The Vintage Wren Review, Guest Post and Giveaway!

Posted by abakersp in Contemporary / 4 Comments

thevintagewren

 

 

About the Book

 

Book Title: the Vintage Wren Volume 1

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Christian / Fiction / General / Romance

Release date: May 25, 2016 (still in progress)

The Vintage Wren is a serial novel released in episodes on Amazon. However, subscribers can get FREE weekly installments (a chapter in length) delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday(ish—life delays it now and then). To sign up for weekly installments, click HERE.  To read past installments visit The Write Chatterings group on Facebook.

The Vintage Wren is a serial novel released in several chapter episodes. Volume One contains the first four and a half episodes in one full-length novel.

Cassie Wren. Legal assistant. Convenience queen. Thrifter extraordinaire. If there was a “green police” she’d be a fugitive from eco-friendly justice.

But when a friend’s teasing feels like a challenge, Cassie accepts it. The result? One year. Twelve months. Fifty-two weeks. Three hundred sixty-five days–of green.

It seemed simple enough. Cut back on paper plates, plastic forks, and straws. Easy peasy. But when her competitive side wars against her desire for convenience, Cassie finds it’s not so easy to be “eco-friendly” and “Cassie-friendly.”

January Shopping for Cassie’s annual New Year’s Eve party sparks an innocent comment that Cassie can’t forget. So, during their New Year’s Day goal planning session, Cassie’s friends tease her about her lack of eco-consciousness, and Cassie determines to change one new thing in favor of the planet every week. For a year. Even if it kills her.

She’s confident it will.

Cassie’s first month includes eradicating the extraneous paper, glass, plastic, and metal from her life. However, she finds that it’s not quite as easy as she thought. Paper and plastic cover everything manufactured or packaged–even water, produce, and restaurant food! Glass is great, but you can only have so many “reusable jars,” and metal reduction means her hair may end up a nightmare of uncontrollable frizzies!

She doesn’t even want to talk about her water reduction plans.

But it’s not all been bad. She’s saved a lot of money, has prospects for a new business, her impromptu blog is gaining traffic, and she even has a new boyfriend. Add to that, a few great friends who keep her going when things get rough, and the realization that there are only eleven months to go, and Cassie just might make it.

Now only if her car would cooperate and make it, too!

 

Click here to purchase your copy!

 

My Perspective

 

Have you ever read a story that really makes you think about the things you are doing in your life? Ever had a friend that took things to the extreme? Well if not, let me introduce you to Cassie and her story. First of all, Havig covers a topic that our world really needs to become more educated about – going green. I am not going to sit here and type about how important it is to do so, mostly because this is a book review, not my opinion on going green. But what Havig has managed to do so masterfully is raise awareness about a topic, provide lots of information on this topic, and even give us tons of ideas on how we can apply different things to our own lives. And she does this while providing a funny, quirky, lovable story.

Let’s talk about Cassie. I would love to just spend one day with her, although I feel like I just spent the past month with her! She’s fun, energetic, quirky and just really awesome. Her fun-loving personality is so contagious, and I smiled while reading this. The best part? It’s not over!! Just by signing up for weekly installments on Havig’s website, you can continue this journey with Cassie. Some of my favorite parts of the story are those  in italics, looking inside of Cassie’s thoughts. It really shows her quirkiness even more, and quite frankly she had similar thoughts that I had, only hers were on paper. There’s thoughts on most of the pages, which frankly I thought really enhanced the story and brought you even closer to Cassie. And while that may seem like a lot, Havig manages to weave them in perfectly as to not interrupt with the flow of the story.

Do I think I could do all the things Cassie’s doing? No way. Not that I wouldn’t like to try, I am just being realistic. But I certainly enjoy watching her journey, getting tips from her, and even reading about some mess ups. I look forward to more wonderful installments of Cassie’s life. I encourage you to do the same!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

 

About the Author

 

 

The author of dozens of books in a variety of genres, Chautona Havig lives and writes in California’s Mojave Desert where she uses story to nudge her readers to the feet of the Master Storyteller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guest Post from Chautona

 

How Writing about Cassie’s Eco-Challenge Has Changed My Way of Living

I didn’t think it through—not really. I mean, how hard could it be? All I had to do is give Cassie my own reactions to things like giving up straws and having to use tote bags at the grocery store. I just needed 52 simple things she could change in her life—one new one for each episode.

