Haunted (Fairhaven Book 1) by Sam Drake

First love marred by tragedy, a second chance years later, but they struggle with love versus partnership.
A book about destruction, fires, loss, grief, trauma, love, and finding yourself when you're lost.


From the blurb:

Lance Broussard drove through fire at seventeen to pull Parker Bishop out of the smoke. What came after — the almost-ten-months of after — he's never told anyone about. He's spent the decade since learning that saving someone and keeping them are not the same thing.

He still hasn't learned it.

Parker Bishop left the summer after the fire and didn't look back. He goes by Jonny now, carries his life in a single bag, and has very specific feelings about people who think he needs taking care of. He came back to Fairhaven for one reason. Lance Broussard was not it.

Lance will give Jonny everything he has. That's always been the problem. What Jonny's never learned is that letting someone in isn't the same as giving yourself away.

So the reunion, when it comes, isn't tender. Lance never forgave him for leaving; Jonny never forgave Lance for loving him like something that needed saving. They're both right.

Then a woman turns up dead with her blood on Jonny's hands, dragging everything they buried the year of the fire back into the open — and the one person Jonny can't get through this without is the one he swore he'd never need again.

The question was never whether they loved each other. The question is whether love is enough.

Can two people unlearn everything they know about love before the truth finishes what the fire started?

Haunted is a slow-burn, second-chance, small-town hurt/comfort MM romance with deep grief and healing — the first novel in the Fairhaven series, for readers who like their happy endings earned the hard way.

Perfect for fans of Sarina Bowen and Leta Blake.


SNik's review:

First in series (Fairhaven). Small town. Second chance. Slow burn. Dual POV. 

Lance and Parker were high school classmates, friends, with the potential for more. But a horrible tragedy is the beginning and end of any possibility and they separate for ten years before seeing each other again. 

The first part of this story was better, their semi-established interest and care for each other as teenagers was compelling. The pining and yearning and missed chance was heartbreaking. The reuniting later seemed quick and then there were a bunch of different elements which caused the attempt at a relationship to falter, and it got a little overwhelming. I wish the focus had been more about them navigating what being together looked like now that they were older and how they were the same and also different. The supportive family characters were really nice, and I do wish we got an epilogue or sense of how their HEA looked, but overall this was an entertaining read.

Katriana Prey's review:

I feel conflicted about Lance and Parker's story... I understand why certain events played out how they did, however, things started to feel very repetitive to me.

I'll start off first by saying that the way this book started immediately pulled me in and made me interested in learning more, it immediately caught my interest. The book quite literally started off in a devastating way, but thats what added so much depth and emotion to the story overall. I will also say that I liked Parker and Lance, both together, and as individuals. The side characters were great too, the dialogue was good, and I loved how there was a surprise mystery that unraveled, that was really fun to read about!

Now onto what made the story slightly less enjoyable gor me. I feel like the back and forth between Lance and Parker got very repetitive, to the point where I predicted it coming each time it happened because there was a pattern to it. And yes, I do understand why those moments happened, I even understand it from the viewpoint of the characters, but even with understanding it, I didn't enjoy all the back and forth. I also think the whole thing with Parker's dad was a but unnecessary? I would understand it more if something came out of it.. his father confronting him, him confronting his father, etc.. but those things didn't happen. Nothing really did with that aside from them having their suspicions.

Other than those two things, I did enjoy reading this book, it was really interesting and very different from the books I've been reading lately which I quite enjoyed! I am very interested in reading book two and seeing what's in store for a certain college professor.

Haunted is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription