About the Book
Book: Spines & Leaves
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: FICTION / CHRISTIAN / WOMENS FICTION / ROMANCE
Release date: July 8, 2021
♥ Books are the strings that tie hearts together. ♥
With a month to get from Orange County, California to Delaware for his next corporate challenge, Milton Coleridge decides to spend a week at Joshua Tree National Park.
He never expected to find a floundering bookstore in need of his particular business skills. Will his methods of saving companies from bankruptcy or takeover work on such a small scale? And can he convince two people to risk their hearts?
Step into the Spines & Leaves, Tamarisk, California’s oldest (and only ever) bookstore. Come in out of the harsh, desert sun and wind and peruse all the store has to offer. It might just be more than you think.
One man, one store, thousands of books. What’ll it take to keep this bookstore from becoming a book ghost town… and what’ll it take for Milton to tie two heartstrings together?
Spine & Leaves is the introductory novella to the Bookstrings series.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
More from Chautona
The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Bookstrings series is a process rather than an idea. Each time I saw an indie bookstore close, each time I went in one with no one else in there for the hour or two I browsed, and each time I heard book lovers lament the lack of a store in their town… Yeah. Those experiences slowly grew into a wish—one where I knew how to rescue those stores from extinction. So maybe that’s a bit melodramatic, but that’s how it felt.
Somewhere in the midst of all that, Milton appeared—a business genius who, along with his faithful parrotlet, Atticus (not Finch), travels the country saving corporations from takeover or bankruptcy.
Milton went through several iterations. Older, balding, mustache, and always wearing a golfer’s cap. Then I had him as a young hipster dude who got sick of the rat race on Wall Street and took off on his own, using what he’d learned. That just felt too cliché.
Instead, I have a forty-ish guy who wears chinos and oxford shirts with topsiders, shorter than most men, and with a nonchalant air about him. And charm. The quiet guy with serious business skills just oozes quiet charm.
After deciding on Milton, I had to choose where to put the stores. I’ve been watching out for towns for years—using trips different places as research times. Would I create places that felt like real towns or use actual small towns? Though drawn to real towns, I had an idea for where to end the series, and, doing that meant a fictional town. Would it be weird to have four or five books set in small towns across America followed by a final fictional one?
The solution came to me as I learned that the Mosaic authors were doing a summer collection in 2021. If I started with a novella and ended the series with both in a fictional town, at least that fictional bit wouldn’t be out of the blue!
So, the Bookstrings series has two novellas and five full-length novels. (I couldn’t resist a Christmas “noella” in the charming town of Noel, Missouri—the “Christmas City.”) We’ll be off to other small towns around the country—one in Red Wing, Minnesota, another in Berne, Indiana, and one somewhere between Kingsport, Tennessee and Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina. If I can find a place in New England, that’d be great, too. Or maybe down in Mississippi… I’d love to visit my sister down there.
The Bookstrings series books all have one very important thing in common (aside from Milton and Atticus, of course). They all illustrate that books truly are the strings that tie hearts together.
My Thoughts
Spines & Leaves is book number 0 in the Bookstrings series that is written by Chautona Havig. This was a quick and easy read. Milton has a month to get from Orange County, California to Delaware. However, he stops in Tamarisk, California when he sees a bookstore. Spines & Leaves is currently being run by the owners daughter, Ced (Full name is Mercedes). She came to town to help run the store when her father had fallen ill. She is struggling to see the book succeed and is worried that store will go under and her dad's dreams down the drain .
Milton, and his parrolet, Atticus (who was my most favorite character) go in and look around. Milton's career involves saving companies from bankruptcy. He offers to help, pro bono and starts making changes. Ced helps and is hopeful for the future. One person who is not thrilled with Milton, Attitcus and the changes is Marcus. Marcus is worried that Ced will fall for Milton. However, when the store starts to show potential and a profit, Marcus starts to relax.
This was a quick easy read that will leave you smiling. The author always writes such wonderful characters. I can't wait to read more in the series. The author's description of her scenes is so vivid I could see myself walking through Spines & Leaves and touching all the books.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Celebrate Lit for allowing me to read a copy of this boo - all thoughts are my own.
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, April 26
Texas Book-aholic, April 26
Lots of Helpers, April 27
Mary Hake, April 27
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 28
By the Book, April 29
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 29
The Avid Reader, April 30
Vicky Sluiter, May 1
For Him and My Family, May 2
Miriam Jacob, May 2
Inklings and notions, May 3
Blogging With Carol, May 4
deb’s Book Review, May 4
She Lives To Read, May 5
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, May 6
Simple Harvest Reads, May 6 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, May 7
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, May 8
Pause for Tales, May 8
Locks, Hooks and Books, May 9
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/1d0b3/spines-leaves-celebration-tour-giveaway
Sounds good, thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteChauntona, I enjoyed following the tour and learning about Spines & Leaves, which sounds like a fantastic romance for me to read, Thanks for sharing it with me I hope the tour was a success and good luck with your book ! Thanks, Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, for sharing your thoughts! Have a wonderful day!
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