About the Book
Book: Everard
Author: Chautona Havig
Genre: Christian / Fantasy / Fairy Tale
Release date: October 2, 2012
A Prince, a friend, and a lizard walk into a trap…
Everard of Havilund—fierce warrior, brave soldier, loyal friend, heir to the throne, and painfully shy.
The war is over! Or is it? After four long years fighting in a war that has spanned a millennium, Everard is finally going home. He has faced everything he fears most—he thinks. Alas, trouble is brewing in the little hamlet of Hidden Hollow and he has only himself to blame.
Follow Everard as he tries to slay the Dragon of Ironia, face the Giant of the Tripp Mountains, bring the Enchantress of Enervatia to justice… just for starters.
Will he succeed? Will he overcome his personal demons that threaten all he is working for?
Find out in this second installment of the Not-So-Fairy Tales.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Author of the bestselling Aggie and Past Forward series, 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
“Can you write a short story for Kaira’s birthday? Something about a paisley princess? We’re doing a medieval theme, and Cathe is making the most scrumptious dress…”
A short story. Sure, I could. Why not? I’d throw in some things that fit Kaira and her family and some to make it not a bad attempt to write about a girl I only knew through her mother’s eyes. I’d make her hopelessly ordinary (which Kaira certainly was not). I’d give her lovely skills with a harp (which Kaira definitely has), and I’d give her the name Paisley Paisley so that, as her father, the king of Jackalopany, said “She’d be eager to marry and change it someday.”
Seventy-thousand or so words later the “short story” was done.
The silliest thing I’d ever written, but man… that was fun. Complete with a human chess game, frog pox, and heartbreaking bravery, it wasn’t great literature—Andersson would never approve—but it was mine.
It also gave me a thirst for something more… something… real. Okay, so that sounds a little weird writing about a fairy tale as “real” but in truth, it’s how I felt. I wanted to write a deliberate one, not just a wild romp through story ideas. Some elements of the first book would have to stay. For example, I’d given the first book a cheeky narrator who did a lot of “explaining” about “fairy tale terms” and definitions. She had to return.
But this time, I wanted quests daring dos, and well… yeah. I wanted something a bit more structured. I also wanted it to reflect another family I loved and cherished. In this one, a prince returns from a war lasting almost a thousand years (he didn’t fight the whole time, never fear) to report victory and does something so out of character that it sends his life in a totally different direction.
In my opinion, it has the most truly romantic scene I’ve ever written in it, but even most boys of very tender years (who still think girls are “yucky”) haven’t complained. THAT is my kind of romance!
But more than anything, Everard has honor, bravery, self-sacrifice, and every kind of love you see in the Bible. It’s the second book in the Not-So-Fairy Tales, but it won’t be the last. Leicelin has something she wants to share with the world, too.
Blog Stops
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 27
Blogging With Carol, January 27
Texas Book-aholic, January 28
deb’s Book Review, January 29
Inklings and notions, January 30
Rebecca Tews, January 30
For Him and My Family, January 31
Locks, Hooks and Books, February 1
Connect in Fiction, February 1
Lots of Helpers, February 2
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, February 3
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, February 4 (Spotlight)
Sodbuster Living, February 4
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, February 5
Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, February 6
Mary Hake, February 6
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, February 7
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, February 8
Little Homeschool on the Prairie, February 9
Melissa’s Bookshelf, February 9
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away the grand prize package of a paperback copy of the book and a $25 Amazon gift card!!
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/193c4/everard-celebration-tour-giveaway
My Review
Everard is the second installment from Not So Fairy Tales series by Chautona Havig. It is different from my go to genre, however, I enjoyed reading it. It has warriors and dragons that makes it a fun read. There is humor and adventure that made want to keep reading. I love that there are lessons to learn that so many of us readers could be inspired by. Overall, it was a book that is entertaining from start to finish.
Everard is getting four and a half stars. I recommend it for readers who enjoy reading clean fantasy fiction. I look forward to reading the first installment from the No So Fairy Tales series, Princess Paisley, to see what happened in that one.
I received a digital copy of Everard from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.