Title: New Year’s Revolutions
Author: Chautona Havig
Major Themes: Cats, Christmas, Faith, New Year’s Day, Salvation
Synopsis: When he sees something different in his neighbor, Wendy, the town grump, Neal Kirkpatrick, ends up buying a Bible to figure out what makes her so different, and so attractive to him.
A few months ago, I read Christmas Stalkings by Chautona Havig. After she wrote that funny, light-hearted book, she was inspired to write the same story, and more, from a different point of view. The result is New Year’s Revolutions.
Christmas Stalkings is told mainly from Wendy’s point of view, as she prepares for Christmas with her seven cats and deals with someone entering her house and moving things around. New Year’s Revolutions tells the story from her neighbor Neal’s point of view—but starts earlier and goes on a long ways after the first story ends.
Neal Kirkpatrick is the town grump; some teenagers even call him Jerk-patrick. Wendy is sure he hates her, the way he is always barking at her. Neal, however, sees something in Wendy that he hasn’t seen in many, if any, other women of his aquaintance. Neal has always looked on women as purely sexual objects, to just enjoy, use, and walk away from. Wendy, though, is different. She isn’t perfect, but when she does something wrong, she makes it right. What makes the difference in her life? When Neal finds out that she reads the Bible, and actually believes it, he buys one and starts reading it from cover to cover, over and over, trying to figure out if it is true and if God really exists. Can an atheist actually turn around and believe in God? If so, how? How can God prove that He exists?
I found the process Neal went through quite intriguing. His entire view of life was revolutionized—his New Year’s resolutions were truly revolutionary that year. There is so much in this book. Read it and be challenged yourself! I really appreciated the way Wendy lived her faith. I also enjoyed the humorous scenes. You don’t want to miss the time Neal bought kittens!
WARNING: Men’s temptations with lust are mentioned frankly, and Neal refers to sex a number of times, although never with any details. Two or three times a woman tries to get him to go with her.
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
Thank you for your review. I really appreciate it. Writing Neal’s character was SO HARD. He had an outlook on life that I can’t comprehend. But I know there are people who ARE like him, so I made myself write that character. 🙂