The Lucky One

by Nicholas Sparks

book data

3,831 ratings, 3.82 average rating, 934 reviews (more data...)

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4		36%
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2		6%
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published

September 30th 2008 by Grand Central Publishing

binding

Hardcover, 326 pages

isbn

0446579939 (isbn13: 9780446579933)

description

In his 14th book, bestselling author Nicholas Sparks tells the unforgettable story of a man whose brushes with death lead him to the love of his life....more

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11/22/08

Barb rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Barb by: Megan Anderson

A typical NS book, which seems like a gender-reversal of "Message in a Bottle". It was an easy escape read, and the characters are all well developed. I actually hated reading the chapters on Clayton! What a creep! I love Zeus, who had a great handle on character reading!

Almost feel that NS is becoming a bit Danielle Steeleish in his writing...formula, token sex, surprise of who died/lived.

All in all...not a bad book for a cold weekend!

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1 comment

09/04/08

Kelly Moran rated it:

bookshelves: my-reviews

I found The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks, captivating. Nicholas Sparks is a #1 New York Times best-selling author with over fifty million copies of his books in print worldwide and translated into over forty languages. Other titles include: The Rescue, A Bend in the Road, The Guardian, The Wedding, True Believer, At First Sight, Dear John, The Choice, and Three Weeks With My Brother. Nicholas Sparks has also had four of his novels adapted into major motion pictures including: Message in a Bottl...more I found The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks, captivating. Nicholas Sparks is a #1 New York Times best-selling author with over fifty million copies of his books in print worldwide and translated into over forty languages. Other titles include: The Rescue, A Bend in the Road, The Guardian, The Wedding, True Believer, At First Sight, Dear John, The Choice, and Three Weeks With My Brother. Nicholas Sparks has also had four of his novels adapted into major motion pictures including: Message in a Bottle, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Nights in Rodanthe. Nicholas Sparks resides in North Carolina with his wife and family.
While in his third tour of duty in Iraq, U.S. Marine Logan Thibault happens upon a half-buried photograph of a beautiful young woman, simply known as E. After no one has claimed it, Logan finds himself drawn to it and carrying it in his pocket wherever he goes. More importantly, he discovers it brings him luck. His friend, Victor, seems to think it was his fate to find it and calls it his lucky charm. Once he is back home in Colorado, Logan can’t seem to get the woman out of his mind. Understanding just how crazy it was, he sets forth on foot from Colorado to North Carolina in search of what very well may be his destiny. He didn’t have any illusions of what might await him, but he sure wasn’t expecting the instant attraction to Elizabeth, the sincere fondness for her Nana, the friction with her ex, Clayton, or to fall immediately in love with her ten-year-old son, Ben. Pursuing the path he chose and attraction for Beth, they ignite a passionate affair of the heart, never knowing that the secret of how he came about the photo could destroy everything he had waited his entire life to find.
True to form, and with a power-house ending, it’s no secret why Nicholas Sparks has captivated readers worldwide for some time now. How rare it is to find a man who can craft a story in this genre with so much insight in the human condition, affairs of the heart, the importance of family- and to do it in a manner that always seems new and unique. I find that to be the best part of this author, that when he has you crying, laughing, or ready to spit nails, he has the power to make you believe that anything is possible- that fate and destiny are not myths, after all. (Insert sigh here), Another great read from a true gem in this genre.
The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks, is an engaging, charming, and witty tale, determined to restore your faith in happily ever after again.

Kelly Moran
Author and Reviewer
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3 comments

12/29/08

Karen added it

bookshelves: advisory-2008-2009

The famous Nicholas Sparks creates yet another amazing tale of lovers.
Driven by luck and determination, Logan Thibult is in a search for a woman in a photograph that he found serving war in iraq. The photograph saved his life numerous times and with little persuasion by his friend Victor, he set on a journey to find the woman and repay the debt he felt he owed.
Elizabeth, a woman who spent the rest of her life after highschool struggling through life as a single mother, is overwhelmed...more

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02/02/09

Katie rated it:

Read in January, 2009

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4 comments

12/20/08

AnnaMay rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Okay, so this book followed my reading of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. After that great work of literature, anything would pale, probably. Maybe I'm not being fair, but I really just didn't care for Sparks' latest. I've only read a few of his books, but already I'm seeing a pattern and I found myself getting bored and saying, "Awe, come on," throughout. The plot was too predictable, the characters were too generic, and I guess I just wasn't in to the whole storyline. The creepy co...more

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11/23/08

Ashley rated it:

Read in November, 2008

Started off a little slow, maybe because he spent so much time introducing the characters. It just got a little old and before I knew it I was 1/2 way through the book and not much had happened. But good thing you don't read the beginning last.

