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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

Why This Is a Perfect October Christmas Read

by Chautona Havig · 18 Comments

Near the end of September, the air grows a little cooler and crisps like the ripened apples on trees. It announces one thing. October is just around the corner. As Anne Shirley said, “I’m glad to live in a world where there are Octobers.”

But for the bookworm, October brings more than cooler weather, vibrant trees with their falling leaves, and pumpkin spice in everything from cookies to coffee. October begins the Christmas fiction reading season.

The same people who protest the encroachment of Christmas on Halloween or  Thanksgiving embrace the burst of new holiday stories on the world.  Maybe it’s because few Christmas books are so uniquely and definitively Christmassy. Or, perhaps it’s just that so many of them begin during autumn.

Whatever the reason, while I’ll turn up my nose at ornaments and evergreen boughs at my favorite stores for the next six or eight weeks, I’m anxious to read this year’s Christmas novels as much as the next bibliophile. But where to start?

Well, I requested review copies of several books, and A Tale of Two Hearts was one of the first.  I chose well.  Just sayin’.

Why This Is a Perfect October Christmas Read

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 the book. Opinions are mine and given freely.

Why This Is a Perfect October Christmas Read

Michelle Griep has done it again!  Last year’s 12 Days at Bleakly Manor (link goes to my review) was a beautiful story full of rich Dickensian characters,  and I did fear that this one wouldn’t rise up to the bar she’d set. I shouldn’t have worried.

With characters who feel very  much like they could have stepped right out of the pages of any Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Hearts holds all the appeal of that wonderful storyteller’s characters and yet they are clearly Ms. Griep’s.

Will is earnest, determined, and oh, so wonderfully flawed. Every choice he makes digs him deeper into his hole of deception.

Mina, like many of Dickens’ young women, is strong and honorable, even—if not especially—when she’s been led in something against her will.

As with the last book, I know we’re supposed to see specific characters in Will, Mina, Mr. Barlow, and Miss Whymsey, I suspect I saw different ones.  I found John from Our Mutual Friend in Will—that duplicity for the good of another really shone there.  In Mina, I saw a mesh of Little Dorrit and her sister, Fanny.  She starts with Amy Dorrit’s heart and Fanny’s longings and learns to embrace the life she has—just as Amy always did and Fanny never did.  Again, I know it’s not what I was supposed to glean from the book, but it’s what I did.

One of the most important reasons that it is a perfect October Christmas read is that the spiritual truths woven into the story are exactly the ones we need to read and remember as the year comes to a close. Lessons on others before self, honesty in all your dealings, second chances… and third.  Because isn’t that what the Lord did for us?  Aren’t we called to become like Him?

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Ms. Griep has done her research well. Not a single thing felt anachronistic. I also recommend it to those who enjoy Dickens’ works.  Rather than being retellings or involving him so much that it would be a disappointment, these are inspired by his stories and stand alone.  I believe Dickens himself would read and love them.

Even if you don’t enjoy Christmas, I think you’d enjoy this story about two people, the lessons they need to learn, and how those lessons knit together two hearts in this delightful but not overly-sappy Christmas tale.

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Comments

  1. Julie Waldron says

    October 16, 2018 at 1:39 pm

    This sounds like a wonderful book to read during the holiday season.

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      October 16, 2018 at 3:27 pm

      It really is!

      Reply
  2. carylkane says

    October 8, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    I love Michelle Griep’s books! I’m excited to read A Tale of Two Hearts!

    Reply
  3. Sonja says

    October 5, 2018 at 7:25 am

    This is a wonderful author!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      October 6, 2018 at 11:01 pm

      she really is.

      Reply
  4. Christi Flores says

    October 4, 2018 at 12:11 am

    Wonderful review!! Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      October 4, 2018 at 11:38 am

      Thanks! It’s a wonderful book!

      Reply
  5. Teri DiVincenzo says

    October 3, 2018 at 10:28 pm

    Dickens, Victorian drinking chocolate AND Christmas? You can’t go wrong! This looks like such a perfect negotiator the holiday reading season!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      October 3, 2018 at 10:42 pm

      Right? 😀

      Reply
  6. Michelle Griep says

    October 3, 2018 at 6:52 pm

    I always love your sweet reviews!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      October 3, 2018 at 10:43 pm

      Truth is truth. You just happen to make it easy to write nice truths. 🙂

      Reply
  7. realworldbiblestudy says

    October 2, 2018 at 8:48 pm

    Okay, okay…I admit that I did NOT sign up to review a single Christmas book (I think) because I get a little tired of them. But this one sounds like so much fun!

    Reply
    • Michelle Griep says

      October 3, 2018 at 6:53 pm

      Well, I surely had fun writing it!

      Reply
      • Chautona Havig says

        October 3, 2018 at 10:45 pm

        It shows!

        Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      October 3, 2018 at 10:44 pm

      It really is. It’s a wonderful story that just happens to work extra well at Christmas!

      Reply
  8. Paula Shreckhise says

    October 2, 2018 at 12:27 pm

    I loved the first in the Dickens Christmas series and am anxious to read A Tale of Two Hearts! Love Michelle’s writing!

    Reply
    • Michelle Griep says

      October 3, 2018 at 6:54 pm

      I’m anxious for you to read it as well, Paula!

      Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      October 3, 2018 at 10:44 pm

      Yep! The first was the first I’d read. It will never be the last. The Innkeeper’s Daughter was a huge favorite, too.

      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
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