The Lucky One

Summary (from the publisher): When U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his third tour of duty in Iraq, his first instinct is to toss it aside. Instead, he brings it back to the base for someone to claim, but when no one does, he finds himself always carrying the photo in his pocket. Soon Thibault experiences a sudden streak of luck—winning poker games and even surviving deadly combat that kills two of his closest buddies. Only his best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph—his lucky charm. 


Back home in Colorado, Thibault can’t seem to get the photo—and the woman in it—out of his mind. Believing that she somehow holds the key to his destiny, he sets out on a journey across the country to find her, never expecting the strong but vulnerable woman he encounters in Hampton, North Carolina—Elizabeth, a divorced mother with a young son—to be the girl he’s been waiting his whole life to meet. Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo, and his luck, a secret. As he and Elizabeth embark upon a passionate and all-consuming love affair, the secret he is keeping will soon threaten to tear them apart—destroying not only their love, but also their lives. 

Filled with tender romance and terrific suspense, The Lucky One is Nicholas Sparks at his best—an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love. 

Did You Know?---

Zeus was modeled after one of Nicholas’s dogs?

Nicholas had to do more research for this novel than any other?

The setting of the novel is fictitious?

This was the first novel Nicholas wrote in the limited third-person omniscient perspective?

Review: This is the first Nicholas Sparks book I've read in many years. A coworker gave me her copy several months ago, and about a week later, I saw the preview for the movie and was intrigued enough to finally read it. Maybe my memory is foggy, but it seemed very well written with well developed characters compared to earlier books. The Lucky One follows marine Logan Thibault, who finds a photo of a woman while in Iraq. Following his find, he has surprising good luck, and years later, back home, Thibault decides to find the woman to thank her. He finds Beth and they fall in love, but he neglects to tell her about the photo, and she has a nasty ex-husband and a vulnerable young son.

My biggest issue with Nicholas Sparks novels generally is that too many of them end in tragedy. Sparks seems to equate true love with heartbreak and anguish. I'd like to see a few more happy endings. This novel delivers in that respect. However, I was irritated by how thoroughly villainous Sparks made Beth's ex-husband seem. I didn't buy that someone as sharp and attractive as Beth would fall for such a loser, even if it was in high school.

I nearly gave this book three stars, but this novel kept me reading late into the night because I was so anxious to find out what would happen. That doesn't happen all that frequently, especially when I have Netflix episodes of Gossip Girl waiting on me. I'm curious to see how the movie turns out, especially since they cast Zac Efron, who is considerably younger than 28, the age Thibault is supposed to be. 

Stars: 4