Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

  • “A Lesson in Love” by Heather Westing

    “A Lesson in Love” by Heather Westing

    A Lesson in Love is an engaging reminder that we all need forgiveness and love in our lives to fully meet the challenges and opportunities that life presents to us.

    A sheltered young woman, recently graduated from Bible College back east, is determined not to continue to live in a protective environment where she is shielded from temptation, but to live in the world as an example of her Christian faith.

    However, Holly Boardman learns quickly that her beliefs and values will be challenged at every turn–especially when she moves to Victoria, home of the Canadian Pacific Naval Fleet. One of the first hard lessons that Holly learned when she moved to Victoria was from Glenn, a handsome and, seemingly, charming young navy man. She still feels the emotional scars from his ridiculing of her beliefs and the heartbreak that she endured when she finally had to break off with him when he wanted more from her than she was willing to give. Not only did she lose him, but she also lost the circle of new friends that came with him. The close-knit Navy community that she was instantly part of when she dated Glenn immediately ostracized her upon the break-up.

    A few years older and a little wiser, Holly knows now that she did the right thing, but thinking about it is still hurtful. Holly had learned her lesson; she had sworn off from dating Navy men. That is until a widowed handsome young naval officer picks up his young son from the day care center where she works. She finds herself being swept up in Eric Larsen’s winsome ways and can’t stop smiling when she thinks about him. Will Holly take a chance on another seemingly well-mannered, handsome young man in uniform who may try to undermine her faith in the Lord?

    She is cautioned by her best friend, Yuko, to question whether or not Eric’s charm is just a façade like Glenn’s. Holly soon learns that to forgive and forget is easier said than done when she finds out that Eric has a predator reputation for smooth-talking women to bed.

    And will Eric believe that Holly is sincere in her Christian faith when he learns that she dated Glenn, who is known for his excessive drinking and partying? When Eric and Holly are confronted with each other’s past missteps and mistakes, will they each be able to forgive and forget? Will they learn the lesson of forgiveness and unconditional love? Will they open their hearts to the Lord’s will for their lives?

    A Lesson in Love  by Heather Westing is a well-written and well-crafted contemporary Christian love story that is both engaging and inspirational. Westing’s descriptions of life in Victoria are vivid and lively. She writes of realities and challenges that young adult Christians deal with in today’s dating scene, but she reminds us that with God’s help all things are possible.

    We hope to read more of Westing’s inspirational stories.  As an added note: This reviewer particularly appreciates how Westing navigates the intricacies of ranks, acronyms, and jargon of the Navy without skipping a beat.

  • Saving Hope by Liese Sherwood-Fabre

    Saving Hope by Liese Sherwood-Fabre

    It is a frigid night in Siberia in the year 2000. In their small apartment, Alexandra Pavlova is jerked awake by the sound of her small daughter’s struggled breathing. The mother’s tender caress of her forehead reveals a raging fever. Quickly Alexandra wakes her husband Yuri, and the parents bundle up Nadezhda for the drive from their city, bearing the Soviet-style name of Stop-100, to the regional hospital, 100 kilometers away.

    With expensive medicines that her parents must buy, Nadezhda (Hope, in Russian) recovers from this bout, but the doctor tells them that the girl desperately needs surgery in one of Moscow’s major hospitals. The loving mother is a lioness in her fierce determination to do whatever it takes to help her child, born with a heart condition that leaves her vulnerable to life-threatening infections. She guiltily fears that her earlier employment as a microbiologist in a Soviet biological warfare institute may have led to Nadezhda’s condition. Now she vows to save her life.

    Vladimir, a friend of both Yuri and Alexandra since childhood, willingly provides money for the trip to Moscow, and Yuri begins selling car parts to earn extra money. Alexandra gratefully accepts the secretarial job offered by Vladimir, who eventually confesses his lifelong love for her and his pain and even jealousy when she married Yuri.

    It is hard to see how this story is to evolve into the exciting spy novel that Saving Hope has promised to be, but author Sherwood-Fabre isn’t about to disappoint her readers. She comes through with flying colors, creating her cliffhanging thriller not only with literary skill and authenticity regarding life, crime, and medicine in Russia (Sherwood-Fabre lived and worked there), but also with great emotion and story-telling ability.

