So, in general, I have not been a Nicholas Sparks fan. I have read a couple of his books, The Notebook and A Road to Remember, and I felt that the movies did a better job with character development than he did...which should never be the case, because an author can actually tell you so much more about a character than a film should be able to. Due to this and the fact that he seems to like to kill off his main characters or leave them broken hearted, etc. I tend to stay away from Sparks' books. But I saw the movie trailer for The Lucky One and it intrigued me (and if the movie started its life as a book, I always try to read it before I see it), I thought I'd give Sparks one more go. I found the Lucky One to be a nice, easy read (as per excpectations). His characters were better developed than I felt they were in previous books and although there is loss at the end of the book...it was a character I had no qualms with losing. If you are a Sparks fan in general, I have no doubt you will like this book. If you are looking for a beach/summer read this could work. I liked the idea of how a picture of someone this soldier had never met brought him luck and how that both hindered and helped him during his multiple deployments.