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Fair Haven
Stronghold Fair Haven by the Sea is a beacon in a sometimes harsh world, open to all and deliberately, stubbornly kind. It also holds the honour and responsibility of hosting an atelier, a workshop for the rare and highly-prized magical engineers known as Mancers.
Hazel lives a comfortable, contented life in Stronghold Haven as a member of the team of elite bodyguards protecting the resident Mancer. But when another Mancer comes knocking on Haven's door to plead for refuge from the stronghold zhey've just escaped from, zhey bring a growing threat of invasion in zheir wake.
Ash is disruptive to Hazel's peaceful routine in more ways than just to his own astonishment, he's hopelessly attracted to the prickly, secretive Mancer.
This might be the start of something precious...or the end of everything he holds dear.
Explicit m/nb and m/m (different couple!) sex scenes
Hazel lives a comfortable, contented life in Stronghold Haven as a member of the team of elite bodyguards protecting the resident Mancer. But when another Mancer comes knocking on Haven's door to plead for refuge from the stronghold zhey've just escaped from, zhey bring a growing threat of invasion in zheir wake.
Ash is disruptive to Hazel's peaceful routine in more ways than just to his own astonishment, he's hopelessly attracted to the prickly, secretive Mancer.
This might be the start of something precious...or the end of everything he holds dear.
Explicit m/nb and m/m (different couple!) sex scenes
521 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2023
About the author
Wendy Palmer
17 books59 followersWendy Palmer lives in Bridgetown, Western Australia with her partner, son, dogs, goats, alpacas, bees and chickens. She's patted tigers, ridden elephants, dog-sledded across glaciers, faced down lions in the Serengeti, swum with whale sharks, and camped in the Sahara, but she not-so-secretly prefers curling up with a good book.
She writes fantasy fiction with entertaining characters, enjoyably perilous adventures, romantic entanglements, some dark undertones, but always happy, hopeful endings.
Now over at StoryGraph.
She writes fantasy fiction with entertaining characters, enjoyably perilous adventures, romantic entanglements, some dark undertones, but always happy, hopeful endings.
Now over at StoryGraph.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 26, 2024
Well this was fun ! In a wacky all over the place way that is. It’s my first time reading this author and although I found the writing to be a bit ..pretentious (I know that reading should also help one improve their vocabulary but as a non-native English speaker I had a hard time with words like “moat”, “egress”, “cozen”, “sobriquet”, “palaver”,”cowl” and also with the over complicated phrasing.A lot of times I had to go back and read the sentence again to understand what it said) I actually enjoyed the storytelling.
As for the characters they were literally and metaphorically A LOT lol and not always easy to understand what was who . In fact the only thing that really bothered me at this was the fact that we are not told or shown anything about that particular world . We are thrown in the middle of it and by the end of the book I was still in the dark and I didn’t know where we were or who were all those ppl. I liked the steampunk vibes though and the romances (because imo there were 2) were lovely even though I had a ..complicated relationship with the MCs because of the goddamned MIScommunication due to the NON-communication!! So yeah, Hazel and Ash made me scream and climb up the walls but also swoon . However,Holly and Valerian were my favorites and I was a bit sad that I didn’t really understand where they stood at the end of the book. I also had a bit of a hard time understanding Valerian’s role in the book and in the household aside from being Holly’s lover and some Lord or something because let’s be honest, I didn’t see him helping with the fight except for when he had to save his knucklehead son 🤣
And now…if you really wanna know my favorite character of all …well it was Albemarle!!! Gosh, I loved him!!! He was so fun ! 😁
Anyway, excellent read with lots of action, some steampunk details, lovely romance (and a few hot moments), a lot of representations and some magic.
