Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Making Haven
SERIES: Haven (Book 1)
AUTHOR: Toby Wise
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 119 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 13, 2025
BLURB:
In the three years since the world changed forever and zombies spread like wildfire, Devin has done everything in his power to keep his head down and survive. When he breaks his ankle during an altercation with a zombie, he assumes his days are over. Instead, he meets a vampire named Lawrence.
Lawrence goes through the motions of keeping his homestead intact. When he’s not thinking about how he’ll get his next bloody meal, he thinks about the future, hoping someday he won’t be alone. He dreams of warmth, acceptance, and the houses in his neighborhood filled with people again. Instead, he meets Devin.
The two can’t seem to see eye to eye and constantly butt heads, but once they start working together at making their little homestead into a safe haven, they realize there’s more to life than surviving, even during the zombie apocalypse.
Making Haven is book one in the Haven Series. Inside this supernatural world you’ll find a zombie apocalypse, a vampire who’s trying to make a home, a grumpy human just trying to survive, hurt/comfort, learning to work together, finding ways to live rather than just survive, and of course a Toby Approved happily ever after.
REVIEW:
Vampires and Zombies and Zere’s…oh my!
Devin just keeps trying to get by day by day for over the last three years. The zombie apocalypse is real and the virus spreads so easily. He just has to keep moving. Raiding any supplies he can find along the way to take with him. When trapped on a balcony with zombies below and a zere breaking through the sliding glass window he has no choice but to jump. But a loud crunch signals he broke his ankle and his days of running are over. Lawrence feels compelled to leave his safe haven and go out foraging for supplies in the nearby towns that the zombies have overtaken. There he happens upon a scene that he just knows he can’t turn his back on. A group of zombies and a zere have a human trapped and he has to rescue the man. Thank goodness that owl for dinner nourished him to take them on and save the gorgeous man. But can a grumpy human, tired of spending every moment trying to be safe, and a lonely vampire that has a safe haven learn to get along and build something together?
I have to say, I thought this was an industrious undertaking. A vampire and a human falling for each other during a zombie apocalypse? But, somehow, author Toby Wise managed to pull it off in his own unique style.
These two men appeared to be total opposites and the most unlikely mating but stranger things have happened. I like that Lawrence was not forceful. And that Devin needed time to adjust to this new reality since being on his own for so long just trying to survive. And I liked that, once they learned to trust and depend on the other, that they started building a safe sanctuary for other survivors to heal and form a supportive community. I loved that Devin and Lawrence were learning to live vs just surviving.
I am looking forward to seeing where this series is headed as new survivors find Haven.
RATING: 
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