See Me By Nicholas Sparks Book Review

“My point is that first loves always make sense because you don’t know any better. Everything is a first and any warning bells are drowned out by the sheer novelty of it all.” 

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Author: Nicholas Sparks

Genre: New Adult Contemporary

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A Bend In The Road

Synopsis

Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he’s determined to walk a straight line. To Colin, that means applying himself single-mindedly toward his teaching degree and avoiding everything that proved destructive in his earlier life. Reminding himself daily of his hard-earned lessons, the last thing he is looking for is a serious relationship.

Maria Sanchez, the hardworking daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the picture of conventional success. With a degree from Duke Law School and a job at a prestigious firm in Wilmington, she is a dark-haired beauty with a seemingly flawless professional track record. And yet Maria has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed.

A chance encounter on a rain-swept road will alter the course of both Colin and Maria’s lives, challenging deeply held assumptions about each other and ultimately, themselves. As love unexpectedly takes hold between them, they dare to envision what a future together could possibly look like . . . until menacing reminders of events in Maria’s past begin to surface.

Rich in emotion and fueled with suspense, SEE ME reminds us that love is sometimes forged in the crises that threaten to shatter us . . . and that those who see us for who we truly are may not always be the ones easiest to recognize.

Review

Spoilers Contained Below

To the Sparks at heart,

The first book I read this year and it was not what I expected in the best kind of way.

I know Nicholas Sparks is a romance author, so that’s what I expected, but I didn’t expect the other main events of the book. It gave me real Verity vibes, but amped up a bit more in mystery rather than creepiness. It also gave me a bit of You vibes with the stalking. So it was really interesting how a romance book turned into a stalker thriller.

But we loved it anyway.

The first chunk of the book was dedicated to solely buying Maria and Colin’s romance and that probably was my most favorite part of the book because I’m a hopeless romantic at heart.

Colin’s character is such a strong man that you can’t help but love him. When they say that girls love a broken man because they think they can fix him, they’re not wrong. In no sense of the word do I think that Colin was broken, but his whole upbringing really shattered my heart for him. He was a very hyperactive kid with a lot of anger issues, so his parents sent him to military school time and time again where he got beat up. No one believed him that he was getting bullied until a few years later someone passed away from the school. Then the parents felt bad because they didn’t believe in Colin. This is where he also found his love of fighting because he didn’t want to be hurt or trampled on by people like he was in the past. I wanted to reach through the pages and hug baby Colin. 

As he grew up, he had a lot of run-ins with the law with getting into aimless fights or doing dumb things. He was supposed to go to jail, but was let free on a deal that he had to be good and then his record would be clean, which is good for him. So he really tried to change his life around and I liked that because he was someone people were scared of or thought less of. But here he was controlling his anger and his life by doing things to be better. I loved that he exercised as an outlet to release his pent up energy. Man, the extent this man exercises though is INSANE. I mean, he runs morning and night, then goes to the gym to train for fights, mows the lawn, and paddle boards all in one day. He jumps rope, lifts weights, bikes, he even yogas. Man, get you someone who does it all and still knows the necessity and peace of mind to do yoga.

If I didn’t already love Colin, he had me at wanting to be an elementary teacher—third grade 👏🏼. That stole my heart and snatched it up because that’s exactly what I want to do in the future and if there’s a good looking man out there who wanted to do the same thing as I did, he needs to transfer to my university immediately 😆. But what really got me was his reasoning for wanting to be a teacher. At first, Colin said the typical answer that I resonate with a lot too in how third grade is the best time when kids are aware of things, but they aren’t too broken by the world; they’re young to still be innocent, but it’s the age where they speak their mind and can be shaped in the best way.

