Review: The Rescue

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For as long as the town of Edenton has remembered, Taylor McAden is driven to take terrifying and heroic risks to save lives. But the one thing he cannot bring himself to make; he cannot fall in love. Whenever he is in a serious relationship, he inevitably leaves them as soon as they dream of a future with him. A record-breaking storm hits a small town, and Taylor comes across Denise Holton, a single mother trying to find her missing son after a car accident. As a volunteer at the local fire department, Taylor finds Kyle within hours, and from that point on, they seem to have a connection. At almost 5 years old, Kyle suffers from a delayed speech disorder and so many people ignore him and do not interact with him like they do with other children. Taylor is different, however, and sees Kyle as an ordinary cute 5-year-old boy.

"Taylor couldn't help but watch her. The lovely, almost mysterious face accented by high cheekbones and exotic eyes, long dark hair...a shapely figure... Taylor..wonder[ed] how he could have overlooked her beauty that night..."

As Taylor spends more and more time with Denise and Kyle, he realizes how adoring and caring and beautiful Denise is as a woman and a mother. Taylor is different from other men that Denise had known. The way Taylor looks at Denise is so romantic and endearing, and Denise cannot help but fall for Taylor too. Denise also realizes how patient and caring is to both herself and her son Kyle.

"His face was tan and lean... his waist was narrow, and his shoulders were heavily muscled... his arms looked as if he'd pounded thousands of nails..."

Taylor continues to battle with his demons from childhood, and he is left at a standstill when it comes to Denise. He truly and deeply wants to have a future with Denise, but is unable to express his desires, as his dark experiences hold him back. Taylor has a lot of guilt from his experiences and is not open to share his past with Denise. Once he acknowledges, though, that his hesitancy is tearing their relationship apart, he overcomes his past and decides to live a life where he can be content- and that life includes Denise and Kyle.

Fortunately, the Sparks novel has a happy ending, but that does not mean I did not cry... The characters in this novel have so much love and devotion for one another, it is hard not to fall with them. The storyline of this book is based on real events, which also adds a sense of realness to the novel and characters. This book is a must read!!

"She knew intuitively the meaning of Taylor's touch, the words he'd left unspoken. Not because she'd come to know him o well. She knew because she'd fallen in love with him at exactly the same time"



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