Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this!
Like so many women my age I grew up as a fan of Nicholas Sparks. The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John, even the 'less popular ones' that weren't made into movies like The Rescue. I expected to have the same reaction to this. For me though, this one is just ok.
This is told in multiple points of view, with Kaitlyn (a single mom who is a doctor), Tanner (a military man now searching for his biological family) and Jasper (an old man with family secrets attempting to help a unique white deer) leading the narrative. Kaitlyn and Tanners love story is good but I wouldn't call it amazing? The pacing and chemistry just felt a bit off the whole time to me. Jasper's story is interesting and his relationship with the memories of his family and god were pretty interesting, although I think could have used some serious trimming.
I found myself skimming a ton. The 'twist' was pretty obvious right from the get go (like so many Spark's books) but I didn't really mind.
Overall this was good, by no means great. I'm sure it'll get movie rights, and you can see very easily how this would translate to the big screen.

I've been a Nicholas Sparks reader for decades now, and if there is anything you can count on with his books, it's a story that draws you in.

Tanner Hughes is something of a restless soul. His mother died in childbirth, and his grandparents raised him without so much as a word about who his father might be.

But a deathbed confession leads Tanner to Asheboro, NC, (not to be confused with Asheville!) with the possibility of learning more about his father.

While there, boy (man?) meets girl (woman?), charms her and her children, and they are all forced to look a little deeper at their own lives.

In true Nicholas Sparks fashion, you see the love story coming immediately and - if I'm being honest - I figured out the "twist" easily. Also in true Nicholas Sparks fashion, it was an easy, enjoyable read that left me content with the ending.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book. I was so excited to read this after reading this through the years, this is my least favorite of his, I even struggled to finish and not DNF. The love story lacked to me and felt rushed through and was predictable. Most of the conversations didn’t seem organic or even original.

Low stakes, high emotion.

I loved the details of this story, to include characters that jumped off the page but I found the pacing to be… not “bad” necessarily but frustrating. I did like jumping between the three main characters to get everyone’s point of views, and I even enjoyed learning about Jaspers family through flashbacks but something about the fast burn of the relationship and the slow burn of the later tension with Jasper, paired with a quick tied up with a bow ending? It was almost unsettling. This made writing a review really hard because there were a lot of great things about this story but that pacing makes a big difference. My initial thought upon finishing was “I loved the story but the book was meh.”

I haven’t read Nicholas Sparks since high school, and maybe it’s the vast amount of books I’ve read since then but the writing itself also flat for me and a few times I felt myself rolling my eyes thinking really? Cmon.

BUT I do think the lessons of fate, trusting people and taking chances were well displayed and of course, I loved to see the loyalty of Arlo the yellow lab - so there were a lot of pros and pacing be damned I finished it in two days so that’s saying something.

If I could do partial stars I would definitely rate this one a 3.75 because it leans far more heavily toward 4 than 3 however, I can’t commit to a full 4.

I have always enjoyed reading Nicholas Sparks books. The characters are so well developed, and I enjoyed watching them meet by chance and seeing how they connect without really knowing why and how their lives will entwine. I loved the relationship between Mitch and Jasper. Tanner's journey is so heartfelt and will stay with me for a long time. So many emotions as the characters move through life. I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

Sparks is a generally pleasure read for me although I think perhaps I've outgrown his works. This particular book which may be both found family contemporary mixed with romance has a promising premise but ends up dragging for most of the middle of the book. The romance didn't sizzle as much as some of his other works. Overall, I was disappointed.

This book follows the story of a veteran that has taken up a nomadic lifestyle since leaving the military. In one of his stops he needs to have car repairs done and ends up meeting an interesting woman with a history herself. It has a nice premise, but I was unable to finish it.

The story has a lot of Christian themes and Bible quotes throughout it. It wasn't mentioned in the description or else I wouldn't have requested this arc. If you don't mind these things I'm sure it is a great story.

I decided to DNF it at 48%.

