After the immense success of novels such as The Notebook and A Walk to Remember, Nicholas Sparks has provided readers with yet another romance novel, Every Breath. The novel features two unlikely individuals, Hope Anderson and Tru Walls, who both arrive in North Carolina to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding their early lives and distant backgrounds. With Spark’s solid writing style and intricate character arcs, the story provides readers with more than just an emotional tale but a realistic situation readers can relate to.

The novel interweaves two major plots which makes the novel easy to follow. The reader is initially introduced to the indecisive Hope Anderson, who visits Sunset Beach, North Carolina to ponder over difficult decisions regarding her upcoming marriage and father who was recently diagnosed with ALS. The second character’s perspective, Tru Walls, who was born and raised in Zimbabwe, is introduced mid way through the book and describes his quest in discovering the whereabouts of his mother and biological father whom he never knew about in North Carolina.  

What makes this novel so different from Spark’s other novels is the inclusion of himself as a narrator in the prologue and epilogue. This “frame story,” as Sparks mentions in the author’s note, adds a layer to Tru and Hope’s story that although is fictional adds a sense of timelessness to the events which hasn’t been present in his novels before.

Another interesting aspect surrounding the book is Sparks’ detailed descriptions of the landscapes and naturalistic scenarios, making the story yet another heart-wrenching page turner. Tru’s narration surrounding the lifestyle of the Zimbabwe safari are unflinchingly realistic and display the characteristics that differentiate him from Hope’s elegant lifestyle in North Carolina.

Every Breath is touching and achingly romantic, heartbreaking and ultimately filled with joy. It is everything I value in a Nicholas Sparks’ novel and one of the reasons I come back time after time to his work.