Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Refuge

SERIES: Fight for Survival #1

AUTHOR: H.L. Day

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 310 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 10, 2018

BLURB:

If you no longer recognize someone, how can you possibly be expected to trust them with your life?
Some might describe Blake Brannigan’s life in the small Yorkshire village of Thwaite as bordering on mundane. His job in a café doesn’t exactly set the world alight. But, he’s got his own house, a boyfriend, and a close-knit group of good friends. For him, that’s more than enough to lead a contented life.
Then in one fell swoop, everything’s ripped away when he’s forced to flee the village with only his boyfriend for company. He doesn’t know why they’re leaving. He hasn’t got the faintest clue what’s going on, and he’s struggling to understand the actions and behavior of a man he thought he knew. A man that it soon becomes clear knows far more about what’s happening than he’s letting on. A man hiding a multitude of secrets.
When the true extent of what’s happening comes to light, Blake is rocked to the core. Peril lurks around every corner. The smallest decision suddenly spells the difference between life and death. If Blake’s to have any chance of survival in this new and frightening world, he’s going to have to unearth buried secrets, figure out whether love really can conquer all, and face emotional, physical, and mental challenges the likes of which he could never have imagined.
One things for sure, when life suddenly boils down to nothing more than the desperate need to find refuge, priorities change. Blake’s certainly have.

REVIEW:

I am ashamed to say I don’t read sci-fi as often as I should, because I really love it. But I get off on other tangents and forget to slide some sci-fi in my reading. Shame Shame on me. Because this was a good one. It had a few points were it kind of lagged a bit but overall I really enjoyed it..

Blake meets a strange man who can’t keep his eyes off Blake. Blake thinks he’s a little creepy but, he’s broken up with Brendan again and he needs a one night stand. But Blake is noticing things that seem odd for him. But he just shrugs it off as it’s one of Zed’s many quirks. But little by little more odd things are happening and Zed says he can’t explain right now. Blake and Zed seems to just mosey on through life as boyfriends when one strange day, Zed is impatient for Blake to get a backpack ready because they have to leave. Like Now. And again, Zed can’t explain. Blake does it reluctantly and as they leave out of town, he now knows why. Explosions all over his town. Everything is being destroyed. They have no idea if anyone is even alive. After a short drive, it seems like anyway, then the car dies. And now they are on foot. Trying to find refuge from these sentinels and aliens that have come to harm them. He and Zed run and walk as far as they can, when the are attacked by 2. One bites Blake and Zed has to explain he may in all likely die if they can’t get to the bunker. Well they get there, Blake is saved, but at the cost of finding out what all is going on. Zed is also an alien. His  boyfriend of three years is an alien and no one in the bunker or ship likes Blake. Blake has to go back on his own. But Zed had given him supplies and a map to make it to another bunker. If he makes it anyway.

Along his journey, he feels he needs to head home first, just to check before heading for the bunker and safety. And thank goodness he did. Now they all have to survive and get to the bunker before the sentinels get them. It’s a harrowing journey. Scary and grief filled.

I feel for Blake so bad in this book. To wake up one day knowing your boyfriend is forcing you to leave everything behind with no explanation. Yeah. I don’t think i’d be too nuts about it either. Especially when I have to watch the only world I’ve known is being blown up  Knowing the only family I had left were the friends I had left behind. But then I’d want to survive as well. Hard choices.

It was even harder for Zed. He had to hide himself for so long. He wasn’t supposed to let anyone in. get too close. But something about Blake drew him in. He broke his own rules and laws for Blake. Eventually deserting the only life he’s ever known for Blake. All for love.

So for Blake and Zed, even if it was just them two, they had to survive. For each other.

This is a good story. I need the next one, because i have to know how this ends now. There is a lot going on in this story, with survivors, the aliens, and Zed’s people. Will they come back for him for deserting? Inquiring minds….wanna know!

RATING:  

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