DISCLAIMER: Haven was sent to me by The Write Reads Tours in exchange for an honest review. This was also received in association with BBNYA (Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award) – more information at end of this post.

Summary

Most people think the fae are gone. Most people are wrong.

Owen Williams wakes after a horrific car accident to find his wife is dead—and somehow turned into a gryphon—and his kids gone after a home invasion turned horribly wrong. Shattered and reeling, he vows to do whatever it takes to find them.

When a fae scout appears and promises to reunite him with his kids, he doesn’t hesitate before joining her. But she warns him that if he wants to protect his family, he must follow the fae to their city, the hidden haven of Tearmann.

With enemies on the horizon, Owen needs to set aside his fears and take up arms to defend their new home alongside the people he’s always been taught were monsters—or he’ll lose everyone he’s trying to protect.

Publisher: Self-Published

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fantasy, Contemporary Fantasy

Age Category: Adult

Date Published: 30 April 2021

Length: 280 Pages

Review

I enjoyed the concept of the story, more than the story itself and I believe this came down to the pacing. I appreciated the gravity of the events that happened to Owen and the kids. Losing Tiffany, learning the kids were to become fae, and then the additional twists as the novel progressed were good.

While the book was not long by any means, it did feel as though it dragged. I can’t quite put my finger on why but the pacing felt like it went from super fast to nothing happening for quite some time and then back to high-intensity drama. The main issue is that it didn’t feel like high intensity when I got into it which made me feel less emotional towards it.

There was something about Owen that irked me, to be honest. I respected his strength and courage while navigating an entirely new world and its species, but he just didn’t do it for me. I’m glad about the bomb that was dropped on him at the end of the book, it made his character more layered and interesting. However, it still couldn’t make up for the rest of the book where I found him quite ‘meh’.

I wish we’d gotten more time with Tiffany, the twist about her felt entirely random so there was no chance to connect or find out more about her. I actually felt that the side characters, Beira, and even Mr. Abnell had more depth than both of the other adult MC’s combined. I feel more knowledge provided about each fae/character would really give this book the edge that it’s missing. As awful as it may sound, I only really felt some emotion when the last major death happened.

Otherwise, I didn’t feel much of an emotional connection to the book at all as I felt I didn’t relate to any of the characters. I felt there was a lot to be desired about this book, it left me wanting more but not from excitement, more from a general lack of entertainment. The main thing that brought up the rating of this book was the writing itself as the world-building was very good. I believe if I connected to the characters more, this would’ve been a much higher rating.

Find out more about BBNYA…

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.  If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or Twitter @bbnya_official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.