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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Anger and Rebellion Hide Hearts Full of Pain and Bitterness

by Chautona Havig · 3 Comments

What You Said to Me is more than a long-awaited next installment in the Tree of Life Series, it's an EXCELLENT one! via @chautonahavig

Picture it.  July of 1982-1984. Somewhere in there. Arizona. Phoenix, no less.  In that little apartment on Osborn, just down from 7th Avenue.

My grandmother lived there. While I recall visiting her at what I think was a mobile home in Ray, Arizona when I was two or three, that’s all I remember.  Knocking on the door, Grandma coming out… and that’s it.  Then there was a mobile home in Rush Springs, Oklahoma. I went there once.

The rest of my memories of Grandma’s house remain in that little apartment on Osborn. I learned valuable lessons in that apartment–most of them positive ones. However, one lesson stands out above them all, and it all began with the story of a cream separator.

At least twenty or thirty years earlier–probably more like forty years!–someone had borrowed one from my grandmother and never gave it back. At twelve or thirteen, I didn’t really understand why it mattered. Grandma lived in the city–didn’t have cows anymore. But of all the things Grandma taught me in that story, what she didn’t say stuck the longest.

  1. That cream separator did matter.  To her, anyway.
  2. She’d never let it go.
  3. Bitterness was an ugly thing.

I read once (Douglas Wilson) that if you keep rehashing how you should have said something or keep trying to practice how you’ll say it again, there’s a good chance that bitterness is at the root of your internal gnashing of teeth.  While I don’t agree that it’s a universal truth, remembering that line has made me stop and think about why I argued with someone who wasn’t with me.

Most of the time, it’s a way for me to process why I’m bothered.

I say all the things I’d want to say, get them all out there, and then examine them for truth, fallacy, what I know of the person. Most of the time, that’s the end of it for me. I’m able to let things go after the little exercise–no bitterness there at all. In fact, most of the time, that exercise is how I rip out any hair of a root of bitterness.

But once in a while, I hear it–an extra edge to my tone, or maybe the desire to throw back an accusation rather than respond to one.  It’s ugly… so ugly.

My grandmother was generally a kind and loving woman, but in the few areas she’d allowed bitterness to take root, it just wasn’t pretty. The day I heard that story, and then later heard it brought up again, and recalled that I’d heard it before after a while, I learned that truth.  Bitterness is plain ugly.

I read a book last night, and as I read, I had a new revelation.

Grandma’s bitterness had roots in pain, and that probably explains a lot of things that I always knew. I thought I knew why she was the way she was, but now I think there was more to it. See, in Olivia Newport’s, What You Said to Me, I watched the destruction of anger, rebellion, and bitterness play out on the page.  I saw the pain they all caused.  I saw how if you peeled back anger and rebellion from a young woman’s heart, you’d find it full of pain that slowly crystallized into bitterness.

Just as it had for her mother. Just as that had for her mother. Generations of pain-filled, bitter women.

What You Said to Me Review

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

Anger and Rebellion Hide Hearts Full of Pain and Bitterness

Way back when I first read The Inn at Hidden Run, I said I was sure I’d like the series, despite not really liking that one.  I underestimated. Aside from that first book, I’ve loved this series. The characters have such complex personalities with reasonable quirks and flaws that keep you from becoming bored with them. Ms. Newport has created interesting plots that keep her split-time “mysteries” perfect page-turners. And, seriously, she’s an excellent writer.

This novel brings in a difficult, 21st-century teen, one seriously dysfunctional family, and a look into the difficult days of the Panic of 1893. As usual, this story has its own depths and layers that provide insight not only into the period and the historical events of the time but also into humanity. Ms. Newport shows through the generations that despite advances, societal rises and reversals, no matter the century, people are the same at the root.

All lost. Every single one in need of a Savior. All worth redeeming in His eyes.

Not only that, but she did it without a smidgeon of preachiness. Honestly, I feel like I should be bothered by the lack of spiritual guidance for poor Tish, the teen girl.  Why aren’t the Duffys showing that girl JESUS?  Well, I’d say because they are.

With careful use of Scripture and spiritual discussions in the historical part, the reader is allowed to see what applies to the modern story without once having to be beaten over the head with it.

What You Said to Me is recommended for folks who love time-split fiction, who love excellent characterization and interesting plots with a hint of mystery to them, and for those who love to see functional families contrasted with dysfunctional ones.  Not recommended for… um… someone, I’m sure. Me, I’m thrilled that I requested this review copy and am even more thrilled that I loved it as much as I expected to.

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Comments

  1. megan allen says

    December 5, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    This looks so good!!!

    Reply
  2. Caryl Kane says

    November 29, 2020 at 4:03 pm

    Wonderful review, Chautona! I enjoy time-slip novels. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  3. Emma says

    November 28, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    I would say that this is my favorite of the series.

    Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 231: A Chat with RomCom author, Shannon Sue Dunlap
byChautona Havig

Shannon Sue Dunlap isn’t new to rom-coms, and her first book in the Sweetheart Series promises to be a literary riot, and it lives up to that promise. I’m only halfway through it and am thinking mean, ugly thoughts of everything keeping me from being able to escape into the crazy small-town politics and quirky characters. So far the com far outweighs the rom, which makes me thrilled to bits. Listen in to discover what makes Lone Star Sweetheart so much fun.

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

Why Did This Author Write a Rom-Com about a Loveable Shrew?

Well, I think we can safely blame Shakespeare for that. Shannon Sue Dunlap has taken inspiration from Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in her Katherine, but unlike Katerina, Dunlap’s character is actually trying to learn to tame the tongue. Maybe someone should send her over to the book of James. There’s that whole bit about not being able to tame it, being an “unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

Kate’s isn’t that bad, but not for lack of trying. Or something.

Shannon Sue Dunlap isn’t joking when she says that her Katherine is a “loveable” shrew. Seriously, I love this character. She’s forthright, no-nonsense, and “what you see is what you get” in her approach to life. I respect that. Add to that her boss who has shaken up the town of Sweetheart, Texas, and you’ve got the makings of a great story. I’m loving Lone Star Sweetheart.

But this isn’t all Dunlap has written.

Under the pseudonym, Shannon Kent, you can find her sweet and clean romances (including one Christian romance) inspired by Korean dramas. If you said I’d be not only chomping to read a sweet and clean romance about Korean tour guides and all that entails but also ready to watch a Korean drama on Netflix… Okay, I might not have laughed in your face, but I’d’ve been laughing on the inside.

Best part… one of them ties into her Sweetheart Series

Lone Star Sweetheart by Shannon Sue Dunlap

Katherine Bruno’s passionate, unfiltered temper makes her the shrew of small-town Sweetheart, Texas. When she’s drafted to help the mayor’s wife run against her own husband, Katherine meets opposing big city political consultant Ryan Park. The good-looking, flirtatious campaign manager gets under her skin, but fraternizing with the enemy is off-limits.

Katherine must battle her lack of experience, campaign sabotage, and her growing feelings for Ryan as she strives to succeed. His unprejudiced acceptance of her strong-willed character beckons her heart, but his jaded rejection of God is an insurmountable barrier. Will Ryan return to his faith and stay with her in Sweetheart or leave when the election ends?

You can find out more about Shannon Sue Dunlap AND get that first novella in the Korean Crush series free on her WEBSITE.

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Episode 231: A Chat with RomCom author, Shannon Sue Dunlap
Episode 231: A Chat with RomCom author, Shannon Sue Dunlap
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