This was the first Nicholas Sparks book I've ever read. My cousin Billy recommended the movie to me on a flight back home and I didn't even realize I'd had the same story sitting on my shelves since I graduated high school, 6+ years ago.

Most of the passages were simplistic yet strung out for all they were worth. Sparks could have made this novel like 100 pages shorter. There was no need for separate parts, either, since the second part wasn't fleshed-out at all. I'm unimpressed... and possibly no longer within the target audience range in which Travis and Gabby's "relationship" is something to fantasize about, or whatever.