Lovelight Gleams Blog Tour with Celebrate Lit (Interview with Chautona Havig)

About the Book

Book: Lovelight Gleams: The Christmas Lights Collection 2025

Authors: Laina Turner, Cathe Swanson, Jaycee Weaver, Chautona Havig

Genre: Christian Christmas Romance

Release Date: October 7, 2025

Being selected to enter into The Christmas Lights Showcase is an honor—and a commitment! Entrants pay a hefty fee and spend months designing and executing a Christmas display to knock all others out of the running.  With only four competitors selected out of thousands of entrants, competition is stiff!  Cozy up and join us as one judge, four locales, a few million lights, and more than a little Christmas romance bring it all together.

A Christmas Glow-Up by Cathe Swanson

One small town, two big dreams… and a spark that could change everything.

When determined conference center manager Gwen Smith enters a national Christmas decorating contest, she’s betting her career on turning Golden Valley into a holiday showstopper—complete with a ghost town glow-up and a Wild West reenactment. But her carefully laid plans are upended by Seth Morgan, a sharp but skeptical marketing consultant who’s just inherited a stake in the center—and isn’t afraid to challenge Gwen every step of the way.

Faith, Food, and Festive Lights by Laina Turner

Mariah Butters is determined to put her beloved Cottontail Junction on the culinary map—even if it’s just a tiny Montana town. When a Christmas lights contest offers a shot at a national ad campaign, Pearl rallies the local restaurant owners for a festive showdown that could change everything. Enter Tom Roarke—a steady, kind-hearted rancher who offers his time, his tools, and maybe even his heart. As they string lights and spark ideas, Pearl and Tom find their friendship heating up. Can they light up the town, win the contest, and discover that the best kind of love is the one that shines brightest at Christmas?

Just One More Christmas by Jaycee Weaver

Who says insta-love never lasts?

When Cole and Amy met forty-one years ago and married a month later, who could have imagined the beautiful life that would follow? This Christmas obsessed Christian couple has made it their life’s mission to spread the love of Christ and all Christmas represents to others who need it most. And this year, the lights contest that brought them together has the potential to share their love of Christmas with even more people if they can only take their Christmas décor to the next level.

The Sparkle of New Cheltenham by Chautona Havig

Her dream job just became her worst nightmare.

Kindra Hatheway walked off her graduation platform and into the perfect position with the perfect advertising company. That’s where her perfect life ended. Now one of her supervisors has put her in for a fluff job (a Christmas decorating contest? Really?) to get her out of the way. Add to that all the travel, the pressure from one of her colleagues to pick New Cheltenham as the winner, and the fact that she keeps flirting with her supervisor, and this Christmas is looking… complicated.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Authors

Laina Turner:  Laina Turner writes sweet, feel-good romances that always have a HEA. When she’s not writing she’s a college professor teaching business and English. Through all her career choices, she has continued to have a passion for writing stemming from childhood, where, as an only child, she developed a vivid imagination.

Cathe Swanson: Cathe writes books with creative plots and engaging characters of all ages, to glorify God and entertain and bless readers. Her heartwarming stories will make you laugh and make you cry—and then make you laugh again.

Jaycee Weaver: When New Mexico resident and USA Today bestselling author Jaycee Weaver isn’t reading or writing, she enjoys dates with her brainiac hubby, crafting, pretending she’s a nature photographer, and making her daughters cringe. She appreciates humorous books with banter, characters who overcome adversity, and guaranteed happy endings, so that’s what she writes.

Chautona Havig: 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

Ten years ago, Cathe Swanson and I started chatting about maybe doing a “Christmas collection” with a couple of other authors. Never did we imagine that this Christmas Lights Collection would still be going strong!  Over the years we’ve had many authors as part of our collection—Sarah Monzon, Kari  Trumbo, Vikki Kestell (year one!), Toni Shiloh, Teresa Tysinger, and… well, you get the gist!  Lots of authors. Jaycee Weaver has been a part of the collection for… five now?  Where has the time gone and all those cliches?

For the tenth annual collection, we decided to mix things up a bit.  In this year’s collection, one character is going to visit all the locations in the other books for a semi-interconnected experience.  The idea I for each book to stand alone as usual, but if you read them in the order they appear in the collection, your experience will be a bit like our “judge,” Kindra Hatheway.

