About the Book
Name of book: Christmas Embers
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Contemporary Christmas
Release Date: November 25, 2016
It’s a truth universally unacknowledged that sin will hunt you down and advertise its presence the moment you try to hide it.
Emily Byrne sits in her daughter’s classroom listening to the deepest wishes of twenty kindergarteners as she sketches them. But when little Joey Cordell breaks down, weeping and insisting the only thing he wants to find is his father, she isn’t sure where her Christmas project will take her.
Davia Cordell came to Rockland for one purpose–find her son’s father before she dies. An ex-prostitute, she’s well aware that the news will cause waves, but what’s a mother to do?
As these women join forces to search for Joey’s father–a Rockland area pastor, no less– Emily learns compassion for a woman who just wants the best for her son and can’t quite imagine that Jesus wants anything to do with her.
Each day, Davia weakens until Emily isn’t confident she’ll find the boy’s father in time–if at all. Doubts form. Should she look? Is it right to risk destroying a family like this–an entire church? The weight of that responsibility crushes her as Davia wastes away before her eyes.
A mother’s love. A boy’s confidence. A family’s faith. A preacher’s failure. Is redemption even possible anymore?
Christmas Embers: a story of love, failure, and redemption.
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About the Author
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.Guest Post from Chautona Havig
Infidelity to the Tune of Adeste Fideles
“I think my husband is having an affair.”
An explanation followed. Look, I tend to be one who assumes the best of others—to a fault even. I read the “evidence” and frankly could see it going either way. It’s hard to tell across thousands of miles. While others on the message board saw red flag after red flag—and frankly, I did, too—I also saw perfectly innocent explanations for things. It’s a curse sometimes—that ability to see both sides of an issue. I cautioned against assumptions no one would want other people to make of themselves. And I prayed she was wrong.
She wasn’t.
It wasn’t the first time I’d come face to face with infidelity. As a child, there was an extended family member. As a newlywed, one of my wedding party—then another. Then another. The excuses, the justifications. Friends and I went to confront a sister in Christ on her affair with her husband’s best friend. We foolishly asked “what happened?” regarding her marriage. Her words: “We drifted apart.”
I wanted to scream te words that battered my brain and heart. “Then row back together!”
But over the years, it just grew worse. One by one, wives and husbands tossed aside vows made to a brother or sister in Christ—vows made before the Lord—in favor of what sometimes were serial affairs. Abuse. Horror.
I’ve prayed women I love through court cases, medical visits, and disclosures from children no mother should ever have to hear. I’ve prayed for men I didn’t even like because of the pain their wives inflicted each time she left them alone with the kids. He knew. He always knew.
Adultery is real. It’s ugly. And there’s absolutely a cure for it. Jesus. 100% surrender to Jesus. But as long as we rely on those little loops on the back of our boots instead of the saving, healing, strengthening power of Jesus, we’re just as vulnerable as the next person.
And that’s why I wrote Christmas Embers. I took every heartbreaking story I’d observed over the years and put in each character for a reason. Every scene, every plot point, every twist—I put them exactly how and where they are for a reason.
They’re there as a warning.
This isn’t your lighthearted Christmas novel. Some have suggested I shouldn’t have set it at Christmastime. But you know what? Over half the disclosures I’ve ever heard of happened between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. I couldn’t get the idea of Joey’s story out of my head. And to write his story, it had to be at Christmas.
Let me say it again. While Christmas may not seem like the optimal time for a hard-hitting book like this, I had to do it. Adultery is reaching epidemic proportions in the church. There’s a solution. His name is Jesus.
I feel that I must warn readers, that if you want a feel good Christmas story filled with joy and a picture perfect family, this is not the book for you. However this book is for everyone who has ever thought that temptation would never catch up to them. It lurks in our darkest places, waiting to come out. Adultery is an ugly word and is surrounded by devastation. The author pulls no punches in this book. She is upfront and transparent with her characters. I had a very hard time reading this book without having to wipe tears away. To say this book hit home, is an understatement.
My dad was a baptist preacher and the one thing I always thought was he treated my mom like a queen. Little did I know that secrets were there that would one day destroy everything in my thinking of pastors. A pastor is someone who is held to a higher standard and when that trust is broken, the devastation is painful. I related to this book because of two things. It talked about pastors and their families and adultery that can happen in any home.
Emily was a good character and I loved how she had a passion for children. I liked the work she did with them and the relationship she was able to build with them. Everyone around her thought she had the perfect life. She was married to a wonderful man who was very respected in the church. He counseled couples, mentored people and lead classes in the church. Temptation is a hard thing to resist and even the most goodly person can fall prey to it.
Through a series of events that the author so brilliantly wrote, we find out that Sean had committed adultery early in his marriage. I think he thought that as long as he could hide it from his wife, he could keep his guilt hidden. God always has a way to bring deceit to the surface. Emily is shocked, hurt and angry when the truth is revealed. I know how hard it is to trust someone after they have shattered your hope. I liked how the author took Emily and Sean through the emotions of sin and shared how the most important thing is to forgive. We all have choices and Emily wanted to listen to God, but it became difficult when she became tempted as well.
There were many people who wanted to give their opinion about the situation, but some of it was judgmental and hurtful. A sin is a sin. One sin is no bigger than another. In the story we meet another couple that is dealing with adultery as well. I’m not surprised at the anger the wife had, but I was a bit upset that she kept trying to belittle Sean and convince Emily to divorce him.
This is a very powerful story that details the destruction adultery can bring . The children in the story broke my heart. Joey is someone that I wanted to hug and assure him that nothing was his fault. He is loved and wanted and the author expresses that through characters with grace and beauty. Our actions always have consequences when they disobey God’s Word. Sometimes we forget our families, especially the children suffer along with us. I did mention that this story hit home. My dad, the preacher had a daughter no one knew about . Suddenly she showed up when I was twelve. The pain was overwhelming. It all made sense to me why I was shunned by my parents. The secret they kept caused me to know I wasn’t ever wanted. They made sure everyday I knew. That little hurt girl never forgot the betrayal she felt from her father. I am thankful for an author that writes stories that talk about issues many people face. No one is immune to temptation. The important thing is how we handle the confession of sin.
“Only follow your heart if the lord is guiding it”
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
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Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away a grand prize of a 6 month Kindle Unlimited Subscription!!
Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/c512
Scent for Angel
Mimi Milan is an award winning, bestselling author of both historical and contemporary romance. Currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Queens University, she spends most of her time in the suburbs of Charlotte, crafting stories her family and imaginary friends inspire.