Sammi+Troe

Miles: He is a loving father and a grieving husband. He lost his wife Missy in a hit-and-run accident two years earlier. He's depressed, but he wants to move on. He meets Sarah and falls in love with her.
 * May 20, 2011.**

Sarah: She is a school teacher at Jonah's school. She was married but had a divorce because she wasn't able to have children. She just moved to New Bern where her parents live. She is very protective and loving.

Jonah: He is the son of Miles. He's just a carefree kid who loves to play. He misses his mom even though he was very little when she died, but he likes Sarah. He likes that Ms. Andrews and his dad are dating.

Brian: He is the brother of Sarah. Throughout the book, he always seems paranoid. At the end of the book you learn why, but I don't want to ruin the surprise! He's haunted by his mistakes and feels terrible about them.

Summary: Suspects of the hit-and-run started to come out which upsets Miles. He ends up being suspended from his job while they work out the case. His anxiety forces him and Sarah to reconsider their relationship. Miles and Sarah's families are forced apart but I don't want to ruin the ending so I can't go into much more detail. Missy's murderer was found, but wasn't convicted.

Rating: 5, because this book was mysterious and interesting. It really kept my attention. It had a good plot and balance between the mystery and romance in the book.

Reactions: Sara's blog about __Barefeet__ looked really interesting. The plot looks interesting. It sounds like a good book to read. Another good book was the book Bailey read, L__ove You Hate You Miss You__. It looks like something teenagers would be interested in. I really liked Sara's blogs so I'm going to think about reading __Barefeet__ soon.

I think wikilinks was good to use as an english tool. It helps our writing and we also get to share our ideas and what we've read.

I am reading A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks. I have read about 70 pages since the last entry. Its Halloween now. Jonah is spending Halloween with his friend Matt. Miles takes Sarah on the town's ghost walk. They walk around town to different houses. The person stationed there tells the people an old myth about New Bern. Miles and Sarah spend all their free time together and Jonah just goes along with it. Thanksgiving is coming up, and Sarah invited Miles and Jonah to join her and her family for dinner. They go to Sarah's parents' house for Thanksgiving. Miles meets Sarah's parents, Maureen and Larry, and her brother, Brian. Maureen is very excited and welcoming to meet Miles and Jonah. Brian seems to be closed off and shy around them. All through out the book, there are flashbacks of someone. Its the person that was the driver of the car that killed Missy, but we don't know who that is. I like this book. Its mysterious and interesting.
 * April 18, 2011.**

I am reading __A Bend in the Road__ by Nicholas Sparks. I have read 60 pages since the last entry. One of my favorite lines from the book would be when Miles says, "So...how's the fan working out?" to Sarah. He's been trying to ask her out, but isso scared and nervous this was all he could come up with the first time he tried. I thought it was cute and comical. Miles did finally ask her out successfully. He took her to dinner at a small restaurant in town, then they went to a bar and played pool together. Before they both went home, they took a walk around town. Sarah agreed to go to Jonah's soccer game the next morning with Miles.
 * April 1, 2011.**

Now I am reading a book called __A Bend in the Road__ by Nicholas Sparks. My mom got me this book for Christmas and I just started reading it. I chose to read this book this quarter because I love Nicholas Sparks books and it sounded interesting to me. This book starts off talking about a second grade teacher who just moved to town. Her name is Sarah Andrews. Her parents also live in this town and she has a brother in college. She is in her mid-twenties. One of her students, Jonah, is falling behind in classwork so she sets up a meeting with his father, Miles Ryan. He is a police officer in the town of New Bern, North Carolina. He married his high school sweet heart, Missy, but two years ago Missy was killed in a hit-and-run accident while she was out jogging. The man who killed her was never found, but the search is still going on. The police still do a small investigation, but Miles does his own extensive work, scribbling notes and evidence on paper in his own file at his house. Miles and Sarah meet because of the parent-teacher conference, and they decide to have Jonah stay a few days after school to get extra help. This book is very interesting and intriguing. I'm excited to read more.
 * March 23, 2011.**


 * March 7, 2011.**
 * Characters:**
 * Theresa Osborne is a loving and caring mother, but still a strong, independent woman. She had a divorce three years earlier, and is just now getting ready to really move on from that.
 * Garrett Blake is a strong but quiet man. He usually keeps to himself, and is very guarded. This is mainly because of his wife's death three years before. He loved Catherine very much and still does. He feels guilty when he realizes he has feelings for Theresa, and is afraid to move on. He's scared that he'll feel like he's just replacing Catherine, but he does know that he wants someone in his life to care for him again.
 * Kevin is a ten year old boy. He and his mother, Theresa live in Boston together. He is just like any other little kid. He has a lot of energy, loves to play, and is outgoing. He becomes friends with Garrett right away.
 * Garrett's father, Dodge is protective of Garrett because of the incident with Catherine. He understands his son's pain because he, too, lost his wife when Garrett was very young, and he was never able to move on, and find someone new. This is why he pushes Garrett so hard to find someone else. Dodge is lonely and sad. He lives alone and misses the company of someone very much. He fears that Garrett will end up the same as him.


