the lucky one
i finished the lucky one last week but haven't had time to post about it yet. this is the seventh of the twenty-one, a lot quicker read than the last book, that's for sure! but that's probably because i enjoyed reading this one significantly more than the last. mainly because it was a love story and i'm such a sucker for those. plus nicolas sparks books always take place in north carolina and i like that because often i know (at least geographically) where these stories are taking place.
The Lucky One
The story is about a man named Logan, who is making a cross country trek from Colorado to North Carolina. He has a dog, Zeus, who has been with him the whole trip. he is a marine and served three tours in Iraq. while he was running in the morning before the rest of the base woke up be found a laminated picture of a girl in the sand. he imagines someone dropped it so he tacks it to a message board. a few weeks goes by and the picture is still there, so he takes it back and keeps it in his pocket. ever since then his luck completely changes; he wins back money playing poker that he lost when he first arrives and then later survives 11 bombings while many others did not. one of his friends is extremely superstitious tells him this picture is his good luck charm. he also tells Logan that he owes the girl in the picture something. Logan thinks its silly but he has noticed that he has been exceptionally fortunate ever since he took the picture. his friend passes away years later, and Logan is almost haunted by what he said. about him owing the girl something. he doesn't know what he owes her but decides the first step is to find her.
after a lot of research he narrows his options of finding her down, and decides to go to North Carolina. when he gets there he runs into the local deputy, Keith Clayton, watching some girls sunbathing by the river and even taking pictures of them-total creeper! the two of them have a less than cordial exchange and head on their separate ways, unfortunately for Clayton, Logan steals the camera and lets the air out of his tires. Logan heads into town and shows the picture, asking if anyone knew the girl in it. he claims they met years ago but he forgot her name but she told him to look her up if he's ever back in town. well it worked and he ended up finding out her name (Beth) and where to find her ... which was written in the book to be much less weird.
Turns out Beth is a local school teacher who lives with her ten year old son Ben and her Nana. she also helps Nana run a dog kennel on their lots of acres plot of land. and she is also Clayton's ex-wife and they are not the best of friends by any means. Logan does not know this but he does notice that the kennel has a help wanted sign so he applies for the position. He gets hired but Beth is a little skeptical of him and wants Ben to stay away, at least for now. Ben innocently finds a way to talk to Logan and they hit if off very well, so do Ben and Zeus. Soon Logan has captured the heart of Ben and Nana and Beth is even slowly coming around, still hesitant though-she doesn't really understand the whole walking from Colorado for no reason thing. also, he's a marine and so was her brother, but her brother was not nearly as lucky as Logan was while stationed in Iraq. but he is a really hard worker and such a great help to Nana that she doesn't want to scare him off.
Nana decides to go out of town to visit her sister. every night that she's gone Beth invites Logan to stay for dinner, where Ben becomes even more fascinated with Logan. Beth loves this because Ben is the small kid in school that is not good at sports, and Clayton can not stand that. but Logan doesn't care at all and seems to connect with him regardless. Ben goes to his dad's every other weekend and while he is gone Beth asks Logan to hang out still. midway through hanging out on saturday Clayton drives up and Ben gets out of the car with a black eye that he got while missing the ball during a game of catch, no doubt because Clayton threw it too hard. for the first time since their original meeting, Logan and Clayton see each other. Clayton is furious about him being there and does not understand why he is because he just assumed Logan was some sort of drifter.
Beth and Logan continue to see each other and Nana can tell they're becoming very serious. Ben and Logan are becoming closer and closer everyday and Logan even gives Ben the picture of Beth but tells him not to tell anyone. Clayton hates this and tries a few things to intervene, most of which fail. he even tells her about the picture that Logan has of her (one of Clayton's friends was around when Logan was asking about the girl in the picture, and he finally puts the two things together). Beth is super creeped out, does not understand what Logan means by lucky charm, will not listen and tells him to leave, but talks to Nana a bit and decides that she needs to actually talk to Logan and figure it all out. Clayton does not like this and tells Beth that he will take her to court if she continues to have her "sociopath stalker boyfriend in his son's life." Ben over hears this and it really upsets him so he leaves and runs off to his tree house in the middle of a huge storm to get away from his dad. Beth and Clayton follow, Logan arrives at their house and Nana tells him what happened so he and Zeus take off in the same direction.
Not to give away the ending but ... the tree house is built over a creek that has way overflowed due to the storm and it [tree house] doesn't hold through the rain and wind. Ben falls into the river and Clayton goes after him. when Logan gets there, he and Zeus jump in too. Clayton is not in great shape and actually tries to grab on to Logan while Ben starts drifting downstream. Luckily, Zeus was there too and he saved Ben! Ben said the picture of Beth that Logan gave him is what saved him ... iiiiiiinteresting. especially because the picture was not able to save Clayton. which is sad and Beth chooses to remember him as trying to save their son, and Logan and Beth are now able to be in love and happy and have no one there to bother them!
i liked this book so much and for sure recommend it. but like i said, i'm a sucker for love stories. and i love my boyfriend so that made the story that much more enjoyable! :) as for my next book I have chosen Roommates by Whitney Lyles. its about the ups and downs of living with people you don't know that well prior to moving in. I've already started it and like it so far. its super ironic because i made a decision to read this book next when i picked my last book. before i had roommate drama. and now i'm in the middle of roommate drama and will most likely have someone moving into my house that the other three of us won't know. so i can't wait to read this but i hope it doesn't make me not want anyone new moving in. well, i don't want anyone new moving in, but you know...
