Message in a Bottle
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Message in a Bottle

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75  ·  rating details  ·  39,751 ratings  ·  1,590 reviews
Thrown to the waves, and to fate, the bottle could have ended up anywhere. Instead, it is found just three weeks after it begins its journey. Theresa Osborne, divorced and the mother of a twelve-year-old son, discovers it during a seaside vacation from her job as a Boston newspaper columnist. Inside is a letter that opens with, "My Dearest Catherine, I miss you my dar...more
Paperback, 384 pages
Published February 1st 1999 by Warner Vision (first published January 1st 1998)
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Kristianne
Kristianne rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Nicholas Sparks Fans
Shelves: read-in-2008
For those of you (like me) who have seen the movie of the same name starring Kevin Costner, the end of this novel will come as no surprise. I knew what I was getting in for when I started this book and kept the tissues well-stocked. In fact, I had to stop reading it on the bus for fear of crying in public.

Instead of going into a detailed review, I'd like to share with you an excerpt of an interview Nicholas Sparks did with the NY Times after writing this novel. He shares his inspirat...more
Abby
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Deanna
Read this book while vacationing in Cancun in 1998. Read the final page watching the dawn on the beach. Perfect experience!

If I remember correctly, it was one of my favorite books during that time. The book made me compelled to write a letter and throw it out to sea, which I never did.

It's a heartfelt story that should be read. However, it's not memorable because after all of these years, I am not interested in reading it again. It's a one-time-good-book read. If ...more
Erin Olsen
I bought this book used for fifty cents at a book sale.

I'm glad I didn't spend more money on it. What a disappointment. It dragged pretty much through the entire book & then BLAM, the end SUCKED so hard it just pissed me off & any good feelings I'd had from this book were quickly forgotten.
Purplycookie
If you thought "The Notebook" was a tearjerker, then get ready to have a hanky on hand and be on an emotional rollercoaster ride with Sparks's second star-crossed love story, "Message in a Bottle".

When Theresa Osborne takes a much-needed summer holiday at Cape Cod, she finds a lot more than a break from the hustle and bustle. On an early-morning jog along Cape Cod Bay, she comes across a corked bottle with a scrolled-up message inside that reads, "My Dearest...more
Wee!wawaLAA!!!
haha, haven't been reading a bunch of Nicholas Sparks's books lately...
I have no idea how the movie is, but it must be far beyond the level of this book. But the ending is SOOOO damn sad. Seriously.
And because of that thing called my short-term memory span, I can't remember their names, so I'll just phrase it with pronouns. :D
So she finds a message in a bottle (thus the name) and falls in love with the way the man (OMG, I REMEMBERED HIS NAME, just now :P) writes and expresses h...more
Laurelina
Just like many, if not most, the movie did NOT do justice to this book. Nicholas Sparks wrote a very detailed, vivid story of Theresa and how she found Garrett through clues in the letters that eventually were found offshore. The difference lies in that the characters described in the book were more human, they were much more flawed, but definitely real. The movie portraied Garrett as a victim of the circumstances that was lied to and that somehow did not have any say in what occurred. It also p...more
Diana~
I remember reading this book a long time ago and I suddenly started to remember it today. I remember that it made my heart ache, and it made me cry so much. Nicholas Sparks does have a way with his stories and I am glad that I gave him a try once upon a time. The ending was extremely sad... so if you're into romances with happy endings, I don't think this book is for you. But if you're into romances with heartbreaking moments and an ending that will have your heart cry out, then you should defin...more
Debra
Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE both the book and the film.. The film is my absolute favourte movie of all time.. Have I mentioned that I love this story?!

I did make the mistake of watching the movie first and then read the book, which are both completely different and when reading the book I was slightly disappointed that the book was not the same... However, that said, I do have to say that watching the movie led me to my complete obsession with reading all of Nicholas ...more
DBruta
i cried so much... great book...tragic ending... i wanted to scream, WHY!!!
Vanessa
"Message in a Bottle" is about a woman named Theresa, who is about fourty years old and just got over a divorce. Theresa took a vacation on Cape Cod for about a week and one morning when she was jogging along the beach, Theresa found a message in a bottle. She opened the letter and it was a love letter to a woman named Catherine, signed by a man named Garrett. Once Theresa got back from her vacation, she told her friend at work about it and she thought that Theresa should publish it in...more
Liezl
I first watched the movie before reading this book. It didn't have the happy ending I was rooting for but it made me understand the other side of love.

This book didn't fail me, it made me cry an ocean of tears. I associated the story to my own love story. It happened during a year before my college graduation. I remember I even wrote about this on my journal. He didn't die but he went away for good and it took me so long to recover.I was left with "What ifs" and "If only...more
Haley Hambrick
This book was about a woman named Theresa Osborne. Theresa is a divorced, single parent who is trying to live life to the fullest. As she was on vacation visiting one of her friends, she was taking her morning run along the beach and came upon a bottle with a letter inside. She took out the letter and noticed it was written for a woman named Catherine, from a man named Garrett. Theresa opens the letter, and as she's reading, she begins to cry. The love letter was so sweet and passionate that it ...more
Freya
Message in a Bottle

