The Return

By: Nicholas Sparks

Narrated by: Kyf Brewer

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Number one New York Times best-selling author Nicholas Sparks returns with a moving new novel about an injured army doctor and the two women whose secrets will change the course of his life.

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 orthopaedic surgeon sent him home from Afghanistan with devastating injuries, the dilapidated cabin he'd inherited from his grandfather seemed as good a place to regroup as any.

Tending to his grandfather's beloved beehives while preparing for a second stint in medical school, Trevor isn't prepared to fall in love with a local.... Yet, from their very first encounter, Trevor feels a connection with deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson that he can't ignore. But even as she seems to reciprocate his feelings, she remains frustratingly distant, making Trevor wonder what she's hiding.

Further complicating his stay in New Bern is the presence of a sullen teenage girl, Callie, who lives in the trailer park down the road. Claiming to be 17, she works at the local sundries 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, one more intertwined with the elderly man's passing than Trevor could have ever anticipated.

In his quest to unravel Natalie and Callie's secrets, Trevor will learn the true meaning of love and forgiveness...and that in life, to move forward, we must often return to the place where it all began.

©2020 Willow Holdings Inc (P)2020 Hachette Audio UK

Absolutely captivating

Enjoyed this audiobook so much. Could not stop listening. Amazing story, I was captivated from beginning to end.

Loved the book

I loved getting to know the 3 main characters and their stories. I couldn't put it down because I wanted to know what would happen. A love story with some suspense.

Greatly enjoyed.

Nicholas continues to excell

Characters, each with their flaws and solid realistic backgrounds, relate in ways that move the human heart. well done Nicholas.

Overall pretty average

Overall pretty average for a Sparks book. Everything was just a bit bland, the characters mostly 2 dimensional and story was lacking anything genuinely engaging. Good to have on in the background if you’re working basically.

Expected more...

I am a huge N Sparks fan - read all his books. This one has all the usual beauty in words and narrative that one expects from this author. However, throughout the book, I felt that I was on a luke warm but lovely journey with likeable characters... waiting all along for a summit point, inflection point, climax of some sort... but the book never got there. The story has some interesting twists and turns but little that stands out and really stays with you. I felt like the prologue rushed to capture elements that should have been in the book... and that the end was premature. So, i enjoyed the book, but expected more...

Didn't enjoy the story!

I did not really enjoyed this book.
I love Nicholas Sparks' writing style but this one did not do it for me.
There is no body to the story or characters.
The narration was okay