I am a sucker for good romantic stories - however, A Walk to Remember is a disappointing third book by Sparks. The characters are shallow and the story is so predictable (if you have read the first two Sparks' novels). The lines are repeated time and time again to bring out the readers' emotions and none of the sentiments touched me deeply ... I'm sorry to say that the book was written to popularize tissue papers. Sparks tried to please the readers too much that he lost the charm that he had so deeply in "The Notebook". Please Nicholas, bring back your charm from "The Notebook" and stop trying to please the readers ... The Notebook is the best of his novels so far.