See Me: Book Review by Dinh
I have made a video of See Me book review so you have a choice to watch the video or continue reading.
See Me: Review
Colin Hancock is a boy with a troubled background and anger issues. He is now trying to get away from his troubled past and is focusing on getting a new life and becoming a school teacher.
Maria Sanchez is a Mexican descendant and is a lawyer. She is smart, educated and beautiful. She also suffered some traumas that drove her to leave her previous job and move to her home town.
One night driving home in the storm from an MMA fight, Colin sees a girl with car trouble and pulls over to help her. Maria has a flat tire and has no idea how to fix it. She has no phone to call for help and when she sees Colin she is scared of him because he looks battered up from his fight.
Colin is a gentleman and helps Maria change her tire and goes on his way.
This was not the end of the serendipitous meeting.
Serena, Maria’s sister, happens to have classes with Colin at college and arranges a meeting for Maria to thank Colin for helping her. This second chance meeting starts a friendship between Maria and Colin which quickly turns into romance.
As they fall in love, there is a series of menacing threats that throws their relationship into a tailspin. How will Colin protect Maria and save her from these on-coming dangers?
See Me: Recommendation
I picked ‘See Me’ to read because I was in the mood for a bit of romance-drama reading. Nicholas Sparks is well known for his romance genre and I had seen the movie The Notebook which is an adapted version of his book, which I enjoyed.
Sparks has 10 novels that were adapted into films already so I assumed his books must be a good read. I liked it the movie The Notebook so I thought I’d give his new book a try.
Of Sparks 18 novels and 2 non-fiction books, I have only read is Nights in Rodante which was some time ago. From what I remember of it I thought it was fine. It was nothing to shout home about.
My expectation for See Me was not high at all, in fact I had low expectations, so it was not at all of a surprise when I read it and thought it was okay. This is not a book that they will be making a movie from. Or I should say I hope they are not.
This is a mediocre book. The story line is predictable because it is a romance book. So no surprises there.
See Me is typically formulaic- boy with bad background, now reformed, meets girl and fall in love. Girl is in danger and boy comes to the rescue and they live happily ever after. That’s it in a nutshell!
Sparks makes this a contemporary romance novel, with the hero being Colin who is your typical hero albeit damaged hero; handsome, strong and smart. Maria, although intelligent is made weak; she gets panic attacks that leaves her paralyzed with fear of dying.
Whilst I don’t take offense to this since it’s a story and a romance-drama at that, I would have preferred something a bit more original than your typical formula.
See Me has received mixed reviews and I can see why. There’s some romance but not quite enough to get the reader to feel romanced. You don’t feel the love connection between the two lovers. The book only has two narrative; Colin and Maria’s so you would expect to feel the warm fuzzy romance in depth. Not so.
Colin, Maria and the other side characters Serena (Maria’s sister) and Evan and Lily (Colin’s friends) were walking clichés. These characters did not have any substance and lacked any meaningful development in their personalities or the romance.
There’s some mystery and suspense as to who’s trying to threaten Maria but it’s not hard to guess the plot. A happy ending of course, Colin comes to the rescue by solving the mystery and saving the day.
One positive comment that I can make is that the author is able to write well and his style of writing is easy to read and very clear. So reading 482 pages of this book went fast though I would not say it was addictive to read.
Another plus for the story is that it has an inter-racial relationship which makes it more interesting. Colin is American and Maria’s ethnic background is Mexican. We do get a little glimpse into the lives of Sanchez and the cultural differences between the two lovers.
I have not read enough of Sparks’ works to determine if his novels are all like this. I would think that if you are a Nicholas Sparks fan you would want to check it out. Otherwise I would recommend leaving it for the summer and have it as a beach read.
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Hi I am a huge Nicholas Sparks fan.. I have read all his novels except See me and after reading your review of the book, I am in doubt? Should continue on my streak and read it or should I save my money and time and NOT go for it?? Sparks is getting quite repetitive with his stories lately. The magic that was in The Notebook is fading away I guess!
Hi Tasleem!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I haven’t read enough of Nicholas Sparks’ books to give a good opinion. See Me was so-so for me. Just a beach read.
I love The Notebook the movie and haven’t read the book. I can imagine that being really good though. Sometimes when I watch the movie I don’t get a chance to read the book so I like to avoid seeing the movie so I read the book. It’s like Gone With the Wind, I love the movie and would like to read the book but have not been motivated to read it soon. There are so many books and so little time… 🙂
I would say to check out Sparks See Me if you are a fan. You read all his novels so why not continue? At least then you can say you read it and liked it or not. I have heard that his writing has gone down hill since his divorce but I am not sure if it has any substance since I haven’t read all his books. What do you think?
I think See Me sounds interesting even though it’s not what I would normally read.
What good romance novels would you recommend?
Hello Susan,
Thanks for taking the time reading and commenting on my See Me book review.
I think the book is a good beach read but it’s not as interesting as you may think. But give it a try and let me know 🙂
In terms of good romance novels I would recommend, I will have to think about it a bit more as I don’t have anything that comes to mind immediately. I don’t usually read romance genre but most novels that I do read have love or romance in it.
Thanks for dropping by at Arlene’s Book Club!
It has been ages since I sat down to read 482 pages of just one story. I envy you! Like many others, I struggle to find the time to read on a regular basis but when I do, it is usually short stories. This book does seem like a good summer read like you said. I’m wondering about the title – does it have any relation to the plot? Thanks for a great review!
Hello Shaz,
thanks for taking the time to read my review of See Me by Nicholas Sparks.
The length of the book is not usually an issue with me but I guess it is with some people.
Reading See Me was quick and not that bad in terms of pages. The novel had quite a bit of dialogue, so it moved really fast. Also it’s light reading so you don’t have to think too hard.
I think of a book not in terms of how many pages but whether it’s going to be good. I had read A Game of Thrones series and someone asked me how it was because some of the books were thick.
The funny thing was I never even knew or even thought of that because I enjoyed them so much and didn’t want it to end. I read one after another and I didn’t realize it had over 1000 pages! I can’t wait for Martin’s next book in the series.
I really have limited time but make time to read. I squeeze it when I can even if it’s for 10 minutes at a time. It’s amazing what you can read when you do a bit here and there.
Please stop by again!
Hi Dinh, This author’s name is familiar to me, although for the life of me I can’t recall what I might have read. I’ve been so busy I still have a lengthy list to tackle, but this one does sound like an interesting read. Like you say, a bit of romance, and a bit of drama, it certainly has its’ place.
Hi Hindy,
thanks for reading my review on See Me by Nicholas Sparks and leaving me a comment.
I had the same sentiment when I first picked up See Me and saw Sparks’ name. I had to Google the author to see what I had read!
I think Sparks’ novels are more like summer reading from the two books of his that I have read of his. It’s light reading where you don’t have to focus and the story line is not packed so it’s perfect for reading at the beach.
Hope you enjoy reading!
Nice review Dinh.
As usual, you always do great reviews on books on Arlene’s Book Club.
Kinda make me want to just sit down and read See Me book but in the summer!
Looking forward to more reviews.
Hi Gloria,
thanks for your comments.
I am glad that you like our reviews at Arlene’s Book Club. Each of us are unique and have different perspective on books. Mike would not go near the novel See Me even if I offered him a bribe. LOL.
I would happily give it a try just to see if I would like it. Although I am disappointed that it’s not a fantastic read at least I have given it a go. You can never judge a book by its cover…..
Happy reading!