I did like the story, I'm a sap for romance, I loved the character Logan.

On a side note I couldn't get past some of the writing. For being such a famous author I would think they would use spell check or something before they publis...more

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03/17/09

Jason_W. rated it:

bookshelves: 7th-grade-ir-book--rick-

The book The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks, is about a guy named Logan Thilbault who served in the Marines in Iraq. During his service on one of three trips there, he finds a picture of a girl. Carrying the picture makes Logan the luckiest man in the Marines, causing him to break the record of the most car bombs survived. His friend Victor tells him the mystery and “destiny” that he has and he goes out to find the women. When he does, he somehow falls in love with the girl, Elizabeth. After ...more

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02/27/09

Samantha rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Another charming love story from Nicholas Sparks! This is the story of how a photograph brings together two strangers. Logan, a soldier before the story opens, finds the photograph while serving in Iraq. After surviving a series of close calls Logan comes to believe that the photograph he's been carrying is lucky and is the reason he hasn't been killed. Under the suggestion of his best friend and fellow soldier Logan sets out on foot with his German Shepard Zeus to find the woman in the photogra...more

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3 comments

02/12/09

Donna rated it:

Read in February, 2009

I've read every book Sparks has written. His writing always enthralls me. I get so caught up in his vivid characters that I hate to say good-bye at the end of the story.
Logan Thibault finds a picture of a pretty woman during his first weeks in Iraq. Although he posts the picture on the company bulletin board nobody claims it. He takes it down to look at and absentmindedly puts it in his pocket when his friends invite him to a poker game. Since he has lost repeatedly previously, his frie...more

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01/28/09

Arlene rated it:

bookshelves: read-2009

Read in January, 2009

This is the first novel I've read of Nicholas Sparks, and I was definitely pleased. I enjoyed Sparks' writing style, as well as his plot and character development.
The Lucky One is about an ex-marine named Logan Thibault, who begins a journey in search of an unknown woman whose picture he found during one of his tours in Iraq. He believes the picture of Elizabeth was his lucky charm and responsible for getting him safely through his three tours in the war. As a result, he makes it his mi...more

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01/11/09

Tori rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Nicholas Sparks never fails to captivate my interest with his impressive novels for I have read and enjoyed them all. As soon as his most recent novel, The Lucky One was released, I knew that I had to read it and can now easily say that I was far from disappointed. Nicholas Sparks has the ability to combine certain elements, such as love and fate, in an array of storylines, each with their own wide variety of characters. The Lucky One contains several of the familiar elements present in Sparks�...more Nicholas Sparks never fails to captivate my interest with his impressive novels for I have read and enjoyed them all. As soon as his most recent novel, The Lucky One was released, I knew that I had to read it and can now easily say that I was far from disappointed. Nicholas Sparks has the ability to combine certain elements, such as love and fate, in an array of storylines, each with their own wide variety of characters. The Lucky One contains several of the familiar elements present in Sparks’ previous novels but in its own unique way.
The plot in this novel is developed around a photograph of a beautiful, smiling young woman found by a soldier, Logan Thibault, while stationed in Iraq. The following is when Thibault initially comes across the photograph. “With his hands on his hips, he continued to catch his breath, and it was then, from the corner of his eye, that he spotted the dull gleam of a photograph, half buried in the dirt. He stopped to pick it up and noticed that it had been cheaply but neatly laminated, probably to protect it from the elements. He brushed off the dust, clearing the image, and that was the first time he saw her” (Sparks, 21). When no one comes to claim it he decides to carry it with him in his pocket. He considers this to be his “lucky charm”. After returning home feels that it is his duty to find this woman for he believes that she somehow holds the key to his destiny. Thibault travels across the country to find her and when he does, they are both taken aback by the attraction they feel toward each other. Thibault, however, initially decides to keep the photograph a secret and he and Elizabeth have a passionate love affair. Little does he know that this secret will threaten the relationship that they have developed and ultimately will affect the rest of their lives.
It is apparent that character development is a huge aspect throughout The Lucky One. The reader is immediately introduced to several main characters, Keith Clayton, Logan Thibault and Elizabeth Green, but not in an ordinary way. Nicholas Sparks brilliantly allots each chapter for a different character. As the novel develops, the character’s lives slowly start to intertwine and become more involved. The reader soon understands the deep relationships between them and how they each impacted each other’s lives for the better. The following excerpt provides an example of this. “Despite the nightmare they had all endured, Beth realized that she felt a kind of… peace for the first time in recent memory. Since the funeral, she’d grappled with the extraordinary events that had led to that fateful day. She knew that many people in town wondered about he choices she’d made. Occasionally, she heard whispers, but for the most part, she ignored them. If Logan had taught her anything, it was that sometimes her faith in herself and her instincts was all she had” (Sparks, 323).
Nicholas Sparks never leaves any questions unanswered or any loose ends. If I were given the opportunity to speak with him, I would ask him where he finds the inspiration for his novels. The Lucky One is truly “an unforgettable story about the surprising paths our lives often take and the power of fate to guide us to true and everlasting love”.
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02/02/09

