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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

What Is The Truth About This Book?

by Chautona Havig · Leave a Comment

Strands of Truth hold you fast with strands of steel and keep you riveted to the page until you arrive at the end of the book breathless, panting, spent. via @chautonahavig

The words played out on the page in vivid hues. Each word, each turn of phrase. I felt… lived them, even, rather than read them. It was ages ago… a decade. More.

Beyond a Doubt, I think was the title. I remember hearing a soundtrack playing in my mind as I read—just as if the book had transformed into a movie.

I’d enjoyed every Colleen Coble book more than the last. Somewhere between the first and that one, she became a clear favorite.

Then life happened.

I had another baby. My writing consumed every spare minute I could give it. In fact, for a few years, I hardly read at all—nearly starved during those years.

See, fiction does something that I can’t explain but I do love. Christian fiction, that is, drives me to the Bible and makes me dig deep to see new things. It’s a catalyst of sorts.

So, after a decade or more of not picking up a Colleen Coble book, when Strands of Truth became available for a free review copy, it became a no-brainer. DUH. I’m requesting that book.

Why wouldn’t I? And even more importantly, what would I learn?

Note: links are likely affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense for you.

What Is the Truth about This Book?

I’m kind of known for finding odd things that I pull from books. Sometimes it’s something others can see once I point it out, but other times they just give me that, “Yeah… sorry, don’t get it,” look.

This is probably one of those books. As expected, Strands of Truth begins with high intensity and only lets up now and then for you to catch your breath before pushing you over another hill in the roller coaster car that it is!

Seriously, it has almost everything going for it. Characters—believable, multi-faceted characters appear on every page. Even the minor folks that appear on screen erm… the page for a moment have depth to them.

Description…

I may not know what living near Florida’s ocean is like, but I do know what it’s like in the Pacific, and I felt like I was there near the sea. I could almost smell the salt and brine. The rocking of the boat? Yep. All of it. Brilliant.

Plot? Excellent. Few people could take several semi-unrelated tropes, stir them into a plot of intrigue, deception, and criminal behavior and produce a completely plausible and harrowing story. Coble did it all in Strands of Truth without pushing over into the sensational. Skills, man. Just sayin’.

Writing? Almost perfect.

Seriously, one of the things I love most about Coble’s writing is how she knows when to weave a word in to pack a bigger punch and when to use a simpler one. Aside from a few annoyingly-placed “thens” in the first third of the book, I enjoyed every word I read. Even the subtle use of the title itself as a clue to elements in the book is brilliant.

Complaints? One.

The horse is flattened to an unrecognizable pancake, but I have to say it again. Faith. Where is it, Thomas Nelson? Seriously? To Ms. Coble’s credit, there’s more in Strands of Truth than some recent ones—easier to see the undercurrent of how faith-inspired actions and reactions than most of Nelson’s of late.

Still, as much as I hate preachiness, I’m about to become a staunch supporter of it in reaction to the serious lack of faith elements in their books. For what it’s worth, this is, in my opinion, a publisher issue. It’s too across the board in nearly every single Thomas Nelson book this year for me not to lay the issue on them.

If it doesn’t change by the end of the year, I’m putting them in the clean but not Christian category in my mind. If I want Christian fiction—by that, I mean something that will prick or encourage my faith—I won’t be choosing one of their books.

Strands of Truth is recommended for people who love to figure out the elements of a good suspense novel.

I suspected at around the 12% mark but she didn’t give me anything to even hope at confirmation until the 25% mark exactly. Some of the whys were complete “throw me for a loops” despite being almost cliched. In fact, she took the cliche and totally turned it on its head in my opinion. Brilliant again.

Just don’t expect to be able to put it down. I had trouble switching from it to Bible Study last night. Just sayin’.

Actually… there’s some irony there somewhere. I’m sure of it.

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 265: A Chat with Karen Witemeyer
byChautona Havig

Nothing says fairy tale like a sweet western romance by an author like Karen Witemeyer… unless it’s a fairytale retelling set in Texas in the late 19th century, right?  Fairest of Heart takes the familiar “Snow White” and turns it on its head with retired cowboys, a self-absorbed actress, a Texas Ranger, and a sweet girl who knows the true Source of her beauty.  Listen in to see all the genius Easter eggs Witemeyer planted in this book.

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

Sometimes All a Girl Needs Is a True Change of Heart

I fell in love with the cover of Karen Witemeyer’s Head Over Heels a few years back (only to learn it’s much older than that, even), and meant to read that book.  I didn’t.  #BecauseIdiot. Well, that’ll be rectified just as soon as I’m done listening to her first book in a trilogy of fairytale retellings. I loaded it up on my Audible app tonight and wheeeeeeee. Here I go! So much for no new books until October. HA! 

Karen talks about her heart for young women today and how they’re taught by every bit of media blasting at them that they need to use their bodies to get what they need or want when the Lord has a better plan. And I can’t guarantee it, but I strongly suspect she does it without preaching. SQUEE!

Fairest of Heart by Karen Witemeyer

Once upon a time in Texas . . .

Beauty has been nothing but a curse to Penelope Snow. When she becomes a personal maid for a famous actress whose troupe is leaving Chicago to tour the West, she hides her figure beneath shapeless dresses and keeps her head down. But she still manages to attract the wrong attention, leaving her prospects in tatters–and her jealous mistress plotting her demise.

After his brother lost his life over a woman, Texas Ranger Titus Kingsley has learned to expect the worst from women and is rarely disappointed. So when a young lady found in suspicious circumstances takes up residence with the seven old drovers living at his grandfather’s ranch, Titus is determined to keep a close eye on her.

With a promotion hanging in the balance, Titus is assigned to investigate a robbery case tied to Penelope’s acting troupe, and all evidence points to Penelope’s guilt. But Titus might just be convinced that the fairest woman of all has a heart as pure as her last name . . . if only he can prove it.

You can learn more about Karen Witemeyer and her books on her WEBSITE. Don’t forget the book is 30% off on BakerBookHouse.com.  

Follow Karen on BookBub and GoodReads.

And don’t forget her Posse Group on Facebook.

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

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Episode 265: A Chat with Karen Witemeyer
Episode 265: A Chat with Karen Witemeyer
September 29, 2023
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Episode 264: A Chat with Romance Author, Sarah Monzon
September 26, 2023
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Episode 263: A Chat about The Love Script w/ Toni Shiloh
September 23, 2023
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Episode 262: Chatting about The Legacy of Longdale Manor with Carrie Turansky
September 19, 2023
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Episode 261: Chatting with Christian Youth Fiction Author, Candice Yamnitz
September 15, 2023
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Episode 260: A Chat with Rachel Hauck
September 12, 2023
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Episode 259: A Chat with Debut Author, Laura Conaway
September 8, 2023
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Episode 258: A Louisiana Christmas to Remember
September 2, 2023
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Episode 257: A Chat with Fantasy Author, N. Ford
September 1, 2023
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Episode 256: A Chat about Summer in the Spotlight w/ Liz Johnson
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