As for the characters they were literally and metaphorically A LOT lol and not always easy to understand what was who . In fact the only thing that really bothered me at this was the fact that we are not told or shown anything about that particular world . We are thrown in the middle of it and by the end of the book I was still in the dark and I didn’t know where we were or who were all those ppl. I liked the steampunk vibes though and the romances (because imo there were 2) were lovely even though I had a ..complicated relationship with the MCs because of the goddamned MIScommunication due to the NON-communication!! So yeah, Hazel and Ash made me scream and climb up the walls but also swoon . However,Holly and Valerian were my favorites and I was a bit sad that I didn’t really understand where they stood at the end of the book. I also had a bit of a hard time understanding Valerian’s role in the book and in the household aside from being Holly’s lover and some Lord or something because let’s be honest, I didn’t see him helping with the fight except for when he had to save his knucklehead son 🤣
And now…if you really wanna know my favorite character of all …well it was Albemarle!!! Gosh, I loved him!!! He was so fun ! 😁
Anyway, excellent read with lots of action, some steampunk details, lovely romance (and a few hot moments), a lot of representations and some magic.
February 7, 2024
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah smitten already, 3% in. I love Wendy Palmer.
ETA: Finished.
A story, and a story-under-the-story.
The story is the mystery/suspense plot around who Ash is, where he comes from, why he has come to the stronghold of Fair Haven -- where, as a Mancer (a magician), he is entitled to sanctuary -- and what his aims are. This story also comprises two love stories: one between Ash and Hazel, who's a Mancer Guard, trained and sworn to protect his stronghold's Mancer with his life, the other between Holly, a captain of the Mancer Guard, and Lord Valerian, the stronghold's widowed seneschal.
The story-under-the-story is Hazel's (and the other Mancer Guards') gradual understanding that their protectiveness and shepherding of Mancers, gentle and affectionate though it is, is also a mirror of the violent control exercised over Mancers at the enemy stronghold of Cristati. This story is told largely through the characterization of Albemarle, Fair Haven's resident Mancer, who at first seems rigid, inflexible, and nearly infantile, in need of constant tending and kind control. He'll seem, I think, like a stereotype of an autistic person; but, as becomes apparent when circumstances both afford him more autonomy and require it, Albemarle is infantile because he's been infantilized. The reckoning, for Fair Haven's genuinely well-intentioned people, is slow and satisfying.
There's also this world's treatment of disability, or at least of some disability: Ash is deaf, as is Hazel's beloved sister Maya, and deaf people are required to have guardians, even as adults. I'll leave it at that, because the discussion of how that plays out in the plot is all spoilers.
I'm getting used to nothing in Wendy Palmer's books being quite what it seems at first. Albemarle is the obvious example. So also is Ash, whose motivations and plans are unclear until very late in the book. Hazel enjoys sex and falls in love, though he doesn't experience attraction to either women or men ... but Mancers are neither men nor women. It turns out that Hazel does have a type after all, and its name is Ash. Holly is warm and loving and friends with everyone; he also likes to fuck -- only men, though -- but doesn't fall in love, ever. Unless maybe ... ? (I like that this is left a little open at the end, by the way. )
WP also looooooooooooves to mess with gender. The Mancers are nonbinary; several of the characters are trans or anyway gender nonconforming (whatever that means when there are gender norms but no one in Fair Haven seems to have any interest in requiring anyone to abide by them), and their genders are treated as such a matter of fact that if you blink you'll miss the clues. Holly mostly goes by "he" but really he spends the entire book exploding gender in all directions.
There's a lot of Failure to Communicate in Fair Haven, but for me it didn't feel like the standard romance-trope variety. Hazel, not having experienced sexual attraction till Ash comes along, can't express that attraction because he doesn't recognize it for what it is; even when he does, their positions both socially and as a function of plot make speaking out seem impossible. As for Ash, zhey has very little reason to trust anyone, even when zhey're falling for them, and no experience that would enable zhem to recognize someone's love for zhem. Ash is a great character, by the way, vulnerable, loyal, and utterly ruthless. No wonder Hazel falls so hard.
As always, I leave a Wendy Palmer book thinking that she's not a writer for everyone, but boy oh boy are you in luck if she's a writer for you.
ETA: Finished.
A story, and a story-under-the-story.
The story is the mystery/suspense plot around who Ash is, where he comes from, why he has come to the stronghold of Fair Haven -- where, as a Mancer (a magician), he is entitled to sanctuary -- and what his aims are. This story also comprises two love stories: one between Ash and Hazel, who's a Mancer Guard, trained and sworn to protect his stronghold's Mancer with his life, the other between Holly, a captain of the Mancer Guard, and Lord Valerian, the stronghold's widowed seneschal.
The story-under-the-story is Hazel's (and the other Mancer Guards') gradual understanding that their protectiveness and shepherding of Mancers, gentle and affectionate though it is, is also a mirror of the violent control exercised over Mancers at the enemy stronghold of Cristati. This story is told largely through the characterization of Albemarle, Fair Haven's resident Mancer, who at first seems rigid, inflexible, and nearly infantile, in need of constant tending and kind control. He'll seem, I think, like a stereotype of an autistic person; but, as becomes apparent when circumstances both afford him more autonomy and require it, Albemarle is infantile because he's been infantilized. The reckoning, for Fair Haven's genuinely well-intentioned people, is slow and satisfying.
There's also this world's treatment of disability, or at least of some disability: Ash is deaf, as is Hazel's beloved sister Maya, and deaf people are required to have guardians, even as adults. I'll leave it at that, because the discussion of how that plays out in the plot is all spoilers.
I'm getting used to nothing in Wendy Palmer's books being quite what it seems at first. Albemarle is the obvious example. So also is Ash, whose motivations and plans are unclear until very late in the book. Hazel enjoys sex and falls in love, though he doesn't experience attraction to either women or men ... but Mancers are neither men nor women. It turns out that Hazel does have a type after all, and its name is Ash. Holly is warm and loving and friends with everyone; he also likes to fuck -- only men, though -- but doesn't fall in love, ever. Unless maybe ... ? (I like that this is left a little open at the end, by the way. )
WP also looooooooooooves to mess with gender. The Mancers are nonbinary; several of the characters are trans or anyway gender nonconforming (whatever that means when there are gender norms but no one in Fair Haven seems to have any interest in requiring anyone to abide by them), and their genders are treated as such a matter of fact that if you blink you'll miss the clues. Holly mostly goes by "he" but really he spends the entire book exploding gender in all directions.
There's a lot of Failure to Communicate in Fair Haven, but for me it didn't feel like the standard romance-trope variety. Hazel, not having experienced sexual attraction till Ash comes along, can't express that attraction because he doesn't recognize it for what it is; even when he does, their positions both socially and as a function of plot make speaking out seem impossible. As for Ash, zhey has very little reason to trust anyone, even when zhey're falling for them, and no experience that would enable zhem to recognize someone's love for zhem. Ash is a great character, by the way, vulnerable, loyal, and utterly ruthless. No wonder Hazel falls so hard.
As always, I leave a Wendy Palmer book thinking that she's not a writer for everyone, but boy oh boy are you in luck if she's a writer for you.
June 13, 2025
Wow. Can't say I expected to love this as much as I did. I loved Little Wolf and the Witch but to get another gem of epic dimension with Fair Haven was too much to hope for. Yet here I am, lucky me.
I know I won't be able to do this book justice, so here are random thoughts. For a much more eloquent, thought through and detailed review I recommend ancientreader's review. I'm glad I read their review a few chapters in so I felt less lost.
Now my random thoughts.
It took me a bit to find my footing because WP just throws us right in, no slow explations and introductions needed. Once I thought I understood what was going on I was hooked, glued to the pages. There wasn't a single boring part (the book is about 520 pages long), I loved the many plot twists, I never anticipated what would happen next.
The plot was fast-paced, with small glimpses at forming relationships/romances (mostly between Hazel and Ash (m/nb) and between Holly and Val (m/m)), and just a few sex scenes.
The storyline was very balanced, plus, it was told in a clever way, jumping between scenes in Hazel's pov (third person past tense) and Holly's pov (third person present tense).
Holly and Hazel (mancer guard and mancer guard captain; mancers being kind of magicians) always having each others back was heart warming to see. Lovely, fierce and caring Hazel (I imagined him built like Thor/Hemsworth, don't judge me) and impulsive, rash and horny Holly (similar but with skirt and heeled boots) had my heart.
There was no info dumping, the author showed us slowly everything making up this unique world, without repeating over and over important things. On the contrary, I had to be constantly alert because sometimes there were the smallest hints I knew I shouldn't miss.
