A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks Book Review

First you will smile, and then you will cry.

He had known Jamie Sullivan all his life, as with all the kids in town, but he rarely ever talks to her. She is the only daughter of Reverend Hegbert Sullivan. She is a nice girl, who always wears her hair in a bun, coupled with her plaid skirt and brown cardigan and carried her Bible wherever she went. She is everything that makes Landon crazy, initially not because of love but because of wondering which planet she actually came from.

Even in his wildest of dreams, Landon never thought about falling in love with a girl such as Jamie...

I expected to shed a tear or two, but I did not. It's not that I didn't like the book. Of course I did!

I guess I won't be able to cry to this anymore when I've already cried my heart out when I watched the film adaptation back in sixth grade. And maybe because the movie was, should I say, more intense?

In the book, Landon Carter wasn't really that rebellious as depicted in the movie. Though people looked at him as a bad kid, he never got close to expulsion and doesn't really smirks in front of Jamie's face. Yes, he didn't had good grades and would sometimes make fun of his schoolmates, but most of his time, he would just hang out with his friends in the graveyard, talking and eating peanuts.

If you have watched the film, of course you know that Jamie died in the end. With the book, the ending got me wondering if Jamie actually lived or not. So I searched the net for the answer, and so I'm quoting Sparks' comment,

As to whether she actually lived or died, it's ambiguous and purposely meant to be that way. If you wanted Jamie to live, she lived. If you knew that Jamie would die, she died.

I like the story in a special way. It's not the kind of book that you would soon forget about. Even with the film, I can still see the scenes in my mind vividly.

Nicholas Sparks may not be an author who would have you open-mouthed with his splendid style of writing, but what he says will surely sink into you.

***

Since I read Twilight, I have been wondering what it feels like to be married at a young age. Though I want to get married at the age of twenty five or twenty six, I'd also like to know the feeling of being married when you're seventeen or eighteen. You know what I mean. It's not being forced to marry because you got pregnant and all, but because you just found the guy who realizes that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you.

I watched the film with my friends when it was released in the cinemas and I remember a funny moment when they laughed at me because I suddenly cried on the part where Jamie said she's sick.
Last year, I watched it for the second time, I was actually crying from the moment Landon knew about Jamie's illness all the way until the end. I'm a mushy girl, I know.

***

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Peregrine Series by Jude Deveraux Book Review

The Peregrine Series is comprised of The Taming and The Conquest, both set in medieval England.

The Taming, the first book in the Peregrine series and set in 1445, tells the story of wealthy Liana Neville and infamous warrior Rogan Peregrine. The second book, The Conquest, set two years later, narrates how Zarred Peregrine and Tearle Howard withstood the feud from their rivaling families.

The stories are not likeable initially, especially at some parts where it talked about dirt and sex with many women. (I'm glad I wasn't born at that time). But what's intriguing about them is that the lead characters weren't the "love at first sight" type so it had me wanting to know how they fell in love.

The Taming

Liana is everything a woman would dream to be. Pretty, young and rich. Men from all over England paid court to her. They would sing for her, write her poems and tell her all the lovely things. All of these she gave up just to live with the handsome but rude Rogan Peregrine in a filthy, old and decaying castle.

Rogan married the lady for her dowry. He wanted a rich wife to build an army against his family's enemy. He didn't care a single bit for her. He left her alone all the time.

For all that she gave, her husband ignored her. Liana tried to be a meek and mild wife, hoping to win the man's heart. Not until she found out why her husband wouldn't spend the night with her. From a scared little rabbit, she transformed to a Fire Lady, setting his husband's bed on fire, literally.

For the first time in his life, Rogan was softening to a woman. Liana introduced him to the comforts of a clean home, the pleasure of bathing and to great food that doesn't have sand in it.

He spent all his life training for battle. For him, looking at the moon was a waste of time, but not when he looks at it with his wife. He had many women but only Liana responded to him so passionately.

But the three generations of war between the Peregrines and the Howards kept Rogan hard. His family is all that was left to him, and he would do anything to protect them.


The Conquest

For all her boy's clothing, only Tearle Howard knew that she is a girl the very first time she saw her.

Beautiful Zared Peregrine was raised and trained as a boy. She grew up with horses and lances and everything there is for a man. The Peregrines had suffered loss enough that they'd do everything to protect Zared from their enemies, the Howards.

Tearle, though a Howard, is very much different from his older brother. He grew up with all the finery and joys of life. He didn't grow up with hatred planted in his heart. He wanted to end the ancient feud with the Peregrines, but most of all, he wanted to have Zared Peregrine as his wife.

He did everything to have her trust and her love. He befriended her brother, showed her the things a woman should have and gave her all the things she didn't have. He did everything to prove to her that he deserves her trust. He did everything, but all the Peregrines could see is a Howard, not the man that he truly was.

For Tearle, one could end a war without a fight. Above all, his love is more important than the riches that the two families were trying to have.



I keep a list of Jude Deveraux novels so I could pick a romance book any time I'm feeling mushy or at times when I just want to take my time reading a book for a week or two and not get those ugly eye bags for staying up so late at night.

Though these are not the kind of books that I specially love and would be tucked in my Favorites shelf, what I do like about these are the way the stories are presented. The author wanted to tell a story about castles and motes and horses, and I imagine just that. These are the kind of books that I'd want to read every night before bedtime, like fairy tales, only they're intended for adults.

Well, I noticed that Deveraux has a thing for disguises and men with gorgeously shaped, big bodies and black hair. But there is this thing about Jude Deveraux. She seem to touch something deep within me with her novels. Maybe, I have a thing for romances and with men with gorgeously shaped bodies. ;) No, seriously, maybe because deep inside I'm still a princess and I'm dreaming that one day I'll meet my knight in shining armor.

Uhm, the last line is cheesy, I know, but please forgive me.


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