The Lucky One
The story is about a man named Logan, who is making a cross country trek from Colorado to North Carolina. He has a dog, Zeus, who has been with him the whole trip. he is a marine and served three tours in Iraq. while he was running in the morning before the rest of the base woke up be found a laminated picture of a girl in the sand. he imagines someone dropped it so he tacks it to a message board. a few weeks goes by and the picture is still there, so he takes it back and keeps it in his pocket. ever since then his luck completely changes; he wins back money playing poker that he lost when he first arrives and then later survives 11 bombings while many others did not. one of his friends is extremely superstitious tells him this picture is his good luck charm. he also tells Logan that he owes the girl in the picture something. Logan thinks its silly but he has noticed that he has been exceptionally fortunate ever since he took the picture. his friend passes away years later, and Logan is almost haunted by what he said. about him owing the girl something. he doesn't know what he owes her but decides the first step is to find her.
after a lot of research he narrows his options of finding her down, and decides to go to North Carolina. when he gets there he runs into the local deputy, Keith Clayton, watching some girls sunbathing by the river and even taking pictures of them-total creeper! the two of them have a less than cordial exchange and head on their separate ways, unfortunately for Clayton, Logan steals the camera and lets the air out of his tires. Logan heads into town and shows the picture, asking if anyone knew the girl in it. he claims they met years ago but he forgot her name but she told him to look her up if he's ever back in town. well it worked and he ended up finding out her name (Beth) and where to find her ... which was written in the book to be much less weird.
Turns out Beth is a local school teacher who lives with her ten year old son Ben and her Nana. she also helps Nana run a dog kennel on their lots of acres plot of land. and she is also Clayton's ex-wife and they are not the best of friends by any means. Logan does not know this but he does notice that the kennel has a help wanted sign so he applies for the position. He gets hired but Beth is a little skeptical of him and wants Ben to stay away, at least for now. Ben innocently finds a way to talk to Logan and they hit if off very well, so do Ben and Zeus. Soon Logan has captured the heart of Ben and Nana and Beth is even slowly coming around, still hesitant though-she doesn't really understand the whole walking from Colorado for no reason thing. also, he's a marine and so was her brother, but her brother was not nearly as lucky as Logan was while stationed in Iraq. but he is a really hard worker and such a great help to Nana that she doesn't want to scare him off.
Nana decides to go out of town to visit her sister. every night that she's gone Beth invites Logan to stay for dinner, where Ben becomes even more fascinated with Logan. Beth loves this because Ben is the small kid in school that is not good at sports, and Clayton can not stand that. but Logan doesn't care at all and seems to connect with him regardless. Ben goes to his dad's every other weekend and while he is gone Beth asks Logan to hang out still. midway through hanging out on saturday Clayton drives up and Ben gets out of the car with a black eye that he got while missing the ball during a game of catch, no doubt because Clayton threw it too hard. for the first time since their original meeting, Logan and Clayton see each other. Clayton is furious about him being there and does not understand why he is because he just assumed Logan was some sort of drifter.
Beth and Logan continue to see each other and Nana can tell they're becoming very serious. Ben and Logan are becoming closer and closer everyday and Logan even gives Ben the picture of Beth but tells him not to tell anyone. Clayton hates this and tries a few things to intervene, most of which fail. he even tells her about the picture that Logan has of her (one of Clayton's friends was around when Logan was asking about the girl in the picture, and he finally puts the two things together). Beth is super creeped out, does not understand what Logan means by lucky charm, will not listen and tells him to leave, but talks to Nana a bit and decides that she needs to actually talk to Logan and figure it all out. Clayton does not like this and tells Beth that he will take her to court if she continues to have her "sociopath stalker boyfriend in his son's life." Ben over hears this and it really upsets him so he leaves and runs off to his tree house in the middle of a huge storm to get away from his dad. Beth and Clayton follow, Logan arrives at their house and Nana tells him what happened so he and Zeus take off in the same direction.
Not to give away the ending but ... the tree house is built over a creek that has way overflowed due to the storm and it [tree house] doesn't hold through the rain and wind. Ben falls into the river and Clayton goes after him. when Logan gets there, he and Zeus jump in too. Clayton is not in great shape and actually tries to grab on to Logan while Ben starts drifting downstream. Luckily, Zeus was there too and he saved Ben! Ben said the picture of Beth that Logan gave him is what saved him ... iiiiiiinteresting. especially because the picture was not able to save Clayton. which is sad and Beth chooses to remember him as trying to save their son, and Logan and Beth are now able to be in love and happy and have no one there to bother them!
i liked this book so much and for sure recommend it. but like i said, i'm a sucker for love stories. and i love my boyfriend so that made the story that much more enjoyable! :) as for my next book I have chosen Roommates by Whitney Lyles. its about the ups and downs of living with people you don't know that well prior to moving in. I've already started it and like it so far. its super ironic because i made a decision to read this book next when i picked my last book. before i had roommate drama. and now i'm in the middle of roommate drama and will most likely have someone moving into my house that the other three of us won't know. so i can't wait to read this but i hope it doesn't make me not want anyone new moving in. well, i don't want anyone new moving in, but you know...