Nicholas Sparks

Over the past 15 years, eight Nicholas Sparks novels have made their way to the big screen, including the most recent adaptation, Safe Haven. Although the plots and characters vary, there are definitely some common themes across the board: beach house settings, dramatic kisses in the rain, unlikely and complicated love stories. Sometimes those details come together to create a really thoughtful, moving film — and other times, it just feels corny. Take a look back at all the Nicholas Sparks movies to let us know which films hit the romantic mark and which were just plain cheesy.

These days, you pretty much know what you're getting into with any film adapted from a Nicholas Sparks book, and recent release Safe Haven is the latest in his line of romances. A first glance alone features famous Sparks conventions — a beautiful couple on the verge of romance at the beach — and it got me thinking about the other common themes that show up repeatedly in Sparks movies.

Nicholas Sparks novels-turned-movies are known for steamy kisses in the rain, romantic boat rides, and fated relationships. Still, even in the midst of all the classic clichés, the stories offer plenty of thoughtful, important messages about love. From Message in a Bottle to Safe Haven — out today — here are eight valuable love lessons to be learned from the works of Nicholas Sparks.

Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel joined the author of Safe Haven, Nicholas Sparks, last night for a special fan event. The trio, along with producers Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, sat down with host Maria Menounos for an interview about the movie that was broadcast to theaters nationwide. The evening also included several sneak peeks at moments from the film.

Julianne, who wore a tea-length Temperley London dress for last night's appearance, has been keeping busy promoting her second big-screen project — and so has Josh. In fact, Josh visited PopSugar's offices with Nicholas earlier this week to meet our editors and pose for some fun photo-booth pictures. Safe Haven hits theaters on Valentine's Day and will mark the eighth movie adaptation of one of Nicholas's books.

Josh Duhamel dropped by the POPSUGAR offices in San Francisco this afternoon bearing sweet treats and a sexy smile. He had author Nicholas Sparks along for the fun as the duo promoted Safe Haven, which is the big-screen adaptation of Nicholas's book and also stars Julianne Hough. Josh and Julianne filmed the movie last Summer in Southport, NC, and we were able to visit the set and chat with the stars while they were on location. During our latest encounter with Josh today, he posted up in a photo booth to snap pictures with our staff, offered cupcakes to our editors, and even shared that he actually lived in San Francisco in the late '90s. Click through to see the fun and make sure to check out Safe Haven when it hits theaters on Valentine's Day.

Photos courtesy of Jason Rhee