Review: Unsafe Haven

Reviewed by Shelly
 

Arriving in the isolated village of Staamat, Alaska, Kendall Martin is ready to start over. On the run from her ex-fiancé, she’s there to reinvent herself as the new owner of a souvenir and sportsman trading post. While there she meets Denn Nulo, Staamat’s Chief of Police and resident good guy.

Kendall and Denn click immediately. That doesn’t mean they jump into bed or anything like that - just that they recognize their mutual attraction. Even though she thinks that Denn seems to be a nice guy, it’s because of her prior abusive relationship that Kendall is very untrusting of her feelings for him. Kendall comes from a home with great parents and wonderful childhood memories, which made her easy to identify with as someone who has had a run of bad things happening in a small, yet defining, time in her life. I loved how although her time with Conroy was bad, it didn’t turn her into a bitter or mean person. Yes, she was more cautious of those around her but her personality remained as a caring person. I really liked Kendall. I thought her character was smart, sweet, vulnerable, and oh so gratifyingly unwilling to play the woe-is-me card. I like that a lot.

Denn is a great character. He’s that everyday hero you would read about in your local paper. He’s a go-getter, intelligent, and yes, very good-looking; very much the boy next door. After going away to college in Anchorage with the plan to become a lawyer, he has to come back home because of his mother’s sudden death and to take care of his thirteen year-old sister, Luna. Luna is absolutely precious: she’s diabetic and her ‘rebellion’ is eating junk food at the local eatery owned by old man Fake (what an awesome name). It’s because of Luna’s sweetness and inherent love of her brother (and him for her) that Kendall sees Denn as a caring and patient person.

There are a lot of characters that make up the small town. Jo, Denn’s best friend who has five boys and is pregnant with her sixth and seventh – yep you got it – twins. She keeps telling this story of her mother’s pregnancy and giving birth that make me laugh out loud. Wendy, the owner of the inn where Kendall first stays has some secrets that probably should have stayed locked up. There’s a plethora of others that I enjoyed getting to know. Oh yeah, let me tell you about Kendall’s ex-fiancé. Conroy Herington was the culmination of what happens when not only power corrupts but when one parent over compensates for the other parent and the kid grows up to be Ted Bundy. Conroy was evil incarnate and I wanted --no, needed-- all bad things to happen to him. I really enjoyed this book a lot. The writing is fresh and clever and very well done.

Happy reading folks!

Rating: A+

*ARC provided by author for review 

Click to purchase: Amazon

Unsafe Haven

by Char Chaffin

Release Date: September 5, 2012

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing