Logan Thibault is a stoic, handsome ex-marine. While in Iraq, he finds a picture of a young American woman buried in the sand and pockets the photo. After encountering several harrowing, near-death experiences, he attributes his survival to the picture he found. It becomes his “lucky charm.” After returning back to the United States, he decides to search for the woman in the photograph.

Enter Elizabeth, the beautiful, charming 30-year-old who is harassed and controlled by her ex-husband, Keith Clayton. Of course, it is up to Logan to woo Elizabeth and save her from Clayton, whose behavior grows more sinister as the novel unfolds.

is Nicholas Sparks. Whenever he releases a new novel, it will top the New York Times Bestsellers List just because of the pure power of his name. Sparks’ novels — which include Hollywood blockbusters The Notebook and A Walk to Remember — are quintessential chick lit; they always feature the handsome guy who loves unconditionally and the beautiful, vulnerable woman who needs the man’s protection. Sparks’ latest bestseller, “The Lucky One,” is no different.

One of the reasons novels like “The Lucky One,” “A Walk to Remember” and even the vampire series “Twilight” are so successful is that they portray characters we all wish existed in real life. The downside of this is that the characters are either unrealistic or completely one-dimensional and the interactions between characters entirely rely on emotional manipulation. Unfortunately, there is probably no one who would be willing to go the lengths Thibault does in order to convince Elizabeth to love him. And the plausibility of the romance between Thibault and Elizabeth is about as realistic as the vampire-human relationship in “Twilight.” Thibault is college-educated, handsome and intelligent, yet willing to take a minimum-wage job cleaning kennels just so he can be close to Elizabeth. Elizabeth is probably the shallowest character in the book. Her back story is nowhere as intriguing as Thibault’s, and I found myself skimming whenever the novel was narrated from her point of view. Her reactions are both unpredictable and unrealistic; when she learns that Thibault has been semi-stalking her, she initially freaks out but decides that it isn’t that big of a deal in the time span of a couple days. Considering that Thibault’s search for Elizabeth was a major concern throughout the novel, the buildup and resolution didn’t satisfy.

Worse than the romance itself is the role of the ex-husband, Clayton. I won’t ruin the ending, but the sudden change of events and the haphazard epilogue makes me wonder if Sparks just couldn’t think of a way to tie up the twisted web of events he created, or if he finally realized that people don’t read his books for plausibility.

“The Lucky One” is still a fast-paced, enjoyable read in the same way predictable, cheesy chick flicks can still satisfy, even though the most likeable and realistic character might be Thibault’s dog.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Lucky One   from Amazon.Com!

Created Jul 09, 2009 at 1:57pm • Submit your own review...