This was another excellent story by Nicholas Sparks. Well written with beautiful characters. I loved how each character fit together and how well he intertwined their lives. Another masterpiece for this author.

ARC Review ✨️

☆Tanner♡

This story was heartbreaking, beautiful, and very powerful all at once. Tanner is an army ranger on the hunt to find his father. He stumbles upon Kaitlyn, and romance soon sparks. We also get to meet a wonderful old man, Jasper. I absolutely loved his part of the story. The writing and the plot flowed perfectly. I found myself crying a few times. Mainly for Tanner. He had a rough going, and I couldn't imagine going through even half of what he's endured. Nicholas Sparks has always been such an incredible author, and I'm still in shock over the fact that I received an ARC of his!

Thanks so much to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC!

Found family, romance, heart break, love, this book has it all. I was so excited to have received an ARC of this book! It felt like a true Nicholas Sparks book. There were times when I cried and times when I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt that this book captured different emotions and covered different topics. I personally loved how everything tied together at the end.

First, I love Nicolas Sparks books. I’m a sucker for a good love story. This book was a bit different than that. It had romantic elements but, not a love story like Sparks is known for.
The story follows Tanner Hughs, who’s a military guy looking for his father. He meets the town doctor, Kaitlyn and they find love.
Overall, the story was well written and I enjoyed it. If you’re looking for an easy read, then I’d recommend this one.

This was my first novel by Nicholas Sparks but I have seen a few of the movies and he certainly has a formula.

While I really enjoyed the story and the outcome, it was more of a slow burn with most of the action at the end—a formula that is common enough but it seemed to take too long to get a short payoff.

I really liked the characters, especially the teenaged daughter. The older man, Jasper, had a bit more tragedy than I thought was necessary though.

Please note, I did receive this ARC for free; I am writing this honest review voluntarily.
Thank you to NetGalley and the author as well as the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

This book started very slowly. Extensive character development which I thought could have been made more concise. About a third of the way through the book, it began to be much more interesting! It follows Tanner, an Army Ranger taking a break between posts to search for his father. Tanner was raised by his grandparents, and on his grandmother's deathbed, she told him the name of his unknown father and where he might be. Thus Tanner is ,now in Asheboro, NC hoping to find him. almost as soon as he gets there, he meets Kaitlyn, a single mom and doctor, and her two children, Casey and Mitch. Mitch has a friend Jasper, who lives as a hermit in the woods near his home. The first third of the book is mostly about Jasper and his life and challenges. Jasper is a sweet, deeply religious, elderly man with a tragic past! He has a loyal dog for his companion. Tanner and Kaitlyn have almost an instant attraction, as each are dealing with finding themselves and adjust to new life challenges. This book was a sweet story with some life lessons and much healing with the help of miracles!

Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers for providing me an ARC. This is my unbiased review as a reader of almost all of Nicholas Spark's books.

I always enjoy Nicholas Spark’s books and Counting Miracles was no exception. The plot is well written and the characters well developed. I throughly enjoyed this book. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance book. This is my unbiased review.

ARC REVIEW

Counting Miracles
By Nicholas Sparks

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (3.5 rounded to 4 out of 5)

Publishing date: 9/24/24

Set in asheboro, North Carolina, Tanner comes to town in hopes of finding his birth father. He meets Kaitlin, a local Dr who lives near Mr Jasper and his dog Arlo. Jasper suffered a terrible family tragedy years ago, and is trying to protect a white deer from local poachers .

In typical Nicholas Sparks fashion, the stories are intertwined to produce a beautiful heart-warming tail.

I will admit, I'm not a huge fan of the long chapters. It caused me to lose interest a few times. But overall, it was a decent book!

I didn't cry, which means I wasn't MOVED.  But I can appreciate the tender moments, and I think people will enjoy this one 🙂

If you want to sob uncontrollably, read The Wish by Nicholas Sparks lol

Thank you @randomhouse and @netgalley for the chance to read this one early!

Nicholas Sparks has a way of writing stories that make you feel all the emotions and enjoy the experience of them. Counting Miracles is a heartwarming story that follows 3 different people trying to figure out their world. Divorced Kaitlyn, Ex-Army Tanner, and Jasper. I will say this book relies a lot on religious themes and bible verses. But they add dimension to the story. You definitely don’t want to miss this one

This is a beautiful story about a man who finds out from his grandmother his true father’s name. He goes on a search to find his father. Along the way he finds love, family, and stability that he has never had before.

Keep in mind this book has a lot of biblical references. There are questions of faith and God. There are stories of deep suffering and why would God allow someone to suffer in so many ways?

Jasper, the old man in the book, has gone through so much. Even though, I had a feeling of where the book was headed very early on, I still enjoyed the story. To be honest, my favorite part of the story was everything to do with Jasper. The love story between Tanner and Kaitlyn just seemed like a side story and I felt Jasper was the true main character in my mind.

Also, Casey and Mitch, Kaitlyn’s children were so cute and just great children.

Overall, I thought this was a good read.

Thank you to netgalley for this free advance copy in exchange for an honest review. 💙

I haven’t read a Nicholas Sparks book in years, the last one I went was, dear John and I absolutely loved that one. So of course, I was very excited to be able to read his newest book, but quickly became disappointed as it wasn’t for me. I found it incredibly hard to connect to the characters and the storyline and I found the beginning to be a bit slow. Unfortunately, I did not finish around the 30% mark.

