About the Book

Book: Home for Christmas

Authors: Chautona Havig, Toni Shiloh, Cathe Swanson, Jaycee Weaver

Genre: Contemporary Christian Christmas Romance

Release date: October 21, 2021

Settle in with your favorite beverage, a Christmassy snack, and get ready for all the feels with these four heart-warming, military-honoring Christmas novellas.

The Christmas Lights Collection is back, and this year’s collection is better than ever. Full of love, joy, and hope, this year’s collection offers the celebration of freedom, sacrifice, and the greatest Gift ever given.

These novella features two veterans and two active servicemen and their stories.

The Stars of New Cheltenham (Chautona Havig): When a woman arrives at the Marine recruiting center, livid that her brother is ready to sign up tomorrow, the recruiter takes her on a journey through Rockland in hopes of showing her why her brother wants to serve.

Most Wonderful Time– Gabe loves Christmas, so when he discovers that his new co-worker Shanée wants nothing to do with the season, he makes it his mission to show her the true meaning. But he never expected feelings to develop for the Air Force veteran. Will he take a chance that she feels the same way or miss the best gift of all?

The Road Home: Tally has tried to leave her military history far in the past, but she’s not ready to go back to her former life, either. Can an old army buddy help her find a new road home?

Now and Forever Christmas: The past eight years as a professional musician for the US Army prepared Tobin McGhee for his new job as high school band teacher. They didn’t prepare him for how he’d feel seeing an old girlfriend again. This time, though, he won’t make the same mistakes. Can they make holiday music together and rekindle the friendship they once had, or will romance ruin everything… again?

The Stars of New Cheltenham: I enjoyed this story. It was fun to see the dates that Gareth came up with to go with the books. I liked the biblical thread and the characters' growth. It was also fun to see the other characters that we've met before.

Most Wonderful Time: I enjoyed this story and for Gabe to get his story told. It was nice to see old friends again. I felt the story was well written and with a good flow.

The Road Home: I loved being back at Unity Plenkiss again and seeing all the familiar people. I was thrilled to get Tally's story and for her to find her own happily ever after. I think it would be best to read the other books that have to do with the Unity Plenkiss before reading this novella so you get the full picture of Tally's life. I liked Christopher and his steadiness. The biblical faith thread was good.

Now and Forever Christmas: This is the second installment of The Sinclair Sisters Trilogy, but you could read it without having read Clari's story first. I enjoyed getting to know CJ and Tobin, both in the past and in the present. I found the story to be well written and kept me wanting to read.

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About the Author

Authors Chautona Havig, Toni Shiloh, Cathe Swanson, and Jaycee Weaver are about as different geographically and personally as you can get—except where they’re not. What they all share is a love of books, writing, and Jesus. Their great diversity is what makes their books so complementary and what makes the Christmas Lights Collection an eagerly-anticipated set each year.

More from Chautona

Picture it. Sweaters, fuzzy socks, a gas fireplace, and laptops. Cathe Swanson and I had been invited to join author Brenda Anderson for a writing retreat at her timeshare in the Wisconsin Dells. So, I flew out (and arrived in Minneapolis in the middle of riots! EEEP!) and we drove over to the Dells. There we were both determined to get a ton of writing done. And we did.

While Cathe worked on Home Run, (and I sneaked peeks at her recent release, Long Shadows), I finished up Penelope’s Pursuit and wrote a significant amount of Adoring April.

I also had a genius idea while I was there. I kind of freaked out poor Cathe a bit, running into the room where she was working and blurting out all the idea-ness (for a video of that, go HERE), but still… guys! Military! Woohoo! Here’s a video of us brainstorming:

It was perfect on so many levels. So, Cathe zipped messages off to Jaycee and Toni, and we all began planning what we’d do to honor our military in this collection.

Look, it’s been a hard year for our military families. Folks are grieving and there’s just so much uncertainty. So, all of the authors of the Christmas Lights Collection would like to dedicate this collection not just to the men and women who have and are currently serving in our armed forces, but also to the families who make their own sacrifices in giving up time (often years) with their service men and women.

In this collection, you’ll find a Marine recruiter, a struggling veteran, an Army musician, and an Air Force veteran now working a nice prosaic bank job! See how each author ties Christmas and these heroes together!