Haven by Kristi Cook

Haven by Kristi Cook

Release Date: February 22, 2011

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 416

Summary: Violet McKenna isn’t a normal girl with normal teenage issues; she has more to contend with than most people could handle. Violet thought she was just crazy when she had a vivid vision of her dad’s murder. Her life started falling apart when her premonition came true. She’s had flashes of other events too. The problem was nobody believed her until she found a new school: Winterhaven.

At Winterhaven, Violet finally feels like she belongs. She quickly finds a close group friends and discovers that they too have psychic ‘gifts’—as do all the students at Winterhaven. But as soon as she feels settled she discovers the most intriguing and alluring boy she has ever met, and things quickly go awry. As the attraction between them grows, intense visions of the boy’s death start to haunt her. In her premonitions the secret he is unwilling to share begins to reveal itself. And to Violet's horror, she learns that their destinies are intertwined in a critical—and deadly—way.

My Thoughts: My first thought when I read this description was that all these girls have super powers, cool!!!! We are introduced to Violet who has a choice. Her choice is either move to New York with her busy step-mother Patsy or stay in Atlanta and live with Gran. For reasons unknown she is drawn to a third choice which is attending a boarding school called WinterHaven. All the kids who attend this school have some kind of powers; psychic powers. She befriends a group of girls:  Cece, Kate, Sophie, Marissa and each one has a different gift. Violet has spent most of her life seeing the future or having premonitions so when she realizes the secret behind Winterhaven she instantly believes it and starts to feel like she can finally belong somewhere. Somewhere where she won't be labeled a freak if she does something out of the ordinary. 

Violet than meets Aidan Grey. Isn't that name alone HOT? Oh Aidan! Aidan is instantly drawn to Violet and wants to know more about her. She thinks he's gorgeous and sweet so she starts to hang around him. They become close, and more secrets are unraveled. There is more to Aidan than anyone really knows. No girl could get close to him before so Violet knows that something must be off. And that he's different from the other boys. 

There is also another mystery girl seen with Aidan at times, her name is Jenna. I had a lot of questions about her. Aidan was always saying he didn't really like Jenna like that, but why were they together at times, and what was her role in all this? Were they friends or were they really not? 

I enjoyed the relationship between Aidan and Violet. But I didn't like how they were on again-off again. Either stay together or don't! I wanted them together of course but there were always problems arising between the two of them. 

We find out what Aidan really is and what Violet really is and how they are drawn to each other so things make a little bit more sense, but I still wanted them to put aside their differences and work it out quickly. 

I also liked all the other elements in this story. I was slightly surprised when vampires and shape-shifters came into the story. At first glance, I thought the school was only for psychic gifts so this surprised me, which is a good thing. 

I really loved Haven and I can't wait to read more from Cook.  


Overall: I loved it! It was exciting and surprising! A Great debut.  

Cover: Love the cover! The butterfly and the cover has all the right colors! Its very bright. 

What I'd Give It: