“You fall in love and stuff happens.” Nicholas Sparks’ description of this latest-bestseller-turned-movie is an accurate one.

Ex-Marine Logan (Zac Efron) gets out of Iraq alive, but suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He leaves his sister’s house and walks from Colorado to Louisiana, searching for the mysterious blonde woman whose picture sustained him through his ordeal in Iraq. He finds Beth (Taylor Schilling) running a canine kennel with the help of her outspoken grandmother, Ellie, played by Blythe Danner.

At first hesitant, Beth hires Logan to help on the dog ranch and eventually falls in love with him. Other characters include Beth’s ex-husband, Keith, a local cop (Jay R. Ferguson) and Beth’s son, Ben (Riley Thomas Stewart).  Minor tension is created when Keith threatens to take away Ben unless Beth ends her relationship with Logan.

In a recent interview, Sparks admitted that while there are romantic elements in his sixteen novels, he does not consider them romances. He says, “It is a different genre than what would be typically called a romance novel…Romance novels are romantic fantasies with happy endings, for the most part. People read them because they know what to expect.”

Hmm…I found The Lucky One to be predictable, but comfortable fare, with beautiful scenery and soundtrack.