The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks Book to Movie Review | #BlissfulBookTalk

The April read for #BlissfulBookTalk was an awesome one - The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks. Have any of y'all read this book? It was amazing, and I definitely wanted to read it before I went to see the movie. 
The Longest Ride follows the lives of four people living two love stories several decades apart. The first couple is from the 1960's - Ira and Ruth. You meet Ira after he gets into a fatal car crash after running off the side of the road in a snow storm. While he's fighting for his life, he's also envisioning his late wife, Ruth, sitting next to him. He's reliving their life together one memory at a time. 
The second couple is Sophia and Luke, and their love story has a few parallels to that of Ira and Ruth's even though their story forms in the modern times. Sophia is a college senior from New Jersey living in North Carolina. She loves the arts and dreams of working for a big art museum in New York City. She's in a sorority and super smart, but as a senior, she's focused on getting out of college and starting the next chapter of her life. When her roommate, Marcia, convinces her to go to a bull riding event, she meets Luke, a professional bull rider, and their story just escalates from there. 
I very much enjoyed both the book and the movie for different reasons. If you haven't read the book, the rest of the review will contain spoilers, but you can watch the first half of my video review (don't worry, I let you know before I start talking about the movie) to hear more of my thoughts on this awesome book. 

As for the movie, it follows a similar plot, but the two couples' lives are intertwined a bit more, particularly when it comes to Ira and Sophia. In the book, they meet at the very end when Sophia and Luke discover Ira after a weekend away at a cottage. In the movie, they find Ira's car pretty early on while driving through the rain. When Ira wakes up in the hospital, Sophia is there, and she reads the letters in Ira's box. From there, their lives are intertwined, and I loved it. I think that's my favorite change from the book version. 
I have tons more thoughts on the book to movie adaptation, and I spill the beans about all of it in my review, which you can watch above.

Overall, I give this book a 4.5 out of 5. My main complaint is that I wasn't really that interested in Ira's story even though he was a super integral part of the book. I liked Ira as a character, and I thought he was important, but he just wasn't that interesting to me. That being said, I loved Ira's character in the movie.
So if you want to read along with me in May, the book for #BlissfulBookTalk is going to be The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. I'm super excited to finally read this book! If you read along with me be sure to tag me on social media (@tiffanykhyla) and use the hashtag #BlissfulBookTalk!
Have you read The Longest Ride or seen the movie? What book would you like me to choose for next month's #BlissfulBookTalk book?