Another awesome part of the book was the way gender and sexuality were treated/lived. Holly for example had been Rowan until he decided to go with Holly, wore skirts and heeled boots, wore his long hair braided with flowers weaved in, enjoyed fucking every willing man nearby it seemed. I'm still unsure if Evie (Holly's sibling) was a man or woman tbh. Hazel had never felt desire for anyone, but loved to cuddle with Holly and enjoyed the occasional sexual release, he had been deeply in love in the past, though.
Ash and Albemarle like every mancer were non binary, androgynous people with magic abilities, intense focus, preferences for schedules, who had zheir own pronouns (zhey/zhem) and "needed" protection provided by zheir mancer guard. Ash was deaf (like Hazel's sister Maya), so the story also showed how disability was lived and treated in different ways by different people.
How Hazel and Holly achingly slowly came to realise that protecting a mancer led to restricting zheir autonomy and suppressing zheir freedom and choices, even if it was done in zheir (supposedly) best interest, was eye-opening.
There was a lot of plotting and fighting, but the focus of the story was for me how the (many) main and secondary characters evolved throughout the story. Their changing dynamics and relationships were (just like in Little Wolf and the Witch) awesome to follow.
I loved how the vibes between Holly and Ash especially in the last chapters changed.
And the 20 pages bonus story from only Holly's pov was perfect.
I know I won't be able to do this book justice, so here are random thoughts. For a much more eloquent, thought through and detailed review I recommend ancientreader's review. I'm glad I read their review a few chapters in so I felt less lost.
Now my random thoughts.
It took me a bit to find my footing because WP just throws us right in, no slow explations and introductions needed. Once I thought I understood what was going on I was hooked, glued to the pages. There wasn't a single boring part (the book is about 520 pages long), I loved the many plot twists, I never anticipated what would happen next.
The plot was fast-paced, with small glimpses at forming relationships/romances (mostly between Hazel and Ash (m/nb) and between Holly and Val (m/m)), and just a few sex scenes.
The storyline was very balanced, plus, it was told in a clever way, jumping between scenes in Hazel's pov (third person past tense) and Holly's pov (third person present tense).
Holly and Hazel (mancer guard and mancer guard captain; mancers being kind of magicians) always having each others back was heart warming to see. Lovely, fierce and caring Hazel (I imagined him built like Thor/Hemsworth, don't judge me) and impulsive, rash and horny Holly (similar but with skirt and heeled boots) had my heart.
There was no info dumping, the author showed us slowly everything making up this unique world, without repeating over and over important things. On the contrary, I had to be constantly alert because sometimes there were the smallest hints I knew I shouldn't miss.
Another awesome part of the book was the way gender and sexuality were treated/lived. Holly for example had been Rowan until he decided to go with Holly, wore skirts and heeled boots, wore his long hair braided with flowers weaved in, enjoyed fucking every willing man nearby it seemed. I'm still unsure if Evie (Holly's sibling) was a man or woman tbh. Hazel had never felt desire for anyone, but loved to cuddle with Holly and enjoyed the occasional sexual release, he had been deeply in love in the past, though.
Ash and Albemarle like every mancer were non binary, androgynous people with magic abilities, intense focus, preferences for schedules, who had zheir own pronouns (zhey/zhem) and "needed" protection provided by zheir mancer guard. Ash was deaf (like Hazel's sister Maya), so the story also showed how disability was lived and treated in different ways by different people.
How Hazel and Holly achingly slowly came to realise that protecting a mancer led to restricting zheir autonomy and suppressing zheir freedom and choices, even if it was done in zheir (supposedly) best interest, was eye-opening.
There was a lot of plotting and fighting, but the focus of the story was for me how the (many) main and secondary characters evolved throughout the story. Their changing dynamics and relationships were (just like in Little Wolf and the Witch) awesome to follow.
I loved how the vibes between Holly and Ash especially in the last chapters changed.
And the 20 pages bonus story from only Holly's pov was perfect.
