Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

TRAITORS for the SAKE of HUMANITY: A Novel of the German Resistance to Hitler by Helena P. Schrader – Historical World War II Fiction, Political Fiction, World War II Fiction

Traitors For the Sake of Humanity by Helena P. Schrader may be more terrifying today than when first released in 2008 as An Obsolete Honor and re-released in 2012 as Hitler’s Demons.

The chilling story reveals the means used under the leadership of Adolph Hitler to spread insidious Nazi socio-political ideology before and throughout WWII. Although a work of fiction, the grim, dehumanizing social transformation the tome reveals brings to mind the caution in George Santanya’s oft-quoted posit, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Schrader masterfully utilizes the setting as an unseen, omnipresent character. Scenes imbued with equal parts of detached cruelty, greed, and hunger for power – acting as a control agent affecting everyone within its grasp.

By Christmas, 1938, when the story begins, the Nazi Party dominates the German Parliament for nearly six years, and its influence alters the nation’s face. Within that period, during which Hitler becomes Chancellor, both welcome and unwelcome changes occur and spread beyond Germany’s large cities into and throughout the countryside.

The German citizenry is conflicted.

Many poor, disenfranchised citizens consider forfeiting their faith, culture, and free will for materially improved living standards and restoring their national pride as an acceptable trade-off. Others grow dismayed by the denigration and annihilation of traditional values, virtues, and mores. Residents find the mandated, unfettered obedience to the state’s authority and the flourishing of Machiavellian values an abomination.

Within this setting, we meet the aristocratic, well-educated, and cultured Baron Phillip von Feldburg. Phillip, the eldest of three children, is an officer in the prestigious German General Staff and has been imbued from childhood with the importance of honor, integrity, and allegiance to his country.

In the first chapter, Baron von Feldberg is juxtaposed with his immediate family, characters Schrader utilizes to reveal some of the varying socio-political views prevalent in Germany.

Christian, his handsome, devil-may-care Luftwaffe fighter pilot brother, lives in the moment, exhilarated by his conquests and the thrill of adventure. Theresa, an envious, entitled, and defiant “youngest child,” marries an uneducated, self-made man with a knack for doing business in the Nazi regime and little use for breeding, manners, or culture. Their widowed mother, the Baroness, gracious, kind, and concerned – but not enough to make waves—completes the family circle.

Phillip’s sense of honor and duty dominates his life, both personally and professionally.

As he advances within the military and is given more and more leadership responsibility, he begins to have troublesome questions about the decisions coming “down,” along with the ongoing, less-than-honorable actions and events he witnessed while serving on the front lines against Russia. Not until he meets the astute and savvy secretary with connections, Alexandra Mollwitz, that he begins to act upon his inner conflict, and his life begins to change in ways he could never have imagined.

Presented in multiple points of view of the von Feldburg family members, cohorts, and supporters, Schrader breathes life into some of the historically documented events occurring in Germany before and including WWII that forever changed the world. Each of their voices reflects their social status, belief systems, and loyalties—and their angst and fears as change turns evil and evil turns deadly.

Traitors For the Sake of Humanity, based upon documented historical events and personal memoirs recounted to the author by individuals who lived through that time.

In the end, the importance of this book cannot be underestimated. Traitors for the Sake of Humanity rises as a critical, provocative, and timely book that perhaps we would all benefit from reading. The Glossary and documentation alone impress.

Helena P. Schrader puts a human face on some “monsters,” and exposes the monster faces of others. Kudos, Dr. Schrader.

August 11, 2021
SAVORING the OLDE WAYS SERIES: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, Book One by Carole Bumpus – French Cooking with Food and Wine, Culinary Memoir and Biographies, Culinary Travel

The retired family therapist turned travel writer and culinary memoirist, Carole Bumpus shares the delicious first book in her new series, Savoring the Olde Ways: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table.

