"Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather, and a little music played out of doors by somebody I do not know." - John Keats

"You're not allowed to say anything about books because they're books and books are, you know, God." - Nick Hornby

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Review #7: Safe Haven, by Nicholas Sparks

Yeah, I know. Nicholas Sparks. But he wrote The Notebook, and, well, I'm a sucker. And this was a freebie on my Nook.

Safe Haven introduces us to Alex, a young widower with two small children who runs the local small town general store, and Katie, a beautiful girl with a secret to hide. Katie's on the run from her husband Kevin, a detective with the Boston Police Department who has a propensity for beating his wife. Katie (of course) winds up falling for Alex, and their only real struggle is that Kevin finds Katie and goes bananas.

I realize that this is a romance novel, and it's not based in reality. I know that Sparks is not exactly considered high-end literature, but this book irritated the daylights out of me. Sparks kind of tried to delve in to Kevin's crazy side, but not enough. Sparks kind of tried to convey Katie's fear when she was getting ready to run, and later, after she left. Sparks kind of tried to show Alex's reluctance at falling in love again and saddness at the realization that his children were forgetting their mother. But he just...didn't.

I've been sitting here on my couch trying to figure out why it irritated me so much, and it finally dawned on me: it's like a Lifetime movie. And like a Lifetime movie, the only reason I finished this is because I was hungover this morning.

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