BLOGWORDS – Friday 3 July 2020 – TUESDAY REVIEWS-DAY-on-FRIDAY – BOOK REVIEW – VOLITION by CHAUTONA HAVIG
TUESDAY REVIEWS-DAY-on-FRIDAY – BOOK REVIEW – VOLITION by CHAUTONA HAVIG
NOTE: I originally had this review scheduled for 16 May, but following my father’s death the week prior, I was too unfocused to keep up my reading pace, and deferred my post till I could get caught up. And though the tour is long over, I wanted to give credit where credit is due—after all, it is through Celebrate Lit that I came to read this little gem!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Book: Volition
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Christian fiction, futuristic
Release Date: December 31, 2019
THE BLURB
“I should have made that left turn at Tucumcari.”
It’s Doctor Who meets mail-order brides when “rescuers” from the future arrive to save Andi Flanders from a happy life with her loving family and fiancé.
Okay, so they meant to get her suicidal roommate, but hey. Mistakes happen, right?
And as far as Andi’s concerned, they can fix them—by sending her home.
However, when she learns what happens when she disappears from home, Andi has an impossible choice. Stay in the government-controlled futuristic world she despises and never see her family again or return to the twenty-first century and doom an innocent person to death.
Volition— Life and death decisions are so overrated.
Click here to get your copy!
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 at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.
MORE FROM CHAUTONA
What Happens When You Explore Logical Progressions?
She used chopsticks. Me? I’m a fork kind of gal. But over plates of sesame chicken and fried rice, we hashed out what our NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) books would be. Every year, I challenged myself. Once by writing drippy romance (Discovering Hope). Once by turning a sermon into a story that wasn’t preachy (Argosy Junction). (psst… links are affiliate links—they provide a small commission at no extra expense to you!)
This time, I’d decided the challenge would include writing in the first person. Anyone who knows me knows how much I don’t like the first-person perspective. As we tried to figure out what our plots would be, my friend added another challenge. “Do science fiction.”
I’ll be honest. I almost laughed her out of the restaurant. But then an idea hit me. Why shouldn’t I? I could kill two dislikes in one book. Bam! Done!
That kicked off a book I probably never would have written otherwise.
I knew doing major techno-science stuff wouldn’t be conducive to trying to write 50,000 words in thirty days, so I immediately chose futuristic over space travel. The decision to go with a form of time travel was probably inspired by Doctor Who, now that I think of it. I didn’t back then. I just went with what I thought I might be able to make interesting—to write, if not to read.
That kicked off an idea that sent my brain spinning.
What would happen if you got kidnapped and taken to the future, but returning to your former life means someone’s soul will never be redeemed?
Of course, it would take a really strong, amazing character to pull off that kind of thing. Not everyone could do it. But who… who give up her life for someone else?
That’s when I knew. That soul saved would have to belong to someone my character didn’t even like. Gotta raise the stakes, you know?
That’s also when I discovered that I wouldn’t like her—not at first.
Andi Flanders jumped onto the page with hands on hips and eyes flashing. She was livid that people in the future had interfered with her life. Then she’s broken when she realizes she can’t go back.
Fiercely independent, Andi enters futuristic Rockland with a critical eye and condemning spirit. Since most sci-fi stuff I’ve seen focuses on sleek, pristine futures full of glass and steel, I wanted to go a different direction. But how?
That’s when my solution came to me.
I’d take today’s world and push everything to logical exaggerated conclusions.
- Environmentalism? We’ll have a world that tries not to encroach on nature any more than necessary
- Population? I took China’s “one child” policy and made it worldwide… and then let the future deal with the fallout.
- Globalism? I let them have their one-world government that protects everyone from themselves.
- Apathetic faith? I didn’t persecute Christians. I just let their faith die a slow, natural death.
And then I threw in a character with a love for Jesus and a minor obsession with Ayn Rand’s objectivism. Yes, I’m aware that those two things can be mutually exclusive. That was the fun of it.
This Rand-spouting, Jesus loving, freckle-faced, fiery redhead had to deal with all if this stuff in a world as opposite from her freedom-loving self as can stand.
Ninety-thousand words later, I was done. And then I shelved the book.
For ten years.
On December 27, 2019, I got a message from my son.
He’d found a book cover design contest and wondered if he should enter. And if so, with what book? We hashed out ideas when I remembered Volition. It wasn’t edited. Done, but not edited. Could I possibly get the whole thing cleaned up before December 31 rolled over into January 1?
I decided to try.
Nolan got to work on a cover while I began editing like nobody’s business.
With the help of my amazing launch team, an incredible editor, and no sleep, the book was live on New Year’s Eve with three hours to spare.
Then my son decided not to worry about entering this year.
He lives. This is a testimony to God’s grace and control over my life. And my hands.
Or maybe it’s because he lives three hours south of me, and I’ve only seen him once since then. You don’t kill your son at your daughter’s wedding reception. Just sayin’.
But let’s go with the first reason. It makes me sound more spiritual or something. 😉
MY REVIEW
I don’t even know where to begin!! Amazing seems to small a word for this story!
A fan of stories written in first person (if done well,) I was immediately drawn into Andi’s dilemma. And the situation with her roomie.
But then the story felt off-putting, and I didn’t think the futuristic aspects would hold my attention. Boy was I wrong!
Now, having finished the book, I think I was feeling some of Andi’s confusion and frustration—and disbelief! (that first person point of view!) Then the choice she had to make—would I be that strong? How many of us could do that? Make that much of a sacrifice?
James was likeable enough, easy going, non-condemning. But frustrated and confused, too. After all, it was his [SPOILER] that was mixed up. He was just as bewildered with Andi’s previous life experience as she was with his. And yet, made great allowances for her, and defended her time and again.
The progression of this story, the incredible character arcs, were a thing of beauty. Little by little, two steps forward, one step back, dancing around feelings that at first weren’t there, Andi and James came to know and understand one another. Both thrust into a situation neither asked for, their first days were more than a little rough. Abrasive better describes it.
Ms. Havig created not only a plausible if tragically lost future world but wrapped a plausible and victorious story into it. With each page, each chapter, some new revelation unfolds, another rough edge of conflict was made smooth. As the story progressed and the characters evolved, so too did their marriage—from an arrangement to a friendship to something more.
A page-turner and tear-jerker, Ms. Havig’s story kept me captive to the last page. The last, lovely, tear inducing page.
ROBIN’S FEATHERS
ALL | THE | FEATHERS!
I received a complimentary copy of this book, but was under no obligation to read the book or to post a review. I offer my review of my own free will. The opinions expressed in my review are my honest thoughts and reaction to this book.
#Blogwords, Tuesday Reviews-Day-on-Friday, #TRD, Book Review, Volition, Chautona Havig, Celebrate Lit Publicity
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ALL | THE | FEATHERS!
Beth Troy is an American writer and educator who teaches courses in Creativity & Innovation and Women & Entrepreneurship at Miami University.
ALL | THE | FEATHERS!
Hope Clark is the award-winning author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series, also set in her home state of South Carolina. In her previous life, she performed administrative investigations for the federal government and married an agent she met on a bribery investigation. She can be found either on the banks of Lake Murray or Edisto Beach with one or two dachshunds in her lap. Clark is also editor of the award-winning fundsforwriters.com. Find out more about her at chopeclark.com
ALL | THE | FEATHERS!
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