Saturday, 14 March 2015

*** REVIEWS HAVOC AND CHAOS ***by Xavier Neal




When Clint "Grim" Walker, started Operation: Save Haven Davenport, the beaten, bruised girl who fell into his life, he had no idea it would turn him into an unbalanced, enraged, insecure idiot.

The mission objectives seemed simple: 
Make her feel safe in his home. Fail. 
Protect her from the neighborhood playboy. Fail. 
Shelter her from the ex girlfriend. Fail. 
Not fall in love with her. Epic fail. 

And while Clint could learn to live with those failures, there's one he can't. And that's the objective that matters most. More than his side duties of making amends with his father, more than accepting motherly love from his meddling neighbor, and more than attempting to relate to his brother's in arms off the field. 

4 STAMPS


I am a big fan of hot military heroes and, therefore, excited to read this book.  Clint (nickname Grim) is a marine and he loves being a marine. His character is a mystery in that outwardly he is this strong marine but inwardly he is damaged and suffers from the death of his mother when he was very young. 

Clint’s father (Sir) is the local sheriff.  His relationship with his son is strained because he pulled away from him after the death of his wife.  Sir is also deeply damaged when his wife passed.  Over the years, instead of Sir loving his son and helping him deal with the loss of his mother he just shouts orders.  This strange father/son relationship accounts for the hard exterior that Clint shows to the world.

Haven comes into Clint’s life when she escapes from the ogre that held her captive and physically, sexually and, emotionally abused her.   Haven is beautiful with a loving and kind soul even after all she suffering she went through. I like this character and how she helps Clint while he helps her.

Saving Haven sets the stage for a kind of instant love/protector relationship between Clint and Haven.  He doesn’t want her to suffer any more and goes a little overboard trying to ensure her safety.  He doesn’t want any more pain in her future. 

I like watching Clint grow emotionally as he becomes more involved with Haven.  She brings love back in his life and has him examining his feelings even though it makes him anxious. She gives him the strength to stand up to his father something he’s needed to do for a long time.

I love good support characters and we have that in this book.  The support characters (Glove & Lordy) are perfect. What makes them so good is that they are a little mysterious and well developed.  I'm questioning why everyone have a pseudonym?  The secondary characters also shed light on Clint’s character and are good friends.  They are people you want in your life.   As a reader, I cry out to learn more about them.

Even though I would normally complain about this cliffhanger, the next book is available now so it isn’t really a cliffhanger and, therefore, start reading now.

This is the first book I’ve read by Xavier Neal but I will be looking for more.  Good job!

AMAZON UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Havoc-Xavier-Neal-ebook/dp/B00O8DZMIA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426290162&sr=8-2&keywords=HAVOC+BY+xavier+neal

AMAZON:  http://www.amazon.com/Havoc-1-Xavier-Neal/dp/1505564484/ref=la_B00IY1FR1Y_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426290047&sr=1-2




Clint "Grim" Walker has always been clear about two things in his life, his love of his Marine career and his love for Haven Davenport. His self missions were clear: Be the best Marine possible. Protect Haven at all costs. But when the two objectives collide they leave his once stable existence in chaos.

4 STAMPS


Chaos is the second book in the Havoc series and continues with Clint and Haven’s story.  Clint is returning home after his deployment and finds a new and more secure Haven. 


Clint is very distracted when he gets home.  His old dark and closed off persona has returned.  He isn’t clear where he stands with Haven and neither does the reader.  She is in culinary school and making a name for herself. Haven acts standoffish with Clint which brings his old insecurities of being lovable back scratching his heart.   Let me tell you Haven doesn’t help the situation and really bothers me.

Any connection I have with Haven in Havoc is gone in Chaos.  I don’t get her actions and when she cuts Clint out of a significant event I want to smack her upside the head.  I get that she is experiencing life for the first time but for me she is ungrateful and just down right mean.  This isn’t a bad thing.  A good writer stirs the emotions of the reader and Ms. Neal does that and then some.

I have to give Ms. Neal another shout out for her ancillary characters.  They add so much to the story as multidimensional personalities.  I love them as much as the main characters...well more than Haven right now. 

 This book (and the series) is well written and gripping.  I went through many different emotions especially as Clint and his father start to reconnect.  It is good to see these two strong men come to understand each other and recapture the love lost many years ago. I'll say again Haven caused me to boil and not in a good way.

My biggest complaint is this cliffhanger is a killer and just burns me up.  


AMAZON UK:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chaos-Havoc-Series-Book-Two-ebook/dp/B00QOI8WO8/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0WZE7GWMN4D57K7E2V6A

AMhttp://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Havoc-Series-Book-Two-ebook/dp/B00QOI8WO8/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0J6CTCKJYSHGPCP0WJYG

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