Quotes from Nicholas Sparks' True Believer

Bookish Mardi:  Nicholas Sparks' True Believer

“When people cared about each other, they always found a way to make it work.”
― Nicholas Sparks

www.goodreads.com

Book Summary

In TRUE BELIEVER, journalist Jeremy Marsh spends his time debunking the supernatural. He has just finished exposing a fake television psychic, proving that the man was not able to read people's minds or see into their pasts. When he hears about a phenomenon happening in the small town of Boone Creek in North Carolina, where ghosts are seen inhabiting a local cemetery, Jeremy knows he will be able to find the truth behind the lights that are seen glimmering on certain nights above the cemetery grounds. He knows that ghosts do not truly exist.

When Jeremy arrives in Boone Creek, he experiences what small town life is all about. He's from the big city and feels like he's walked into a time warp. Everyone knows everyone, and gossip spreads like wildfire. His "hotel" is a hole-in-the-wall motel, filled with dead animals ranging from a bear to snakes and all sorts of wonderful critters that can be found in the wild. He's as far from New York as he can get, and he's not sure he likes it.

The very day he arrives in town, Jeremy makes a quick visit to Cedar Creek Cemetery, where the ghosts are reported to have been seen, when he notices a young woman there who catches his eye. He later finds out that her name is Lexie Darnell. Neither of them knows it but soon their lives will be changed forever. Lexie is the granddaughter of the woman who had invited him to visit the town. Doris Marsh is the town psychic.

As Jeremy slowly does his research in the library where Lexie happens to work, he gets to know her. Despite what he feels about the town, he finds himself interested in this woman who doesn't seem to want anything to do with him.

Having read nearly every Nicholas Sparks book that has been written, it is safe to say that TRUE BELIEVER is quite the departure from his previous works. While Sparks tends to write tragedies as opposed to true romances, this novel is far from the tragedy that some of his other fiction books have been.

This is not to say that TRUE BELIEVER wasn't enjoyable. But fans who are looking for the typical Nicholas Sparks book will not find it here. Instead of concentrating on the romance, this reviewer found the focus of the novel to be on the mystery behind the cemetery, and the high point of the plot was Jeremy's answer to the story behind the ghosts. The fact that Jeremy is dating a woman who believes her parents' ghosts have come to her in the cemetery makes the reader anxious to know what he finds, realizing that the answer will greatly impact the relationship that is central to the love story.

One aspect of storytelling in which Sparks excels is his ability to create the characters who populate his books. His capacity to bring into being likeable, everyday people helps make this novel readable. The strength of the story isn't necessarily the plot, and the romance that is found here is not one that a typical romance reader might expect. For this reader, the characters were the highlight of the novel, and the process of getting to know some of the more prominent ones was a delight. One will find oneself chuckling over some of the antics of the townspeople. The brouhaha that the people make over Jeremy's celebrity is very cute, if not humorous.

Overall, the plot lines are balanced between the mystery of the cemetery, Jeremy and Lexie's relationship, the aspect of small-town living, and the individual life stories of the two protagonists. Focusing on the individual characters is just one way of truly enjoying this book. It's a soothing type of read, and readers will feel comfortable with these characters.

Remarkable Quotes from the Book 

". . . true love could not blossom overnight." -  Jeremy Marsh

". . . love wasn't possible in just a couple of days." - Jeremy Marsh
 
"Love could be set in motion quickly, but true love needed time to grow into something strong and enduring." - Jeremy Marsh

"Love was, above all, about commitment and dedication and a belief that spending years with a person would create something greater than the sum of what the two could accomplish separately."  - Jeremy Marsh

". . . the description of lust was simple: two people learn they're compatible, attraction grows, and the ancient insticnt to preserve the species kicks in." - Jeremy Marsh

"Life never cease to amaze me." - Jeremy Marsh

"Maturity meant thinking about risk long before you pondered the reward, and that success and happiness in life were as much about avoiding mistakes as making your mark in the world." - Doris

"Premonitions:  while they might be accurate in the short term, anything beyond that was impossible to know." - Doris

"Jitters were just another word for panic." - Lexie

"Once in a while, everyone was entitle to be a bit flaky." - Jeremy Marsh

 "Men seemed immune to some sort of insecurities. Even if they weren't, they'd learned to either disguise their feelings or bury them deep enough so as not to be crippled by them." - Jeremy

"Men like women who know how to subtle." - Jeremy Marsh

". . .people are people. While I'm not an expert in psychology, I'm of the opinion that anyone - even strangers- can sense the urgency of a request, and most people will usually do the right thing."   - Jeremy Marsh

"Eveeryone has dreams that don't come true."  - Lexie

"When people cared for each other, they always found a way to make it work." - Jeremy Marsh

