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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

If I Were Looking for Great, Exciting, and Unconventional Date Ideas…

by Chautona Havig · Leave a Comment

Stranded on Sparrow released this week, and Tabitha has us digging deep for fun, unconventional date ideas. What's yours? via @chautonahavig

A friend recently asked my best idea for an unconventional date. Now while Rachel didn’t ask for my actual unconventional dates, that’s where my brain went, and I’ll be honest. I had no idea how to answer the question.

You see, my husband and I never dated. Not only that, but I never went on “dates” before I met him, either.  The closest was probably my friend taking me to Disneyland for my birthday when I turned fifteen. With his mother and grandmother.  And… yeah, there wasn’t anything remotely romantic about it, okay?  Not what I’d call a date.  Just sayin’.

And for the curious, no. I didn’t like Disneyland.  I didn’t like it a year or so later when I went with a friend and her family, either. It’s just not my thing.

Where did that leave me? Dateless, for one thing, but then I got an idea.

You see, once upon a time, my husband and I got married.  (Talk about stating the obvious). After the wedding (several months after said marriage), we went on a honeymoon to Lake Tahoe.  Okay, that was the idea, but we got a room at the Circus Circus in Reno for fourteen bucks a night! FOURTEEN! I’m sure it will shock you to learn that we stayed in Reno instead of Tahoe.  We drove around the lake, checked out the sites… did all the touristy things.

Not only that, we even played penny slots at this tiny little slot machine place on the street down from our hotel.  We went to the movies and even saw a timeshare presentation in exchange for $200 in chips.  We took those chips, cashed them in, and voila!  That paid for our hotel and then some.  Woohoo!

So there you have it. My perfect, unconventional date idea.  A honeymoon.  Anyone up for the challenge?

stranded on sparrow

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

What’s this all about?

Of course, that “Rachel” who asked was Rachel Skatvold, and she asked because there are a couple of super-cool, unconventional dates in her recent Independence Islands release, Stranded on Sparrow.  So, definitely check out the book, but please!  Tell me about your unconventional dates (or ones you’ve heard about).  And don’t forget to enter all the giveaways–mine and the other authors’).

stranded on sparrowStranded on Sparrow by Rachel Skatvold is AVAILABLE!

If His eye is on the sparrow, where does that leave her?

Lia Diaz’s life has become an illusion. Fired from her perfect job, she’s living a lie to avoid censure from her critical family. So when Lia gets a call about her nana’s recent fall, she heads to Nana’s house to help out and regroup.

Things are looking up until she discovers that her childhood refuge, Nana’s home on Sparrow Island, has been condemned in the wake of Hurricane Arley. Time to regroup—again.

Getting stranded on Sparrow Island while visiting the house was not in those revised plans.

After “rescuing” his niece and a motley crew of animals, some might say Zachary Nolan has a hero complex. Zachary never thought that he would live life as a single dad. However, as a web designer, he is able to spend lots of time with Violet, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. A call for help when Lia gets stranded there sends him rushing to the rescue. That hero complex thing again.

A hero and his niece offer new hope to Lia—maybe God’s eye is on Sparrow Island after all.

Read the next Sparrow Island novel in the Independence Islands Series featuring five islands, six authors, and a boatload of happily-ever-afters.

The Independence Islands Series: beach reads aren’t just for summer anymore.

Check out the other authors’ posts for their fun dates, too!

  • Rachel Skatvold (April 26)
  • Tabitha Bouldin (April 27)
  • Carolyn Miller (April 28)
  • Chautona Havig (April 29)  This one!
  • Melissa Wardwell (April 30)
  • Kari Trumbo (May 1)
  • Celebrate Lit (Sandy Barela–May 2)

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 586: A Chat with Becca Kinzer
byChautona Havig

My favorite romance is romcom–always. And one of my favorite romcom authors has a new one out, I LOVED it. Listen in as Becca Kinzer and I chat about her latest book, Not What We Pictured. So funny.

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

We had a great time talking about not just Not What We Pictured but also a Christmas novella I’ve forgotten the name of but listened to when we finished talking and… guys. It was great!

Not What We Pictured by Becca Kinzer

This is absolutely not how they pictured their summer going.

McKenna Boston is feeling stuck. She’s spent years growing her photography skills only for her career to hit a wall. She’s ready to move on, and she will, just as soon as she helps her sister’s boyfriend stage the perfect proposal. But when her best laid plans go awry and a handsome stranger accidentally ends up with the heirloom ring, McKenna hops on a flight to retrieve it. Piece of cake, right?

Nate Lambert was hoping to enjoy a relaxing summer before starting his new job as a literature professor, but he arrives in Tennessee to discover his mom’s bed and breakfast is struggling and there’s a long list of repairs to be tackled. The last thing he needs is a gorgeous, determined photographer searching for a ring he doesn’t have since the airline lost his luggage somewhere on his route from Nebraska.

