BOOK REVIEW
TITLE: Counting Miracles
AUTHOR: Nicholas Sparks
PUBLISHER: Random House
RELEASE DATE: September 24, 2024
GENRE: Romance, Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Tanner Hughes was raised by his grandparents, following in his grandfather’s military footsteps to become an Army Ranger. His whole life has been spent abroad, and he is the proverbial rolling stone: happiest when off on his next adventure, zero desire to settle down. But when his grandmother passes away, her last words to him are find where you belong. She also drops a bombshell, telling him the name of the father he never knew—and where to find him.
Tanner is due at his next posting soon, but his curiosity is piqued, and he sets out for Asheboro, North Carolina, to ask around. He’s been in town less than twenty-four hours when he meets Kaitlyn Cooper, a doctor and single mom. They both feel an immediate connection; Tanner knows Kaitlyn has a story to tell, and he wants to hear it. To Kaitlyn, Tanner is mysterious, exciting—and possibly leaving in just a few weeks.
Meanwhile, nearby, eighty-three-year-old Jasper lives alone in a cabin bordering a national forest. With only his old dog, Arlo, for company, he lives quietly, haunted by a tragic accident that took place decades before. When he hears rumors that a white deer has been spotted in the forest—a creature of legend that inspired his father and grandfather—he becomes obsessed with protecting the deer from poachers.
As these characters’ fates orbit closer together, none of them is expecting a miracle . . . but that may be exactly what is about to alter their futures forever. (Description from Goodreads.com)
MY THOUGHTS
(***Please note that this review may contain spoilers***)
I think I’ve mentioned this in the past, but Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorite authors and I was really excited that this book feels more like a Nicholas Sparks book than his last book did. It had all the things I hope for in his books: romance (but not too much), good character backgrounds, character connectors, at least one really sad backstory, and a good twist at the end.
The book is broken out into three POVs: Tanner, Kaitlyn, and Jasper. Tanner and Kaitlyn are the couple we follow throughout the book who are slowly falling in love with each other. They each have their own baggage that gets in the way of them potentially living happily ever after. I do love reading these types of stories because I like seeing how they overcome the obstacles to be together.
Tanner’s issue is that he’s only in town for a specific reason and then he’s going back overseas for a job. He’s the walking billboard for not wanting to settle down and stay in one place. I didn’t like that he kept trying to insert himself in Kaitlyn’s life with no intention of staying and that he didn’t understand why she might be upset about it.
Kaitlyn is dealing with being a single mom to an outspoken teenage girl and a younger son. Tanner gives her a taste of being with someone again after her divorce and realizes she hasn’t been putting herself first at all and that she really does miss that romantic connection. However, she knows that anything with Tanner would be a fling and she battles with wanting to see him more and facing the reality that he will be gone soon.
By far my favorite character is Jasper and he has the saddest back story. I won’t reveal how, but he lost his wife and all his children in a very tragic way. I can’t imagine losing everyone I love all at once, but Jasper kept going somehow. He also got badly injured when his family died and his injuries are an important part of his character and how all the other characters and the town interact with him throughout the book.
Maybe I’m just bad at guessing twists or Sparks is really good at writing them, but the whole time I was thinking Jasper was Tanner’s father. It’s more common now for people Tanner’s age to have older parents, my husband and his dad are a perfect example. My husband is 43 and my father in-law was 83. Even though I thought Jasper was Tanner’s father through most of the book, I didn’t actually want him to be. I kept thinking that Jasper might have abandoned his child, but I’m happy that wasn’t the case. When it was revealed that he is Tanner’s grandfather I really loved that storyline especially after the way Jasper lost his family.
I think if Tanner didn’t find his grandfather the realistic character arc would be for him to move on and not be with Kaitlyn. Throughout the book I honestly couldn’t see him staying with her and staying in once place even if they ended up together at the end. Giving him another reason to stay via Jasper I think was a smart move on Sparks’s part. Not only would Tanner have a piece of his past that he’d always longed for, but he’d have a chance of a future with Kaitlyn.
Overall, I loved the book and highly recommend. I thought that all three characters tied perfectly together at the end and they all did get a happy ending.
OVERALL RATING
ABOUT NICHOLAS SPARKS
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Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone.
Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 and he followed with the novels Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), True Believer (2005) and its sequel, At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010), The Best of Me (2011), and The Longest Ride (2013) as well as the 2004 non-fiction memoir Three Weeks With My Brother, co-written with his brother Micah. His eighteenth novel, See Me, published on October 12, 2015. His newest book, Two by Two, will be published on October 4, 2016.
Film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, including The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven (on all of which he served as a producer), The Lucky One, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John and The Last Song, have had a cumulative worldwide gross of over three-quarters of a billion dollars.
In 2012, Sparks and his publishing agent and creative partner Theresa Park, launched Nicholas Sparks Productions, with Park as President of Production. A film version of The Guardian is currently in development, as is a film based on Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers’s friendship with Chicago Bears teammate Brian Piccolo.
Sparks lives in North Carolina. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. He co-founded The Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina in 2006. As a former full scholarship athlete (he still holds a track and field record at the University of Notre Dame) he also spent four years coaching track and field athletes at the local public high school. In 2009, the team he coached at New Bern High School set a World Junior Indoor Record in the 4 x400 meter, in New York. The record still stands. (Bio found on NicholasSparks.com)
Stories Unfolded 