A week-long getaway…
City girl Claudia Cade’s carefree life is plunged into chaos when a camping trip with her brother in the national forests of Northern California turns into a deadly dash for her survival.
A solitary world turned upside down…
Nature photographer Shepard Olsen has resigned himself to a quiet existence, with only his dog by his side, until a woman in need of his protection shows up on his doorstep and throws his universe into disarray.
Two lives linked by tragedy…
Claudia is desperate to heal from her traumatic loss, but can’t stop thinking about her run-in with evil….or the grizzled mountain man whose quick thinking and good aim saved her life. When she shows up on Shep’s doorstep again, she finds she isn’t the only one who can’t move on.
…saved by bliss.
The two begin an intense, passionate relationship of Dominance and submission, pleasure and pain, but with dark memories haunting them and decisions about the future rapidly approaching, Claudia can’t help but wonder…how long can they be each other’s haven?
*** WARNING: This book contains a sexual relationship between a fashionista and a cranky mountain man who are dealing with physical and emotional trauma. And a very big, cuddly dog.***
The Meta Details:
Source: Purchase
Format: eBook
Length: 228 pages
Publication Date: April 25, 2017
Genre: Contemporary romance, BDSM, erotic romance
Content Level: adult
Pearl Clutching Content: (rough) sex as a coping method
Trigger Warnings: assault, murder, survivor’s guilt, and shitty exes and parents
Featuring: Gruff mountain man of few words, fashionista, over protective town, over protective BFF
Scorecard:
Recommended for: everyone
Rating: must read
Ginny Lurcock’s Thoughts: I’m not gonna lie to you… I bought this for the promise of beards. Well, the bears and the way the mountain looks over that arm on the cover.
Look at it… It’s glorious.
But, like all of my purchases lately, I didn’t read it right away. In fact, I waited until I was on vacation to pick it up. And for some unknown reason, books that open with the traumatic loss of a family member and BDSM are not always the best reading for a family vacation in Florida.
Go figure.
I worried because I did not instantly love it, that I would again be on the outside of my peer group looking in. The one person who did not love Haven. I silently agreed (with my own paranoia) that I would never think or speak of it again…
So obviously when it was announced that I could get an ARC of Sanctuary I signed up so quickly I actually forgot I had until I got the ARC three days before release leaving me in a hard spot (dick pun, FYI)
I picked up Haven again and found that when in the right headspace for an emotionally packed BDSM romance… Haven is Heaven.
The characters are all brilliantly crafted, deep and with clear motivations, linear progression, and strong voices. The technical aspects of the prose and pacing are on point. It’s an amazingly well-crafted novel. On top of that, the content of this solid shell is incredible. There’s a lot of time spent discussing consent and healthy BDSM practices (that I still believe extend to any sort of sexual relationship, FYI) while acknowledging they’re both in a fucked up place emotionally and probably shouldn’t be doing this.
So while what they’re doing might not be healthy, they go about it in the most informed way possible and I really appreciate that.
I laughed. I cried. I felt like my chest (and loins) might burst. All in all, it was an incredible book and I’m super pumped to jump into the next installment.
