A safe haven between four realms. The girl sworn to protect it--at any cost. New York Times bestselling author Sara Holland crafts a breathtaking new contemporary fantasy perfect for fans of Melissa Albert and Holly Black.
Hidden deep in the mountains of Colorado lies the Inn at Havenfall, a sanctuary that connects ancient worlds--each with their own magic--together. For generations, the inn has protected all who seek refuge within its walls, and any who disrupt the peace can never return.
For Maddie Morrow, summers at the inn are more than a chance to experience this magic first-hand. Havenfall is an escape from reality, where her mother sits on death row accused of murdering Maddie's brother. It's where Maddie fell in love with handsome Fiorden soldier Brekken. And it's where one day she hopes to inherit the role of Innkeeper from her beloved uncle.
But this summer, the impossible happens--a dead body is found, shattering everything the inn stands for. With Brekken missing, her uncle gravely injured, and a dangerous creature on the loose, Maddie suddenly finds herself responsible for the safety of everyone in Havenfall. She'll do anything to uncover the truth, even if it means working together with an alluring new staffer Taya, who seems to know more than she's letting on. As dark secrets are revealed about the inn itself, one thing becomes clear to Maddie--no one can be trusted, and no one is safe . . .
Sara Holland takes the lush fantasy that captured readers in Everless and Evermore and weaves it into the real world to create a wholly captivating new series where power and peril lurk behind every door.
Review: Firstly I love the cover of this book, it is just stunning and soothing all at once and a beautiful cover that this contains a beautiful world within. I could definitely picture havenfall and its magical properties and that is because of Sara Holland's beautiful writing. It is so descriptive and often really profound, like in this case, 'It occurs to me, Calmly and distantly, that I've thought about things the wrong way. The difference between monsters and people; it's not a divide between Solarians and humans or anything like that, it's what we do'. I liked that it walks that balance between magical and real, I found it easy to picture and definitively believed everything that Maddie was going through.
I love a book with a strong female lead and we have that here with Maddie who aspires to be the Havenfall Inkeeper, responsible for overseeing peace delegations between worlds, when her uncle retires. I like that she has these strong desires and knows what she wants. She is ultimately flawed though and this is where a lot of the plot points come from. Maddie tries to do what she can to solve problems but she really can't always. There is an element of romance in this book and a hint of a f/f/ relationship but it is not the main plot of this one. I would have liked more to have been made of that particular relationship but this is maybe something which will be explored in the next book in the series.
This was definitely light fantasy with a lot of action, some violence but it poses a lot of questions and a lot of dilemmas for our character which I am sure will be picked up in book 2. I liked that there wasn't tons of new information to take in but I don't think that a little more detail would have hurt the pacing at all. Maddie was a good main character but I would definitely like to see a few more memorable characters in book 2 because for me, the setting in the Colorado mountains was what stuck out for me. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes in book 2.
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