Just finished the Guardian by Nicholas Sparks. The Guardian is a romantic thriller and according me the first book by Sparks in which one of the characters is a loving dog. The book is firstly about love. The love between Julie Barenson and Mike Harris and secondly about danger. The danger of Richard Franklin the Jealous stalker who Julie once dated and then there is the love of the singer the dog a great Dane who was a gift from Julie's husband Jim after his death, who later proved to be the real Guradian of Julie's life. The story is full of twist and turns with the revelation of the real identity of Richard Franklin. The Guardian is a love story turn nightmare spawned by a chilling deception and jealousy so poisonous that it has become a murderous desire. The only problem I had was that it has a very predictable end. I was waiting for something different, but overall a interesting book which keeps its audience hooked till the very end.

cried and cried and cried and cried

This was the best book that I've read in a long time. It took awhile to start but when it got going I couldn't put it down. Quiet literally I don't remember much from my classes today. Richard gives me chills, how he looked at the situation frightens me.

This is the first book that I've read by this author and I have to say I really enjoyed reading his book, it's a story about love, obbession and has a lovely ending! Definitely a recommended read.

wow.. is the first thing i think of after finishing this book. thinking back on the journey and roller-coaster ride the book has taken me to. i never expected the story to be this thrilling - even though there's a warning at the back cover, related to the thrilling part of the story. So the story is about Julie, a woman whose husband, Jim, died because of a tumor. Her husband left her a letter, along with a Great Dane puppy to keep her company. The story begins 4 years after her husband's death, when Julie felt that she's ready to start a new relationship with a man. She tried dating several guys, but none has attracted her completely. Not until she met Richard Franklin, an engineer who came to her salon to get his haircut. Julie started dating Richard and gets flattered by his nice demeanor and romantic senses. And there's Mike Harris, Jim's bestfriend and had became Julie's bestfriend since Jim died. Mike is obviously in love with Julie, but never had the courage to say it to Julie. Seeing Julie dating Richard didn't make him happy, especially seeing how Julie seemed to really enjoy her time spent with Richard. After a few dates, Julie finally realized that Richard isn't the one meant for her. She was starting to pay more attention to Mike. When Julie stated this to Richard, he doesn't seem to accept it and looked angry. And this is where the problem started. Things started to go wrong since then. Julie got a lot of weird calls on her answering machine, even worse, no one said anything on the line. She started feeling scared, and somehow - coincidentally or not- Julie met Richard at places. Richard also came by to the salon with the reason to cut his hair, but Julie can see that it wasn't the real reason he came. She always felt that someone was always watching her, being around her every single time. And she got a good feeling that it was Richard. This situation got a bit messed up - all because of Richard's well-planned actions- and the case involved police. Julie wanted to report Richard to the police as a stalker, but she didn't really have a concrete evidence to prove it. The rest of the story, you need to read it to get all the intensity and excitement as the story being revealed one by one. Talking about the book, i never expected a THRILLER from Nicholas Sparks... never. But since i never read a thriller before (im too scared to read one), i guess this is my first. considering all the feelings i got while reading this book, i have to say i didn't enjoy it. well, not because Nicholas Sparks wrote bad thriller, no.. but i really didn't like the feeling of being scared (because i feel like i'm at the scene while reading it). The curiosity inside of me, wanting to know about Richard and why's he like that. The feeling of disgust and hatred when Richard's described, because to me, he's just so psychotic and crazy and just out of his mind. But aside from that, the book is really well plotted. Even though i think at the beginning the story moves at slow-pace, which kind of annoyed me seeing how Mike is really cowardly at saying his feelings to Julie (but can't blame him if it's his character). So overall, i gave a 4, because i hate thriller. i decided now that i will never read thriller. i guess i'm too cowardly to read a thriller at this age. T T Hoping that the next Nicholas Sparks' book i read will be a fancy "normal" kind of romance. Not some psychotic-murderer kind of romance. :D

** spoiler alert ** Beginning of the book was slow, I knew what the book was about to a degree so I was basically waiting until the “ bad guy “ showed up to start the actual story. Mike was played off as some doofus who she felt like she had to be with, he had zero personality. Main character was completely ignorant in a bad situation, why would you change your phone number after a few days of suspicious phone calls, let this creep stay the night with you? Etc… And of course he killed off the dog in the end of the book. Love Nicholas sparks but this book and the return were the last two I read and I was completely disappointed.

it’s the misogyny for me Honestly this star is for the dog and for the dog only. Who told Nicholas Sparks he should try to write a thriller I JUST WANNA TALK.

It was enjoyable. I didn't know anything about it and it was not what I expected at all, which was fun. But eh, nothing mind blowing. I read it for a "local author" challenge prompt. ✔

Im late to the game here. BUt i just thoroughly enjoyed myself with this one. I consider myself a romance lover. I dont need much to make my heart happy. just some good ol love. The thrilling aspects that Nicholas writes are fun as well.

I just couldn't get into it right now. My reading is fickle right now. Maybe will try again at a later time.

A thriller and it was well done. Recommended it to a friend.

Why did I reread this?! I forgot about that heart breaking ending. I would have given this novel 5 stars. A teenage me would have, but now that I am older and I have reread it. It isn't worthy of 5 stars. Talk about the ultimate sacrifice. I truly did not remember the ending, if I had, I probably wouldn't have picked it back up.