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A review by beaktastic
Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks
4.0
So a friend told me ages ago I should read this book, and then lent it to me last week for me to read. I don't usually go in for super lovey-dovey romance novels like this, but I do sometimes and I knew it had recently been adapted into a film so I thought, yeah, I'd give it a go. I'm glad I did.
Safe Haven follows the story of Katie, a girl who has moved to a typical American smalltown called Southport for a new start. Southport doesn't have new people often, so Katie's arrival does attract some attention. But she keeps her head down and doesn't speak about the past she's running from and she starts to blend in. She begins to think she's safe. And she meets Alex, a local shop owner with two young children. Alex's wife died a few years earlier, and while life has been hard he is learning to move on, just as Katie enters his life. Things seem to be going well, but how long can Southport remain a safe haven for Katie before her past catches up to her?
I really enjoyed this book actually, a lot more than I was expecting. I liked Katie and Alex's relationship and how it developed. I thought Kristen and Josh were adorable. And Kevin when introduced was suitably cruel. I liked Katie as a main character particularly and her past, I thought it was really well written and thought out.
I did think Katie and Alex's relationship was a little easy and there weren't many major obstacles for them to overcome. My main issue with the book was the reveal in the final pages of the novel -
Overall, a good novel. Not the best writing ever, but enjoyable none-the-less for your typical Sparks romance novel.
Safe Haven follows the story of Katie, a girl who has moved to a typical American smalltown called Southport for a new start. Southport doesn't have new people often, so Katie's arrival does attract some attention. But she keeps her head down and doesn't speak about the past she's running from and she starts to blend in. She begins to think she's safe. And she meets Alex, a local shop owner with two young children. Alex's wife died a few years earlier, and while life has been hard he is learning to move on, just as Katie enters his life. Things seem to be going well, but how long can Southport remain a safe haven for Katie before her past catches up to her?
I really enjoyed this book actually, a lot more than I was expecting. I liked Katie and Alex's relationship and how it developed. I thought Kristen and Josh were adorable. And Kevin when introduced was suitably cruel. I liked Katie as a main character particularly and her past, I thought it was really well written and thought out.
I did think Katie and Alex's relationship was a little easy and there weren't many major obstacles for them to overcome. My main issue with the book was the reveal in the final pages of the novel -
Spoiler
That Katie's neighbour Jo was never actually there, she was a ghost, and that she was the ghost of Alex's dead wife to boot. I don't really mind the whole romantic view that Alex's wife Carly was watching over him and approving of his new girlfriend, but the whole reveal about it actually being a ghost throughout the novel and that she was never there and never doing up the cottage next to Katie's was just... so cliche. It's my main gripe of the novel. I'd have been much happier without that reveal. Just... ugh.Overall, a good novel. Not the best writing ever, but enjoyable none-the-less for your typical Sparks romance novel.