Before we bid our final goodbyes to the Halloween season, join us one last time for the book tour for Haven by Mia Dalia in concert with Black Tide Book Tours.
Prepare to embark on a family vacation with the Baker family as they go to their aunt Gussie's home for a month. As you learn the dynamics of this family, and the history of the previous owner...something sinister will begin to unveil itself.
Haven is a horror novel by Mia Dalia. This particular horror story is a slow developer but just wait for it. This novel will lure you in with chapters that shift through the family, but the gradual build will bring you something unexpected. So exercise patience, because it will be worth the wait. Just because it's a house...doesn't make it home.
The Baker family is headed towards Aunt Augusta's old house. After her passing, it was allotted to the living family members to use it as a vacation home shared amongst them all. Well, Jenna Baker has secured the month for her family of four to go and stay there. This is in the hopes that maybe the family can reconnect. Will that be possible? Well, you'll question it for yourself as you read this book.
As Haven continues to unfold author Dalia alternates each chapter between each member of the family. Told from the third person POV each chapter focuses on that specific family member. In that sense readers are able to get to know them individually and better understand the dynamics.
Jeff is the father, but he's far from engaged in his children's lives. You'd have to wonder why. Author Dalia reveals that he's disappointed in himself concerning it, but yet, he chooses to do nothing just the same. Jeff will often reflect on how things came to be, but the trend remains...he has chosen to do nothing to change it.
Jenna, is the wife. Author Dalia portrays her as fastidiously dedicated to her appearance. Jenna watches what she eats, how much she eats, and exercises to keep her lithe form. Jenna appreciates the jealousy and envy that she evokes from other women her age. Unknown to her, her daughter has picked up on this "focus" on her physical appearance...but in a different way.
Jessie, is the oldest of the two children. As readers delve deeper into her chapters they'll find just how "obsessed" she is with her physical appearance and social media. She wants so desperately to be a social influencer, but seeing as she's more of a "follower" in her behavior...she falls short every time. Her follower count? Not high enough. The attention she so doggedly seeks? Not enough. She wants more. Craves more. But this house? This house is going to bring out a change in her...that will be unexpected.
JJ is the youngest of the family and named after his father. However, JJ is the one who stands out the most. A teen like his sister, he has taken the opposite approach to food and exercise than that of his mother and sister. JJ is the one more likely to be bullied in school because of his size and appearance. Compound that with his refusal to participate in personal hygiene and it paints a picture of a boy with limited friends and limited contact with most people.
Then there is Ava. Ava isn't one of the family of four. No, Ava is...Augusta. The chapters on Ava paint a picture of who she was (or is) and her life. Author Dalia provides readers with context on how Ava became the person that she was. The youngest in her family, she wanted a different path than what her family wanted. So, when the opportunity comes...she takes it.
Haven is a slow building psychological horror story. The story moves at a steady pace as it alternates between the family members and with each of Ava's chapters reveals her past and her life's story. Little by little author Dalia shows the gradual shift between the family members. It's a subtle thing that none of them really notice at first.
As the story goes however, the cracks begin to show. Something in the house is poking them. Provoking their darkest thoughts and feelings to come to the surface. Some of the revelations through Ava's chapters point to the tragedies that Ava suffered throughout her life. Most if not all of it at the hands of her own family. It's absolutely shocking and even heartbreaking.
As Haven draws to a close, the story takes on a darker element, but also shifts to drawing to a close focusing on Ava's chapters. Since the primary location is Haven (the house) anything that doesn't happen there isn't focused on. Until a new character comes along and shares some shocking news.
One thing is for sure...this book will leave you puzzled, but also push you into a sense of disbelief. Haven closes on some shocking revelations and leaves you the question...will what happened to the last family happen to this one?
Readers looking for a thrilling fast-paced horror story won't find that within Haven's pages. However, readers looking for a horror novel that plays on the psychological aspect with hints of the supernatural will absolutely find this story intriguing up to the final page.
Haven
by Mia Dalia
October
29 - November 04
New Release! Publication date: 10/29/2024
What if revenge ripples and echoes through time?
You
can’t choose your family or your destiny or your legacy. But once
upon a time, a woman named Ava St. James had tried to build happiness
upon the remains of her broken heart. For better or worse. Decades
later, the Bakers are headed for a perfect family vacation. A full
month at a house by the lake; the house passed down from a mysterious
aunt no one ever talks about. Love and good intentions aside, what
begins like a relaxing vacation turns into a nightmare as each of the
Bakers’ nerves slowly but steadily begin to wear away at the edges.
Is it their fraught family dynamics or is something more sinister at
work?
The house has welcomed them, but will it ever let them leave?
About
the author
Mia Dalia is the internationally published author of Estate
Sale and Haven (CamCat Books Fall 2024), and many other
novellas and novelettes. Her short fiction has been published online
by Night Terror Novels, 50-Word Stories, Flash
Fiction Magazine, Pyre Magazine, Tales from the Moonlit
Path, among others, and in print anthologies by Sunbury Press,
Nightshade Press, HellBound Press, Black Ink Fiction, and many
others. She is a lifelong reader, and a longtime reviewer of all
things fantastic, thrilling, scary, and strange.
https://daliaverse.wixsite.com/author
https://twitter.com/Dalia_Verse
https://www.instagram.com/daliaverse
https://www.facebook.com/people/Read-DaliaVerse/pfbid0nZmDaEb7CoXpMTqQbDCTuTLYnE3tahY9WPkQAmdTHMZxepE3biBTNVS3Rt5QLapkl/
https://linktr.ee/daliaverse
Publisher’s Social Media
http://camcatbooks.com/
https://twitter.com/CamCatBooks
https://www.facebook.com/camcatbooks/
https://www.instagram.com/camcat_books
https://www.tiktok.com/@camcatbooks