February 11, 2024
There are so many things in this book that shouldn’t work - honestly there are so many things in this book that I could swear don’t work - and yet there is just so much of it, and it’s so consistently pleasant, and I really enjoyed it! A perk of just how much there is going on - how many characters, have many plot points, how many interesting little nuggets of detail - is that anytime I was like “wait, does that really…” I would just speed read along and soon enough five more fairly interesting things would have happened, pushing that previous question mark to the back of my brain (if not out of it entirely).
Like for example… this book is about Hazel and Holly in Haven. Yes, Hazel and Holly are two totally different characters, and Hazel lives in Haven (while Haven does not live in Hazel, except in a sort of #inspirational way I suppose). (Also I realized late in the game Ash’s love interest is actually named… Ari. lol!) This is just one of a number of things (writing choices, character choices, plot choices, representational choices, fantasy-cultural choices) where I was like ????
And yet somehow this book is more than the sum of its parts because it was a great read! Very enjoyable, would recommend. I would compare maybe to Death By Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold, which I also coasted through on basically good vibes. A compliment, for the record!
…Like is it this book’s worldbuilding, which is great, especially for fantasy romance? Is it the plot which had exactly the level of twists and turns I demand for this book length (and then some more on top of that)? Is it the extensive variety of characters, all of whom were surprisingly fleshed out considering? Is it the sheer volume of STUFF that’s going on?
Basically, my current situation is pleasant puzzlement. Looking forward to trying more by this author!
Like for example… this book is about Hazel and Holly in Haven. Yes, Hazel and Holly are two totally different characters, and Hazel lives in Haven (while Haven does not live in Hazel, except in a sort of #inspirational way I suppose). (Also I realized late in the game Ash’s love interest is actually named… Ari. lol!) This is just one of a number of things (writing choices, character choices, plot choices, representational choices, fantasy-cultural choices) where I was like ????
And yet somehow this book is more than the sum of its parts because it was a great read! Very enjoyable, would recommend. I would compare maybe to Death By Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold, which I also coasted through on basically good vibes. A compliment, for the record!
…Like is it this book’s worldbuilding, which is great, especially for fantasy romance? Is it the plot which had exactly the level of twists and turns I demand for this book length (and then some more on top of that)? Is it the extensive variety of characters, all of whom were surprisingly fleshed out considering? Is it the sheer volume of STUFF that’s going on?
Basically, my current situation is pleasant puzzlement. Looking forward to trying more by this author!
May 11, 2026
I have a friend who regularly posts on social media, “It’s time for everyone’s favorite game!!! What Did Eric Write???” and posts a pic of something their partner wrote on their dry erase board that is basically illegible. It’s often so illegible that even Eric can’t read it and doesn’t remember what it means. The comments are full of different guesses as people try their best to make sense of Eric’s scribbles.
This is how reading Fair Haven often felt to me for multiple reasons.
Most noticeably, we’re dumped into a world and left to figure out what entirely made up terms and social and political dynamics mean without context and no real explanation. A well constructed story in an alternate world or reality can pull this off without massive info dumps if the writer is skilled. I’m not saying Palmer isn’t skilled, but she didn’t pull it off very well here. I spent the first 10%-20% feeling like I had to invest excessive effort puzzling out those unexplained and alien dynamics rather than simply being immersed in the world seamlessly.
I may have been able to overlook the previous puzzling if not for having to unpick Palmer’s confusing writing. As ~Nicole~ mentions in her review, the writing is pretentious and uses a lot of awkward phrasing. Unlike Nicole, I AM a native English speaker and even I had to read sentences over and over to figure out what Palmer was trying convey. Sometimes it wasn’t even that the phrasing was awkward, complicated or overwrought, although it often WAS that, it was that Palmer simply didn’t express a character’s thoughts well. It was like Palmer knew what a character was thinking or feeling and just expected the reader to get it without actually taking the time to have the character fully, clearly or adequately express it.
By 43% I wanted to DNF not because I wasn’t enjoying the story itself, but because the storytelling was exhausting. I was tired of trying to decipher the equivalent of Palmer’s poor penmanship. Yet the concept was good and the plot was compelling, and yeah, I was intrigued to know how the story would evolve to make Albemarle Nicole’s favorite character.
