The Return

In the romantic tradition of Dear John, an injured Navy doctor meets two extremely important women whose secrets will change the course of his life in this #1 New York Times bestseller.

Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New Bern, North Carolina. But when a mortar blast outside the hospital where he worked sent him home from Afghanistan with devastating injuries, the dilapidated cabin he'd inherited from his grandfather seemed as good a place to regroup as any.

Tending to his grandfather's beloved beehives, Trevor isn't prepared to fall in love with a local . . . yet, from their very first encounter, Trevor feels a connection with deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson that he can't ignore. But even as she seems to reciprocate his feelings, she remains frustratingly distant, making Trevor wonder what she's hiding.

Further complicating his stay in New Bern is the presence of a sullen teenage girl, Callie, who lives in the trailer park down the road. Trevor hopes Callie can shed light on the mysterious circumstances of his grandfather's death, but she offers few clues--until a crisis triggers a race to uncover the true nature of Callie's past, one more intertwined with the elderly man's passing than Trevor could ever have imagined.

In his quest to unravel Natalie and Callie's secrets, Trevor will learn the true meaning of love and forgiveness . . . and that in life, to move forward, we must often return to the place where it all began.

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400 pages

Average rating: 6.81

91 RATINGS

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4 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

frannie-puckett
Mar 17, 2024
8/10 stars
A little mystery, a little romance. A fast read!
monidipadutta51
Feb 20, 2023
5/10 stars
This tells the story of Trevor Benson, a surgeon who returns to his hometown after a tragic accident leaves him questioning his life choices. As he navigates his past and present relationships, Trevor discovers secrets that threaten to upend his life once again. While Nicholas Sparks is known for his emotional storytelling and engaging characters, "The Return" has received mixed reviews from critics and readers. Some have praised the book's well-crafted plot and thoughtful exploration of grief, loss, and redemption, while others have found the writing formulaic and predictable, with characters and themes that are overly familiar. Here, characters feel flat and lack depth, with some reviewers noting that the dialogue can feel stilted and unnatural at times. Others have taken issue with the pacing of the story, which some feel is slow and meandering in places.
SammieRae
Dec 26, 2022
7/10 stars
Had an interesting plot but took a while to get to the point of the book. Once it became obvious, the story moves progressively!
Bec
Oct 23, 2022
6/10 stars
A hard storyline to get into but persistence got me through. Not one of his best.

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