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The Refuge Trilogy #1
True Refuge
International Best Seller and 2018 Australian Romantic Book of the Year Award Finalist.
Book one in an emotional, passionate, dramatic trilogy about a world gone to hell, and the hell we hold inside…
The human race has been all but wiped out, along with our best traits: compassion, empathy, and generosity.
Euan is a survivor. In a dystopian wasteland infused with violence and cruelty, he protects something invaluable. His love for Nick and the solace that comes with the connection keeps him from destruction, and offers him that most elusive and dangerous emotion of all –
hope.
But happiness comes at a price and a hunting trip leaves Nick vulnerable to the evil that still infects the world. When Euan returns, he finds Nick broken and bloody, irrevocably damaged in both body and soul.
Now Euan's only goal is to find a place for Nick to heal, a safe place, a refuge where they can rest, recover and repair their love. When they risk a raid on an abandoned house, they discover the unthinkable, the rarest treasure of all. A woman.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2017
26 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Annabelle McInnes
6 books41 followersFrom the age of sixteen, Annabelle lived in a homeless youth refuge while she remained committed to her education. She spent two years within a section of society that most overlook.
Her experiences are the foundations that drive her stories and her characters. They fight for their freedoms, have courage in the face of adversity and always aspire for greatness.
Annabelle is the author of True Refuge, an International Best Seller and a finalist for the Australian Romantic Book of the Year (RuBY) in 2018. She is privileged to live in a small rural town in country New South Wales and writes to a distinctive Australian backdrop with its captivating change of seasons.
Outside of her love for reading, she spends her time with her husband, son and her fifteen year old poodle named Serendipity. She drinks her Whisky neat and can often be found at the local market hunting for blue cheese and artisan bread.
Her experiences are the foundations that drive her stories and her characters. They fight for their freedoms, have courage in the face of adversity and always aspire for greatness.
Annabelle is the author of True Refuge, an International Best Seller and a finalist for the Australian Romantic Book of the Year (RuBY) in 2018. She is privileged to live in a small rural town in country New South Wales and writes to a distinctive Australian backdrop with its captivating change of seasons.
Outside of her love for reading, she spends her time with her husband, son and her fifteen year old poodle named Serendipity. She drinks her Whisky neat and can often be found at the local market hunting for blue cheese and artisan bread.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 25, 2017
This book is a triumph! The perfect blend of ménage romance and suspense set in a post-apocalyptic, almost Mad Maxesque world. McInnes descriptive work is stunning , as is her characterisation of the alpha male lead, Euan. If you like an edgy, spicy romance you'll love it.
April 10, 2024
Most of the book felt like a 4-star read for me, but some of the pacing was so jarring I couldn't quite give it four.
This is a bleak, dystopian read. It absolutely needs a CW for an off-page horrific sexual assault that happens within the first pages. It is not described, but you're going to deal with the aftermath. It's at the core of the story, in addition to the obvious survivalist theme.
The writing is a bit lyrical, I enjoyed the details and emotive writing as a stark contrast to the gritty, harsh world setting. There are a couple editing issues that make you pause, but it's not a huge deal.
It does end up as a MMF book, which has some quite steamy sex scenes. There are sexual scenes with MM, MF, MMF.
Understandably in a apocalyptic environment like this, everything is going to get intense quickly. But there were so many tragic events and there wasn't enough time to deal with some of them before the next thing happened. I like where the story ends up, the connection between the three makes sense, it just moved too quickly. The inner monologue and internal declarations of love was too fast. It had the unwanted effect of downplaying the MM part of their relationship.
I loved Euan and Nick's relationship and it was the heart of the book, both of them surviving together. It's not that what they went through that ended up being too much, there needed to be a bit more space before the next thing. Finding Kira happened right after they lost a woman they rescued, it was hard to keep up.
I didn't feel any emotional attachment to Kira either, other than through Euan and Nick's attraction and protective nature towards her. But this is book 1 of 3, so I'm off to see where this goes!
CW: brutal off-page rape (including being tied, beaten, left for dead), killing, suicide, talk of suicide.
This is a bleak, dystopian read. It absolutely needs a CW for an off-page horrific sexual assault that happens within the first pages. It is not described, but you're going to deal with the aftermath. It's at the core of the story, in addition to the obvious survivalist theme.
The writing is a bit lyrical, I enjoyed the details and emotive writing as a stark contrast to the gritty, harsh world setting. There are a couple editing issues that make you pause, but it's not a huge deal.
It does end up as a MMF book, which has some quite steamy sex scenes. There are sexual scenes with MM, MF, MMF.
Understandably in a apocalyptic environment like this, everything is going to get intense quickly. But there were so many tragic events and there wasn't enough time to deal with some of them before the next thing happened. I like where the story ends up, the connection between the three makes sense, it just moved too quickly. The inner monologue and internal declarations of love was too fast. It had the unwanted effect of downplaying the MM part of their relationship.
