Nicholas Sparks

Love hurts. There is nothing as painful as heartbreak. But in order to learn to love again you must learn to trust again. When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet unassuming, Katie is determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community. But even as Katie starts to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts her . . .

Safe Haven

Monicap

I watched the movie first. And I like both the movie AND the book. The book adds more, in flashbacks and backstory. In the movie, for instance, it did not quite come across that Katie's identity came from teh deceased daughter of the elderly lady who helped her escape. In fact, in the movie, I had no idea that the elderly lady HAD a deceased daughter. But for the most part, the movie and the book were the same. there were some subtle changes in characters, like in the movie Alex's daughter is named Lexie but in the books she's Kristen and such but still, fundamentally the same.

Josh's character made more sense in the book than in the movie though. In the movie, he was all moody and ansty and I'm pretty sure he didn't like KAtie and then, just out of the blue, he's like "I like her." and I was all, "Hold up. You DO?" he didn't make sesne in the movie. he did in the book.

Also, Kevin. the character did not change at all, but there were some aspects of his characters that wer enot explored in the movie (i.e. his religous justification for everything he does) but fundamentally, he is the same character, and there is something WRONG with him. The whole time I wanted to drive to hospital and get him the help he needed (this is in the movie AND the book) and it's because, in both formats, there was something so inately CHILDLIKE about the way he thought and acted. Like he didn't know any better, like he never progressed past a certain age. Now, I AM NOT SYMPATHIZING WITH HIM. He is a TERRIBLE person, and death was coming to him one way or the other. But I still wanted to help him, and, TO ME, he seemed like a child. (I also happen to LOVE David Lyons, but I don't think that has anythign to do with it)

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.

★★★★☆
4.00 STARS 

I have already watched the movie adaptation a couple of years ago. I actually have no intention of reading this book because I already knew what was gonna happen. Well atleast the gist of what was gonna happen since there are a lot of books that turned into movie with a lot far from the original story line as an outcome. I thought that I already spoiled the fun of this book. 

Fortunately, I still had a lot of fun reading this book. The plot of the movie was almost the same as the book and though I already expected what was about to come, I still found myself immersed in the story. 

Nicholas Sparks' works will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart, either his old works or the newer ones. I loved the way he expressed each words with so much emotions that even I, without any real experience in love and life, found myself relating with each of his characters. 

Among any of the movies from Sparks' books, Safe Haven is definitely one of my fave!!

PS: I FREAKING LOVE THE NARRATOR OF THE AUDIOBOOK. MAYBE ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I ENJOYED READING THIS BOOK. THE WAY HER VOICE TREMBLED WHILE CRYING, THE ANGER WHILE SHOUTING,THE LOVE IN HER VOICE WHILE CONFESSING. SO MUCH EMOTIONSSSS!!

★★★★★ // i enjoyed the thriller part more than the romance. nicholas sparks should consider switching to that genre.

Patricia Nelson

Loved it! Wanted to read it before I saw the movie, and I finished it in just a few days! The plot twist at the end surprised me!

Briar's Reviews

Nicholas Sparks made a very interesting novel in this one! Most of Nicholas Sparks's novels I find to be pretty obvious about what is going to happen, as if written by a similar script. This novel proves to be a little different and out of the ordinary of most of his books. The ending is quite the finale with lots of action alongside the typical romance and drama in a Nicholas Sparks novel!

Overall, I did find it a little boring. Some of the chapters I felt were unnecessary and could have had a bit more drama, romance or action. But in retrospect, this is one of his better and well thought out novels. I would recommend this as being one of Nicholas Sparks best!

Anyone who likes a good, plain romance novel with a bit of drama and intrigue should pick up this book. 

Four out of five stars. A good quality Nicholas Sparks book.

devin.reads

This book is so good. I had trouble putting it down! Nicholas Sparks did an amazing job with this book!

Izza

2.5 stars | ... I don't know how I feel about this book. I couldn't put it down, but the romance was so cliché, the characters weren't special and the ending. For real? I should've just watched the movie.

This is the best Nicholas Sparks book I've read so far. The other two that I've read have just felt very underwhelming. But, I really enjoyed this book. I fell in love with the characters and the story. Katie was so strong and determined, Alex was the kind of guy you would want to fall in love with, and the kids were just so sweet. This book was such a cute quick read and  I would definitely read it again. 

Maggie Hotmer

Katelyn Broad

When I saw the trailer for the movie, I knew I would have to read it before I saw it. 
Safe Haven if different from the other predictable Nicholas Spark's books I have read. There were surprises and some mystery. While I could tell what the ending was going to be, I didn't realize what the journey would be to get there. 
This book follows Katie, a quiet new girl with a dangerous past and Alex, the small town widower with 2 children. Katie befriends a mysterious neighbor of hers named Jo and a little later becomes friends with Alex. When Katie and Alex start falling for each other, secrets come out and problems start to occur. Katie's dangerous past may not just be in the past. 
This book had a few major twists and turns. 
I recommend this book for those who enjoy adult romance novels.

Sarah Ryan

A reasonably enjoyable holiday read for the most part. The characters, particularly the antagonist, could have been more 3-dimensional, however it was the ending, with the big 'Jo reveal' that annoyed me. It seemed so unnecessary and just turned me off the book in a big way. I enjoyed The Notebook, but not this.

Stefanie Sugia

"It was irrational and illogical and it went against everything she'd promised herself when she'd moved here, but she realized that she wanted him to know her. She wanted him to understand her, if only because she had the strange sense that he was the kind of man she could fall in love with, even if she didn't want to."


The story starts with Katie; a 27 year-old who works as a waitress at Ivan's. She's living a quiet live in Southport, not really wanting to interact with anybody; not even a chance to make friends. But things started to change when she met a friendly neighbor called Jo, who live across the street. At first, Katie didn't want to open up and accept Jo's friendliness; but without realizing, Katie started to enjoy having a company. Something she had been avoiding for quite a long time.

Her life changes doesn't stop there. She even met a guy from a store named Alex. He's a widowed man, living with his 2 adorable children: Josh and Kristen. At first, Katie didn't want to have any relationship whatsoever with Alex; but not until unintentionally Katie saved Josh's life. From that point on, Alex had been constantly trying to show his gratitude towards her; which she constantly rejected. But in the end, both of them couldn't deny, that they were attracted to each other.....

Read the full review:
http://thebookielooker.blogspot.com/2...

Etel Yamilette Conde Gonzalez

I love this book! It took me a while due to work but I have to say, it was very moving. I cried at the end like it was meant for me. With my religious beliefs I thought the author did a great job in showing faith but not pushing it too much. It was such a peaceful book & I love this author. !

Sarah Vaughan

A great read, though not as good as some of his others in my opinion.

Kathryn 

Sara Gaspar Farinha

Katie é uma jovem mulher que vive sozinha em Southport, uma cidade pequena no interior dos Estados Unidos da América. O carácter forte de Katie e a racionalidade dos seus actos, são o engodo desta história.

Depois conhecemos Alex e os seus dois filhos pequenos. Ele é um pai extremoso e um homem trabalhador, tão dedicado aos filhos após a morte da sua esposa, que se esquece de viver.

A relação amorosa entre Alex e Katie torna-se inevitável, tomando uma nova dimensão através do relacionamento de Katie com as crianças, Kirsten e Josh.

Jo é a amiga que aparece na vida de Katie e a ajuda a encarar a sua realidade sob outra perspectiva.

…………

É óbvio que Nicholas Sparks sabe o que está a fazer. Uma narrativa simples, mas cheia de elementos complexos. As personagens são cativantes e percebemos desde início que Sparks tem a mestria de criar uma personagem modelada, com dimensão suficiente para a tornar numa pessoa viva.

Quanto à história em si, está longe de ser original e nem o twist no final a poderia caracterizar como original. Contudo, a forma como a narrativa se desenrola, permite que o leitor se condoa com a situação de Katie e a de Alex, que compreenda o raciocínio de Kevin e que aprecie as crianças nos seus momentos de intervenção.

Todas as personagens são construídas como se de pessoas reais se tratassem, mas o que mais me impressionou foi Kevin e os seus raciocínios confusos e dementes que eram, em simultâneo, focados e concisos. Não é difícil colocarmo-nos no papel de Kevin e, ao mesmo tempo, termos a certeza de que ele é um indivíduo doente.

Não vou entrar em pormenores sobre o twist da história, apenas dizer que não fazia ideia que o autor era dado a este tipo de reviravoltas. Bom, não esquecer que este foi o primeiro livro que li de Nicholas e que o comprei porque gostei da sinopse e porque queria perceber porque era um autor tão falado… Acho que percebi o porquê. Talvez leia mais qualquer coisa dele, vou procurar as obras mais antigas dele e ver se alguma me desperta.

Quanto a “Um Refúgio para a Vida”, gostei. Não me deslumbrou, mas dentro do género gostei.

Originalidade – ***

Personagens – *****

Desenvolvimento da História – ****
.......

http://sarinhafarinha.wordpress.com/2...

Barbara Rosas

estefania sanchez sanz

“Save Haven” is a romantic contemporary novel, written by one of the most famous authors in this genre, Nicholas Sparks. The author famous for being the author upon the film “The Notebook” is based on. This book had also been turned into a movie in 2013, starring Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel.

Katie has a hidden past, and she wants it that way. She came out of no where to start living and working on Southport, a small town in North Carolina, were everyone knows everyone’s life’s and secrets. After some time, she starts letting her guard down, she lets her new neighbor, Jo, in; and most important she starts letting Alex in.

Alex lost his wife to cancer years ago, since then he’s been raising his kids and running his in-laws store. He is an excellent father and loved his wife very much however he is missing something. When a mysterious new in town woman, appears in his store with the appearance of being scared and vulnerable, she caught his attention. His past experience on the military tells him there is a story behind her. And little by little he finds himself unable to stop thinking about her.

“Safe Haven” was a fantastic book. It was a raw story of house violence told from one of those woman’s perspective. Nicholas Sparks makes a fantastic work when placing himself in the woman’s head, and gives a voice to many women out there trapped in their “perfect” lives. Moreover, he gives them strength, because even with her vulnerability appearance Katie is a strong intelligent woman that plans her scape and performs little by little. That is one of the things I loved about this book how strong Katie is, she safes herself and does not need help to do it, not even in the ending.

Apart from the topic, as always, Nicholas Sparks creates a really romantic relationship, and also a really healthy one.

All in all, a really good book, I highly recommend it since the topic is one that sadly is up to date, and I think that anyone that has a connection with the topic would enjoy.

Megan Leprich

Not normally a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks but I really enjoyed it. It kept my attention throughout and wasn't just a sappy love story. Pretty good.

Devin Jones

In a small North Carolina town, a mysterious and beautiful woman running from her past slowly falls for a kind-hearted store owner . . . until dark secrets begin to threaten her new life. 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 empathetic 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.

Jennifer Griffiths 

Nicholas Sparks never fails to write a good story. It was exciting and intense and just an all around beautiful story.

Manon van Heumen

My first Nicholas Sparks book. At first, I was unsure of what to expect, but Nicholas's writing style is very good, which makes it easy to read for me. I watched the movie about a year ago, and I must say that I really liked them both. Of course, the book provides more scenes and details and such. In conclusion, I really loved the book, and I'm happy I have more Nicholas Sparks on my shelves, can't wait to read more!

Kaylee Z

To be honest, I’ve never read a Nicholas Sparks book before this one. I have seen some of the movie adaptations but never read the source material until now. This is very odd for me since I like to read the book before watching the movie but apparently this ‘rule’ doesn’t apply to Nicholas Sparks for some reason. I’m not really drawn to contemporary literature, there’s something about just following a regular modern person through their day to day life that doesn’t excite me so I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.

Safe Haven in book form far surpasses the movie (I don’t think anyone is really shocked at this lol). The relationships are stronger, the plot is more involved, and there are far more layers to the characters of Katie, Alex and Kevin. I really liked that we got to see the POVs of all 3 of them and how we are introduced to Kevin later on in the book.

Katie’s backstory and her journey that led her to Southport was very well thought out and told to the reader from a series of memories, her character sharing her story with others as well as from another characters POV. It was all done in a way that left anticipation while giving pertinent information but not having a huge info-dump and simultaneously moving the plot along. In addition to all of this, we get a gradual and natural growth of character from Katie which I always appreciate. 

The relationships in Safe Haven are varied depending on the person where some are gritty and raw while others are tender and lighthearted and I feel that this book strikes a very good balance between character- and plot-driven story telling. I would just as happily follow Katie through her Southport life and getting to know the people just as much as I enjoyed watching the mystery/action unfold.

Overall I really enjoyed this contemporary read and am interested in venturing out to read some of his other works. I likely won’t read them any time soon but I think if I’m finding myself in the mood for some heartfelt dramatic stories, I will definitely keep them in mind.

Mia Jones

After reading The Last song by Nicholas Sparks, I had pretty high hopes that this would be another great book. For some it may be and it certainly serves to cast light on the not so often talked about horror of spousal abuse. That being said, as much as I tried to like it, I just couldn't. 

The story itself was fine, but I found the characters severely lacking, which really kept me from enjoying the book. Katie was not a character I really found myself rooting for. What she went through was awful, there's no denying that, but for some reason (at least to me) she just didn't come across as likable at all... quite the opposite sometimes honestly. Alex to me was pretty much the cardboard cut out 'good guy' that you see in books, television shows and movies... He actually reminded me a bit of the father in The Last Song and even of Will from the same book. Yes, there has to be a knight in shining armor in there somewhere, but I found him about as bland as Katie. As for Kevin, as much as I think the repetition of some things served to show his obsession (and insanity?), after a while it got really old and I could have done without the constant mention of him throwing up, not to mention Vodka was mentioned so many times that I was starting to think it was another character!

All in all, definitely not a book I would reach for to re-read.