ABOUT THE BOOK

The Second Yes: Five of today’s Best-selling Christian Authors weave six brand-new, unique, interconnected stories of what happens after the bride says yes to him and yes to the dress.

Something Borrowed, Someone Blue: A borrowed dress, half-completed marriage counseling, and a last-minute theft.

Let’s face it. Weddings equal stress for the families involved. Preachers, however, have it easy. Or so they say.

Ty Jamison’s first parishioner is getting married. Though he’s performed many services at the little chapel in New Cheltenham–grand affairs, all designed to give the illusion of simplicity–all of them were strangers to him.

So when Lara Priest asks him to perform the ceremony at her wedding and to use the chapel, of course, Ty is thrilled. That joy fades as one by one, things go wrong. From a groom who refuses to attend pre-marital counseling to Lara discovering that her dream wedding dress is a no-can-do, what can go wrong seems to.

And like so many weddings that movies are made of, things go from bad to worse to “worser.”

All the while, Ty tries to remind himself that he only has to provide a little premarital counseling, show up, perform the service, and find a way to hide his broken heart through the whole ordeal.

All in a life’s work.

Book: The Second Yes Chautona Havig Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Fiction / Christian / Romance Release date: May 15, 2019

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MY BOOK REVIEW

"The Second Yes" is a collection of five stories about weddings and second chances. Each author stays true to their own writing style and doesn't try to be like the other authors in the book.

The first story is "Seasons of Surprises" by Alexa Verde is about a wedding dress being sold by mistake. It is up to the bride's niece and nephew to find the dress. It is all about fixing relationships and giving each other a second chance. Through this conflict, it brought the bride and groom even closer to each other.

The second story is "Something Borrowed, Something Blue" by Chautona Havig does a great job of making you smile while reading her story. The premise of the story is about Lara Priest, who believes she has found the perfect groom. Unfortunately, Ty Jamison, her minister, sets out to find out exactly what is going on with the groom when things started becoming fishy. This story gives us an example of two people with different spiritual beliefs come together. She tackles some questions we think about when we are marrying someone with different spiritual beliefs. She reminds me of myself when I knew my heart is telling me the truth but I ignored it.

The third story is "Black Belt, White Dress" by Hallee Bridgeman is all about tomboy Traci Winston who is marrying Travis Seaver, a Taekwondo Master. She wants to marry while skydiving over the Grand Canyon, but her overbearing mom wants her to have a traditional wedding. Will she do what her moms want or will she marry while skydiving?

The fourth story is "Sewn Together" by Alena Terry. Her story is made me feel so many emotions. This is a beautiful inspirational love story with heartwarming characters. It's a story about miracles. A family is torn apart by a pregnancy that was expected to not end well. You will have to read the story to see if it ends up well.

The fifth story is "The Second Yes" by Amanda Tru is the story of a wedding designer, London Hutchins. It contains a nice romance. London is a very fun, charming and at times a trouble maker.

I believe you will love all of these beautiful stories. The books have a nice level of Christian content without being preachy. I love how each of these authors made their characters really relatable with flaws. People are not perfect and relationships are not perfect.

You can read these stories in order or out of order. I read them in order. A couple of the stories are about real love and a couple of them are emotional tearjerker stories. Don't expect these stories to be about weddings and love because there are just weren't just about love between a man and women but about a mother, daughter relationship, and sick babies. The authors made each of these stories very realistic I thought they were true stories. I encourage you to read every one of these stories because they will inspire you, make you laugh, and make you cry.

I requested a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

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.

Chautona Havig's Website: Click Here
Twitter: @chautona
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Alexa Verde's Website: Click here
Twitter: @AlexaVerde3
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Hallee Bridgeman's Website: Click Here
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Alena Terry's Website: Click Here
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Amanda Tru's Website: Click Here
Twitter: @TruAmanda
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MORE FROM CHAUTONA

The tiny bridal shop held dozens of dresses. Frothy princess dresses, twenties dropped-waist dresses, straight, short, silky, shiny satin, lace, beaded appliques… I looked at them all and found ivory jacquard, tea length, dress by Jessica McClintock. It was a hundred dollars. To a girl making $4.25 an hour and too broke to buy food, it might as well have been a thousand. Still, it was also cheaper than any other dress in the store and just my style.

I pulled out the twenty-dollars I’d saved by doing extra work around my apartment for the landlord and said I’d put it on layaway.

My maid of honor protested.

The dress wasn’t fancy enough. It didn’t reach the floor. It wasn’t white. I didn’t look good in ivory (she was right on that one, anyway), and the veil I’d fallen in love with—you know the $120 veil I could never afford—wouldn’t look good with it.

Duh.

Look, I was eighteen (barely), and had parents who would have paid me to elope in Las Vegas in lieu of the wedding. Two months later, we did go… And we still had the wedding, but that’s a story for another day.

I left the store with my choice on layaway. Went home and later told my fiancé about the thing. He said to get the one I wanted. And I had. Still, I got the impression that he thought I actually wanted the other one… and maybe he meant that I should get that one.

That left a conundrum. Did he like the sound of the other one more? Was that why? The traditional white and floor-length thing? I went back to the shop the next day to look again. Seriously, if we’d had cellphones back then, I would have taken a picture and asked him.

That’s when I found out the white one was now on layaway—not the ivory I’d chosen. The decision had been made for me.

AND SO WENT THE REST OF MY WEDDING PLANNING.

I made one decision. It was countermanded as not grand enough, not traditional enough, too cheap, not enough… One decision, I’d made involved flowers. I called to ask about something after I’d ordered them and found they’d been changed to something else. I lost it—informed the florist that if any changes were not made in person with my driver’s license as proof of me making them, then when the wedding day came, if the flowers were wrong, I’d do without flowers. We wouldn’t have any. And I wouldn’t pay for them.

I wish I’d have had the backbone to do more of that.

But come on, I was eighteen. My mother didn’t have anything to do with wedding planning. They’d agreed to show up in whatever clothes we told them to, and that was it.

Back to the dress. I think it’s important to note that I did love that white, floor-length dress. It was beautiful, it looked good on me, and it would make for lovely pictures. It would.

IT JUST WASN’T WHAT I’D CHOSEN.

You see, I’d said “yes” to a dress—just not the one that I had agreed to pay for. Instead, it was the one that was almost four times the cost of the one I already couldn’t afford.

I’d always planned to tell the story—fictionalized, of course—but I figured it would be about Rockland’s wedding planning company, “The Agency.” So, when it came time to do my book for the next Crossroads collection, The Second Yes, I was surprised to discover that elements of my own wedding kept cropping up in different ways.

The motivation is different in Something Borrowed, Someone Blue, but the result is the same—a girl who, no matter what happens, can’t seem to have the wedding she envisions.

The question is… is that a good thing?

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away a grand prize that includes a Spa Basket designed to soothe any bride’s nerves (or to make any reader feel as though she is part of the bridal party and getting pampered before the big day) and also includes a $25 gift certificate to Amazon (Image not reflective of actual contents)!!

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Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.