About the Book

Book: The Bells of New Cheltenham

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Christian fiction, Christmas romance

Release Date: October 15, 2020

Who knew that Christmas carols were love songs?

Justine Driscoll sure didn’t. Peace on earth? She’s heard of that. Holy and joyful? Something about that, too. But love songs sung by a bride about the birth of her bridegroom? That’s just weird stuff right there.

Weird or not, though, once Justine decides to enter a short story contest using a Christmas carol as the inspiration, she discovers love in the carols she investigates, in the story an ex-Army guy tells, and in the little tourist town of New Cheltenham.

“But what do the words mean?”

Ken Torsney is used to fighting for causes he believes in. He just never imagined he’d go from Army “warrior” to spiritual warrior in the span of one question from a stranger. Justine is like no girl he’s ever known— hungry for the gospel even as she rejects it.

He’s falling for her, and that’s bound to break his heart.

Love is in the air in New Cheltenham this Christmas. Again.

 

Click here to get your copy!

 MY REVIEW 

There is one thing that the author is consistent with   in any book she writes. To me it is the most important thing for a Christian author to achieve. This author has always written a book that is faith filled and encourages readers to have a relationship with Christ. She achieves this by using characters who may struggle and walks them through forgiveness. Maybe she will have a character who doesn’t even know who Jesus really is. But the end result is when you finish one of her books, she has done what God has called her to do. 

This particular story was a bit different  but it still presented the truth and hope that God is real. Yes I cried when I met Justine. Some of us can relate to that feeling of being alone with nowhere to go. It was no accident that Justine found herself in this little quaint town. She is desperate to find a job and a place to stay. I did wonder what debt she needed to pay back so I knew I was going to read the book without stopping. 

Ken is one of those men who is honest, caring and not afraid to share his faith. I liked how Justine ran into Ken and helped her gain confidence to enter a writing contest. I had heard Christmas songs all my life, but I think this is the first time I really started to understand their  meaning. The author takes a song, and line by line opens the eyes of my heart to the real meaning of cherished Christmas songs. 

As Ken shares the Christmas story with Justine, I felt like I was sitting in front of him listening as well. He does it in a way that is not forced but explains the meaning in a way that Justine was able to comprehend.  Oh how fun it is to see a person find a relationship with God. I’m so glad that the author never rushes  relationships in her books. She allows the characters to work through problems and gives  them supportive people to surround them with encouragement and love. I wasn’t sure at first if I was going to like the book but as you can tell in my review I got what the author was wanting to pass on to readers. I understood the meaning of the birth of Jesus in a new light. Most of all I understand how important it is to never miss a chance to witness to someone. 

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

About the Author

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 Havig

3 Things That Make My Christmas Heart Sing

I didn’t have a ghost of a chance.

The message popped up in my messenger at exactly the moment I sat down.  This is significant, because I get dozens of Facebook messages every day, and often, they get buried when a new one supersedes it. So, as you can see, it’s a near miracle that I ever saw the message at all.

The message offered me a spot in a collection of novellas—a Christmas collection.  Yep. Not a ghost of a chance.

Still, I tried to be responsible, you know?  After all, I had quite a few books due at the same time already.  Bookers on the Rocks, The Last Gasp, my Christmas Lights Collection “noella,” and my CrossRoads Collection “noella.”  And those didn’t include anything I wanted to write in spring or summer.

Then she added another layer of temptation. This collection had a theme.  That theme? Christmas carol inspired romances.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love music, Christmas, and specifically, Christmas music?

The other authors in the set had already made their carol selections.  She sent a list of those that had already been claimed.  I read them with great trepidation. See, I already had two carols I’d want to use in the story for this collection that I hadn’t even agreed to participate in yet.

No one had chosen “The Holly and the Ivy” or “The Bells on Christmas Day.”

That ghost slowly transformed into the ghost of my resistance.

All that remained was for me to come up with a story idea.  I mean, why join a collection if you can’t even decide what to do with it?

That’s when it happened.

There’s always this moment when the first idea germinates, sprouts, and pushes up through the fertile soil of my imagination.  My favorite moment.  And it hit me.  What if the theme for the collection was my story idea?  My character could enter a contest that requires a short story based on a Christmas carol.

And once I had that idea, the rest came in a whoosh!  Mitchell, from The Ghosts of New Cheltenham could be sick to death of this annual ghost storytelling contest and decide to create his own contest.  And then… well…

The Bells of New Cheltenham was born.

