James 1 – Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions

About the Book

Book: Corner Booth

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance

Release date: March 17, 2015

A daring move forges the love of a lifetime

A rushed lunch and a bold move introduce Carlie to a stranger—one who hardly acknowledges her existence as he sits across from her, sharing his booth to save her a wait in a long line.
What began as a random encounter becomes a weekly date in which Carlie chatters about her life to a silent lunchmate. Much about him interests her–his slightly Euro fashion sense, his commitment to the work he does as he eats his lunch week after week, and his evident attention to the running monologue she shares between bites of meals that he inevitably pays for.
Dean gets to know the woman across from him–looks forward to their lunches each week, learns valuable lessons about himself—but when the cafe is threatened, and then when she doesn’t show up one day, he suspects their unusual friendship means more to him than he imagined.

Settle into the booth with Carlie and Dean and learn just how eloquent silence really is.

Click here to get your copy!

My Impressions

“Every time you slip, just once, your mouth becomes a cesspool of linguistic garbage.”

Chautona Havig likes to set up unique premises for novels she then tackles as a challenge to turn into an interesting, faith-filled, and believable storyline. Yet, Corner Booth may be one of the most unusual ideas yet. Based on the Bible verse found in James 1:19, “…You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry,” Havig builds her romance around a young, verbose, theology professor and a beautiful retail clerk who has no true self-concept. Weekly lunch dates consists of the talkative prof being refusing to talk to his pretty lunch date, only listen, as she pours out details of her heart. I love the growth we see in both characters, Dean and Carlie, by the end of the book, but oy, the pain of getting there!!

My fave character is often a supporting character who contributes to the necessary changes in one of the main characters, and without whom the story would be incomplete. Larry is the winner of that category in this book. He is a keen observer, actually of both Dean and Carlie, he has great insight, patience, tact, and loves others despite knowing their flaws. Plus he speaks the truth in love.

I would encourage you to see how Ms. Havig can turn a book with such an unusual premise into a real-life, believable, truth-filled novel you’ll long remember! Oh, yes, if you like to laugh out loud and read witticisms, those are bonus givens in Havig’s works!!

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I received a copy of the book from the author and Celebrate Lit, plus I bought my own. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

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Notable Quotables:

“They can’t seem to comprehend why it’s important to base their beliefs on Scripture over conventional wisdom.”

“…the only thing separating jock from jerk is a vowel.”

“While feelings are real, they do not always reflect truth.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author of 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

You know, originally, I had Dean as a guy who was too wrapped up in his own little world to care about anyone else—the stereotypical academic. I pictured him buried deep in original Biblical manuscripts, annoyed that anyone would dare to invade his study time.

But you know what? That’s the easycharacter.

When I went back to edit the book, I had this thought. What if Dean weren’t reclusive at all? What if he were kind of a know-it-all who couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself. Maybe a child prodigy who was used to people thinking him rather brilliant and looking for his insights.

Yeah… I could get into that.

There was just one small problem. I’d written the entire book without him talking much at all on those Wednesdays. Now what?

After much deliberation, even more prayer, and a bit of fudging, I came up with the solution. What if he just challenged himself for “one lunch?” Just one hour or so of not talking to prove to himself (and his peers) that he could do it.

How could he possibly know he’d set things up for months of wordless lunches—on his part? And what would a person learn in a situation like that?

I’ve never admitted this before, but I tested it a bit. At situations where I could, I forced myself to listen to people’s stories, their questions, their opinions. The hard part was not spending my listening time formulating my response (how rude anyway!). I really had to focus on exactly what they said, how their voice altered based on their emotions, and what others around us had to say to encourage (or not—too often not, I’ll admit).

I learned a lot with the experiment, and I’ll be honest. I still catch myself listening with an ear to how I’ll respond instead of really listening. No, I don’t expect to find some café romance for myself. My guy is amazing, and he’s probably the only person on the planet who could put up with me, so… I think I’ll keep him. But I do expect to keep learning how to really hear people. You know… kind of like Jesus did. Imagine that.