In this first book, Carole takes readers on an intimate food tour of the Champagne, Alsace, Lorraine, and Paris regions of France. After being introduced by a mutual friend, Carole builds a special friendship with Josiane and her mother. Wanting to understand what brings and keeps European families glued together through generations of happiness and hardship, Bumpus begins by interviewing Josiane’s mother. Hearing about traditions passed down and the challenges of cooking during the war, the plan for a culinary tour of France is born among the women. Unfortunately, after travel delays out of their control, Josiane’s mother passes away before they can make the trip. Determined to make a dream trip a reality, Carole and Josiane set off to start a journey of a lifetime in honor of the woman who inspired it all.

Savoring the Olde Ways: Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table, takes readers along on an intimate view into the culinary lives of the people in Northeastern France.

Mouth-watering descriptions of food and heartwarming traditions tempt readers through every chapter, where history has had a powerful impact on both. Culture does not stop at borders. Bumpus encounters recipes from Italy and French recipes influenced by German cuisine. Following World War II, people from surrounding countries came to France in search of work and brought their traditional recipes with them. The Alsace and Lorraine regions of France went back and forth as being part of France and Germany. Carole and Josiane spend an evening with three generations of a family that experienced this flux of their nationality over the course of a century. Family and tradition helped to keep families strong during troublesome times in history.

The French have a reputation for being rude, but Carole finds everyone she meets to be nothing but warm and inviting.

Residents eagerly share their recipes, memories, and traditions with the visitors. Josiane brings Carole to the regions she and her family grew up in, and they take part in the long tradition of Sunday family dinner. Traditions like this may seem less common in modern culture, but still, very important to the families who keep it alive. The importance and similarity of the family traditions that Bumpus encounters show that we all aren’t that different.

Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBAs – Instruction & Insight Awards.

Full of the warmth of family, mouthwatering food, and the importance of history, readers will relish this tome of culinary arts and a good home-cooked meal. The journey continues in Searching for Family and Traditions at the French Table: Book Two and Bumpus’s Italian adventure in September to Remember: Searching for Culinary Pleasures at the Italian Table.

August 9, 2021
DANGEROUS ALLIANCE Randall Krzak – Political Thriller, Action/Adventure, Thriller/Suspense

Dangerous Alliance, the second volume in Randall Krzak’s Bedlam counterterrorism thriller series, takes the team to the Middle East to disrupt an unholy alliance between North Korea and Somali pirates to hijack oil tankers in exchange for weapons.

Talk about a thriller ripped from the headlines!

Once again, in severe straits because of the maniacal rule of its dictatorship, North Korea finds itself running out of oil. It turns to its “friends” throughout the world—Russia, China, and Iran—but it finds that those friendships have limitations. Shipping oil to North Korea is one. Desperate for answers, the country’s Dear Leader turns to one of its own, an ambassador, and threatens him with the decimation of his family unless he comes up with an answer. Pushed to the limit, the ambassador comes up with a wild but plausible scheme: hire Somali pirates to snatch oil tankers sailing from the Red Sea through the treacherous Gulf of Aden. The ships get repainted, their transponders turned off, and countries friendly to North Korea allow the purloined oil to reach its final destination.

As world events demonstrate, stopping the Somalians is no easy task. But an international intelligence group headquartered in London, calling itself Bedlam, plans to dispatch members of its elite, multinational strike force to the Middle East to fight the pirates and restore order to that part of the world. Neither Bedlam nor the North Koreans know each other’s plans add to the certain knowledge that the two forces will clash in a major confrontation.

That’s one of the threads in this multilayered fully engaging novel, the second in the Bedlam series of thriller novels.

Two other stories run parallel to the North Korean oil hijacking. One involves Soo, the North Korean ambassador, his aide Kim, and their attempts to stay alive by fulfilling the Dear Leader’s wishes knowing that they face certain death if they fail to do his bidding. And the North Korean leader doesn’t help things, changing the nature of the offer to the Somalian pirates at the last moment and ultimately cheating the pirates when and if they actually receive the promised weapons.