I loved Euan and Nick's relationship and it was the heart of the book, both of them surviving together. It's not that what they went through that ended up being too much, there needed to be a bit more space before the next thing. Finding Kira happened right after they lost a woman they rescued, it was hard to keep up.
I didn't feel any emotional attachment to Kira either, other than through Euan and Nick's attraction and protective nature towards her. But this is book 1 of 3, so I'm off to see where this goes!
CW: brutal off-page rape (including being tied, beaten, left for dead), killing, suicide, talk of suicide.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2017
ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review
Plot: 4/5
Characterisation: 5/5
Prose: 4/5
How much I enjoyed it: 4/5
In a world where humanity is lost, two men tries to survive in this dystopian world. Euan used to be a boxer with a strong sense of responsibility. While navigating in a broken world, he met with Nick whose innocence became a beacon to stay strong and survive. The book encompases the time when Euan got temporarily separated from Nick until they met with Kira.
While I enjoyed their quest for survival, the book ended with a cliffhanger. I understand that its a trilogy but the abrupt ending makes it seem like its the end of Part 1 of the book instead of Book 1. Also, the book focuses a lot on how depraved the world has turned but not on why. With limited resources available, it seemed like the only people who survive are those who knows how to use technologies but not create or repair them.
The book's strengths are the characters. I can feel their pain and despair. This book centres more on Euan with his need to protect both Nicky and Kira. I wish I get to know more about Nicky and Kira in the next books.
Plot: 4/5
Characterisation: 5/5
Prose: 4/5
How much I enjoyed it: 4/5
In a world where humanity is lost, two men tries to survive in this dystopian world. Euan used to be a boxer with a strong sense of responsibility. While navigating in a broken world, he met with Nick whose innocence became a beacon to stay strong and survive. The book encompases the time when Euan got temporarily separated from Nick until they met with Kira.
While I enjoyed their quest for survival, the book ended with a cliffhanger. I understand that its a trilogy but the abrupt ending makes it seem like its the end of Part 1 of the book instead of Book 1. Also, the book focuses a lot on how depraved the world has turned but not on why. With limited resources available, it seemed like the only people who survive are those who knows how to use technologies but not create or repair them.
The book's strengths are the characters. I can feel their pain and despair. This book centres more on Euan with his need to protect both Nicky and Kira. I wish I get to know more about Nicky and Kira in the next books.
January 21, 2018
2.5 - 3.0 ***
I was in the mood for post apocalypse book so I picked this one. I'd never read anything from this author before. I knew going into it that the 2 male leads Euan and Nick were bi-sexual and they find Kira who is living alone in an underground bunker her brother built. It wasn't that great of a story and the characters weren't very engaging. I found the character's circumstances to be so unrealistic. I'm not interested enough in the story to read the second and third books.
I was in the mood for post apocalypse book so I picked this one. I'd never read anything from this author before. I knew going into it that the 2 male leads Euan and Nick were bi-sexual and they find Kira who is living alone in an underground bunker her brother built. It wasn't that great of a story and the characters weren't very engaging. I found the character's circumstances to be so unrealistic. I'm not interested enough in the story to read the second and third books.
January 24, 2018
Brilliantly written apocalyptic story with an interesting twist in that the lead characters are two men who have found love in the absence of women. McInnes doesn't spare the reader from the horrific conditions of survival in the apocalypse. There are surprise twists and turns too.
I loved this story and look forward to reading many more.
I loved this story and look forward to reading many more.
November 15, 2017
TW: rape.
This dystopian novel is superbly written. The words flow, drawing you seamlessly into the world of Euan and Nick. The topic - as expected from a dystopian world - can be quite difficult, heart-wrenching, while also being rather intriguing.
If you like gritty stories with the hopefulness that comes with a menage romance, you'll enjoy this. The lead female character, Kira, shines like a unicorn fairy among all the angst.
This dystopian novel is superbly written. The words flow, drawing you seamlessly into the world of Euan and Nick. The topic - as expected from a dystopian world - can be quite difficult, heart-wrenching, while also being rather intriguing.
If you like gritty stories with the hopefulness that comes with a menage romance, you'll enjoy this. The lead female character, Kira, shines like a unicorn fairy among all the angst.
September 20, 2017
I received an eArc of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I liked the ideas behind this book very much -- two guys thrown together at the end of the world, devoted to each other and making their way as best they can until they happen upon the rarest of all rarities -- a woman. A good idea -- building a foundation for hope instead of the despair or revenge that so many post-apocalyptic stories depend on.
Throughout the first section, I also liked the execution -- it was dramatic and painful and emotional in all the right ways for me to care about the guys and their struggles. The conflicts and traumas were very effective, the dramatic prose fit the context, and their mutual support was heartening to see.
