Safe Haven by Lily Parker - Romance Book Review

This was a sweet and spicy romance where the star of the show was the gorgeous nostalgic lakeside setting.

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Bailey is an author launching her seventh novel. When she hears that her childhood crush (and brother’s best friend/best friend’s brother – yes, he’s both!) is finally coming to her launch party, she’s sent into a tailspin of anxiety. Then she realises that he’s actually there to protect her against a stalker, and after a fright at the party, he decides he’s not letting her out of his sight, even if that means moving out of her city apartment and into the lake house where they spent their summers as kids.

The gorgeous lakeside location and nostalgic memories coming full circle are what really carried this book. I sped through the first sections to reach the part where they were back at the lake. Even though it’s not a childhood I experienced (in the UK!), there’s something so beautifully idyllic about an unrequited childhood crush on the shores of a lake on long summer days becoming real later on.

Bailey and Rhett were a great couple with the additional depth needed to take their romance beyond surface level. Rhett has darkness in his past which is well explored but not fully relied on to build his character. I wasn’t 100% sold on their chemistry immediately – maybe there could have been more of their childhood/teenage days thrown in earlier on, but it was kept somewhat elusive until later as Bailey tried to keep her book (written about those days) hidden from Rhett.

I really enjoyed the side characters – Bailey’s brother and Rhett’s sister – bickering away together. I assume theirs will be the next instalment in this series and I look forward to reading that.

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It was a well paced book with a well developed plot, enough of a mystery and a bit of a thrill alongside the romance storyline. The only qualm I had was that were a few phrases that felt a little clumsy which I had to stop and reread to figure out what the author meant, but nevertheless, I sped through it in two sittings.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book.