This is the first time I have tried one of Patterson's tear-jerker titles. To be honest, it is not really a genre that I am all that into, but I did enjoy this one.

It all starts as the reader is introduced to Katie Wilkinson, a book editor from South Carolina who is working with Matt Harrison on his new book of poems. The two of them have gotten close as they have worked together. Romance blooms, and she is now pregnant.

After attending a party she has thrown for him to celebrate his book, Matt walks out and disappears, leaving her with no clues as to where he has gone. There is hope with the why, though, as he has left her with a handwritten journal ... it is Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. He has not been really been open about his past, and it is clear that it was painful.

Matthew leaves just a simple note with the library indicating that some parts will be difficult to read, and he is not over-reacting.

It is through the diary that Katie (and the audience who joins her) meets Suzanne, a young doctor that Matt had met years earlier, fallen in love with, and married. At a young age, Suzanne experienced a heart attack in Boston, which convinces her to look at her life and reprioritize. She ends up moving to Martha's Vineyard and sets up a practice there. As she settles in, she meets Matt, a house painter and the two hit it off.

As time goes by, they fall deeper and deeper in love. Before long they are married, and little Nicholas follows. Suzanne journals to Nicholas to share with him the story of her life, and how he came about to be.

Katie is greatly torn by what she reads. She sees the Matt she knows in the kind and generous man that means everything to Suzanne, but she can't help but wonder what has happened. Is Matt cheating on Suzanne with her?

The book does end up heading in the direction that is expected, but it also has a bit of a surprise in the conclusion that guarantees crying. While the book is predictable, it is more about the journey the characters are taking in order to reach the end. It is a ride worth joining them for ... if you don't mind having a box of tissues nearby.