But then they discovered the woman mentioned in the blurb, Kira, and things fell apart a bit.
First, the second section of the story had an inevitable change in pace -- understandable. These guys had been fighting for their lives on the road, and then suddenly . But this slowed-down pace was compounded by Kira, who . And when , I just had to roll my eyes. And these problems were compounded by the overly dramatic prose, ramping each and every move and thought and emotion up to 11 -- which damaged any sense of proportion or the natural ebb and flow that emotions ought to have. That prose worked fine when the guys were constantly fighting to survive, but not so much when things should have become more peaceful. Nonetheless, the idea behind this section -- again, the concept of hope in the midst of disaster -- was quite appealing.
Another problem, which hopefully got fixed between eARC and publication, was the many proofing/copy-editing errors. There were lots of missing words and mistaken words, like "a quite breath" instead of "quiet breath" and "lightening" instead of "lightning" and so on. Oh, and at one point Kira was described as having "small, pert nibbles", which cracked me up. Let's hope a good proofer caught these problems.
And finally, the book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. The blurb states that this is the first installment of a trilogy, so that really shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but I'm wondering if that could possibly be made a bit more clear or emphatic in the blurb somehow. Don't expect a completed intra-book story arc here, because you won't get one.
So the second part of the book had some problems, but the story has good bones nonetheless. I liked the guys and loved Euan especially -- I'm a sucker for the big protective types -- and I thought their part of the story was solid both dramatically and emotionally. And I'm hoping the trilogy as a whole will work out well in the end, with the problem area here ending up as just a small glitch within the big picture. If the rest of the series turns out as well as the first part of this installment, it could be very enjoyable indeed.
I liked the ideas behind this book very much -- two guys thrown together at the end of the world, devoted to each other and making their way as best they can until they happen upon the rarest of all rarities -- a woman. A good idea -- building a foundation for hope instead of the despair or revenge that so many post-apocalyptic stories depend on.
Throughout the first section, I also liked the execution -- it was dramatic and painful and emotional in all the right ways for me to care about the guys and their struggles. The conflicts and traumas were very effective, the dramatic prose fit the context, and their mutual support was heartening to see.
But then they discovered the woman mentioned in the blurb, Kira, and things fell apart a bit.
First, the second section of the story had an inevitable change in pace -- understandable. These guys had been fighting for their lives on the road, and then suddenly . But this slowed-down pace was compounded by Kira, who . And when , I just had to roll my eyes. And these problems were compounded by the overly dramatic prose, ramping each and every move and thought and emotion up to 11 -- which damaged any sense of proportion or the natural ebb and flow that emotions ought to have. That prose worked fine when the guys were constantly fighting to survive, but not so much when things should have become more peaceful. Nonetheless, the idea behind this section -- again, the concept of hope in the midst of disaster -- was quite appealing.
Another problem, which hopefully got fixed between eARC and publication, was the many proofing/copy-editing errors. There were lots of missing words and mistaken words, like "a quite breath" instead of "quiet breath" and "lightening" instead of "lightning" and so on. Oh, and at one point Kira was described as having "small, pert nibbles", which cracked me up. Let's hope a good proofer caught these problems.
And finally, the book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. The blurb states that this is the first installment of a trilogy, so that really shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but I'm wondering if that could possibly be made a bit more clear or emphatic in the blurb somehow. Don't expect a completed intra-book story arc here, because you won't get one.
So the second part of the book had some problems, but the story has good bones nonetheless. I liked the guys and loved Euan especially -- I'm a sucker for the big protective types -- and I thought their part of the story was solid both dramatically and emotionally. And I'm hoping the trilogy as a whole will work out well in the end, with the problem area here ending up as just a small glitch within the big picture. If the rest of the series turns out as well as the first part of this installment, it could be very enjoyable indeed.
May 17, 2018
Unrealistic Post Apocalyptic
I liked the story line but..... The character's personality and actions didn't match their back stories. Euan is boxer (fighter) which makes him an aggressive person to start with. Fighters are able to compartmentalize and are desensitized to aggressive behavior. After being in a post apocalyptic environment for several years his every action would be a plan for survival and he wouldn't make the stupid mistakes that are listed in this book.
Kira has been living in a bunker by herself for a year and a half after watching her brother die from a stab wound. Before his death her brother told her of the dangerous environment outside of the property. She found his killer decaying in the woods with her brothers knife in his neck. A woman that has been surviving on her own like that would not approach others so carelessly nor would she be wearing a sun dress and cut off shorts with a midriff shirt. Could you make the woman more stupid?
Nick- you can ask any man...What would you do if you were gang raped? Answer....After healing, I would shave my head to look less appealing, then go kill the motherfuckers!
Hopefully the rest of the story is more realistic.