Thank you to Netgalley for my arc copy.

I always look forward to reading a new book by Nicholas Sparks. Although this one was not my favorite work of his, it was still moving and emotional. This one is about the miracle of finding love and finding family, with quite a few scripture verses sprinkled in. No big plot twists here, but recommend if you are in the mood for a happy ending. Thank you to NetGalley, publishers and author for this ARC.

This was my first Nicolas Sparks book, but I have seen the movie The Notebook. I started out enjoying the book, but all the stories were not equal and I found myself losing interest. This one just wasn't for me. 3-1/2 stars

I received an ARC for free and gave my honest opinion voluntarily.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Counting Miracles by Nicholas Sparks.

Whilie I haven't read a Nicholas Sparks in a long time, so i was excited to try his new book. My favorite of his is The Notebook.
This story has three main characters Tanner an ex-military man who has no family, Kaitlyn a small-town physician and single mom, and Jasper an older resident of the small town with a heart wrenching past.

I felt like some parts of the book were hard to keep reading. I felt myself skimming over some of the back stories. I do feel like immediate attraction is a thing but I didn't fall for Tanner and Kaitlyn's relationship like I have in other stories of his. I found myself a little annoyed with how she got upset with Tanner. Jasper's story was heartbreaking and I'm glad he ended up with a happy ending.

I have yet to meet a Nicholas Sparks book that I haven’t enjoyed. This emotion-provoking romance with a found family subplot was everything I wanted it to be and more.

Tanner, a man who resigned his life to military and post-military government security work, set out on a journey after his grandparents passed to find his birth father. He had some time off before his next contract work began, and he landed in a small town in North Carolina.

Kaitlyn, or Dr. Cooper, as many of Asheboro’s residents know her, is an internist, humanitarian, volunteer, but most importantly a single mom to two great kids.

Then we have Jasper, an 83 year old man with one hell of a survival story, living just beyond the Cooper residence in the National Forest with his dog and best friend, Arlo.

It all began one night when Kaitlyn’s daughter hit Tanner’s car with her own. And continued the night that Jasper set out after some teenagers poaching on federal land, looking for the elusive white deer they’d all heard stories about.

I felt the characters had adequate depth and backstory, but wish the romance was a little better fleshed out, it just read rushed which is why I chose to rate it only 4 stars.

The synopsis does a great job describing this story without giving too much away—3 very different main characters that somehow shared miraculous coincidences that made for a beautiful story.

Some people have noted that this book contains references of religion and the synopsis did not mention this. To me, as a non-religious person, it was not a deterrent. I accept any good human being, despite their religious beliefs, and the book only contained Bible verses referenced by Jasper while describing his life and will to survive.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing me an ARC to read and review.

I feel like Nicholas Sparks books are generally reliable -- not earth-shattering, but enjoyable. This novel was quite a slog to get through -- it was really close to a DNF.

The novel is heavily based on religion and felt uncomfortable to read at times. There is a lot of scripture. While some of Spark's novels have had some Christian influences, this was a new level. I wish it had been advertised before I started reading. It also centers around Jasper, an elderly gentleman. And while he has dealt with many hardships in his life, the pace was slow. I found myself skimming his passages. As for the romance, the relationship between Kaitlyn and Tanner felt forced. There was no build up or strong connection. I found it difficult to root for them and honestly at the end, didn't understand why they should get back together. Overall, not a win in my book.

I greatly enjoyed Nicholas Sparks' newest book. Tanner has been in the military and not ready to settle down anywhere. He makes a stop in Asheboro to try to find his long lost father and meets Kaitlyn. They instantly feel a spark, but Kaitlyn is worried about the fact that Tanner doesn't plan to stay in town. In another part of the story, Jasper, is an old man living alone, trying to save a rare white deer from poachers. The two stories come together for a sweet ending.

