I should have known what I was getting myself into.
Okay... Let me begin with some positives so I can avoid being hunted down and beaten by the army of Nicholas Sparks fans.
Sparks is an excellent storyteller and a master of the romantic motif. He is good at taking a timeless story element and putting a new spin on it. He is also good with pacing, using smooth and lyrical words during romantic moments and quick and terse words in the more suspenseful moments.
However...
There are few things more irritating than a writer who feels the need to explain everything to his reader. Sparks does this often, in all of his books. It is as if Sparks caters to a demographic of readers who do not want to think and just want to enjoy a book. I get that, but there are also those (a lot) of us out there who don't enjoy a book if it doesn't make us think. I know what an IED is. And if I didn't know, I would find out. In one scene, a group of college kids make a joke about crabs. I chuckled, until I read the next line in which Sparks explains the joke! This, in my opinion, is inexcusable.
In addition to that, I have a serious problem with some character point-of-view issues in this book. Sparks names each chapter after the character whose third-person point of view he follows in that chapter. This is an admirable and challenging method. But he breaks it several times throughout the book in order to (once again) explain something that the character may not know.
Oh, and there should be a law that romance writers are no longer allowed to say that a character "completes" another character. Overdone, overused, and it lacks originality.
There also were very few surprises in this book. I won't say too much, because some readers may be surprised by some things. But I was not.
The book gets three stars, however, because I did enjoy the story. Also, Logan Thibault was a likeable character, not too romantic-lead cliche, and had some depth. Nana was funny, lovable, and provided some solid heart for all of the characters. The rest of the characters, however, seemed straight out of the book of character cliches (strong, determined female lead, controlling ex-husband, conflicted child divorce victim).
It may be a while before I read another Nicholas Sparks book. Maybe one day when I just want to read a good story with predictable characters, no surprises, and that makes me say, "Gee, that was nice" but probably won't stick with me long after I've finished it.