Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

THE PENNY MANSIONS by Steven Mayfield – Historical Fiction, Mystery, Small Town Fiction

The Penny Mansions by Steven Mayfield, a historical novel of Paradise and Boise Idaho at the end of WWI, offers a concert of drama, comedy, and noir-tinged crime thriller.

The town of Paradise, Idaho, grew as a prospecting town, but the gold and people alike have dwindled. They no longer have a high enough population to keep the state government from taking the land through eminent domain. So, the town counsel puts an ad in papers across the country for families to purchase one of four mansions in town for only a penny. There’s a catch, of course – they must move in, fix the place up, and remain there for the next census count in 1920.

Readers will love the colorful characters who fill Paradise, from Bountiful Dollarhyde, an African American woman raised by the madam of what used to be the local bordello, to Lariot, a genius orphan skilled with rope tricks, and Goldstrike, an old prospector who gladly shares his strong opinions. These lively folk face a powerful threat. Gerald Dredd, a greedy land baron with a high office in the state government, uses his clout to bludgeon others into his schemes to ensure that Paradise doesn’t hit their all-important population count.

Through the people of Paradise, Mayfield explores themes of communities and found families – and what people will do to save them. He shows the dangers of government corruption gone unchecked until it creates malefic control.

Many of the characters are willing to sacrifice so much of themselves to save this small town in the Pacific Northwest frontier. And as the story pushes forward, even the newcomers to the town – not necessarily there in good faith at first – fall in love with the community and stand up against weaponized bureaucracy to save their newfound friends and home.

Mayfield’s writing style is extremely personable and fun.

The dialogue is playful and, at times, terrifying. Readers will connect with and worry for their favorite characters, and rightfully despise the antagonist and his willing compatriots. The Penny Mansions is also among the best depictions of a community banding together for a single cause.

There is a bit of a stylistic shift part way through the novel. After a major event, the story abruptly moves from a historic drama to a noir crime thriller. While this change might be jarring to some readers, the charm and humor of the book remains throughout.

The Penny Mansions will make readers chuckle and smile, and grimace with anger. Mayfield juggles emotion with ease, all while chugging the plot forward to intense confrontations.

October 16, 2023
IF YOU FIND ME WORTHY By Pam Landen – Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction

If You Find Me Worthy introduces forty-six-year-old Kate Baker, a woman who knows her own mind. As the former owner of a million-dollar private jet charter service, Kate is well established in the world of aviation as well as the world of CEOs.

Having started her career in the technology field, Kate is returning to her roots when her friend and former business partner asks her to use her technical expertise to assess the disaster recovery plan of North American Bank. She negotiates to exchange her assistance for a look into the bank’s lending practices for her study on the prejudice against female business owners.

Kate is certainly not looking for love. Having lost her husband to ALS years previously, she is focused only on her work, her son Stuart, and golf. However, when she meets Curtis Michaels, the CEO of North American Bank for the last seven years, she immediately feels an unfamiliar, and unwelcome, attraction. So begins If you Find Me Worthy by Pam Landen.

Curtis finds Kate exceptionally intriguing. He can’t help but constantly challenge the beautiful blonde.

A widower himself, Curtis has raised his daughter Sarah alone and carries the scars of his former bad relationship. He knows he shouldn’t even think about approaching Kate since she is temporarily working for his bank, but he can’t help himself.

The more Kate learns about Curtis, the more she realizes their similarities in the business and personal worlds, but Curtis’s demons threaten their fledgling relationship before it has a chance to truly blossom. She questions her ability to maintain her distance from the man who so clearly needs her help, but will the two be able to defeat the memories of his former life?

This novel’s greatest strength is character development.

Both Kate and Curtis have extreme depth. The pain from their former spouses has created a pain simultaneously unique to the characters while bearing striking similarities. Kate’s husband, Sam, left Kate with extreme feelings of inadequacy despite her running a successful business and caring for him during his illness. Their story is one Kate is embarrassed to admit to Curtis.

Unbeknownst to Kate, Curtis has his own shameful secret concerning his dead wife Carol. His trauma is, perhaps, the most critical to the novel’s plot as it keeps him from seeking future happiness with Kate. Though perfect for each other, the two have a chasm of hurt between them. The strength Kate has found through therapy and self-actualization won’t allow her to settle for less than Curtis’s full heart, but finding the patience to help him get the counseling he needs proves difficult. Numerous times, their relationship stands on shaky ground, but the growth of their love is endearing.

A major theme of the novel revolves around Kate’s research project – the treatment of women in business.

Kate must repeatedly prove herself in this “man’s world.” She faces extreme sexism from Jake, the lead marketing representative for the bank. His constant berating, questioning, and name-calling push Kate to her limit, but she refuses to allow Curtis to step in on her behalf. With few women in positions of power within the bank, Kate’s journey is entirely uphill with Curtis often throwing roadblocks in her path as well to test her business acumen.

An interesting twist is Kate’s acceptance of Curtis’s behavior. She sees Curtis as a flirt rather than an opponent. Though Curtis has macho-man control issues, his treatment of Kate is chivalrous and giving. She willingly gives up power to him on occasion, and she seems mostly unbothered by that power release. His validation of her feminism makes her feel like a beautiful, treasured woman for the first time in her life, and, in some way, actually accentuates her feminine power.

Behind the details of business and technology lies a touching romance. Recommended!

October 13, 2023
ROADS To The INTERIOR by W. Hans Miller – Poetry, Philosophical, Haiku

Roads to the Interior by W. Hans Miller is a journey through the interior of the mind, seeking to find answers, peace, and insight.

This book is inspired by, and dedicated to, the works of Matsuo Basho, the father of haiku and other spiritual writings. Haiku usually has a fixed pattern of three lines with a 5/7/5 syllable pattern – often referencing nature or reflecting on life – but the haikus within this book don’t always follow that tradition. Rather, Roads to the Interior turns the haiku’s reflective questions on the mind itself.

Each of this book’s three sections is filled with raw emotion, existential musings, and careful contemplation. Recurrent readings of this collection will allow readers to absorb yet more truths and insights.

Different poems make reference to many thinkers, writers, and literary characters.

“Part I – Wide Roads to the Interior”, considers struggle and longing. “Each Newborn Bubble” shares these truths: “Even Siddhartha had bad days. A dear friend tells me to persevere: don’t search for spring’s source, care for each newborn bubble.” In “Penance” the speaker says, “I’ll speak no more of my predicament, always fearing my words will mean less than they say. I’m taller now but wiser when I was seven…”

“Part II – Narrow Roads to the Interior”, reflects on the existential.

Poems such as “Longing to Trust the World” and “Nothing is the Answer” pull readers into this shift. “Paradise Lost” is shaped much like a cocoon, taking the reader from dust to revelation and then dust again. These poems draw on other authors such as (T.S. Elliot and Walt Whitman, and even the protagonist of Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”, through such lines as, “Mersault found a truth. A truth that brought light falling upon that which already lit his gentle indifference to the world. His death testimony cause peace and calm to warp their arms around an unfinished circle on his brow.”

The final section, “Your Brain’s Secret Interior Life: Seven Poems”, comes with an epilogue of the author’s journey through the complexity of the human mind. These last poems provide thoughtful considerations in the pursuit of understanding the Road to the Interior that each one of us must walk.

October 11, 2023
FLOWERS Of EVIL: Hani’s Daughter Mysteries Book 1 by N.L. Holmes – Historical Mysteries, Ancient Egypt, Murder Mysteries

In Flowers of Evil by N.L. Holmes, a new generation steps up to face the dangers and intrigue of murder in Ancient Egypt.

The people of Egypt are bustling despite the heat, businesses are thriving, devotion is a way of life, and families are at the pulsing heart of society. Not all is happiness, however. The city hides deceit, malice, and ambition in the shadows. Here, a lethal hand wields a sharp knife. Desperate to save her bleeding patient, Lord Hani’s daughter applies all her medical knowledge. But evil wins and Neferet watches her innocent patient ‘pass to the West’.

