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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Why This Book Promises to Be One of My 2024 Favorites!

by Chautona Havig · Leave a Comment

Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin releases February 6th. Listen in to learn about the book and about fun preorder bonuses! via @chautonahavig

It might have to do with the fact that it’s Sarah Sundin or even WWII.  Maybe it’s because we’re dealing with the Blitz and yet not just England’s resilience in the wake of its destruction. But I suspect I’m going to love this book because Sarah Sundin took a heartbreaking fact of WWII history that many of us don’t know about and put it on the page in a different setting to showcase it. Listen in to see how and why that happens in Embers in the London Sky.

Embers in the London Sky

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

Why This Book Promises to Be One of My 2024 Favorites!

When Sarah Sundin writes WWII fiction people take up and notice. Why? Because she’s been doing it longer than most. Because of her thorough research. And perhaps especially because of her attention to detail. When you pick up one of her novels, you know you’re going to feel as if you’re there.

I won’t pretend I’m glad I didn’t have to live through The Blitz and that my only real experience with it will be when I read this book.  I also forgot to ask about research materials. I’m gonna need those.  Hmmm… Oh, Sarah!

But Embers in the London Sky blends the heartbreak of loss of home and family with the focused destruction and attempted demoralization of England. If that’s not hard enough, Sarah throws in a few murders to keep things interesting. Or something. EEEP!

If that isn’t a recipe for excellent fiction, I don’t know what is!

Embers in the London SkyEmbers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin

As the German army invades the Netherlands in 1940, Aleida van der Zee Martens escapes to London to wait out the Occupation. Separated from her three-year-old son, Theo, in the process, the young widow desperately searches for her little boy even as she works for an agency responsible for evacuating children to the countryside.

When German bombs set London ablaze, BBC radio correspondent Hugh Collingwood reports on the Blitz, eager to boost morale while walking the fine line between truth and censorship. But the Germans are not the only ones Londoners have to fear as a series of murders flame up amid the ashes.

The deaths hit close to home for Hugh, and Aleida needs his help to locate her missing son. As they work together, they grow closer and closer, both to each other and the answers they seek. But with bombs falling and continued killings, they may be running out of time.

Get Embers in the London Sky at 40% off and with free shipping from BakerBookHouse.com.

Learn more about Sarah (and request your preorder goodies!) by visiting Sarah’s WEBSITE. Also follow her on GoodReads and BookBub.

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 599: A Chat with Frank McKinney
byChautona Havig

Few people tackle the topic of hell in Christian fiction, so I was curious to see what Frank McKinney would do with it in his Hell’s Heaven. Listen in as we talk about his inspiration and what made him tackle this tough topic.

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

Hell’s Heaven by Frank McKinney

Once damned to Hell, it’s forever…or is it? Three “good and godly” people die in the same instant on December 19, 2037: 94-year-old Alexander in Germany, 29-year-old Carolina in Brazil, and 64-year-old Eddie in Butte, Montana. Eagerly, they find themselves in line together outside the Pearly Gates, expecting to be recognized for their sanctified lives and then welcomed into Heaven. Instead, they are violently plucked out of line by angels-turned-demons and cast down into Hell, where they are met at one of the three fiery gates by Judas, Jesus’s betrayer. What lies on the other side of Hell’s gates is beyond comprehension: a sprawling, stench-filled, cavernous realm with a low ceiling of opaque, thick, colorless glass. The voices of the damned release a chorus of everlasting despair. It’s said that no one ever wakes up in Heaven surprised that they are there. Well, Alexander, Carolina, and Eddie are shocked and dismayed that they have been condemned to Hell after the exceptional lives they believe they have led. This must be a mistake! Is this really their fate – forever? Even as they are subjected to Satan’s diabolical and unrelenting mental and physical torments, Alexander, Carolina, and Eddie discover cryptic signs they believe are sent from their loved ones in the heavenly realm. Then when they witness rare bolts of brilliant light wherein a few condemned seemingly disappear, they start to wonder … During the three days between His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went to Hell and freed countless condemned sinners. Could there be a way out of Hell for Alexander, Carolina, and Eddie?

Learn more on Frank’s WEBSITE.

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Episode 599: A Chat with Frank McKinney
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With the Gestapo closing in, the chalet becomes a pressure
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October 1939. They fled Vienna looking for sanctuary.
They found a trap.
Following the Anschluss, Austria is no longer recognizable.
For its Jewish citizens, survival means listening to the whispers—whispers of a
hidden chalet where a courageous woman keeps hunted children safe, fed, and far
from Nazi hands. Driven by desperation, parents face an agonizing choice: part
with their children forever, or risk their lives by keeping them close.
Hans Hartmann arrives at Chalet Versteck with a hardened
heart and a terrified little girl in tow. He found young Grete abandoned at a
train station and couldn't leave her behind. But the chalet is far from the
haven they were promised.
The air here is thick with secrets. Children vanish in the
dead of night. And before Hans can uncover the truth, a high-ranking Nazi
officer is murdered right inside their sanctuary.
With the Gestapo closing in, the chalet becomes a pressure
cooker of suspicion. To save Grete and escape with his own life, Hans must
untangle a web of deadly lies. In a place where trust is a liability, Hans will
have to find a glimmer of faith to guide them out of the darkness—before the
killer strikes again.
https://link.amazon/B04ONq0y4 #AffiliateLink#ChristFic
#HistoricalMystery
#FairytaleRetelling
#HanselAndGretel
FREE through November 3, (and it takes place mostl FREE through November 3, (and it takes place mostly in autumn!)

October 1939. They fled Vienna looking for sanctuary.
They found a trap.
Following the Anschluss, Austria is no longer recognizable.
For its Jewish citizens, survival means listening to the whispers—whispers of a
hidden chalet where a courageous woman keeps hunted children safe, fed, and far
from Nazi hands. Driven by desperation, parents face an agonizing choice: part
with their children forever, or risk their lives by keeping them close.
Hans Hartmann arrives at Chalet Versteck with a hardened
heart and a terrified little girl in tow. He found young Grete abandoned at a
train station and couldn't leave her behind. But the chalet is far from the
haven they were promised.
The air here is thick with secrets. Children vanish in the
dead of night. And before Hans can uncover the truth, a high-ranking Nazi
officer is murdered right inside their sanctuary.
With the Gestapo closing in, the chalet becomes a pressure
cooker of suspicion. To save Grete and escape with his own life, Hans must
untangle a web of deadly lies. In a place where trust is a liability, Hans will
have to find a glimmer of faith to guide them out of the darkness—before the
killer strikes again.
https://link.amazon/B04ONq0y4 #AffiliateLink#ChristFic
#HistoricalMystery
#FairytaleRetelling
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Meet Mitchell Bogaert (yes, that was a bit on the Meet Mitchell Bogaert (yes, that was a bit on the nose, but come on! I had to!). He's a great guy, if a bit of a drifter. But he has a storytelling degree, and an inheritance--under one condition. He must participate in the New Cheltenham Annual Christmas
Storytelling Contest to receive said inheritance. What could go wrong? Get it FREE through Wednesday, October 21st HERE: https://amzn.to/3WfPj22 #Affiliate
#ChristFic
#ChristianFiction
#ChristmasFiction
#Matchmaking
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