Rating: 
Summary: It Never Ends...........
Review: Nicholas Sparks's talent never ends. It is growing to be a lot stronger but it never ends.
I have always been a fan of Nicholas's work. I have read all his books and own all but one them. I must say if I go back I can see improvments he has made along the way, not to say that his work was never amazing.,
In this book perticulerly though, he took a big step in finding a new way to aprouch love. Bringing jelosy and love into the picture. As well as from departing from the 2 people love story, this one has 4 and all become a big part of the story.
Along with bringing more people (and animals) into the 2 new love birds lives he also uses abuse as a way to catch your eye and really feel like your part of the story.
This book is really a fantastic delacat read.
Best Of Luck for All that Take On the This heartbreaking but truely wonderful book!
Rating:
Summary: A page turner
Review: Nicholas Sparks, the author of countless love stories, has tried his hand at something new this time around by adding a bit of suspense to the mix and in doing so created a winner. The Guardian did take about 100 pages to really get moving but once it did, look out. The book just took off and the action started.
Rating:
Summary: AMAZING
Review: I have read all of Nicholas Sparks' books, and this one was right up there with his best. The Guardian is not only a great love story, it is also a story of murder and jealousy. This book will captivate you from the very first page; it is a great read. I recommend it to all Nicholas Sparks fans as well as to everyone else.
Rating:
Summary: Well Realized Story of Obsession
Review: Very few writers continue to better themselves and their writing abilities, and Sparks (with the exception of Nights in Rodanthe) is one of those few. He hit the charts with a simple yet fundamentally touching love story, followed it up with two more, then began to spice his love stories with a little action. The Rescue and A Bend in the Road offered a fireman and a deputy, and both followed their heart and gave us a little action at the end. Still, good though they were, they were love stories first and last.The Guardian takes the action to a new level. I must say I was a bit apprehensive at first. I feared a maudlin throwback to Sleeping With the Enemy coupled with a rewrite of one of his past big sellers. We expect the Chosen Few in the top ten to give us something we know: vampires from Anne Rice, horror from Stephen King, lawyers from John Grisham, and romance from Nicholas Sparks. Sparks gives us romance this time around, but he also gives us a first rate thriller about love gone bad. The story starts with a widow meeting a nice guy. He's everything a good boyfriend should be, but something isn't right. Then she finds love in an unlikely friend from her past, and to say any more would spoil a great read. Sparks does an excellent job of getting inside the head of a psychologically damaged individual who may or may not have done away with his first wife. We don't know, and as the suspense builds, Sparks reveals his clues to the reader as the characters find them and does an excellent job of presenting a police procedural that could and does happen in the real world. The two main police officers, total opposites, are interesting characters and their banter provides an aspect of humor. Also, the budding relationship between the widow and her new love in the face of being stalked is very intimate and true. As he states in the afterword, Sparks wanted to create a suspense thriller that was first a love story, and he has pulled this off and then some. If this isn't his best book to date (A Walk To Remember) then it is certainly his most developed. He doesn't "go for the tearjerker" so much as he lets events build up to a finale that warrants the desired effect. He presents characters we can care about, and he builds momentum very well. I can see him gaining an even bigger audience with this book, a book that can show guys who don't believe in reading love stories that such a story can be done, and done well.
Rating:
Summary: Great Romantic Thriller - Different Storyline for N.Sparks
Review: This novel is different from the rest yet similar. The tone and elements of romance are consistent with his other novels but the suspense of a thriller novel is also part of this one. Like his other novels this is also a page turner and once you pick it up you cannot put it down. You can tell that the details regarding the characters have been well thought out and that the background characterization is really well done. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Nicholas Sparks Does it AGAIN
Review: I've read all his books and they just keep getting better! I won't go into details but this book really kept me interested to the very end. Like always - keep the tissues handy. If you like a good thriller/love story, be sure to buy this book!!
Rating:
Summary: TERRIFIC READING
Review: Versatile voice performers Isabel Keating and Anne Twomey give two distinctly different but equally excellent readings to another eagerly waited romance from a writer who often tops bestseller lists. Reader of the Unabridged version, Isabel Keating, is recognized for her off Broadway appearances, and parts in short films. She imbues the story with appropriate amounts of pathos and suspense. Tony Award nominee Anne Twomey has numerous television roles to her credit as well as appearances in feature films. Her reading is nuanced and affecting. After a childhood spent with a non-caring parent Julie Barenson suffers an even greater trauma - the death of her young husband. His legacy? A Great Dane puppy she calls Singer, and the promise to always be looking after her. Four years pass and Julie is only 29 - still young; too young to spend the rest of her life alone. There are two who may be after her heart - the first is a successful, good looking engineer, Richard Franklin, who seems to have placed her on a pedestal. Also, seemingly just appealing is Mike Harris, her late husband's best friend. However, in this story Nicholas Sparks serves up much more than romance. Suspense mounts as rather than a second chance at happiness Julie suddenly finds herself in mortal peril. An unbeatable combination: suspense + romance, and Sparks delivers both in spades. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Sparks Did it Again!
