Author: chanti

  • The 2023 CLUE Book Awards Short List for Suspense/Thrillers

    The 2023 CLUE Book Awards Short List for Suspense/Thrillers

    Thriller Suspense Fiction AwardThe Clue Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in Suspense and Thriller Mysteries. The Clue Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

    Chanticleer International Book Awards is seeking the best books featuring suspense, thrilling adventure, detective work, private eye, police procedural, and crime-solving, we will put them to the test to discover the best! (For lighter-hearted Mystery and Classic Cozy Mysteries please check out our Mystery & Mayhem Awards, and for High Stakes Suspense Novels please check out our Global Thriller Awards).

    These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Clue Suspense/Thriller Fiction Long List to the 2023 Clue Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Clue Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

    The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

    We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

    These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALISTS of the 2023 Clue Book Awards novel competition for Thriller/Suspense Fiction!

    Join us in cheering on the following Short List authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs. 

    • Roxana Arama – Extreme Vetting: A Thriller
    • Nancy Adair – The Appearance of Guilt
    • Margaret Mizushima – Standing Dead: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery
    • Joanne Jaytanie – Retrieving Remy, The Winters Sisters Book 5
    • Jeremy Gluck – Face Value
    • Ana Manwaring – Backlash Venom and Vendetta from ‘Nam
    • Chuck Morgan – Crime Scene, A Buck Taylor Novel
    • Linda Moore – Five Days in Bogotá
    • Jonny Thompson – Atlantis
    • Kevin G. Chapman – The Other Murder
    • T.O. Paine – The Excursion
    • Corey Lynn Fayman – Gillespie Field Groove
    • Paty Jager – Damning Firefly
    • Mary Desch – Tangled Darkness
    • Jonny Thompson – Ash and Sun
    • Charlotte Stuart – Forget or Forgive? NEVER
    • Jim Nesbitt – The Dead Certain Doubt: An Ed Earl Burch Novel
    • Frederick Douglass Reynolds – Saint Bloodbath
    • Joshua Cohen – Past Imperfect
    • Jacqueline Boulden – Her Past Can’t Wait
    • E. Alan Fleischauer – Sherlock and the Tiger
    • J. Luke Bennecke – Echo from a Bayou
    • Mark James – Friendship Games
    • Steven Mayfield – The Penny Mansions
    • Dave Lager – Sniper’s Day
    • Daniel V. Meier Jr. – Guidance to Death
    • Michelle Cox – A Haunting at Linley
    • Anne Moose – When You Read This I’ll Be Gone
    • Jode Millman – The Empty Kayak
    • Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor – River of Ashes
      Kamille Roach – Pine Creek
    • Justin M. Kiska – Fact & Fiction
    • Melissa L. Berger – What Mae Brings: A Novel
    • Mike Van Horn – Controlled Flight
    • Decima Blake – Hingston: Smoke and Mispers
    • Cathi Stoler – With A Twist: A Murder On The Rocks Mystery
    • Richard C. Brusca – The Time Travelers
    • Bill Mesce, Jr – Median Gray
    • Kathryn Lane – Missing in Miami
    • Leslie Kain – Secrets In The Mirror
    • D. R. Berlin – The Third Estate: Secrets of the Manor
    • Lisa Towles – The Ridders
    • Rita M Boehm – The Price of Revenge
    • Philip Derrick – Saigon Spring
    • Tejas Desai – The Dance Towards Death
    • Martha Crites – Danger to Others
    • Raymond Paul Johnson – The Raven Society: Conspiracy Ignited
      Chris Chan – Ghosting My Friend
    • Nina Romano – Dark Eyes
    • Mary Keliikoa – Deceived
    • McKinley Aspen – Praesidium
    • Robert W. Smith – Long Way From Clare
    • Jason Kapcala – Hungry Town
    • V. S. Anderson – Three Strides Out: A Horse Show Novel of Suspense
    • Howard Berk and Peter Berk – TimeLock
    • T.E. Lane – The Cornbread Letters
    • Mary Keliikoa – Hidden Pieces

    Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

    PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

    This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

    Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

    Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

    Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

    Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

    The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 CLUE Awards is:

    Have You Seen Me?

    By Alexandrea Weis

     See the Full List of 2022 Clue Award Winners here!

    The 2023 CLUE Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC24 on April 21, 2024. Save the date for CAC24, scheduled April 18-21, 2024, our 12-year Conference Anniversary!

    Submissions for the 2023 CLUE Book Awards are open until the end of September. Enter here!

    Don’t delay! Enter today! 

    Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

    The Chanticleer Authors Conference

    Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

    Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

    Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

  • CHOP THAT SH*T UP!: Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military by CSM Daniel L. Pinion – Memoirs, Military Life, Military History

      In Chop That Sh*t Up: Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military, Daniel L. Pinion reminisces about his experiences in the US Army, both good and bad, before he retired as a Command Sergeant Major.

      Some of the stories and lessons he offers are heartbreaking, some are horrifying, and some are insightful. As it turns out, some are even heartwarming.

      The author explains his origins: a quiet and uneventful childhood that did not give him much idea of what he should do with his life. Some counseling and a few incidents led Pinion, after high school, to the National Guard and eventually the US Army, where he found his life’s calling.

      He learned life lessons through a series of supervisors (noncommissioned officers for the most part) and fellow soldiers, from whom he discovered what to do and when (and predictably, what not to do and when). As Pinion comments, occasionally, one of his supervisors “was tough but fair, and I modeled a lot of my leadership style on what I learned from him.” But occasionally the soldier “rocked the boat and got in trouble.” Despite this, the author tells us, he would “still smile every time” he remembers those events.

      Chop That Sh*t Up! details the soldiers Pinion served with and some of the more extraordinary things they experienced. The book closes with photographs of these soldiers and what happened to them—some heartbreaking, some comforting, all memorable.

      These fascinating stories range from Daniel Pinion being dragged into a hunt for evidence of infidelity that involved climbing to an upper-story balcony, awkward spying techniques, and cumbersome recording equipment; a malfunctioning toilet (the details are a bit much, but perhaps entertaining to those who have similar memories in the service); and superior officers with attitude (and perhaps more than a bit of a need for psychotherapy) versus those who truly earn the loyalty of their soldiers.

      What remains with readers at the end are the mentions of the author’s fallen fellow soldiers after describing each one and their eventual fate: “I will see you in Valhalla, my friend, and recount the fun times we had together.”

      Overall, CSM Pinion’s work runs the reader the gamut of what life has in store for a soldier, and what can be learned from all of its challenges. Judging by the accounts of this book, the military life is not one for everyone, but clearly, it’s a life that worked for Daniel Pinion.

      Chop That Sh*t Up has received multiple literary awards including that Military & Front Line Book Award from the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards.

       

      5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

    • Series Award 2023 Long List for Genre Fiction

      A stack of books flying into the blue sky for the Book Series Awards

      The CIBA FICTION SERIES Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in any of our 16 Fiction Divisions where the author has written a series. The Fiction Series Book Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

      Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs) is seeking for the best book series in all of its fifteen fiction divisions: Mysteries, Suspense Thrillers, Espionage/High Stakes, Young Adult, Middle-Grade Readers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural and Paranormal, Romance, Historical Fiction. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.

      These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from the 2023 Series Book Awards Entries to the 2022 Series Book Awards Long List. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Series Short List. Semi-Finalists are chosen from the Short List. Finalists are then chosen from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

      The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

      These titles are in the running for the Short List of the 2023 Series Book Awards novel competition for Genre Fiction!

      Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

      • David Fitz-Gerald – Ghosts Along the Oregon Trail
      • Eric J. Gates – The Cull
      • CK Van Dam – On the Dakota Frontier
      • Michele L. Sayre – Darke Realms
      • Chuck Morgan – Crime
      • Jode Millman – The Queen City Crimes Series
      • John J Spearman – Perseverance Andrews
      • John J Spearman – Halberd
      • Sharon Michalove – Global Security Unlimited
      • McKinley Aspen – Shadows in the Wind
      • James Hutson-Wiley – The Sugar Merchant
      • Holly Brandon – Chastity Series
      • Mary Seifert – Katie and Maverick Cozy Mysteries
      • Jeannée Sacken – The Annie Hawkins Series
      • Ralph R. “Rick” Steinke – Jake Fortina
      • Amy Wolf – The Spinners of Time
      • Laura Teste – Book of Bad Manners Series
      • Jodi Lea Stewart – Silki, the Girl of Many Scarves
      • Mark A. Gibson – Hamilton Place
      • KD Sherrinford – Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler romantic mysteries
      • Murray Pura & Patrick E. Craig – Islands Series
      • Tiffany Kahapea – Magic and Prophecies
      • Vincent M. Miceli – The Last Triceracorn
      • C.K. Donnelly – The Kinderra Saga
      • McKinley Aspen – Praesidium
      • Alice McVeigh – Warleigh Hall Press Jane Austen Series
      • Michele Kwasniewski – The Rise and Fall of Dani Truehart
      • Hari Hyde – The Honeygate Chronicles
      • Elizabeth R. Jensen – The Three Brothers Trilogy
      • Sophia Alexander – The Silk Trilogy
      • Rae St. Clair Bridgman – The MiddleGate Books
      • AG Flitcher – Boone and Jacque
      • Brooks Olbrys – The Adventures of Blue Ocean Bob
      • Lucinda Brant – Roxton Foundation Series
      • S. Lee Fisher – The Women of Campbell County
      • Andrew Sweet – Reality Gradient
      • Frank F. Weber – The Jon Frederick series
      • E. Alan Fleischauer – How the West was Won then Lost Annihilation
      • Elizabeth Woolsey – The Travels of Dr. Rebecca Harper
      • Tom Burkhalter – No Merciful War
      • E. Alan Fleischauer – Invisible Death
      • Dave Lager – The Ro Delahanty Novels
      • John J. Spearman – FitzDuncan
      • James T. Hogg – Girl with a Knife Books
      • Marieke Lexmond – The Madigan Chronicles
      • Tony Johnson – The Story of Evil

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

      Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

      Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

      Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

      Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

       

      The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Series Awards is The Curtis Jefferson Series By Vince Bailey

      The Series Grand Prize for the Curtis Jefferson Series by Vince Bailey

      Click here to see the 2022 Series Book Award Winners for Genre Fiction.

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2024 Series Book Awards for Genre Fiction. The 2024 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2025. 

      Please click here for more information.

      Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      The Chanticleer Authors Conference

      Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

      April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887)  has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

      Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

      A Collage of Speakers and Blue Ribbon Winners for CAC23

    • COLD As HELL: Black Badge Book 1 by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle – Supernatural Western, Mystery, Action/Adventure

       

      2022 Grand Prize Paranormal Cold as HellJames Crowley isn’t your average, run-of-the-mill cowboy. Nor is Cold as Hell, by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle, your typical gunslinging western.

      Although he’s got all the right characteristics – tough exterior, snarky personality, and commitment issues – Crowley is much more than he appears. Resurrected to immortality straight from death’s “sickly sweet aroma,” Crowley is duty-bound as a Hand of God to serve the White Throne in its shadow war against demonic presences called the nephilim unleashed by freezing hell.

      But it’s not all ‘good guys versus bad guys’. As Crowley learns, “good choices don’t always mean doing right or wrong things. Especially when it comes to serving a Master like [the White Throne].” Forced to be the middle man between God and the Devil, Crowley has to decide for himself how to care for the people around him and bring true justice to fruition. Forced to be the middleman between God and the Devil, Crowley has to make his own choices about how to care for the people around him and bring justice to fruition. 

      Jam-packed with simmering romance, evil yetis, reckless bar fights, and other outlaw shenanigans, Cold as Hell will warm readers’ hearts as it freezes them to their seats with anticipation.

