The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks

I have to say I enjoyed this book far more than The Notebook.

I was immediately drawn to Kyle – the young son of Denise Holton. He’s probably one of the cutest children I’ve read in a book and it was very easy to fall in love with him. I also found it very interesting to learn about Kyle and the difficulties he has surrounding speech and language. It becomes all the more interesting because after reading the novel I learned that a lot of Kyle’s story is drawn from Nicholas Sparks’ own experience with his son. I found that the family element of this story really added to the story and I have to admit that a few of the scenes between Kyle and Taylor and Kyle and Denise had me in tears.

I also really liked the relationship between Denise and Taylor. I thought that they worked quite well together. I found Taylor’s story quite interesting and didn’t quite work out exactly what had happened and I can definitely see how it shaped Taylor’s future.

The story feels almost as if it’s in two parts. The first part is absorbing. The accident and the search for Kyle. It was a real page turner as I tried to place myself in Denise’s shoes imagining how it would feel to know that my four year old had gone missing in a storm near a swamp – and that the child wouldn’t be able to respond to rescuers because of his speech problems. But I was also trying to put myself in Taylor’s shoes – be to be one of those searching in those difficult conditions, looking for a small child and knowing all the difficulties they faced. I also liked how Taylor’s mother Judy was introduced and how she went to be with Denise.

The second part of the book is the love story. I loved how the relationship developed although sometimes time seemed a bit jumpy. The first part of the book – the search – took place over a relatively short space of time whereas the love story spans months. I have to admit I was very shocked by twist with the warehouse fire but it was interesting to see how Taylor reacted to that and I know that something like that was needed in order to bring the story to a close.

I really liked the ending. It fit with the book and it made me smile. A nice love story which at times was very tear jerking (with both sad and happy tear). I was pleasantly surprised especially after being disappointed by The Notebook.