    We learn that the hard-working father and the generous friend have hidden their true characters—not only from us, but also from Alexandra, and even from each other. Even Alexandra, an unemployed microbiologist, is drawn into the nefarious Russian underworld that entices her with offers of a high salary and good medical care for Nadezhda.

    These activities do not go unnoticed by the Russian Federation’s intelligence arm, the FSB (successor to the former Soviet KGB). Agent Sergei Borisov tries to recruit Alexandra to help in his investigation by telling her how she has been betrayed. She is devastated as well as desperate, feeling there is no one she can trust. She is soon to discover that her fears—not just for herself and Nadezhda, but for the safety of the world—are well grounded. The deadly race is on.

    This reviewer’s heart was pounding as the final pages of this book flew under her fingers at 2:30 in the morning. Surely the evil that is encompassing her life and threatening the world must not reach fruition unchallenged, but what or who is going to stop it? Saving Hope is a great read, and not just to find out how it ends. There are sub-stories and sub-sub stories, built around characters I didn’t even mention in this review, that add depth and texture to this spy novel.

    Saving Hope by Liese Sherwood-Fabre is the Chanticleer Book Reviews 1st Place Blue Ribbon Award winner for the Suspense/Thriller category, Published Novels division.

  • Virtues of War by Bennett R. Coles

    Virtues of War by Bennett R. Coles

    A sci-fi thriller of physical and psychological combat, Virtues of War sends readers hurtling through space to find that our warlike nature has survived intact into the 26th century. This is no Star Trek mission of exploration, and there are no aliens: only long-established colonies in the Centauri system rebelling against Terran rule. Humankind’s technological evolution may have continued at breakneck speed, but social evolution has yet to catch up.

    Lt. Katja Emmes, fast-attack strike leader of the small but pivotal warship Rapier, leads her troops into a hot zone on Cerberus—a minor operation to target a Centauri spy. It’s her first mission, and it leads to her first kill. It also leads to a full-on war between Terran Astral Forces and Centauri’s colonies which, despite an outwardly peaceful existence, have developed robotic killing machines far beyond Terran expectations.

    Thus begins a narrative of nonstop action, swift pacing, and near-constant tension. Drops from space through planetary atmosphere are vicarious thrill rides that get the reader’s heart pumping, and battle scenes are wrought with suspense.

    The author, Bennett R. Coles, an officer with plus 15-years experience in the Canadian Navy, demonstrates a crisp writing style, an impressive knowledge of military tactics and techno jargon, and an imagination crossed with a study of physics that has produced believable weaponry and space travel of the future.

    Although action is clearly his strong suit, Coles has created an engaging set of characters. Katja Emmes has a chip on her shoulder placed by a cold-hearted father, and she’s constantly trying to prove herself against his Army bias. Lt. Cdr. Thomas Kane, Rapier’s captain, has a big heart, but he’s easily swayed by the promise of promotion and even more so by the scheming, power-hungry Lt. Charity “Breeze” Brisebois, a vixen of a villain. And sub-lieutenant Jack Mallory, whose disfigurement early on fails to dampen his sunny optimism, enjoys a steady climb in respect as his superior intellect transcends his boyish charm.

    The Astral Forces are filled with assorted men and women at every level of rank, and each, though briefly drawn, are clear individuals. War may still be ever-present in a society that is now intergalactic, but at least equality between the sexes has been achieved.

    Well into the story, exemplary soldier Katja ponders the incredible civilian death toll and the necessity of war. It is a potential turning point, and she nearly takes the next step into a desire for peace that one hopes could resound throughout humankind. But, luckily for Virtues of War readers, this is the first in a series, and such a step will take many more battles—both military and societal—before that possibility can be achieved.

    Virtues of War has earned the Cygnus Awards 2013 GRAND 2013-CygnusPRIZE for SciFi and Speculative Fiction Category,  a division of the Chanticleer Book Reviews Novel Competitions.

  • Nardi Point by Nancy LaPonzina

    Nardi Point by Nancy LaPonzina

    Love among the ruins: in this case, an archaeological dig at a new subdivision in North Raleigh, where rolling pastures and woodsy farms are giving way to housing developments such as Nardi Point. Here Laurinda Elliot and her live-in fiancé, Dan Riser, plan to buy a home and start a family—or at least, that is Laurinda’s intention, even as she watches Dan once again run “away from her gentle attempts to grow their lives.” Still, she presses on, seeing a family as the missing piece to her otherwise successful life: a high-level IT position, a silver Porsche and designer wardrobe, beauty to spare.

    Those pieces begin to break apart when Laurinda visits the construction site at Nardi Point with her closest friend. A highly sensitive Reiki practitioner, Leyla Jo Piper pokes around in the red-clay mud where Laurinda’s house will soon be built and finds pottery shards.  A vision of a Native American woman carrying an earthen pot, plus a flashback to her own orphaned childhood, drives her to contact the State Archaeology Office.

    Colson Mitchell, the construction company’s handsome supervisor, reacts differently. He’s aware of the scorched-earth mentality of his employer, but he’s also concerned that standing up to him could mean losing his job, causing hardship for the love of his life: three-year-old daughter Annabel. Initially, he fights the two women’s increasing concern about building on what may have been a camp or burial site for the area’s ancient peoples, but as his feelings for Laurinda intensify, he finds his own ethics in conflict.

    Dan, the brilliant technology geek Laurinda is living with, on the other hand, sees no conflict in taking the path of least resistance or being opportunistic when situations present themselves—especially those that he thinks will improve his social standing. And being with Laurinda has certainly improved his social standing. This pattern of over-riding selfishness soon has him leading a double-life.

    Once Leyla Jo engages Dr. Hal Jared, state archaeologist, in the pottery find, the richness of the narrative deepens. The author spent time as an archaeology office volunteer, and her knowledge shows: the details of the meticulous work of unearthing and classifying artifacts, along with the struggle between building for the future and learning from the past, makes for a fascinating read, and the discoveries play perfectly against the uncovering of Leyla Jo’s family history, which ultimately explains her visions.

    Nardi Point develops into a lovely, nuanced tale with the layers of relationships uncovered like strata of earth, revealing harsh truths and personal epiphanies. In the end, the pieces of Laurinda’s life finally fit together like the ceramic shards that touched off her journey, and from this vessel pours love and fulfillment.

    Nardi Point was awarded a First Place Blue Ribbon for Contemporary Women’s Fiction, Romance Category in Chanticleer Book Reviews’ 2012 Published Novels contest.

  • APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

    APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

    APE is the how-to compendium for today’s self-publishers.

    Authors will find APE an indispensable resource. Guy Kawasaki passes along his publishing experience in his “no-shitake,” but affable manner. Imagine having an extremely successful uncle in the publishing biz who also has a tech-wizard pal (co-author Shawn Welch) of digital publishing magic. Fortunately for us, this dynamic duo decided to share their publishing know-how.

    APE’s premise is that publishing is a parallel process “that requires simultaneous progress along multiple fronts.” Hence, self-publishers are challenged with how to: market, brand, design, promote, publish, distribute, and finance a book–all at the same time. Oh, and don’t forget the time required for actually writing the book. Indisputably, each self-publisher is an: Author, Publisher and Entrepreneur.

    Reading APE is like taking a condensed survey course in publishing; it addresses the range of topics that authors must know about self-publishing. APE covers aspects from the existential question of “Should I write a book?” to advice on how to create foreign language versions of your book, to guerrilla marketing techniques, and ideas for financing.

    Traditional publishers have long prided themselves on their art form and on their discernment abilities. Readers have come to expect and appreciate their expertise. APE’s tactics and techniques will enable self-published authors to deliver to readers books that will meet these time-honored and well-justified expectations.