I was also really enjoying the layers of diverse representation. We have characters that are non-binary as well as those that defy traditional gender norms and expectations, characters that are ace and aro, characters that are deaf, characters that are neurodivergent. Between the plot and the diversity, I wanted to love this book and I DID love those elements. Sadly, there was even more than the wonky storytelling that negatively affected my enjoyment.
The miscommunication and lack of communication between Ash and Hazel was annoying. I loved them both as characters but found their failure to communicate clearly to each other incredibly overplayed. It lasted throughout the story, all the way to the end. If not for the action and the other Mancers, the long drawn out miscommunication, poor communication and misperceptions would have been the straws that caused me to DNF, it was just so overdone.
Holly absolutely grated on my last nerve. I get it, his sword/warrior skills and his sexual prowess are his main character traits alongside his immense ego and his gorgeous legs 🙄 but omg did it get old fast. I’m sorry, if you’re in a staff meeting and tell the entire group whose ass you literally licked a few hours before, you’re over-fucking-sharing. Those people did not consent to sharing your sexcapades and in this case, neither did Holly’s partner. And that’s basically his entire persona. The rest of the characters seem fine with Holly’s endless focus on sex and coming on to everyone he’s attracted to, but it creeped the hell out of me. I’ve known people like this in real life and ew, it’s creepy and gross having people sexualize you and everyone around you 🤮 Admittedly, Holly had some great qualities but ug, I could not stand the endless focus on sex which included thoughts of fucking and sex even while under siege and during battle 🙄
Main plot: 5+ stars
Great world: 5 stars
Woefully under explained world-building: 2 stars
Characters (aside from Holly): 4+ stars
Storytelling: 3 stars tops (at times it was pretty bad, no more than 2 stars but more often it was 4 to 5 stars. Still, those 2 star moments really detracted from the overall experience 😫)
Fair Haven had immense potential and amazing bones but the execution was super mixed. Great editing could have made this one outstanding. As it stands, I can’t bring myself to give it more than 3 stars.
Thankful to have been able to borrow this one from the library. As much as I loved the story itself, there’s no way I’d re-read this due to the uneven and at times hard to parse storytelling. Do I recommend it? Yeah, I do. The story is immersive and compelling and the representation is diverse and fresh. And maybe I’m a bit of a ninny and what was challenging for me to decipher will be easy for you.
3 stars
This is how reading Fair Haven often felt to me for multiple reasons.
Most noticeably, we’re dumped into a world and left to figure out what entirely made up terms and social and political dynamics mean without context and no real explanation. A well constructed story in an alternate world or reality can pull this off without massive info dumps if the writer is skilled. I’m not saying Palmer isn’t skilled, but she didn’t pull it off very well here. I spent the first 10%-20% feeling like I had to invest excessive effort puzzling out those unexplained and alien dynamics rather than simply being immersed in the world seamlessly.
I may have been able to overlook the previous puzzling if not for having to unpick Palmer’s confusing writing. As ~Nicole~ mentions in her review, the writing is pretentious and uses a lot of awkward phrasing. Unlike Nicole, I AM a native English speaker and even I had to read sentences over and over to figure out what Palmer was trying convey. Sometimes it wasn’t even that the phrasing was awkward, complicated or overwrought, although it often WAS that, it was that Palmer simply didn’t express a character’s thoughts well. It was like Palmer knew what a character was thinking or feeling and just expected the reader to get it without actually taking the time to have the character fully, clearly or adequately express it.
By 43% I wanted to DNF not because I wasn’t enjoying the story itself, but because the storytelling was exhausting. I was tired of trying to decipher the equivalent of Palmer’s poor penmanship. Yet the concept was good and the plot was compelling, and yeah, I was intrigued to know how the story would evolve to make Albemarle Nicole’s favorite character.
I was also really enjoying the layers of diverse representation. We have characters that are non-binary as well as those that defy traditional gender norms and expectations, characters that are ace and aro, characters that are deaf, characters that are neurodivergent. Between the plot and the diversity, I wanted to love this book and I DID love those elements. Sadly, there was even more than the wonky storytelling that negatively affected my enjoyment.
