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Nicholas Sparks normally gets me every time when it comes to his heartfelt movies that are so romantic they are practically unreal. Out of all of the movies I had seen based on Nicholas Sparks, I don’t find this one to be that great in the line up. I think that my favorite would be The Last Song. I base most romantic movies on if they really make me cry or make me feel something as if I were there. I definitely cried and felt something but I think that because there were flashbacks of past and present that there was a disconnect. There is an older and younger version of the characters Dawson and Amanda, they fell in love when they were in high school and were separated by an event that you witness in the second half of the movie. Due to a loss of a mutual pseudo-parent to Dawson, both he and Amanda are drawn back to their past. Dawson works at an oil rig while Amanda is a wife and mother (I can’t remember her saying she had a job other than being a mom). Dawson and Amanda rekindle their love and that is about all I am going to say because anything more would just spoil what happens. I love the younger versions of Dawson and Amanda because they make me realize what young love is, even if a little dramatic. Although, I guess that when most teens find their first love that they are willing to go the distance no matter what the cost. I don’t feel that I got the same feeling from the older Dawson and Amanda. I don’t know if it was chemistry between the two actors or if it just didn’t hit me the way the younger versions did.

***SPOILERS***

Okay, there are a lot of deaths but the later half was where everything started to hit me. Dawson’s pseudo-parent, who really was an amazing man, getting beat up really had me tearing up. When Dawson’s best friend died, I was crying and then Dawson’s goodbye to Amanda in prison was killing me. Dawson’s death at the end and then finding out that Amanda’s son had received Dawson’s heart made me sad and happy that Dawson would be another part of Amanda’s life in a different way. Although, knowing that the heart would go to Amanda’s son was kind of a giveaway once Dawson had been shot.

***END SPOILERS***

So, that is how I feel about The Best of Me and I want to know about your thoughts on this movie or any Nicholas Sparks movie in the comments!

-The Mermaid Network