The Lucky One Book Review

The book, The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks was made into a film in 2012. Seeing the film is what originally sparked my interest in the novel. Sparks is known for his emotional, tear-jerker, romance novels and The Lucky One holds true to that stereotype. As far as romance novels go it was intriguing but also fairly predictable. It was good enough to keep me reading but not one of my favorites by any means.

The book takes place in Hampton, North Carolina and centers on Beth, a single mother, Clayton, her ex-husband and Logan Thibault, the mysterious Marine from out of town. The story is told from all three of their perspectives which is refreshing and keeps the book face paced. The premise of the story is Logan finds a girls picture during war and keeps it. During his time in Iraq he stays alive when so many of his comrades are not so lucky. He believes that the picture he found kept him safe, so he decides to find the girl from the picture, Beth, so he can thank her for keeping him safe. After he finds her they fall in love, despite Clayton’s goal to tear them apart. Fairly predictable as far as Romance novels go, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, and someone or something tries to tear them apart.

Although the book is predictable, I am a sucker for Romance novels, and this one was no exception. I enjoyed reading about the character’s lives and Sparks made them easy to connect with. For example, Beth is a struggling single mother and as the book progresses you cannot help but want the best for her.  Spark’s crafts this connection through imagery and description, but also by letting you into to Beth’s inner thoughts. “She was struck by the simple truth that sometimes the most ordinary things could be made extraordinary, simply by doing them with the right people,” (Sparks, The Lucky One). This quote shows how Beth wanted to be happy and finally realized that she could be happy with Logan. As the audience, you want that for Beth, you want her to have a happy ending with Logan.

Another part of Spark’s writing that enhanced the story was the believability of the plot. The story had realistic elements that made it more relatable to the audience. Spark’s took the farfetched idea of finding someone’s picture in war, finding them once you returned home and falling in love with them and made it surprisingly realistic. The book did not seem like a fairy-tale; instead, it resembled real life. Spark’s achieved this by adding aspects of war, divorce, and death, struggles that ordinary people face every day, to the unlikely love story. One part of the story that seemed particularly realistic was Logan and Beth’s first date. It was not over-the-top, or magical, just a simple dinner at the local crab shack. “The menu featured only a single item, prepared a single way, and every bucket came with extra napkins and bibs. Crab pieces were tossed into the center of the table-a tradition,” (Sparks, The Lucky One). This typical first date made Logan and Beth’s relationship feel real from the start.  

Overall, this book deserves 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. It was not the best writing in the world, or the best story in the world but the novel was intriguing. Spark’s well-developed story and relatable characters made the book worth reading. However, there are better books out there, even better Nicholas Spark’s books out there that would be more worth your time.