Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt with Chautona Havig!

Posted by abakersp in Contemporary / 8 Comments

Scavengerhunt (1)

 

Do you know Chautina Havig? No? Well then this the blog for you. Or maybe you’ve heard of her, but were a little nervous to try a new author. Or maybe you’ve only read some of her books. Now is the time to read more!

This awesome blog tour is featuring some wonderful books written by….you guess it. Chautona Havig. Not only is she a great person, she’s a pretty great write too! Each blog stop is featuring a different book, so make sure you check them all out! Today, I am featuring the book Prairie.

About the Book

Journey of Dreams- Dreams have a way of infusing themselves into our souls–becoming Prairie  (Journey of Dreams: Book One) by [Havig, Chautona]an indivisible part of who we are. Five lives irrevocably change when their greatest longings become their new reality–and for one, vice versa. The Journey of Dreams series is Contemporary Christian Fantasy, exploring the delights of our hearts and how the Lord meets them.

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In my dreams, I had always imagined wandering through meadows of golden, calf-high grasses that swayed in a gentle breeze. The dream recurred often—one I’d loved since my childhood. Sitting on the fire escape of our fourth-floor apartment in Pittsburgh, I’d escape into the woods of Wisconsin, the prairies of Kansas, and eventually the little town of De Smet, South Dakota, as I lived and breathed the adventures of Laura Ingalls.

However, of all those places, the Kansas prairie somehow infused itself into my soul. I dreamt of the swoosh of the grasses, the musical sound of the cottonwoods when their leaves rustled in summer winds, and clear skies with only small tufts of clouds to mar their azure perfection…Some things we read in books, whether prose or poetry, and think we understand. However, until you’ve stood in a sea of grasses undulating like the waves of the ocean in the morning breeze, you cannot possibly begin to understand what the phrase, “sea of grass” means. As I stood, watching the rise and fall of the blades dancing in unison to a tune inaudible to me, a rush of contentment washed over me. In this vast sea of nothingness, I knew I had come home.

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Jessa Davidson enjoyed a lifelong fascination and desire for life on the prairie. However, she never expected that fascination to become reality. A far cry from her apartment in Pittsburgh, the world of Prairie is more than just a change in geography–it’s a change of life. In Prairie, Jessa examines the innermost parts of her soul and discovers desires she never knew she had.  From the moment she awoke, transported from the cold Pennsylvania winter, on the sunbathed summer prairie, she knew her life would never be the same. The people of Prairie welcomed her and accepted her–almost without question, but so much of her life changed in that moment–her hopes, dreams, values, and the absolutes of things like time–that she feared accepting her new life as reality. Is Prairie the dreams of her life come true–or her worst nightmare> Is it real? Is it permanent? Or will she awake to discover that she’s lost her mind–or worse, her life? And the biggest question on Jessa’s heart? Does she care?

Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Prairie-Journey-Dreams-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00BFN9JC6

Pinterest Board for The Hartfield Mysteries (quote images): https://www.pinterest.com/chautonahavig/journey-of-dreams/

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/W3CMk3QuDtU

My Perspective

Have you ever yearned for something so much that you thought it might come true? Or have you ever had a dream so realistic that when you woke up, you thought it had really happen? That’s what Jessa’s story felt like to me. She wanted the prairie life, and all that it entailed. so much so that it became a reality for her. What kind of reality is the question, and you’ll just have to read it to find out.

I am always a fan of Chautona’s writing. Her style is unique, yet  I feel like I have been reading it forever. It has that “make yourself at home” feeling to it. She is no nonsense – you won’t find information dumping, boring storylines, etc… Now, at first I thought this story did kind of a little bit start out slow. But as I continued to read, it made sense. You needed to see all of this for the story later on to make sense and be able to move forward. You know what this reminded me of? Life. It isn’t always the fast track, and sometimes the Lord is telling us to slow down rather than hurry up and wait. So looking at it from this point of view kind of made it make sense.

I really like Jessa’s character. She had a lot going on, and it must have been overwhelming at times. But true to Chautona’s writing style, she doesn’t pull any punches. Chautona is not afraid to write or think outside the box, and I think that is why her stories pull me in like they do. I look forward to reading more in this series, and think you will too!

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

chautona

Author of the Amazon bestselling Aggie and Past Forward Series, Chautona Havig lives and writes in California’s Mojave Desert. With dozens of books to her name, Chautona spends most of her time writing, but when she takes the rare break, she can be found reading, sewing, paper crafting, or sleeping and dreaming of finishing the dozens of books swirling in her overly-active imagination at any given moment.

My Social Media Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chautona

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/justhewriteescape

My blog: http://chautona.com/blog/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ChautonaHavig

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2946954.Chautona_Havig

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/chautona-havig

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Chautona-Havig/e/B0032191W2

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/chautona/videos

My newsletter (sign up for news of FREE eBook offers): https://chautona.com/newsletter

 

Pinterest Board for The Hartfield Mysteries (quote images): https://www.pinterest.com/chautonahavig/journey-of-dreams/

 

Intro Post from Chautona Havig

They talked—my favorite Denny’s server and a guy she met. “Shanetta (she can’t get my name right to save her life) writes in booth 14 every night.”

