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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

What Do a War, Two Vets, and a Beautiful Window Have in Common?

by Chautona Havig · Leave a Comment

Happy book birthday to Regina Rudd Merrick and her latest release in The Stained Glass Legacy Series, Window of Peace! via @chautonahavig

The next book in The Stained-Glass Legacy Series, Window of Peace, released today, and I chatted with Regina Rudd Merrick about it a couple weeks back. Jumping from the 1920s in the first book to 1970s and the Vietnam War, Merrick gives us more of the Dunne family, more of the chapel, and another great story connected to both and to that window!  Listen in while we chat about historical fiction, the 70s, and what’s coming next for Regina!

Regina Rudd Merrick

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What Do a War, Two Vets, and a Beautiful Window Have in Common?

Surprisingly, a lot!

I had a lovely chat with Regina Rudd Merrick the other day, and I felt like I was sitting on her front porch sipping sweet tea. Shh… don’t tell. I prefer mine barely sweetened, but she was gracious, so I sipped away! (Just kidding. There was no tea involved on my end, but I did drink a ton of water. And tea really is mostly water, so…)

As one of the four women who were on the same writing retreat that sparked the idea of The Stained-Glass Legacy Series, Regina was also one of the two authors who had to dip their toes into historical fiction to make the series work. Each book is set approximately fifty years apart, so you end up with a fascinating glimpse into how the world and this particular little area of Tennessee changes over the series.

Regina talked about dipping into childhood memories, researching things she remembered, and how all that played out in her book. I can tell already that this book about a Vietnam vet who wants to go home to be a vet(erinarian) is going to be a favorite. This is my childhood (bits of it anyway), and I’m excited to see how it looked on the other side of the country!

Window of Peace Regina Rudd MerrickWindow of Peace by Regina Rudd Merrick

Michael Connor “MC” Dunne led charmed life. He had a plan—finish veterinary school, get married, and take over the local animal clinic. Enter the Vietnam War.

MC returns home, injured, to Park Haven, Tennessee, and soon learns there’s a new vet in town, hired when the local veterinarian suffered a heart attack. So much for his plan.

Violent flashbacks and nightmares pull MC away from his faith and turn him into a hermit. His safe place is the family farm, working on the old cabin and restoring the chapel his great-uncle built in the early 1900s, with the family’s heirloom stained-glass window.

Nancy Jean Baker struggles to prove herself as a competent veterinarian to the small-town skeptics of Park Haven. Fighting her own demons from a traumatic past, she’s driven to succeed. But when war veteran MC Dunne returns home, wounded and wary, Nancy discovers she’s standing between him and his dream.

Can they help each other overcome their hurts and horrors? Or is their hope of happiness doomed when the past threatens to ruin their future?

You can learn more about Regina and her books on her WEBSITE.

You can also listen to the episode she missed with the other authors HERE (hint… I remembered incorrectly and it was about another group project).

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 231: A Chat with RomCom author, Shannon Sue Dunlap
byChautona Havig

Shannon Sue Dunlap isn’t new to rom-coms, and her first book in the Sweetheart Series promises to be a literary riot, and it lives up to that promise. I’m only halfway through it and am thinking mean, ugly thoughts of everything keeping me from being able to escape into the crazy small-town politics and quirky characters. So far the com far outweighs the rom, which makes me thrilled to bits. Listen in to discover what makes Lone Star Sweetheart so much fun.

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

Why Did This Author Write a Rom-Com about a Loveable Shrew?

Well, I think we can safely blame Shakespeare for that. Shannon Sue Dunlap has taken inspiration from Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in her Katherine, but unlike Katerina, Dunlap’s character is actually trying to learn to tame the tongue. Maybe someone should send her over to the book of James. There’s that whole bit about not being able to tame it, being an “unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Kate’s isn’t that bad, but not for lack of trying. Or something.

Shannon Sue Dunlap isn’t joking when she says that her Katherine is a “loveable” shrew. Seriously, I love this character. She’s forthright, no-nonsense, and “what you see is what you get” in her approach to life. I respect that. Add to that her boss who has shaken up the town of Sweetheart, Texas, and you’ve got the makings of a great story. I’m loving Lone Star Sweetheart.

But this isn’t all Dunlap has written.

Under the pseudonym, Shannon Kent, you can find her sweet and clean romances (including one Christian romance) inspired by Korean dramas. If you said I’d be not only chomping to read a sweet and clean romance about Korean tour guides and all that entails but also ready to watch a Korean drama on Netflix… Okay, I might not have laughed in your face, but I’d’ve been laughing on the inside.

Best part… one of them ties into her Sweetheart Series

Lone Star Sweetheart by Shannon Sue Dunlap

Katherine Bruno’s passionate, unfiltered temper makes her the shrew of small-town Sweetheart, Texas. When she’s drafted to help the mayor’s wife run against her own husband, Katherine meets opposing big city political consultant Ryan Park. The good-looking, flirtatious campaign manager gets under her skin, but fraternizing with the enemy is off-limits.

Katherine must battle her lack of experience, campaign sabotage, and her growing feelings for Ryan as she strives to succeed. His unprejudiced acceptance of her strong-willed character beckons her heart, but his jaded rejection of God is an insurmountable barrier. Will Ryan return to his faith and stay with her in Sweetheart or leave when the election ends?

You can find out more about Shannon Sue Dunlap AND get that first novella in the Korean Crush series free on her WEBSITE.

Like to listen on the go? You can find Because Fiction Podcast at:

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  • and more!

 

Episode 231: A Chat with RomCom author, Shannon Sue Dunlap
Episode 231: A Chat with RomCom author, Shannon Sue Dunlap
May 26, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 230: A Chat with Bryan Timothy Mitchell
May 17, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 229: A Chat about Murmur in the Mud Caves with Kathleen Denly
May 12, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 228: A Chat with Author Emilie Haney
May 9, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 227: A Chat about the New Jewels of Kalispell Series
May 5, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 226: A Chat with Archaeological Thriller Author, Doug Powell
May 2, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 225: A Chat with Dani Pettrey
April 28, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 224: A Chat with Author Megan Besing
April 25, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 223: A Chat with Tosca Lee about A Long March Home
April 21, 2023
Chautona Havig
Episode 222: A Chat with Regina Rudd Merrick
April 18, 2023
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