Nicholas Sparks' The GuardianIn this book, Julie Barenson is a young widow, whose husband Jim died earlier of cancer. Her husband left her two unexpected gifts. The first was a Great Dane puppy named Singer (this gift was delivered the first Christmas after she passed) and the other gift was his promise that he would always watch over her. About four years after his death, Julie is twenty-nine years old and too young to have given up on love yet. She may be willing to risk caring for someone again, but she just can't figure out who this person is. She begins dating Richard Franklin, a handsome, sophisticated engineer who treats Julie like a queen. The other person she gets to hang out with is Mike Harris, the down-to-earth guy who was her husband's best friend. Her first dates with Richard Franklin are perfect. She enjoys his company and is interested in him. Richard often comes to visit Julie at her job as a hairdresser in a small town called Swansboro. At first, Julie wants to continue dating him because he is simply “charming.” Then things start to get weird... he keeps coming to visit her and he buys her an extremely expensive necklace with her initials engraved on it. Julie feels like it's too early for him to get his expensive gifts like that. Little does Julie know that Richard is an obsessed madman, who is constantly watching her. He drives past her house, parks across the street, and watches her for hours. When she talks or hangs out with other guys, he gets very jealous and asks her about it. Julie tries to be nice to him and just stop seeing him, but he doesn't accept it. The deepest, darkest secret about Richard is that he takes photos of her all the time, then develops them in his darkroom at home. No one else understands this...they all assume he's a great, normal guy. Meanwhile, Julie's dog, Singer, has a mind of his own. He acts like a real person. Julie speaks to him as if he were her child. When she looks at Singer, she thinks of her husband. She feels that Singer “protects” and “guards” her. Every time Richard came to Julie's house, Singer would growl and it was obvious he didn't like Richard..