Colin had a deeper reason as to why he wanted to be a third grade teacher. When he was younger, not a lot of people believed in him, especially teachers. However, in third grade, Colin had a teacher who made him run around in the morning all the time and who believed in him. It was the first teacher who understood that Colin was a good kid who just had all this energy and to help him in the best way he could. Colin wants to be a teacher to help kids like him at that age so that they feel believed in too. I just loved that. Maria mentioned how she didn’t even have a significant story as to why she was a lawyer—-she just fell into it—–and there’s nothing wrong with that because sometimes we don’t know what we want to do and then we try something and it sticks. Colin’s story, though, has so much heart in it and that’s what got me. He’s not a bad person, but just grew up with so many challenges that made it seem like he was bad in comparison to those around him.

The thing about Colin I also admired because gosh knows I can go on and on and on about all the reasons Colin Hannock is the epitome of a man is how straightforward and honest he is. No man—-no person—–is as honest and straightforward as Colin. You ask him a question, he tells you the answer no matter how rude it is or how much you don’t want to hear it. There was that conversation in the beginning of the book with Evan and the tie Lily got Evan, and Colin said how it was ugly and how he even told Lily and Evan was like, “of course you did.” 😂 Sometimes honesty hurts, but it’s also very funny!

Him being so honest about himself also meant a lot in how I feel like Colin knew people were going to figure him out sooner or later, so he’d rather be upfront with it now. I also think his honesty stemmed from that girl at the gym he talked to and then how that girl googled him and then ghosted him in fear. Because truthfully, people can easily Google each other and dig up something and if someone’s hiding something, then a person will find out sooner or later. The girl obviously found out that Colin had this violent past and wanted nothing to do with him, and if I was her, I would have run for the hills too, but I would have also been mature enough to take to Colin about it because I feel like we need to give people a chance to explain themselves or rectify the situation. Colin learned from that mistake and he’s so open about everything because he has nothing to hide. It’s refreshing because it makes you trust him more no matter how sketchy his past was.

No one is their past. We are our future.

As Colin wasn’t his past. He was creating a better future for himself.

I also got to hand it to him how he was pretty top-notch and studious.

Part of Colin’s road to healing, he had two main supporters in his life: Evan and Lily.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Evan and Lily.

I ADORE Lily. She’s such a sweet Southern belle lady that you would do absolutely anything for. I love the relationship she has with Colin in how they first didn’t like each other because she was skeptical of her past. Then one day Lily was trying to bring a TV up to Evan’s house and Colin helped her and even went out of his way to mount it for her. Lily respected him ever since that moment because a bad guy wouldn’t have gone through loops and ends to help her out in the way he did. I also love the sort of sisterly care she has for Colin in seeing him as a big softie. She genuinely doesn’t want him to get hurt because she sees the good in him too. I loved that she would buy Colin clothes or give him advice on love. It was so cute that she would open moments out of her day to sit with Colin and talk about how he felt about Maria or that she would tell her to not be a dumb boy and not call Maira until days later. Lily taught him how to be a man that every girl wanted and when Colin came to Maria’s office with roses because that’s what Lily told him to do, Maria was flabbergasted because no one had brought her that beautiful of a bouquet before. We all need a Lily 💞 .

My favorite moment between them was when Lily took Colin aside and spent three nights teaching him how to salsa before his salsa date with Maria. I mean, get you a man who will willingly practice a dance just to impress you! It was so cute how serious Colin took it and how Evan was there just eating it all up because Lily had to bribe him with “fun” time.

Evan’s a lap dog and we know it 😂

Honestly, the best hype right hand man for Colin. He kept Colin out of trouble because he cared and he always challenged him to think twice. He’s such a good friend to him in his times of need that in some ways Evan is like an older brother. Whenever Colin got out of control or would do something dumb, Evan would really be like, “Man, are you sure?” We all need someone like Evan too who can be real with us and keep us in line.

But we also gotta give a big hands up for Serena!

I LOVE that girl. She’s Maria’s younger sister, a freshman in college, and she has the mouth of a Sour Patch Kid—-sour and sweet. She’s so humorous and funny that it’s hard not to love her either. When she saw Colin, she called him butt face. What a great insult 😂 Her relationship with Maria is also so special in how they tell each other everything and joke around with one another. I thought it was funny how Serena posted this throwback photo of Maria with braces and captioned it, “Too late boys, she’s no longer single” or something like that to poke fun at Maria. It was too cute. I also loved how they looked out for each other as sisters do.

