True Believer

By Nicholas Sparks
Read by David Aaron Baker

     Jeremy Marsh is a New York man. Dressed in black most of the time, Jeremy lives for demystifying “unexplained phenomena” in his monthly column published in Scientific Monthly, but when he gets a chance to go on national TV after exposing a fraud who claimed he could contact the dead, Marsh sets out to research and solve a strange occurrence in the cemetery of a small town. He eventually finds the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, and sets out to debunk the theory that the mysterious lights that appear to travel across the cemetery are the angry ghosts of a curse uttered nearly a century ago. Jeremy would’ve never guessed that during his stay, his entire life would change and every aspect of his being that he had come to see as his true self would be challenged in a way he never would’ve believed possible.

      Lexie Darnell loved the library her mother struggled for years until her early death to build so much that she couldn’t ever think it possible to not be a part of it. Her love for her mother, as well as her grandmother, brought her back to Boone Creek, and she has sworn she’s here to stay, especially after run-ins with guys like the “renaissance man” who left her high and dry after taking her heart with him. Guys like that give her good reason to be untrusting and very suspicious of the New York journalist who comes into town to solve the mystery of the haunted cemetery, but something about him makes her realize that she can’t stop thinking about him. She’s come to believe that Boone Creek is her home and that leaving would mean total disaster and heartache, but will her growing feelings for Jeremy Marsh prove her wrong?

      Nicholas Sparks has always been an advocate of true love and its ability to make the impossible possible, and he’s done the impossible again with this book. Just like the story of Allie and Noah in his book The Notebook, Jeremy and Lexie are two strong, independent, not to mention stubborn people who find everything changed with the introduction of the other into their small worlds. It’s a witty, realistic look at a small town and how love, however you see it, can be the one thing that changes the way you see everything.

      David Aaron Baker is an incredible choice for the reader of this book. His hypnotic voice, coupled with his fantastic vocal acting skills and a soul-twisting story, makes it impossible for the listener to press the “stop” button.