Bookworm Blurbs

THE BEST OF ME is the heart-rending story of two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they've taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past. (source)

I usually don't like to abandon books, but I'm abandoning this one. I'm not a huge Nicholas Sparks fan because I don't think he's a fantastic author and his books definitely follow a pattern, which I think is pretty unoriginal. But I decided to try this because I'm trying  to get more into audiobooks since I have neither the time nor the motivation to read printed books these days thanks to grad school (although the semester ends this week and I can FINALLY read for fun again!!!!) and I wanted a book that I'd be able to listen to while driving. I knew that with Nicholas Sparks, if I got distracted by something on the road, I'd be able to dive right back into the story without missing too much. The problem is that while that quality makes this book ideal for listening to while driving, it makes for a pretty boring book to listen to in general. I think the moment when I really gave up on it was when I had to listen to a five minute long description of how to cook noodles - I wish I were exaggerating. I did listen to a few more tracks on my way to class, but when last week I realized that I'd much rather listen to the local top 40 station play the same 10 songs over and over again than listen to any more of this book, I decided to return the book to the library. I would be open to watching the film adaptation, as I tend to really enjoy Nicholas Sparks movies (nowhere near as much fluff/filler descriptions!), but I will not be attempting any more of this book. 

Sorry, Nicholas Sparks. You're just not for me.