    Kawasaki and Welch challenge self-publishers to take up the mantle of “artisanal publishing”—where authors who love their craft must dedicate the time and resources to “control every aspect of the process from beginning to end.” If authors engage this philosophy, their books should have a much improved chance on separating themselves apart from the chaff of the expected two million new titles that are expected to hit the English language market in 2013.

    APE admonishes that self-publishing isn’t easy or a way to get rich quick. But if you want a realistic, tactical, and, relatively, slim (300-pages) self-publishing guide that is profuse with handy resources and links (which actually work—this reviewer checked them) on how to do it right, then APE is the go-to guide for you.

    An additional remark from the reviewer:

    APE should be on every author’s desk or e-reader right along with The Chicago Manual of Style and The Copy-editor’s Handbook. As with the latter guides, it is one that you will refer to often as you find your way in today’s era of the Wild, Wild West of Publishing. It also addresses the particular formatting hurdles that non-fiction writers must clear when self-publishing.

     

  • Look For Me by Janet Shawgo

    Look For Me by Janet Shawgo

    A lantern, a medicine pouch, and a bell to stop the gunfire: That was all nurses took into the Civil War battlefields as they sought out injured men, boys, and women disguised as men. Among them is Sarah Bowen, a young healer from Georgia, whose use of herbal medicine brings her scorn from most field doctors even as it saves countless lives.

    Look For Me begins with young, affluent New York-er Samuel White, who has just embarked on his career as a war correspondent. Through an early incident between their fathers, he is also Sarah’s longtime pen pal.

    Meanwhile, Mack, a teenage girl traveling as a boy, delivers a letter from the youngest Bowen son to the family farm, lingering long enough to be tutored by Sarah and to fall in love with brother James before leaving to pursue her goal of becoming a Confederate spy. Soon after her departure, a band of traveling nurses comes looking for the local healer, and it doesn’t take much persuading for Sarah to realize her destiny. This is when all of the primary story-lines begin to intersect.

    It is with this wagonload of women that the story comes fully to life. Ruby Belle and Maud bring a boisterous energy that infuses the story with attitude, while the more fragile Leona and Emma embody the particular tolls that warfare takes on women.

    As the nurses set up makeshift hospitals in abandoned houses near the battle sites, Sarah gains confidence in her skills as she also gains the terrible knowledge of carnage. What the reader gains is an understanding not only of the medicinal uses of native plants, but of the women’s incredible resourcefulness. The homes of families killed by opposing troops are scoured for food, blankets, and clothing to use for bandages; root cellars and herb gardens replenish ever-dwindling supplies; while coffee and tobacco become particularly valuable to trade with soldiers for battle information, or with moonshiners for alcohol and barrels to fill with clean water. Here the author’s own background as a traveling nurse brings an earnest authenticity to the narrative.

    In short time, Samuel discovers the value of these “women who travel in war,” and the series he writes about them takes form alongside both his battle reports and his attempt to uncover the story of the Night Walker, the elusive spy who slips in and out of battle scenes and his own life. As the war concludes amid tragic losses, broken families are reunited and promises are kept beyond the grave.

    Told with both compassion and restraint, Shawgo’s Look For Me enlightens us by uncovering the critical roles women played in the Civil War: as soldiers, as spies, and, most importantly, as healers. Look For Me is a gripping well-researched and well-told Civil War story of espionage,  the battlefields’ terrible tolls, of healing wounds and timeless love.

    Look For Me by Janet Shawgo is a First Place  Blue Ribbon Award winning novel for Historical Fiction in Chanticleer Book Reviews Published Novels writing competition 2012.

  • Sacred Fires by Catherine Greenfeder

    Sacred Fires by Catherine Greenfeder

    Casey is a journalist who is trying to prove her reporting chops when she joins up with Miguel, a U.S. Customs agent whose mission is to solve the mystery of missing ancient artifacts and recent bizarre cult murders. Their leads take them to Mexico City and the lush, sultry tropics of Acapulco.

    Sparks fly when they both discover that they had been together as lovers in another lifetime in ancient Aztec Mexico. However, they were both sacrificed because of their forbidden love. Now, given another chance to be together, they must stay alive while they search for a cult killer who is sacrificing people like the Aztecs did so long ago. The suspense builds at a fast-pace that kept me turning the pages.

