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 in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.