The Guardian - Nicholas Sparks

Plot:

Julie Barenson's young husband left her two unexpected gifts before he died - a puppy named Singer and the promise that he would always be watching over her. Now, four years later, twenty-nine year-old Julie is far too young to have given up on love. She may be ready to risk caring for someone again. But who? Should it be Richard Franklin, the sophisticated, handsome engineer who treats her like a queen? Or Mike Harris, the down-to-earth nice guy who was her husband's best friend? Choosing one of them should bring her more happiness than she's had in years. Instead, Julie is soon fighting for her life in a nightmare spawned by a chilling deception and jealousy so poisonous that it has become a murderous desire...

My opinion:

Nicholas Sparks' books always have  that same thought's line - a woman and a man that meet each other and, in one way or the other, they both fall in love.

Nevertheless, the author has that 'spark' when he writes, linking a random novel to eerie events. In this story he bonds promises, human nature and instinct, in one character - Singer (who happens to be my favourite character in the book).

One thing that Nicholas Sparks could explore more, is the fact that every man has a good side and a dark side. In this book Mike is the good guy and Richard is the dark one.

I always find myself wondering about the reasons why Richard had so much bitter, paranoid and revenge inside himself. My conclusion --> genes!

Richard had a troublesome childhood that motivated him towards the dark side of things. Was he capable of loving someone? To be honest, I don't think Richard knew the right definition of love. For him, everything was a matter of 'I'm the only one capable of protecting you, don't you see how perfect our future seems to be?'. Well my friend, manipulating and especially killing people, might not be a very clever way of gaining what you seek for...

One little idea that may catch the readers: Create a character that awakes the goodness in the dark ones.

Now you might be thinking 'But that way, there's no villain!'.
You guys might be right, but hey ho, most of us weren't born to be the well-known handsome 'heroes' and probably most of us are still struggling to find out if our essence belongs to the dark side or the saint one.

All this rambling to say that Richard had a dream - Photography.

And just like Nicholas Sparks wrote "You always have a choice. It's just that some people make the wrong one."