    What really drew me into this story was the Aztec history along with the overwhelming love the characters had for one another throughout lifetimes. The details of the ceremonies and sacrifices to the ancient gods were mesmerizing to read about. If you like a bit of history and ancient culture intertwined with a modern story-line, you will definitely enjoy reading Sacred Fires.

    Casey is the type of protagonist whom I love; she is not scared to go after what she wants even if it means she could get herself killed.  She is strong, loving and has a kind heart. Miguel is dashing and fearless—especially when it comes to protecting his soul mate.

    There were a few things that I thought were predictable in the story. However, I did not know when they were going to happen. Once I started Sacred Fires, I just had to keep reading it. I had to know what was going to happen to Casey and Miguel next. Will their sacred love survive?

    Sacred Fires is a well written and crafted romantic paranormal novel with elements of intrigue and suspense along with a story set in a lush locale with mystic Aztec undercurrents. Greenfeder has succeeded in writing a fast-paced romantic suspense novel that is refreshingly different.

    Sacred Fires is Chanticleer Book Reviews First Place Blue Ribbon Award Winner for Romantic Paranormal Mystery category.

  • Chocolate Yoga by Margaret Chester, MPH, RYT

    Chocolate Yoga by Margaret Chester, MPH, RYT

    “Take a few moments for yourself. Breathe.”  How often have we heard this advice? But, how often do we follow these sage words? If you are like me, not very often—if at all.

    So I began to read Chocolate Yoga expecting the ‘same ol’ same old.’ How to Lose Weight without Dieting or Exercising—just breathe! Yea, right and eat lots of chocolate while you are at it.

    However, I found that this book actually does take an entirely different approach to health improvement.  One that I, yes, even I, might incorporate into my unhealthy lifestyle. Margaret’s words soothed and nurtured me as I read them. I found myself picking up the volume and rereading passages. Chocolate Yoga became like a supportive friend who is always there for you reminding you that you will be okay. Not only will you survive, you will thrive. Just remember to breathe.

    Chocolate Yoga does not deny or belittle the stresses of our daily lives—especially with today’s hectic lifestyle. My work requires me to be at a computer keyboard for eight-to-twelve hours a day. Deadlines are the mainstay of my business.  I had gained weight at unprecedented rate this past year. I haven’t exercised in months. Oh, and did I mention the menopause thing?   You get the picture….

    This slim tome is filled with inspiring passages and techniques of how we can withhold snippets of our own days—just for ourselves. Margaret names these blessed moments “chocolate.” She uses chocolate as a metaphor for those moments in time that nourish the soul.  A few moments here, a few moments there when we are mindful of our breathing will make a difference. Exhale. Inhale. Breathe. These few moments a day of me nurturing me was making a difference.

    As I remembered to breathe (with Margaret’s gentle and nurturing nudging)using Chocolate Yoga’s techniques,  I found myself making time—taking the time—even if it was just a few more moments for exploring another stress reducing yoga technique or a meditation that Chocolate Yoga shares with us.  No special equipment or clothes are needed. Just you. Just breathe.

    “There are many paths up the mountain. Find what works for you,” is a sample of the encouragement from Margaret Chester that you will find in Chocolate Yoga that will embolden you to begin your journey for  better health for your  body, mind and spirit—one step at a time.

    Margaret Chester, author of Chocolate Yoga, is a MPH, RYT, certified yoga instructor. Her advice on how to get started on your journey to better health is: “Begin wherever you are.”

    [Reviewer’s note: And, yes, I am losing weight the Chocolate Yoga way.]

  • Package Deal by Kate Vale

    Package Deal by Kate Vale

    When the beautiful Amanda Gardner arrives in the coastal town of Shoreville, Washington, her only expectation is to begin a new life with her nine-year-old daughter Cecelia and a new career as an English professor at Buckley College. The previous ten years have not been easy. Undaunted, Amanda supported her daughter and managed to get her PhD. Now the bright and lively Cece is enrolled at the Campus School, and her intelligent, attractive mother is preparing for her first class at Buckley. Surely life is full…or is it?