Review: I just finished reading Sparks' latest The Guardian. I couldn't put it down. As with the rest of his works, I needed tissues before the end. It started out as your typical love story then it all turned, and took me by surprise. What a nice twist. The mixture of humor, love and thriller all in one book. It was wonderful. I'm on edge now waiting for his next book. I grew up in the area that this book took place in, so I know the area well. It was easy for me to picture the town and the characters. You will not be disappointed in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: This is undoubtedly Nicholas Sparks's finest work
Review: Nicholas Sparks's new novel, THE GUARDIAN, clearly challenges the time honored maxim "man's best friend". While Sparks is known for writing sappy love stories that pull on the reader's heartstrings, THE GUARDIAN is undoubtedly his finest work. The novel's main character, a widow named Julie Barenson, receives a puppy that her husband arranged before his untimely death. Although Singer, a Great Dane, challenges Julie's patience on more than one occasion, her beloved four-legged friend is at the right place when she needs him the most. Although THE GUARDIAN at first appears to be another tearjerker from Sparks, whose seventh novel will surely be atop the bestseller lists within no time, it is completely different from his debut novel, THE NOTEBOOK, or NIGHTS IN RODANTHE, which comes out in paperback in June. Don't worry Sparks fans. THE GUARDIAN takes place in another small southern town, Swansboro, N.C. And, of course, it contains a deep-rooted love story, the kind that has catapulted Sparks into literary stardom. But what's different about THE GUARDIAN from his other six novels is that this novel is extremely chilling at times. It is pulse pounding, breathtaking, suspenseful and intriguing. Without giving too much of the plot away, the book starts out when Julie receives a surprise gift on Christmas Eve in 1998 -- an adorable puppy. The animal is exactly what she needs to help her deal with the recent loss of her husband, Jim. Fast forward to 2002. Singer and Julie have become best friends, but Julie yearns to start a new relationship --- but with whom? Well, there's Mike Harris, who works as a mechanic and was her husband's best friend and best man in her wedding. Then there's Richard Franklin, a strikingly handsome transplant to the area. Julie dates Richard for a while but decides there's just nothing there and starts to see Mike. Unfortunately, the rejection is too much for Richard to handle and he just can't cut his losses and be friends with her. This is where the pace of the book really gains momentum. Instead of being a gentleman about the whole thing, Richard turns into a menacing creep and calling Julie over and over and hanging up the phone when she answers. He then pops up when she's out walking Singer and when she's shopping for groceries. Richard shows up at a nightclub where Julie and Mike happen to be and Mike loses his cool and brawls with Richard. Wow! Violence in a Nicholas Sparks book? This has got to be a first. Besides being a well-crafted love story, THE GUARDIAN is also a compelling police drama complete with guns, of course. Although Sparks's work isn't as gritty or dogged as the work of a James Patterson or Michael Connelly, he does fine in developing tightly written fiction relating to police work. He furthers his story line with Pete Gandy and Jennifer Romanello, two of the town's cops on complete opposite ends of criminal justice. Gandy is a townie who thinks he is a super cop and has Richard all figured out; he tells Jennifer the case is closed. Meanwhile, Jennifer, a Bronx native whose father was a member of the NYPD, doesn't think too highly of Gandy and clearly believes Richard is up to no good. Despite being a surprising thriller from Sparks, the copyediting could have been a little tighter. Near the end of the novel, Sparks mentions a 1994 Pontiac Trans Am, but then refers to the car as being a 1984 Trans Am. Which is it? Even though it can be considered a minor error, inaccurate details like this can sometimes ruin a perfectly written novel. In the Author's Note, Sparks says the manuscript was a challenge for him and went through eight revisions. After eight revisions, there is no excuse for the aforementioned miscue. --- Reviewed by David Exum
Rating:
Summary: exhilarating dark romantic suspense
Review: In Swansboro, North Carolina four months after her cherished husband Jim passed away, Julie Barenson receives the puppy and note from beyond. Knowing he was dying, Jim's only regret was how lonely his beloved Jules would be, as she had no one to turn to for solace. Jim arranged for Jules to have the puppy and vows to watch over her. Because she knows that Jim would want her to sing Christmas carols she names her puppy Singer. Four year later, Julie nearing her thirtieth birthday feels ready to start dating. Two men court Julie. Richard Franklin seems perfect, yet Singer detests him and Julie has doubts though the dates have been quite extravagant. Jim's best friend, Mike Harris, has been there especially since her beloved died and Singer adores him. Julie is much more comfortable with Mike than Richard, but should she risk her best friendship for a second chance at love or should she go for the more exciting Richard? As Julie decides her future, a stalker threatens her. THE GUARDIAN starts slowly as Nicholas Sparks purposely enables the reader to fully comprehend what makes Julie tick before the story line switches into full speed whether it is a romantic scene or a stalking moment. Her two beaus are fully developed along with Singer and through memories of others insight into Jim is provided. Still, Julie, as the center of the plot, is a fabulous lead protagonist who will gain much empathy from an audience that will appreciate Mr. Sparks' exhilarating dark romantic suspense. Harriet Klausner
| 
