).That employment in southern Africa became the beginning of the end of my first marriage, one of the consequences you pay while trying to deal with day-to-day challenges.

Of course, had I not gone to Africa, thence, years later, to Egypt, I might never have suffered the divorce but would not have then discovered my wife of today, who is the Godsend that brought me back from the dead and failed.

My point is, “Every Breath” by Nicholas Sparks opened up some old wounds BUT also healed them shut. For me, this story was epic. A life changer.

BLUSH FACTOR: This love story is absent any profanities, but the love scenes, while drawing a clear, unmistakable picture, are not graphic in the sense of more risqué novels. Tantalizing? Yes, but not over-the-top graphic. Read first before deciding to read to anybody else, is the best advice I can give. Wonderful images beautifully written is another way to put it.

ADVENTURE: There IS a definite sense of adventure.

SOUL: Yes.

CHARACTER OR VOICE: It is magical how this writer can open the story up to let it speak for itself.

EDITING FOR GRAMMAR AND TYPOS: Professional editing of the highest order.

THE WRITING FLOW & STYLE: I think it’s clear that this writer is moving in his narrative.

POV: Third person, which works well for this story. We get to feel the emotions of the main characters so effectively due to the way point of view is used in this work.

EXCERPT

‘…time, she’d believed her dad to be the smartest man in the world. When she would tell him that, he’d always laugh and say that if that were true, then he would have figured out a way to earn a million dollars. Her mom was a teacher, too—second grade—and it wasn’t until Hope graduated from college and began paying her own bills that she realized how much of a financial challenge it must have been for them to raise a family, even on their combined income.

Her dad had been a coach to the high school’s cross country and track teams as well. He never raised his voice, but nonetheless led his teams to numerous conference championships. Along with her sisters, Hope had participated in both sports all four years of high school, and though none of them were stars, Hope still jogged a few times a week. Her older sisters ran three or four days a week, and for the past ten years, Hope had joined her dad and her sisters at the annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, all of them working up an appetite before sitting down at the table. Two years earlier, her dad had won his age-group bracket.

But now, her dad would never run again.

It had started with occasional twitches and a slight, if noticeable, fatigue. For how long, she wasn’t exactly sure, but she guessed that it had been a couple of years. In the twelve months after that, the runs in the woods became jogs, and then finally walks.

Old age, his internist suggested, and it made sense. By then, her dad was in his late sixties—he’d retired four years earlier—and he had arthritis in his hips and feet. Despite a life of exercise, he took medication for slightly elevated blood pressure. Then, last January, he’d caught a cold. It was a normal, run-of-the-mill cold, but after a few weeks, her dad had still found it harder to breathe than usual.

Hope had gone with him to another appointment with his internist. More tests were done. Blood work was sent to the labs. He was referred to another doctor, then another. A muscle biopsy was taken, and when the results came back, there was the suggestion of a potential neurological problem. It was at that point that Hope began to worry. More tests followed, and later, Hope sat with the rest of her family as the diagnosis of…’

Sparks, Nicholas. Every Breath (Kindle Locations 465-481). Grand Central Publishing. Kindle Edition.

BOTTOM LINE

Life-altering story for me. Only one rating makes sense. If I ever could pen a story 10% as engaging as this, I would be quite pleased that I had accomplished a great deal.

Five stars out of five.

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I've often thought many times, how life gets interrupted; how love gets interrupted. It leaves a soul longing for peace, yet never finding that love that clings to hopes and dreams unfulfilled.

This story of Tru and Hope brought back memories of a life and love that was interrupted when I was quite young, leaving the forever question mark imprinted on my soul. Everyone wants a love like theirs... so raw, so deep, so real.

This book, this love story, was so good, stirring up memories for me with that forever question mark that is deep within my heart. It makes me want to start my own Kindred Spirit mailbox in a cemetery not far from my home, yet there would be no answers, only longing for a question mark to be turned into an exclamation mark!

I love that this is a true story of love. I will go visit the Kindred Spirit mailbox on Bird island someday, as I'm sure many will after hearing about it through this truly amazing and sweet love story of Tru and Hope.

This book left me sad.Although it was supposed to be a love story, it felt more like a life story interspersed with what the author intended as a once in a lifetime love. I didn't feel that the essence of their love was captured as it should have; especially whilst it was occurring. It felt rushed.I got to midway in the book and was still waiting to feel the love story that was being described. I just couldn't connect to it. However, I deeply felt it's ending, I felt the heartbreak and you can say that the degree of feeling from the heartbreak portrayed a greater sense of the love story than the actual moments when it was being described. Although in the end Tru and Hope found each other again , it wasn't a happy ending...it was a life-ending. The full circle events just left me sad and a bit disappointed. There was one moment when I cried because of the beauty of their love (when they'd found each other again and declared their never ending love for each other) but that was marred by all the life events that kept them apart all these years and threatened to keep them apart even now.

The writing itself wasn't bad, I felt that sometimes the choice of words didn't bring out the scene fully or were sometimes too forceful or over-narrated to bring out the tenderness and appropriate feeling of those moments. It's a good read. I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to recommend it but if someone is interested in reading it, I wouldn't outright object.

Overall it's a story about two people from opposite sides of the world falling in love with each over a couple of days. A love which somehow was alive between them even after 24 years apart and a lot of life happening in between. They found their way back to each in their old age(60's), through what seems like luck and divine intervention, only to realize now that the woman is dying and has only a few years left. There you go. That's it!

I've loved a lot of Nicholas Sparks' works (Of course, the Notebook will always be one of my favorites), but this one didn't quite do it for me. I liked the story, and the premise, but it didn't suck me in the way some of his other books have.

First, the description and scenery were absolutely beautiful and well-done, and made me feel like I was there, under the cloudy skies, tasting the salt breeze. I've been to North Carolina several times and have always enjoyed my times there, and I wouldn't ever hesitate to return. I'm from the big city and something about going down South just charms me. Secondly, it's still a beautiful tale of love found, lost, and then found again. It reminds us that anything can happen, and if it's meant to be, it will be. The big reveal at the end did pull at my heartstrings.

Unfortunately, Hope and Tru's love seemed...forced to me, and I didn't feel any chemistry between them. It seemed as if they were building a friendship, and then just suddenly fell in love (for me, their declarations seemed like it came out of the left field). And while I liked Tru (and reading about life in Africa), I wasn't as big of a fan of Hope, though I can understand why she made some of the decisions she did. She just came off as so selfish and inflexible, for a man who is supposedly the love of her life. And the big time jump in Part 2 kind of threw me off and I lost whatever connection I had built with our two MCs.

And while the writing style was fine, I thought there was too much telling and not enough showing, and there were big sections of infodumps, some of which I felt like I had to slog through.

I don't regret picking up this book, though, and I wouldn't hesitate to read Sparks' works, again.