Breakaway Books

Authored by Nicholas Sparks; Published September 2024; Romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️

I have never been a Nicholas Sparks stan. I’ve never read or seen The Notebook or A Walk to Remember. I approached this novel with some trepidation—I am a happy-ending girl and Sparks seems to be famous for his tearjerkers.

But mostly what stood out to me about Counting Miracles was how it seemed to take place in a culture far from my own. Yes, I live in the US, but my life in an American city is a world away from the small town in which this novel takes place. The backdrop of this novel is pure Americana, which, at times, was strong enough to make me roll my eyes.

Tanner, a man retired from the military who has yet to find a place to settle down, is on the search for his biological father. His grandmother points him to his father’s hometown from her deathbed, where Tanner meets a wholesome single mom Kaitlyn and falls in love. Intertwined with their story are episodes recounting the life of Jasper, an elderly neighbor of Kaitlyn’s.

The melodrama was a little too thick for me in this novel, I fully admit. A few too many tropes, a few too many romantic interactions that followed a predictable script. The villains were cruel and flat, without an interesting backstory to bring a little more dimension to their motivations. To a certain extent, par for the course when it comes to romance novels. I just wasn’t charmed by Tanner and Kaitlyn in the same way that other romances have charmed me.

But if you’re looking for a very American, relatively traditional romance, this is a good choice. Low spice and high in heart, Counting Miracles is for you.