Safe Haven Audio CD – Abridged, August 2, 2011

I started reading this book and I couldn’t put it down. Nicholas Sparks always has a way to wrap you into his story from the very beginning. It’s about a woman in an abusive marriage and finds a way to escape. Eventually her husband finds her. You kind of know how it might end but he always finds a way to put a twist on the ending. I absolutely loved this book and would highly recommend it.

Good story.

The book as a whole was very predictable and just ok. The ending was sweet and made finishing the book worthwhile.

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 just went to the theater to see this movie, but more on that in a minute**This book is absolutely brilliant story telling! I absolutely love buying any of Nicholas Sparks's books because I know that I will get a genuine, unpredictable, entertaining story from start to finish!Each character has a past here, and each one has been given just enough time for the reader to get to know them, feeling as though you can actually picture them, get to know them, without getting off course of the actual storytelling.I try hard not to give away the story by posting reviews by explaining what I love best about the book and why, but I will say this: each book I read by Nicholas Sparks is authentic. Genuine. Full of passion.I just hope that Nicholas Sparks's life is lived with just as much passion, dedication and romance as told in his fantastic books!**About the Movie**Here's what I can say: there is an element of predictability in this story to a degree. A young woman who is married to a severely abusive husband has two choices: leave or stay. That leaves two possible outcomes: either you move on and find true love, it you risk losing your own life living in fear.A widowed father has lost his wife to cancer. He raises his two young children in a small sleepy town while operating a small grocery store by the sea. He either goes on raising his two children, alone, not experiencing love or a life beyond tragedy, or he opens up his heart to knew possibilities and hope for a brighter future for himself and his children.This movie does not disappoint. A few elements of the book were changed, but in this case, the audience wouldn't have had the same experience in the theater as they would have had reading the book at home.I'm glad Nicholas Sparks owns his own production company, and produced this movie. I'm sure he understands that with every book he writes, he wants his audience equally affected by his love stories at the big screen.I went to the theater to see this. At today's prices, it was well worth every penny!