The other story follows the Somali pirates as they plan and execute their schemes to secure the tankers. Part of their plan involves creating bloody diversions to keep police forces engaged in fighting acts of local terrorism and focusing less on the pirates’ activities in the waters off East Africa. Their diversionary attack on the Somalian capital of Mogadishu is fierce, well-executed, and gripping reading as the pirates race from site to site, blowing up key structures in the city to keep police attention on terrorism, not on piracy on the high seas. Things, however, do not go smoothly. Diversions go tragically wrong, leading a few to suspect a traitor among them.

The theme of “Who can you trust?” hangs heavily over the actions of the North Koreans, the Somalis, and the forces of Bedlam itself. A few significant characters turn out not to be who readers think they are—don’t even try to guess who they are—and the twists add an extra layer to the tension of this well-crafted novel.

Krzak’s unique knowledge of this world shines throughout this book. The missions undertaken by both good and bad guys feel authentic; the locations feel real, the political and social conditions reflect the author’s obvious understanding of these worlds. The story doesn’t rely on distractions such as one single character to follow; i.e., no James Bond, no George Smiley, or a love affair, a hot-blooded night between the sheets to offset the action. Dangerous Alliance relies on solid storytelling with events so plausibly terrifying that readers may not be able to sleep – for weeks.

If you like your action hot, if you enjoy thrillers with some relationship to the real world, if you enjoy well-written complex stories with some good twists and turns, Dangerous Alliance deserves a place on your reading list. This title won 1st Place in the 2018 CIBAs, Global Thrillers Awards.

August 6, 2021
MATAMOROS: Civil War Adventure, Romance and Espionage in an Old West Border Town by James Kahn – Action/Adventure Romance, Westerns, Western Romance

With the American Civil War as a grisly backdrop, James Kahn shines a light onto the real old West in his latest novel, Matamoros: Civil War Adventure, Romance and Espionage in an Old West Border Town.

The tiny Mexican town of Matamoros becomes a haven for traders, traitors, ex-slaves, and card sharks. Bring the war into the mix with Northern and Southern agents, both self-appointed and official, and the result is perfect for plenty to go wrong.

Clayton Wilkes owns the Brave River Gambling Emporium and can smile and shoot almost in the same breath.

One day he demonstrates his wit and daring for all to see as he confronts a man suspected of cheating at a high-stakes card game. In so doing, he draws the attention of a Northern operative.

Enter Isaac, an ex-slave and Clay’s closest confidant. Isaac’s talented and educated, able to speak the King’s English when called upon, or revert to slave jargon when necessary. After all, southern slavers and rebel spies lurk about in Matamoros and its Texas counterpart, Brownsville – and freed slaves can never be too careful.

There are fortunes to be made at the large shipping port. Those aligned with the rebel cause trade raw cotton to Europe and receive payment in much-needed weaponry. But they’re not the only ones making money. Clay’s riches stand to be boosted by the conflict flaring around him, including Napoleon III’s interest in conquering and controlling Mexico.

In the middle of it all, Clay’s personal life transforms with the unexpected return of his erstwhile partner in scams.

The alluring Allie, a self-made woman with whom Clay shares romantic but somehow inexpressible feelings, arrives on the scene. Allie employs her fascination with the art and science of photography, séances, and other con artistry as she and Clay try to get a handle on what’s going on in Matamoros.

In his varied roles as author, medical advisor, TV and film producer, and novelizer of iconic films like “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” Kahn comes well qualified to identify and explore the dichotomy that makes the best stories even better.

The action in this broad panorama of love, crime, and war rises to a cinematic fever pitch as plot streams swirl and splash. Matamoros brings some real people to life, notably John Wilkes Booth, styled as Clay’s distant cousin. In the end, Kahn’s deftly drawn “postscript” begs for a sequel.

There’s nothing quite like a shady border town to spark larger-than-life characters onto new adventures. The ever-evolving goings-on in Brownsville on the American side and Matamoros across the river, in such tight sequence at such a significant time and so masterfully arrayed by Kahn, will excite and engage all fans of Americana, Westerns, and Romances. What can we say? It’s a thrill a minute set for success – and one book we can highly recommend. Matamoros won 1^st Place in the CIBAs, Laramie Awards for Americana Fiction.

