Well, the writing was average Sparks stuff - it just gets the message across. The problem I had was with the plot...
I found the characters flat and the story very predictable. I know there are only a few endings that work in a romantic novel, but I don't care as long as the path the author takes getting there is interesting and original enough... but I found the story plain vanilla. I couldn't empathize with the main character, and his change of heart came 100 pages too late for me to care - or to believe it, really.
Plus, a lot of the plot hangs in a mystery that is very, very easy to solve. You just have to use what I call the Maximum Angst Rule to discover who is the murderer/thief/sperm donor: discard from the list of suspects anyone who is too obvious (the ones the narrator wants you to think are suspects), those who couldn't have done the deed (because they were children, they were dead or is the hero's love interest) and those whose culpability would be anticlimatic; from the few who remain you just have to pick up the one who would cause the maximum amount of angst to the hero. I knew who the culprit was in the first third of the book - and with the mystery gone, what was left wasn't just interesting enough.
In contrast, A Walk to Remember had very charming characters, interesting situations and it was a short tale that leaves you wanting for more. I find it hard to believe the same writer penned both books...
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I found the characters flat and the story very predictable. I know there are only a few endings that work in a romantic novel, but I don't care as long as the path the author takes getting there is interesting and original enough... but I found the story plain vanilla. I couldn't empathize with the main character, and his change of heart came 100 pages too late for me to care - or to believe it, really.
Plus, a lot of the plot hangs in a mystery that is very, very easy to solve. You just have to use what I call the Maximum Angst Rule to discover who is the murderer/thief/sperm donor: discard from the list of suspects anyone who is too obvious (the ones the narrator wants you to think are suspects), those who couldn't have done the deed (because they were children, they were dead or is the hero's love interest) and those whose culpability would be anticlimatic; from the few who remain you just have to pick up the one who would cause the maximum amount of angst to the hero. I knew who the culprit was in the first third of the book - and with the mystery gone, what was left wasn't just interesting enough.
In contrast, A Walk to Remember had very charming characters, interesting situations and it was a short tale that leaves you wanting for more. I find it hard to believe the same writer penned both books...