Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: Angie Mangino

  • I’M KONA LOVE YOU FOREVER: Book 6 of the ISLANDS of ALOHA MYSTERY Series by Joann Bassett

    I’M KONA LOVE YOU FOREVER: Book 6 of the ISLANDS of ALOHA MYSTERY Series by Joann Bassett

    Sixth in the eight-book Aloha Mystery Series, “I’m Kona Love You Forever,” fits well into this highly entertaining cozy mystery sequence with locales of the islands of Hawaii. Most importantly, it shares a wonderfully executed stand-alone mystery, something so crucial in any excellent amateur sleuth series.

    Lili and David, both just months under 18, go to “Let’s Get Maui’d,” a wedding planning shop owned by Pali Moon, the protagonist of the series. The couple have set a wedding date three weeks away. They come armed with their birth certificates. David’s is certified, Lili’s is a copy. But Hawaiian law requires a certified copy of birth certificates in order for those under 18 to wed. Pali steps in and contacts a friend who works in the Maui Vital Records office to speed up the more than a month wait for a formal request so that the kids can marry on their chosen date.

    That’s when Pali discovers the birth certificate copy Lili holds is that of a girl who died at birth. “In early January it fell to me to tell the bride she was dead.”

    Pali is a sucker for young love and vows to help the kids out. As she digs further to track down Lili’s actual birth certificate and obtain a corrected copy, she goes to Kona, the place of Lili’s birth. The mystery only deepens and Pali uncovers so much more than anyone anticipates. Family secrets and deaths complicate the situation. What has Pali gotten herself into?

    Readers meet the people in Pali’s life (some of whom are quite quirky), along with Lili’s and David’s families and friends. JoAnn Bassett excels in bringing these characters to life and interspersing the vivid descriptions to immerse us into the Hawaiian locales.

    Subtle references to prior stories add a seamless continuation of the series, while not confusing the present story. This story certainly ensnares the readers in its mystery while immersing them in Hawaiian culture.

    The realistic dialogue, dashes of humor, and interesting subplots speed the progression of the main plot, which has plot twists that keep readers both guessing and involved within the story. The author does not disappoint with the surprising conclusion of this murder mystery. The rich sights and exquisite sounds – the overall experience of Kona on the island of Hawaii – the Big Island – are yours for the taking and enjoying from your favorite reading perch.

  • HOW the MIGHTY FALL by E. J. Chadwell, an enthralling murder mystery

    HOW the MIGHTY FALL by E. J. Chadwell, an enthralling murder mystery

    A great mystery has readers so immersed in the action that the book’s pages fly by as readers look to determine the murderer. However, readers can only be captivated by such a narrative if it contains a clever plot, dynamic characters, the right dose of clues together with red herrings, subplots that enhance the story, and a logical, yet unexpected ending which readers try to attain as they read.

    How the Mighty Fall is a story with a plot and denouement that qualifies as a top-drawer mystery.

    The story starts engulfed in action. Connie Ross is hosting a party onboard her yacht that readers immediately learn is her sanctuary.

    “Inexplicably drowsy, Ross had been forced to leave her party. She now held tightly onto the rail as she bobbed and weaved in time with the churning waters.”

    “She relaxed her grip, however, when a familiar voice offered help by massaging her back and getting her to relax. Ross drifts as she relaxes, releases her hold on the rail, when ‘one forceful push against her back sent Ross over the rail.’ ”

    Home on maternity leave, Officer Gigi Mirabelli gets a middle of the night call from Jimmy Frail, Chief of Detectives, who cancels the rest of her two months leave to put her back on duty for the high-profile missing person’s case of Connie Ross, the media mogul. She will collaborate with Harry Burns, a homicide detective.

    Although not yet confirmed, authorities suspect murder. Connie’s celebrity status makes the case one which authorities want to be resolved quickly. The press will keep the case front and center, making its resolution a high priority.

    Mirabelli and Burns do not fit into any stereotype of detectives on a missing person or a murder case. Their physical description, dialogue, and actions highlight their differences as they seek to solve the mystery. Readers will subtly learn more about them in the course of the action, with bits of their personal lives that explain their unique approach to the case, and just enough humor that makes the discovery pleasurable.

    Who is Connie Ross?  As the story develops, the author shows readers the many sides of this powerful woman. Who would want to kill her? Readers discover along with Mirabelli and Burns that the list of her enemies is a very long one.

    The author executes the mystery with excellent characterization of all the characters, with superb dialogue, and with a strong clever plot that never fails to hold reader interest. The intriguing clues have readers working with Mirabelli and Burns to solve the mystery; Chadwell adds just the right amount of captivating twists and turns to keep her readers pondering the solution. The not easily determined ending is powerful.

    An enthralling murder mystery that is set in the city that never sleeps.

  • CROWNING GLORY by Stacy Harshman, an adventure memoir about self-image and anxiety

    CROWNING GLORY by Stacy Harshman, an adventure memoir about self-image and anxiety

    Hairstyles can speak volumes about your personality, or at least, that’s the idea Stacy Harshman explores in Crowning Glory: An Experiment in Self-Discovery through Disguise. A heartfelt portrayal of Harshman overcoming anxiety, her memoir is for anyone looking to read an uplifting story that’s also a sheer delight.

    Harshman spends weeks in New York City running an outrageous experiment: she records people’s reactions to the different colored wigs she wears. Her hairstyles range from a fiery redhead to a raven-haired goth. Her obsession with hair goes back to her adolescence:  “…my hair has been my archenemy since seventh grade. There was never enough of it, and what I had was wimpy.”

    In addition to the unusual experiment, readers are drawn to the author’s motivation to continue and complete her venture. Readers connect to not only the book’s premise, but to Harshman herself; readers advocate for her to succeed.

    However, beneath the hilarity of the experiment, readers see the author’s vulnerability:

    “I didn’t have a job to give me some sense of being a productive human being… I wanted to get one, but just the idea freaked me out…Before the depression, I had rehearsed and performed music…not being able to play out with my band killed me…just being around people was tough to impossible…I spent the rest of the day fighting panic attacks.”

    Readers also cheer for Harshman’s bravery to face and conquer her anxiety through finding her true self.  Her courage elevates the writing of this memoir, definitively distinguishing it from a self-absorbed story. The narrative reduces the stigma of mental illness that plagues so many people. The story offers hope and encouragement to those who have a mental illness, while bringing awareness and understanding to those who do not.

    The memoir demonstrates that appearance does play a role in social interactions to varying degrees. People’s feelings about their looks can become a determining factor in how others perceive them; a better understanding of self goes a long way in relationships.

    Some may find that the impact of the story is too diluted due to Harshman’s retelling of the experiment as she explores different looks. However, the book still resonates with emotion throughout, while still providing readers with a candid and fun experience.

    Readers get to embrace the past and present life of Harshman, sharing in her laughs, fears, and tears as she plays out her social experiment. An adventurous journey from start to finish, Crowning Glory provides fresh perspectives and insights about anxiety and self-image that might just inspire readers to conduct their own experiments with image in today’s society.

  • The OYS & JOYS by Marcia Feldt – Meet the Oys & Joys Sisterhood

    The OYS & JOYS by Marcia Feldt – Meet the Oys & Joys Sisterhood

    True friendship, like the one these four women share, is one of the greatest gifts one can experience in life. Sure, the honesty can hurt, and situations can get messy, but the unconditional love, so obvious in the telling, make for a binding sisterhood that transcends DNA and cannot be broken apart.

    The author uses a first person point of view for each of the women, alternating chapter titles with the name of the friend doing the sharing. While using this format can be a risk, the author executes it exceptionally. Readers will feel they are right there with each one, hearing what they have to say, and feeling the emotions they are experiencing.

    Before the story begins, the author lists three definitions to prepare readers with references to oy, the word for woe from the Yiddish; bubble bath basket list, so much more feminine than bucket list; and wedgie generation, the part of middle age caught between the past and the future, now closer to the end than the beginning.

