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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Why It Takes True Grit to Read This Book

by Challice Neipp · Leave a Comment

Gators, Guts, & Glory takes you deep into parts of Florida that some might never want to go--physically. Instead, enjoy them from the pages of this book! via @chautonahavig

Sand crunched beneath my feet—my very hot, sweaty feet. In fact, considering I wore Keds-like sneaker, part of that heat was the burning of that sand through to said feet. Just sayin’.

While normal kids did Saturday morning things like watching cartoons, I trudged through the Superstitions (mountains in Arizona) with my dad. Snakes, scorpions, and horned toads—not to mention spiders and… lizards.

The desert’s “gators.”

Okay, so they’re nothing like alligators, but when you’re seven, hot, sweaty, and miserable, anything looks evil and vicious.

Look, I loved those times trekking through the desert with my dad. In fact, I’ve got stories coming to tell you that’ll make you laugh at me—and him. But, there was a downside to it.

I’m no nature girl.

Okay, I love nature. Trees, green, mountains, rivers, creeks—especially creeks—and the ocean.

Double especially the ocean.

Desert… trekking around in the sand? The lovely sting of cholla as it pierces my thigh from several feet (okay, an inch or so) away? Blech. Seriously. There’s a reason it’s called “jumping cactus.” You really do feel like it “jumps” over and attaches itself to you.

Look. Aside from stunning sunsets and the blissful petrichor after a thunderstorm, “nature,” in the form of the desert, just isn’t my jam.

Still, I love to read about it—experience it from the pages of a book or even a TV screen.

Safe, cool, clean.

Like this book I got. A free review copy of Gators, Guts, & Glory arrived a while back, and I finally read it.

Gators, Guts, and Glory Why It Takes True Grit to Read This Book

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

Why it Takes True Grit to Read This Book

Okay, so it doesn’t. It takes true grit to live it. Yep, this trail blazer’s (okay, hiker’s) memoir makes me feel lazy. Still, there was that moment, brief though it was, that I thought, “I should at least hike some small trail someday. I like hiking.”

Yeah. I’d always loved it—when I was young, had energy, and was half the person I am now. Literally. Oh, and in places like Wheeler Springs, California where lovely creeks kept me cool and refreshed and where I could ride down the mountain anytime I liked.

“Blissful” isn’t the wimp I am.

Written in an engaging, encouraging style, Gators, Guts, & Glory shares the good, the bad, and the amazing in her memoir/adventure guide of her trek up the Florida Trail—all 1,000 miles of it (or so Wikipedia claims).

I’m still reeling from that.

I think Gators, Guts, & Glory said something about 1,100 miles. Surely, that was a typo. I mean, I thought maybe the 1,000 was a typo—a stuttering zero at the end or something.

Lauralee Bliss tells tales of meeting gators—both stone and real. Poisonous trees—trees! Blisters… I mean, duh! And so much more. A book that hadn’t interested me much to begin with turned out to be a delight. I kept getting interrupted while I read it, so before I pass it on to #1grandson and then to a friend’s hiker husband, I’m going to read it one more time.

Seriously, one of the best things about the book is that you feel like you’re talking with someone you just met at a restaurant.

“Hi! How are you? What brought you here?”

“Oh, just hiking 1,000 miles through swamps and mud bogs for the fun of it…”

“Do tell!”

So she did!

And I for one am glad. Seriously, I loved the book and, to my own shock, I’m off to buy the other one she has on hiking the Appalachian Trail. I mean, come on! I go there, to the Appalachias EVERY YEAR! That means I needed to read this book of all the things I could do if I wasn’t so lazy, was half the woman I am, and didn’t live an opposite schedule from the more sane elements of humanity!

Recommended for anyone who enjoys engaging true stories, hiking, or just seeing someone face difficult odds with a smile on her face. Oh… and clean. I love that it’s squeaky clean so I can hand it over to my grandson! I’m grateful for the free review copy, and I’m thrilled to say I loved it.

Gators, Guts, and Glory 

Gators, Guts, and GloryAbout the Book

Book: Gators, Guts, & Glory

Author: Lauralee “Blissful” Bliss

Genre: Non-Fiction, Hiking, Adventure

Release date: July 15, 2019

Wander on the wild and humorous side of adventure with long-distance hiker Lauralee Bliss (trail name Blissful), hiking the 1,100-mile Florida Trail from Big Cypress National Preserve to Gulf Islands National Seashore.

From alligators and cottonmouths to tenting among the palmettos and walking on water, from forests of cypress knees and lofty pine to the help of trail angels along the way, “Blissful” uncovers the hidden gems of glory in this National Scenic Trail with a unique journey unlike any other.

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 263: A Chat about The Love Script w/ Toni Shiloh
byChautona Havig

I had another lovely conversation with Toni Shiloh last month. Her latest book, The Love Script released and boy does it promise to be another #BookTouchdown!  Listen in to what you’ll find in this Love in the Spotlight series and especially in The Love Script.

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

How Many Lies Does It Take to Expose the Truth That Love Brings?

Authors tell me over and over that they experience the same things I do when I’m writing. You start helping your characters work through their problems, and as you do, the Lord starts exposing your own.  He helps you understand where you need growth and helps pull weeds that try to choke out that growth.

The Love Script has a great twist of someone trying to use a lie to smooth over the gossipy ripples of false reporting (genius way to handle it, eh?) and oh the fall out.

Toni promises we’ll see some great wisdom from Lamont’s mother and some deep truths that Neveah discovers.

The Love Truth by Toni Shiloh

A Hollywood hair stylist.

Nevaeh Richards loves making those in the spotlight shine but prefers the anonymity of staying behind her stylist chair, where no one notices her. But when a photo of Nevaeh and Hollywood A-lister Lamont Booker goes viral for all the wrong reasons, her quiet life becomes the number-one trending topic.

The silver screen’s latest heartthrob.

Lamont Booker’s bold faith has gained him a platform, and the authenticity of his faith is well known . . . until the tabloids cause the world to question everything he claims to be. With his reputation on the line, he finds himself hearing out his agent’s push for a fake relationship–something he never thought he’d consider in a million years.

A love that goes off script.

With their careers at risk, Nevaeh and Lamont have to convince the world that their scripted romance is more than just an act. But when fake seems to turn into something real, can Nevaeh trust her heart in a world where nothing is ever as it seems?

You can find out more about Toni on her WEBSITE.  Follow her on GoodReads and BookBub.

And don’t forget that you can get 30% off the book with free shipping at BakerBookHouse.com. And you can get You Make It Feel Like Christmas, too!

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

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Episode 263: A Chat about The Love Script w/ Toni Shiloh
Episode 263: A Chat about The Love Script w/ Toni Shiloh
September 23, 2023
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I love this book so much. And it wouldn't be an "A I love this book so much. And it wouldn't be an "Anne" story without Gilbert and Diana... meet Gage. He's not quite Gilbert, but he's got everything a Gilbert should have--including the ability to completely annoy Anne when he doesn't mean to. She's speaking to him here... barely.
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I love this book so much. And it wouldn't be an "A I love this book so much. And it wouldn't be an "Anne" story without Gilbert and Diana... meet Gage. He's not quite Gilbert, but he's got everything a Gilbert should have--including the ability to completely annoy Anne when he doesn't mean to. She's speaking to him here... barely.
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