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The Guardian
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The Guardian (2003) (edit title/settings)

by Nicholas Sparks (Author) (edit contributors)

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Julie Barenson's young husband left her two unexpected gifts before he died-a Great Dane puppy named Singer and the promise that he would always be watching over her. Now, four years have passed. Still living in the small town of Swansboro, North Carolina, twenty-nine-year-old Julie is... read more

Summary edit see section history

The book begins by talking about Jim's death. Jim is Julies husband. It talks about her marriage to Jim and how he left two unexpected gifts for her when he pasted away. One being Singer, a Great Dane (who at the time was only a puppy) and the other being the promise that he would always watch... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The book begins by talking about Jim's death. Jim is Julies husband. It talks about her marriage to Jim and how he left two unexpected gifts for her when he pasted away. One being Singer, a Great Dane (who at the time was only a puppy) and the other being the promise that he would always watch over her. It then goes on to talk about Julie. She has dated a few guys since the death, but when they come to pick her up Singer seems to 'disprove' of them and barks. Though there is one guy that he does seem to 'approve' of, which is the person who was always there to comfort her after Jim's death, Mike. Mike is a mechanic, who is in love with Julie. Julie isn't in love with him though. She doesn't even think of him in that way. Everything seems to be going just fine, until the day that Richard Franklin shows up in the salon where Julie cuts hair. Richard and Julie begin to date, and it seems to be getting serious. He takes her away on a weekend trip to see play, have a romantic picnic, and take a hot air balloon ride. When they get back, the next day Richard meets with Julie to surprise her with a beautiful locket, engraved with her initials. She excepts the gift and wears it for several days while he is gone away on a trip. The locket begins to get in the way while she is working, so she begins to not wear it. When he comes back, he and Julie meet up and he realizes that she is not wearing her locket and snaps. He questions weather she didn't like it? If there was something wrong with it? If the chain was too long or too short? Julie then realizes that there was something wrong with the picture and tells him there is nothing wrong with it and that it was just getting in the way when she worked. He accepts that and decides that it was because the chain was too long and that he was going to buy her a shorter chain, so she could wear it all the time. For the rest of the day Julie wonders about how Richards emotions and attitude had changed so quickly over something so little. Later that night, Julie was woken by Singer's frantic barking. She didn't know what he was barking at, so she left him alone and slowly went back to sleep. That morning when Julie was going to her car to go to work she saw a slip of paper. It was from Richard and she figured that that was why Singer was barking last night. The paper from Richard said that he was going out of town and wouldn't be back until later that week. While Richard was gone, Julie did some thinking. She still wasn't sure what happened that day when Richard had snapped and she didn't like the way he was acting. She decided that she didn't seem to like him the way he liked her and that she was going to break it off. When he was gone she also began to realize that she liked Mike, and they went to dinner. The day he got back, he went to the salon to see Julie. She was on a break and decided that now was the right time to break it off. Richard yet again snapped. Julie and Richard both went back to work for the rest of the day. But that night, Richard stopped by. Julie opened the door to remind him that it was over between them, and asked why he was here. He told her that he wanted to talk and explain why he acted so strange when she broke it off. Julie wasn't about to let him in so she told him to leave and tried to close the door when Richard stopped it from closing. Singer who was already mad that Richard was there attacked Richard's hand. Julie apologized and felt obligated to invite him in and fix up his hand. Julie fixed up his hand and he told her why he snapped. He got very emotional as he told Julie about his trip to her hometown in Florida to go to his grandmothers funeral. She did her best to make him fell better and when she walked away to the kitchen she came back to see him past out on the couch asleep. She decided to herself that it wasn't the best idea to wake him. So she locked her and Singer into her room and went to sleep. In the morning Richard was gone and everything was fine. She was free to talk to Mike and enjoy his presence. Over time her and Mike came closer and closer, going on more and more dates. Until the date where Richard showed up. Now Julie had seen Richard around and was nice and made small talk, but when she went to the bar to get herself and Mike a drink, Richard pushed her too far and Mike realized that. Mike took matters into his own hands because that was now his girlfriend and Mike didn't want to see Julie hurt. Mike punched Richard. It became a fight, but Richard wasn't fighting back. The police were called and it became a big deal. Mike and Julie went home after everything was squared away...so they thought. That night Julie had realized that Richard had planned that to happen. That he had planned that Mike would get upset and protect Julie. She also realized that she was seeing Richard too many times 'accidentally' and that he was everywhere she was. She discussed this stalking with Mike who thought that they should tell the police. The police had come to Julie's house to talk to Mike some more. Mike and Julie both explain what truthfully happened and told the police about Richard stalking Julie. The officer didn't believe that Richard was stalking her, so he did nothing to fix it. Julie had begun getting phone calls, but no one would answer on the other line. This happened for several weeks and it was starting to scare Julie. What Julie didn't know was that Richard was not only calling her but he was watching her every move and photographing her as well. Julie and Mike both knew it was him calling and that it was him that was following her but the police didn't believe her because she had no solid evidence. The situation was getting worse and no one seemed to believe them.
What Julie also didn't know was Richard's abusive past. Both of his parents had abused him and he had killed both of them. The police investigating their murders never connected it back to him though. He also had a wife. The marriage was good. True love and lust. Jessica and Richard were great together. Until Richard snapped. He started abusing her, not letting her see her family, and not go anywhere on her own. She eventually escaped but he found her and he eventually killed her too. The police never found her body.
Mike and Julie had no luck with the police. So the situation continued to worsen, until the police realized that Mike and Julie weren't lying she was really being stalked. The police decided that the were in danger staying where they were at so they were to leave town ASAP. The police took care of finding the solid evidence that they needed. Richard Franklin wasn't his real name and nothing he said was true. He did really have a wife but his grandmother never died, he was going to Florida to look into Julie's past. Now that Mike and Julie were a save distance away at Mike's brother's beach house the police could investigate Richard. They were discovering many things about Richards past. Richard has realized that Julie has gone out of town and has decided to change his look, ditch his car, and go find her...and get rid of Mike. Richard eventually finds Mike and Julie at the beach house but they are not alone. They have a police officer staying with them. Richard doesn't see that as a hard task to fix. He has everything planned out. He know Julie's new schedule. He knew that she would let Singer out and how much she cared about Singer. He planted hamburger that was covered in rat poisoning on the stairs of the condo that he was using. Singer ate the food and the effects started taking place. Julie started to worry when he hadn't come back after a while. So she, Mike, and the officer went out to look for Singer. When they found Singer they knew something was wrong so they officer went back to call a vet. What the officer didn't know was that Richard was hiding there in the shadows. When the officer came back out Richard hit him in the head with a crow bar, and watched the officer fall, taking his gun. He went back to hiding when he heard someone coming. Knowing it would be Mike he got ready. Mike saw the officer on the back porch and next thing he knew he was fighting with Richard and not winning. Richard eventually took the gun and shot Mike in the stomach, and walked off to find Julie. Mike was rescued by another officer that was coming to help once she had figured out that Richard had followed them to find Mike and Julie. Mike and the officer were driven to the hospital. The other officer set out to find Richard and Julie. Richard had found Julie and was now torturing her. Pulling her hair, calling her Jessica, holding a gun to her head telling her that in order for her to stay alive she had to say that she loved him. The officer arrived to see him being attacked by Singer who found the power to save Julie. Richard in turn shot and killed Singer for attacking him. He and the officer now had guns pointed at each other and before Richard shot, the officer shot and killed Richard to save her own life as well as Julie's . Mike and Julie were fine and lived together now after he got out of the hospital. Their lives went back to normal, except they no longer were accompanied by the big, faithful, loyal Singer.