    In chapter one, readers meet Lizzie:
    “On my sixty-third birthday, my husband packed his bags, golf clubs, leather recliner and fifty-inch man-cave TV into our pontoon boat. And used it as a moving van.”

    As Sassy, Grace, and Ruby arrive at her house to celebrate her birthday, Lizzie gives readers her view of the three others in their cozy group that has been going strong for six years. Their conversations go in many directions, with readers there to begin picking up clues as to their pasts as well as their futures.

    Chapter two presents Sassie:
    “Before the ink dried on our college diplomas, Louie and I packed his old Chevy with our belongings. …I made the decision to return to Texas decades later with Louie in an urn.”

    Sassie shares her move from New York back to Woodhaven, Texas with us, and she then lets us in about her closeness to Lizzie. To both honor her late husband, as well as to fulfill her own dream, Sassie has opened a modeling and dance studio called Loop de Lou.

    In chapter three, Grace shares:
    “Ever since my lumpectomy and radiation treatments eight years ago for breast cancer, I’ve smiled at my oncologist. Because clean mammograms rock…until this year. …And the weekend did not improve….Joy started acting weird….She moseyed in with the rear end of her expanded dachshund back wobbling to and fro … Ohmygosh. Did Joy get into some of Rusty’s stash? … I dreamed of shooting Enron’s Ken Lay for stealing Rusty’s career, his self-confidence, and our retirement savings.”

    A job offer from Sassie causes conflict for Grace as she worries if her cancer has returned. Reduced to tears on the phone, Grace is unable to explain to Sassie, who promptly comes over to her house, to talk to her in person.

    Chapter 4 introduces readers to Ruby:
    “When I listened to the receptionist at Weinstein, Porter, and Spencer beg me to cover for her while she ran to Walgreens for an Oh-my-God-I-might-be-pregnant test, I almost refused. I had closing arguments to outline for a senior partner, with a deadline zooming around the corner faster than the last lap of the Indy 500.”

    Ruby relented, which is why she was at the reception desk when Sassie entered the law firm with her outdated will, and the connection began.

    By the end of chapter four, readers will feel completely initiated into the group, ready to learn more of the secrets, sorrows, and joys this novel delivers until its satisfying conclusion. The four women are in different situations. Secrets are revealed, hopes and dreams are shared, close calls are divulged, and fears braved.

    This foursome: one is divorced, another widowed, one is in an abusive marriage, and the fourth single have been long-time friends through thick and thin. Their personalities differ greatly, too, but the mix of all of them together is electrifying as they all find shelter under a common umbrella of their friendship that helps them be there for each other though bad and good times – “the oys & the joys.”

    The story of the four friends is vibrantly told with authenticity and poignancy that will resonate with many. Feldt’s sense of humor makes the adventure of The Oys & Joys entertaining, while her heartfelt anecdotes are captivating and will remain memorable long after the last page has been read. If you liked The Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, you will enjoy reading The Oys & Joys, by Marcia Feldt.

  • WAIT FOR ME by Janet K. Shawgo – WWII Historical Romance

    WAIT FOR ME by Janet K. Shawgo – WWII Historical Romance

    Second in the three-book Look for Me series, Wait for Me has the strength to capture readers as a stand-alone story with its new characters and historical setting. References to characters in Look for Me, the first book set during the Civil War, give sufficient back-story for the generational story of the White, Bowen, and Keens families.

    After the prologue shows Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, establishing the World War II setting, the story begins on September 23, 1940 in New York.

    “Jean Anne White-Shaw was reading the newspaper, listening to Glenn Miller on the radio and waiting for her son to come downstairs.” Songs from the Glenn Miller era become a powerful sensory cue for many scenes, some may say too many, while others may enjoy the trip down memory lane.

