Nicholas Sparks adopts the Kindred Spirit

Nicholas Sparks set "Message in a Bottle" and "Dear John" in Wrightsville Beach and "Safe Haven" in Southport. Now, the best-selling wonder boy moves farther along the coast, setting his latest book-length romance, "Every Breath," in Sunset Beach.

It should do wonders for the local tourist industry. Apparently, a week in Sunset Beach works better than an eHarmony membership.

Sparks writes himself into the opening of the novel, discovering a manila envelope in "Kindred Spirit," the famed mailbox in the sand at Sunset Beach, where folks leave letters to no one in particular.

Here, he discovers the story of Tru and Hope.

It's 1990. Tru Walls, a safari guide from Zimbabwe, travels to Sunset Beach for a meeting with his biological father, a man he never met. A mining engineer, Dad left Tru's mom before Tru was born. Now, the old man is dying.

Meanwhile, Hope Anderson, a trauma nurse from Raleigh, checks into her family's old beach so she can be a bridesmaid at a college' friend's wedding.

Poor Hope is always the bridesmaid, stuck in a six-year, dead-end relationship with Josh, an orthopedic surgeon who's rather a Peter Pan. Rather than accompany her to the wedding, Josh flew off for a long weekend with friends in Las Vegas. Now, Hope is listening to her biological clock tick.

Tru and Hope meet cute: He rescues her adorable Scottish terrier, Scottie. Soon, they're just running into other on the deck of one of Sunset Beach's funky seafood restaurants. (Slow service but lemon meringue pie to die for.)

She's alone. He's divorced and not in a relationship.

She has auburn hair, high cheekbones and fashion sense, and she obsesses about her weight but shouldn't. He has a taut, lean frame and dark blue eyes. (One pictures Daniel Craig in the movie version.)

Sparks fly. They're caught in the rain. Nature takes its course.

Of course, all sorts of cruel circumstances conspire to keep these two lovebirds apart. You guessed it: Josh shows up. Also, Hope's beloved dad is slowly dying of ALS, and there's no way she's leaving him to fly off to Africa.

It will take Kindred Spirit to intervene.

Sparks stretches the story out across more than 25 years. (Also, he spreads the attention around; Carolina Beach gets a strong plug as an off-season vacation retreat.)

Folks who loves Sparks should adore "Every Breath." Supposedly, Sparks once told a writer's conference that the secret to writing a best-seller is figuring out how to make little old ladies cry. Well, "Every Breath" is a two-hanky weeper.

Reporter Ben Steelman can be reached at 910-343-2208 or Ben.Steelman@StarNewsOnline.com.

"Every Breath"

By Nicholas Sparks

Grand Central Publishing, $28