With the ring nowhere to be found, all McKenna can do is wait and use the time to build her portfolio and plan her next career move. But she also can’t help getting swept up in Nate’s bed and breakfast renovations and in planning a community concert with the townsfolk. As both await news of Nate’s suitcase, it begins to seem their serendipitous meeting, and the proposal gone wrong, could actually be everything going right . . . and that this may be their chance at a love neither could have pictured.

Learn more on Becca’s WEBSITE and follow on GoodReads and BookBub.

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

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Episode 586: A Chat with Becca Kinzer
Episode 586: A Chat with Becca Kinzer
September 28, 2026
Chautona Havig
Episode 585: A Chat with Jenelle Hovde
September 26, 2026
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Episode 583: A Chat with Elizabeth Goddard
September 21, 2026
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Episode 582: A Chat with Terrie Todd
September 19, 2026
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Episode 581: A Chat with Bethany Crigger
September 14, 2026
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Episode 580: A Chat with R. T. Ward
September 12, 2026
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Episode 579: A Chat with Lauren Smyth
September 9, 2026
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Episode 578: A Chat with Carolyn Bourke
September 7, 2026
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Episode 577: A Chat with Denise M. Colby
September 5, 2026
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Episode 576: A Chat with Ann Swindell
August 31, 2026
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Picture it. You decide that this is the year for b Picture it. You decide that this is the year for book clubs. This is the year you're going to move off your "favorites shelf" explore new horizons (or at least a new author or two). It's gonna be great (why do I want to add, "they said"?). Maybe you're an introvert who knows that peopling for an hour or two is going to drain you, but for a good book? You've got this. You square your shoulders, open the bookstore door, inhale the vellichor (unless you're a Harper Brevig--then you're totally down for BIBLIOchor), and step into your new life--as a book club person. Oh, yeah.
You meet new people. Grab a snack. Sit down to find out what book you're going to read first and...
Discover that your life has been taken hostage. Because if you and your new book club friends don't solve a riddle, read the right book based on that riddle, and show up to every meeting? One or more of you won't be alive to attend the next.
WHAT???
It's basically @Chantelreadsallday 's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge in a book.
Dying to Read: their inciting incidents might be deadly. Available now in paperback and eBook (and on Kindle Unlimited!) The audiobook is coming soon! Don't miss more about the bookstore in the Booked for Love anthology releasing October 1!
https://amzn.to/3TGmHhD (#affiliatelink)
#BookishBook
#ChristFic
#ChristianMystery
#BookClub
Picture it. You decide that this is the year for b Picture it. You decide that this is the year for book clubs. This is the year you're going to move off your "favorites shelf" explore new horizons (or at least a new author or two). It's gonna be great (why do I want to add, "they said"?). Maybe you're an introvert who knows that peopling for an hour or two is going to drain you, but for a good book? You've got this. You square your shoulders, open the bookstore door, inhale the vellichor (unless you're a Harper Brevig--then you're totally down for BIBLIOchor), and step into your new life--as a book club person. Oh, yeah.
You meet new people. Grab a snack. Sit down to find out what book you're going to read first and...
Discover that your life has been taken hostage. Because if you and your new book club friends don't solve a riddle, read the right book based on that riddle, and show up to every meeting? One or more of you won't be alive to attend the next.
WHAT???
It's basically @Chantelreadsallday 's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge in a book.
Dying to Read: their inciting incidents might be deadly. Available now in paperback and eBook (and on Kindle Unlimited!) The audiobook is coming soon! Don't miss more about the bookstore in the Booked for Love anthology releasing October 1!
https://amzn.to/3TGmHhD (#affiliatelink)
#BookishBook
#ChristFic
#ChristianMystery
#BookClub
Picture it. You decide that this is the year for b Picture it. You decide that this is the year for book clubs. This is the year you're going to move off your "favorites shelf" explore new horizons (or at least a new author or two). It's gonna be great (why do I want to add, "they said"?). Maybe you're an introvert who knows that peopling for an hour or two is going to drain you, but for a good book? You've got this. You square your shoulders, open the bookstore door, inhale the vellichor (unless you're a Harper Brevig--then you're totally down for BIBLIOchor), and step into your new life--as a book club person. Oh, yeah.
You meet new people. Grab a snack. Sit down to find out what book you're going to read first and...
Discover that your life has been taken hostage. Because if you and your new book club friends don't solve a riddle, read the right book based on that riddle, and show up to every meeting? One or more of you won't be alive to attend the next.
WHAT???
It's basically @Chantelreadsallday 's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge in a book.
Dying to Read: their inciting incidents might be deadly. Available now in paperback and eBook (and on Kindle Unlimited!) The audiobook is coming soon! Don't miss more about the bookstore in the Booked for Love anthology releasing October 1!
