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Nicholas Sparks Books in Order

See all Nicholas Sparks books in order, with quick summaries, series overviews, film tie-in notes, and simple guidance on the best place to start reading.

Last updated: December 24, 2025

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27 books

Remain

by Nicholas Sparks

2025

In this upcoming supernatural love story, New York architect Tate Donovan retreats to a Cape Cod inn after a stay in a psychiatric facility. There he meets Wren, a mysterious woman who may be a ghost, and begins to question what is real, what is imagined, and how far love can reach.

Counting Miracles

by Nicholas Sparks

2024

Army veteran Tanner Hughes comes to Asheboro, North Carolina, searching for the father he never knew after his grandmother's dying confession. There he meets single mom doctor Kaitlyn Cooper and reclusive widower Jasper, three strangers whose intersecting paths explore grief, faith, and the small wonders that can change a life.

Dreamland

by Nicholas Sparks

2022

North Carolina farmer and musician Colby Mills takes a rare gig at a Florida beach bar and meets Morgan Lee, an ambitious singer bound for Nashville. Their whirlwind romance unfolds alongside the tense journey of Beverly, a mother fleeing abuse, until the two stories collide in a test of love and survival.

The Wish

by Nicholas Sparks

2021

Terminally ill travel photographer Maggie Dawes spends one last Christmas in her New York gallery, growing close to a young assistant. As they work, she unspools the story of the teenage love she found on remote Ocracoke Island and the life altering decision that followed.

The Return

by Nicholas Sparks

2020

After a mortar blast ends his medical career overseas, Navy doctor Trevor Benson retreats to his late grandfather's cabin near New Bern to heal. There he falls for deputy Natalie Masterson and befriends guarded teen Callie, uncovering secrets that tie his own future to an old mystery.

Every Breath

by Nicholas Sparks

2018

Trauma nurse Hope Anderson and Zimbabwean safari guide Tru Walls meet by chance on Sunset Beach in North Carolina, near a mysterious mailbox called Kindred Spirit. Their brief, intense connection reverberates across decades, forcing them to weigh family obligations against the one love they never forgot.

Two by Two

by Nicholas Sparks

2016

Charlotte ad executive Russell Green seems to have it all until a career gamble and a crumbling marriage leave him a full time single father to six year old London. Learning to build a new life around her needs, he confronts changing friendships, a cautious new romance, and what commitment looks like now.

See Me

by Nicholas Sparks

2015

Colin Hancock, a former troublemaker determined to stay out of prison, is rebuilding his life as a student in Wilmington. When he falls for cautious attorney Maria Sanchez, anonymous threats tied to her past turn their slow burn romance into a fight for safety and trust.

The Longest Ride

by Nicholas Sparks

2012

After a car wreck leaves elderly Ira Levinson stranded and reflecting on his decades long marriage, his story intersects with that of art student Sophia Danko and bull rider Luke Collins. Two very different love stories collide around a risky career, a priceless art collection, and hard won grace.

The Best of Me

by Nicholas Sparks

2010

When Dawson Cole returns to his North Carolina hometown for the funeral of his mentor, he is reunited with Amanda Collier, the woman he loved as a teenager. Over one charged weekend, buried family feuds, past mistakes, and a dangerous cousin converge, demanding a heartbreaking kind of courage.

Safe Haven

by Nicholas Sparks

2010

Arriving in the seaside town of Southport under the name Katie, a young woman on the run builds a quiet life working at a café. As she falls for widowed store owner Alex and bonds with his children, her violent past closes in and forces a terrifying choice.

The Lucky One

by Nicholas Sparks

2008

Marine Logan Thibault survives his deployments in Iraq carrying a photo of a smiling stranger he believes has become his good luck charm. Tracking the woman to a dog kennel in coastal North Carolina, he meets Beth Green and her son, stirring up romance, resentment, and fateful decisions.

The Last Song

by Nicholas Sparks

2008

Rebellious New Yorker Ronnie Miller is sent to spend the summer with her estranged father on the North Carolina coast. Between guarding a sea turtle nest, falling for beach town golden boy Will Blakelee, and confronting her father's illness, she slowly finds her way back to music and family.

The Choice

by Nicholas Sparks

2007

In a quiet waterfront town, easygoing veterinarian Travis Parker is content with friends, boats, and casual dating until new neighbor Gabby Holland storms into his life. Their rocky attraction turns into a deep partnership that, years later, leaves Travis facing one impossible medical decision about love and loyalty.

Dear John

by Nicholas Sparks

2006

On leave from the army, John Tyree falls for college student Savannah Curtis during one long Carolina summer. Years of deployments and handwritten letters keep them connected, until war, family duty, and a difficult new love pull their promises in opposite directions.

Three Weeks with My Brother

by Nicholas Sparks

2004

In this memoir, Nicholas Sparks and his older brother Micah circle the globe, visiting places like Machu Picchu, Easter Island, and the Taj Mahal. Along the way they revisit wild childhood stories, family losses, and the bond that carried them through grief into middle age.

At First Sight

by Nicholas Sparks

2004

Following the events of True Believer, New York journalist Jeremy Marsh moves to Boone Creek to marry Lexie Darnell and welcome their unexpected baby. Wedding plans, small town pressures, and a frightening medical uncertainty force them to confront trust, sacrifice, and what commitment really means.

True Believer

by Nicholas Sparks

2003

Skeptical New York journalist Jeremy Marsh travels to tiny Boone Creek, North Carolina, to debunk mysterious cemetery lights. Instead he is drawn to local librarian Lexie Darnell and her tight knit community, forcing him to choose between the life he knows and a risky leap of faith.

The Wedding

by Nicholas Sparks

2003

Wilson Lewis realizes that after thirty years of routine, his marriage to Jane, Noah and Allie Calhoun's daughter, has quietly faded. As the family plans their daughter's wedding, he works in secret to rekindle Jane's trust and passion, guided by Noah's example of steady, everyday love.

The Guardian

by Nicholas Sparks

2003

Four years after her husband's death, Julie Barenson is finally ready to date again, helped along by Singer, the protective Great Dane he left her. Choosing between steady friend Mike Harris and charming newcomer Richard Franklin, she stumbles into a deadly obsession that blurs love and danger.

Nights in Rodanthe

by Nicholas Sparks

2002

Seeking a pause from midlife chaos, Adrienne Willis agrees to mind a windswept inn in Rodanthe, North Carolina, during a coastal storm. Her only guest, surgeon Paul Flanner, arrives with his own regrets, and a brief, powerful affair changes both of their families forever.

A Bend in the Road

by Nicholas Sparks

2001

Miles Ryan, a deputy sheriff still grieving his wife's unsolved hit and run death, throws himself into raising their young son in New Bern. When he falls for Jonah's new teacher, Sarah Andrews, buried secrets about the accident threaten their fragile second chance.

The Rescue

by Nicholas Sparks

2000

Volunteer firefighter Taylor McAden is fearless on the job but keeps his heart closed off. After he pulls single mother Denise Holton from a crashed car and joins the frantic search for her missing young son, an unexpected relationship forces him to face old trauma and real intimacy.

A Walk to Remember

by Nicholas Sparks

1999

In small town Beaufort, popular senior Landon Carter is forced into the school play and paired with quiet minister's daughter Jamie Sullivan. As friendship turns to love and Jamie's guarded secret emerges, Landon discovers how far faith and loyalty can stretch a teenage heart.

The Notebook

by Nicholas Sparks

1996

Working class Noah Calhoun and heiress Allie Nelson fall in love during a North Carolina summer, then are torn apart by class, war, and family expectations. Decades later, their story is read aloud in a nursing home, testing how long love and memory can last.

Wokini

by Nicholas Sparks

1990

Co written with Olympic runner Billy Mills, Wokini follows a young Lakota man named David who receives a sacred scroll after his sister's death. Through visions and teachings, he learns practical lessons about gratitude, attitude, and balance that invite readers into their own journey toward happiness.

Message in a Bottle

by Nicholas Sparks

1988

Divorced columnist Theresa Osborne discovers a heartbreaking love letter sealed in a bottle and washed up on a beach. Tracking down its author, grieving sailor Garrett Blake, she steps into a romance shaped by loss, the sea, and the risk of starting over.

Where should I start?

If you are new to Nicholas Sparks: The NotebookA Walk to RememberDear John.
If you want the classic Calhoun family arc: The NotebookThe Wedding.
If you like romance with suspense: Safe HavenThe GuardianSee Me.
If you prefer family centered stories: Two by TwoA Bend in the RoadThe Return.
If you want his more recent novels: Every BreathThe WishDreamlandCounting Miracles.

Author bio

Nicholas Sparks was born on December 31, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska, and grew up in a family that moved often before settling in Fair Oaks, California. His novels have sold millions of copies around the world, but he still gravitates to small coastal towns and ordinary people. Again and again his stories circle back to love, grief, and second chances.

As a teenager he ran track and studied hard, graduating as valedictorian of Bella Vista High School. A scholarship took him to the University of Notre Dame, where he competed as a middle distance runner and studied business finance. During those years he started writing in earnest, finishing two early novels that never found a publisher but taught him what it meant to sit alone with a blank page.

After college he cycled through a string of jobs, from waiting tables to working in sales, squeezing in writing sessions at night when the rest of the house was asleep.

In 1990 he collaborated with Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills on Wokini, a short book that blends Lakota teachings with ideas about resilience and happiness. A few years later, while working in pharmaceutical sales and raising a young family with his wife Cathy in North Carolina, he drafted The Notebook, a love story loosely inspired by the long marriage of his wife's grandparents. When the manuscript finally sold, it launched a full time writing career and introduced readers to Noah and Allie, the couple whose story so many people now associate with candlelit screenings and boxes of tissues.

From there Sparks kept returning to the Carolinas in book after book. Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John, Safe Haven and many others place ordinary characters in tidal towns, beach communities, and small inland cities where storms, illness, war, or old secrets push them to make impossible choices. Faith often sits quietly in the background, not as doctrine but as a question his characters wrestle with when life does not deliver easy answers.

Hollywood quickly took notice. Starting with Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember, and later The Notebook, The Last Song, The Lucky One, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, and The Choice, his stories have been adapted for the screen, bringing seaside sunsets and tear streaked reunions to cinema audiences as well as readers.

Alongside the novels he has written nonfiction, including Three Weeks with My Brother, a travel memoir co written with his brother Micah that braids a trip around the world with the history of their family. Away from the page he has funded a new track for the local high school, helped start a college prep school in New Bern, and supported scholarships and fellowships for young writers.

Sparks raised three sons and twin daughters in New Bern and continues to live in North Carolina. He and Cathy later divorced, but he has spoken often about how family milestones and losses, including the death of his younger sister from a brain tumor, shaped the tone of books like A Walk to Remember.

Recent novels such as The Wish, Dreamland, Counting Miracles and his forthcoming supernatural collaboration Remain return to familiar territory love, sacrifice, faith while nudging his stories into new corners, from intertwined timelines to brushes with the uncanny, always with an eye on the emotional moment that keeps readers turning pages.

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Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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All 27 Nicholas Sparks Books in Order (Complete List 2026)