diff --git a/node-persist.js b/node-persist.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/node-persist.js
+++ b/node-persist.js
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ var parseString = function(str){
         if(options.logging){
             console.log("parse error: ", e);
         }
-        return {};
+        return undefined;
     }
 };
 
@@ -315,4 +315,4 @@ var parseFile = function (key) {
             console.log("loaded: " + key);
         }
     });
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};
if a string cannot be parsed, it seems more accurate to return undefined rather than an empty object