Safe Haven | Nicholas Sparks | Review

Safe Haven | Nicholas Sparks | Review

• Monday, 3 June 2013

A young woman named Katie turns up in a small North Carolina town having been on an adventure. Nobody knows exactly where she’s from, what her past entails or how long she intends to stay but one things is for sure – she’ll never forget her past. Alex a loving, kind-hearted store owner plays a huge part in breaking down barriers as he delves into her past, bringing back memories she wishes she could forget.

Finally a Nicholas Sparks book that I managed to read before watching the film (purposely! The film was sat staring at me for weeks waiting for me to finish this book!) This was quite the lovely dovey romantic Nicholas Sparks book that I expect. There is a much deeper, darker side to this story which kept me gripped the whole way through.

I immediately connected with Katie as the main character, she was vulnerable, scared and shy, she instantly drew me in and I was desperate to find out what had happened to make her this way. What was her secret that she was hiding? Would she get over it? Would it come back with vengeance? Would the new relationships she’d built survive it? All these questions were what spurred me on to read this book through, every spare moment I had, I found myself reaching for the book to read more – even if I only had 2 minutes 2 read 2 pages!

So it’s safe to say that I enjoyed this book, I would definitely recommend it whether your Sparks fan or not. Now after I finished reading it was time to watch the film. I umm’d and ahh’d for a couple of weeks, avoiding watching it because I was worried how it would be adapted and whether I would hate. You know when you love a book so much and you’ve created your own imagery for certain scenes and someone else’s comes along and adapts the films and ruins your visions – I didn’t want that to happen.

I did enjoy the film (surprised myself!), there were new scenes and adaptations of old ones. But most importantly the darker, scarier side to this story was still there, still raw and still captivating.

If you’ve never read a Sparks book before, this definitely one to pick up.

This post was written by regular reviewer Laura, get to know her here.
Image from Goodreads