She cannot let such a ruthless murder rest until she finds out who did it.

Neferet has seen her father face the dangers of investigation in the past, but she’s determined to follow through for the chief florist of the Hidden One’s temple and to solve the mystery that turned his flowers of beauty into Flowers of Evil. Is she prepared to face the perils ahead?

Lord Hani’s family is a vibrant clan, and his daughter has never shied away from a challenge. Despite the biases and societal rules of ancient Egypt, she has studied healing and medicine in the pursuit of helping people, especially children.

The studies were challenging enough, but after opening the doors of her practice she’s seen few patients seek her services. Neferet confides sadly to her fellow healer and partner, Bener-ib, that patients do not come to them because they do not trust two young women with their health. They vow to change people’s minds. An early-morning patient defies this bias because of desperation, bringing the suffering florist to the women’s doorstep, bleeding vociferously. There is no question this man has been murdered.

Neferet’s father is concerned about his daughter’s involvement in a murder investigation. He worries not only about the violence of a killer, but about the malice of a rival healer, and a potential confrontation with his own sworn enemy – the former chief of police, Mahu. But father and daughter are much alike, and despite Hani’s misgivings, Neferet continues on her investigation, with help from Bener-ib and their medical assistant, a youth who exhibits remarkable detective skills. When the mystery takes a diabolical turn, will Neferet muster the courage to nip the killer in the bud?

Author Holmes creates a compelling historical mystery, full of detail and curiosity.

Flowers of Evil immerses readers deeply into the historical world of Ancient Egypt. Visual descriptions give a colorful perspective in the midst of the culture and community, of the time. This story is a vivid visit to a place long since gone to the sands of history. N.L. Holmes proves herself both a professional archaeologist and an extraordinary storyteller.

This is the first book in the Hani’s Daughter Mysteries, and warmly welcomes readers back to the world and characters of the much-loved Lord Hani Mysteries series. Neferet takes the helm with an exciting and treacherous tale.

October 6, 2023
THE DECEMBER ISSUE by J. Shep – Journalistic Fiction, Contemporary Social Issues, Literary Fiction

In The December Issue by J. Shep, a veteran columnist stands up for his controversial work, despite intense public pressure to disavow it.

Paul, a retiring columnist, has earned vast applause for his amusing, playful, and inspiring monthly column in The Current Front. However, this renown flips on its head after the November Issue’s release, when masses of readers give a hostile retort to his article. His sentiment regarding ‘loss of class’ in American society angered both older and younger readers, as proved by the huge pile of mail on his desk.

The firm’s management can’t help but notice the trouble their most reliable writer has caused.

Dolefully, Paul finds himself pressed to put out a public apology and rewrite the December issue, which he had earlier submitted. But in an unlikely turn, sales of the contentious November publication begin to soar. This sudden success, ensuing shortly after news of Paul suffering a horrifying accident hit the airwaves, sends him into a state of wonder and astonishment.

The December Issue warms up the soul from its first chapter to the last.

Paul’s engaging arc pays homage to a thriving career in journalism, revealing its benefits and drawbacks. His distinctive point of view forms the backbone of the story, which relates to the modern writing of op-ed pieces with ingenuity.

Worthwhile conversations, clarity of thought, defined points of view, and unique characters, all contribute to the stellar whole of this book. Author J. Shep writes with colorful, fast-moving, and provocative style, which evokes fascinating ideas in the reader’s mind.

As Milton Glaser famously said, “There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and wow!” The December Issue insists that one should always aim for ‘wow.’

This story will inspire, particularly those readers in the featured vocation of journalism. A worthy read that illustrates how one can recognize, support, and develop the diverse talents in their organizations.

All things considered, The December Issue is a splendid work of enormous value and imagination.

Available for pre-order now!

