True Believer - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

    I've read a couple of other books by Nicholas Sparks and enjoyed them, but someone always seems to die in the end! That's not the case with True Believer. 
    I enjoyed this story of a sophisticated city dude and his experiences in small town Boone Creek, North Carolina. The author's descriptions were vivid and the plot kept me engaged. I really didn't know for sure if the hero and heroine would work things out until the last few pages. I especially appreciated the fact that although the Southerners in the book were quirky and I recognized some of them as people I've met, they were not portrayed as ignorant, bigoted, or close-minded stereotypes.

Book Beginning:
    Jeremy Marsh sat with the rest of the live studio audience, feeling unusually conspicuous. He was one of only half a dozen men in attendance on that mid-December afternoon. He'd dressed in black, of course, and with his dark wavy hair, light blue eyes, and fashionable stubble, he looked every bit the New Yorker that he was. 

The Friday 56:
(I know we're supposed to pick an excerpt from Page 56, but this one on Page 54 tickled me so much that I just had to use it instead. New Yorker Jeremy is entering Herbs, a small town cafe, and he's dressed in black from head to toe.)
     As he climbed the steps to the front door, conversations quieted and eyes drifted his way. Only the chewing continued, and Jeremy was reminded of the curious ways cows looked at you when you approached the pasture fence. 

Genre: Contemporary Romance / Suspense
Book Length: 480 Pages
Amazon Link: True Believer

Synopsis from Goodreads:
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.

                 

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