    However, the author excellently executes with the dialogue, bringing readers into the events and the characters’ emotions. The dialogue, coupled with excellent characterization, carries the story. It is strong, realistic, and shares considerable insight into the families. Readers connect to the people, and quickly find themselves engulfed in their story.

    Larry White is a reporter, a great nephew of Samuel White, a reporter during the Civil War; Susan Bowen is a nurse, a great niece of Sarah Bowen, a nurse during the Civil War; and Dealer Johns connects to the Keens family, going back to Mack, Sarah’s friend in the Civil War.

    “These were Samuel’s last handwritten notes from Gettysburg. Phillip…carefully removed his mother’s Bible and placed it in front of him. In the Bible was an envelope that contained two items he needed to give to Lawrence. … the necklace and note that were in Samuel’s possession when his body was brought back from Gettysburg.”

    Readers, watching the characters’ paths intersect, will eventually learn the connections to the characters in the first book whose similar paths these characters now follow. The plots and sub plots at times get a bit confusing, but as readers continue, they will make the connections, finding a finished story that is both cohesive and very good.

    The often-unknown role of women in wartime as travel nurses and pilots, as well as the use of herbs for natural healing, adds interesting and relative historical content to the story. The WASP pilots and their active role in the war effort was particularly fascinating reflecting Shawgo’s vigilance with her medical and military history research. Readers may find it interesting that Shawgo, along with being an award winning novelist, is also a travel nurse who goes where and when she is needed for national disasters.

    The satisfying ending holds just enough mystique to give a taste of what will come in the concluding book of the series, Find me Again, as well as stirring curiosity to go back to the first book, Look For Me, for the complete story in this engaging historical romance American saga that spans generations.

  • 23 DEGREES SOUTH: A Tropical Tale of Changing Whether by Neal Rabin — a fun and adventurous read

    23 DEGREES SOUTH: A Tropical Tale of Changing Whether by Neal Rabin — a fun and adventurous read

    Readers meet Hart, a young American, as he begins a new job as Senior Manager for Maytag in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Chapter one finds him in his new office on a Sunday battling depression by reading the city guidebook he found on his desk, learning the city’s geography and history. He came to the page with a quote that foreshadows the story’s direction.

    “That which you are seeking is always seeking you.”

    The short chapter ends with his childhood friend Simon coming into the office.

    In chapter three, a seemingly innocent sharing of a childhood experience gives insight into the working of the friendship of Hart and Simon.

    “On Hart’s twelfth birthday Mr. Goldman made him a gift of the classic Herman Hesse book “Siddhartha.” He read it then loaned it to Simon, who never gave it back. Simon always believed Hart possessed something he did not. He could never solidly identify what that mystery something was, or decide if lacking it made him jealous, disheartened, or relieved.”

    For those familiar with this classic book an entirely deeper significance surfaces that adds incredible thought- provoking depth to this fast-reading, upbeat story.

    Hesse wrote in German in 1922 about the spiritual journey of self-discovery. First published in the United States in 1951, this novel about Siddhartha and his best friend Govinda gained popularity in the sixties. In it, one seeks truth on his own with the other friend following,

    23 Degrees South will capture all readers with its story of two young friends on different paths who intersect within an action packed story, complete with some hilarious scenes.

    Those readers familiar with Siddhartha, however, will discover even more. While enjoying the more modern plot, they will find symbolism and depth in the reading of this story. Who influences us in our search for self? Does our life have meaning, or does it not make a difference? What obligations do we have to others? What obligations do we have to ourselves? What is the truth of who we really are, and of our purpose in life?

    The author’s characterization is exceptional, with an unusual mix of people with Hart’s beautiful assistant, criminals, a Jesuit priest, and a former Nazi to move along the action. Carmen, Carlos, Lazarus, Gil, and all the other characters come alive in the writing.

    Sub-plots add to the main story, giving background and adding to the substance of the main characters. The realistic dialogue keeps readers involved, and the humor throughout makes the story a fun adventurous read while giving the reader pause to reflect on his or her search for the meaning of life. An exemplary read for today’s hectic pace of living—highly recommended.