Book #1: The Wish, Nicholas Sparks

Synopsis: 

From the author of The Longest Ride and The Return comes a novel about the enduring legacy of first love—and the decisions that haunt us forever.

 
1996 is the year that changes everything for Maggie Dawes. Sent away at 16 to live with an aunt she barely knows in Ocracoke, a remote village on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, she can think only of the friends and family she left behind . . . until her aunt introduces her to Bryce Trickett, one of the few teenagers on the island. Handsome, genuine, and newly admitted to West Point Academy, Bryce gradually shows her how much there is to love about the wind-swept beach town—and introduces her to photography, a passion that will define the rest of her life . . . as will Bryce.
 
By 2019, Maggie is a renowned travel photographer. She splits her time between running a successful gallery in New York and photographing remote locations around the world. But this year, she finds herself unexpectedly grounded over Christmas, struggling to come to terms with a sobering medical diagnosis. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, she begins growing closer to him.

As they count down the last days of the season together, she tells him the story of another Christmas, decades earlier—and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagined.

If you had one wish...

What did you think about the book overall?

What was your favorite part of the book? What was your least favorite? 

Where is one place you want to travel?  

What was your first love like? Do you ever think Of them? 

If you knew your time on earth was limited, what would be the one thing you would want to do in your life? 

Do you have any regrets you’d want to rectify if you knew your time was limited? 

How did you feel about each of the characters in the book: Maggie, her parents, Bryce, his brothers, Mark, aunt Linda? Did you have a favorite? 

Did you suspect that Mark might be Maggie’s son?

Did anything totally shock you? 

Did the biscuits have any symbolic meaning to you? Why do you think they kept reappearing throughout the story line? 

How did you feel about the book being told through dual timelines? 

Which scene has stuck with you the most? 

Nicholas Sparks warns us that this book will make you cry. Did you? What part got to you the most?