See Me

By Nicholas Sparks

ISBN# 9781455520619

Author’s Website:  http://nicholassparks.com/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Colin Hancock has had a troubled youth and early adulthood, getting into trouble again and again.  He got the luckiest break of his life with the deal he got that’s kept him out of prison.  But if he gets in any more trouble the deal will be pulled and he will serve time.

But now he’s cleaned up his act, has set goals for himself, and is working hard to achieve them.  What does he want?  To be a third grade teacher so he can help prevent kids from taking the path he took.  So he’s a dedicated college student, working as a bartender to pay the bills, and training as a MMA fighter to get his aggression out in legal ways!

One raining night he sees a woman with a flat tire on the side of the road and he can’t just leave her there.  He pulls over to help and changes her tire for her even though she’s terrified of him!  He never expects to see her again, but turns out her sister is in one of his classes!  A sister who decides Maria needs a kick-start on her love life!  She sets up a chance meeting between Colin and Maria and they learn that they mesh together quite nicely.

But shortly after they start seeing one another, Maria’s past rears its ugly head.  She’s being stalked, again!  Colin will do anything to protect her and find out who is scaring her.  But could protecting her land him in prison and end all his dreams?

I really enjoyed this book for the most part.  I found the characters and storyline to be engaging.  I loved Colin’s honesty and his desire to be a stand-up guy, unlike the guy he used to be! And, have even been tempted to try out his “okay” thing he does!

“Isn’t that the tie Lily bought for your birthday?”

Evan looked down to examine it. It was paisley, a kaleidoscope of color. “Yes it is, as a matter of fact. Good memory. What do you think? Too much?”

“It doesn’t matter what I think.”

“But you don’t like it.”

“I think that if you want to wear it, you should wear it.”

Evan seemed momentarily undecided. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Refuse to answer a simple question.”

“Because my opinion is irrelevant. You should wear what you want.”

“Just tell me, okay?”

“I don’t like your tie.”

“Really? Why not?”

“Because it’s ugly.”

“It’s not ugly.”

Colin nodded. “Okay.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Probably.”

“You don’t even wear ties.”

“You’re right.”

“So why do I care what you think?”

“I don’t know.”

Evan scowled. “Talking to you can be infuriating, you know.”

“I know. You’ve said that before.”

“Of course I’ve said it before! Because it’s true! Didn’t we just talk about this the other night? You don’t have to say whatever pops into your head.”

“But you asked.”

“Just … Oh, forget it.” He turned and started back toward the house. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Where are you going?”

Evan walked a couple of steps before answering without turning around. “To change my damn tie. And by the way Margolis was right. Your face still looks like it was run through a meat grinder.”

Colin smiled. “Hey, Evan!”

Evan stopped and turned. “What?”

“Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For everything.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re just lucky I won’t tell Lily what you said.”

“You can if you’d like. I already told her.”

Evan starred. “Of course you did.”

 

My only issue with this novel is that toward the end the storyline seemed to drag for me and I never could get quite as interested in the book as I had been previously.  It’s still a decent read and one any Sparks fan should check out, especially considering it will probably only be a matter of time before it ends up as a movie!