If you’ve not read The Ghosts of New Cheltenham, you’ll follow this “noella” just fine. It is meant to be a stand-alone.  However, if you want a richer reading experience, I recommend reading The Ghosts of New Cheltenham, followed by the companion short story, “The Ghastly Therapist” first. Both are available through Kindle Unlimited.  Additionally, if you send your receipt (or a screenshot of the final page of the eBook from Kindle Unlimited) for the Melodies of Christmas Love collection to chautona@chautona.com, I’ll send YOU the bonus short story—the one Justine Driscoll writes in this “noella.”

But I promised to tell you three things that make my heart sing at Christmas.

1. The way people are often just a little kinder and a little more giving and understanding.
2. The joy that seems to fill every part of life—family, friends, parties, presents, church services, reading, singing…
3. The music that plays everywhere—and often sings of a Savior’s love.

 

What makes your heart sing at Christmas?

Blog Stops

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, November 9

21st Century Keeper at Home, November 9

Simple Harvest Reads, November 10 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Ashley’s Bookshelf, November 10

Texas Book-aholic, November 11

Blogging With Carol , November 11

Among the Reads, November 12

Artistic Nobody, November 12 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)

Inklings and notions, November 13

Batya’s Bits, November 13

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 14

Sara Jane Jacobs, November 14

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, November 15

Worthy2Read, November 15

For Him and My Family, November 16

Labor Not in Vain, November 16

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 17

lakesidelivingsite, November 17

Aryn the Libraryan, November 18

Lots of Helpers, November 19

deb’s Book Review, November 19

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 20

Jeanette’s Thoughts, November 20

She Lives To Read, November 21

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, November 22

Mary Hake, November 22

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away the grand prize of a $25 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/10359/the-bells-of-new-cheltenham-celebration-tour-giveaway

 

About the Book

Book: The Secret Sisters Club

Author: Monique Bucheger

Genre: Mid-grade, blended family, horses

Release Date: March 18, 2012

Twelve-year-old BFF’s Ginnie West and Tillie Taylor, want to be sisters. Ginnie’s widowed dad plus Tillie’s divorced mom could equal a lifetime of round-the-clock girl talk and slumber parties. Too bad Dad vowed to never marry again. Ginnie and Tillie come up with the perfect scheme to change his mind: ‘Operation Secret Sisters’ (aka OSS). After all, if they can’t get Dad to move on, Tillie can’t move in.
Things get more complicated when Ginnie stumbles across her mom’s hidden journals. Ginnie can finally get to know the mother she doesn’t remember and her dad doesn’t talk about—if Dad doesn’t take them away.

 

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

When Monique isn’t writing, you can find her playing taxi driver to one or more of her 12 children, plotting her next novel, scrapbooking, or being the “Mamarazzi” at any number of child-oriented events.

Even though she realizes there will never be enough hours in any given day, Monique tries very hard to enjoy the journey that is her life. She shares it with a terrific husband, her dozen children, twelve granddarlings, too many cats, and many real and imaginary friends. She is the author of several books in three series and hopes to write many more.

 

More from Monique

Hello everybody!

 

I’d like to welcome you to the first book in my Ginnie West Adventures Series: The Secret Sisters Club. This series has been a fun journey that started longer ago than I care to admit. 

 

As a tween, Ginnie West was my imaginary friend who gave me courage. Since then, I have written her story through four novels to each become a #1 Amazon Best-selling novel.

 

The Secret Sisters Club is the story of 12-year-old BFF’s (Ginnie and Tillie) who want to become sisters. However, The Secret Sisters Club is more than a scheme (AKA: OSS: Operation Secret Sisters) to get Tillie’s divorcee mom to fall in love with Ginnie’s widowered dad. 

 

The Secret Sisters Club is a contemporary, middle-grade novel about: belonging, overcoming hard things, finding joy in the journey of your life, and finding the courage to change your own stars when you don’t like the hand you have been dealt—and realizing that ‘real’ family can be friends you have chosen when the people in the family you were born to are missing because of choices they made, death, divorce, and circumstances beyond your (and sometimes their) control—and these themes are shared in an uplifting, empowering, age-appropriate way.

 

Because Tillie was abandoned when she was six years-old by her birth dad, six years before The Secret Sisters Club starts, she longs to for  a “whole” family: with a mom, a good dad, a sister, and a brother. Tillie has always been timid, but Ginnie helps her feel brave. Tillie, in turn, helps Ginnie realize that she has a lot to be grateful for.

