Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: kristy-mccaffrey

  • LARAMIE Book Awards – SPOTLIGHT Focus on ALL Works of Western Fiction and Uniquely American Tales

    LARAMIE Book Awards – SPOTLIGHT Focus on ALL Works of Western Fiction and Uniquely American Tales

    Welcome to our SPOTLIGHT on LARAMIE Book Awards, the stories that stick!

    Western Pioneeer Civil War Fiction Award

    The Laramie Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the Americana / Western, Pioneer, Civil War, Frontier, and First Nations Novels. The Laramie Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards.

    Charles M. Russell painted the cowboy scene on Chanticleer’s very own Laramie Book Awards badge. It is one of many such paintings he did that encompassed the Old American Wild West. He was an advocate for the Northern Plains Indians. Charles M. Russell also helped establish a reservation in Montana for the Chippewa people.

    *More interesting facts about Laramie, Wyoming, and its historical icons are immediately after the Laramie Hall of Fame listing below. A fun read! 

    The Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction Hall of Fame First Place and Grand Prize winners!

    The 2018 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

    Blood Moon: A Captive’s Tale by Ruth Hull Chatlien

    Laramie Book Awards

     2018 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners

     

     

    The 2017 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize Winning Book also won the OVERALL Prize! Best book of 2017:

    HOUR GLASS by Michelle Rene

    2017 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners

    The 2016 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

    Hot Work in Fry Pan Gulch: Honey Beaulieu – Man Hunter #1
    by Jacquie Rogers

    2016 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners

     

    The 2015 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

    Widow (formerly known as Doctor Kinney’s Housekeeper) by Sara Dahmen

    2015 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners

     

    The 2014 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

    Not on My Mountain Jared McVay

    Not On My Mountain by Jared McVay

    2014 Laramie Book Awards for American Western Fiction First in Category Winners

    The 2013 Laramie Book Awards Grand Prize:

    Unbroken Horses by Dale B. Jackson

    Unbroke Horses clean

    Congratulations to the Laramie Awards 2013 1st Place Category Winners:

    • Mystery:  Double or Nothing by Meg Mims
    • Action/Adventure:  Haunted Falls by Ken Farmer & Buck Stienke
    • Historical Fiction: Because of the Camels by Brenda Blair
    • Civil War:  Ford at Valverde by Anita Melillo
    • Prairie Pioneer:  They Rode Good Horses by Dale B. Jackson
    • Literary Western:  Unbroke Horses by Dale B. Jackson
    • First Novel:  Confessions of  a Gunfighter by Tell Cotten
    • Best Manuscript: Lick Creek by Deborah Lincoln

    HOW DO YOU HAVE YOUR BOOKS COMPETE? Submit them to the Chanticleer International Book Awards –Click here for more information about The CIBAs! 

    Western Pioneeer Civil War Fiction Award

    Want to be a winner next year? The deadline to submit your book for the 2020 Laramie awards is July 31, 2020. Enter here!

    Grand Prize and First Place Winners for 2019 will be announced during our Virtual Conference in early September 2020.

    Any entries received on or after July 31, 2020, will be entered into the 2021 Laramie Book Awards. The Grand Prize and First Place for 2020 CIBA winners will be held on April 17, 2021.

     As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your American Western readers deserve!  Enter today!

    The LARAMIE Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.

    The 2020 winners will be announced at the CIBA  Awards Ceremony, which will take place during the 2020 Live/Online Chanticleer Authors Conference. All Semi-Finalists and First Place category winners will be recognized, the first place winners will be virtually whisked up on “stage” to receive their custom ribbon and wait to see who among them will take home the Grand Prize. Covid19 has made our celebrations a bit different this year, but we still will celebrate!

    Don’t delay! Enter today!  

    As always, please do not hesitate to contact us with questions, concerns, or suggestions at Chanticleer@ChantiReviews.com

    [20] McDougall, Walt, “Pictures in the Papers,” American Mercury, 6:21 (September 1925), 72.

    What’s a Laramie?

    We thought you’d never ask!

    We titled the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBAs) division for Western American Fiction and all things that gather around the campfire singing a lonesome tune, the Laramie Awards, after the county and city in Wyoming. You know the one, tucked into the lower right-hand corner of the state between the Snowy Mountain Range and the Laramie Mountain Range.

    Yes, but why Laramie? 