Kindra is the “judge” (shocker, right?) for a Christmas lights & decorating contest that four towns/businesses are entering. She’s young, out of her depth, and has a lot of pressure on her for something she thinks of as a “fluff job.”  Follow her from Rockland to Hawaii (or… well, that’d be spoilers), to Montana, over to  New Mexico… and more!

This year’s authors bring their unique perspectives to the story. You’ll get more of Jaycee Weaver’s Sinclair family, but this time we get to see the parents’ romance unfold both in past and present. Insta-love sometimes lasts a lifetime!  Cathe Swanson always brings quirky characters, humor, and all in a delightful community. Meet Pearl and Tom as Laina Turner brings faith and love into the lights of Cottontail Junction. And yep. Chautona (that’s me!) is taking you back to see the sparkle the residents of New Cheltenham has added to their town just for the contest.

In each book, you’ll find characters full of faith, hope, and of course, love.  Thank you from all of the Lovelight Gleams authors. We wish you a very merry and peace-filled Christmas.

Interview with Chautona

How long does it take you to write a book?

That depends on the book.  I know, not a fun answer. I’ve written books in ten days and others have taken months. The book I released in September took me seven months. I still can’t figure out why (aside from how difficult it is to get adequate information on how to build explosive devices using C4).  This book took me just over a month to write. It’s also about thirty thousand words longer than I expected!  I have two and a half months to write the next one, so I’m praying it’ll be a smooth process. I feel like I’m finally back in my usual groove.

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

Usually, when I get up (around 2 p.m.), I write all the things I have been percolating while asleep and as I get going. Sometimes those are just lists of things and others, I actually write out scenes if I’ve been really ruminating over them.  But around nine o’clock, I leave my house and go out to my shed-i-ffice to work.  After a bit of time in God’s Word and my prayer journal, I get to work. Some nights, like tonight (as I type up these answers), I take breaks to do other things while I work through the best way to write certain scenes. Then, at about 6:00 a.m., when I go in to go to sleep, I work through ideas in my head. And… yes. Sometimes, I have to drag myself back out of bed because I thought of a great line or something. So annoying.

What does your family think of your writing?

They seem happy for me—proud of me for doing what I think the Lord wants me to do. But I also know they don’t “get it.”  Well, I think my youngest does. She’s more artistic in nature, so it fits in her world.  But everyone is very supportive. They’ll answer questions for me, let me drag them around on the floor to get a feel for how hard that is… the works. I’m especially grateful that they leave me plenty of time to meet deadlines and understand that books can’t write themselves—that I have to be present with the page and away from distractions to get things done.

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

The best place is my website. From there, you can sign up for my newsletter, where I have frequent giveaways, updates on upcoming projects, and of course, Neville’s Notes (my dog’s $0.02 on all things crazy Havigs).

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

Well, as I’m typing this up, I’m just starting a new book.  The final book in this part of The Agency Files comes out in January, so I’m eager to get going on this. Ever since Justified Means, I’ve had this idea for what could happen near the end, and now I get to write it. We’ll see new heroes and favorite ones, old villains and new. Whoever wants to take over The Agency has a target on many backs.  The book is Take Cover, and I hope everyone does in time!

Next after that is a new Bookstrings book. This time we’re headed to Greeneville, Tennessee where a Christian bookstore that has been around for over fifty years is thriving, and Milton wants to know why.  I’m kind of sad about this one, too. I had a fabulous first chapter written.  It’s gone.  I don’t know where it went. I most definitely want to cry.  So yes, 2026 is going to be a great year.  I plan to get to the last Madeline book and back to Cassie as well. YAY!

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, October 22

Texas Book-aholic, October 23

Vicky Sluiter, October 24

For Him and My Family, October 25

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 26

Where Crisis & Christ Collide, October 27

She Lives to Read, October 28

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 29

Stories By Gina, October 30 (Author Interview)

The Mommies Reviews, October 30

Blossoms and Blessings, October 31

Simple Harvest Reads, November 1 (Author Interview)

Holly’s Book Corner, November 2

Artistic Nobody, November 3 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, November 3

Fiction Book Lover, November 4 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

 To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a copy of the book!!

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

https://promosimple.com/ps/3d282/lovelight-gleams-celebration-tour-giveaway

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