 

Ginnie has never worried about what her family looks like—because it has always “felt” right. She lives in a 3-generation farm family composed of her great-Uncle Ben, his two kids, her dad , Todd, and his brother, Uncle Jake–who were raised by Uncle Ben because they were orphaned as young tweens, as well as Ginnie’s twin brother, Toran.

 

Ginnie’s mother died in a tragic accident when she was 3 ½ years old, leaving Ginnie with very few memories of her mom. Which hasn’t been a problem for her—UNTIL she finds a box of her dead mom’s journals and starts reading one.

 

Then Ginnie realizes that she really missed out—her mom was pretty amazing: creative, energetic, courageous, funny, a nationally ranked beauty queen (which Ginnie couldn’t care less about) but also a nationally ranked equestrian and trick rider—which Ginnie cares VERY much about. And more than that—she realizes that her mother truly understood her. And while her dad loves her very much—Ginnie is constantly tossing him out of his comfort zone as he struggles to balance her need to be independent with his need to keep her safe.

 

The Secret Sisters Club explores the journey of two BFF’s finding strength to overcome adversities, humor in day-to day life, and courage to make hard choices as they grow up together, embracing their differences as well their similarities, to make life a totally awesome sauce adventure.

My REVIEW 

This was a good book about two girls and their friendship. Can you remember who your best friend was growing up? I can still see me running across the street every afternoon to go to my best friends house. We would sit in her room, play records and talk for hours . She was a bright spot in my life and maybe someday I’ll get to  tell her how much I appreciated her. 

Ginny and Tillie are wonderful characters. I love their friendship and how  much they stuck together through bad times and good times. They hatch a plan that reminded me a lot of The Parent Trap. Oh how I could feel both these young girls pain as one dealt with the death of their parent and the  other one deals with a patent that deserts her. They yearn to be a family and have high hopes that their plan will work. 

I really enjoyed reading about the horses and how much fun they had riding them. Do you remember when you were younger and wanted a horse? Funny I never did because they scared me. I liked looking at them, but to own one was out of the question. I really liked when Gennie finds her mother’s journals. I wondered if Gennie would be able to handle what her mother wrote. The emotions in the story were good as each girl deals with family issues, wanting to belong, letting go of the past and finding happiness. 

I understood that the author was trying to portray the yearnings of a young girl who wanted both a mother and father. It was hard to read at times how much this girl hurt because she felt abandoned. The other girl is not so sure she wants to share her father and second thoughts pop in her head. The journals were the most intriguing to me because we witness the words that a mother wrote about her life and I had hopes that the journals would heal a broken heart. 

Come  join the fun as we mingle among the families in the story. Two young girls on the cusp of being teenagers find themselves in trouble at times but are surrounded by love. They laugh together and share their hurts with each other.  There may be subjects in the book that parents may want to discuss with their children before they read the book. The author handles these subjects with care and understanding of the target age group for the book. It is a family story that will warm your heart. I look forward to reading the other books in this series. 

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

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 6

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, November 7

Inklings and notions, November 8

Captive Dreams Window, November 8

Through the Fire blogs, November 9

Texas Book-aholic, November 10

For Him and My Family, November 11

deb’s Book Review, November 12

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 13

Artistic Nobody, November 14 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, November 15

Ashley’s Bookshelf, November 16

Vicky Sluiter, November 17 (Author Interview)

lakesidelivingsite, November 17

Sara Jane Jacobs, November 18

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 19

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Monique is giving away the grand prize of a $50 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/10355/the-secret-sisters-club-celebration-tour-giveaway

 

About the Book

Book: Matching Points

Author: Nancy J. Farrier

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: September 9, 2020

She doesn’t hold his past against him…can he forgive hers?

Fresh out of prison, Asia Jessup wishes she could change her past and maybe her future. She has no family and no one to turn to. All she has is her newfound faith. She returns to the town where she spent a couple of idyllic summers to find family she didn’t know she had. Her devastating secret won’t bring a joyful reunion. Will it destroy her last hope?

Ian Kittridge has his own thriving restaurant, is a respected business owner, and is active in his community. Thanks to a teenage Asia’s empathy one summer he’d been pulled back from the brink of ruining his life and ending up like his father—a murderer. He is working hard to eradicate the past and rise above the murmurs of “like father, like son.”

