Safe Haven

I'm happy I got the chance to read this! It's a moving story about hope, love, and second chances. Wonderful characters, descriptive scene settings.

This is a must read book that Nicholas Sparks has written! It was sad, funny, scary and frightening at times, but wonderful book. Read it you’ll see!

This really was a safe haven for a thriller junkie wanting a meaningful sorbet of contemporary romance between doses of adrenaline based action. I was looking for an intelligent romantic thriller outside the current popular genre of poorly written mass-produced twenty-something testosterone and sex romances - and I found it in "Safe Haven".Surprisingly, although I have seen and enjoyed the movie "Message in a Bottle", I haven't read any of Nicholas Sparks' books. I was lured to this book by how fast it got to the top of the Kindle best-sellers list. From the first pages it was clear that Sparks is a quality writer who builds wonderful characters and weaves meaningful relationships.When Katie Feldman arrives in the small North Carolina town of Southport she is seen as a mysterious person. She rents a small cottage in a lonely spot, doesn't mix with others or tell anyone about her background. Her life revolves around working at a local restaurant, improving her cottage and buying her essential needs from the local store owned by Alex, a single parent of 2 young children who has recently lost his wife to brain cancer. She gradually gets attracted to Alex and builds a loving and comfortable relationship with his children. Despite this she doesn't have the emotional stability for a long term commitment.The community and Alex are not aware that Katie is is on-the-run from a very bad mentally and physically abusive marriage. Even with a new identity she knows that Kevin, her alcoholic abusive husband, is a skilled police investigator who will search for and find her wherever she goes.Why did I give it 4 stars - because I skip-read the description of Kevin's life after Katie left because it was too long and IMHO a bit unrealistic. Despite that I liked the book and strongly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an easy, well written and satisfying romantic thriller.

This was my first Nicholas Sparks novel. I had seen some of the movies based on his books (Dear John and The Vow) so I thought I'd give the written version a try. After all, everyone raved about Nicholas Spark! So I carefully selected Safe Haven because its plot sounded like the most appealing out of the bunch of books he'd already written.Katie is new in the town of Southport, North Carolina. She leads a simple life and prefers to be on her own, not wanting to draw too much attention. However, Alex, a widowed store-owner and father of two children notices her and wants to know more about her. For some reason, Katie lets her defenses down with him. But the truth is that she is keeping a secret, and the reason why she came to Southport in the first place was that she is actually on the run, determined to flee from her past.Well, first and before all: I absolutely loved and enjoyed Safe Haven. It was difficult to get used to the third-person POV at first because I was so used to first-person POV's, but Nicholas Sparks is a real master at doing this, and his writing is absolutely wonderful. What impressed me most were the details that were carefully put into the characters. Since the is a third-person POV, you actually get to see things from various points of view and each character had their own thought process and semantics.The characters are wonderful, and the storyline was full of surprises, full of crazy twists and suspense! This book is like a puzzle, where flashbacks help you piece it together! I couldn't put the book down, because I wanted to know how Alex and Katie's relationship would evolve but also how Katie's past finally comes back to haunt her. Plus there is a major twist in the end of the story which just leaves you in tears.Indeed, this book is more than a love story in a beautiful setting: it is also a very suspenseful thriller <spoiler>and a clear message to raise awareness of domestic violence and abuse. Indeed, the reason why Katie is on the run in that she is trying to escape her husband Kevin, an alcoholic and lunatic police officer who kept her hidden and under control in their home. The story of Katie's escape - an escape that she had been plotting for so long - was absolutely breathtaking and so well orchestrated by Sparks, not leaving any detail to chance. And finally, you get to see things from Kevin's POV, which are by far the craziest parts of the book. While he hunts Katie down, you get an insight of how messed up he really is: not seeing right from wrong, overly paranoid and delusional, trying to justify his actions by quoting the bible. The way this was written was absolutely phenomenal!</spoiler>.But Katie and Alex do get their well deserved happy ending and Katie finally finds out that is it fate (or a higher power?) that brought her to Alex and helped her out to live the life she wants and deserves.

I rounded up. This book is a 4.5 star book for me. I did really enjoy it. I enjoyed the third person povs and the story in general caught my attention and held it. I love Katie’s(Erin’s) development and Alex is like a fairytale guy. Kevin’s POV by the end drove me alittle crazy by the end but overall a good book.

Story line is awesome you would love it whether u like a love story or not. Must read for every book reader.

J'avais vu le film avant de lire le livre. Les 2 sont très bien, avec quelques différences.

Muy recomendable para leer, recomendo cualquier libro de Nicholas Sparks. es muy buen escritor y agradable y facil de leer, te metes mucho en sus historias

This is my favourite Nicholas sparks book and the movie is just as good as well.