I absolutely ADORED this book! It had everything that I could ask for in a Nicholas Sparks book. The characters were well developed and I found myself staying up way past my bedtime to sneak a few more chapters in. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this amazing book! I will definitely be sharing it with all of my fellow book lovers!

First of all I just wanted to say a huge thank you to NetGalley, Nicholas Sparks and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to review the arc of this amazing book!

Loved this book! I literally devoured it in just 2 days because I could not put it down even for a second. Although at first I was a little iffy because I’m not really a fan of third person point of views but the way Nicholas wrote this I am so glad I kept on reading! The writing in the third person was such a good decision it was a chance to focus on each character from the author’s perspective to really see into each characters lives a little better.

Having read multiple books by Nicholas that I’ve enjoyed I just knew this one was going to be just as good and it truly was.

Counting Miracles was so beautifully written and I enjoyed following along to Tanner, Jasper and Kaitlyn’s story and how they ended up being all connected together! Almost all of it was heartbreaking and I just felt bad for each one of these characters.

Jasper’s story was heartbreaking on so many levels and I cried just reading about everything he endured and I’m glad he found Tanner and vice versa. Reading this story made me feel like I was right there with them and that’s something I like about reading stories where I can put myself right along with them. Not only that I loved how he incorporated Bible verses and story into the entirety of this book, as it made it that much interesting.

Overall I enjoyed this book and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys an amazing plot, characters and heartfelt storyline.

I have (of course) seen numerous Nicholas Sparks movies, but reading one of his books is a first for me. This was somehow very dark, but also extremely heartwarming. Told in 3 POVS: Tanner, Kaitlyn and Jasper - Each of which have been hurt in the past. Jasper though got burnt during a terrible house fire that resulted in him losing his entire family. Ultimately it is a story of great loss & finding the joy or "miracles" on the other side of that grief. Kaitlyn was such a wonderful character that added so much love to this story in a way I wasn't expecting.

Having been re-introduced to Nicholas Sparks with The Wish, a book that was easily in my top ten two years ago. I was excited to jump into Counting Miracles, ready to feel all the feels.

Counting Miracles focuses on three characters, Tanner a man floating around from place to place who is also ex-military, Kaitlyn a small-town physician and single mom, and Jasper a recluse who has experienced more trauma than most people should ever have to even imagine.

I think each character is well developed and unique and I enjoyed reading their stories. I really enjoyed Casey and her spunk (Kaitlyn’s teenage daughter) and teenage insightfulness. I feel like teens often get put into this box in novels and it’s nice to see when they can be selfish AND sweet.

Overall it’s a good story and I’d give it 3.5 stars but I rounded it down because I feel like there were a few flaws that bothered me, even at the end.

Jasper’s backstory took up a significant part of the book and at times seemed to slow the pacing of the book. I did like his backstory but maybe not as much?

The jerk teenagers - I felt like they were there only to move parts of the story in a specific direction. These guys felt like cardboard cutouts and just felt forced.

It’s a nice story. It’s not memorable, but it’s nice and a quick read

Nicholas Sparks’ “Counting Miracles” is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and the miraculous moments that shape our lives. The novel beautifully captures the essence of hope and the idea that even in the darkest times, there is always a glimmer of light. “Counting Miracles” is a must-read that reaffirms Sparks’ reputation as a master of contemporary romance and emotional storytelling

Pasts. Family. Deer.

Classic guy who never settles down yet is searching for family. Upcoming release from the author who wrote the notebook, wanted to enjoy but I found it slow, serious, and hard to read.

Story: 3 Characters: 3 Engagement level: 2

Highlights:
- Core characters learn to adjust their lives and perspectives after meeting each other
- Interesting to see the read on each main character on each other
- Insight into military life
- Good people
- Great kids
- Wonderful dog

Lowlights:
- All serious without much respite the whole book--I would've liked some joy sprinkled in
- Slow moving: was hard to see where it was going
- Didn't care for the Jasper storyline for the majority of the book
- Reflecting on a lot of tragedy and sadness which is hard to read
- Lots of Bible references

Notable quotes:
"He thought he saw an uncertainty there, a tentativeness that hinted at past disappointment, or perhaps regret."

"I simply offered to make you some cocoa. It's the drink of choice when guys suddenly become idiots."

Nicholas Sparks always delivers on heartfelt and emotional stories. Counting Miracles is a bit light on romance and means more into a contemporary tale of faith, love, loss and grief. Beautifully written and relatable.

I enjoyed the blend of light romance and a powerful story of long lost family and God’s path. I think there could have been a more compelling aspect to the romance between Tanner and Kaitlyn because I found it fairly mundane and lacking passion, but it was enough to pull together the rest of the story with Jasper. While Jasper’s story ended up being very inspiring, I found myself wondering if I was reading two different books in the beginning. However I knew that Spark’s would reign it all in at the end, which he did beautifully.

Like all Nicholas Sparks books, Counting Miracles has wonderful characters and a great storyline which includes some romance. Even though it plays an important part, romance isn’t the main storyline in this book. This is a story of love, faith, family, loss, grief and survival.

I have always enjoyed Nicholas Sparks’ books and Counting Miracles may be my new favorite. It was a compelling read that held my attention from beginning to end. I highly recommend it. Nicholas Sparks never disappoints.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.