In Counting Miracles, Nicholas Sparks once again delivers an uplifting, heartfelt story emblematic of his literary trademarks: a North Carolina setting, strong romantic elements, and a surprise, bittersweet ending.
Tanner Hughes is an army veteran and a hardworking drifter, who keeps "on the move," with assignments that take him all over the world. He was raised by his grandparents, and when his widowed grandmother is on her deathbed, she gives Tanner the name of his birth father, Dave Johnson, absent from Tanner's life for 40 years and living in Asheboro, N.C.
This sets Tanner on a journey to the Carolinas, where he crosses paths with Kaitlyn Cooper, a 40-something, acrimoniously divorced, single mother of two, and a caring local doctor; a romance soon blooms. Her nine-year-old son, Mitch, has befriended one of her patients, Jasper--a reclusive, enigmatic elderly neighbor deeply wounded by devastating life losses. Jasper has lived, for more than a decade, a quiet, unassuming life with his devoted dog, Arlo.
One day, as Jasper and Arlo are foraging for morel mushrooms, they come upon a dead deer that was illegally shot. This sighting unearths painful, heart-wrenching memories in Jasper. Jasper's choices eventually lead to the unexpected union of the three battle-scarred characters, as they each experience a reawakening.
Sparks (Dreamland) is a deeply sensitive and compassionate writer who skillfully unravels a complex, multi-generational story. Readers will be swept up in another emotionally resonant, adventurous journey that maps the peaks and valleys of human existence and how love, in its many forms, can miraculously heal loss and loneliness, grief and grave uncertainty. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines