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Spines and Leaves by Chautona Havig Review and Giveaway

April 26, 2022 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Book: Spines & Leaves

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: FICTION / CHRISTIAN / WOMENS FICTION / ROMANCE

Release date: July 8, 2021

♥ Books are the strings that tie hearts together. ♥

With a month to get from Orange County, California to Delaware for his next corporate challenge, Milton Coleridge decides to spend a week at Joshua Tree National Park.

He never expected to find a floundering bookstore in need of his particular business skills. Will his methods of saving companies from bankruptcy or takeover work on such a small scale? And can he convince two people to risk their hearts?

Step into the Spines & Leaves, Tamarisk, California’s oldest (and only ever) bookstore. Come in out of the harsh, desert sun and wind and peruse all the store has to offer. It might just be more than you think.

One man, one store, thousands of books. What’ll it take to keep this bookstore from becoming a book ghost town… and what’ll it take for Milton to tie two heartstrings together?

Spine & Leaves is the introductory novella to the Bookstrings series.

Click here to get your copy!

My Impressions

Whew!! Spines and Leaves by Chautona Havig is a not-to-be missed, fun ride involving a barely surviving, desert bookstore. The town of Tamarisk has almost nothing going for it, with several defunct stores and a few residences in the middle of Joshua Tree National Forest. But, wait! There’s a bookstore! Only a reader would understand how strong that pull is to Milton Coleridge as he enters with his parrotlet. We meet Mercedes, the daughter of the owner, who is managing the store until her ill father can get back on his feet. We see Marcus Mendez, a police officer who hides his feelings for Mercedes as he strives to protect his heart. We begin to see the makings of a love triangle between Marcus, Mercedes, and Milton.

Chautona Havig plays this triangle up well. I wanted to choose one man over the other, but couldn’t. Just as I would choose “Team Marcus” or “Team Milton,” the other would pull ahead by some act or word.

If you’ve never read Havig’s work before, this book is a good place to start. Havig brings her signature style with literature allusions, a touch of romance, plenty of snark and wit, faith lessons, and surprising twists that will keep you reading till the last word.

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

Notable Quotables:

“‘Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?’”

“Just reminding myself that God’s goodness doesn’t disappear when things seem like they’re going all wrong.”

Mercedes’ heart sighed. I could have fallen for a guy like that… if stupid Marcus hadn’t been here first. Her head said she could choose to love whoever she wanted. Her heart stuck out its tongue and went, “Ptttthtt.” Heart won. Again.

Book people understand each other. There are special connections between bookworms that might exist between football fans or movie buffs, but I doubt it is the same.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Magnificent!! Book Lover’s Paradise- both the Story and the Store!!

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author of Aggie and Past Forwardseries, 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

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Bookstrings series is a process rather than an idea. Each time I saw an indie bookstore close, each time I went in one with no one else in there for the hour or two I browsed, and each time I heard book lovers lament the lack of a store in their town… Yeah. Those experiences slowly grew into a wish—one where I knew how to rescue those stores from extinction. So maybe that’s a bit melodramatic, but that’s how it felt.

Somewhere in the midst of all that, Milton appeared—a business genius who, along with his faithful parrotlet, Atticus (not Finch), travels the country saving corporations from takeover or bankruptcy.

Milton went through several iterations. Older, balding, mustache, and always wearing a golfer’s cap. Then I had him as a young hipster dude who got sick of the rat race on Wall Street and took off on his own, using what he’d learned. That just felt too cliché.

Instead, I have a forty-ish guy who wears chinos and oxford shirts with topsiders, shorter than most men, and with a nonchalant air about him. And charm. The quiet guy with serious business skills just oozes quiet charm.

After deciding on Milton, I had to choose where to put the stores. I’ve been watching out for towns for years—using trips different places as research times. Would I create places that felt like real towns or use actual small towns? Though drawn to real towns, I had an idea for where to end the series, and, doing that meant a fictional town. Would it be weird to have four or five books set in small towns across America followed by a final fictional one?

The solution came to me as I learned that the Mosaic authors were doing a summer collection in 2021. If I started with a novella and ended the series with both in a fictional town, at least that fictional bit wouldn’t be out of the blue!

So, the Bookstrings series has two novellas and five full-length novels. (I couldn’t resist a Christmas “noella” in the charming town of Noel, Missouri—the “Christmas City.”) We’ll be off to other small towns around the country—one in Red Wing, Minnesota, another in Berne, Indiana, and one somewhere between Kingsport, Tennessee and Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina. If I can find a place in New England, that’d be great, too. Or maybe down in Mississippi… I’d love to visit my sister down there.

The Bookstrings series books all have one very important thing in common (aside from Milton and Atticus, of course). They all illustrate that books truly are the strings that tie hearts together.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, April 26

Texas Book-aholic, April 26

Lots of Helpers, April 27

Mary Hake, April 27

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 28

By the Book, April 29

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 29

The Avid Reader, April 30

Vicky Sluiter, May 1

For Him and My Family, May 2

Miriam Jacob, May 2

Inklings and notions, May 3

Blogging With Carol, May 4

deb’s Book Review, May 4

She Lives To Read, May 5

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, May 6

Simple Harvest Reads, May 6 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, May 7

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, May 8

Pause for Tales, May 8

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 9

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of the book!!

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/1d0b3/spines-leaves-celebration-tour-giveaway

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On Sugar Hill, #2 Georgia Magnolias, by Ane Mulligan

August 28, 2021 Babbling Becky L

About the Book

Title: On Sugar Hill

Series: #2 Georgia Magnolias

Author: Ane Mulligan

Publisher: Heritage Beacon Fiction

Released: May 2021

To make ends meet, the Fitzgerald women must open their home as a boardinghouse, but will the secrets they uncover prove their undoing?
The day Cora Fitzgerald turned sixteen, she fled Sugar Hill for the bright lights of New York City, leaving behind her senator father’s abuse. But just as her career takes off, she is summoned home.
The stock market has crashed. The senator is dead. Her mother is delusional, and her mute Aunt Clara pens novels that expose the town’s secrets. Then there’s Boone Robertson, who never knew she was alive back in high school but now manages to be around whenever she needs help.

And the Fitzgerald women need a lot of help, indeed. They are forced to find a way to make ends meet, whether it s mining for gold or doing what Southern women have done for generations in times of need turning their home into a boardinghouse.

But will the people of Cora’s past keep her from returning to a brilliant future?

My Impressions

Ane Mulligan has been an author whose works I buy immediately upon release ever since I met her Chapel Hill characters. The Georgia Magnolia series is set around the Great Depression. The female characters “have iron in their veins.” They are stronger than they know as they face insurmountable odds together. It is not necessary to read the books in order, as they are connected by theme, not characters.
But how I learned to love those characters! Fitzie, the Senator’s wife, and mother of Cora and sister to mute Clara. Just how sane has reality left Fitzie? And yet, she is such a blessing to those around her and retains a wonderfully positive attitude despite her life.
Clara is quite the enigma. Mute, but not deaf. She has strong opinions and contributes much to the solutions that will rescue the ladies from their troubles.

Pearl is just wonderful! She is loving and beneficent to those around her, when she has every reason to be hateful and resentful instead.
Poor Cora! She is easy to identify with, and one wonders if she’ll ever escape the mental prison others have made for her.
Boone is drawn in such a way I wanted to trust him and wanted Cora to fall for him, but what if he’s hiding more than can be seen?
Try to read this when you’re not hot or hungry. Every time I read about Cora’s wonderful support group, the Dillies, I pictured ice cream bars! Seriously, they are some truly refreshing friends.
To wrap this up, if you liked Steel Magnolias, you’ll love On Sugar Hill, #2 The Georgia Magnolias.
Notable Quotables:

“You can forgive the person and still hate what they did.”

“Some voices are harder to turn off than others.”

My Rating

Magnificent! Southern Fiction at its Best, Imbued with Hope!

About the Author

I’ve been a voracious reader ever since my mother instilled within me her own love of reading at an early age. Together we would escape together into worlds otherwise unknown.

A new love entered my life when I saw Mary Martin in PETER PAN. Struck with a fever from which I never recovered, I submerged myself in drama through high school and college, but, alas, Broadway never found my phone number.

While a large, floppy straw hat is my favorite, I’ve worn many different ones: hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that’s a fancy name for a lobbyist), business manager, creative arts director and writer. My lifetime experience provides a plethora of fodder for my Southern-fried fiction (try saying that three times fast).

I wrote and published my first script in 1996 and to date have over 4-dozen scripts in print, nine books, and numerous articles on various aspects of Christian drama and the craft of writing. In Jan of 2003, having quit my job with my husband’s encouragement, I began to write full time. I reside in Sugar Hill, Georgia with my artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler.

BLOG, Favorite

In High Cotton by Ane Mulligan

July 16, 2020July 16, 2020 Babbling Becky L

52875674

About the Book

Title: In High Cotton

Author: Ane Mullligan

Publisher: Heritage Beacon Press

Released: August 3, 2020

While the rest of the world has been roaring through the 1920s, times are hardscrabble in rural South Georgia. Widow Maggie Parker is barely surviving while raising her young son alone. Then as banks begin to fail, her father-in-law threatens to take her son and sell off her livelihood—the grocery store her husband left her. Can five Southern women band together, using their wisdom and wiles to stop him and survive the Great Depression?

