Nicholas Sparks returns to his native North Carolina to spin an intriguing beach romance. He teases the reader by claiming he found a story written for a mailbox where people place such things for others to find. However, it wasn’t clear who wrote it. Sparks spent considerable effort to find the author. Once he did, we must find what happens. Thus begins the story.
The story takes place in the fall when few people are at the beach. We find our love interests in adjoining houses. The young woman is engaged to be married but taking time to put up the family beach house for sale. The man is a guest in the other house. He is from Zimbabwe, the son of once-wealthy farmers who wants as far away from the family as possible. He’s a safari guide in the bush and receives word that a father he never knew is dying and wants to meet him. So, that adds an interesting side story to the plot.
Of course, the two fall madly in love, but she it betrothed, and he cannot imagine living outside of game preserves. The second part of the book jumps in time, providing a second chance, but with complications.
Sparks moves the plot with excellent writing and provides his signature tear-jerking ending.
