About the Book

Book: Christmas on Breakers Point

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Christian Contemporary Fiction, Christian Romantic Fiction, Christmas

One man’s last Christmas wish might change two lives forever.

Mallory Barrows has one last Christmas with her uncle. She’s determined to make it the best one he’s ever had.

She knows when she asks what he wants as his final gift, it won’t be a tie or a new mug. He won’t need those where he’s going, and he’s quite happy about that.

Mallory just didn’t think he wanted a miracle wrapped in paper and tied with a shiny red bow!

Christmas on Breakers Point is the introductory book to the Independence Islands Series.

Click HERE to get your copy!

About the Author

Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her on the web and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

More from Chautona

The book opens with a phone call that goes like this:

Her phone buzzed. Without taking her eyes from the page, Mallory Barrows fumbled about until her hand closed around it. The book held her bound in ropes of suspense as the villain slipped into the party unannounced—unseen. While she followed him around the edge of the imaginary room, her thumb swiped, tapped, and answered the call as if on autopilot.

Even as Mallory said, “Hello?” her breath caught. The guy had found his prey.

“Mallory, honey?” Without a second look, she dropped the book and sat up, feet planted firmly on the floor and all attention on the call. “Is it time?”

“’Fraid so, darlin’. Doc says it’s a matter of weeks or a month or two. And I promised.”

“I’ll be there Friday afternoon.”

Just days after I wrote those lines, I woke up to a message from my sister. “Call Mom.”

I called. Mom said, “I need you to come.” That was Thursday. I walked into Mom’s house on Saturday evening and our lives changed forever.

I don’t know if God prepared me for this change by having me write that scene just days before, but I have to say it felt like it! Everything went crazy for over a month as I tried to wrap up my mother’s affairs in Missouri, I had to try to finish three books in a time of upheaval and turmoil. No, it’s not the same as trying to help a young woman reclaim her True First Love so she could reclaim her first earthy love. It isn’t the same as starting a whole new life and a new business. But… oh, how it felt like it.

Another parallel in the story and my life was how Mallory struggles to try to get Uncle Bud to eat. I did the same thing for most of my time in Missouri. Mom struggled so hard just to swallow and just wanted to eat. So, while I was writing, I worked hard to come up with a recipe that Mallory might use to convince Uncle Bud to eat something. The result were these Coconut Lime Cookies. I hope you love them as much as Uncle Bud did.

Coconut Lime Cookies Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups white flour ½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup sugar

3 oz room temp cream cheese—cubed

½ tsp vanilla

Zest of 1 lime (key limes may be preferred)

½ cup (1 stick) melted butter (warm)

1 egg

1 TBS milk (whole is the most delicious… and half & half is even better)

1 TBS lime juice (again, some may prefer key limes)

½ cup powdered sugar (reserved for rolling cookies in)

Directions: (oven preheats to 350)

Stir together the first five ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.Set aside

Stir together sugar, cream cheese, and lime zest in a large mixing bowl. Cream butter in. Repeat with egg, milk, and lime juice, one at a time. Make sure your ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Add dry ingredients slowly. Mix well. Roll dough into approximately 1” balls. Roll each ball into powdered sugar and place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.

Bake for approximately 11-12 minutes until lightly golden.

Before you eat, close your eyes and imagine yourself beneath swaying palm trees with warm sand between your toes. Merry Christmas!

My Review

Every year I intend to read lots of Christmas books during November and December, but somehow this doesn’t usually happen. When your to-read list has gone well past the point of no return, it becomes difficult to fit in all of the books that you expect to get through. As a book reviewer, it’s nice to have a set schedule in advance, and another perk is the opportunity to branch out and take a chance on books that are different from what you usually choose. “Christmas on Breakers Point” fits the bill! I have to admit that I am not at all an island or beach girl, although I have always loved lighthouses, and I’m not gung-ho for romances either, so I had some trepidation going into this one. As it turns out, I ended up enjoying it immensely!

Blending a variety of engaging elements together, Chautona Havig writes “Christmas on Breakers Point” with both sadness and joy interlaced into each chapter. Despite being a short book, it reads like a full-length novel, with detail and depth that are not rushed yet also not dawdling. Had I known the plotline beforehand, I likely would have passed this one up for fear that it would be too sad, and this is just another reason that I like to enter into a book figuratively blind. One of the main characters has terminal cancer and an unattainable wish for Christmas, but thankfully God does the impossible every day, and He often works through people.

With finesse, Havig offers a story that is layered with sorrow yet filled with hope and joy. A terminal illness, lost love, and renounced faith all figure prominently, but I did not once think that the narrative was depressing. Instead, I found myself inspired by the sacrificial love and deep conversations of the characters, highlighting a multitude of passages that I felt were convicting and very pertinent in this day and age. Mallory seems to speak to the prodigal in all of us when she says, “You have decided how you want things to be, and because they’re not, you’re crying foul. You define what He does by what you want rather than what it is. He speaks to us today. Don’t tell me His Word doesn’t.” What it all comes down to is that life is not about us, but about HIM. “If you’re going to choose a cause over Jesus, then you’re choosing to die for that cause. You’re throwing what Jesus did for you and for all mankind up in His face.” When we follow His Word and walk in faithful obedience to Him, we have joy; all other paths lead to death.

There is so much to love about this first book in the Independence Islands series. It will make you laugh, cry, and cheer. Although obviously a great holiday read, this is one that can easily be enjoyed at any time of year. I think that everyone needs an Uncle Bud in their lives to speak truth, love, guide, and pray them through the good and the bad. One line from the book beautifully encapsulate the story: “A lifetime of moments could be summarized in a Breakers Point sunset.”

I received a complimentary copy of this book through CelebrateLit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.