The Choice
By Nicholas Sparks

What better to read for the month of love than a book by Nicholas Sparks? Now, I'm not a big romance reader. I prefer mystery and fantasy. But Nicholas Sparks has a way of weaving a story that makes you feel as though you know each and every person. The stories he tells always leave me feeling as though I've just caught up with old friends.

In "The Choice", we meet Travis Parker and Gabby Holland. Next door neighbors, they get off to a somewhat shaky start. Gabby is absolutely sure that Travis' dog, Moby, is responsible for getting her dog, Molly, pregnant. As she storms through the bushes, determined to give him a piece of her mind, Moby bowls her down. And the disorientation she feels from that is nothing compared to what follows once she meets Travis Parker.

Travis Parker is enjoying his bachelor life. He has a good job, owns his own home, has a great trio of friends (and their wives & kids) to hang out with in his free time. Life is good. And then Gabby Holland comes barreling through his hedges. After his dog knocks her down and he helps her back up, she launches into a tirade about things he just can't follow. He gets that she thinks his dog is to blame for her dog being pregnant but so much more seems to on her mind.

Over the coming days, as he tries to be cordial and polite, Gabby seems to become more angry with him. When he asks her to join him and his friends for a day on his boat and she once again is less than neighborly, he decides that enough is enough. Upon confronting her, she then lets down her guard and shows him she is not what she has appeared to be. While she has a boyfriend (that she mentions continually) she agrees to spend the day with him and his friends. What follows, neither of them saw coming.

When I started this book, I thought "The Choice" in the title was going to refer to Gabby's choice of being with Travis, or her boyfriend Kevin. But as I read, I realized that this book is full of so many choices. As is life. To walk across the way and say hello, to forgive someone for their anger, to continue a relationship that seems to be going nowhere or even to take a leap of faith in the name of love.

I like Gabby Holland, I like Travis Parker and I'd like to live in Beaufort. This story reminds me of why I want to live in a small town. Life just seems simpler that way. I have friends that live in small towns. They are just as welcoming as the folks in this story and that makes it all the more real. I'd normally give you a bit more of the story line, but not this time. It doesn't seem fair to take away the suspense built in these pages. Once again, Nicholas Sparks does not disappoint.