Haven by Mary Lindsey

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“We all hold a beast inside. The only difference is what form it takes when freed.”

Rain Ryland has never belonged anywhere, He’s used to people judging him for his rough background, his intimidating size, and now, his orphan status. He’s always been on the outside, looking in, and he’s fine with that. Until he moves to New Wurzburg and meets Friederike Burkhart.

Freddie isn’t like normal teen girls, though. And someone wants her dead for it. Freddie warns he’d better stay far away if he wants to stay alive, but Rain’s never been good at running from trouble. For the first time, Rain has something worth fighting for, worth living for. Worth dying for.

You might remember my previous DNF review, but once Entangled Teen decided to be the booking best and send me a surprise box with this lovely book inside, I decided to give it another shot. The reason that I DNF’d it before was not because it was bad or anything – in fact, it was actually quite good. I just had a weird setting stuck in my head of a futuristic Eastern European town and when it was some small town in Texas, I couldn’t wrap my head around. Thanks to some time away, I was able to get my book butt together, and it actually ended up being pretty great.

I’m going to preface my review with this: I’m not a werewolf girl. I think I have to blame it on the fact that Twilight was probably the beginning of YA book career, and once authors discovered that was the formula to fast cash, vampires and werewolves were everywhere, and every book I picked up had them. I think I wore myself out on them, and I still haven’t recovered. I might have had some disconnect from the story at some points, which was just a personal preference, but I’m going to tell you straight up: FOR ME NOT LIKING WEREWOLF STORIES, MARY LINDSEY DID SUCH A GOOD JOB AT CONVINCING ME TO GIVE THIS ONE A SHOT.

I thought this story had one of the coolest settings and feels to it. It’s kind of this dark, urban fantasy story that brings small town life to the forefront with creepy overtones. It’s sexy, it’s kind of soap operay in the best way, and it just has a dark Grimm fairytale feel to it. I was completely sold in the setting, and it’s so the right book to pick up this November season. It has the autumn feel with an intriguing story behind it.

Lindsey did an amazing job with the mythology as well. There was never a moment that I was like, wait, what I don’t get it? If I had a question, don’t worry – Rain was there to actually ask it and keep asking it until he got a straight answer, which I mean is fantastic since so many main characters will be like, um, I don’t get an answer, kk, I’ll wait until never again to ask it later. Lindsey explained it well, and took the whole witches, vampires, and werewolves concept and still managed to make it new.

I liked the characters as well. Rain was great. He felt very realistic, and I have to say that a lot of these characters had very realistic reactions to what insanity was going around them. I thought Rain was a great narrator. What’s odd is my two favorite characters are actually not actually any of the main characters. I absolutely loved Petra who was just a side Weaver, but I thought she was spectacularly done. I would so read another book just about her. I also loved Aunt Ruby as well. She was a character that let Rain just be Rain, and I loved how human and real she felt. It’s amazing that Lindsey convinced me to love these little side characters so much. Freddie was great as well, and even if I didn’t like some of the other characters, I at least felt what I was supposed to for them.

I admit I kind of did imagine Freddie as a gritty Belle. XD

The mystery was intriguing as well. It’s just not about Rain discovering there is magic in his new town, but it is also about figuring out who is behind the mysterious deaths appearing in town. I did figure out the killer, but it was quite interesting.

The ship was cute, too. It was a little instalovey, but I didn’t mind it too much. I never got super, super into it, but it was still quite good.

Again, I did feel some sort of disconnect with it. I’m not sure if it was the fact that it is kind of a slower pace or it was the whole werewolves thing, but I never really got super, super into it. This is a well done story, though, and it would have been a concept that I would have skipped over had it not been for Lindsey’s wonderful writing. She really draws the reader in, and I got hooked from those first 100 pages. I loved some of the characters dearly, and the setting was just right. This was a super solid story, and if you want a new take on the werewolf story or just a good fall read, definitely pick this story up! Three point five super high crowns and a Belle rating (because you know, the BEAST).