    The small outpost was changed almost overnight when the Union Pacific Railroad moved their “Hell on Wheels” tent town from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Laramie after building the rails over the Sherman Summit at an elevation of 8,200 feet all the way to Laramie on May 4, 1868. Lawlessness and the Wild West ruled in Laramie. Luckily, “Hell on Wheels” moved on West as more track was laid down.

    But where did that name Laramie come from? 

    Laramie was named after Jacque LaRamie, a French or French-Canadian trapper who disappeared in the mountain range that was later named for him in the early 1810s. LaRamie was one of the first Europeans to visit the area. Laramie is a French name much like DuBois, Wyoming. And, yes, it is pronounced Doo – Boys (and NOT Du Bwai).

    There are several reasons we chose Laramie for our iconic Americana Book Awards. For us, and those in the know, Laramie, Wyoming immediately calls to mind the image of a Wild West town filled with rough-and-tumble cowboys. At one point, the only law in Laramie was “lawlessness. Wild Bill Hickok was even known to visit from time to time.

    Here’s a picture of the man, himself, on the left with his friends, Texas Jack Omohundro (center), and Buffalo Bill Cody on the right.

    Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch robbed trains and passengers with the first recorded train robbery taking place on June 2, 1899 in Wyoming. Butch was known to be very polite and dislike violence.

    But that’s not the only reason we chose Laramie.

    And, yes, there is yet one more reason we love Laramie! 

    The WOMEN!

    Calamity Jane hails from Laramie, Wyoming – a skilled sharpshooter who was born to a gambler and a prostitute. She cared for her five younger siblings in Utah before traveling on to Wyoming in search of a better life. There she found work as a dance hall girl and then as a prostitute at Fort Laramie. It was there that she reinvented herself by wearing buckskins and dressing like a man. She was also known for her swearing and hard-drinking ways, but Calamity Jane was also known even more for her kind heart and helping folks out of calamities–thus her nickname.

    Calamity Jane — She was the inspiration for Michelle Rene’s HOURGLASS novel.

    While the men were wrestling in the streets and shooting up the place, it was really the women who brought civilization to Laramie and Wyoming Territory. They established the first school in 1869, served on a formal jury in the Spring of 1870,  and were the first to gain the vote; which is exactly what Louisa Swain and 92 of her friends did on September 6, 1870 –150 years ago!

    Louisa Swain, the first woman to cast a ballot and she did it in Laramie, Wyoming!

    Louisa Swain – she was made of stern stuff!

    Early in the morning on September 6, 1870 in Laramie, Wyoming Louisa Swain became the first woman in the world to cast a ballot under democratically enacted laws granting women equal political rights with men. In the fall of 2008, 138 years later, the U.S. Congress passes a resolution proclaiming September 6th as “Louisa Swain Day” in recognition of this historic event.The Louisa Swain Foundation

    In 1870, Esther Hobart Morris (59 years old) became the first female Justice of the Peace. She served in South Pass City, Wyoming, which is to the northwest of Laramie.

    Esther Morris "to pettifoggers she showed no mercy." Wyoming Tribune
    Esther Morris, first female Justice of the Peace — Wyoming

    Esther Morris “to pettifoggers she showed no mercy.” Wyoming Tribune

    The Union’s first all-female jury was assembled in Wyoming in 1870.

    Later, in 1894, Estelle Reel Meyer became Superintendent of Public Instruction, the country’s first female statewide elected official.

    And the grand coup d’etat was when in 1889 when Wyoming vied for statehood—and refused to join the Union if the laws giving equality to women were not upheld, telling Congress (which wanted the suffrage law rescinded) via telegram,

    “We will remain out of the Union 100 years rather than come in without the women.”

    Wyoming is also the first state in the USA to allow women to own property and sign legal documents.

    In 1910, Mary Godat Bellamy became the first woman to be elected to the Wyoming Legislature. Two other western states, Colorado and Idaho, elected women legislators in 1895 and 1899, respectively. Wyoming was third in the nation.