Amber rated it:

Read in February, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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08/28/08

Susie rated it:

Read in December, 2008

I enjoyed this book. It was a typical Nicholas Sparks novel in that it had the love story with the "will they or will they not end up together" intrigue and the "who will die in the end" drama that we all know and love. I dont always agree with the endings of Sparks books. I have not yet forgiven him for Message in a bottle, and yet I always enjoy reading them even when they do make me sad at the end. I will not tell you if this was one of those books, you'll just have to rea...more

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05/05/09

Jenna rated it:

Read in May, 2009

I really liked this book. I've read a few other books by this author and sometimes he can get (for me anyway) a bit too wrapped up in the sexual details. But this one wasn't like that and the story was written really well.

Each chapter's title is the name of the person from the perspective in which the story takes place which I really thought was cool. He does a good job of switching characters 'voices', too which I liked.

It's about a guy who, while serving in Iraq, finds ...more

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06/01/09

Diane Bornscheuer rated it:

Read in June, 2009

A marine fighting in Iraq finds a picture of a woman in the sand and becomes convinced she is his lucky charm. Friends and soldiers around him are dying and he keeps walking away unscathed. When he returns from the war, he becomes determined to find this woman to pay back the debt he thinks he owes to her. The debt is in the form of saving her from her evil, ex-husband, who is the Sheriff in the small town where she lives. They fall in love. This guy adores the woman's young son. Unfortuna...more

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05/11/09

Teela rated it:

Read in May, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This is my first Nicholas Sparks novel and I knew sort of what to expect from seeing the movie 'The Notebook.' I knew it'd be dramatic and there'd be a twist. Indeed there was both, but the twist didn't make sense.

The book is based around this fundamental idea of "destiny." Thibault's friend and Iraq brother, Victor, tells him that his destiny lies with a complete stranger who Thibault only knows through a photograph. Note: Being more of a realist than a romantic, I don...more

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12/04/08

Amy (amyb2332) rated it:

bookshelves: 2008-audiobooks, audiobook, romance

Read in December, 2008

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06/23/09

Beckie rated it:

Read in June, 2009

recommended to Beckie by: Steven

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04/03/09

Kathryn rated it:

Read in April, 2009

great story about a veteran marine who escapes death many times and grows to believe what his marine buddy swears by that a photograph of a women wearing a shirt that says "good luck" may really be a good luck charm. When the two vets do make it back stateside after 4 tours of duty, Victor convinces Logan Thighbolt that their is unbalance because this girl has given him something and now he owes her something. dealing with the loses in his life he starts walking across the country with...more

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12/26/08

Saturn Booksellers rated it:

Read in December, 2008

Have a Kleenex at your bedside when you finish the newest novel The Lucky One, by New York Times Bestselling author Nicholas Sparks. Beloved author Sparks has written an unforgettable story about the power of fate and the paths that our lives take. When Marine Logan Thibault finds a photo of a beautiful woman buried in the sands of Iraq, it becomes his “lucky” charm. After his tour has ended he walks from Colorado to North Carolina to meet and thank the woman who has guided his life safely b...more

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"She had been proud of his decision to serve his country, her heart bursting with love and admiration the first time she saw him outfitted in his dress blues. " More quotes...