The way Maria and Colin met was actually very practical. If I was Maria in that situation, I would have felt terrified and threatened too. A woman in the rain on the side of the road with a big strange man with a “hurt face” coming up to her? That’s a big red flag if there ever was one. But we all knew Colin wasn’t going to hurt her and I liked how chivalrous and helpful Colin was. He never went closer to startle her and he never touched her. I also thought it was very chill of him to let her use his phone and that he told her his password. Who does that? Someone who has nothing to hide! I loved that. He was so good in this situation, changed the tire, and left.

Maria is an interesting character that I liked, but not my absolute favorite. She was the more serious of the sisters and that’s fine. Maria strikes me as a driven independent woman who’s very tense in her work. I feel like her job doesn’t bring her complete happiness as a lawyer and that’s not only because she was getting sexually harassed by this sleaze named Ken. Ken, what a Barbie name 😆 There’s this part of me that felt like her heart wasn’t really into what she was doing and I don’t know if it was because of the firm she was working at or everything going on, but Maria just seemed sad. Or more so in a rut.

Before Colin came into her life, Maria seemed content. She had an apartment, a good job, a family, and a good friend, Jill. But she had no social life, no fun, and no love. And that can be very lonely and isolating. She lost part of herself and her happiness with life because she got lost in her work. I liked that she paddle boarded and took pictures because it was in those moments that I felt the tension from Maria vanish and she was just one with the ocean. She felt happy. I think she has a real calling for photography one day. She was also in this rut in her life because she was approaching her 30s and she didn’t have a boyfriend, was married, or had kids as society says she should. But everyone’s on their own timeline, so she was fine. It also didn’t help that her previous boyfriend didn’t love her enough to marry her. In more ways than one that closed her off to love because she felt like she wasn’t good enough or never would be for someone. There was nothing wrong with her and I really wished she could have seen that.

When Colin comes around, he flipped her whole world around to understand that she was always deserving of the love she dreamed of—–roses, beach dates. I loved how they had those intimate conversations on the pier or at the beach. It was cute to see Maria get all flustered on what to wear on her date with him and how she was trying not to check him out. Serena even asked for a picture of Colin. I would love one too 😉 When Maria went dancing again, it was also such a fun moment where she seemed like her old self. She deserved to be happy.

I also really appreciated how she accepted Colin as he was. She knew he was different and when he opened up to her about his past, she didn’t run screaming in the other direction, but she saw the good in him as so many others did. It was hard for her to process it at first, and if I were her, I would too, but she knew that he could be better and to give them a try.

When Colin met Maria’s parents, it was also very cute. Cute’s the word of the day 😉! But it’s typical for parents to cook a lot and be jumpy around meeting the boyfriend or girlfriend. Later on, Colin had a more formal meeting with her parents where Colin was grilled by the dad. The parents actually took it really well and I liked that they were both honest in their feelings. The parents didn’t completely trust Colin, but felt like if he made Maria happy, then to give him a chance. I think it helped that Colin was honest because if he didn’t tell them, it would have been worse for them to find out later.

When their relationship seemed pretty solid, that’s when poop hit the fan in Maria’s life.

Being a lawyer can be a scary profession. People can blame you or get mad at you for a situation. Maria had this case with a guy named Charles Laws, Cassie, Dr. Manning, Lester, and Atkinson where Cassie was killed because Maria failed to take the case further. If Maria did, Cassie wouldn’t have been abused and wouldn’t have been harmed the way she was. Or so that’s how I think the story of the case went, but it was something like that. Forgive me, I’m not too good on the whole NCIS thing. Anyway, Lester at the time was the younger brother, and he was angry at Maria and sent her all these threatening notes. They stopped until recently.

