What better way to start this blog with a quick book review?
Now, mind you, there will be spoilers ahead. But first a general review for those that are thinking about reading it.
The book is about two teens who fall in love in a Romeo and Juliet style. She's from a respectable and wealthy family while he's the complete opposite. His surname, Cole, brings fear into the hearts of all who hear it. His family is like this giant small town mafia that nobody pisses off. But here we have young Dawson, who hates his family, is nothing like them, and has fallen in love with one Amanda Collier, a girl way out of his league, status and general lifestyle.
Needless to say her family did not approve. Not in the slightest. As is mentioned in the summary, their paths go different ways. Twenty years later they reunite. Does love bloom again? Have their hearts' desire changed?
The answer is no. At least on Dawson's side. Let's give the guy some point though, he never dated anyone since he was sent to prison for accidentally killing a famous (and only doctor) in small town Oriental.
Amanda, though madly in love with Dawson, moved on. Now, if she had gone to visit young Dawson in prison and said youngster had told her "move on", great. But she didn't, and so he didn't. Don't let the movie fool you. She never went.
She went to college like she wanted, she met a future dentist and got married. Had three kids (a fourth who she lost to cancer), and lived happily ever after. Or she would have, if Frank, her husband, didn't start drinking to the point of being a certified alcoholic.
Now, while all this was happening, Dawson was off in prison. After he got out he stayed a year back home on probation. He had left his family long ago, went to live with a widower named Tuck, who aside from letting his stay in his garage didn't really talk to the kid.
After the year on probation Dawson left for Lousiana. Why there, no idea. He worked on a rig, and one day for some reason it exploded, sending his crashing into the water below. This is when he starts hallucinating. Yup, you heard right. But don't be mistaken, this isn't a negative point toward the book. It was brillinatly handeled. The hallucination very important. Read to find out why.
Tuck's death is what brings them back together. They get a call from a lawyer saying he asked them to take care of something. Now here's the thing, they don't know that their first love is going to be there. Tuck, apparently, shipped them hard. I think he was counting down the days till he died so he could get both of them together. It was rather funny.
Funnier still, is that while both of them are falling in love again, but it being difficult for Amanda who is married, Dawson's cousins know he's back and want him dead. Yet be it fate or Tuck having a laugh, they miss each other almost until the end of the book.
Things happen and Amanda decides that she can't break up her family. Which, is actually being a decent and responsible human being. Yes her husband is a drunk, but he's not violent, works, loves his kids and loves her. Just also loves his booze.
Dawson, being all noble dies. Won't go into detail about how or why. But it turns out that while he was dying, Jared, Amanda`s oldest was in a car accident and in desperate need of a heart transplant. Guess who's heart he got?
Now the first half of the book was boring for me. But the second half was much better. When the accident happened I almost cried. And when it is mentioned that Jared was going to need a heart transplant I did shed a lonely tear, knowing where this was going.
I wasn't a fan of Amanda not telling her son where the heart came from, specially after he had asked her to find out about who's heart was beating in his chest. One, he has a right to know. Two, it feels like she's compeltly killing Dawson off, instead of sharing his story with her son. The truth of who Dawson is, the good person he was, never tainted by his Cole blood, dies with her. It just left me with a bad taste.
In conclusion, it's not my favorite Sparks book. That slot still belongs to Safe Haven.
So, any opinions? Thoughts? Do you disagree, agree? Remember though, keep it civil.
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