True Believer

From Publishers Weekly
Charming, divorced Jeremy Marsh is a rising star. As a dashing, successful 37-year-old Manhattan science journalist, his skeptical scrutiny of ineffective antidepressants, cults and television clairvoyants has caught the eye of North Carolina restaurant owner Doris McClellan, who invites Jeremy to bucolic Boone Creek to scoop the story of eerie mystery lights appearing in an ancient cemetery. A diviner who can predict the sex of unborn babies, Doris suspects the lights are a ghostly curse. Her beautiful librarian granddaughter, Lexie Darnell, makes a lovely, if guarded, tour guide as Jeremy revs up his electromagnetic equipment for the ghost hunt. After witnessing the ethereal graveside lights, both grow closer, much to the chagrin of local deputy Rodney Hopper, who wants Lexie for himself. Guided by sage Doris and manipulated by meddling mayor Tom Gherkin, big-city Jeremy and smalltown Lexie find that trepidation about their differences somehow manages to bloom into love. Jeremy eventually uncovers the hidden truth behind the glowing graveyard fog and departs the lush gothic environs for New York. Can love bridge the gap? Sparks (The Wedding) delivers another shrink-wrapped, reliably uncomplicated romantic confection that's light as air, smooth as silk and gloriously sweet. Agent, Theresa Park. (One-day laydown Apr. 12) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
New York skeptic Jeremy Marsh makes his living exposing frauds in the articles he writes for Scientific American. His latest target is a famous psychic who claims to speak to the dead. The acclaim he receives for his expose places Jeremy in the public eye with an appearance on national television. Jeremy then travels to Boone Creek, North Carolina, to search for the truth behind the mysterious lights that appear in the local cemetery. The legend is that an old curse causes the spirits to wander, and now the town wants to capitalize on the phenomena to bring in badly needed tourist dollars. But Doris McClellan, the local psychic, wants the lights debunked, and asks Jeremy to investigate. What Jeremy doesn't count on is falling for Doris' granddaughter, Lexie, the town librarian. Lexie has had enough of smooth-talking city men, and shields her heart, but Jeremy keeps trying to penetrate her tough shell. Lexie never wants to leave Boone Creek, and she believes that Jeremy will never want to stay. Although Sparks' latest starts with great potential, the main characters feel cool and distant; it is the secondary characters who embody the warmth and verve that usually mark Sparks' best-sellers. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an unforgettable story that explores the deepest mysteries of all - those of the heart. As a science journalist with a regular column in Scientific American, Jeremy Marsh specializes in debunking the supernatural. A born skeptic, he travels to the small town of Boone Creek, North Carolina, determined to find the real cause behind the ghostly apparitions that appear in the town cemetery. What he doesn't plan on however, is meeting and falling hopelessly in love with Lexie Darnell, granddaughter of the town psychic. Now, if the young lovers are to have any kind of future at all, Jeremy must make a difficult choice: return to the life he knows, or do something he's never done before - take a giant leap of faith.


About the Author
NICHOLAS SPARKS lives in North Carolina with his wife and children


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After co-writing his first work of nonfiction with his brother, Micah (Three Weeks with My Brother), Sparks is back with another novel about finding one's true love. Jeremy Marsh is a science writer who specializes in exposing supernatural frauds and hoaxes. Following some flashy national exposure, the New Yorker is invited to investigate mysterious lights in an old cemetery in little Boone Creek, NC. In a classic romance plot, the attractive yet sensitive Jeremy is attracted to the beautiful yet stubborn town librarian, Lexie Darnell, who is also the granddaughter of a local diviner. Both Jeremy and Lexie are skeptical people-but not about the same things. Despite some nice plot twists, the mysteries and conflicts are resolved in largely predictable ways that will still satisfy Sparks's many fans. Purchase wherever the author is popular. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/04.]-Rebecca Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.


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