Summary:
"When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.
But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her...a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards...and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven."
My Thoughts:
Okay, yes there are a great number of people who say that Nicholas Sparks is a formulaic writer and that his books are all basically the same story with a few tweaks. And while a part of me can say that yes, that is true to an extent, the other part of me eagerly devours each and every one of his novels, and they continue to have a huge emotional impact on me. I know that something is going to happen in them: two people will fall in love and one will have cancer or Alzheimer's or some other medical issue, sometimes a character will move into town and will have a secret. That predictability means that I can mentally prepare myself, but Nicholas Sparks has a way with creating these extremely real characters and I can't help but grow attached to them.
Take Safe Haven for example. I basically knew that Katie and Alex were going to fall in love with each other. It can be assumed just by looking at the movie tie-in cover. But, what really sold this relationship for me was how Katie acted around Alex's children: Kristen and Josh. Kristen was so adorable and her actions had me melting. I would have fallen in love with the family as well.
I can also say that I adored Katie's friend and neighbor, Jo. She was there to listen to Katie and help her figure things out...and she not so subtly pushed Katie towards a relationship with Alex. You know how earlier I said that there is a predictability in Nicholas Sparks novels...well the truth about Jo truly knocked me for a loop. It was something I didn't see coming, and it was actually that secret that had me crying more than the rest of the story.
Finding out Katie's secret though, I pretty much saw that one coming, and had already guessed that it would lead to some kind of explosive encounter towards the end of the book...and it did. The character of Kevin made me squirm and feel disgusted, and I really wanted to reach through my NOOK screen and kill the guy. So excellent job at creating this horrid character. He definitely falls into the villain category. Seriously, Kevin is a horrible man, and I don't feel at all bad saying that he deserved what happened to him in the end.
Anyway, the film adaptation of Safe Haven is coming out next week, and yes, I am looking forward to seeing it. I can already see a few changes they've made, based on watching the trailer. In the book Katie starts out as a blonde and then dyes her hair to become a brunette, but in the movie it shows her as starting off as a brunette and then becoming a blonde. Okay, not a huge change really but still it could have remained true to the story. Also, in the book Alex is described as being one of those younger men who goes grey prematurely, and I enjoyed that fact, but in the movie he has a nice head of brown hair. Come on, again, it is a small detail, but they could have done it. There are a few other minor story and plot details I noticed have changed, but I can't make a full comparison until I actually see the movie.
But I did enjoy the book. I kept coming back to it whenever I had a spare moment to read. 5/5.
Safe Haven at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/safe-haven-nicholas-sparks/1100038515?ean=9781455523559
Safe Haven at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Haven-Nicholas-Sparks/dp/0446547573/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1359044749&sr=8-2&keywords=Safe+Haven
Other Readings:
Let's see, next week The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead will finally be out. I've only been waiting since the day the last book came out to read it. The Indigo Spell is my From the Stacks pick for next Friday, and it will be spoiler free, because I try to make all my reviews that way (I don't like to ruin the experience for other readers). Oh, and I'm also looking forward to Mountain Echoes by C.E. Murphy, which will be out in a couple weeks.
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