    Quotes are from the Smithsonian Magazine
    Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/women-voting-wyoming-150-years-here-how-state-celebrating-180971263/#6UKzMfMeCQsmbIIQ.99
    Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
    Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

    {https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/brief-history-laramie-wyoming}

     

  • VALENTINE’S DAY SWEET READS with LOVE from CHANTICLEER – Romance, Historical Romance, Western Romance, Thriller/Suspense Romance

    VALENTINE’S DAY SWEET READS with LOVE from CHANTICLEER – Romance, Historical Romance, Western Romance, Thriller/Suspense Romance

    A Valentine to Mark Twain, a beloved American Author 

    “Both marriage and death ought to be welcome: the one promises happiness, doubtless the other assures it.”
    – Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain

    Editor’s Note: Samuel Clemons writing as Mark Twain is a beloved author to Fairhaven, a village in Bellingham, Wash. where Chanticleer Reviews’ home office is located and where the company was founded. On August, 14, 1895, Mark Twain spoke to  a full house at the Lighthouse Hall (700 seats) and received a standing ovation. Admission was seventy-five cents and one dollar for the best seats. This was the last stop in his United States tour. He arrived from presenting in Seattle on August 13, 1895. His next stop was Vancouver, British Columbia before heading out west across the Pacific Ocean for a world tour.

    February 14th is really one of the strangest holidays we celebrate with its origins in the early Church, mired with martyrs. No one really knows for sure if there was one Valentini or two, or perhaps an entire herd of them, but, it is believed that Saint Valentine lost his head over converting people to the Christian faith. The head in question now resides in “…glass reliquary in a small basilica in Rome, surrounded by flowers.” [Atlas Obscura] 

    Editor's Note: Did we mention that Sharon Anderson, the author of this article, writes horror...

    For us, February 14th is the day we all wear our hearts on our sleeves (literally), write little notes professing our love to one another, exchange candied hearts (Necco hearts may not be on the shelf this year because the company that purchased the popular brand said they, “Didn’t have time…” ), buy long-stemmed red roses for those we love (One site claims that in 2010, over 110 million long-stemmed roses were sold! That’s a lotta roses!), and chocolates… let’s not forget about the chocolates!

    Susan Marie Conrad offering CHOCOLATES at her book signing, The INSIDE PASSAGE.

    Whichever way you celebrate February 14th,
    we’ve got some fabulous reads lined up for you that are just
    too sweet to pass up!

    A Valentine of Great Reads for YOU from Chanticleer! 

    The Art of Enchantment by M. A. Clarke Scott is a well-paced escape for those hungering for art, history and a hot ride with a handsome Italian hero.

    M.A. Clarke Scott won the 2016 Grand Prize in the Chatelaine Awards for this novel!

    Daughter of Destiny: Guineviere’s Tale, Book 1 by Nicole Evelina is rich in historical detail and fantastical landscapes. This novel takes a brilliant twist on the historical perception of Queen Guinevere: she has magical powers, but will her gift be enough to save her people?

    Nicole Evalina not only won the 2015 Chatelaine Grand Prize for this novel and took home the Overall Grand Prize!

    Twisted Threads by Kaylin McFarren is a fast-paced romantic thriller complete with secret assassins, notorious secrets, steamy passion nights abound on this luxury Caribbean cruise – in other words, exhilarating! This is the fourth book in the Threads Romantic Thriller series and won Grand Prize in the 2017 CIBA CLUE Awards.

    Find Me Again by Janet Shawgo is a mystery, a conspiracy theory, and an amazing love story that crosses generations—all combined into one amazing read. Although there are two more novels in the series, each book stands alone.  Wait For Me.  WWII  Women  Look For Me.   Civil War Historical Fiction

    The Winters Sisters Series by Joanne Jaytanie contain elements of genetic engineering, strong women and the men who love them and nods to the author’s beloved dogs. These are hot romantic thrillers!

    Under an English Heaven by Alice Boatwright has twists and turns aplenty that will make any cozy fan enjoy this easy read, and enough descriptions of the bucolic village landscape and teas to make anyone who loves all things British happy. A second Ellie Kent Mystery is promised sometime this year.

    Building Mr. Darcy by Ashlinn Craven is a fun, fast-paced cozy reveals what happens when the witty and charming Mr. Darcy springs to life as an A.I. But, is he more than his two developers can handle?

    Seize the Flame by Lynda J Cox is a romantic Western celebrating second chances and proving that lightning not only strikes twice – but sometimes in the exact same spot.

    Threads of Passion by T.K. Conklin is a paranormal romance, western-style, that will leave you begging for more!

    The Blackbird by Kristy McCaffrey is a steamy, intelligent historical fiction set in the Arizona desert where the harsh environment matches the characters who populate it. This is the fourth book in McCaffrey’s Winds of the West series. 

    Hot Scheming Mess by Lucy Carol is a hilarious, fast-paced sexy cozy mystery with a believable lead and a gripping plot. Sassy, smart, and FUNNY!