The miscommunication and lack of communication between Ash and Hazel was annoying. I loved them both as characters but found their failure to communicate clearly to each other incredibly overplayed. It lasted throughout the story, all the way to the end. If not for the action and the other Mancers, the long drawn out miscommunication, poor communication and misperceptions would have been the straws that caused me to DNF, it was just so overdone.
Holly absolutely grated on my last nerve. I get it, his sword/warrior skills and his sexual prowess are his main character traits alongside his immense ego and his gorgeous legs 🙄 but omg did it get old fast. I’m sorry, if you’re in a staff meeting and tell the entire group whose ass you literally licked a few hours before, you’re over-fucking-sharing. Those people did not consent to sharing your sexcapades and in this case, neither did Holly’s partner. And that’s basically his entire persona. The rest of the characters seem fine with Holly’s endless focus on sex and coming on to everyone he’s attracted to, but it creeped the hell out of me. I’ve known people like this in real life and ew, it’s creepy and gross having people sexualize you and everyone around you 🤮 Admittedly, Holly had some great qualities but ug, I could not stand the endless focus on sex which included thoughts of fucking and sex even while under siege and during battle 🙄
Main plot: 5+ stars
Great world: 5 stars
Woefully under explained world-building: 2 stars
Characters (aside from Holly): 4+ stars
Storytelling: 3 stars tops (at times it was pretty bad, no more than 2 stars but more often it was 4 to 5 stars. Still, those 2 star moments really detracted from the overall experience 😫)
Fair Haven had immense potential and amazing bones but the execution was super mixed. Great editing could have made this one outstanding. As it stands, I can’t bring myself to give it more than 3 stars.
Thankful to have been able to borrow this one from the library. As much as I loved the story itself, there’s no way I’d re-read this due to the uneven and at times hard to parse storytelling. Do I recommend it? Yeah, I do. The story is immersive and compelling and the representation is diverse and fresh. And maybe I’m a bit of a ninny and what was challenging for me to decipher will be easy for you.
3 stars
January 21, 2025
This started out super slow and baffling and carried on marginally-less-slow and baffling, but somehow it worked: immersive, twisty, gender-bendy, bestie MCs on the ace and aro spectrums (not endgame), and incisive about how people -- including the well-intentioned among us -- infantalize difference and people with disabilities. Would have liked more depth in the Holly side of the Holly/ Val relationship (although the bonus epilogue helped in this regard), but all in all, a memorable read.
December 10, 2025
Back on my reread of Wendy Palmer's backlist, because I've enjoyed everything of hers I've read so far. In Fair Haven, Hazel's comfortable life as a Mancer guard in the stronghold of Fair Haven is upended when fugitive Mancer Ash asks for sanctuary. Ash has obviously been mistreated, and is hiding secrets that could destroy Hazel's home, from the Lady to resident Mancer Abermarle to the lowliest scullery maid.
Despite both my synopsis and the cover copy, this is actually a dual romance novel, one between Hazel and Ash and one focused on Hazel's best friend/ex Holly and the castle's uptight steward. Palmer's two flavors of relationship are on full display here, and I liked the contrast between sweet and oblivious Hazel compared to Holly's fiery, contentious romance. I also think it was a nice touch that Ash is deaf and Hazel initially connects with zhem because he's the most sign-fluent person in the castle due to his deaf sister. Hazel speaks a slightly different dialect of sign, not to mention decades of personal shorthand, which he sometimes has to explain to Ash. Kudos also for writing Hazel as acespec--I'm frequently unhappy about the depiction of demi people in romance novels, but I think this book did a good job.
Overall, the worldbuilding was engaging and more detailed than usual for a romance or even for a standalone. Mancers are effectively, to be crude, nonbinary autism wizards, and highly prized because very few of them are born and they can create powerful magic inventions. Mancers have a symbiotic relationship with strongholds, which provide the supplies they need and protect them from inter-castle poaching. Fair Haven is one of the kinder strongholds, but the system gives mancers very little power, and the setup is rife with abuse. It's a juicy scenario, particularly once you throw in a fugitive Mancer of mysterious origins. Sorta a cross between a lost nuke and a lost 300 carat diamond.