October 6, 2023
Michael and Hannah and the Magic Money Tree by Anthony C. Delauney – Children’s Money Management, Picture Books, Children’s Fairness Books

Author Anthony C. Delauney and illustrator Chiara Civati bring an element of magic and whimsy to a valuable financial lesson in Michael and Hannah and the Magic Money Tree, the next installment of the Owning the Dash series.

At the start of their spring break, Michael and Hannah are excited to go to the Spring Fair – where they’ve heard there will be a magic money tree! Only a handful of children get to see the tree each day, so Michael and Hannah gather their friends and rush to be the first ones there. Once there, they find the tree with money hanging from its leaves.

They are told they can take the money and buy any of the toys and treats available, or they can pick from a list of tasks to earn money for whatever use they please. Michael and Hannah and all their friends rush for the tree and beginning buying toys and treats, but soon they notice some of their group are upset.

Was the game of the money tree fair? How can they make it fair for everyone? Read Michael and Hannah and the Money Tree to find out!

Delauney once again creates an engaging story to start a conversation about money and fairness to children, along with the beautiful and colorful illustrations of Chiara Civati. Parents and young readers should not miss out on this book – or the whole Owning the Dash series.

October 4, 2023
A CHILD’S LOVE by Anna Casamento-Arrigo – Picture Books, Children’s Family Books, Family Life Fiction

Anna Casamento-Arrigo’s A Child’s Love is a heartwarming story that pays tribute to the loving relationship between a mother and her daughter.

This circle-of-life tale begins with a mother caring for her infant. The poetic storyline unfolds into a role reversal of caregiving from one generation to the next.

As the decades pass, the reader sees the child nurtured gracefully into adulthood and eventually become a parent herself. As time takes its toll, the now-grown daughter and grandchild become caretakers for the aging mother. From lullabies and games of peek-a-boo to walkers, wheelchairs, and visits to the hospital, the love and care the mother once showed to her daughter is now reflected in the daughter’s equal concern and consideration. With the granddaughter, Casamento-Arrigo introduces a third generation to show the continuation of this cycle of kin.

Alex Martinez’ endearing illustrations help define the genuine love and affection between these family members, and the changing needs within each generation as time passes.

Demonstrated again and again in tender detail, with the large and small footprints in the sand as mother and daughter walk hand-in-hand along the shoreline, in the daughter’s last backward glance at her loving home while heading into the wider world with all her belongings, and with the daughter’s recollection of her mom keeping the scary monsters at bay in the closet. The images are solid, genuine, and artfully crafted.

The narrative is composed of simple rhyming lines, each reflective of the preceding illustration’s activity, and should particularly appeal to younger readers.

While intended as a children’s book, A Child’s Love is a beautiful story to be shared by parents, grandparents, and children of all ages. The lasting sentiment is clearly one of love and compassion for those we care about within the familiar bonds between generations.

October 2, 2023
CROSSING The FORD by Gail Hertzog – Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Old West

Crossing the Ford by Gail Hertzog opens in classic Western fashion: a train rolls in, carrying a stranger. Twenty-five-year-old Ruby knows, when she sees “that little lady” get off the train, that life in her rural Nevada town will never be the same.

Until this moment, Ruby’s children and her no-good husband have claimed most of her time and energy. But she gets to know Kenna, the red-headed stranger — and finds herself irrevocably changed in the process.

Hertzog weaves a rich tapestry of the post-Civil War West. Her characters inhabit a world that’s lush and bleak by turns, vivid with details of a landscape that shifts with the seasons, from giving to unforgiving. A thread of magical realism creeps in so subtly readers may hardly notice it at first. By the end, though, this book stands as a testament to how mystical and inscrutable the twists and turns of life can be.

The book is punctuated with vintage-style illustrations and even recipes, which tie in nicely with the plot and help readers immerse themselves in the moment in history.

Kenna soon introduces Ruby to new ways of looking at the world: ideals of feminine independence, the joy of luxury, and even using magic to bend life to your will.

Kenna comes from privilege and mystique, with a Scottish Highland heritage steeped in witchcraft – a stark contrast to Ruby’s bleak past. By turns, Ruby finds Kenna intimidating, frustrating, and awe-inspiring. They strike up a close friendship as the seasons turn.

The novel’s intrigue grows from early on, as Ruby and Kenna hold secrets from each other while holding each other dear. And then there’s Valentine: the local man that Kenna captivates, and Ruby desires from afar (and sometimes, from too close). With the addition of Ruby’s wayward, abusive husband, a tense love square emerges, and it’s not always clear what shape the characters’ lives will end up in. Even Valentine has secrets of his own.

As Crossing the Ford progresses, everyone’s secrets start to catch up to them, while every event is tinted with Kenna’s magic and mythology.

The mood sways from joyful to tragic and back again, from sensitive and compelling depictions of the abuse Ruby endures from her husband, to the life she builds in spite of it with Kenna and Valentine’s help.

This story maintains a confessional quality, as Ruby speaks directly to the mysterious character introduced in the prologue, setting up a satisfying reveal at the end. Over time, Ruby goes from passive observer to active anti-heroine, working to determine her own fate (and sometimes others’ too.) Readers get a deep look at the challenges she’s faced in life, so that when she starts making choices that seem brutal, we can understand her reasons. The action slows for a bit in the middle, but it’s a brief pause, carried by a strong sense of place and Ruby’s compelling voice. You can hear her accent in every word, that of a poorly-educated woman in the rural West, set against the fine and proper language of her best friend Kenna.

Crossing the Ford makes deft use of moral gray areas, as those areas seem to grow bigger with each page.

At first, the narrative raises questions about good motherhood and marital loyalty, but later, ponders questions of life and death. Ruby finds herself forced to answer: Is it ever justifiable to kill? Is it ever justifiable to forgive a killer? These issues ring of truth, as Hertzog paints a clear picture of the perils and quandaries faced by folks in the harsh landscape of the post-Civil War West. In the end, it turns out that everyone has something to run from, but not everyone will escape their fate.

This book is an excellent choice for lovers of historical fiction, complex female characters, and anything with a witchy bent. It shies away from easy answers, instead crafting a portrait of people and places whose outward beauty belies flaws, threats, and hard secrets. The ending is so tragic that it almost feels unsatisfying at first. Hertzog has given us such relatable, compelling characters that readers are left wanting more for them. Yet there’s a deeper truth to this narrative: magic may be real, but it doesn’t always work in one’s favor.

The characters in Crossing the Ford may not get the ending they want, but they just might get the ending they deserve.

Crossing the Ford by Gail Hertzog won 1st Place in the 2022 CIBA Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction, and 2022 CIBA Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction.

September 25, 2023
LOST In BEIRUT: A True Story of Love, Loss and War by Ashe Stevens & Magdalena Stevens – Travel Memoirs, Survival Biographies, Lebanon

Seeking to “fill his vessel with the truth,” young Ashe Stevens joins his friends on a thrilling adventure beyond the safety of his comfortable American life to chase stardom in Beirut, Lebanon.

Leaving behind a raucous life of plenty in Hollywood – complete with hot dates, popularity, and financial success – to the unknown of the Middle East teaches Ashe to prioritize his values and beliefs. But nothing could prepare him for what’s coming next.

Journey with Ashe and his friends as they bring the rapper 50 Cent to Beirut, the “Paris of the Middle East.” Along the way, Ashe dates not one, but two drop-dead gorgeous billionaires and falls head over heels for a blonde beauty to whom he promises to devote his life. But just as business is booming and true love reaches the height of bliss, the Israeli military bombs their beautiful city, “weaving a tapestry of death all over the night sky.” The team barely makes it out with their lives in a harrowing escape, leaving their love and livelihoods behind.

Before disaster hits, Ashe reevaluates his life in Beirut, slowly beginning the necessary work of “finding his circus,” drawing on the lessons of his friend and mentor, Roger Henderson.