Piece of cake.

I should have known better. I don’t do things halfway when I get into them. Yes, I’ve discovered that Cassie is more like me in some ways than I ever imagined. And as I’ve researched things for her to freak out about, I’ve done a bit of freaking out myself. Certain questions and thoughts won’t go away.

For instance, in 2017 1.26 BILLION dollars were spent on plush toys. Just plush toys. Stuffed animals. And I don’t know how many weren’t purchased. Those are just the ones that were. That’s… a LOT of stuffed toys. If each toy cost 20 dollars (and we all know most are half that or less these days), that’s 63 million of those toys purchased and brought home.

In one year.

Shampoo, conditioner, and laundry soap bottles. Not sure why this one bothers me as much as it does. I think, actually, it’s the huge amount of water as much as it is all the plastic.

Look, we no longer have eight females in our house. But we do still have four there at all times—five on breaks. That’s a lot of shampoo bottles every year. A big portion of both laundry soap, shampoo, and conditioner is… water. We pay for a big bottle (lots of plastic and water) and to ship that to us—either because we had to have it shipped to a store for us to buy it or we had to have it shipped to our house.

I am paying extra for water that I could add myself at a fraction of the cost.

And the things go on and on. The lake that almost disappeared in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan because of how much water it takes to grow and process cotton.

See, the thing is, I’m not a green nut.

I don’t think it’s as easy to “destroy the planet” as we like to say. I do think, much like we do with our bodies and such, that we can reduce the quality of the world around us, however.

And while I’ll never jump on Cassie’s bandwagon—certainly not for life, I have made a few changes in how I do things. And as time goes on, I find myself making even more.

Like what, you ask?

I’ll tell you.

Here are three small ways I’ve changed how we do things in our house.
  1. I started buying Dropps. They’re an automatically-shipped laundry pod. Each one is tiny—just a little smaller than the average “pod” and a whole lot cheaper. Also, there are no extra dyes or other things that are supposed to be bad for you and the planet.

I don’t really care about that. I just care that they work. And they do. And they’re cheaper than my Tide. ?

  1. I got a shampoo bar for my birthday. I thought it would be like washing with regular soap—especially after I started rinsing my hair! It freaked me out. One idea down the drain… I thought.

But no, after the second or third use, it still felt weird while wet, but it dried beautifully, and I didn’t need to use additional conditioner. It’s in the bar or something. I even tried the old way again to compare after-shower tangles. Identical.

  1. Dryer balls. Those felted wool balls really do work! A wonderful reader of mine sent me some, and it made my day! My youngest daughter and I are now trying to work with felted sweaters to try to turn them into dryer balls—or maybe even into sheets! (although, I think the balls bouncing around also kind of pound the clothes into submission or something. “Sheets” might not work, but I’m tempted to try it!

Look, you’ll never find me standing in front of a case in a mini-mart, freaking out because I want a Coke and can’t justify it. That’s not going to happen. But if I can choose a reasonable alternative to what I already do, well… it’s time to consider that.

There you have it. Three ways my life has changed since writing Cassie’s crazy story.

 

 

Blog Stops

 

The April Journal , October 16

Among the Reads , October 16

Inklings and Notions , October 17

Lots of HelpersOctober 18

Carpe Diem, October 19

Truth and Grace Homeschool AcademyOctober 19

Real World Bible StudyOctober 20

A Baker’s Perspective, October 21

The Lit AddictOctober 21

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly KissesOctober 22

Janice’s Book ReviewsOctober 23

Aryn The Libraryan , October 23

Bigreadersite, October 24

Mary Hake, October 24

Cultivating UsOctober 25

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations , October 26

MultifariousOctober 26

Bibliophile ReviewsOctober 27

Proud to Be an Autism MomOctober 28

Texas Book-aholic, October 29

The Mimosa BlossomOctober 29

 

 

Giveaway

 

Vintage Wren giveaway

 

To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away a grand prize package that includes 5 Shopping totes, a Shampoo Bar, a Foldable Straw, and a $10 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/d4eb/the-vintage-wren-celebration-tour-giveaway

4 responses to “The Vintage Wren Review, Guest Post and Giveaway!