Nicholas Sparks

Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. At twenty-eight, he's focused only on walking in a straight line -- getting his teaching degree and avoiding all the places and people that proved destructive in his past. The last thing he's looking for is a relationship. But when Maria Sanchez, a hardworking lawyer and daughter of Mexican immigrants, crosses his path one rainswept night in North Carolina, the foundations of his carefully structured life are completely upended.

a novel

See me

See me just as I see you . . . Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he's determined to walk a straight line. To Colin, that means applying himself single-mindedly toward his teaching degree and avoiding everything that proved destructive in his earlier life. Reminding himself daily of his hard-earned lessons, the last thing he is looking for is a serious relationship. Maria Sanchez, the hardworking daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the picture of conventional success. With a degree from Duke Law School and a job at a prestigious firm in Wilmington, she is a dark-haired beauty with a seemingly flawless professional track record. And yet Maria has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed. A chance encounter on a rain-swept road will alter the course of both Colin and Maria's lives, challenging deeply held assumptions about each other and ultimately, themselves. As love unexpectedly takes hold between them, they dare to envision what a future together could possibly look like . . . until menacing reminders of events in Maria's past begin to surface. As a series of threatening incidents wreaks chaos in Maria's life, Maria and Colin will be tested in increasingly terrifying ways. Will demons from their past destroy the tenuous relationship they've begun to build, or will their love protect them, even in the darkest hour? Rich in emotion and fueled with suspense, SEE ME reminds us that love is sometimes forged in the crises that threaten to shatter us . . . and that those who see us for who we truly are may not always be the ones easiest to recognize.

See Me

Caroline

Okay, so I finished reading this yet another remarkable book by Nicholas Sparks.

And what a thrilling journey it have been.

See me is a well thought, well written romantic thriller and if I m not wrong in saying it's one of Nicholas sparks longest novels I have read till date.The author have very well tried to keep the suspense to the very end, which keeps you hung on to it. 

The first few chapter is filled with friendship, love and romance but midways through love and romance give way to suspense and mystery. No doubt that the book starts of slow on a note but I bet once mid ways through i could hardly put it down.

Set in Wilmington North Carolina, See me is a story of Colin Hancock who is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he's determined to walk a straight line. While Maria Sanchez, is a hardworking Lawyer who has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed.

A chance encounter on a rain-swept road will alter the course of both Colin and Maria's lives, challenging deeply held assumptions about each other and ultimately, themselves. As love unexpectedly takes hold between them, they dare to envision what a future together could possibly look like . . . until menacing reminders of events in Maria's past begin to surface.

SEE ME, just like I see you......

Underrated shit. This is my personal favorite Nickolas Sparks book. I remember reading it twice when I got my hands on it. The chemistry, the story building, the ending, the plot twists...this book is a whole package. Highly recommended if you are getting into Nickolas Sparks.

Ipshita Kanungo

Hadley 

Lacy W

4.5 stars. 

And just like that, Nicholas Sparks reels me back in. I was almost done with him after the failed book,  Two by Two  and with the beginning of this book. I was starting to think that I had outgrown Sparks and his romances. 

That all changed very quickly. 

Maria was a great character! At first, she was irritating. She seemed so weak to me and I really just don't like weak MCs, especially weak females. I was starting to get mad because she just let people walk all over her like at her job or with her family. I didn't like her thought process most of the time. It was just too much worry, not enough do. Then, she meets Collin and explains more about herself to him. And then I realized just how strong she actually was. Her weakness was just an anxiety to be the best person she could be. She didn't want to disappoint her parents, who were immigrants and gave so much for her and her sister. I get that and it made me like her immensely more after that. 

Collin was one of the most interesting male MCs I've ever read. He had a very troubled past and turned his life around after one too many times of getting in trouble. He since then adapted an honesty policy. He is ALWAYS honest, no matter what. It was refreshing. He simply told Maria and everybody else exactly how it was. No matter if it hurt someone's feelings or not. I enjoyed his POV the most because of how logical he was and the reason I mentioned above. 

If it's one thing that Nicholas Sparks can do, it's write secondary characters well. Each and every secondary character was fleshed out very well. We didn't get their entire past, not that I would expect it because they are secondary characters after all but each had their own personality and were easy to remember. I loved that! It really brought the book to life. 

Overall, this book has restored my faith in Nicholas Sparks. I will now eagerly hunt out more books by him in the hopes that they will live up to what this book was. If anything, Nicholas Sparks has gotten better has he has gotten older. His books now seem to have more girth to them. More substance. He's almost writing like Jodi Picoult and I'm perfectly okay with that.

Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. At twenty-eight, he's focused on getting his teaching degree and avoiding all the places and people that proved so destructive in his past. The last thing he's looking for is a serious relationship. But when he crosses paths with Maria Sanchez one rainswept night, his carefully structured life is turned upside down. And when Maria, a hardworking lawyer, meets Colin she begins to question every notion she has ever had about herself and her future - and what truly makes her happy. Before the couple has a chance to envision a life together, menacing reminders from events in Maria's past begin to surface. And as the threat of violence begins to shadow her every step, she and Colin will be pushed to breaking point. The stunning new love story from the multi-million-copy bestselling author, Nicholas Sparks, See Meis a story of obsession, reinvention and a love that defies every expectation.

Jordan /

My first Nicholas Sparks novel and I absolutely loved it. It's different than the book turn movies I've seen of his, and tho it took a little while to understand what was happening it took me for a loop when it did! Definitely recommend

Ale ♡

A friend borrowed me this book back in 2017 when I was going to a hospital to my social hours, I read this while I take breakfast. I remember a few things, and I gotta say that back then, I enjoyed this book like in a 35%.

Colin is abussive and in that then I couldn't stand him. I don't remember if he did something to María, but I always thought that he was some sorta dick, and bad things happened to him on the wrong moment, lol.

I actually don't know why the hell I read this.

Sophie Hutchings

I hope they make this film into a movie! It would make a killer movie just like other Sparks books have! 

4.5* for this book, I really enjoyed it. I loved the characters and the way the whole book was written. Colin is an interesting character and I found him unique in ways, I loved his relationship with BFF Lily and Evan. I would love to know more about Lily and Evan... Think they could be a good focus for a possible sequel. 

The female lead Maria I liked, I didn't love. Not like I loved the female leads in other Sparks books. She was very opposite to Colin but both had passion and love within them which I liked. I liked Maria's family, her sister Serena would also be a good character for a sequel as would Maria's friend Jill. This book left me wanting more, as you can tell!!! 

Anyway, this story just would not stop giving! Action action action towards the end, is it over? Is it not? Where is the twist? Really great, another brilliant novel from the great Nicholas Sparks! MUST READ SUMMER 2016!!!!!!!

Stefanie Sugia

"He wanted to see how they would act before tension began to infect their sweet happy family... before the fear took hold. Before their lives were slowly—and then furiously—brought to ruin.
He'd come here, after all, for a purpose, and that purpose had a name.
Its name was vengeance."
When I started this book, the prologue instantly intrigued me because the story has something to do with vengeance. The story is written in third person point of view from the perspective of the two main characters: Colin and Maria. It starts off with Colin's story after he had an MMA fight against a marine, which caused his face to be extremely bruised and bloodied. On the way back, Colin met Maria for the first time—in which she was completely frightened by his appearance. As they met for the second time, when Colin's face is a lot more bearable to look at, Colin and Maria got to know each others' dark past. The first part of the story focused on building up their relationship and chemistry, which is super adorable and kept me smiling at all the cuteness. The main conflict of this book slowly creeps in, giving this book a sense of mystery / thriller into the story. Problems arises as Colin's anger was triggered and Maria is being haunted by her past. The second half of the book focuses on figuring out the mystery, which kind of dragged at some parts, but got intensified towards the ending. I was constantly following the characters' train of thoughts and was utterly surprised by the revelation at the end. I'm pretty sure it might be predictable for some people, but it was pretty unexpected for me. Even though I'm not going to spoil anything about the ending, I'd have to say that I was constantly worried about Nicholas Sparks killing off my favorite characters ㅠㅠ If you've read Nicholas Sparks' books in the past, you'll know what I mean. But let me give you this little spoiler to ease your hearts because this time Nicholas Sparks provided us with a happy ending. I'm so relieved when the book ended, but at the same time missing the bittersweet endings that has always been Nicholas Sparks' trademark :')"Love makes everything complicated, and emotions always go wild in the beginning. But when it's real, you should hold on tight, because we're both old enough to know that true love doesn't come along all that often."The best part of this book for me is the characters. I love them all and it's really hard for me to pick one as a favorite. Maybe Colin Hancock is my favorite character, because his personality and straightforwardness is really refreshing. I absolutely love his honesty and the way he thinks. As Maria fell in love with Colin, I think I'm also falling for him at the same time. At first Colin kind of intimidated me because his characters is described as a muscular man with a lot of tattoos; but in the end his personality wins me over. I don't think anyone can deny his charms. He's a sweet gentle person and I really couldn't imagine him as the violent and angry person that he was in the past. Here are some of my favorite quotes from Colin :)♥
"Okay."
"Just 'okay'?" The corners of her mouth turned up.
"It's my go-to phrase when someone makes a statement instead of asking a question."
"You don't care what other people think about you?"
"To a certain extent I do. Everyone does. But if you're going to make a judgement about me, then you need to know who I really am, not just the part I decide to tell you. I'd rather be honest about all of it and let you make the call as to whether you want to keep talking to me or not." 
"I think you care deeply about the way you come across to other people, but to me, that's a mistake. In the end, the only one you can ever really please is yourself. How others feel is up to them."“I think you can do whatever you want. In the end, we all live the life we choose for ourselves."My other favorites are actually all the side characters: Serena—Maria's sister, Evan—Colin's best friend, and Lily—Evan's fiancée, who's also Colin's best friend. Evan is a really good friend who has accepted Colin for who he really is. He's genuinely a good person and I'm really glad Colin has someone like Evan in his life. Same thing goes to Lily, who's a very caring person and always happily helps other people. Serena's cheerful character constantly brought smile to my face and I really like her advice for Maria, especially this one that I quoted below ↓↓↓↓ These characters are just so lovable and easy to like :) <3"I saw a side of Colin that I didn't like.
"So what? Do you think that Mom hasn't seen a side of Dad that she doesn't like? Or vice versa? I've seen a side of you that I don't like, but I didn't shut you out of my life."This book is slightly different from Nicholas Sparks' usual stories because it's not just pure romance, there's a mix of mystery and thriller in it as well. I really enjoyed the story from beginning to end; the chemistry between Colin and Maria is just plain adorable, and like I said earlier, I love all the characters in it. I was debating whether to give this book a 5 or a 4.5 at the end; because the story moved in a slower pace at some parts with not much development going on. I would totally give the characters a 5/5; but plot-wise, I decided to just give it a 4.5. Nevertheless, I will always devour anything that Nicholas Sparks writes in the future. Looking forward to see his next work and anticipating his newest movie adaptation as well :)))"Probably not, but then again, Colin wasn't like most people. He accepted himself, faults and all, and forgave himself for the mistakes he'd made. More than that, he seemed to live in the moment without regard for either the past or the future.""While his answers had left her spinning at times, she had to admit that his here's the real me and you can either accept me or not shtick was refreshing.

Read my full review here:
http://www.thebookielooker.com/2015/1...

Ashley Harris 

I consider this book to be quite a bit better than Sparks latest novels. While still not on par with his earlier works, this one actually had a better storyline and better character development. Colin's character is very multi-dimensional and goes through a lot of emotions throughout the book. The one thing I did not like about this book was the writing style of the conversational dialogue. A lot of the dialogue was very quick and sometimes hard to follow. Overall, this book is worth a read.

See me just as I see you . . . Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he's determined to walk a straight line. To Colin, that means applying himself single-mindedly toward his teaching degree and avoiding everything that proved destructive in his earlier life. Reminding himself daily of his hard-earned lessons, the last thing he is looking for is a serious relationship. Maria Sanchez, the hardworking daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the picture of conventional success. With a degree from Duke Law School and a job at a prestigious firm in Wilmington, she is a dark-haired beauty with a seemingly flawless professional track record. And yet Maria has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed. A chance encounter on a rain-swept road will alter the course of both Colin and Maria's lives, challenging deeply held assumptions about each other and ultimately, themselves. As love unexpectedly takes hold between them, they dare to envision what a future together could possibly look like . . . until menacing reminders of events in Maria's past begin to surface. Rich in emotion and fueled with suspense, SEE ME reminds us that love is sometimes forged in the crises that threaten to shatter us . . . and that those who see us for who we truly are may not always be the ones easiest to recognize.

Lauren Lopez

Not your typical Nicholas Sparks love story. Similar to Safe Haven in that it has quite a bit of action at the end. You will fall in love with the characters, and I really like that the main characters were interracial. There’s a little mystery mixed into it as well, and I doubt you’ll be able to predict how it all turns out!

Rachel

Well See Me started off interesting, but the pace of Maria and Colin's relationship and how over the top they were was causing me to eye roll every page it seemed. But this was manageable. Then the stalking happens and this became my main interest in the book and good thing because that's all the characters seemed to talk about and no longer about each other. Sadly even the stalking mystery became boring and it was annoying how perfect Colin was to the point he figured things out before detectives and saved the day numerous times. Okay....that's just not realistic and if that was suppose to be attractive, it was not. In the end, even the mystery was over done and cringe-worthy.

See me a novel

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