First, it was getting a bouquet of yellow roses with a note that said “You will know how it feels.” Maria threw those away and then when she went to her car later in the day, the roses were there. Then later on when she was at her house, the roses were on her front doorstep. Those roses creeped me the heck out!

Second, she got a drink from a weird younger guy at a bar. I thought Colin was really going to get arrested when he started yelling at the bar lady and going on rampant. I mean, how could he not? There was someone out there out to get the woman he loved. He had every right to be angry. But I didn’t want the book to be about him being in jail and then finding a way to bail him out. Thank goodness, Lily and Evan were there to sweet talk the cops and Margolis, who hated Collins gut.

Third, her tires were slashed and she kept getting more notes.

Fourth, Copo, the parents’ dog, randomly passed away. It was no coincidence though because the parent’s screen door was open and they weren’t home that one day and the dog just passed away. That didn’t make sense whatsoever.

With all this going on, Colin and Maria were beginning to be unsettled.

If Colin doesn’t become a teacher because who knows if he passed that class, he has a true calling as a public investigator or the police. He would be good because he sure trains like one and he was able to put all the pieces together. I feel like he did this all out of love and love makes people do crazy things. Colin gave me Joe Goldberg vibes when he stalked on the roof trying to take pictures of Ken because they thought it was him.

But it wasn’t. Ken had everything coming for him with getting sued for sexual harassment. I didn’t feel bad for him whatsoever and I was so hyped the moment Jill and Maria walked into Barney’s office and Jill rampaged on them that Ken harassed Maria. Jill demanded five weeks vacation even though they were both going to leave, which I thought a five week vacation was weird. She also got a five months salary for Maria. Get you a friend like Jill who will go to the ends of the earth to defend you!

Things started to escalate with the case and the more anxious Maria became. It opened up this door that Maria had panic attacks when she was younger, which goes with the idea of maybe her having that pressure to be perfect all the time. I also felt for her because she was violated in all aspects—-her work, her home, and her parent’s house. I wouldn’t feel safe anywhere. But Colin was always there to make sure she did. Others did too. I loved the ending part when things were beyond scary for Maria and the whole family came to protect her. THE WHOLE FAMILY. They came at the drop of a hat, for no reason. That’s love.

Colin was also very stalker-ish himself when he went to the park and would wait there to see if the cars would move. I thought he took it kind of far when he broke into that vacant house behind Maria’s parents. But he was also kind of smart and onto something with that too. Colin was also able to track down the florist that sent the yellow roses to Maria, which would be tedious to do, but he did it anyway.

The whole time everything was happening to Maria, I kept thinking, DUH IT’s that kid who used to send her threats! It took a good while for her to figure that out with the whole pattern note and everything. But I KNEW! It didn’t surprise me that it was Lester, the kid who sent her the notes, because if he was older now and still had hatred in his bones, he would want to hurt her. It also didn’t help that he was a sketchy person who still lived with his dad but came and went. There was also this Atkinson person who upped and left with a woman he loved to go across the country. That’s no coincidence in the slightest so he was on my radar too.

It confused me a lot when Margolis said that Lester was in a psychotic hospital all this time because how could he be when he was doing all these things? It didn’t make sense.

If I’m being honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Margolis.

He had a vendetta against Colin. When Colin was going to get arrested for speeding to Maria because Lester approached her with a gun, Margolis was there, frolicking through his imaginary flowers towards Colin. I also didn’t like the way he would question Maria and make it sound like it was her fault. He kept asking things too, that made it harder for Maria to actually get help. It seemed like he didn’t want to help her just because she was associated with Colin. I mean, Lester had a gun and he was finding out all the ways that he could go around the situation. I get it though because he was just doing his job and seeing it from all angles, but I still didn’t like him.