My Review

This title puzzled me from the get-go. What could Ane Mulligan mean by “In High Cotton”? I quickly discovered that this is the story of single mother, Maggie Parker, and her seven-year-old son who live in the small Georgia town of Rivers End in 1929. (Points to Ane Mulligan for the town map at the front of the book.) I was relieved to see Ms. Mulligan capture my attention almost against my will, since the Depression is not one of my favorite historical eras.
But present it well, she did. The small town has some big-hearted people, like Sadie and Mama Faylene and Wade, and even little Barry. It also has some small-hearted people, who can’t see beyond the color of one’s skin, one’s gender, or their own ambition. Mulligan balances out the town’s population with enough of these that Maggie must constantly watch her back and her store.

In High Cotton 1

But this is a novel to be loved for so many things. Maggie’s story is one of most unique and compelling voices I’ve read in 2020!! I loved how Maggie keeps reaching out to help people, because they have needs apparent in front of her, even as her store is struggling. As Sadie would say, “Southern women may seem as delicate as flowers, but we’ve got iron in our veins.” The metal (mettle) of these ladies is truly glorious to behold, whether it is Maggie or Sadie challenging Cal;
the transformation of a surprising character; or Mama Faylene quietly standing up to the worst of the lot.

IN HIgh Cotton 2

Reminiscent of the movie, Steel Magnolias, you will want to have your tissues ready, but also keep an eye out for the wonderful humor, funny sayings and colloquialisms of the time. By the time you close the book, your heart may feel like you, too, are In High Cotton! Mine did.
Themes include finding true family, trusting God, and standing tall against evil, together. If only Ms. Mulligan’s map had shown how to get to River’s End.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and publisher. This in no way affects my opinions, which are solely my own.

My Rating

5 Stars- Hits My Reading Sweet Spot

About the Author

8061216 I’ve been a voracious reader ever since my mother instilled within me her own love of reading at an early age. Together we would escape together into worlds otherwise unknown.

You can connect with Ane at

https://www.anemulligan.com

https://goodreads.com/anemulligan

Celebrate Lit Tour

Hugo: Inspiring Southern Ambiance for Christian Readers (Painter Place Saga #2) by Pamela Poole

July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 Babbling Becky L

tag for Hugo

About the Book

Title: Hugo: Inspiring Southern Ambiance for Christian Readers (Painter Place #2) 36538480._SY475_

Author: Pamela Poole

Publisher: Southern Sky Publisher

Released: October, 2017

September 21, 1989: Some monsters in the dark are real. Can Painter Place survive?

Hurricane Hugo came in the dead of night, slamming Category 4 power into Charleston, South Carolina at the worst possible time–high tide. Painter Place is scoured by the writhing Atlantic storm surge, forcing Caroline Painter Gregory to say goodbye to a life she loves and face a future that may hold the worst that can possibly happen. On the devastated South Carolina coastline of 1989 and then in Arles, France during the centennial of Van Gogh’s life there, Hugo continues the saga of Painter Place.

My Review

So, I wanted to see what the hype was about The Painter Place novels by Pamela Poole. Hugo, the novel I read, is the second in the Painter Place Saga.
I was excited to see a map at the front. Kudos! The forward, which many readers skip, was fascinating. The novel is set in September of 1989, a year I well remember.
“Saga” is a good word for this series, as it obviously involves quite a few people and their extended families. No two-dimensional characters here. Although, I rather wish there had been. There are so many people the story whips around and in between, I had trouble keeping them straight. By fleshing out so many characters so well, it was hard to focus on who the main characters really were.

This is a very turbulent narrative of a family in tumultuous times. At times I could identify with the characters, but many times their solutions made me feel like the average person would have not had those options, and would have been required to slog through those times without getting away. Would the characters still have come out as stronger survivors?

Poole packs a boat-load of truth into her book. I think I might have preferred only a few problems to be solved than several that meant there was an abundance of philosophizing and Bible explanation throughout the tale. Trying to balance story and truth, that is a hard feat to accomplish.

Quotable:
“That’s always the bottom line, isn’t it? No matter what a person accomplished, it has to end, and it turns out that the most important thing wasn’t what they left behind. It was where they’d spend eternity.”
As I finished the book, I wondered if it might appeal most to twenty-something readers. Or I may be one of a few who is not a huge fan. Try Hugo for yourself and let me know your thoughts.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author via Celebrate Lit. No positive review was required and all opinions are solely my own.

My Rating

About the Author

“Inspiring Southern Ambiance” pamela poole

Pamela Poole is an artist and author currently living in Raleigh, NC with her husband Mark, but they dream of moving back to the coast someday. Pamela’s love of living in the South is lavished into her creative subject matter. She believes that art and stories are only worthwhile when they are filled with beauty and hope that survive in spite of all life’s challenges.

Pamela is a member of various author and artist organizations. Her FREE painting demos can be found on her YouTube channel, and FREE coloring pages can be downloaded from her websites. Stay up to date with Pamela Poole Fine Art and Southern Sky Publishing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and Pamela Poole Art on YouTube.