The Lucky One

Nicholas Sparks

326 pages

Grand Central Publishing, August 2009

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.

The first recap of reading challenges pushed me to read The Lucky One. After I wrote that post, I realized that I haven’t set an eye on Nicholas Sparks’ book at all. What happened to me, a person who was excited to read them last year? So, I set a pretty tight schedule for books I have to read to complete the challenges. For Nicholas Sparks’, I picked this book, then The Last Song, The Notebook and The Best of Me. Before reading it, I watched the movie adaptation first. It helped me to understand the whole story plot and my reading speed in English. Yeah, I still have a hard time reading books in English, the vocabulary thing. That’s why I always watch the movie adaptation, if they happen to have one. Now, let’s review the book :)

A U.S. Marine, Logan Thibault walked from Colorado to Hampton to find a woman in a photograph that he found when he served in Iraq. That simple picture saved his life. Victor, his best friend always told him that it was his lucky charm and he has to find her in the future. Then he found her and her name was Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Green. She was a teacher, divorced, has a son named Ben and living with her grandmother who owned a dog kennel. Logan decided to thank her by applying for a job, without tell her the truth. In a short notice, Logan fit into Beth’s life and then fell in love with her. He also helped Beth deal with her ex husband, Keith Clayton. He finally realized the reason he was there.

The Lucky One was a very sweet story, made me thinking differently but has a rush and confusing ending. First, it was very sweet. A stranger walked for a thousand miles, to find you and he has nothing anything bad planed. Then he perfectly fit into your life. I think that is every romance fiction fans’ dream hehehe. But the story was not only about mission to find someone, but also about deal with the past and face destiny in the future. I found it from three main characters, Logan, Beth and Keith.

Logan, Beth and Keith told their story in their point of view. Each of them has a different focus. Logan’s story was about his past time in Iraq, his memories of his best friend and questioning his reason living in Hampton. Beth’s story was about her son, her broken heart after her brother died and her hard time to dating again. Meanwhile Keith’s story was about his dating history and his time-bomb yet childish temper. My favorite? Logan’s thought about his reason for living there permanently and dating Beth. I was satisfied when Logan and Beth finally have a romantic relationship. Then Logan’s thought stroke me out. It was like ‘now what?’, ‘happily ever after is not enough’ and ‘I have to make something meaningful’. I never thought about it. It was a whole new thing for me. It was kinda refreshing too :)

But I got confused when reached the ending. Beth is the one who told the story in that part. She made me thought Logan was the one who lost in the river, not someone else. It just happened to fast, along with Keith’s changed heart. Why so sudden? Several of very big and complicated problems solved in a second. When I finished the book, I was like ‘That’s it? Really?’. Sooo disappointed :(

At last, The Lucky One was a fine romance-sweet-and-dreamy story. I like it, especially the new thing that Logan gave to me. But I still hope it has a different ending or at least, a longer explanation of it ;p