Haven (Relentless Series Book 5) by Karen Lynch
Things are going well for Roland Greene. High school is behind him, he has a sweet new ride, a good job, and he’s making plans for his future. At eighteen, he’s one of the strongest werewolves in his pack, and he already has more vampire kills than most wolves have in a lifetime. Life is good. Almost.
It’s time for the annual pack gathering. Wolves from all over Maine come to take care of pack business and socialize – and to find mates. Everywhere Roland turns there are unmated females, and as the Alpha’s nephew, he’s prime mate material. The last thing he wants right now is a mate, and he’ll do all he can to stay a free wolf.
Until he meets her.
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Pam's Review
I'm a huge fan of the Relentless series, I've re read the first 4 books countless times and I never tire of the story or the world the books are set in. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Roland's story because I've always loved him and Peter, I'm also a total sucker for werewolves and in a market were werewolf books are a dime a dozen I was intrigued to see what Karen's take on it would be. This book is everything I hoped it would be, it is different from the previous books, it's definitely more of a love story than the action packed thrill ride of the others but there is still lots of depth to the plot and I was gripped by the story. The Pack are wonderful and all the new characters we get to meet are just perfectly written, and I loved getting to know Maxwell, Brendan, Francis and a few others better, everything about how Karen has written their lives is how I image a werewolf pack to be....it's totally believable! She's definitely created a world in its own right separate from Sara's world and I'm really hoping Karen considers writing more books set in the Pack in the future....there is a certain rather grumpy werewolf I'd love to have his own book!!
There are lots of cameos in this book from other characters in the series which works brilliantly at giving us a little tease as to what they are all up to. This book is a dual POV story which is a new element to the series, I think Karen has totally nailed it....Roland is funny, charming, warm, thoughtful, and most importantly he doesn't know everything, he gets things wrong and he's still trying to figure out who he is....like most young adults. I'm not saying anything about 'the girl' because I want you to be as surprised and excited as I was!
One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book has been the return to New Hastings and The Knolls, although only Relentless was actually set here Karen did such a phenomenal job with the world building that I felt I knew every detail about this place! Reading this book and returning to this town gave me serious warm and fuzzy feelings lol, I want to live here!! I've only ever felt this connected to the place in a story once before, Hogwarts, were the place becomes it's own character, it's truly magical writing!! I want to walk on the wharfs, drink coffee in The Hub, have lunch in the diner and paint in Sara's apartment....who wants to join me?
This is another 5 star book from Karen, I wish I could give it a million stars! Well done Karen 😀❤️📚
Jem's review
Now, for anyone going into this book expecting another Sara & Nikolas story ram packed full of action and adventure, well stop right there! This is Roland's story and he has a different one to tell.
For me, this book is a much more emotional tale. It's a story of growing up, finding who you are and where your place is in this world. It's also a tale of forgiveness, hope and new beginnings. I found the title of this book, Haven, to be very apt for the situations and actions in this book. However, all of this doesn't mean to say that there was no suspense and or action in this book as there most definitely was. At certain points the suspense of not know where the story was going next and what would happen had me gripping my kindle so tight I was afraid I was going to break it!
I loved that we got to revisit New Hastings. There is just something about the way Karen describes the place that it just makes me want to pack up my bags and go move there straight away. This time around we got to see more of the place than we did with Sara's books. We also got to see more of the Knolls, which seeing as this is Roland's book shouldn't really be a surprise, and I loved it. Karen's world building in her books is just sublime. She doesn't go into too much detail, but she makes you feel as though you are there when reading. She made me feel like I was home, and for an author to do something like that is quite rare.
Now to the characters, I'm not going to spoil anything for you by telling you who the love interest is in this book as that's for you to discover yourself. But, I will tell you that this book is written from dual point of views, so you get to see both of their thoughts and feelings. We see quite a few familiar faces in this book who were in the first Relentless book and I enjoyed getting to know more of them and see then from a different perspective and view than Sara's. We also had a few cameos of our favourite characters in this book which gave a warning feeling like you were welcoming back old friends. There were also some laugh out loud moments from these said cameos, and other moments in the book. Roland has grown and changed a great deal from when we first me him at the beginning. I was never a great Roland fan to start off with, however as the series progressed I grew to like him. In Haven, he really has come in to his own. He no longer wants to be the life and soul of the party with a different girl on his arm each night. He's looking towards his future and he's thinking about what is right before running off or making decisions. I found myself several times forgetting that he's only 18 not 28! Roland is a character that I've grown to love and Haven really was him becoming who he's meant to be.
Overall this book is a guaranteed five stars from me. This is a must read book of the year and one that I think every fan of the Relentless series needs to read. I'll admit that I'm not a big werewolf fan! Of all the shifters, werewolves are my least favourite (with dragons being my top shifters) however I didn't let that put me off picking up this book, because come on, it's Karen Lynch and why wouldn't I want to read anything she's written! I don't think the werewolf theme was overdone in this book at all and as I got further into the story I almost found myself forgetting they were werewolves. So don't let that put you off picking up this book. Trust me when I say this is one of those books you don't want to miss. But also trust me when I say to have a pack of tissues handy whilst reading as you'll be crying tears of joy and sadness. Now go ahead and read this book and step back into the magical world that the genius Karen Lynch has created.
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