As we drifted apart, I was becoming more desperate to save what we once had shared

Dear John - Nicholas Sparks
An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life—until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart. But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever. Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life. .

So in one sense, I loved this book. But in another sense, I absolutely hated it. More than anything I'm just left feeling very confused. I really liked the storyline, as predictable and cliche as it was; Boy meets girl, they fall completely & utterly in love. But then of course, in typical Sparks fashion, tragedy and heartbreak has to go and ruin everything. I'm honestly growing extremely weary of these depressing endings. I totally get it, Sparks is trying to portray a realistic picture of life, and every once in a while, I like that in a book. Just not necessarily in the romance genre. And not necessarily in every one of his stories. But I'll admit I'm definitely one of *those* girls, who not only believes, but wishes for a happily ever after -- especially when it comes to a love story. I can't help it...

As far as the actual story, it was a cute romance. I completely fell in love with John Tyree! What an amazing character, seriously. As for Savannah.. um, yeah.. let's just say that I didn't care for her. Like, at all. I thought that she would grow on me a bit as the story went on, but honestly my opinion only grew worse. Right from the beginning she was just so self-righteous and a tad too 'Little Miss Perfect' for my tastes - it was very off-putting. And do I have to mention the infamous Dear John letter? (sent while John was fighting in Iraq, no less)

But nonetheless, I found myself rooting for them as a couple, if that makes sense. (Which, I'm sure it doesn't because it doesn't make sense to me and I'm the one who read it) why am I rooting for them as a couple when I despise the female love interest? You can see why I am so very confused. I don't know, maybe it was just all of the hype and hoopla over the movie, but Dear John was honestly a big disappointment.