      When a band of demonic hell creatures begins robbing a chain of banks owned by resident millionaire Dufaux and devastating towns full of innocent civilians in their wake, Crowley teams up with his trusty mare Timperina, nagging angel handler Shar, and dim-witted yet dependable Deputy Dale to hunt down the vile nephilim and help those in need. Along the way, he runs into old acquaintances such as the beautiful, revenge-driven Rosa and his worst enemy and murderer, Ace.

      In the end, it’s up to Crowley to get to the bottom of the mystery and wreak revenge on the monsters – both hellish and human.

      Despite his icy attitude, Crowley captures readers with his personal values to defend the oppressed and the defenseless. His unique ability to relive the last moments of the recently killed urges him to resist violence whenever possible, making him an empathetic renegade and, at times, more human than the real human characters.

      As Crowley uncovers layers of obscured atrocities during his quest, he sympathizes with the brutality and injustice of colonization, racism, enslavement, sexual violence, and much more, elevating this feel-good read to the status of a social commentary.

      Castle’s and Bruno’s strange, action-packed supernatural western leaves nothing to be desired. Steeped in witty sarcasm, the easy-to-follow prose is immersive and thrilling. Gritty, colorful, and at times deeply moving, the first installment of the fantasy-western Black Badge series envelops readers in the cowboy blues and horrors of the otherworldly.

      Cold as Hell by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle won Grand Prize in the 2022 CIBA Paranormal Awards for Supernatural Fiction.

       

      5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

    • The 2023 HEARTEN Book Awards Short List for Inspiring & Uplifting Non-Fiction

      The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Uplifting & Inspiring Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Hearten Book  Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

      Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here. 

      These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Hearten Non-Fiction Long List to the 2023 Hearten Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Hearten Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

      The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

      These titles are in the running for the Semi-Finalists of the 2023 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspirational Non-Fiction!

      Join us in cheering on the following Short List authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

      • Lynne M. Kolze – Please Write: Finding Joy and Meaning in the Soulful Art of Handwritten Letters
      • Anna Casamento Arrigo – Patience Insanity & Wisdom
      • Lisa Niver – Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty
      • Syril Levin Kline – Inspiring Legacy: David and Carmen Kreeger’s Journey to Philanthropy
      • Lally Pia – The Fortune Teller’s Prophecy: A Memoir of an Unlikely Doctor
      • Alexander V. Girman & Cynthia J Girman – A Voice from Heaven: From Earthly Struggles to Thriving in the Afterlife
      • Duncan McLauren – Owning Your Destiny
      • Julie Morrison – Barbed: A Memoir
      • Alex Bisset – The Destination Birth
      • Shanita Liu – Dear Durga: A Mom’s Guide to Activate Courage and Emerge Victorious
      • Trudy Wells-Meyer – Some Things Are Simply Meant to Be
      • Maria C. Palmer and Ruthie Robbins – On the Rocks
      • Tony Jeton Selimi – The Unfakeable Code®
      • Tony Jeton Selimi – A Path to Excellence
      • Art Berman – Art in the Middle Ages: A Memoir of Midlife Renaissance
      • Nove Meyers – Running Away From the Circus
      • Patrick M. Garry – The Power of Gratitude: Charting a Path Toward a Joyous and Faith-Filled Life
      • Nove Meyers – Running Away From the Circus
      • Kate Hudson-Hall – Anxiety Hacks: Proven Techniques, Tools and Tips to Calmness
      • Hollie Stuart – I Can See For Miles
      • Cory Mortensen – The Buddha and the Bee
      • Julie Scolnik – Paris Blue
      • Cort Casady – Not Your Father’s America
      • Joel Harris – Searching for Steve
      • Steven Greenebaum – An Afternoon’s Dictation: Inclusive Revelation for the 21st Century
      • Dian Seidel – Kindergarten at 60: A Memoir of Teaching in Thailand
      • Aurita Maldonado – The Zen of Dancing in the Rain: Becoming One with the Storm
      • Grant Harper Reid – The Apocalypto Kid Goes to College
      • Nanette J. Davis Ph.D. – Raging Currents: Mental Illness and Family
      • Catherine DeMonte – Beep! Beep! Get Out of My Way!: Seven Tools for Powerful Creation and Living Your Unstoppable Life
      • Dr. Kelly Rabenstein – Psychological Secrets for Emotional Success (It’s All About Love)

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

      Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

      Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

      Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

      Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging.

