The Best of Me

January 2013:

I loved this book.  Though it was a bit predictable, and I saw it all coming I still loved it.  It was a great love story, and was a nice way to start the new year.

"THE BEST OF ME is the story of two high school sweethearts whose love was cut short because they were born on opposite sides of the track. As all people sometimes mistakenly are, they were identified and labeled because of who their families were. Amanda Collier was born to a family that was considered to be well bred and upper crust, and were highly respected people in the community. She was expected to go to a good-standing college and marry a man who was compatible to her station in life. However, against her parents’ wishes, she began seeing a young man whose family had been in and out of prison and whose main interests seemed to be a life of crime.

Their love was never meant to be, and because Dawson’s love was true, he let Amanda go. He wanted her to attend college and have the life she was destined to have, the life she deserved to have. Amanda never forgot Dawson, but eventually moved on. She went to college, met and married a respectable man, and raised a family. She lived the life she had been expected to live.The townspeople feared the Coles. They were dangerous individuals who would not hesitate to hurt or kill someone who got in their way. They were from the wrong side of the tracks, and no one who was decent would have anything to do with them except Amanda. She saw that Dawson was different, and was one of two people who did not judge him based on where he came from or who his father was.

Dawson’s life, on the other hand, did not go the way people expected. Instead of living the life of crime his father and cousins wished him to have, Dawson left town after an altercation with family and a tragic accident that put him in jail. Once he was out, he was determined never to set foot in that town again.

Things happen for a reason, and we meet people for a reason. Some may call it Fate. When their mutual friend passes away, a man who in some ways became a mentor to both of them, his last request brings both Amanda and Dawson back to that small town in North Carolina, changing their lives in ways neither would have imagined."

Source

Heather's thoughts to remember the story:

Dawson is drawn to the bar to save the man's son that he accidentally killed.  THe man was the ghost that has been saving his life up until this point.  His purpose was to go and save the son.  He goes and fights off his cousins to save the girl and son just to be shot in the head and murdered by one of his cousins. 

Meanwhile Amanda is rushing to the hospital to be by her son's side.  He was in a terrible accident when he was playing DD for his father.

Long story short Dawson's heart is the heart Amanda's son needs in order to survive.

Heart Breaking, and sweet all at once.

The Best of Me being always and forever Dawson's heart.