“There are moments when mental overload can render words impossible.” Nicholas Sparks, The Choice

To start with, I have been losing interest in Nicholas Sparks’ books for a few years now. I am a huge fan of The Notebook and have been since high school, but the stories seemed to get a bit repetitive to me after reading so many.

But this one is different. It starts off the same: girl meets boy, they don’t get along, then they do, and on and on… And then it takes a turn. A sharp turn.

SPOILER ALERT

I did not enjoy this book in the beginning. I was just “powering through” to finish it. In my opinion, to enjoy the first part of this book, you have to be okay with the fact that she is blatantly cheating on her boyfriend, Kevin. But the reader (intentionally) doesn’t hear much about Kevin but we get to continually hear about how handsome and masculine and gorgeous Travis is. I don’t like being told how to think but this book definitely pulls you towards falling in love with Travis and forgetting about Kevin.

The book seems ordinary at first with the story going somewhat predictably where the couple tries to stay apart and somehow can’t stop their magical romance from happening… blah. But then, it stops being predictable. The book jumps forward about 10 years to see a tragic accident has occurred and all Travis can do is wait to see if he will get to spend anymore time with Gabby, the love of his life. I went from being totally annoyed with the book to crying while laying in bed because I couldn’t stand the thought of having to face the decision and life that Travis was in.

SUMMARY

I don’t often have a complete turnaround in the middle of a book, but I did in this one. Take it from me: keep reading, even when the book seems to be the same old story because it gets so much better and begs the question “How far would you go for love?”

GRADE: B

Watch the Trailer for The Choice here.