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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Will I Read the Rest of This Unique New Series?

by Chautona Havig · 3 Comments

As the first book in a new series, The Inn at Hidden Run has a huge task ahead of it. Does it grab you enough to make you want to read all four books? via @chautonahavig

The argument raged. One woman insisted that if you said you didn’t like something that meant you disliked it. For what it’s worth, she also seemed to imply it wasn’t “nice” not to like everything that isn’t outright evil.

The other woman, however, said well what I’ve often thought. “There’s a reason why we have the words like and dislike. To like is to enjoy in some capacity. To dislike is to actively ‘not enjoy’ something. If you simply ‘don’t like’ something, that only means what it says. You don’t like it. It can mean you are ambivalent to it.”

After reading a new book recently, I have a new conundrum for you. What do you call it when you both like and dislike something—at the same time? And, to add further paradoxical frustration, what happens when you can also say that you’re ambivalent?

Then, to top all that off, how about this? With those three things in play, how do you then choose a star rating for a book?

Yeah. It’s about a book. I’ve been looking forward to reading The Inn at Hidden Run since I requested a review copy months ago. And now that I’ve read it, I’m at a loss. And I have a question for myself.

Will I Read the Rest of This Unique New Series? inn at hidden run

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you. Additionally, I requested a review copy of this book. This is what I thought.

Will I Read the Rest of This Unique New Series?

There’s a lot to like about The Inn at Hidden Run. You take some quirky characters, put them into tense situations, and fun things emerge. Mix in interesting settings and a cool dual-timeline plot and really, what’s not to like?

Sigh. That’s my problem. I want to love it all. In fact, I was convinced, before ever cracking a cover, that it would make my top books of 2019 list.

It won’t.

Despite the strengths of the premise, the characters (seriously, I loved hating one of them), and the setting, there were other things that just… not so much.

I think it’s best just to list them and move along.

  1. Confusion.

The synopsis opens talking about Meri and even when other characters are brought in, they’re written about as if they are secondary. So, I was lost at first, trying to figure out where these people came from. What happened to Meri?

She shows up later in the first chapter. There were other confusing times, but I suspect those could have been me.

  1. No hook.

Seriously. Nothing about the opening chapter hooked me. In fact, a friend was there when I began reading and I remember saying, “I think we could easily cut out the first half of this chapter.”

In retrospect, I disagree with myself, but it was my first impression.

  1. Difficult suspension of disbelief

Look, I get overbearing families and hard expectations. Seriously, a couple of the things Meri heard from her parents regarding school achievements I heard from mine. Parental expectations can be nightmarish sometimes. But the way Meri handled herself, and the way the other characters reacted to her—too much of it seemed unrealistically over the top in places where realism was needed.

As you can see, I had problems. BUT, there were excellent elements to The Inn at Hidden Run.

  1. The historical story was beautifully and excellently done. I really enjoyed the characters, the description, and the pull of the tragedy unfolding before you.
  2. The tie-in between the historical and the present. I loved how we got to see where Meri’s past had actually shaped her present.
  3. The genealogical premise. Basically, what you have is a genealogist detective. I want to read that story. And I suspect we will in future books.

So, because of that, I’ll be pre-ordering the next book in the series, and I really hope I’ll get to say that I really liked it. As for this one, I still don’t know how to define my thoughts.

I’m not sorry I read it or requested the review copy I was provided, but I don’t know who to recommend it for—or if I can.

I’m curious. Has anyone read it? What’d you think?  Has anyone read both this one and The Pink Bonnet?

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Comments

  1. Melissa Andres says

    June 2, 2019 at 8:01 pm

    Great review! Appreciate your honesty!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    May 31, 2019 at 5:21 pm

    It’s certainly been interesting reading the reviews of this one! A lot of people seem to have had trouble liking it. The premise sounds fascinating to me, and I’ve never read a book based on genealogy; makes me want to read it and find out if I like it or not!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      May 31, 2019 at 5:23 pm

      there ARE many things to like. I have hopes for the following books.

      Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
byChautona Havig

Hey, we’re back after a couple of weeks of vacation, and boy did I need it. And, have I got a fabulous interview for you. Nancy Naigle and I talked about her books, her most recent release, What Remains True as well as her Christmas books and the one I’m most anxious to read, The Shell Collector. Listen in and learn about what Nancy says about this bet she has going on in What Remains True. Great stuff!

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

Need a Great Romantic Read to Wind Up Your Summer Reads?

As I said in the podcast, a while back, someone told me I’d LOVE The Shell Collector–one of those people who recommends books you HAVE to read if they say you do.  So I bought it and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. Well, now it’s on my GoodReads shelf, and I’m about to start it (and I optimistically thought I’d be done with it by the time this episode released. Oh, me of too much faith in myself and my time management!)

Author of over thirty books, not to mention a bestselling author who also has movies made of her novels (And The Shell Collector has been optioned! EEEP!), Nancy loves to write Christmas books and small-town stories. Seriously, as we talked, I felt like she was talking about me half the time. We’re so very alike in so many ways. It was fun.

Nancy also pointed out that her first books (if you go WAY back) are not Christian fiction and are a bit spicier than she prefers to write and definitely more than she writes today. So be warned there, but she did assure us that they are all closed-door books.

What Remains True by Nancy Naigle

One woman wants to win a bet. One man wants to become a rodeo champion. One little girl may give them both something even better—from USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle.

“A commitment-phobic rodeo star and a divorcée with secrets find love in this wholesome romance. . . . As uplifting as it is sweet.”—Publishers Weekly

Working at a little shop on Main Street in a small town is exactly the break that executive Merry Anna Foster needs following her divorce. She’s made a bet with her ex-husband that she can live on the amount of money she’s giving him in alimony. If she can do it, then Kevin will have to stop complaining and leave her alone. But after three months of this new life, will she even want to leave Antler Creek?

Adam Locklear, bull rider and owner of the local feedstore, is having the best year of his rodeo career. He’s also a bit distracted by the pretty new neighbor living in his old bunkhouse. But Adam has no time for matters of the heart. He’s got his future all mapped out, and that future doesn’t involve a woman just yet. It doesn’t involve parenting a little girl either. However, Carly Fowler still suddenly leaves five-year-old Zan—the daughter Adam didn’t know he had—in his care.

Is it possible that the future holds a life even better than what Merry Anna and Adam had each dreamed of? One that includes both tenderness and even love—not just for each other but for Zan too?

You can learn more about Nancy’s books and movies on her WEBSITE.

Oh, and PSST… I’m loving the audiobook of this one!

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Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
Episode 162: A Chat with Author, Nancy Naigle
August 9, 2022
Chautona Havig
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