Counting Miracles

Counting Miracles is a contemporary romance novel written by Nicholas Sparks. The novel was originally published in September 2024 by Penguin Random House. It is Sparks’s twenty-fourth novel and a New York Times bestseller.

Counting Miracles takes place in Asheboro, North Carolina. It is written in the past tense and told from the third person point of view. After former Army Ranger Tanner Hughes’s grandmother and legal guardian dies, Tanner travels to Asheboro hoping to find his biological father, David Johnson. His mother died in childbirth and Tanner has never had a sense of family. He ends up staying in Asheboro longer than expected when a local teenager named Casey Cooper accidentally hits his car. In the weeks following, Tanner begins spending time with Casey’s mother Kaitlyn Cooper. While their romance develops, the Coopers’ neighbor Jasper tries to find a white deer someone recently spotted in the local forest. The three primary characters’ intersecting experiences launch the novel’s explorations of The Search for Identity and Belonging, The Transformative Power of Love and Family, and The Journey Towards Healing. 

This guide refers to the 2024 Penguin Random House hardback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The novel addresses themes of loss, familial estrangement, and personal trauma and mentions death by suicide. 

Plot Summary

The novel opens in Pensacola, Florida where Tanner Hughes is closing up his late grandparents house after putting it on the market. His grandmother died five weeks prior and Tanner has been reeling from her deathbed revelation ever since. Tanner only ever knew his grandparents as his guardians, and was therefore shocked when his grandmother told him his biological father’s name and hometown before she died. After leaving Florida, he decides to visit his best friend Glen Edwards in eastern North Carolina before visiting Asheboro to find his dad, David Johnson.

At Glen’s house, Tanner opens up about his life. He and Glen were both Army Rangers. Since retiring, Glen has reinvented himself in Pine Knolls Shore and thinks Tanner should do the same. Because he’s never had a settled life, Tanner doubts he can commit to one place. He informs Glen that he’s going to Cameroon for a new security gig in a few weeks, which worries his friend. He also updates Glen on his plans to find his dad.

From Glen’s, Tanner travels to Asheboro. On his first night in town, local teenager Casey Cooper smashes into Tanner’s car in a bar parking lot. He offers her a ride home because she’s shaken, and is immediately taken by her mother, Kaitlyn Cooper. Kaitlyn is also drawn to Tanner’s good looks and surprises herself by offering him a ride back to his hotel and grabbing a beer with him on the way. That night, she lies awake thinking about Tanner, surprised by how easy it was to be in his company. In the days following, she and Tanner keep communicating as she is working with her insurance company to get him repairs on his car.

One day, the Coopers’ neighbor Jasper is shocked when Kaitlyn’s son Mitch Cooper tells him there’s a white deer in the Uwharrie National Forest. Jasper remembers his dad talking about white deer and hopes that he might find and protect the animal from poachers. He goes out into the woods one day to hunt morels, and gets upset when he finds some local teenagers baiting the white deer so they can kill it. He goes to the police and the boys’ parents about the situation, but no one takes Jasper’s concerns seriously. Over the following days, he starts venturing into the forest to find the deer and protect it from the teenagers.

Meanwhile, Tanner and Kaitlyn start spending time together. Tanner accompanies Kaitlyn and Mitch to the zoo and the park. Tanner also joins Kaitlyn’s family for dinner. They talk openly while cooking and Tanner plays Jenga and Frisbee with Mitch and Casey afterwards. When he and Kaitlyn say goodbye, they kiss.

A few nights later, Tanner and Kaitlyn go on a more formal date. Tanner rents a palatial cabin for the evening. They drink wine, talk about their pasts, have sex, and eat dinner. The mood of the evening changes when Tanner starts talking about his upcoming trip to Cameroon. He reveals that he’s independently wealthy and doesn’t have to take the job to support himself. Kaitlyn feels betrayed. She can’t understand why Tanner would go back overseas when their relationship is just developing. She ends the night abruptly and leaves. In the days following, Tanner tries to make sense of what happened with Kaitlyn. He calls Glen numerous times about the matter and Glen encourages him to reevaluate who he is and what he wants from life. In time, Tanner realizes that he wants to be with Kaitlyn and has loved spending time with her and her family.

Meanwhile, Jasper ventures deeper into the woods to find the white deer. As he wanders through the forest, his mind drifts into the past. He recalls when he met his wife Audrey and the beautiful home they made with their four children, Deborah, Mary, Paul, and David Johnson. Then one year, Paul accidentally lit the house fire while his family was sleeping, destroying the home and killing his mother and siblings. He was later charged for arson and manslaughter and died by suicide in prison. Remembering these events overwhelms Jasper with emotion. Suddenly he encounters the teenagers in the woods. They get into a scuffle and Jasper falls over a ledge. He lies on the ground drifting in and out of consciousness for the next several days.

Kaitlyn and her family start to worry about Jasper when his dog Arlo shows up repeatedly on their porch. Worried the police won’t do anything, Casey contacts Tanner for help. He agrees to go in search of Jasper. He finds him with the help of Arlo and soon discovers that Jasper’s last name is Johnson and he is his paternal grandfather.

Tanner and Kaitlyn make amends for their misunderstandings. Then Tanner tells him about his relation to Jasper and asks her to help him communicate with the man. Kaitlyn visits Jasper in the hospital and explains that Tanner is his grandson. Jasper is overcome by joy and agrees to spend time with Tanner.

In the following weeks, Tanner builds a relationship with Jasper. Meanwhile, he decides to stay in Asheboro and he and Kaitlyn begin a committed relationship.