Loosening his confidence in the United States’ supreme power and security, prioritizing loyalty and love over wealth, and expanding the horizons of his cultural imagination allow him to find safety in himself and accept the reality of the disaster that “washes away his elaborate dreams.”

Just as Ashe develops over the course of his life-changing adventure, those around him unfold with intricate depth. Readers will find themselves sympathizing, loving, protesting, and falling apart as they unspool each person’s threads. Personalities such as the eccentric Danny, the wise Roger Henderson, and the lovable criminal Marwan shape a colorful narrative that feels as real as flesh.

The narrative does tend to prioritize the complexity of its male characters over that of the women. Women’s personalities go unexplored and tied inextricably to the narrative-shaping men who either love or resent them. Ashe complains about his new rich date waiting for him in the car, and his friends exert a patriarchal command over the women in their lives: “‘Make sure you look hot tonight, Sana,’” says Danny to his girlfriend, “‘Okay, my love. I would never disappoint you,’” she meekly replies.

Even so, the memoir’s rhythm of adventure will sustain readers’ devoted attention.

Each chapter heading offers a curious epigraph, which slowly merges together with the others as pieces of a puzzle. Silky smooth transitions lose readers in the vivid imagery and fast-paced movement of the story, such as the “blazing-white sunshine amid the clusters of cars, repetitious horn sounds and the loud chatter of the city.” Ashe navigating the rich culture of Beirut and its new social rules immerses readers in the magic of travel and its potential to deepen the soul.

Overall, Lost in Beirut is a romping adventure full of love, war, and sacrifice.

Religious division, the mysteries of love and lust, hidden secrets of political violence, loss and recovery, and life-like characters pull readers beneath the surface tension of the page. As Ashe reflects on his experience in theater class: “We all look the same, leaving the phantom zone. Lost in our own bodies.” In the same way, Lost in Beirut will lose readers in its trance-like narrative where beauty and ruin melt into each other in a seamless dream-turned-nightmare.

Lost in Beirut won Grand Prize in the 2022 CIBA Military and Front Line Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir.

September 22, 2023
THE COLOR Of The ELEPHANT: Memoir of a Muzungu by Christine Herbert – Peace Corps, Traveler and Explorer Memoirs, Africa

“The toughest job you’ll ever love.” That was the original slogan for the Peace Corps, one that Christine Herbert found to be wholly true, as she shows in The Color of the Elephant, a journal of her time serving in Zambia from 2004 to 2006.

This is a story about the journey rather than the destination. After all, the destination of any posting with the Peace Corps is the place you first came from, hopefully leaving something positive behind, and having changed and been changed by the experience.

For the author, her experience was that of a muzungu, a word synonymous in southern, central, or eastern African countries with foreigners such as Peace Corps volunteers and Doctors without Borders.

Christine Herbert came to Zambia as a ‘stranger in a strange land’, with the intent to change herself – to break out of her identity as a self-described ‘goody-goody’.

She resisted her family’s best efforts to convince her to stay on a safe and sane path. Volunteering for the Peace Corps, going to Africa for 27 months in the immediate wake of 9/11 was neither.

In her early 30s, a bit older than the usual Peace Corps volunteer, she knew that she wasn’t there to save anyone or anything – except quite possibly herself. The reader walks beside Herbert as she is made and broken over and over again in a tale equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking. Her experiences, for at least a little while, take her out of her white, privileged, American mindset and put her feet into the sandals of a world where community is everything.

Herbert does an excellent job of carrying readers on a startling, eye-opening, and life-changing journey.

The author did not undertake this journey for the adventure of it all, because the point was not to return to her old normal life. She sought to change her perspective on what normal can and should be.

Serving in the Peace Corps, that “toughest job you’ll ever love” has been a dream for many more people than have undertaken the actual journey. Any reader who dreamed that dream will be given a glimpse into the challenges of the job and just how much love – of friends, found family, newfound homes, and meaningful work – lay at its heart.

The Color of the Elephant by Christine Herbert won First Place in the 2022 CIBA Military and Front Line Awards.

September 20, 2023