There was a part of me that felt Maria was hallucinating seeing Lester with a gun because Serena was at the house and looked behind a running Maria and saw nothing. But the more it was delved into, the clearer the story became in how Lester was there but he was just scared of the cops. Lester has a delusional disorder where he gets angry at some times and doesn’t know the difference between real and not. Sometimes he also has these delusions that the cops are out to get him and so is Maria, so it’s nothing unusual when he checks himself into mental institutions. It kind of didn’t add up to Lester doing everything because Maroglis said that Lester checked himself into an institution during everything that was going on with Maria, so it couldn’t have been him. But it also didn’t make sense as to it not being him either. When he showed up, it kind of confirmed that it was him, but I was wondering how the heck he had a gun if he was at this facility, let alone how he escaped.

Apparently, Lester’s gun was a toy gun that his dad, Dr. Manning bought for him. Dr. Manning had the real gun that was locked in a safe box with him. Dr. Manning proved to Margolis that the gun was still with him by bringing the gun to the station. Dr. Manning plays this concerned father picture and is nothing but helpful to the police. So of course, I thought he was the sane one.

Then things get kind of crazy with how Margolis investigates further on the case and says Atkinson, who was Cassie’s boyfriend might be working with Lester and that’s how he was able to slash Maria’s tiers when Lester was institutionalized. It also didn’t help that Atkinson’s car was one of the cars by the park. I thought Colin was being kind of crazy by actually going to each car and taking a picture of the license plates, but hey, it worked out!

But let’s talk about Margolis’s character, because I genuinely did not like him until the very end of the book. He really saw the worst in Colin and was so quick to arrest him or find any way to arrest him. But when Margolis takes this Maria case, I had a love-hate with him because of how he was interrogating Maria like this issue was her fault, but I also liked how seriously he took it. As Margolis would put it, he really looked at it from “all angles.”

Colin was also doing his own detective work on the side and I thought it was highly smart of him to track Maria’s Colin was also doing his own detective work on the side and I thought it was highly smart of him to track Maria’s phone and that he even remembered the whole “I can find my phone with my laptop” thing Maria brought up in the beginning of the book. Margolis sure felt dumb when Colin told him how he found out where Lester was hiding. During that whole scene, Colin was very mature in not bursting out of his car and raging fire on Lester’s house because I think the old Colin would have, but this Colin knew he had so much more to lose. Although he didn’t completely like Margolis at this time, I liked that he still trusted Margolis enough to call him. When Margolis went up to the house, Colin said something about how he wore a confused expression. That really set off warning bells in my mind as to why Margolis would be confused at what he saw. Then after that, everything escalated quickly with Margolis being shot by Lester and Colin and Evan hopping out of the car.

Colin tackled Lester like a sack of potatoes and I was LIVING FOR IT!!! He really flew out of nowhere 😂! The control Colin also had in this moment is a testament to how much he has grown as a person. He could have choked Lester to literal death, but he choked him enough to slow him down. Colin then focused his efforts on Margolis who was bleeding out because he knew that’s what needed his attention. I also give a lot of credit to Evan in pulling it together and grabbing the handcuffs to cuff Lester to the mailbox. For a second, I thought Evan was just going to ogle there in shock and that Lester would run away again. I was literally yelling at Evan to move. But thank goodness they did. THANK GOODNESS the ambulance came to help Maroglis.

Margolis was in critical condition and that’s scary. His wife was there and hurting and I thought the moment between her and Colin was sweet. The wife knew Colin and how Maroglis didn’t like him, but she thanked him for saving her husband’s life. Margolis was also a dad of two kids. Colin didn’t know that, no one knew that. It’s just crazy in the way that sometimes with side characters, we forget that they have a life bigger than the role they play for that character. This is a lot like with people in how we see someone of service—–police, firefighter, teacher, grocery worker, doctor, etc.—–and we assume that’s all they are or we never look past it to think how that person might have a family, dreams, or ambitions. We just see them as their occupation. It was humanizing for Colin to know this about Margolis.

