The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks

Sphere, 17th September 2013. 

Nicholas Sparks has this gift of being able to make me cry (in a good way.) The Longest Ride tells the story of three people – Ira, Luke and Sophia. Three strangers whose lives are about to come together in good but also tragic ways.

Ira’s story is the only one written in the first person. He’s just been in a car accident, he’s alone and in the aftermath, whilst he’s stuck in his car, he starts to see his beloved wife who has been dead for the last nine years. The wife who he has never stopped loving. The first person narrative helps with the immediacy of Ira’s story. His story is both tragic and beautiful and, as the story progresses, so does your empathy grow for his character and you find out what a wonderful man he is and why he was in his car in the middle of a snow storm.

Luke and Sophia meet by chance and soon form a relationship. Their love story is a lovely one and I wanted them to be together at the end. I became concerned for Luke as more of his back-story is revealed as the book goes on. Throughout the book, Sparks leaves you guessing as to how these three people are related and I was trying to guess what the connection was. The ending still managed to surprise me even when I thought I’d worked it all out in my head.

I liked how this book was plotted out. A combination of first and third person drew me into the story but still revealed a lot about each of the characters.

I finished this book with a smile on my face, which is how I like to end a book. I enjoyed The Longest Ride. A beautiful love story. 

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.