 * Plot:**
 * The story begins when Theresa is on vacation, she finds a beautiful letter written from a man named Garrett to his lost-love Catherine. Theresa is so moved by this letter, she decides to publish it. Within a few weeks, she was sent two more letters also written by Garrett. It was obvious this man loved Catherine and was mourning her. Theresa was so intrigued she felt she had to meet the man that wrote such beautiful words. She found out that he lived in Wilmington, North Carolina and planned a weekend vacation there. Once she gets there, she goes to Garrett's scuba diving shop, but eventually finds him at the docks by his boat, Happenstance. Garrett spontaneously asks Theresa if she wants to go on a boat ride later that night. After their date that night, Garrett and Theresa started to see each other more often, and by the end on the trip, they are in-seperable. Theresa brings Kevin along a few weeks later to go visit Garrett. Then a few weeks after that Garrett comes to Boston. For a few months, thats how it went, one going to the other, but overtime, the distance and not being together put a strain on the relationship. When Garrett comes to visit again, him and Theresa get into a huge fight, and Garrett leaves. The next day, Theresa goes to Wilmington to talk to Garrett. She can tell that Garrett is still not ready to move on from Catherine, and that she doesn't have time to still be second place. She ends the relationship with Garrett. They don't speak for months, but then one day Theresa gets a call from Dodge, and he asks her to come to Wilmington as soon as she can. He doesn't tell her why because he says it is something he has to tell her in person. After all this, the book is almost done so I won't tell you how it ends. You'll just have to read this amazing book to uncover the ending.


 * Rating:**
 * 4-- I gave this book a four because it is an amazing, heartfelt book. It is mysterious and turn twisting. It was an exciting book and very hard to put down. The only thing I didn't like in this book was the sadness and tragedy. The sadness from Theresa and Garrett's lives before they met was still heavily present. I can't elaborate any more than that or else I will ruin the ending!

In the book, __Message in a Bottle__, the story is really starting to unravel. Theresa and Garrett start spending more time together. As Theresa's trip nears the end of it, her and Garrett are inseparable. They spent every moment together, but then Theresa finally has to go back to Boston. As soon as she left, Garrett began dreaming of Catherine again, but only this time, Theresa was in the dream, too. The dreams made him feel as if he was being pulled in two different directions. Although he was confused, he knew that he liked Theresa and wanted to see more of her. The day after Theresa arrived home, Garrett called her early in the morning and sent her flowers at work. Theresa is still skeptical about her relationship with Garrett as well. She knows she's falling for Garrett and is scared that it is happening so fast. She's also afraid she'll get hurt because she knows Garrett still loves Catherine. But she decides to see what happens with Garrett after Deanna talks to her. Deanna explains that it would be silly to think Garrett didn't love Catherine just because Theresa walked into his life. This book is really interesting. The plot makes it so interesting. You never know what will happen next. The characters are both stubborn and indecisive, but I like this book a lot and can't wait to read more.
 * February 21, 2011.**

I am still reading __Message in a Bottle__. Since the last post, I have read a lot more of this book. Theresa did end up going to Wilmington. She goes Garrett's scuba diving shop, "Island Diving". She finally meets Garrett on the docks by his boat, Happenstance. Garrett asks if she would like to take a sail with him later, and she agrees. They meet that night and sail for a few hours. They talk and have dinner. Garrett is very nervous because this is the first time he's been out with a woman since the death of his wife. Theresa can tell he's nervous but is still having fun. Garrett thinks Theresa is very beautiful and wants to spend time with her, and Theresa wants to spend more time with Garrett. Before she left, she "accidentally" leaves her jacket on the boat. She plans to call him tomorrow so they can meet for lunch. As far as Garrett knows, Theresa doesn't know about his wife, and he doesn't say anything about Catharine. The next day Garrett tells his father about his date. His dad is very happy about the date. He really wants Garrett to be able to get over the death of his wife. The best part of this book, is the mystery because I want to keep reading and it is very intriguing. The worst part of this book is how distressed Garrett is. I don't like it, but I think that is what the author wants you to feel. [|Review]
 * February 10, 2011.**

I'm reading a book called __Message in a Bottle__ by Nicholas Sparks. My grandma gave me this book for Christmas because I love the novels that Nicholas Sparks writes. He is my favorite author and I've read a lot of his books. One of the main characters is Theresa Osborne. She is in her thirties. She is a journalist with her own column. She has a son named Kevin, and they live together in an apartment in Boston. She and her ex-husband got divorced three years ago. She is caring, loving and kind. She is very friendly, but hurt because of her divorce. Theresa divorced David because he had been unfaithful to her, and that still hurts her even after three years. The other main character is Garrett Blake. He is in his late twenties. He owns a scuba diving shop in Wilmington, North Carolina. He loves to sail, and had restored a sail boat named Happenstance with his wife a few years ago. Three years ago, his wife, Catherine, was killed because she got hit by a car. Since then, Garrett's life has never been the same because he's still so much in love with Catherine. He seems as if he's been depressed for the last three years. He is extremely deep and emotional. He writes letters to Catherine and then puts them in a bottle, and throws them in the ocean. That is how Theresa and Garrett met. Theresa had been vacationing at a friend's lake house. One day when she was on a beach, she found one of the letters Garrett had written, and it brought her to tears. She published this letter in her column, and within a few weeks, received two other letters from readers that had found letters also written by Garrett. Theresa's friend and co-worker, Deanna, urged her to go to Wilmington to meet Garrett Blake. I already really like this book. I don't know what is going to happen, but the character's stories are very interesting so I am excited to read more of this book.
 * January 27, 2011.**


 * January 13, 2011**. Today I made a wiki. I'm ready to blog.