True Believer (Jeremy Marsh & Lexie Darnell #1) by Nicholas Sparks

Synopsis by www.goodreads.com

Jeremy Marsh is the ultimate New Yorker: handsome, almost always dressed in black, and part of the media elite. An expert on debunking the supernatural with a regular column in "Scientific American," he's just made his first appearance on national TV. 

When he receives a letter from the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, about ghostly lights that appear in a legend-shrouded cemetery, he can't resist driving down to investigate. 

 Here, in this tightly knit community, Lexie Darnell runs the town's library, just as her mother did before the accident that left Lexie an orphan. Disappointed by past relationships, including one that lured her away from home, she is sure of one thing: her future is in Boone Creek, close to her grandmother and all the other people she loves. 

Jeremy expects to spend a quick week in "the sticks" before speeding back to the city. But from the moment he sets eyes on Lexie, he is intrigued and attracted to this beautiful woman who speaks with a soft drawl and confounding honesty. And Lexie, while hesitating to trust this outsider, finds herself thinking of Jeremy more than she cares to admit. Now, if they are to be together, Jeremy Marsh must make a difficult choice: return to the life he knows, or do something he's never done before--take a giant leap of faith. 

A story about taking chances and following your heart, True Believer will make you, too, believe in the miracle of love.

Did You Know?---

True Believer is not inspired by any of Nicholas's family members, but the protagonist, Lexie Darnell, is named after one of Nicholas's twin daughters?

Boone Creek -- the setting for the novel -- is a fictitious town in North Carolina, modeled after Pamlico County?
True Believer was one of two books that Nicholas wrote in a year? (The second is At First Sight, the sequel to True Believer.)

My Comments: 

Mysterious lights in the cemetery of a sleepy town. This book had potential . Unfortunately I find that it's not engaging enough. The sparks between Lexie and Jeffery was  strangely missing, unlike his others book. Only redeeming grace for me in this book was the debate between Lexie and Jeffery on who is the one who is expected to sacrifice everything and also the part where the mysterious lights appeared. Overall It had been an average read. I like it but am not in love with it

At First Sight (Jeremy Marsh & Lexie Darnell #2) by Nicholas SParks

Synopsis by www.goodreads.com

There are a few things Jeremy Marsh was sure he’d never do: he’d never leave New York City; never give his heart away after barely surviving one failed marriage; and never become a parent. 

Now Jeremy is living in the tiny town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, engaged to Lexie Darnell, the love of his life, and anticipating the start of their family. 

But just as his life seems to be settling into a blissful pattern, a mysterious and disturbing e-mail sets off a chain of events that will change the course of this young couple’s relationship.

How well do we really know the ones we love? How do we handle the inevitable doubts, fears concerning parenthood, and stumbling blocks that are sometimes placed in our way? 

Continuing the story of the young couple introduced in Sparks’s bestselling True Believer, this novel captures all the heartbreak, tension, romance and surprises of those who are newly wed. 

An astonishing tale about the love between a man and a woman and between a parent and a child, At First Sight is about endings that bring new beginnings . . . tragedies that lead to unexpected joy . . . and, most of all, the magic of everlasting love.

My Comments :

I made the mistaken of reading this book first before I read "True Believer". Hence, there were some parts which I felt that I was in the blind.

Nevertheless, after reading the first book; am still of the opinion that this is not one of his best work.

First half of the story was rather dry. All Jeffery's self doubts and their arguments was not engaging at all. It did jot endear me to either Lexie or Jeffrey

Things only pick up soeed when the baby was in distress

overall this has been an okay reads. For me this have been two stars out of five

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Synopsis from www.goodreads.com

A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN ...

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils ... Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

My Comments :

The story was painfully slow. Up to page 200, the author was still building up background of various characters in the story. However, the last 100 pages or so saved the story or else I would say it's a waste of time reading this

The words used here were rather stilted. It was like something out of Enid Blyton's fairy tales genre. Not very suitable for modern days story.

For example page 118 " Fats had been told by a reliable informant that the one fail-safe way of quitting the Winterdown grounds without being spotted from a window was to climb over the side wall by the bike shed. "...it would have been easier to say Fats decided to skip school. .." the word "quit" makes it sound so dull and "old English". 

I don't feel the sense of urgency to know what willhappen next nor want to know who will win the post. 

But as i have said earlier, story only pick up speed in the final 100 pages or so. The book could have done with more trimming off unnecessary long winded portion.

For me this book is worth two starts out of five.