When Maria and Colin tried to go back to Maria’s house, it was trashed. If I was Maria, I would have been thoroughly spooked out. What I didn’t get was how Colin, Evan, and Lily all went back to her apartment and painted over the walls and cleaned it up. If I was Maria, I would move the heck out of that place! I mean, I get Maria’s not entirely rich, but still, I wouldn’t feel safe, comfortable, or happy if I was in a place that I was stalked at, a place that was invaded, and a place that would trigger those memories. NO amount of paint was going to hide that. So I hoped for her sanity, she moved later on. I also thought it was pretty inventive that Atkinson trashed her place by playing music way too loud. That’s smart because no one’s going to think anything of her—-a young woman playing music on high.

Obviously, it wasn’t safe for her to stay at her apartment or with her family, because then she would put their lives at risk too, so she went to stay at a hotel. The cop that looked out for Maria and Colin was so sweet in how he said he was going to protect them because Colin helped save Margolis. Good goes around, goes around—and yes I quoted the Cheerios commercial 🤪.I also thought it was nice of him to offer up his service enough to sit at their door to ensure their safety. It’s cops like him that I have utmost respect for.After the day, yet alone the weeks, Colin and Maria had, they needed some semblance of peace. I know I would have been going bonkers with anxiety, worry, and fear.

That’s why I loved it, as I mentioned earlier, when the whole family came for a “reunion” to protect and watch over Maria. The only person that wasn’t there was Serena.

In the background, Serena was applying for this prestigious scholarship with interviews and everything. That day was the day of her interview and she was with Seth, her boyfriend, before driving over. It didn’t seem sketchy because she was a college student and she was old enough to take care of herself or do what she wanted. But when Serena got news of the whole interview phase and the name Charles Alexander was brought up, Colin felt the name was familiar. If someone recognizes something, anything, they probably do recognize it. In this case I knew Colin recognizing the name had nothing to do with how Maia talked about Serena getting a scholarship, but something else. I just didn’t know what because that name didn’t ring a bell in the slightest.

Then Colin goes on this whole Sherlock Holmes kick with the gum wrappers , the name, and the gun—-he puts it all together. Colin was just hypothesizing everything, but the more he thought about it the more it made sense. When Colin was taking pictures of Ken on the roof, there were gum wrappers and when the police were interviewing Dr. Manning, he chewed a lot of gum. The gun part made the most sense to me because when Margolis was shot, I kept wondering where he got a real gun because according to his dad, he had a toy one. So how was Lester able to shoot Margolis? That’s right, because his dad paid him a visit with the very real gun he had in a lockbox and because the cops were so close to knowing it was him, Dr. Manning shot Margolis and that’s why Margolis was shocked to see him. The name made sense because he saw it on a letterhead on the fridge that related to Dr. Manning. Dr. Manning made Charles Alexander up because that was him. The whole “You will feel how it feels,” thing was getting back at Maria in hitting where it hurts the most: her sister.

Kind of creepy and crazy that Dr. Manning would go as far as to lure a young adult girl to a warehouse based on a fake scholarship. He must have had a lot of free time. What kind of doctor has a lot of that? 😂

It also gave me a very suspenseful, dramatic thriller movie vibe with Serena bruised and tied up to a chair and how Colin and Maria were racing to go get her. I kept flipping the pages fast and I swear I would have gotten a paper cut. I just had to read everything. As Colin was driving to get to Serena, my heart was beating out of my chest because I was screaming at him to go faster because Serena could have been hurt already. Maria made it worse because she thought she was having a heart attack in the car, but Colin was like no it’s just a panic attack. Maria, get it together! We don’t need your heart attack right now when your sister is going to be killed by a maniac! 😆

I had a hand over my mouth the whole time Colin and Dr. Manning showed down. What really got me shaking my head was the fact that Dr. Manning was able to knock Colin out with a flashlight! 😂 What kind of steel grade flashlight does this sucker have? I mean, Colin could go into a ring with a highly skilled boxer and nearly win in that, he can do various exercises day and night, and yet he gets knocked out with a flashlight to the head?! C’mon Colin! You’re better than that! I was laughing, but crying at the same time.

