I was endlessly captivated reading Dark Haven and completely enamoured by Willows’ expert display of her craftmanship. I’m truly a little bit heartbroken to have turned the last page of this story.
Dark Haven is a fabulous tale of vampires, vampire lore, and a cool sneaky peek at what a world with vampires and humans existing side by side might look like. The plot is exceptionally well thought out and as a result the flow of the story is sublime, and thus an absolute joy to get lost in. I genuinely found Willows’ take on vampire dynamics, their primordial powers and customs, and the back stories of the ancient vampires mesmerising.
With a solid paranormal romance at its core, Dark Haven is enhanced by a compelling mystery/intrigue vibe accompanied by lashings of hot and heavy sexy time.
“Did she turn you down?” she whispered.
Dark Haven – Brey Willows
“On the contrary, she asked why we weren’t already fucking like rabbits on Viagra”. Remy rolled her eyes.
Willows’ is superb at writing characters within the butch/femme arena and this mastery is beautifully displayed with the main characters of Remy and Sage; two women who are just as strong as they are vulnerable.
Remy Winslow is as ancient as she is a hot butch vampire; one who firmly prefers the off-grid vamp life. Unfortunately, in a bid to further her species’ place in the world and bring vampires out into the ‘light’ so to speak, she unintentionally found herself the posterchild of political action for the entire vampire community. Jaded by her unending life and having born witness countless times to societies progression and subsequent destruction, Remy is in no mood to play host to the overly optimistic, glaringly human, Sage Samara.
A well known successful social media influencer, Sage is excited to share the inner workings of the vampire world with her followers. Eternally positive, Sage is idealistic often bordering on sweetly innocent, and quite simply doesn’t see any danger in becoming the proverbial lamb in the lion’s den. In fact, Sage isn’t convinced that there is a lion’s den to worry about in the first place!
Sage’s naïve outlook begins to change when it becomes apparent that not everyone is overjoyed with her presence at Dark Haven, never mind with Remy’s determination to successfully bring vampires out of the darkness and into the wider world.
He blew a smoke circle in the air. “The world always finds us, cherie, try as we might to pretend it can’t. We must enjoy the moments of contentment in between.”
Dark Haven, Brey Willows
As events unfold and the danger to both human and sympathetic vampires grows, so does the undeniable bond between Remy and Sage; a bond neither of them saw coming. Despite Remy’s best intentions to concentrate solely on the safety of her community- her chosen family, the pull towards Sage is like nothing she’s felt before; and Remy’s been around long enough to have experienced most everything there is to feel in the world…
I adored Remy’s character from the offset, and I warmed up to Sage once I got to know and understand her a little better. And as per usual Willows rounds out the Dark Haven clan with some brilliant side characters. I particularly loved Jet and Rac, the latter of which I would totally not want to ever come across in a dark room!
Dark Haven is a story of soul mates, of destiny written in the stars. But even more special, Dark Haven is a story which readers will struggle to drag their inner bookworm away from.
I received an ARC of this book from Butterworth Books in exchange for an honest review.
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