When Ian runs into Asia he can’t believe she’s returned to their coastal California town. Although he’s eager to reconnect, he isn’t looking for a serious relationship—he can’t take the chance of becoming his father. Asia is wary of Ian’s friendship because of her shameful past and the sins of her mother and father. As Asia’s secrets quake the family she hoped to find, can she and Ian find their way through the storm, to a peaceful resolution, and look toward the future?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 MY REVIEW 

This is one of those books that you can’t put down until the very last word has been read. It is an emotional roller coaster experience and surprises throughout the story. I loved how the author develops her characters and allows readers  to slowly become acquainted with them. 

Asia was my favorite character and I could easily relate to her. She longed for a family and had hopes that someday she would find that with someone. It is hard to life in a dysfunctional family but I really admired how Asia did something  for her mother that to me was a true sacrifice. Her decision one day leads her to prison and a world she never thought she would experience. 

When Asia shows up in the town where she spent summers she had a mission to find answers about her past. This is where the story really delves into an emotional journey for several people. Asia is hiding her past from those who have welcomed her home. She knows there are still rumors going on about her mother. Oh how I cried when words were spoken to Asia that cut to the core. She is nothing like her mother but several people like nothing better than to treat her disrespectfully.

Ian has has his share of pain growing up. The crime his father commits is unthinkable. Ian is so fearful that he will turn out like his father that he decides not to get close to anyone. A relationship scares him but when he sees Asia for the first time after her being gone maybe there is hope. I loved how Ian turned to God to help him make wise decisions and learn to trust Him with everything. 

I thought the author did a great job of describing quilting and all the work that goes into making a heirloom to cherish. There are a few funny moments with Ian and Asia in the class that lightened the story up a little. As I read the book I soon became aware that secrets floated around and I knew that someone was going to get hurt. Asia has come back to find her father, but will her past cause a falling out from people she has grown to care about? Can Ian move forward and allow God to heal him and show him that he is loved? Both  Ian and Asia will find themselves face to face with their past. How will they handle their emotions when secrets come out that will shock some and give closure to others? I enjoyed the story very much and loved how the author let us see what happens when we try to hide our past. Pride plays a factor in the story as well as judging others. The ending is beautiful and I loved the message of forgiveness . Secrets always have a way of coming out. If we can learn to trust God, He will show us the right direction  and guide us to “let go and let God.”

“When you withhold who you are, you are carrying the load and not allowing  Him to work.” 

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

About the Author

Nancy J Farrier is a best-selling, award winning author of over twenty-five books. Nancy has written both historical and contemporary fiction, as well as nonfiction for the Christian market. Her Southwest fiction is filled with characters who face real life issues, which she hopes will encourage her readers. Nancy lives in Arizona in the Sonoran Desert and loves the sunshine and most of the time enjoys the heat. She lives with her husband or thirty-seven years, four cats, and dog. Nancy enjoys early morning hikes, spending time with her family, reading, and going to church.

 

More from Nancy

From the moment I first pictured Asia standing across from that quilt shop, I knew I had to tell her story. She carried so much emotional baggage and such longing, but I didn’t know why. Going on that journey to find where she’d come from and why she was here at this place, in this moment, was such a rollercoaster ride.

 

Exploring the theme of family and how our families impact our past proved both exhilarating and painful. I remember hearing a man say he couldn’t help being the way he was because of his father’s influence. That man was a Christian. My first thought was that he has a new Father and he is to be like Christ. Like God.

 

This is why both Ian and Asia struggle with the concept of having a parent they were compared to in an unflattering light. Ian couldn’t change what his father did, he could only make his own choices and be a different person. To be like Father, like son. Asia, too, had people assume she would be her mother’s daughter, but she wasn’t. Her choice was to live a different life, despite pressure to be as immoral as her mother.

 

Our choices are what make us who we are. How we choose to live. How we choose to forgive. How we choose to love. And Who we choose to love and follow.

 

Exploring these themes in Matching Points kept me on my toes. Seeing Asia and Ian work out their choices and their journey proved exhilarating. I hope my readers find encouragement in the pages of this book and the lives of the characters.

Blog Stops

Blossoms and Blessings, November 2 (Author Interview)

deb’s Book Review, November 2

Sara Jane Jacobs, November 3

Adventures of a Travelers Wife, November 4

Ashley’s Bookshelf, November 4

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 5

Pause for Tales, November 6

Artistic Nobody, November 7 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)

Wishful Endings, November 8 (Author Interview)

Batya’s Bits, November 8

Texas Book-aholic, November 9

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 10

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, November 11

Inklings and notions, November 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 13

For Him and My Family, November 14

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 15

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Nancy is giving away the grand prize package of a Kindle Fire 7 and a handmade quilted table runner!!

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/1032e/matching-points-celebration-tour-giveaway