    The suspense begins when Amanda leaves Cece in her shared campus office with Carlton Winslow, her colleague and office mate while she attends a short meeting. Carlton is surly with Amanda, but queasily friendly with the blond, blue-eyed Cece.

    Intrigue begins to build on the romantic level when Amanda meets the handsome Marcus Dunbar, a friendly and witty journalism professor assigned to interview new faculty members. She is attracted to the handsome, athletic –looking man in spite of herself.  His eyes—so intensely blue—are a perfect match for Cece’s!  Marcus begins to win Amanda over when he takes her and her daughter on a tour around Shoreville. However, Cece appears jealous of Marcus’s intrusion in their life.

    But how can Amanda resist her feelings for Marcus? She feels torn between dreams of a loving husband and a caring father for Cecelia and nightmares that their life together might somehow be torn apart, as happened before with Cece’s father. Marcus has his own relationship demons to fight.  Then just as all three begin to open up to each other,  Cece inexplicably runs out from  her home into the street and is hit by a car,  suffering grave injuries. While the young girl recovers she suffers nightmares. She cannot, or will not, explain why she ran.

    Marcus draws on his journalist-investigative skills to determine what might have happened to Cece. He believes that Carlton Winslow—especially after he disappears—was involved, but the local police are not so convinced. Amanda does not know who to trust anymore—not even Marcus.  Nothing appears as it seems and danger looms over their lives.

    Vale keeps us rapidly turning pages in this contemporary novel that is as suspenseful as it is romantic. Package Deal is a riveting book–I could not put it down. Vale keeps the tension building, on multiple levels,  from  page one to the very end.

  • The Only Witness by Pamela Beason

    The Only Witness by Pamela Beason

    Seventeen-year-old Brittany Morgan’s infant daughter was taken from her car—an apparent kidnapping. Brittany’s young mind is quaking in attacks of hope, fear, guilt and desperation. Why would anyone take little Ivy from her? Where can Ivy be by now? Is she being held for ransom? Is she still alive?

    Detective Matt Finn hopes so. As a recent transplant from the mean streets of Chicago, where experience taught him to expect the worst, to the relative innocence of a small town in the Pacific Northwest, where everyone already has an Ivy-fate theory, he knows that this investigation is not going to go smoothly. His clue file is empty and the clock is his enemy. If only he could find a witness to the crime! Well, Dr. Grace McKenna over at the “Talking Hands Ranch” just left what she hopes was an anonymous tip that might be able to help the investigation. It seems that one of her charges witnessed the snatching of baby Ivy.

    In The Only Witness author Pamela Beason employs knowing doses of drama, humor, adventure and romance to polish her clever premise into a sparkling jewel; a friendly persuasion of plot and character development that maintains a high level of reader interest and fascination.

    Beason’s linguistic skills are evident in the often endearing scenes in which Dr. McKenna is patiently trying to coax some useful testimony from the agitated Neema who has a story to tell. Neema is the endearing gorilla that Dr. McKenna is teaching sign language to at Talking Hands Ranch. She is a dangerously strong and potentially aggressive “witness” with the IQ and attention span of a human five-year-old. Nevertheless, Neema knows how to negotiate for a banana and steal your heart while doing it.

    Beason manages to plunge deeply into the hearts and minds of her main characters without creating any interruption of narrative flow. Brittany Morgan’s teen angst, Matt Finn’s dealing with his wife leaving him as he adjusts to being a cop in a rural town, Grace McKenna’s worries about the future of her underfunded project, Neema’s feverish need to communicate: all intriguingly support and contribute to the smart pace of Beason’s hip and socially relevant who-done-it. Indeed the author has a good time taking well-aimed shots at some of the peculiarities of our priority-challenged culture.

    The Only Witness is a marvel of story-telling. Pamela Beason’s novel is one of those rare gems that is intelligent and informative but also embracing and charmingly accessible. The Only Witness is the Grand Prize Award winner of Chanticleer Book Reviews Blue Ribbon Novel Contest.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker