(CNN) -  Valentine's Day means love. For some, that's in the
arms of someone special. For others, it means curling up with a
tub of ice cream and a good Nicholas Sparks story. As our modern
day master of romance, CNN asked Sparks to share some of his
lessons in love, as well as insights about some of his favorite
scenes from "The Notebook," "A Walk to Remember," "Safe Haven,"
and more. Plus, he reveals some some anti-Valentine's Day picks
for those who've overdosed on the sappiness. Spoiler alert: Even
those are Sparks-ian.  'Message in a Bottle,' 1999  Theresa
Osborne (Robin Wright) finds a love letter in a bottle, and is
determined to find the writer, Garret Blake (Kevin Costner).
Garret is still mourning his wife, to whom he wrote, while a new
(though doomed) romance with Theresa blossoms.  "There was a
scene the film needed, and it didn't come in until the final
version of the script," Sparks said. "It's a scene right towards
the end of the novel, where we had to make it really clear that
the character Ga