While reading the book in my most-behave-and-holding-back-tears manner, I found its great preponderance on the last parts of the story. The first message was deeply doleful. It contained a full hint of longing and desiring to be with one's love again. Such a powerful epistle, in depth with emotions that will really trigger your lachrymal glands to weep. I was very eager to finish the book, cause aside from the fact that the reviews are boosting with accolade, I've b...more
Fayesal Siddiqui
A tear-jerker written by the romantic author Nicholas Sparks and made into a movie of the same name starring Kevin Costner, A Message in a Bottle is an interesting, if not an exhilarating one. I haven’t seen the movie and am not planning to either. Now don’t get the wrong idea about me not liking the book, which, on the contrary I liked just fine. It’s just that I’d prefer to have my head with the memories of the character like how I read them and not how I “saw” them. More often than not the m...more
Greg Gountanis
Nicholas Sparks continues his letter-writing theme...this time with "Message in a Bottle." When columnist Theresa Osborne disovers a message in a bottle on Cape Cod, she is too intrigued to let it be. The letter inside is no ordinary letter...it is a love letter from a man named Garrett Blake to his diseased wife Catherine, filled with such emotion that Theresa cannot fathom such feeling coming from the world. In a move that will forever alter her life, Theresa sets out to find Garrett...more
Jane Lee
This is the first Nicholas Sparks book I have ever read. I was in college then, a freshman at that. I was new to the whole tragic, the-protagonist-died-leaving-his-loved-one-in-grief kind of endings. You can imagine my chagrin (and okay, tears---lots and lots of it) when the hero died at the end.

I was used to the whole idea of happy endings as most of the books I devoured in my elementary years were fairy tales and classics by Mark Twain, Jules Vern and H.G. Wells. In my opinion, heroe...more
Sirimas-isb
"Message in a Bottle" written by Nicholas Sparks is a romantic novel which talk about Theresa Osborne who finds a message in a bottle on the shore of a beach in Cape Cod. The letter is from a man named Garrett Blake to his dead wife Catherine. When she read the letter, she was impress by the love he still holds for his dead wife and she decide publishes the letter in her newspaper column. She also receives another letter from Garrett to Catherine which make her decide to goes down to W...more
Shelley
Plummeting to love’s greatest depths; Sparks creates imperfect characters which are perfect for each other. Capturing the hopeless romantic in his fluid writing, Nicholas Sparks creates a story revolving around love and loss. As a “Message in a Bottle” unites Garrett Blake and Theresa Osborne, life’s problems hinder their relationship from growing stronger. Twisting his novel, Sparks creates a scenario in which both characters carry personal baggage and secrets. After publishing Garrett’s letter...more
Andrea
This was my least favorite Nicholas Sparks book so far. I had never seen the movie. I watched it after I read it. It's supposed to be a story that delves into the all too common modern-day situation of long-distance relationships. Even though I loved the whole premise of finding a love note in a bottle and searching out the author of the note, it was really a let-down after that. Everything else (job, physical location, son, past baggage, etc) seemed more important than their love. Plus it...more
Heatheraine
A bottle thrown into the ocean could have ended up anywhere. This one ended up washing ashore for Theresa to find in MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE by Nicholas Sparks (1998). It changes her life not only when she reads the message, but when she tries to find the man who had written the beautiful letter that starts with: "My Dearest Catherine, I miss you my darling, as I always do, but today is particularly hard because the ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together...."...more
Darlyn
Another remarkable story from Nicholas Sparks. I wont drag too long to tell you how story goes because if you are familiar with his writing style the I guess you already now what to expect from him. Even though with the same style of writing and expectations, I love it as much as I hate the ending. Sigh. Although I really think that it is actually the best to the readers to know that every how hard the outcome ends, it means for a new great beginning. So that we learn how to overcome such a hard...more
Maggie
Publishers Weekly ReviewAvoiding a sophomore slump, Sparks follows The Notebook with another sentimental candidate for the bestseller lists. Boston parenting columnist Theresa Osborne has lost faith in the dream of everlasting love. Three years after divorcing her cheating husband, the single mother is vacationing on Cape Cod when she finds a bottle washed up on the shore. Inside, a message begins: "My Dearest Catherine, I miss you." Subsequent publication of the poignant missive in he...more
Angelica
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KimKirt
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Dapantalone
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Cheryl Bradley
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Rachel
I loved the movie even more than the book. Message" lacks any real emotional conflict; Before you know it, Theresa and Garrett have proclaimed their undying love to one another, despite the fact that they don't appear to have anything more in common than physical attraction.

The only suspenseful part concerns Garrett finding out Theresa knew about the letters all along. When the truth comes out, Garrett confronts her with this cliched clunker -- "I don't even know who you ...more
K.D.
K.D. rated it 1 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Hopeless Romantics
Shelves: love-story
It is a double tragic love story – the male protagonist lost his wife in a sea accident then met his new love when the latter accidentally got hold of the letter he put inside the bottle. However, he again lost that new love because they could not agree where to live – whether the man’s or the woman’s. It is so stupid that you could not believe adult thinking individuals like them still exist in this world. On the other hand, romantics are known not to be rational at all times so after seeing th...more
Bianka
Message In A Bottle
By Nicholas Sparks
370 pp. New York, NY.
Warner Books. $6.99.
0-446-60681-2

Followed by the well-known, touching novel, The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks continues capturing readers with his breathtaking words of romance in Message In A Bottle. Being a romance fan from the start, I easily fell in love with this book. With Sparks' use of vocabulary in his style of writing, the clearly written themes and the connection to readers' hearts, Message In ...more
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throwing it out the Window 49 208 Dec 07, 2011 01:46pm  
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As a child, he lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California at the age of eight. His father was a professor, his mother a homemaker, then optometrist's assistant. He lived in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

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