    Mistress Suffragette by Diana Forbes is an engaging, stimulating, and action-packed novel that examines the facts of life, the challenges of social restrictions, and the woes of youthful love through the eyes of a sharp-minded, sharp-shooting young woman.

    The Passage Home to Meuse by Gail Noble Sanderson is an epic journey back to the post-war world of the 1920s where Noble Sanderson’s characters explore whether love can indeed conquer all.

    The Boundary Stone by Gail Avery Halverson – This story is set against the backdrop of the black plague, one woman of note risks everything to follow her calling and find her true love…

    Dare Devil: A Georgian Historical Romance, Book 3 of the Roxton Family Saga by Lucinda Brant

    A Girl Like You: A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel by Michelle Cox is about a brave and daring darling of the Great Depression puts herself in harm’s way to solve a mystery and endear herself to the handsome detective whose job it is to solve it.

    Check out our list of Chatelaine Award Winners here.

    Please let us know, who is your favorite romance author?

     

  • The BLACKBIRD by Kristy McCaffrey – Western, Historical, Romance

    The BLACKBIRD by Kristy McCaffrey – Western, Historical, Romance

    An historical sensual romance set in the rustic Arizona territory of the late 1800s, the fourth in the Kristy McCaffrey’s Winds of the West series, The Blackbird hits the mark.   It brings together two tortured souls who also have deep insights and gifts that may help them find their way to each other.

    Tess Carlisle is a spirited but wounded young woman who suffered an assault by one of the men in her father’s gang that left her leg wounded and her soul scarred. Tess’s life was already tough when she began to ride with her father and his band of bounty hunters. She lived with her alcoholic mother and her beloved Abuela (grandmother) until the two older women died in a house fire, brought on by her mother’s depression and drinking. Tess has the ability to tell stories, a gift she learned from her grandmother and Tess knows this ability ties her spirit to the greater world. She sends word to Cale Walker, a man who used to ride with her bounty hunter father, to help her find Hank Carlisle, to find out answers to why her papa would allow one of his men to assault her and then abandon her.

    Cale Walker joined Hank with his band of bounty hunters after a stint in the Army until he had a falling out with Hank over the ruthlessness of some of the other members “methods.”  On his way from leaving Hank, Cale was attacked by a mountain lion and rescued by an Apache tribe, such as those that Hank and Cale hunted. During Cale’s time with a tribe of the Nednai, he learned their healing ways and became a di-yan (medicine man). Cale also has unresolved issues with Hank.

    Cale and Tess are introduced to each other at the very beginning of the novel, when Cale arrives at Tom and Mary Simms’ home, having been summoned there by a letter from his half-sister, who also is Mary’s half-sister. Yes, there are a lot of names that are mentioned at the beginning of this story, and, as the fourth in a series, reading the first one helps set all the other characters in their proper place.

    When Cale and Tess meet, there is an instant connection, one that Tess tries hard to ignore given her past, and one that Cale wants to suppress, because of the wounded spirit he senses in Tess. He wants to protect and help her. As they travel together to find Hank, Tess and Cale are wary of the growing feelings between them. It’s an unforgiving land, and they are both unsure who to trust, including themselves. When Tess is hurt in a fall during an attack, Cale finds his way to Vern, a rancher in the Dragoons where Tess allows Cale to use his healing knowledge to help her leg get strong, and she nurtures a wounded blackbird, aware of its connection to her, wounded and in a cage to heal, but wanting to be free. Can Cale bring her the same kind of healing?

    Blackbird is a sensual romance and has all the aspects one might expect for the genre –  and receives high marks as being a keenly written historical novel. The author’s attention to historical detail is evident in the use of traditional Apache terms and realism of the time. Tess’s storytelling ability and memories of her grandmother also add to the flavor of the novel as she sprinkles her stories and conversation with Spanish phrases. But it is the story of two wounded hearts finding each other in the hardscrabble environment of Arizona during the time of Geronimo that makes The Blackbird go beyond “romance.”

    The storyline is so engaging and intense, it is difficult to put down. The description of the Arizona desert, such as the otherworldly look the Dragoon Mountains, as well as the brutality of both the bounty hunters and some native war parties, show the realities of what life was like during those time, for both the settlers and those Apache tribes that wanted to live at peace without government interference.

    The Blackbird by Kristy McCaffrey won First Place in the 2015 LARAMIE Awards!