Enjoyed reading this book especially looking at such a different way of life, it was exciting and interesting but it didn’t grab me

To be completely honest I struggled with this. I got the concept of the book, but it was so slow I wanted to give up but didn't as this was my second attempt.
Sadly I cannot recommend

I couldn't actually get in to this book. I'm sure thud is to do with where my head is at the moment rather than the book. I may well revisit it.

Tara, Kit and Jeremy leave their mundane lives behind and purchase a farm on the remote Bodmin Moors. Their dream is to live off grid and be completely self sustainable. Along with other like minded couples and friends they hope to create their own utopia and approach this new way of life with hope and optimism.

Their new idyllic lifestyle brings many challenges and Jeremy assumes the role of leader, but it soon becomes apparent that their original aims differ greatly from Jeremy's vision and a darker more controlling side of his personality emerges with devastating consequences.

A gripping read that I would definitely recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very different read for me as I’d never read a book about living in a commune before. At first the idea of living in a commune with a group of likeminded people sounded very appealing especially as I’m very familiar with the beauty of Bodmin Moor.

However the idyllic utopia soon starts to fall apart when it becomes clear that Jeremy isn’t the benevolent leader he paints himself to be. He starts to impose rules to keep the other members of the group in line, the very thing that he despised about the outside world.

The story is told through Kit, Tara and Dani. Kit and Tara believed that life in a countryside commune would provide the best upbringing for their daughter Skye, and Dani was escaping a tough home life.

What started as a story about a community working hard together for a better life soon took a dark turn and it wouldn’t take long for the tension to take hold. A fabulous thriller.

This is a little off my typical type of book but I like to try different genres occasionally. I found this a little slow. There were some interesting characters but not my kind of book.

The Haven
This was a very pleasant surprise! I’ve read a few books based on the same premise - free-wheeling (but not necessarily free-thinking) communes; cults; alternative lifestyle communities and none of them really hit the mark for me.
But The Haven has so many elements that just worked so well together. Well-paced; switching narratives which were easy to follow; believable characters; well-written and a good mix of feel-good moments mixed with doses of unease and terror!
The characters were brilliantly fleshed out and hugely engaging but I did feel irritated by ‘The Goodie’ (Tara) and ‘The Baddie’ (Jeremy).
It was interesting that Amanda Jennings wrote this book during the pandemic. The idea of living in a beautiful but slightly isolated place such as Bodmin Moor and living a life away from the modern world appealed to so many people during lock-down. So she captured that yearning for freedom and wild spaces brilliantly. But she also captured that feeling of being trapped in a small bubble of people. The nuances of feeling glad to have those you love around you but also the frustrations of lack of privacy and petty irritations caused by seeing the same faces day in and out.
This was the first book I’d read by Amanda Jennings but it’s definitely made me want to read more of her work.

Absolutely excellent read! This story following a groups escape to the Bodmin moors to set up a self sufficient community in search of a utopia away from the constraints of modern society had it all. The desires of the characters was relatable on so many levels. I was totally drawn in and gripped by the unfolding storyline. There was a roller-coaster of emotions and as things unfold and the visions of one community member begin to try and control the group cracks start to form. I loved this book, couldn't wait to keep on reading just another bit more!!! A great author and I look forward to reading more from her.

This was a very slow thriller and at times I thought it read more like a drama because of the lack of suspense. It wasn’t until the final quarter did the pace really ramp up and I enjoyed how Jennings manipulated the reader, making them feel as isolated as Tara and Dani.

To be honest, I don’t think the plot was overly original. Focusing on Tara, Kit and Jeremy, they decide to leave the trappings of mainstream living and purchase a farm on the remote Bodmin Moors. The dream? Living off-grid and being completely self-sustainable. With some other like-minded couples and friends, the trio hope to create their own utopia and approach this new way of life with hope and optimism.

However, from encounters with the locals who criticise their ‘free’ living and Jeremy’s sporadic trips away from the farm, life is not as free and happy as Tara was hoping. Caring for her daughter, Tara is very conscious that some conveniences, such as medicine and hot water, are something she isn’t prepared to completely remove from her life. After all, why be miserable in a more simplified lifestyle? Leading to clashes with enigmatic, self-appointed leader, Jeremy, Jennings slowly prepares readers for a happy ever after that goes disastrously wrong.

Jeremy’s influence over the group slowly grows. At first, he is looked at for guidance and is the main driving factor behind life at the farm. However, there is a darker side to his nature and he relies on the older members of the community to support some of his more radical beliefs. It is Tara who first resists Jeremy’s initial ideas, causing conflict between her husband and Kit, who are like brothers because they are so close. Towards the latter part of the novel, some of Jeremy’s beliefs are quite chilling and I was fascinated to see which characters would blindly accept his rules and who would stand up for themselves.

I enjoyed how the narrative switched between key characters: Tara, Kit (her husband) and Dani. Dani is a young girl of 14 whom Jeremy ‘saves’ from the streets of London. Her life is appalling and I found the descriptions of Dani’s home ‘pre-farm’ to be very sobering. However, Jeremy’s intentions are never fully revealed and I think Tara was right to suspect that he has another motive, especially when Emily is also brought to the farm and join the community. With these different perspectives, readers witness how the characters respond to their environment and Jeremy’s increasing guidance. It shows how this craved for utopia is not necessarily delivering on all levels.

I found this to be an interesting take on a type of ‘cult’ living. The closing comment about creating a utopia particularly resonated with me: a utopian paradise could be achieved, if it wasn’t for the humans within it. Different people have different values and ideals, so having an environment where everybody is completely happy is nigh impossible and doomed to fail. Perhaps a bit pessimistic, it certainly makes you want to try and make the best out of what you already have.

With thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel has a wonderful and unpredictable tension running throughout the gritty realism of the tense, dramatic scenes. If a person was ever considering joining a communal way of living they would be well advised to thoroughly research the existing community members (if at all possible) and to read this novel first!

The premise of living off grid is fine...this tells the story of city folk who do exactly this, but it doesn't end up well...interesting characters, and the tension does ratchet up throughout the book, but it didn't always ensure my full attention. Many thanks to Netgalley.co.uk for the chance to read and review this ARC

Another fantastic book from Amanda Jennings - I know I'm in for an excellent read when I pick up one of her books!! The Haven was really interesting - watching the group grow and change from their beginnings of peace and an alternative way of life to control and unhappiness.

The Haven is a character driven novel about life in a cult.

The story of course is not as stark as that with Kit and Tara moving in with friend Jeremy when they realise they are expecting a child. As time goes on Jeremy's beliefs become more insistent and with new additions to the group, Tara feels life at Winterfall Farm is less appealing.

This made for an interesting read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The central characters Kit, Tara and Jeremy form a close bond whilst studying together. The bond adapts but still stays strong when Kit and Tara marry. Jeremy is both political and disillusioned with society and its ills and decides to set up a commune as an idyllic way of living in self sufficiency with other like minded individuals to create a co-operative. Kit has family money which he doesn't want to claim but Jeremy convinces him to use this to purchase land on Boin Moor to help establish the new communiry. The new idyllic way of living brings many challenges and Jeremy assumes the role of a natural leader. It soon becomes apparent though that the original aims of the new co-operative diifer greatly from Jeremy's vision and a darker more controlling side to his personality soon emerges with devastating consequences. This book was really good and I enjoyed it every bit as much as the cliff House novel. Highly recommended.

A couple and their young daughter escape their grim city life to live in a commune with one of their old university friends and some of his . At first it seems like it is an idyllic sanctuary away from modern life, but as beliefs differ about how much contact with the outside world to have, cracks start to form and conflict between the members of the commune begins.

I enjoyed this story. I very much like the idea of being able to live off-grid, and I thought the story explored this sort of lifestyle well without immediately and inevitably equating it with a cult, although of course things do take a dark turn or it wouldn't be much of a story. The characters felt very well rounded and fleshed out. The ending was satisfying and as a whole I thought it was a very good book.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

‘The Haven’ really appealed to me because I went through a phase of being fascinated with these sorts of stories, where a group of people seek out a new way of life but outside influence and power changes things for the worse.
The first half of this story is a little slow for me but it sets up the story well as a group of university friends decide to set up an idyllic home together on a farm in Cornwall. But after some time away from the farm he returns with a young girl and his behavior becomes strange and unpredictable. What really sold this story for me was that Jennings creates vivid characters and whether I liked or disliked them I had a strong reaction to them; something I always look for when I am reading a thriller.
The second half of the novel definitely picks up and the tension becomes a lot more palpable as Jeremey becomes more erratic and the group can no longer bury their doubts and anguish. This was definitely a great read and perfect for a summer thriller.

Brilliant and Haunting.
Such an atmospheric read that creeps around you as you read. The prose so polished and taut with tension that I was entranced with the storytelling.
Jeremy is such a dark character and it was fascinating to watch him dive deeper and deeper into madness.
And I adored Skye and Tara.
Another great book by Jennings. Highly recommended.

A gripping book about a group of 3 friends who try to escape from conventional life and attempt to set up a haven with like minded people…..loved it

I kept reading the synopsis and thinking I am not sure about this but then went in... A really interesting, atmospheric read about a group going to live off grid. An unlikely mix of people with different expectations. A paradise beginning starts to turn gets darker. A good read.

I am sure the thought of living off-grid and shunning capitalism is appealing to some people; growing your own food, raising your own animals, building your own little utopia - it will sound idyllic to certain types. Not to me, of course, I am far too reliant on my small comforts.

Jennings shows us how this can work, as she brings together a group of like-minded people and throws them into a dilapidated farm together. They build, they grow, they nourish their relationships, and they try to make their self-created world succeed.

But we soon see that the only real pitfalls within such a peaceful community are the people. Naturally falling into their roles - cook, healer, carpenter, leader - we witness unrest, disquiet, and an ultimate power trip which unravels the farm’s entire purpose.

It’s an interesting study of people and our instinctual behaviour, how we relate and cohabit, how we express ourselves and carry on. Jennings built things up wonderfully, and in such an engaging way that I was enthralled with this new way of living, and how the inhabitants would cope. But things escalated at such a violent speed that the ending felt incredibly rushed, with a lack of satisfying build-up. I was surprised to find myself spiralling towards the end of the novel, with some things not making sense, or seeming oddly out of place.

Nevertheless, a good, engaging read, and something a bit different, taking us away from what we’re used to and focusing on how people adapt and change.