The Longest Ride

by Nicholas Sparks

[Leah]

I love Nicholas Sparks’ books. I’ve actually only read a couple of his books – The Best of Me which was OK and Safe Haven which I adored! I’ve seen a couple of his movie adaptations, too; Dear John was only OK (though Channing Tatum was AWESOME) and Safe Haven was awesome and he’s become an author I love to read and I can’t wait to spend some time getting to know his back catalogue, particularly The Notebook which is easily his most popular book to date. As soon as I received my review copy of his new book The Longest Ride, I was super pleased. I couldn’t wait to get stuck into the novel and it did not disappoint!

The Longest Ride is a dual-love story which is easily my favourite kind because the other thing better than one love story is TWO love stories. The first story in the novel focuses on Ira Levinson. He’s just come off the road, in his car, and at 91 he thinks that this is it, his number is up, until his wife Ruth appears and tells him he cannot give up and tells him he must recount their memories together, from the day they first fell in love to what brought Ira to be stuck in his car and hoping someone will find him before it’s too late. When Sophia Dank gets dragged out to a rodeo by her best friend Marcia the last thing she expects is to fall in love with a cowboy named Luke, especially since she’s still recovering from her last relationship. But she falls for him and she falls hard, but Luke is keeping a secret that could shatter his and Sophia’s lives irreparably. Their lives are about to merge in ways they never expected but unforgettable consequences.

I really, really enjoyed The Longest Ride, it’s a love story in its purest forms and the fact that it features two love stories just made my day. I loved both love stories for different reasons, but I suspect it was Ira and Ruth’s that touched me the most. This is a couple who have stood the test of time, who met when life was a different time altogether and managed to be together forever, until sadly, Ruth passed away. I loved how that even in Ira’s darkest moments, even though Ira felt sure this was it for him, Ruth was still there for him even if she wasn’t really there. That’s enduring love, that is. That’s something I aspire to; I want a marriage that lasts over 50 years, that only ends when one of the people in the relationship passes away. A love that can stand the test of time; something that is probably really difficult to find nowadays when divorce is a dime a dozen and people don’t stay together like they used to. Sophia’s and Luke’s love is also something I aspire to; the walks by the river on horseback, the dinner’s in Luke’s mom’s kitchen, they way they just clicked right from the word go. They just seemed so perfect together and I literally gasped when Luke’s secret tumbled out.

The Longest Ride is Nicholas Sparks at his best, up there with Safe Haven which is still my all-time favourite of Nicholas’s books. I loved this book so much, I raced through it in a day and couldn’t wait to get it finished, to see just why we learning Ira and Ruth’s and Luke and Sophia’s stories, to see how they connected and it was amazing. It literally did not disappoint at all and the little twist there just made me grin like a fool because that was Ira down to a T. It made me chuckle and cry, it made me never want to stop reading and I wholly recommend the book, Nicholas Sparks has done it once again, and it seems the man is untouchable. There is nobody who writes a book like Nicholas Sparks and his novels are always a pleasure to read.