“She wasn’t exactly sure when it happened. Or even when it started. All she knew for sure right here and now, she was falling hard and she could only pray that he was feeling the same way.” When a young, beautiful, mysterious woman shows up in a small North Carolina town where everybody knows everybody, they’re yet to find out who Katie is and what her unforgettable past will bring.

Safe Haven was not one of the first Nicholas Sparks novels that I have read, but this was definitely one of my favorites. I will always love a ravishing, romantic book, but Safe Haven includes a perplexing uncertainty of Katie’s past that will draw any reader in.  

Katie, a natural introvert, kept to herself, but starting a new job as a waitress would mean getting to know people. At work her co-workers were attempting to understand her and the regulars were repeatedly taunting questions. She knew to just create small talk and that would be enough, because sharing her life story would do all but good. After a long day of work, she needed to stop and pick up some essentials at the store. Katie stepped inside a local shop when her eyes met with the owners. She looked down right away, trying not to be noticed, but Alex, a tall, dark haired man approached. Fabricating a conversation, he noticed her uncomfortableness, so their words slowly came to a halt. After that day Katie popped into Alex’s business frequently, and steadily their relationship was something alluring to others. Spending each day together, they became intertwined, falling in love hopelessly and passionately. Alex had sensed a hole in her, something that she wasn’t telling him. Katie knew she would have to share with Alex her frightening, explicit past of an abusive and alcoholic husband who, if he found out, could discover and destroy her inside and out.

A novel published in 2010 by the famous writer Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven has been at the top of my, and many people’s readings lists. Safe Haven also became a movie in 2013, which I must say was wonderful. This book, along with many of Spark’s others, contain a captivating love story, while creating an unbreakable bond between reader and the pages within the cover.