Very villain-esque that Dr. Manning would do the whole oil and the matches kind of thing as to set the place on fire. He must have really thought this through. Colin getting out of there was ROUGH, but I was rooting for him and Serena to make it. I thought they wouldn’t, but when they got out of the building, Dr. Manning was there in his blue Hybrid car, ready to run them over. Colin was still trying to protect Serena and divert his attention away from her. There was something admirable in that because he was risking his life for hers, but I also didn’t want him to get hurt, you know? The whole time, in the back of my mind, I kept wondering where the HECK is Maria? I know we left her by that other building, but what is she doing? How could she not see a building burning? Is she doing yoga to catch her breath or something? Is she calling the cops? WHERE IS SHE?

I thought Serena and Colin were donzo’s and my heart was hurting just reading how the car was coming towards them because both of them didn’t have any more energy.

BUT FREAKING EVAN! I love that man!

Who thought he would save the day? I gotta be thankful that he rammed that car into the burning building to save his friend. Always saving his friend. I was worried though because Lily was with him and they never came out of the fire. Colin blacked out and then the book ends before the epilogue. I literally sat there and said, “No!”

The epilogue was short and sweet in hitting on all the things that readers would have wanted to know happened after everything.

Dr. Manning passed away in the fire and Lester was put back into an institution, but while there, he took his own life. You know, I don’t think Lester was a bad person, but he just needed more love and help and that things could have been different for him. I really wished it could have.

Lily and Evan were THANK GOSH ALIVE! They had their wedding and I wonder if Maria was a bridesmaid and if Colin was the best man? But I was happy both were okay, or in Evan’s case that he wasn’t completely hurt.

Serena still has a lot of trauma and hard days from what she went through, and who wouldn’t. I loved how Maria smiled at Serena when Serena was smiling because Maria knew how much her sister went through, and to see her happy, probably meant the world. I also think Maria might have taken a lot of fault when it came to what happened—-that she put her sister through that. But I know that Serena would never view the situation in that way. I loved their sisterly relationship though and I hope Serena can heal.

Maria was working fully with Jill and was happy, which made me happy. Still hoping she moved houses though.

Colin made it 👍🏼. For a second, when we didn’t get to Colin, I was worried something bad happened to him. But rest assured, he was okay. His arm was broken and his body was still fractured in places, so he couldn’t do a lot of working out, but gosh knows he did. We love a dedicated, motivated person. I also loved that moment with Margolis when Margolis made teasing threats that he still had it out for him. It was cute because deep down, Margolis had a greater appreciation for Colin. Colin saved his life, how could he not? But he said thank you and that meant a lot coming from Margolis given how much he hated Colin. I liked that even though he gave empty threats to keep a troublesome eye out for Colin, he never checked on him once. I wonder if Colin ever went back to school to become a teacher or if private investigation or law enforcement is in his future?

After everything they’ve been through together, it’s hard not to imagine them together for the long haul. Colin as the protector and Maria as his leading lady. They make a good team.

The whole story was gripping as it was romantic, but I would have really liked to see more of the romance because I love a good love story. But I could appreciate the thriller aspect because it had me thoroughly flipping through the pages in a snap. I just think that focusing on the romance a bit more would have developed their story line better in how they fully learned to accept each other in their pasts because with everything going on, I think they didn’t have time to really figure that out. They were just thrown through this whole stalker mystery and Colin protected her out of love, but I would have loved to see more romance between them. I would also want to know how they would work through all of this to be together in the future.

Anyway, what was your favorite part? Least favorite part? Who did you think was stalking Maria? Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this.

And as always, with love,

Rating

4.67 Full Bloom Flowers

Characters: I absolutely loved the different personalities in this story. There’s someone everyone can love. I absolutely adored Serena and Lily for their hearts and humor. I liked Colin, duh, for his honesty and redemption.

Plot: Gripping and romantic with just the right touch of humor.

Writing: My second Nicholas Sparks book and I’m still in love.

Romance: The romance in the beginning of the book was very cute, but when the mystery takes over, the romance gets sidetracked. Would have loved to have seen more of their relationship

Mystery: Had me turning the pages faster than it took you to read this