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Travis Parker is a 43-year-old veterinarian. He has a good life, great friends, and a waterfront home on the coast of North Carolina. Never been married, has no kids. He believes he’s living the perfect life. He’s been through several girlfriends, but none of them sparked his interest for long, and he’d always end up moving on to the next woman. Then he meets his next-door neighbor, Gabby Holland, who doesn’t seem too thrilled to be living next to him, and who seems to hold a grudge against him as well. But there’s something about her that draws his attention.
When Gabby’s dog becomes pregnant, she’s sure Travis Parker’s mutt is responsible, so she heads over to his house to demand that he take responsibility for the condition her dog is in. Not the best of circumstances to meet your new neighbor, but meet they do, and it’s not long until they’re spending more and more time together. The only problem is that Gabby has a boyfriend who’s dragging his heels about asking her to marry him, and she becomes torn between the two men in her life.
I didn’t find Travis or Gabby to be particularly interesting, but I did get a kick out of Stephanie, Travis’s sister. She had a whole different outlook on life, not to mention that she’s funny and a bit kooky. Stephanie kept me hanging in there with the story, and I kept wishing she’d make more of an appearance in the novel.
Though The Choice is beautifully written—in the way that only Nicholas Sparks can write—it’s still just a run-of-the-mill mainstream romance between a commitment-phobic man and a woman who’s hanging on to a relationship that’s going nowhere. At times, I got so bored with the storyline that I almost quit reading the book, period. However, if I had stopped, I would have missed the best part of the novel—the ending. It sort of comes out of nowhere and hits you over the head, and I found myself quickly turning the pages to see what the outcome might be.
You may think you know what the choice is all about—but, like me, you’ll probably be way off base. There’s no doubt that The Choice will give you something to ponder long after you finish reading the last page. And that’s the reason why, in the end, this novel is worth reading.
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