“Writes what?”

Angela gave him a “duh” look. “Books?”

Again, the guy asked, “What genre.”

I’m sure she didn’t know what she was in for when Angela said, “Christian fiction.”

The man’s response? Priceless. “So, what, she makes up lies about Christians?”

 

As I said in THIS POST, I used to use Christian fiction as a general explanation of what I write but it wasn’t the “simple answer” that I’d expected. So, then I started saying, “Well, this one is…” and I’d fill in the blank. Mystery, romance, suspense, historical, contemporary, youth—you name it, I’ve probably written it. Well, except for erotica. And true sci-fi? Yeah. That probably won’t happen either. Horror? Not my thing.

Once I’ve explained my odd genre choice for this particular book, I tend to point out that most of my fiction follows under the general heading of Christian fiction. Inevitably the question follows, though. “Why Christian?”

It would be easier to answer why not. I could just say, “As a Christian, I find it almost impossible to leave my faith and worldview out of my writing.” It’s true, but I did manage. Once. Even then, if you look deep into the core of that little story, you’ll still find basic Biblical themes and truths. They’re just less overt.

But people never ask why not write something else. They ask why I write Christian fiction. So I tell them. I start with my purpose. “I write stories to point Christians to the Master Storyteller.” I write about Christians for Christians. I don’t write evangelistic fiction, although occasionally someone comes to Jesus in my books. The reason I do this is because I’m writing to encourage the body of Christ. If I wrote to introduce the lost to Jesus, I’d be writing mainstream to whet people’s thirst for the Word and the Lord.

But that’s not my goal. How I achieve my goal is my website’s tagline. “Christian fiction without apology or pretense—lived, not preached.”

In the books featured in this blog tour, you won’t find people, as a general rule, spouting sermons disguised as prayers. I show a faith-filled life lived… or not, as the story requires. I show you why Christians believe things that I may not even agree with. And I hope, that with each word, I create a desire for just one more minute in the Word.

Behind the Book Post by Chautona Havig

“It has a slow start. I had to put it down a few times, but all the positive reviews kept me picking it up again. But oh, once I got into it, I was just like the rest. I couldn’t put it down.”

Whenever I read that someone had a hard time getting into a book of mine, that it was a slow beginning for them, my heart sinks a little. I strive to drop people into the story and sweep them along with it. A slow start isn’t what you want when you strive for the opposite.

Except with Prairie. That slow, steady beginning? I did that intentionally. You see, that’s how the dream began. I heard the song, “Theme from a Summer Place” repeat on an endless loop in my subconscious mind. I saw a tree—just one—out on a vast expanse of golden prairie grasses. The sun beat down, and a girl in a thick coat stood there, confused.

I could have done my usual drop and run. It would have worked, I think. But I had two reasons for giving that slow, gentle introduction to Prairie.

First, I wanted to show it as I saw and felt it. I wanted to give readers that steady immersion into a world that I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams. Only in my soft, quiet, gentle one did this story emerge. That’s the introduction it needed.

And second, I wanted to set a pace for the entire book. You see, the rest of the story doesn’t actually move any quicker, but by the fourth chapter or so, you become accustomed to the pace, the slower walk of life, the gentle pricking of your soul as you see how this new world affects Jessa.

The Journey of Dreams series is what I call a contemporary fantasy. Most of the elements could fit today’s world. However, it’s fantasy because we don’t just wake up in an alternate reality and live out the rest of our days there—not until heaven anyway.

I’ve had people ask me if the Journey of Dreams is supposed to be a picture of heaven… or of a purgatory-like place. That always amuses me. I mean, how can people get two completely different things from the same place?

But no, the Journey of Dreams is my fantastical and rather literal exploration of the verse in Psalm 37:4- Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

In Prairie, Highlands (and soon in Seaside), you see people who have always dreamed of living in these places. They dreamed about them so much that when something happened to ensure their transfer to this alternate reality, their reality included those places. They took a journey that gave them the one dream they never imagined they could have. And it’s not just a dream. It’s a dream come true.

Book Three of the Journey of Dreams series is slated for release in 2018.

 

Blog Stops

September 28: Reader’s cozy corner

September 29: The Scribbler

September 30: Just Jo’Anne

October 1: Quiet Quilter

October 2: Inklings and notions

October 3: Fizzy Pop Collection

October 4: Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations

October 5: Carpe Diem

October 6: Have A Wonderful Day

October 7: A Baker’s Perspective

October 8: Christian Bookaholic

October 9: Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses

October 10: His Grace is Sufficient

October 11: Blossoms and Blessings

Giveaway

Grand Prize is all FOURTEEN books featured during the scavenger hunt!*
1st – 13th place wins a copy of one of the books*

(Over $200 value)

*Books are in ebook format

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