Although, as a fan, I thought I had read all the Nicholas Sparks novels, but I came across a notation about these two books for which I had no recollection and no blog post to jog my memory. True Believer was ©April 2005 and At First Sight was ©October 2005. With his most recent novel Dreamland ©2022 just out, I decided to check these 2005 books out of the library so my reading of his publications would be complete. They share the characters of Lexie and Jeremy and second is a continuation of the first.
Both books were disappointments. Jeremy hails from New York City and Lexie lives in a small lazy town in North Carolina. These different home backgrounds did lend some interesting conflict, but it seems Sparks forgot that novels need a storyline as well as lengthy character and setting descriptions. True Believer is about finding a logical explanation for mysterious lights in a cemetery while Jeremy learns he is in love with Lexie. I truly believe I had never read True Believer although I did find the striped lighthouse front cover enticing. At First Sight continues the Jeremy/Lexie relationship and seems to have no other plot other than Jeremy's struggles with his writer's block as a professional journalist and his communications with Lexie. The first half or more of the book merely re-tells the True Believer book. Once I got toward the end of At First Sight I recalled, "Oh, yes, I have read this before," and Sparks' typical end twist was spoiled for me. I believe a reading of the complete works of Nicholas Sparks would not suffer at all if these two books were omitted. I rate both these novels two stars. I sure hope Dreamland will be better.
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