I consider Wendy Palmer one of the tragically overlooked indie authors, comparable with KJ Charles, AJ Demas, and Victoria Goddard. While the pacing here was (characteristically) a little wonky, Palmer's skill with characters and relationships is untouchable. I'm glad I've got like five more of her books lined up to read later.
Despite both my synopsis and the cover copy, this is actually a dual romance novel, one between Hazel and Ash and one focused on Hazel's best friend/ex Holly and the castle's uptight steward. Palmer's two flavors of relationship are on full display here, and I liked the contrast between sweet and oblivious Hazel compared to Holly's fiery, contentious romance. I also think it was a nice touch that Ash is deaf and Hazel initially connects with zhem because he's the most sign-fluent person in the castle due to his deaf sister. Hazel speaks a slightly different dialect of sign, not to mention decades of personal shorthand, which he sometimes has to explain to Ash. Kudos also for writing Hazel as acespec--I'm frequently unhappy about the depiction of demi people in romance novels, but I think this book did a good job.
Overall, the worldbuilding was engaging and more detailed than usual for a romance or even for a standalone. Mancers are effectively, to be crude, nonbinary autism wizards, and highly prized because very few of them are born and they can create powerful magic inventions. Mancers have a symbiotic relationship with strongholds, which provide the supplies they need and protect them from inter-castle poaching. Fair Haven is one of the kinder strongholds, but the system gives mancers very little power, and the setup is rife with abuse. It's a juicy scenario, particularly once you throw in a fugitive Mancer of mysterious origins. Sorta a cross between a lost nuke and a lost 300 carat diamond.
I consider Wendy Palmer one of the tragically overlooked indie authors, comparable with KJ Charles, AJ Demas, and Victoria Goddard. While the pacing here was (characteristically) a little wonky, Palmer's skill with characters and relationships is untouchable. I'm glad I've got like five more of her books lined up to read later.
December 17, 2024
update: upon reread I can only give this 3.75 based on the same gripes as my first read (ended up not liking one of the main characters and it was really tough to follow the big battle scene)
4.25 ⭐️, 3.5/5 🌶️
this was great — excellent representation for Deaf, non-binary/gender non-conforming, and neurodivergent folks — and never predictable, but I did have a couple of issues: I never ended up being able to forgive one of the love interests for something (not nearly enough grovel) so the HEA wasn’t as satisfying as it could’ve been; I agree with another reviewer that the worldbuilding needed to be explained a lot more rather than asking the reader to just infer everything; and it was really difficult to keep track of what was going on during the major battle scene, which lasted a solid 100+ pages. I applaud Wendy Palmer for her efficient and very comprehensible method of “translating” sign language to the written page and will definitely read more of her work!
4.25 ⭐️, 3.5/5 🌶️
this was great — excellent representation for Deaf, non-binary/gender non-conforming, and neurodivergent folks — and never predictable, but I did have a couple of issues: I never ended up being able to forgive one of the love interests for something (not nearly enough grovel) so the HEA wasn’t as satisfying as it could’ve been; I agree with another reviewer that the worldbuilding needed to be explained a lot more rather than asking the reader to just infer everything; and it was really difficult to keep track of what was going on during the major battle scene, which lasted a solid 100+ pages. I applaud Wendy Palmer for her efficient and very comprehensible method of “translating” sign language to the written page and will definitely read more of her work!
June 28, 2025
I really liked this; complex, plausible main and side characters; decent action and well balanced tension in the plot; interesting magic system; romance (two couples) complementary to rather than overshadowing aforementioned characters and plot; beautifully conceived, loving relationships that aren't romantic; foundationally and intrinsically queer in a way that didn't feel forced; this is a book that celebrates choosing kindness and not because other options aren't available. Oh, and humour!
Recommend.
My second book by Wendy Palmer, immediately heading off to find more.
Recommend.
My second book by Wendy Palmer, immediately heading off to find more.
June 17, 2025
Wendy Palmer does it again. This is a completely enthralling read, full of intrigue, battles and relationships. I desperately want a picture of Holly in his skirt though.
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