“Corner Booth” by Chautona Having is the charming story of how a daring move forges the love of a lifetime. Carlie has a rushed lunch with a stranger, Dean who hardly acknowledges her existence. A random encounter becomes a weekly date with a silent lunchmate. Carlie is smitten by Dean’s sense of fashion and debonair flair, his exemplary commitment to his work and his evident attention to her monologue during meals that he pays for.

In this unusual encounter, Dean gets to know Carlie and eagerly awaits their lunch rendezvous each week. In doing so, he learns valuable lessons about himself. Dean realizes that their unusual friendship means so much more to him than he ever imagined. Dean is a very knowledgeable seminary professor.

In “Corner Booth,” with Carlie and Dean, we learn just how eloquent silence really is. I love the sound of silence. Silent voices speak in the serene silence. Voices in our consciousness. Voices that give wisdom to our souls. It is so important that we spend time with ourselves, to hear the silent voice of wisdom that gives us joy in our hearts and a lilt to our steps.

Corner Booth is a unique book, raising questions for readers to ponder about. Chautona Having gives us a unique story of a fledgling friendship that blossoms into romance and a deeper look at the intricacies of human interactions. I highly recommend this charming book to all our readers who value the relevance and importance of interpersonal relationships.

About the Book

Book: Corner Booth

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance

Release date: March 17, 2015

Click here to get your copy!


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 easy character.

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.

Blog Stops

Pause for Tales, May 9

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 9

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, May 10

Lots of Helpers, May 11

Miriam Jacob, May 11

Texas Book-aholic, May 12

By the Book, May 13

Inklings and notions, May 14

Spoken from the Heart, May 15

For Him and My Family, May 15

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, May 16

deb’s Book Review, May 17

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 18

Mary Hake, May 18

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, May 19

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, May 20

Blogging With Carol, May 21

A Good Book and Cup of Tea, May 21

Simple Harvest Reads, May 22 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

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/1d735/corner-booth-celebration-tour-giveaway

SPINES AND LEAVES – Chautona Havig

May 2, 2022May 2, 2022 Administrator

About the Book

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: FICTION / CHRISTIAN FICTION

Release date: July 8, 2021

“Spines and Leaves” by Chautona Havig is the well-written, fun-filled story of a barely surviving desert bookstore, in the town of Tamarisk, in Joshua Tree National Forest. The bookstore attracts Milton Coleridge as he enters with his parrotlet. Mercedes, the daughter of the owner, manages the store until her ill father can recover. Marcus Mendez, a police officer, cleverly masks his feelings for Mercedes, as he valiantly tries to protect his own heart.

This exciting book bears Chautona Havig’s own unique signature style. It has clever allusions to literature, plenty of wit and wisdom, faith lessons for all to learn, and surprising twists and turns to capture the reader’s attention from start to finish

Milton Coleridge has an excellent business sense and a humane heart to help bookstores struggling to survive. Milton is determined to help this quaint little bookstore spring back to life. His inspirational vision breathes exciting new life into the world of reading.

Marcus and Ced learn to trust each other and slowly allow their feelings for each other to grow into the love that knows no end. Through this awesome book, we learn how precious life is and how important it is to let others know how important they are to us. Firmly believing that “books are the strings that tie hearts together,” I highly recommend this inspiring book to all passionate readers who love to read to their hearts’ contentment.

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!


About the Author

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.