Sin’s Haven by Carlene Love Flores
Contemporary Romance
Released: November 28, 2013
Evernight Publishing
Reviewed by Mandi
Our hero Ben is the webmaster for the band Sin Pointe. He is a bit of a quirky fellow. 6’5, long hair and the first night we meet him he is wearing really tight pants and a turquoise leopard shirt. And as you get to know him he is quite beta. He is shy and has no confidence when it comes to women. It’s been six years since he last went on a date. He is in lust with another singer named Erby Wells, whom he meets out at a bar one night. At this bar is our heroine Hazel. Her fiance committed suicide a year earlier, and she is still broken up about it. She is singing at the bar tonight to raise money for suicide prevention, and the member of Sin Pointe are there sponsoring the event. It is here Ben meets Hazel and there is a definite spark. It is also here that Erby embarrasses Ben and leaves for good. Ben gets totally drunk and falls asleep at this bar, while Hazel takes care of him.
The next day, Hazel leaves a note while Ben is still drunk saying something like – thanks for the amazing night. He thinks he slept with her and feels awful.
I’ll stop there with the set-up. A few things to note about this book. First of all, the first chapter is very confusing. I feel like we jump right into a situation and I had no idea what was happening or who the characters were. But I kept going and the next few chapters this book took on a very quirky tone – which I appreciated. Ben is such a different hero – down in the dumps, no self-esteem, shy, gentle. I liked him.
But I started to have a lot of problems. First, Hazel. Oh Hazel. She is still reeling from her fiance’s death and I never felt this subject was handled great by her. At one point she freaks out on Ben but they never have a big talk to discuss this suicide that happened in her life. This is a pivotal event in the book, but it needed to take the next step. This event would definitely affect her relationship with Ben and we needed to see that discussion.
Also, Hazel lets Ben believe they slept together for so long. I have said this a dozen times on this blog – I hate it when secrets are kept to create conflict for no reason! I don’t like it when secrets are kept that make the other person feel terrible when they actually did nothing wrong. And Hazel had many, many moments to tell Ben the note was fake. She did it to boost his self-esteem, but when she realizes it has the opposite effect she could have stopped it right then and there.
The end is very rushed with the I love you. It would have been better with a ‘happy for now’ ending.
I like the chance the author took with a quirky hero, but not a big fan of the story.
Rating: C-
I have a pet peeve with covers that don’t represent the characters-that guy on that cover does not look like the man you describe. LOL-I sounds like it had potential but didn’t delivery.