      The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 HEARTEN Awards is:

      Inner Trek
      – a reluctant pilgrim to the Himalayas

      By Mohan Ranga Rao

      Inner Trek Cover

      The 2022 Hearten Grand Prize Badge for Inner Trek by Mohan Ranga Rao

      Click here to see the 2022 Hearten Book Award Winners for Uplifting Non-Fiction

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Hearten Book Awards for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction & Memoir. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC24. 

      Please click here for more information.

      See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

      Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      The Chanticleer Authors Conference

      Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!

      Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

      Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

    • GETTING To YES by Tim Hunniecutt – Romance, 1970s, Emotional Struggle

       

      As a freshman at Florida State University, Chris should be enjoying the usual 1970s “free spirit” college experiences, a little studying and a lot of partying. In Tim Hunniecutt’s Getting to Yes, Chris dreams of being a poet. His way with words, boy-next-door looks, and an athletic runner’s body means he has no trouble attracting one girl after another. However, Chris wants more than just a fling.

      He’s looking for a relationship, a girl who loves him, but the girls he meets don’t seem to want forever. Most of them only want a good time or have boyfriends back home. After a series of failed romances, Chris finds himself depressed, realizing part of the problem lies in the emotional chasm he’s carved within himself after his parents’ disastrous marriage.

      Chris’s emotional roadblock began when he caught his mother naked in the arms of a man who was not his father.

      He never told anyone, including his father, about the affair, and his parents went on for a while pretending their relationship wasn’t falling apart. Their loveless marriage created in Chris a fear of expressing his own emotions. In his adolescent mind, not revealing the weakness of loving too strongly became normalized. When his father finally broke down and cried to Chris about his mother’s lack of love, Chris’s derision of feelings became cemented in his psyche. Girls were simply pretty distractions. Ironically, the maturity he likely developed because of this situation makes him easy to talk to, and girls flock to him.

      It isn’t until he meets Deb, a girl in his class with a terrible home life, that he begins to realize a need within himself to find more than just physical attraction. Though Deb is unattainable, she awakens an “overwhelming hunger” within him, which he sates by dating as many girls as possible in his first year at FSU. He thinks he finds what he’s missing in Colleen, his first girlfriend.

      His first attempts at physical love end in failure. When he finally finds physical fulfillment with a girl, he falls immediately in love with her.

      Colleen seems perfect for him, but when he discovers she has a boyfriend, he doesn’t try to fight for her. He won’t acknowledge his strong feelings, and he allows her to slip away. Chris vows never to allow his inability to open up get in his way again, and when he returns home at the end of his freshman year, he meets Chloe.

      It’s love at first sight–at least for Chris. He falls quickly, offering his heartfelt “I love you” early in their relationship, but Chloe comes with her own issues. Her abusive father left a need for male approval that she seeks in the arms of the wrong boys, and she repeatedly finds herself in loveless relationships in which she is used and tossed aside.

      Chris’s pain is palpable in the novel, and his uncertainty is heart-wrenching, creating a strong theme of trust– the kind of trust that comes with allowing oneself to love and knowing the other person will return that love. When Chloe finally allows herself to express aloud to Chris what he desperately needs to hear, she gives herself permission to feel this trust.

      Tim Hunniecutt’s Getting to Yes is a tale of a young man searching for his first real love and finding that what he learned from his parents does not have to be his fate. This book is recommended for anyone who wants to explore the complexities of early love though a young man’s perspective as he struggles to overcome the damage of his own parents’ marriage.

