Monday, August 23, 2021

About the Book

When a hurricane rips through Hooper Island, a tidal wave of TV crews follows and upsets the locals.

Brooks Crawforth agreed to volunteer crews helping to clean up and repair things on the island, not a whole home and garden series on the total renovation of several houses and a bit of cleanup on the side. He’s furious, and the show host is spitting nails at the person who blew it in the first place.

His and his father’s jobs are in jeopardy, the islanders are about to kill him, and that crazy show host blames him for her assistant’s last-minute, “you’ve-got-to-sign-this-now-or-we-can’t-come” contract.

One more thing. Did she have to be so cute?

He’s got even more trouble, though. Islanders are starting to blame Mallory Barrows for the invasion. Not only that, there are rumors of dismantling the association and allowing tourism on the islands. How’s he supposed to fix this mess?

They can’t stand each other, but if they can manage to flip off the enemy switch and flip on some cooperation, maybe their hearts’ll get flipped, too.

This “enemies to romance” novel introduces the next island in the Independence Islands Series featuring five islands, six authors, and a boatload of happily-ever-afters.

The Independence Islands Series: beach reads aren’t just for summer anymore.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Author of the bestselling Aggie and Past Forward series, Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More from Chautona

How I Almost Missed This Important Life Lesson

He annoyed her. The guy was bossy, demanding, rude, and unwilling to admit fault—mostly. Truth be told, she was pretty much the same. Two people with similar faults. The relationship would never happen.

Now what was I supposed to do?

Without any idea how I’d take two near enemies and turn them into a couple, I kept writing the primary story—the one that was supposed to bring them together. The one that would have driven me far, far away from a guy like Brooks.

Right about the time I thought about that is when Bailey had her revelation. “He likes me.”

I nearly did a spit take. I mean, where did that come from? Why would he like someone who hadn’t bothered to be likeable?

And still the story unfolded. “Life or death” moment? Check. Unintentional sharing of attraction and heart. Check. Still confused author as these characters draw closer and closer… check, check!

It took until after the story’s climax for me to realize that Brooks really did like Bailey for who she was—and vice versa. Only after all that tension diffused and their distrust had been smashed to smithereens were Bailey and Brooks able to examine everything. Only after that was I able to realize a truth I hadn’t expected to learn.

People fall in love with people they argue with.

People in love argue. See, my husband and I don’t do that. We don’t argue. Ever. Do we agree on every little thing? No. We just don’t argue about it.

Look, it’s not like I’ve never written people who argue. I do. But Never have I looked at a fictional relationship, seen that it would produce the kind fireworks that Bailey and Brooks will, and thought, “Oh, they’re perfect for each other.”

Because see… if I were Bailey, I’d run. Fast. Conflict is a natural part of life and relationships, and I’m not so naïve as to think it’ll never occur. But entering a relationship knowing it’ll be a regular occurrence? Unthinkable!

So as I pondered all this during those last pages of the book, something hit me.

Jesus enters a rocky relationship with us. Willingly.

Don’t believe me? Think about it. Jesus knew, before He ever spoke light into existence, that His bride would blame Him for… pretty much everything. He knew she’d get him brutally murdered. He knew she’d rail at Him, spit at Him, abandon Him, cheat on Him, and even after forgiveness… she’d do it all over again the next day.

Even knowing all that… He still whispers to our hearts, “Be Mine. I love you.”

If that’s not the most beautiful, unbelievable, amazing thing, I don’t know what is.

It’s probably one of the most important life lessons I’ll ever learn. People choose to be in relationships with people they know they’ll argue with—people who will hurt them, annoy them, demand things of them. And the greatest example of One who does it so beautifully is Jesus. Because see… Jesus entered that relationship with me, knowing I’d be that person. Humbling, yeah. Important life lesson? Most definitely.

MY REVIEW

I really wish that this series would continue forever because I love visiting the people and setting. They have become like family to me. It was interesting to have the story centered on a renovation television show. There are many of those type shows now and I have always wondered how they get the work done. I liked that the show was there to help the islanders recover from a storm that did a lot of damage.

The townspeople were not very happy about the television crew and it is not well received when it gets out that they have been deceived. I wonder why Brooks didn’t look over the contract better? Was he too busy or too trusting? It does open the door for a great conflict between Brooks and Bailey. Poor Brooks has the town upset with his decision and now has to deal with the woman in charge of the project.

I liked Bailey because she really had a heart to help others but everywhere she turned, opposition followed her. The mystery of who was sabotaging the project was ruining her reputation and if she didn’t find out who was behind it, it could be the end of her career. Bailey, you have your work cut out for you.

At first I was not connecting with the characters well and didn’t like the story but then nestled in the pages were two very important lessons I needed. It is very true that opposites attract. When I first met my husband we didn’t like each other at all. We argued a lot and said some pretty mean things to each other. I’m happy to say that after thirty-eight years together enemy to friends does work. Brooks and Bailey have this love/hate thing going and I enjoyed reading the banter between them. It was obvious that they liked each other but who was going to swallow their pride and admit it? When they spend more time together it gives them a chance to share their faith and help Bailey understand how God is there to be her guide. It is hard when everyone seems to be against you, but Bailey will need to trust God and allow Him to show her that she is worthy to be loved. I’m glad that I was reminded that God loves me even when my attitude is not good.

The other lesson was about grace. It is funny how we want grace when we mess up, but when someone else makes a mistake we are quick to want them punished. Finding out who was behind the sabotage didn’t surprise me, but the punishment did. I was all for wanting them to go to jail and be publicly humiliated. Now where was my grace? Well it disappeared as that ugly thing called revenge and judgmental attitude came out. Yes I am guilty of doing that in my own life but after reading this story I have had to ask God to forgive me. We may not think someone deserves grace, but God is in control not us. I think I have gotten stale in my walk with God and this story has given me a fresh outlook. Grace is something I have expected for myself but not others. I have a critical spirit and realize that I need to ask God to help me overcome this critical, jealous and woe is me attitude. Thank you Chautona for writing a story that I needed at this moment.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.