The Wedding

"The Wedding," published in 2003, was Nicholas Sparks’s much-anticipated follow-up to “The Notebook.” I hesitate to call it a sequel, though I suppose by definition it is. The story follows the story from Noah Calhoun’s (the hero of “The Notebook”) son-in-law's point of view. Because of the book’s title, I originally believed the book would recount Noah and Allie’s wedding, but it doesn’t. Instead, it takes the reader to a wedding that was meant to happen but never really did.

I found this book to be light years better than “The Notebook.” There was a lot more dialogue, which was lacking in the first book, without too much exposition. The flashbacks are welcome, but aren’t cheesy, and the believability and connection to the main character is deeper. It is obvious that Sparks grew tremendously as a writer in the seven years between the releases of these two novels.

This book made me cry, even though I knew what twist was coming (it’s my curse – I generally see “twists” coming). The problem with books like this one is that women read them, when their husbands should. Not that all relationship problems are men’s fault, but there are some sage ideas in this book. I wonder what joy it must be to be married to Mr. Sparks….

This book is a good, romantic, lazy read. I recommend it.

Next book: "The Christmas Box"