The Return by Nicholas Sparks

 

Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New Bern, North Carolina. But when a mortar blast outside the hospital where he worked as an orthopedic surgeon sent him home from Afghanistan with devastating injuries, he comes to regroup in the dilapidated cabin inherited from his grandfather.

Trevor isn’t prepared to fall in love, yet from their very first encounter, Trevor feels a deep connection with deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson. Though she seems to reciprocate his feelings, Natalie remains frustratingly distant.

Further complicating his stay is the presence of a sullen teenage girl, Callie. Claiming to be 17, she works at the local store and keeps to herself. Discovering that she was once befriended by his grandfather, Trevor hopes Callie can shed light on the mysterious circumstances of his grandfather’s death, but she offers few clues – until a crisis triggers a race that will uncover the true nature of Callie’s past.

It’s that time of year again when the long wait for the next Nicholas Sparks novel is over and it so happened that I needed a new book to distract me on my hospital visit for my treatment and The Return arrived just in time and it was the perfect book to give me the much needed escapism I needed.

Trevor Benson is suffering from PTSD after a mortar blast in Afghanistan has left him with life changing injuries. Whilst he contemplates his next step he heads to the familiar surroundings of his grandfather’s home which he has recently inherited but whilst spending time there he soon finds himself chasing for answers in relation to his grandfather’s passing.

I always find Nicholas Sparks novels very comforting and The Return is no exception. The storyline starts off at a gentle pace as we peel away the layers of Trevor’s character, he isn’t an instantly loveable character which is unusual for Nicholas Sparks main characters but as the storyline progressed, I found myself warming to his character and hoping for a happy ending for him.

There is a complicated romance that is weaved through the storyline that at the start I didn’t agree with me (this is the judgemental part of me) but as events unfolded, I soon found my opinion changed and I actually felt quite emotional for the situation Natalie was in.

All the way through this book although I was interested in Trevor and his fondness for Natalie, I was more intrigued by the young character Callie and that is why I preferred the second half of ths novel where things started to pick up and Callie become a larger part of the storyline. Although I had an idea about certain aspects of Callie’s circumstances, I was equally surprised when things were revealed and this just gripped me more and I couldn’t whizz through pages quick enough to see what happened next.

The author has clearly done his research when it comes to the workings of Bees and this was a little learning curve for me which I surprisingly enjoyed having never had any interest in bees I can see what hardworking regimental little creatures they are.

This was a comforting pacey read with gentle twists and turns that kept me entertained right up to the last page with an ending that was tied up perfectly. 

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