    • The 2023 NELLIE BLY CIBAs Short List for Journalistic Non-Fiction

      The 2023 NELLIE BLY CIBAs Short List for Journalistic Non-Fiction

      Nellie Bly Awards

      The Nellie Bly Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Long Form Journalistic and Investigative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Nellie Bly Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards  (CIBAs).

      Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring Social Science, Data Driven Reporting, Equality and Justice, Ethics, Human Rights, and Activists Groups. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here. 

      These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Nellie Bly Non-Fiction entries to the 2023 Nellie Bly Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2023 Nellie Bly Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

      The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in Beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

      These titles are in the running for the FINALISTS position of the 2023 Nellie Bly Book Awards  for Journalistic Non-Fiction!

      Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

      • Meghan Elizabeth Kallman & Josephine Ferorelli – The Conceivable Future: Planning Families and Taking Action in the Age of Climate Change
      • Steven W. Thrasher – The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide
      • Tessa Floreano – Italians in the Pacific Northwest
      • Jonathan Geoffrey Dean – Salt & Light; The Complete Jesus
      • Paul Kix – You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live: Ten Weeks in Birmingham That Changed America
      • Paul Pringle – Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels
      • Roland Lazenby – Magic: The Life of Earvin “Magic” Johnson
      • Christopher Burns – Networks Rising: Thinking Together in a Flatter World
      • Maria C. Palmer and Ruthie Robbins – On the Rocks
      • Nicholas Chittick – A Prisoner’s Fight: The Pandemic as Seen From Inside the Illinois Department of Corrections
      • Johnson Nganga Mbugua – Martyrdom Christian, Kenya Chapter 1498 CE to 2020 CE Portuguese, Mau Mau, Al-shabaab-Related and other Martyrs also Biblical and Early Christian Martyrdom
      • Lyndsie Bourgon – Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods
      • Stephen Watts – Searching for Charles: The Untold Legacy of an Immigrant’s American Adventure
      • Qin Sun Stubis – Once Our Lives
      • Trisha T. Pritikin – The Hanford Plaintiffs: Voices from the Fight for Atomic Justice
      • Nanette J. Davis Ph.D. – Raging Currents: Mental Illness and Family

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

      Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

      Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

      Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

      Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging.

      The Grand Prize Winner for the 2022 NELLIE BLY Awards is

      Saints and Soldiers: Inside Internet-Age Terrorism from Syria to the Capitol Siege
      By
      Rita Katz

      Saints and Soldiers Cover

      The Nellie Bly Grand Prize Badge for Rita Katz and her book Saints and Soldiers

      Click here to see the 2022 Nellie Bly Book Award Winners for Journalistic Non-Fiction

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2024 Nellie Bly Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity in Non-Fiction & Memoir. The 2024 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2025. Please click here for more information.

      See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

      Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

      April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887)  has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

      Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

    • HAVE YOU SEEN ME by Alexandrea Weis – YA Mystery, Serial Killer Thriller, Amateur Sleuths

       

      In Alexandrea Weis’s YA mystery thriller, Have You Seen Me? something is wrong at Louisiana’s Waverly School. Deadly wrong.

      This private educational institute for the state’s wealthiest has an unsettling record of young women disappearing. Three, from decades ago, were never found. In the last few years, a girl by the name of Margaret vanished, and now her sister Lindsey has followed suit. Despite numerous investigations, no clues have surfaced. Moreover, the steely head of the school, Sara Probst, uses intimidation and fear to keep the school operating at any cost.

      Were these disappearances just high-spirited women who left on their own accord, or was there something more sinister at play? And now, after Lindsey’s disappearance, it seems a serial killer has returned after all these years.

      Into this morass steps Aubrey LeRoux, a recent Waverly graduate, hired by Sara to teach history.

      The job offer is both temporary and precarious. Sara makes it clear that Aubrey must conduct herself in the precise manner that Sara dictates, using the same unsettling intimidating methods Aubrey experienced as a student.

