Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Traditional Format (Digital). Counting Miracles, the newest from best selling author Nicholas Sparks, tells the story of Tanner (an Army Ranger raised by his grandparents who is seeking out his birth father) and Jasper (an 83 year old man who has experienced unbelievable tragedy in his life). The two characters path cross and their stories come together.

What I liked:
- The setting (North Carolina and the forest wilderness). I am always a fan of book set in the outdoors/wilderness
- I liked how the backstory of the characters was woven into the present day as flashbacks to further develop the plot and character development
- The message of family was beautiful and one moment of symbolism at the end (that I don't want to spoil) was incredible wrap up to the story
- Character development was well done. I even disliked a few of the characters which shows the great writing

What I didn't like:
- I have read Nicholas Sparks books before and I don't remember so many bible quotes. I found them a little too much at points in the book. I am Christian but the quotes were just over the top in a few places and it took away from the chapters for me personally
- The plot was 100% predictable - but it didn't necessarily take away from the story for me
- The book was a little longer than it needed to be for me and dragged a little. The same message and feelings could have been done in 50 pages less IMO.

Overall this was an enjoyable read with a nice story. I will give this one a 4/5.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada | Doubleday Canada for a digital eARC copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Terribly disappointed in this one. Preachy,(I mean that literally, the Bible and various verses are mentioned so often the book would be at least 25% shorter without them.) The entire story takes place over about a week and we have *instant love *weird religious ponderings abiut an albino deer *poaching *miracle pets *fish falling from the sky (tbf that's a story from another generation but still...) *mother daughter drama and reconciliation *a suprise twist that would come as zero suprise to any reader *"the rich family that can do no wrong" *real estate wonders and more. It felt like the plot was a bunch of weird ideas put into an AI generator, filled out with some Bible verses and published. I've loved several NS books but this was just so, so poorly written. 2/5 because it feels bad to give a burned widower that had his entire family die and lost his fortune only to fall and nearly die alone in the woods just one. I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

this was my first Nicholas Sparks book, and it did not disappoint.. the flow was amazing, not too fast that it felt like a whirlwind relationship, but also not slowblurn.

I have read a few of Mr. Sparks books but this one is my favorite so far. The story line was intriguing. This is a well written tale that intertwines the lives of Dr. Cooper, her kids, Tanner and Jasper. It kept me reading well into the night. It is. I love the way he used the Bible verses as Jasper remembered his father and himself with his family. Great story and well worth the read!

Another great book by Mr. Sparks, although I felt like there was a very christian side to this with the one character quoting scripture.