Dear Nicholas Sparks - Nights In Rodanthe SUCKED!!!

Preamble
When it comes to movies and music, I have no problems paying full price for it when it comes out. When new books are released, I cringe at the thought of paying full price (or near it) for a hardcover book. There are a few exceptions. One is whenever one of my favorite authors come out with something new. I almost always get a great return on my investment.

So, when this new Nicholas Sparks book, Nights In Rodanthe was released, I was like Yipppeee! I've been anxious to read something new and the fact that I just watched A Walk To Remember and cried for the bazillionth time, made me want the book even more.

Even though it clocked in at only 224 pages (for about $15.00), I initially didn't mind paying that much.

The Story
60 year old, divorced Adrienne is trying her best to help her daughter Amanda to move on with her life. Amanda's lost her husband over a year ago to cancer and although she initially seemed to be moving through all of the phases of grieving, she became stuck and unable to get on with her life.

Not only is Adrienne concerned about her, but so are her two siblings. They jump in with their families to help out with Amanda's boys. They're all so baffled on how to get Amanda to re-engage in every day life with her children.

One day, Adrienne pulls out a box of mementos. She dusts off some letters and decides that it's time to get Amanda to realize that she too went through the ordeal of love and loss.

After Adrienne's painful divorce from her husband Jack (he left her for another woman), Adrienne never thought that she could love again. When she steps in for a friend and oversees an Inn for a week, she meets its only guest, Paul who is traveling through town, trying to address a couple of his own personal demons. Over the course of five days, Adrienne and Paul fall in love. Paul vows to return to her after his year long trip to be with his son. Only, he never does because he's involved in a fatal accident.

Does Adrienne's story finally shake Amanda out of her grief? Will anyone read this book to find out now that I've given it one star?

The Problems
A hearty welcome back to my beach book goddess, dramastef. It's good to see her back and writing. I had to endure an entire summer without her recommendations.

Unfortunately chickie, you were a lot nicer to Mr. Sparks than I was.

After the first 15 or so pages, I realized there was a problem. I hated it.

I think that Mr. Sparks had a great story idea. Many of us are able to learn from the experiences of others, especially those who we are very close to. Unfortunately, the way the story idea was executed by Mr. Sparks (or should we blame the book publisher), I felt like I was reading a highly expensive Harlequin Romance. I've actually even read some of those (back when I was 15) that were better than this.

My issues are as follows:

First, I'm a believer in love at first sight however, I just can't believe that a grown man and woman, within a few hours of meeting each other, know that they are destined to be together forever. That is the way love-struck teenagers think (that's not a bad thing - just a phase of life). Adults are "supposed" to be more sensible and realistic about relationships.

Second, I was practically embarassed to read the sexual goings-on between Adrienne and Paul. Insert every possible Harlequin Romance cliche here. I'm not certain if throbbing member was in there but if it wasn't, there was something pretty close to that. This was so disappointing for me because with past books, Mr. Sparks has been able to describe the act of love/sex is a more mature way so that we believe the intimacy between the two characters. Ugh! Just disgusting.

Third, to compare a five day romance between a "mature" man and woman to a eight year marriage of young people with two young children is really stretching it. Yes, both mother and daughter end up with loves that are in the end dead however, there's no financial or parenting issues on Adrienne's side.

You know, if I was Adrienne's daughter and she would have told me "her" story, I would have told her to go suck an egg.

Fourth, although Mr. Sparks has a certain formula in the way he writes, with this book he took major shortcuts. For example, it used to take him longer than two pages to make a character turn around (watch Amanda's turnaround once her mother finished her story about Paul). Another example is that with his other books, if I skipped pages, I missed out on something fundamental to the overall story. Not here. I could have skipped over 180 of the pages and still got the same message from the book. In fact, I should have done that and maybe I wouldn't have been so grossed out by the sex.

In the end, I don't recommend this book. If for some reason you really want to read it because you're half-crazy, check it out from the library or borrow it from a friend. You want my copy? Email me and I'll send it to you :).