      Aubrey feels the impact of the school’s issues. As a scholarship attendee and a young Black woman, she understands fully the dynamic at Waverly. Harassment was part of her life there, often instigated by Margaret. When Margaret went missing, Aubrey was even briefly interrogated as a possible suspect.

      With Lindsey having recently disappeared, Aubrey finds herself experiencing many of the same feelings she had as a student. But now, she’s in a position to deal with it all: Sara, the disappearing women, and now, her students.

      What she doesn’t know is that Lindsey had gathered a crew of six misfits, creating a circle of friends who are devastated by her disappearance. They discover Aubrey’s problems with Margaret when they were both students, and so develop a devious plan.

      These students will pretend to like Aubrey as a teacher, but meanwhile use every trick at their disposal to prove that Aubrey is connected to the fate of both missing sisters.

      They conspire to push Aubrey into helping them become investigators into Lindsey’s disappearance, hoping to force Aubrey into making a misstep, dropping clues as to her knowledge of the disappearances.

      Their investigation takes them to parts of the school grounds rarely frequented: founded on a Confederate-era plantation which was itself built upon burial grounds for a Native American tribe. Their unauthorized excursions draw Sara Probst’s wrath on Aubrey but also strengthen Aubrey’s resolve to discover the fate of the missing students.

      When it appears their investigation is in full swing, a serial killer begins targeting Lindsey’s student crew, one by one.

      Despite Aubrey’s desperate efforts to keep them safe, even with the help of a hunky local sheriff, it’s clear that no one can be fully protected, not when each of them thinks they can solve the mystery of Lindsay’s vanishing on their own. Each of the students is found murdered, with clues that make it clear that this is the work of a serial killer. But who would want them dead? And why?

      Have You Seen Me? is a taut, well-written novel, a page-turner with enough plot twists and turns to keep the story moving on multiple fronts. Aubrey’s ethnicity is woven seamlessly into her character and the history that defines her relationship with Waverly. Overall, an immensely enjoyable read.

      Have You Seen Me by Alexandrea Weis won Grand Prize in the 2022 CIBA Clue Awards for Suspense and Thriller Mysteries.

       

      Gold Oval that reads Clue Awards, Chanticleer Writing Competition, Grand Prize

      5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

    • The 2023 Short List Harvey Chute Book Awards for Business & Enterprise Non-Fiction

      A yellow badge with three black lines that says "Harvey Chute Awards" across the bottomThe HARVEY CHUTE Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Business and Enterprise Non-Fiction. The Harvey Chute Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).

      Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring motivational, strategy, technology guides, social media, finance, investing & money, communications, marketing, business, and economics. We will put these books to the test and choose the best among them.
      See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here. 


      These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Harvey Chute Non-Fiction entries to the 2023 Harvey Chute Book Awards SHORT LIST.
      The Short Listers will compete for the Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

      The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA division Finalists.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

      These titles are in the running for the Finalists Level of Achievement for the 2023 Harvey Chute Book Awards novel competition for Business, Finance, and Enterprise Non-Fiction!

      Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

      • Kaden Kashner – The ChatGPT Business Playbook: AI-Driven Strategies and Formulas for Business Success
      • Dorine Rivers, PhD, PMP – Brain to Bank: How to Get Your Idea Out of Your Head and Cash In
      • Dr Pietro Emanuele Garbelli – The Doctor’s Voice: Empowering Solutions to Physicians’ Frustrations, Burnout and Healthcare Inefficiencies
      • Sara Connell – Thought Leader Academy
      • Nuria Corbi – The Home Boss Toolkit: Branding Success for Self-Publishers
      • Neha Saini – SQL Quest: A Journey Through Data
      • Matthew J. Louis – Hiring Veterans
      • I. Almeida – Introduction to LLMs for Business Leaders: Responsible AI Strategy Beyond Fear and Hype
      • Vince Burruano – A Daily Dose of Sales Wisdom: Practical Advice for Sales Professionals and Leaders to Excel
      • Annie Yang – The 5-Day Job Search: Proven Strategies to Answering Tough Interview Questions & Getting Multiple Job Offers
      • Christopher R. Manske – Outsmart the Money Magicians: Maximize Your Net Worth by Seeing Through the Most Powerful Illusions Performed by Wall Street and the IRS
      • Karen Stein – Be Your Own Leadership Coach (Self Coaching Strategies to Lead Your Way)
      • Chris Duffey – Decoding the Metaverse: Expand Your Business Using Web3
      • Arunkumar Krishnakumar & Theodora Lau – The Metaverse Economy: How Finance Professionals Can Make Sense of Web3
      • Nancy Harhut – Using Behavioral Science in Marketing: Drive Customer Action and Loyalty by Prompting Instinctive Responses
      • Purna Virji – High-Impact Content Marketing: Strategies to Make Your Content Intentional, Engaging and Effective
      • Peter J. de Silva – Taking Stock: 10 Life and Leadership Principles From My Seat at the Table

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

      Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

      Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

      Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

      Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging!

      The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Harvey Chute Awards is:

      Reconfigurement

      by E. Alan Fleischauer

      Click here to see the 2022 Harvey Chute Book Award Winners for Business & Finance Non-Fiction

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2024 Harvey Chute Book Awards for Business & Finance. The 2024 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2025. Please click here for more information.

      See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

      Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

      April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887)  has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

      Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!

       

    • The 2023 CIBAs Short List for Military and Front Line Non-Fiction

      The Military & Front Lines Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir exploring the lives of those who serve their country and others. The Military & Front Lines Service Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

      Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here. 

      These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2023 Military & Front Line Non-Fiction entries to the 2023 Military and Front Line Book Awards SHORT LIST. The Short Listers will compete for the Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Short List. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC24).

      The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

      We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton in Beautiful Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference

      These titles are in the running for the FINALISTS of the 2023 Military & Front Lines Book Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction.

      Please join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2023 CIBAs.

      • Daniel L Pinion – Chop That Sh*t Up! Leadership and Life Lessons Learned While in the Military
      • David Huntley – The B-17 Tomahawk Warrior: A WWII Final Honor
      • Pietro Emanuele Garbelli – The Doctor’s Voice – Empowering Solutions to Physicians’ Frustrations, Burnout and Healthcare Inefficiencies
      • Matthew J. Louis – Hiring Veterans
      • Benjamin Sledge – Where Cowards Go to Die
      • Elizabeth Auld – Ma Chère Maman–Mon Cher Enfant: The Letters of Lucien and Louise Durosoir, 1914-1919
      • Eric M. Liddick – All the Memories That Remain: War, Alzheimer’s, and the Search for a Way Home
      • Adam Ankrum – Halloween Horror True E.R. Terror
      • Suzanne M Elshult & Guy Mansfield – A Dog’s Devotion: True Adventures of a K9 Search and Rescue Team
      • Trevor Greene – March Forth: The Inspiring True Story Of A Canadian Soldier’s Journey Of Love, Hope and Survival
      • John Thomas Hoffman – The Saigon Guns
      • Aurita Maldonado – The Zen of Dancing in the Rain: Becoming One with the Storm
      • T.C. Fuller – Painting Over Rust: Stories From a 20-Year Odyssey in the FBI
      • JoAnna Rakowski – Chasing the Daylight: One Woman’s Journey to Becoming a U.S. Army Intelligence Officer

      PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS! 

      This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

      Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

      Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

      Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

      Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging!

      The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2022 Military & Front Line is:

      Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss, and War
      By Ashe & Magdalena Stevens

      Click here to see the 2022 Short List for Military and Front Line Non-Fiction Awards.

      We are now accepting submissions into the 2024 Military & Front Line Book Awards. The 2024 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2025. Please click here for more information.

      See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

      Winners will be announced at the 2023 CIBA Awards Ceremony that is sponsored by the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

      April 18-21, 2024! Register Today!

      Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887)  has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.

      Join us for our 12th annual conference and discover why!