I liked the story line but..... The character's personality and actions didn't match their back stories. Euan is boxer (fighter) which makes him an aggressive person to start with. Fighters are able to compartmentalize and are desensitized to aggressive behavior. After being in a post apocalyptic environment for several years his every action would be a plan for survival and he wouldn't make the stupid mistakes that are listed in this book.
Kira has been living in a bunker by herself for a year and a half after watching her brother die from a stab wound. Before his death her brother told her of the dangerous environment outside of the property. She found his killer decaying in the woods with her brothers knife in his neck. A woman that has been surviving on her own like that would not approach others so carelessly nor would she be wearing a sun dress and cut off shorts with a midriff shirt. Could you make the woman more stupid?
Nick- you can ask any man...What would you do if you were gang raped? Answer....After healing, I would shave my head to look less appealing, then go kill the motherfuckers!
Hopefully the rest of the story is more realistic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2025
I liked the beginning of this book and then powered through the rest. The vague dystopian setting was ok, then the part in Nirvana was weird and pretty unbelievable. Creepy that Euan and Nick decide to rescue the nameless woman but don’t give a fuck about all the men they kill in the process.
After that came the truly atrociously written parts. Mostly the parts objectifying Kira. Frequently, I asked myself: did a dumbass write this book? In what universe, even an apocalyptic one, would a woman invite two beaten and bloodied men into her house, and then immediately sleep with them after they capture and tie her up? Kira must have no brain cells, but at least she has that body yadi yadi yadi yadi and feminine wiles (seriously, she’s described as “feminine” like fifty times). She’s hot, dumb, and blonde, and that’s about all of her character development.
Euan gives off rapey toxically masculine predator perv vibes. No idea why Nick stays with him in the beginning, but I guess it’s the end of the world or whatever. The sex between the three of them was so terribly written. I honestly skipped the last three chapters because it was so bad.
After that came the truly atrociously written parts. Mostly the parts objectifying Kira. Frequently, I asked myself: did a dumbass write this book? In what universe, even an apocalyptic one, would a woman invite two beaten and bloodied men into her house, and then immediately sleep with them after they capture and tie her up? Kira must have no brain cells, but at least she has that body yadi yadi yadi yadi and feminine wiles (seriously, she’s described as “feminine” like fifty times). She’s hot, dumb, and blonde, and that’s about all of her character development.
Euan gives off rapey toxically masculine predator perv vibes. No idea why Nick stays with him in the beginning, but I guess it’s the end of the world or whatever. The sex between the three of them was so terribly written. I honestly skipped the last three chapters because it was so bad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2018
What a Great Book, I just found out about this book and kinda shocked I haven’t seen it mentioned in a groups I’m in, also the little to no reviews on Amazon is really disappointing cause I believe people are missing out.
Definitely a recommended read.
I loved all three characters, Kira is still a little hard to understand but I hope to learn more about her :)
Love the realism of everything, after coming across some less than stellar reads this was a nice change of pace.
Look forward to reading book 2 and 3!!
Definitely a recommended read.
I loved all three characters, Kira is still a little hard to understand but I hope to learn more about her :)
Love the realism of everything, after coming across some less than stellar reads this was a nice change of pace.
Look forward to reading book 2 and 3!!
May 19, 2018
Blown away!
What an amazingly, beautiful story of love and survival! I loved every moment reading this. Euan's all consuming love for nick and later for kira, too, pulled at my heartstrings! I can't wait to start book 2.
What an amazingly, beautiful story of love and survival! I loved every moment reading this. Euan's all consuming love for nick and later for kira, too, pulled at my heartstrings! I can't wait to start book 2.
February 18, 2018
Wow great story, although the ending was a bit abrupt. I can't wait to read the other 2 books in the trilogy
May 25, 2018
Walking Dead Romance?
Compelling, if unconventional love story. But too much like the Walking Dead for my tastes. Not planning on finishing the series.
Compelling, if unconventional love story. But too much like the Walking Dead for my tastes. Not planning on finishing the series.
August 19, 2019
A fast paced, gripping read that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Suspense, action and steamy romance - I loved every second of it!
September 29, 2022
“His once-vibrant eyes were lost in a green sea of dark shadows and misery.”
Did not finish
September 8, 2024DNF @ 76% on 8/11/24
July 4, 2025
DNF 74% finally realised it wasn't going to get better and didn't want to keep reading the trilogy
November 2, 2025
Every plot is mentioned, not explored tho. let's be ffr girly pop survived for almost 2 year alone and she's an...idiot? Women today don't trust man, but this one trust 2? in an Apocalypse?
no
no
June 9, 2025
An intense post-apocalyptic ménage romance. So intense at first, I had to put the book down for a few months after the first chapter. But I’m glad I came back to it. As Euan and Nick’s difficult journey culminates in a fortunate meeting, they find a safe place where they can begin the healing process. I’m very much looking forward to reading the rest of this trilogy.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews