Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

VICTORIA And The BIG, BRAVE BREATH by Andrea Vaughan, illustrated by Ryan Feltman – Children’s Books, Anxiety, Children’s Emotion Books

Andrea Vaughan’s Victoria and the Big Brave Breath is a beautifully illustrated children’s book, written to ease conversations about anxiety and worry with a child.

This story teaches children how to calm their nerves by focusing on their breath, using a clever onomatopoeia to help. Vaughn’s book is a timely must-read!

Victoria and the Big, Brave Breath starts with a little girl named Victoria recognizing that she is often worried. She lists examples (trying new foods, going to the doctor, playing in the park) of her anxieties. Physically-speaking, Victoria’s hands sweat, her knees shake and her tummy hurts when her feelings appear. Her teddy bear best friend Baxter has a suggestion for her to ease these unfamiliar (and uncomfortable) feelings.

The friendship that the bear and the girl share is sweet and endearing, as if the bear is an allegory for a friend or family member.

Baxter reassures Victoria that her feelings can be calmed by breathing in and out and reciting the magic word “oobeedoobee”. The bear’s person-like behavior in illustrations, such as his cheeks and warm eyes, are kindhearted and sympathetic towards Victoria. Victoria is hesitant at first, but after trying it she realizes Baxter is right and the technique “…makes her worries much, much smaller.”

The illustrations created by Feltman are vivid, with a lively color scheme.

Victoria’s eyes and complexion add refreshing diversity to the story, and the illustrations maintain a cute and endearing style. Feltman uses tender and gentle images to convey a feeling of emotional openness.

Victoria and the Big, Brave Breath flows well.

The examples given of her feelings are accurate and not overly dramatic. This gives the story an unwavering, clear tone and purpose.

The definition of being anxious is to feel unease or to experience worry or nervousness. If these feelings arise, we must stay present in the moment and focus inwards. Like in Victoria and the Big Brave Breath, we must take our time to breathe and calm ourselves, to understand we are safe, present and capable.

This practice is important especially now, with the ever-changing challenges we face. This book will arm children to know that their feelings are natural, while providing a tool they can use to navigate or calm them, which is only a couple oobeedoobees away.

Victoria and the Big Brave Breath by Andrea Vaughan and illustrated by Ryan Feltman won Grand Prize in the 2021 CIBA Little Peeps Awards for Early Readers and Children’s Fiction.

August 3, 2022
EVE’s EDEN by Kate L. Lewis – Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Feminist Fiction Metatheatre, Religion

Eve’s Eden by Kate L. Lewis is a novelette, rich in tone and relevant to today’s audiences.

When Shelly Hart left for the Vanguard Drama House and Social Club, she expected an evening of theatrical entertainment. She was not expecting a protest. Muscling her way through the sign-toting, shouting crowd, Shelly witnesses hostilities toward the playwright, Fran Miller. After Shelly has found her seat inside and Miller steps out and onto the stage, Shelly sees why. With her controversial retelling of the traditional Adam and Eve story, Fran shows the struggle many women experience as she questions the role women play in a misogynistic society.

The theme within this short work is complex.

Misogyny and belonging seem paradoxical bedfellows; however, the two work together to create an engaging focus of the novelette. In an almost memoiric fashion, Fran Miller, the author of the play Eve’s Eden, takes center stage to recount her troubled personal experience with both. Some of her earliest memories are religious in nature. She learned at a young age that questioning the staunch beliefs of her community would lead to heartache.

When Fran finds it far-fetched that Eve, the first female, could be responsible for bringing all sin into the world, she is severely disciplined. She feels this was her first introduction to misogyny and cannot understand how people, especially women, can be punished perpetually for something she finds questionable. However, she learns to hide these feelings, and later, she even justifies the world, which represses her by saying these times are only temporary “bubbles” that will pass.

Fran refuses to believe what she has been taught – that people deserve the terrible things which happen to them – and moves past her abusive marriage and the sexual harassment in her workplace to find her voice by writing her play.

Many women will see themselves within her narrative, her struggles to be a woman in a male-dominated world, and her journey to belonging.

The Vanguard Drama House and Social Club is a place for all. Though some in this small city don’t like its “left-leaning tendencies,” criticism of the theater is rare, and Shelly finds her first visit a defining moment. It is here that she feels and understands the founder’s intent. P.T. Curtis brought his dream to fruition as a tribute to the many traveling shows of his youth. He built the theater and club as a place for free thinkers, a refuge where all could openly express themselves. No play was ever turned down based on content, and each generation after him held to the same beliefs.

Such a place is a beautiful idea, and it’s little wonder so many find it comforting. Eve’s Eden is a perfect read for those who love a unique storytelling approach and who enjoy the theatre.

August 1, 2022
Blood Perfect: A Joe Turner Mystery by T.L. Bequette – Murder Mystery, Contemporary Mystery, Detective Fiction

Defense lawyer Joe Turner encounters and defends the worst that Oakland, California has to offer in T.L. Bequette’s mystery novel, Blood Perfect.

Turner promises to join the ranks of other beloved protagonists in mystery novels. He carries a cynical and hard-boiled approach to the realities of life and his work. Blood Perfect has some elements of Scottish Noir; the protagonist’s personal crises weave into the main plot. He has a personal reason for defending the accused and debilitating flashbacks from a childhood trauma. His struggles engender in him a strong sense of right and wrong.

Turner’s college girl-buddy, the object of his unrequited lust, hooks him into a case that seems to defy logic. Alston Walker, a middle-aged black man with an unforgettable ugly face stands accused of stabbing Jefferson Beauregard Devaney, a middle-aged white man, after an argument over rent. Seventy dollars. Alston has an alibi and Devaney has no reason to lie. But why would Devaney accuse the wrong person?

This mystery hasn’t yet shown all its parts.

P.I. Chuck Argenal, an aging deadhead with a penchant for flip-flops and cargo shorts, and Deputy District Attorney Matt Eisner, an old friend of Turner’s deceased father, join his posse. They can prove Walker’s innocence. But when he learns the fraudulent truth of their key witness, Joe must report it—the verdict cannot stand. Yet, in his gut, he believes whole-heartedly in Walker’s innocence. He drives hard to discover who truly attacked Devaney. That truth arrives with an epiphany that may change his life forever.

Different voices tell this story in a sometimes-non-linear chronology. The complex characters will engage readers as much as the questions of the mystery itself. Their yarns within yarns conceal and reveal their personalities and their part to play in the case.

The murder of his father has haunted Joe since he was twelve years old.

He suffers troubling flashbacks throughout the story, adding an intriguing dimension to his character. In fact, the finale holds a final twist regarding the “who” in the whodunit leaving readers ready for more.

T.L. Bequette masterfully builds his series, creating growth in his characters through each novel. Combining supreme character building and a fast-paced mystery with enough twists and red herrings, readers won’t be able to set the book down until the final page.

In short, Joe Turner is well on the way to becoming a fixture in contemporary mystery fiction.

July 28, 2022
SUBURBAN VAMPIRE RAGNAROK by Franklin Posner – Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, Political Intrigue

Franklin Posner gives readers an adventurous dark urban fantasy filled to the brim with vampires, werewolves, black-eyed kids, and even Sasquatches in his novel Suburban Vampire Ragnarok.

Here is a fully realized underworld of vampire factions and governments along with ancient organizations tasked with keeping track of the paranormal.

The story opens in the past, with Scott Campbell’s father capturing a German bunker during World War II. This section is reminiscent of F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep and Saving Private Ryan with a little taste of Indiana Jones. After they find a handful of mysterious artifacts, the story then jumps forward a generation to Scott, the suburban vampire working in tech support in the Pacific Northwest.

Scott’s life is complicated. Between a recent divorce, living with his widowed mother, and working for an over-controlling boss he has plenty to deal with.

On top of that, he is a vampire who must suppress the urge to feed on human blood.

Something sinister stirs behind the scenes of the vampire political world. Jack, the vampire who turned Scott against his will in hopes of using him in a diabolical coup, still has followers hidden in the vampire government. As Elizabeth and Jeremiah, vampire enforcers, hunt down the last of Jack’s sirelings and try to root out someone embedded within the vampire council, Scott falls deeper into the machinations of an evil plot and must fight to protect those he cares for.

Posner explores themes of coming to terms with a new life.

Scott’s life has changed drastically in many ways, and becoming a vampire is only one of them. After his divorce, his mother is encouraging him to get back out there and see new people.

Scott does slip a few times, but he learns from his mistakes and the guilt they bring him. He also learns to trust those who still want to be part of his life, even when they know the monster that he has become. He knows that to be near him is dangerous, but, ultimately, it is their choice.

There are a few spots where the tone of the story becomes a little too light in contrast to the tension of the scene, but the story and drama behind that tension are strong.

Readers will marvel at the fully realized world presented in this book.

The political complexity of the many organizations, governments, and agencies make for exciting power plays and relationships. Plus, readers will delight with the handful of cryptids who play roles, both small and large, throughout.

Readers hungry for vampires with intricate and grounded struggles will be pleased with Franklin Posner’s twisty tale of supernatural creatures in a modern world.

Suburban Vampire Ragnarok by Franklin Posner won First Place in the 2018 CIBA Paranormal Book Awards for Supernatural and Paranormal Fiction.

July 25, 2022
A WEEK at SURFSIDE BEACH by Pierce Koslosky, Jr. – Short Story Collections, Vacation Stories, Family & Relationships

Vacationers from all walks of life converge on Portofino II-317C, South Carolina, a quaint blue beach house, in Pierce Koslosky Jr.’s short story collection, A Week at Surfside Beach.

From May 30th-December 26th each group of people comes to stay one week at a time, to forget their cares of the big city, to work, to celebrate, or to simply get away. Surfside Beach has much to show them, including temperamental weather.

The small town itself offers a charming supermarket where fishing supplies, whoopie pies, and local southern favorites can be found. The Christmas vacationers, the final of the thirteen beach house renters, struggle to find a tree in time; a real tree simply wouldn’t allow enough space for the family to sleep, and the fake tree would cost too much. But they find arts and crafts supplies in town, to fashion a paper Christmas tree during a day of rainy weather.

We all know that during vacations there are disagreements, lover spats, lessons learned, stolen kisses, and many other moments for a reader to see through the eyes of the characters at Surfside Beach.

The house itself exists in the real world, as does the town of Surfside Beach. Koslosky purchased the actual house after Hurricane Hugo hit the coast of South Carolina. The short stories connect the characters through this realistic setting.

These thirteen stories are rich with emotion and relationships. Even in just one tale, two families quarrel over a better view, a better beach house, an entrée item at dinner, their kids fighting, and a lack of parental approval of the feuding families’ son/daughter Romeo and Juliet hidden romance. Human compassion shines through these conflicts, such as in a later story where a father shows his son kindness and understanding when a gang of locals leads him astray, presenting a strong faith in humanity.

Koslosky creates a believable work of fiction which flows from story to story, recreating a well-known setting of a beach house, the characters playing out a reminder that while nothing is perfect even in paradise, nothing needs to be perfect.

A Week at Surfside Beach by Pierce Koslosky Jr. won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA SHORTS Awards for Short Story Collections.

July 22, 2022
WINTER’s RECKONING by Adele Holmes – Southern United States Fiction, Women’s Historical Fiction,

In Winter’s Reckoning by Adele Holmes, a mercurial new pastor in town threatens the families of two women.

Welcome to 1917. A time of suspenders for men and, in the cities, bloomers for women. Horse-drawn wagons range the landscape, stoves burn wood, and people have to use outdoor facilities. A time of few vaccines and no antibiotics. People understood little of most diseases. Germ theory still had ground to cover. Women routinely died in childbirth. Life could vanish in a moment.

In rural Jamesville, a Southern Appalachian town, Madeline Fairbanks does what she can to make the lives of friends and neighbors more comfortable. She works as the healer in this community – and has for the past quarter of a century. Madeline eases the passage into and out of life, treating aches and pains in between.

Maddie comes from a long line of healers. Her grandmother taught her, and she’ll pass along what she knows to her granddaughter in turn. Hannah already has the inclination. The time has almost come to give her the ancestral box, which holds herbal remedy recipes and sketches and notes. That box contains all the learning from the women in their family who came before them.

Maddie has also trained an apprentice, Renetta Morgan, who is just about ready to begin working in the community, her own community, alone.

Maddie is white. Renetta is Black. They walk through town together, brazenly traversing from North Main (the white section of town) to South Main (the Black) and back again. Sometimes they go to tend the sick. Sometimes, to the fields and hillsides, gathering the healing flowers and roots and herbs. Other times, they work in Maddie’s cabin, creating tinctures, potions, and ointments. When Renetta learns enough, the two of them must no longer work together.

The long-promised railroad has recently bypassed the town, spelling a slow death for the community, cut off now from the lifeline of the new transportation. With their Main Street shops shutting down, the townsfolk face hard times. In the South, rigid segregation, Jim Crow laws, black codes, and the Klan divide the community. In Jamesville, the pointy hat boys haven’t been active in recent memory, but that’s about to change. Not everyone turns a blind eye to the flagrant close fraternizing of Maddie and Ren, two uppity women who don’t seem to know their place. Tempers are fraying.

Into this small town closing in on itself rides a lone horseman one day, who, after a brief look around, announces that he’s the new pastor. Reverend Carl Howard is the match to the powder keg.

As the town adjusts to this new pastor in their midst, and Reverend Howard takes his measure of the place, we will watch events unfold from the vantage point of three characters, all of whom have secrets to keep. Secrets that could be their undoing.

With the loss of the railroad, another potential casualty looms – one of education.

The town is divided on whether to invest in secondary education or not. Currently, only the primary school offers its young charges the most rudimentary learning. Nothing to build on. With more education, Maddie thinks, real change might be possible. Greater equality between peoples, despite their gender or skin color. Greater freedom for women. Or at least a good step in that direction.

The theme of education and what it can bring – more profound understanding, greater personal freedom and fulfillment, and economic opportunities – underlies the struggle of those for and against keeping women and Blacks “in their place.” One side looks forward to what could be; the other looks back to what has been. The balance of power always tilts in favor of those who have always held it. As the tension mounts, where words fail, violence threatens.

When a severe winter storm hits, everyone’s lives are suspended.

As they wait out the freeze, rationing their supplies and tearing up the porch for firewood, Maddie and Ren will come to know things about each other and themselves. And Hannah will grow up a little.

Set in the brooding rural South, and for a good portion of the novel in the challenging and crystalline world of a deep snowstorm, Winter’s Reckoning is rich in storyline and character with plenty of mystery woven throughout. Simply put, here’s a story that takes on issues whose harm remains with us today. With a climactic pulpit scene that’s not to be missed – and one novel we can highly recommend!

Winter’s Reckoning was a First Place Winner in the 2021 Goethe Awards.

July 20, 2022
DIVINITY’S TWILIGHT: Rebirth by Christopher Russell – Epic Fantasy, Military Fantasy, Gaslamp Fantasy

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell is the opening of a High Fantasy epic about the rise and fall of vast empires.

The story grows from unfinished business between three brothers gifted with magic and power but chose different paths to achieve safety and security for themselves and the people who followed them.

These different paths culminated in a battle where the fate of their world is balanced precariously on a knife’s edge. Darmatus and Rabban are engaged in a war to the death with their oldest brother Sarcon. Sarcon believes the road to that safety lies in power alone, that the only way to be secure is to crush all his enemies, no matter how heinous the deeds required.

Darmatus believes that knowledge and education are the way, while Rabban advocates for engineering and artistry. But all are powerful in war as well as in peace. In the end, Darmatus and Rabban prevail, or so it seems.

But that is only the prologue to this grand saga.

This ancient battle was a projection of memory crystals. Nearly 700 years have passed since then. Sarcon, Darmatus, and Rabban are long dead, but their empires founded by their followers continue on, each espousing the brothers’ philosophies.

Sarcon is at the pinnacle of military might, while Rabban’s engineering prowess has kept their empire dogging at Sarcon’s heels. Darmatia holds the balance of power in their mercantile empire and serves as the breadbasket for all three.

But this tenuous balance will not last long; history is about to repeat itself. Sarcon is threatening war yet again, and Darmatia seems to be on the verge of throwing in their military lot with Rabban to keep Sarcon from swallowing them both whole. The action – and there is plenty of it! – follows the adventures of one very mixed group of Darmatian military cadets who may just hold the key to peace in their ill-prepared hands.

The world of Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth is an epic, complex, and well-crafted story.

Key characters represent each of the empires, enough to give the reader an understanding of the critical differences between the three kingdoms. The story has a vast cast overall, and keeping track of all the individuals can be challenging for some.

This story moves through multiple casts; the opening prologue has one set of characters long gone by the time the story shifts to its current time frame. Yet another set pushes the story forward until we reach that group of cadets who carry the meat of the narrative. Once the tale gets to Matteo, Vallen, and their cohort, readers won’t be able to set the book down.

The scope and setting of this series opener may invoke fond memories of the Star Wars saga for many readers.

Divinity’ Twilight weaves its tale in operatic (space operatic) fashion, where mighty empires and plucky underdogs clash. In a universe of both space ships and high magic, a place where a chosen hero – or heroine – must rise from obscurity to save their world from an evil that reaches beyond death itself.

Any reader of epic fantasy, fantastic tales of politics run amuck, or epic space battles will find a lot to love in Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth.

Divinity’s Twilight: Rebirth by Christopher Russell won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA OZMA Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction.

July 18, 2022
DILLION And The CURSE Of ARMINIUS by John Middleton – Historical Fantasy, WWII, Young Adult Fiction

Hang your disbelief by the door, pull up a chair, and prepare to step back in time to a period of unrest that would forever change the world In Dillion and the Curse of Arminius by John Middleton.

British and European legends set the stage for ancient warriors with a clarion call to re-awaken to battle—and only the innocents can intervene.

In 1936, the children of the privileged le Close family pursue their interests and enjoy their lives at their patriarchal home, gifted to the original Baron le Close by King James centuries ago. Since Oakholm Abbey lay on the border of England and Wales, everyone looked to the Baron to protect the surrounding farmlands from Welsh raiders. They would slip down from the wilds of the Welsh hills and valleys just beyond the old monastic estate and do their damage on the population.

By virtue of their lineage, the youngest generation of the le Close family, Gilbert and Emelia, have certain special abilities. Gilbert is attuned to the animal kingdom—and it to him—and wanders fearlessly into deep forests on the Welsh borderlands where he discovers magical places. These places exude an aura of intense spirituality, bringing Druids and secret ceremonies to mind. On the other hand, Emelia is percipient, although she is only just learning how to understand the meaning of her experiences.

Unbeknownst to Gilbert and Emelia, trouble brews across the channel.

They will soon become integral in saving both the lives of their good friends, Axel and Rebecca, German refugees now living in Amsterdam, and in helping good conquer evil in their part of the world.

Meanwhile, at Schloss Wewelsburg, a centuries old castle in south-western Germany, Heinrich Himmler, the commander of Hitler’s SS, has turned to the occult to realize a dream. He believes in the supernatural and wants to contact and enlist the aid of the fabled Cherusci warriors who conquered the Romans centuries ago to assist in Germany’s attempt to rule Europe.

Himmler connects with a revenant whose ancestor was second in command to Arminius, the chieftain of the fierce Cherusci tribe that freed the Germanic people of Roman rule.

What happens next, when the bucolic world of life at Oakmont Abbey collides with the occult, is the stuff of legends.

Gilbert and Amelia will discover their connections to their ancestral history, and are called upon to fulfill their predestined roles as guardians of a sacred place. They will be sorely tested, and must call upon everything in their beings to survive, to secure the survival of their friends, and to save their way of life.

In Dillion and the Curse of Arminius, author John Middleton has created a work of fantasy fiction with a plot that will appeal to pre and early teen readers. Much of the writing is lyrical with vivid imagery, creating a mystical mood—set up with a complex storyline and sophisticated language.

Dillion and the Curse of Arminius won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult Fiction.

July 15, 2022
GALDO’S GIFT: The Boovie by Eleanor Long & Trevor Young – Animated, Picture Books, Children’s Fantasy Stories

In Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie, Eleanor Long & Trevor Young create an interactive animated story that helps children learn about their unique gifts through an imaginative tale and diverse vocabulary.

The first page opens with a poem sharing a personalized gift with the reader. Then, we meet the frog King, and his kingdom Galdovia. His land is “where the wild wind whistles while the songbird sings” and he narrates the story, voiced by Brian Murphy.

The townsfolk of Galdovia move on the page in textured illustrations. They need a hero to undertake an important adventure, with the promise of a gift from the King to whoever completes this quest. Enter four great heroes who start their journeys in the hope of earning the King’s reward.

The four fearless heroes of this story are hilarious!

Any child or child at heart will notice the innocent humor in this story. Even their names (Strompoff, Brendara, Mustafo and Doogood) are silly, along with their exaggerated physical appearances.

The four are hysterical to watch as they employ clever alliteration-described skills to obtain the king’s gift. The animations show deliberate attention to a child’s curiosity and imagination. Overall, the story is a very joyful read.

By helping children to see their individual gifts, it empowers them to become better people.

We do not all share the same gifts as the fearless four, but individually we learn our strengths and purpose. Galdo’s Gift teaches us to hone our abilities while growing up.

Often adults convince children they must become something they are not capable of or comfortable with. Long & Young foster a child’s worth and esteem as inner flames which must be stoked. We all admire great heroes, but once we play to our strengths, they show us the heroes inside ourselves. This story teaches us this lesson without sounding overpowering or insensitive to a child’s curiosities and insecurities.

More importantly, by encouraging a child’s strength, we empower and boost their confidence. Galdo’s Gift encourages us to use our strengths and magical gifts, one adventure as a silly great hero at a time.

Galdo’s Gift: The Boovie by Eleanor Long & Trevor Young won Grand Prize in the 2019 CIBA Little Peeps Book Awards for Early Readers and Picture Books. This interactive masterpiece is available on Apple i-Tunes.

July 13, 2022
DAWN Of GENESIS: Titan Code Book 1 by Rey Clark – Sci-Fi, Post-Apocalypse, Young Adult

Dawn of Genesis: Titan Code Book 1 by Rey Clark portrays a near future Earth that is dying by inches, feet, and yards.

Specifically, yards and acres of crops are choked to death by a constant dust-bowl. Only a small human population has so far managed to survive the collapse of both the environment and the economy of the entire world.

The desperate circumstances of most of humanity are exacerbated by the rise of mutated super-humans with powers to rival those of typical superheroes. But the “Evos,” evolved humans, are missing the moral compass that directs those comic book superheroes, and the government that has arisen to “protect” the remaining non-Evo population isn’t much better.

The reader’s perspective on that boiling stew is teen Tessa Jones, still in school and trying to pretend that her combat and engineering skills aren’t nearly as excellent as she knows they are.

If she shows what she’s really capable of, she’ll be whisked away from her family’s farm by a government that uses – and uses up – every available person in order to defeat the Evos.

But Tessa’s dreams of remaining with her family explode when she manifests her own Evo powers to save her little sister’s life. Unable to hide what she really is, Tessa becomes a pawn, caught between forces that plan to use her for their own ends, either as a warrior for the Evos or a lab rat for a government planning to make more super-soldiers just like Tessa.

Because Tessa is still learning about the world and her place in it, she provides an eye-opening perspective on this post-apocalyptic world, as well as giving the story crossover appeal to readers of young adult and new adult fiction.

Tessa is on the cusp of adulthood, facing decisions that will set the course of her life. She is still facing all the issues of being in school: boredom, bullying, trying to fit in and desperate not to stand out too much. Even in the post-apocalypse, these issues are easy for readers to identify with.

She also tries to find her truth, to find a way of coping with the dying world she has been born into. She’s aware that what she hears about the larger world is all propaganda, and she doesn’t know which way to turn or what to believe because she has no idea where to find the truth.

She’s naive, she’s uncertain, and she’s desperate because she’s trapped in terrible circumstances facing equally terrible choices, none of them of her making. But she is the one person who might be able to fix at least some of her world, if she is willing to take the reins of the future into her own hands.

Dawn of Genesis is a post-apocalyptic survival story. And it’s a story about one young woman making a place for herself on a dying Earth. But it’s also a story about training and learning to be the most that one can be, and it’s a kick-ass adventure story about grabbing a better future.

Dawn of Genesis by Rey Clark won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Cygnus Book Awards for Science Fiction.

July 11, 2022