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “It was funny that you could know someone for years but still discover something you never noticed before.”
  • “I know you love me, and I love you, too, and you make me happy. Even with all this horrible stuff going on, you’ve still made me happy. I just wanted you to know that.”
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • “You always have a choice. It’s just that some people make the wrong one.”
    Highlighted by 75 Kindle customers
  • My mom used to tell me that whatever you do, marry someone who loves you more than you love him.”
    Highlighted by 65 Kindle customers
  • She’d always believed that people come in two varieties: those who look out the windshield and those who stare in the rearview mirror. She’d always been the windshield type: Gotta focus on the future, not the past, because that’s the only part that’s still up for grabs.
    Highlighted by 41 Kindle customers
  • “Everyone—you included—is on her best behavior in the beginning of a relationship. Sometimes little quirks turn out to be big ones, and the big advantage that women have—sometimes the only advantage—is their intuition.”
    Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers
  • It would break my heart if I thought you’d never be happy again. . . . Find someone who makes you happy. . . . The world is a better place when you smile.
    Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers
  • If you were any more whipped, little brother, they’d serve you on ice cream.
    Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers
  • “If I had my way,” he said, “I’d say it every day for the rest of my life.”
    Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers
  • And don’t worry. From wherever I am, I’ll watch out for you. I’ll be your guardian angel, sweetheart. You can count on me to keep you safe.
    Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers
  • It was funny that you could know someone for years but still discover something you never noticed before.
    Highlighted by 20 Kindle customers
  • I’m not saying that I don’t love him, because I do. But if I ever left Henry or something, God forbid, ever happened to me, I don’t think he’d be able to go on. And the guy would risk his life for mine in a heartbeat.”
    Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers
Show all 12 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

Exactly forty days after she'd last held the hand of her husband, Julie Beranson sat looking through her window toward the quiet streets of Swansboro.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Chapters 1-42

Epilogue

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in Nicholas Spark Books. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Nicholas Sparks (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Warner Books
Country: United States
Publication Date: September 2003
ISBN: 0-446-61343-6
Page Count: 494

Classification edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
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  • The Choice
  • The Lucky One
  • At First Sight
  • The Wedding
  • True Believer
  • Dear John
  • Three Weeks with My Brother
  • Message in a Bottle
  • A Walk to Remember

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