"Life was about spending time together, about having time to walk together holding hands, talking quietly as they watched the sun go down. It wasn't glamorous, but it was, in many ways, the best that life had offer." - Jeremy Marsh

". . . modern culture has its own seductions." - Jeremy Marsh

". . . accept the reality of what had happened and find a way to move on."  - Doris

"Television audiences love mysteries." - Alvin

"Was it really possible for so much to have happened in only a couple of days." - Lexie

"Every town needs something to call its own, something to remind the folks that their home is special." -  Mayor Gherkin

"Legends . . .well, they're just relics from the past, and the town needs more than  that to survive." - Mayor Gherkins

"Express your feelings, purge your guilt, seek and ye shall find."  - Alvin

"Am I right or am I right? Of course I'm right" - Alvin

“Love is always bestowed as a gift!
freely, willingly, and without expectation....
We don't love to be loved, we love to love”

“A good marriage, like any partnership, meant subordinating one's own needs to that of the others', in the expectation that the other will do the same.”

“You found out who you are and what you want and then you realized that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.”

"Women want a fairy tale . . . most women grew up dreaming about the kind of man who would risk everything for them, even knowing they might get hurt." - Lexie

"Women like a man who know how to be subtle." -  Lexie

"Women like a man who will follow them to the ends of the earth." - Jeremy Marsh

"Love does funny things to people."  - Jeremy  Marsh 

Random Inklings

Mess Your Life's Intricate Pattern

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

The month of September had had me running of lots and lots. . . and lots of errands (of which had left me unable to update my blog site,too.) Such month had worn me out so much because tons of works were everywhere. There were the mountainous papers to be checked and the nauseous numbers to be recorded ,  PLUS the most stressing part were the practices and the preparations for the school's cheerdance competition. Staying so late in school  then became a  temporary system for me. Notwithstanding all these complains for my friend, September, I have to say this pal (September) had also brought me to feelings, places, and people of which were once so alien to me. In short, I had been brought to Cloud 9,of which I believe is so heavenly , in just  less than a month despite of its exhaustive tasks at hand. ^^ 

And because I had left my site unattended for more than a couple of weeks, I out of a sudden feel the intense urge to get back on the show. To start with, I'd like you to read an essay  from an author who happened to be a personal favorite since college because of the way he catches me by surprise by his writing experties, just as  E.L.James, Dan Brown, Nicholas Sparks, and Jude Deveraux had captured me,  IN WHICH, I believe could sum up everything I had been in such a short span of time. Hence, I'd like you to read beyond the lines and to over analyze this:

Photo from Web

CLOSING CYCLES

by Paulo Coelho

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished. Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that.

But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

Photo from Web

None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away. That is why it is so important (however painful it maybe!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.

Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Photo from Web

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the ideal moment. Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person. Nothing is irreplaceable. A habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because. . .

that no longer fits your life.

Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. 

Stop being who you were, and change into who you are. 

***

PUTTING an END. Letting go. Moving on. They all mean the same thing, Closing cycles. The cycle of life is indeed unfathomable. That is how I always describe it even when I was still young. Howbeit we want to let go, move on, close doors, or end the cycle we just cannot because sometimes you cannot walk away because something or someone NO longer fits your life. . . especially when it involves SIGNIFICANT OTHER/S. It’s not right to just walk away. It’s not right to LIVE only your life, yeah! We all have our own lives to take business into but still there are those who stay by our side. . .our family, our friends or special one . . .and we continue to put our lives on hold for them.

As far as I see it we cannot begin a new chapter in our lives if we don’t accept that we need to close a previous cycle in our existence , especially when it made an impact in your life. It is like living knowing you are going to die, or loving knowing you are going to get hurt, or  simply like mourning to give up the past.  I believe we all have the right to blast our emotions when something or someone is gone. Shredding some tears can often make us feel better and  it helps us put things in perspective. This  has been our simplest way out, our escape route.

God has left this door open for us to step through and start moving forward. Yes! It is hard! Our memories are a part of us. They are locked deep inside us and constitute what we are today. So the choice is to live in crazy, raw reality or live in a mirage of peaceful life. If I am to choose, I love  to live in reality no matter what the cost is. And a part of living in reality is to certainly close unnecessary cycles, because when you do, you undeniably  are living free.

Let go of the feelings, persons, places, and experiences which can never be yours and free yourself from all the unnecessary chains that may bind you from what had happened, what is happening, and what will happen.

(c) Reloufe Balucan

So for a piece of advice: Oh, come on! wake up from your lucid dreams, loosen yourself, and for once break the rules, and mess the intricate pattern of  your life.

After all, “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” 

BE CRAZY YET CHOOSE YOUR ACTIONS SO WELL!  ^^