https://amzn.to/3TGmHhD (#affiliatelink)
#BookishBook
#ChristFic
#ChristianMystery
#BookClub
Picture it. You decide that this is the year for b Picture it. You decide that this is the year for book clubs. This is the year you're going to move off your "favorites shelf" explore new horizons (or at least a new author or two). It's gonna be great (why do I want to add, "they said"?). Maybe you're an introvert who knows that peopling for an hour or two is going to drain you, but for a good book? You've got this. You square your shoulders, open the bookstore door, inhale the vellichor (unless you're a Harper Brevig--then you're totally down for BIBLIOchor), and step into your new life--as a book club person. Oh, yeah.
You meet new people. Grab a snack. Sit down to find out what book you're going to read first and...
Discover that your life has been taken hostage. Because if you and your new book club friends don't solve a riddle, read the right book based on that riddle, and show up to every meeting? One or more of you won't be alive to attend the next.
WHAT???
It's basically @Chantelreadsallday 's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge in a book.
Dying to Read: their inciting incidents might be deadly. Available now in paperback and eBook (and on Kindle Unlimited!) The audiobook is coming soon! Don't miss more about the bookstore in the Booked for Love anthology releasing October 1!
https://amzn.to/3TGmHhD (#affiliatelink)
#BookishBook
#ChristFic
#ChristianMystery
#BookClub
Picture it. You decide that this is the year for b Picture it. You decide that this is the year for book clubs. This is the year you're going to move off your "favorites shelf" explore new horizons (or at least a new author or two). It's gonna be great (why do I want to add, "they said"?). Maybe you're an introvert who knows that peopling for an hour or two is going to drain you, but for a good book? You've got this. You square your shoulders, open the bookstore door, inhale the vellichor (unless you're a Harper Brevig--then you're totally down for BIBLIOchor), and step into your new life--as a book club person. Oh, yeah.
You meet new people. Grab a snack. Sit down to find out what book you're going to read first and...
Discover that your life has been taken hostage. Because if you and your new book club friends don't solve a riddle, read the right book based on that riddle, and show up to every meeting? One or more of you won't be alive to attend the next.
WHAT???
It's basically @Chantelreadsallday 's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge in a book.
Dying to Read: their inciting incidents might be deadly. Available now in paperback and eBook (and on Kindle Unlimited!) The audiobook is coming soon! Don't miss more about the bookstore in the Booked for Love anthology releasing October 1!
https://amzn.to/3TGmHhD (#affiliatelink)
#BookishBook
#ChristFic
#ChristianMystery
#BookClub
Picture it. You decide that this is the year for b Picture it. You decide that this is the year for book clubs. This is the year you're going to move off your "favorites shelf" explore new horizons (or at least a new author or two). It's gonna be great (why do I want to add, "they said"?). Maybe you're an introvert who knows that peopling for an hour or two is going to drain you, but for a good book? You've got this. You square your shoulders, open the bookstore door, inhale the vellichor (unless you're a Harper Brevig--then you're totally down for BIBLIOchor), and step into your new life--as a book club person. Oh, yeah.
You meet new people. Grab a snack. Sit down to find out what book you're going to read first and...
Discover that your life has been taken hostage. Because if you and your new book club friends don't solve a riddle, read the right book based on that riddle, and show up to every meeting? One or more of you won't be alive to attend the next.
WHAT???
It's basically @Chantelreadsallday 's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge in a book.
Dying to Read: their inciting incidents might be deadly. Available now in paperback and eBook (and on Kindle Unlimited!) The audiobook is coming soon! Don't miss more about the bookstore in the Booked for Love anthology releasing October 1!
https://amzn.to/3TGmHhD (#affiliatelink)
#BookishBook
#ChristFic
#ChristianMystery
#BookClub
Picture it. You decide that this is the year for b Picture it. You decide that this is the year for book clubs. This is the year you're going to move off your "favorites shelf" explore new horizons (or at least a new author or two). It's gonna be great (why do I want to add, "they said"?). Maybe you're an introvert who knows that peopling for an hour or two is going to drain you, but for a good book? You've got this. You square your shoulders, open the bookstore door, inhale the vellichor (unless you're a Harper Brevig--then you're totally down for BIBLIOchor), and step into your new life--as a book club person. Oh, yeah.
You meet new people. Grab a snack. Sit down to find out what book you're going to read first and...
Discover that your life has been taken hostage. Because if you and your new book club friends don't solve a riddle, read the right book based on that riddle, and show up to every meeting? One or more of you won't be alive to attend the next.
WHAT???
It's basically @Chantelreadsallday 's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge in a book.
Dying to Read: their inciting incidents might be deadly. Available now in paperback and eBook (and on Kindle Unlimited!) The audiobook is coming soon! Don't miss more about the bookstore in the Booked for Love anthology releasing October 1!
https://amzn.to/3TGmHhD (#affiliatelink)
#BookishBook
#ChristFic
#ChristianMystery
#BookClub
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