Nicholas Sparks is the author of 23 bestselling romance novels and two works of fiction. His first novel, The Notebook, published in 1996, was an instant success and was later remade into a cult romance movie by the same name. Through his works of fiction, Sparks explores various facets of romantic love: Love that lasts a lifetime and beyond is explored in novels such as A Message in a Bottle (1998) and The Guardian (2003); the reunion of separated lovers in The Notebook; the difficult choices that lovers face in Nights in Rodanthe (2002); and the agony of unfulfilled love in Dear John (2006). In his repertoire of romance novels, Sparks contemplates the power of true love to inspire people as well as transcend the limitations of time and space. The Best of Me (2010) focuses on elements such as nostalgia, memories, separation, the past, and sacrifice, which are recurring themes in many of Sparks’s novels.

Passionate love that leads to a lifetime of memories, pain, and nostalgia is a staple in Sparks novels and is the major plot point of The Best of Me. Similarly, the ability of love to transcend death and the love of older couples as an inspiration to the young are some of the themes common in Sparks’s novels that are also found in this text.