Counting Miracles is out 9/24. Thank you @netgalley & @randomhouse for the ARC. This book was emotional and powerful like many of Spark's books. I still find myself thinking of the characters and the miracle that transpires.
With heavy themes of faith, Counting Miracles read more Christian Fiction, imo!

First of all, thanks for sending me this ARC...it made my day.

This is a biased review because I knew I was going to love this book before I even read it. As Tanner and Kaitlyn were falling in love, so was I. I could not put this book down, even if it was 2am and I was falling asleep!

I do judge a book by it's cover and I didn't think the cover was anything special...until I finished the book and really understood it. Now I love it!! and the white deer on the right!

Thank you so much for this ARC. I really enjoyed reading it!

*Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review*
I have loved Nicholas sparks books for a long time, so I was excited to get this as an arc. It was a good story, but I feel it didn’t live up to the greatness of his previous works.

I want to thank Netgalley for an advance copy for my honest review. I have loved Nicholas Sparks for a long time. I was super excited to see this one and thought I was lucky to get a copy. At first glance I thought I would connect to the character a lot. Single mom of 2 kids and a military man is not added to their lives. I didn’t connect to any of the characters and thought about DNF on many occasions while I stuck it out the story didn’t have the same effect as all the other books. At time the book took on a more religious turn and a lot of other added characters didn’t develop enough. The relationship felt forced between the couple while the mom relationship with her kids were pretty spot on.

Do you know what makes you feel better at the end of a long week? Being snuggled up with a blanket, your beverage of choice and a book by Nicholas Sparks. You know you’re gonna be comfortable, you know that there is not gonna be any surprises, and you know your heart is going to be happy. Counting miracles, the newest book by Nicholas. Sparks will certainly do all of that. I’m not sure if I’m just not remembering from former books of his but this one definitely had a more religious undertone than I’m used to. It didn’t ruin the book for me, but it didn’t necessarily add to the book either. And yes, understand the symbolism that goes along with an animal in the forest.
People that automatically read Nicholas Sparks are going to read this and they’re going to enjoy it, as they do everyone of his books. People that haven’t read his books.-I put this toward the top of his books in my list so I would recommend checking it out.

I could not wait to read this book, being a long time Nicholas Sparks fan. Wow. It did not disappoint. This story follows Jasper, an older man in a small town; Tanner, a young man looking for someone; and Kaitlyn, a single mom. Their lives and stories are intertwined, and I appreciated the multiple points of views. The end of the book was touching and had me in tears. This is a must read.

I want to start my review with a note about how much I have truly loved this author over the years. I have been an avid Nicholas Sparks fan since A Walk To Remember. Then falling even more in love with his storytelling in The Notebook and my most favorite The Wedding. I've stuck by his side raving about his stories for years.

That said this one seriously missed the mark for me. It almost felt as though a Ghost Writer wrote this under his name. It didn't have it's usual depth, the typical Sparks character development, and the story was SLOW! I can usually devour one of his books in a day this took me FOUR to get through. They were slow and at times if I am honest I glazed over some of the story.

While I loved the premise of this book, and the overall characters, it seemed everything felt forced. The relationship building between the two main Characters (Tanner + Kaitlin) felt almost cringy to me. At times it felt love bombing, unhinged emotionally (especially for a grown woman and mother) but also so rushed. I know Sparks does the quick to fall in love. Quick to have a connection. Quick to make it a love story... this was on another level though. It lacked the true romance and depth we expect in his writing. Additionally, Jaspers portion of this story took a major brunt of the tellung. There were times that I wondered when we would finally put the pieces together... I felt it could have happened sooner.

If I were comparing this to some other books I would say this could be more of a Novella and less of a Novel. Could have been told quicker, made shorter, and still could have had more depth.

My overall rating is a 3.5! I am still very much looking forward to it's release. I have the great opportunity to hear more about the story in the fall at an event being hosted in my city. Maybe it will give me a bit more perspective on it all.

Thank you NetGalley & Random House for the EARC! I have already preordered the physical copy for my collection!