BOOK REVIEW
TITLE: Remain
AUTHOR: Nicholas Sparks & M. Night Shyamalan
PUBLISHER: Random House
RELEASE DATE: October 14, 2025
GENRE: Romance, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Fantasy
A one-of-a-kind novel that grapples with the supernatural mysteries of life, death, and human connection—an unprecedented collaboration between the globally bestselling author of love stories like The Notebook and the renowned writer and director of blockbuster thrillers like The Sixth Sense
When New York architect Tate Donovan arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home, he is hoping to make a fresh start. Recently discharged from an upscale psychiatric facility where he was treated for acute depression, he is still wrestling with the pain of losing his beloved sister. Sylvia’s deathbed revelation—that she can see spirits who are still tethered to the living world, a gift that runs in their family—sits uneasily with Tate, who struggles to believe in more than what reason can explain. But when he takes up residence at a historic bed-and-breakfast on the Cape, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Wren who will challenge every assumption he has about his logical and controlled world.
Tate and Wren find themselves forging an immediate connection, one that neither has ever experienced before. But Tate gradually discovers that below the surface of Wren’s idyllic small-town life, hatred, jealousy, and greed are festering, threatening their fragile relationship just as it begins to blossom. Tate realizes that in order to free Wren from an increasingly desperate fate, he will need to unearth the truth about her past before time runs out . . . a quest that will make him doubt whether we can ever believe the stories we tell about ourselves, and the laws that govern our existence. Love—while transformative—can sometimes be frightening.
A story about the power of transcendent emotion, Remain asks us all: Can love set us free not only from our greatest sorrows, but even from the boundaries of life and death? (Description from Goodreads.com)
MY THOUGHTS
(***Please note that this review may contain spoilers***)
I absolutely loved Remain and devoured it in less than 24 hours. As with all Nicholas Sparks books, I made sure to start reading it on a Friday, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to put it down. It was going on 2am Saturday when my husband asked if we could go to sleep, so I reluctantly set it aside to finish when I woke up.
I was a little skeptical with Sparks doing a co-written novel with M. Night Shyamalan. Spark’s novels have typically been set in reality with the exception of a few elements in some books like Safe Haven. There’s comfort in that because I can relate to characters more, but I have read books and watched movies with supernatural elements I’ve connected with as well. So I went into the book with an open mind knowing I will likely still enjoy it because it’s a Nicholas Sparks book.
I’ve seen Shyamalan’s films and they can get scary sometimes, but they wrote a very balanced supernatural love story. There were some scarier parts to Remain, but it never crossed the line into a horror book and the scary moments added some really good suspense and tension. I was getting hints of Shyamalan’s film The Sixth Sense where the ghosts don’t know they are dead, but are somehow trying to tell the main character what happened to them.
Sparks and Shyamalan also did a great job keeping you guessing on who Wren’s killers were. Just when I was sure it was one person, something another character said or did lead me in another direction. Once Tate mentioned Wren’s locket towards the end, I knew who it was and connected several dots about interactions with those characters.
As for the love story portion, I was completely heartbroken for Tate. Just as he knew nothing could happen with Wren, the reader knows this as well. I did hope there would be some additional supernatural elements that bring Wren back to life for him or maybe it could have been like the movie Bedazzled, where he ends up with another version of his love interest at the end (slightly different look, but essentially the same person). However, the way it ended was very good and if ghosts are real then this would likely be the most realistic scenario.
There were some really good quotes from the book that I earmarked. They were both really sad and romantic to think about, but gave a perfect explanation to being with someone and loving someone completely.
“Along with ordinary pleasures, like making dinner together or snuggling while bingeing a TV show….That’s what love really is…It’s the simple, tender moments reserved just for the two of you. There’s beauty in that kind of everyday commitment”
“I’d rather be married to you for a single day than live a hundred lifetimes without you.”
Overall, I really enjoyed Remain and highly recommend reading it. I’m also looking forward to seeing the film when it’s completed. As of this post, it’s supposed to be released in October 2026. Watch out for my Book vs Movie post after I watch the film.
Also, I still can’t believe I was able to meet Nicholas Sparks in person. He’s my favorite author. Check out my post: Book Events | Nicholas Sparks Remain Book Tour – Update for more info.
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)
ABOUT M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN
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Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan, known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian American writer-director of major studio films, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that usually climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies (and staging his plots) in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Shyamalan released his first film, Praying with Anger, in 1992 while he was a New York University student. His second movie, the major feature film Wide Awake, made in 1995 but not released until 3 years later, failed to find financial success. Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999’s The Sixth Sense, which was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. He followed The Sixth Sense by writing and directing Unbreakable, released in 2000, which received mixed reviews and performed poorly during its domestic release. His 2002 film Signs gained both critical and financial success, but The Village (2004) was a critical and commercial disappointment, and Lady in the Water (2006) was a commercial failure receiving mostly negative reviews. His latest movie The Happening was also a critical failure. (Bio from Goodreads)
Stories Unfolded 