About the Book

Book: Trust Fall

Author: Chautona Havig

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release date: April 30, 2024

Protecting her without her knowledge might get them both killed.

Grief has held Eve “Kensi” Kensington captive long enough. Determined to move on after the death of her fiancé six years ago, Kensi moves to St. Alyn to help Ezra with the new boat book business. That there’s a great therapist on the island is just a bonus.

When the West Coast Agency learns that the former fiancée of a deceased informant is under the radar, Simon Garver is tasked to protect her—without her knowledge, if possible. Great. Listening in on her therapy sessions might be the worst thing he’s ever had to do as an agent.

Nope… scrap that. Falling for his client takes the cake.

When Kensi learns Simon has been keeping secrets from her, she’s done. Too bad the arrival of a guy sent to “take care of her” means she needs him. She’ll cooperate until she’s safe, toss the trust exercises her therapist has insisted on in the trash, and get back to her job on Ezra’s boat.

If only her heart would listen to the plan…

Take a trip to the Suamalie Islands where palm trees sway, the sand and sea pulse with life, and the people will steal your heart.

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

Sometimes life doesn’t go as you’d planned.  Like at all. You think you’re going to have a great wedding, an idyllic honeymoon, followed by the perfect, picket-fence existence with the love of your life.

Then some crazy author comes along and rips it all away. Fiancé? Dead. Honeymoon?  Not hardly.  And by the time she’s done, that fence feels like someone rammed those pickets into her heart.  All in a day’s work, and all before the first word of the story.

It’s a wonder that characters don’t revolt or something.

Look, here’s the deal. I just thought it would be cool to bring my Agency Files to Suamalie.  And for that, we needed a tough background, because The Agency doesn’t get involved in disputes over spa appointments or boat rental rescues (most of the time).

So, after many hours of plotting and planning, I finally figured out how to torture my Kensi—I mean, give her an interesting backstory—while not tormenting readers.  Too much.  It’s been a couple of years (okay, it’s been six!), she’s having trouble coping, and…. Then what?  How does The Agency fit in?

That started off as a conundrum that got really cool the more I thought about it.  I mean, here’s the thing. The Agency is a protective entity. They swoop in and protect people from imminent danger while law enforcement does their job to remove that threat.  Sometimes, as in Justified Means, this involves “involuntary” protection where they extract someone from his or her life until it’s safe to return—whether that person wants to be extracted or not.

I didn’t want that this time, but I also didn’t want Kensi to know she was in danger.  So, off she goes to visit her friend Ezra in the Suamalie Islands and there she meets Ezra’s therapist fiancé.  This much was easy to figure out.

And then it hit me.  What if the agent was secretly protecting her?  She doesn’t know it… but it’s happening.

Now I feel like Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove.  “Oh, yeah. It’s all coming together.”

Sometimes, I feel like Trust Fall is more romcom suspense than straight-up romantic suspense, but that’s okay, right?

Interview with Chautona

What is your real-life work schedule like when writing? 

Well, I wake up around 2:00 p.m. So… then, depending on the day of the week, I either come out and deal with admin stuff, or I get ready for a podcast interview.  I have a Christian fiction bookish podcast where I mostly interview authors about their Christian fiction novels. Yes, I used Christian fiction twice up there (three times now). Because now and again, someone tries to get me to interview them about their general market (and sometimes not clean) books and… frustration.

Hubby gets home around 5:00 and we eat and watch a mystery together.  At 7:30-8:00 I go take an hour to hour and a half nap.  Trust me, all of this is important because…

At 9:00 I get up and go out into the backyard to my shed-i-ffice. There I do my Bible Study, read for a while, and then… then (by midnight or a bit earlier), I begin to write.  I work in twenty-minute sprints.  Then I get up and move around for five minutes (take a bathroom break which means walking back to the house), and all the while I am thinking about what I’ll write next. If it’s a podcast night or a video night, I have to break for editing those, but otherwise, I write until six a.m. when I go to bed.  😊

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

My first attempt was at age twelve. When I reread it a short while later, even I (the biggest, self-righteous jerk on the planet) could see it was pure self-righteous drivel.  I burned that sucker in our grill.  I feel like my dad wasn’t happy about that.  But I’m really tired right now, so maybe it’s just what he would have been if he’d known.

Do you base your characters on real people?

Well… sometimes! Often it’s just a personality quirk of one person (like the random animal facts guy in Random Acts of Shyness) or something someone has mentioned (like the diva dog in Pugs & Kisses). Other times I take someone real and exaggerate their personality in one direction or another (like my kids in Sand & Mistletoe—trust me. We’re not that dramatic or that entertaining). And other times, it’s something I see in myself that I’d like to change (like Ella/Dani in None So Blind). But mostly, I figure out what kind of person would fit well with a character idea I have and use that as a guide to how he or she would react in a given situation.

Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

Right now, I’m working on two books at once.  The next novella in the Bookstrings series. Wee Bonnie Books was supposed to be in the Sounds Like a Plan anthology, but I didn’t trust myself to get it done in time, so I decided against it. Instead, my goal is to have it ready by the time the anthology releases so that anyone who buys the anthology gets Wee Bonnie Books free as Mosaic Collection’s thanks!

And I’m working on the next Agency Files book—a Christmas novel where a gal is on the run from people who want to stop her. She hides out in an “empty” castle only to have someone come home.  That “someone” (unbeknownst to her) is an ex-agent with The Agency.  The problem is… he’s got a broken leg. No help against gun-totin’, gonna-kill-her invaders. But that’s okay. She’s got a plan.  It’s kind of Home Alone (with all the traps) meets Die Hard.

Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

The best places are either my website (Chautona.com) or my YouTube channel youtube.com/@chautonahavig.  On my site—all the books and stuff about the books. On my YouTube, there are a lot of things about my books, but I also chat a lot about the books I’m reading (both Christian fiction and general market/classics).

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 25

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 26

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 27

She Lives To Read, May 28

Texas Book-aholic, May 29

The Lit Lady, May 30

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, May 31

Simple Harvest Reads, June 1 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

For Him and My Family, June 2

Holly’s Book Corner, June 3

The Lofty Pages, June 4

Stories By Gina, June 5 (Author Interview)

Lots of Helpers, June 5

Karen Baney Reviews, June 6

Sylvan Musings, June 7 (Author Interview)

Mornings at Character Cafe, June 7

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a 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/2b9d6/trust-fall-celebration-tour-giveaway