I just finished A BEND IN THE ROAD by Nicholas Sparks (2007). It was difficult to keep reading. The whole book was incredibly emotional. It was hard to deal with the emotion he put out in this story. They seemed real and true, but nonetheless hard to swallow. I had to take it in small bites.

This is the story of a deputy, Miles Ryan, who’s lost his wife in a hit and run. The grief that pours out of him is heart breaking. He meets with his son’s teacher to talk about the boy’s grades, and they hit it off and obviously fall in love. Yummy. Things are going good till he gets a lead on the case of his wife’s killer. The emotions are raw and Miles is out of control. In an effort not to spoil, I’ll just say that the story twists around and will surprise you. I love the resolve. I loved everything about how the whole climax and resolution was solved. I would have written the same way, probably not as elegantly though!

One other thing I thought was fantastic about the story was the dual narrator. I loved trying to guess who started the narration. Half way through Sparks lets us find out the secondary narrator is the hit and run driver. I was especially touched by the description of the night of Missy’s death. How the feelings this person felt afterward and how they lived thereafter. It seemed real to me. Most stories make people like this seem heartless. Sparks seems to give his characters an extra boost of humanity –they feel deeply, therefore we feel deeply when we read this book. The story went back and forth from this first person narrative to omniscient, showing the story unfolding. It was interesting and fun with two separate narrative voices.

I know I just praised this book up and down and gave it a 4 at the same time. I don’t exactly know why. But I have to say the ending was my absolute favorite part… I’d give the several end paragraphs a full 5!!! It left me happy. The past few Sparks books I’ve read, I disliked the ending. I was fully ready to be disappointed in the ending. But he surprised me and gave me what I wanted in a totally beautiful way!