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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

What 3 Things Make a Simple Story Powerful & Complex?

by Chautona Havig · 11 Comments

The River Beautiful combines history, legend, pain, loss, and suspense in one, can't wait to read the next by this author novel. via @chautonahavig

Patsy Cline. That’s where I first heard the name “Allegheny.”  Her rich voice would fill the car, from an 8-track, of course, as we rode through Moorpark and over to Camarillo–to my uncle’s house.  “Al-le-ghe-ny moon… I need your light… to help me find… romance tonight…”

Frankly, I thought she was talking about alligator meat being “gamey.”  I mean, people ate ‘gators, and I knew what gamey meat was.  It stood to reason.  I just couldn’t figure out why they needed a light for that meat… or romance.  What was that?

Dad explained that she wasn’t saying what I thought she was saying–foreshadowing to years later when Inigo Montoya would tell Vinzzini that he didn’t think the word meant what the guy thought it did. He said, “The Alleghenies are mountains in the east–over in Pennsylvania.  Full confession.

I’m pretty sure I thought he said Transylvania. I knew that was a scary place, but I didn’t know why.  I said I didn’t want to go there.

Dad insisted they were beautiful, but it was just a poetic turn of phrase… like in Cowboy Jack when the line said, “They’d laid his sweetheart down.”  It meant they’d buried her.  Same thing.

Yeah. I still don’t get it, but that’s Dad for ya.

Oh, and in the interest of further full disclosure, I saw those mountains about forty years later.

Dad was right.  They are beautiful.

That was also, I think, the same time I learned what Allegheny means.  A beautiful river or, as in the book I read last night, The River Beautiful.

Yeah.  When I got a chance to read a book called The River Beautiful, of course, I requested a free review copy.  Who wouldn’t?  Especially with a stunning cover and suspense to go with it.

The River Beautiful Review

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

What 3 Things Make a Simple Story Powerful & Complex?

Let’s face it. Most stories are simple when broken down to their most basic elements. Kind of like a sentence.  You can take a sentence full of prepositional phrases, adjectives, and adverbs, and it can take up three lines on a page!  But when you break it down to its barest elements, the sentence comes out, “He loves.”  Grammar is just so amazing!

Story works the same way, and The River Beautiful is an excellent example.  Basically, we have the story of grief, love, and greed. And really, if you narrow those down, it all comes down to one.  Love.  Love of family, self-sacrificing love, self-serving love of something else.  It’s all the same thing!

But that sort of simplicity can be so very deceptive.  As I was reading, I found three things that turned something so “simple” into something much more powerful and complex.  What were they?

1. Emotion

This book is full of deep emotion, but most of the time it isn’t all over the place. Don’t get me wrong, Lena is a hurting individual, and because of that, she reacts to everything.  Yes, she drove me crazy. Um… she was supposed to. When humans run from their grief, when they try to push the people who love them away, they do stupid, stupid things.  Lena did every single one of them and not once did it feel like Ms. Carmen thew up a caricature of someone.  The wounds were raw and real and exactly what I’ve seen people do in her situation.

Had every person in the book been as volatile in their reactions, I’d have walked away with a very different impression.  It would have become wearisome to read.  However, Carmen did a fine job of showing one person who refused to deal with her emotions and in turn, allowed those emotions to rule her.

2. Faith

The faith element of this book is one of its biggest strengths. Every time I felt like it was going to devolve into preaching, it just didn’t. But because that element was there and the skillful placement of who brought it up and when made you take note.  Instead of an evangelistic plea to love the Lord and just trust that He’ll make everything okay someday, Ms. Carmen allows Lena the raw honesty of doubt, of jealousy (seriously, she was jealous of others’ ability to trust a God she felt had failed her), and of rejection. Folks, that’s what we do when we’re hurting.  We reject something.  In this case it was SomeOne.

My only criticism is that it does feel a little convenient when Lena finally “comes to terms” with the Lord.  However, because she was brought up in a world of faith that she’d rejected, I suspect it isn’t as much as it seemed.

3.  Layers

Between the plot, the characterization (yes, even the whining of a girl who’s just hurting!), the faith, and those emotions, we have layers of subtext and a secondary story that eventually becomes the primary one.  Much like a time-split novel (although this isn’t), the past converges on the present to unravel not only history that many didn’t know, but it also sheds light on things everyone thought they did.

The argument could be made that it’s obvious from the beginning what’s behind everything. I agree, even. But that’s the point of suspense, isn’t it? To know what’s coming and dread it every step of the way?

The writing is solid, the story interesting, and while The River Beautiful does have a few weak spots (there are a couple of info-dumpy places, but they didn’t make me want to put it down, so that’s always a relief), it’s an excellent debut novel by an author I can’t wait to read more of.  Am I glad that I requested and received a free review copy?  Definitely.  Will I be requesting her next?  Do you even have to ask?

Recommended for people who enjoy both historical and contemporary fiction, suspense, and emotionally-gripping relationships all in one, hard-to-put-down story.

The River BeautifulAbout the Book

Book:  The River Beautiful

Author: Andrea Carmen

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: May 26, 2020

A difficult past. A strange letter. An unsolved mystery.

Someone is following Lena, mapping her every move.

Where strength can be weakness and vulnerability-an asset, the greatest danger that threatens Lena may just be herself.

After the death of her father years ago, Lena ran from the quiet community of Kennerdell, but she’s back, forced to face a past she’d rather forget.

To make things more difficult, awkward, and terrifying, her old friend, Will, is back in her life. Even worse, she needs him there if she hopes to figure out what the letter she found in her father’s study means. They’re on a mission to find answers before her stalker does.

The River Beautiful mingles history and legend in a fast-paced ride through the deceptively peaceful Allegheny Mountains on a quest for answers amid loss, strength in the face of love, a whirlwind of self-discovery, and learning to use faith to illuminate even the darkest places.

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Comments

  1. Dianne Casey says

    July 5, 2020 at 10:33 am

    I enjoyed reading about “The River Beautiful” and I’m looking forward to reading the book.

    Reply
  2. Caryl Kane says

    June 30, 2020 at 10:40 am

    Wonderful review! I’m looking forward to reading this debut novel.

    Reply
  3. Andrea Carmen says

    June 30, 2020 at 6:53 am

    Thank you for your review, Chauntona! I really appreciate the feedback and just love that you felt the emotion behind Lena’s volatile disposition! ?

    Reply
  4. James Robert says

    June 29, 2020 at 12:12 am

    I appreciate getting to hear about your book. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  5. Emma says

    June 28, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    The setting of this one sounds fascinating!

    Reply
  6. Dianna says

    June 28, 2020 at 7:31 pm

    Congrats to the author on publishing her first novel!

    Reply
    • Andrea Carmen says

      June 30, 2020 at 6:51 am

      Thank you so much! ?

      Reply
  7. Paula Shreckhise says

    June 28, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    I like how you broke this down into elements.
    I’m glad this has emotion to make you think.
    I’m glad it has a real faith thread. And I love layers.

    Reply
  8. Debbie P says

    June 28, 2020 at 1:16 pm

    This sounds like a really great read. Nice cover!

    Reply
  9. Dianne Casey says

    June 28, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    Sounds like a book I would enjoy reading. Adding to my TBR list.

    Reply
  10. Amelia says

    June 28, 2020 at 7:43 am

    Thanks for the review!

    Reply

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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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