One more thing, for a multimedia experience, Kahn has produced a Matamoros CD of original Americana music, each track about one of the characters in the novel. Click here to find out more.

August 2, 2021
B is for BAYLEE by Kay M. Bates – Middle-Grade Fiction, Middle Grade Blindness Books, Middle-Grade Adventure Books

Kay M. Bates delivers an inspiring middle-grade reader focusing on a young girl who suffers a severe injury that takes her life in a new and surprising direction in B is for Baylee. Along the way, she faces opposition, ridicule, and challenges. Still, she discovers the importance of determination and the actual value of friendship and acceptance when life throws you an unexpected curve.

Twelve-year-old Baylee Harker plays first base in a Stoutland city league softball game when an errant ball strikes her. The unfortunate incident sets in motion a series of events that take her on a physical and emotional roller coaster ride of dealing with sudden vision loss and its life-changing repercussions. Between the hospital, emergency surgery, and subsequent visits with eye specialists who offer little hope for improvement, Baylee’s diagnosis: legally blind. Though she can see illumination and washed-out color with her right eye, she lacks visual acuity. The left eye offers fuzzy vision with black splotches across her visual field. Soon she’s wondering, “Will I be like this the rest of my life?”

At home, Baylee is a typical “tween,” but her blindness compounds frustrations. Bates presents loving, though sometimes over-protective parents and close-knit siblings who help Baylee adjust to the situation. Bates smartly delivers Baylee’s mix of emotions and allows readers to feel it all: angst, fear, and exhilaration. Baylee’s disappointed at the closing of a favorite taco eatery; she’s concerned about descending a staircase on her own, and her anger at the disastrous results in attempting to make mac & cheese drives the story forward. But it’s joining a family sledding excursion that revives her exhilaration for the outdoors.

Returning to school may be fun.

A return to school and the world-at-large soon has Baylee realizing the frailties of human nature. Comments from a hair-flipping, so-called friend Margaux like, “Poor thing” and “… just faking it,” or a tense but ultimately humorous encounter with a parking lot bully emphasize the lack of knowledge and often little respect towards physically challenged individuals. In counterpoint, encouraging comments from a teacher suggest that Baylee’s injury might lead to other opportunities. “Keep your chin up, stay tough,” prove well-meaning words with an advantageous edge. With the help of a compassionate braille instructor and classmate, a mentoring track coach, and newfound friends, Baylee learns to navigate both life’s literal and figurative hurdles as she works to regain the parts of her identity she lost along with her eyesight.

The story is heavy on conversational dialogue, which seems appropriately reflective of the subject matter. With limited vision, Baylee must adapt to a world where sound is now at the forefront of her life. Here a moment of sitting against an amplifier proves a stress reliever. She even turns her reliance on audio/verbal cues into a game by matching the voice of a person.

Bates drew on her own experience to write a story that focuses on the main character’s loss of sight. Bates herself once dealt with severe vision impairment due to rare complications occurring after eye surgery. She now has full vision.

While visually impaired individuals must face their unique journey, this book offers particular insight and perspective for those newly coping with such a sudden life change, as well as those around them. Triumphantly ”B” is for Baylee reflects not only the harsh realities of a blindness diagnosis, but it positively showcases the opportunity for hope and winning achievement.

”B” is for Baylee placed semi-finalist in the CIBA 2019 Gertrude Warner Awards for Middle-Grade Fiction.

July 30, 2021
EUDORA SPACE KID: The Great Engine Room Takeover – Book 1 by David Horn – Science & Math Adventure Children’s Books, Action/Adventure Books, Sci-fi Series Children’s Books

Young readers with a penchant for math, science, and engineering are sure to fall in love with David Horn’s new Eudora Space Kid series. With the premiere story of The Great Engine Room Takeover, readers meet a precocious third-grader and her mad-cap adventures in outer space.

Eudora Jenkins lives aboard a multi-level Astroliner called the Athena and hopes to be its chief engineer someday. The Athena is the flagship of the Astrofleet, a science and defense force for the Planetary Republic, which comprises twenty planets working together to make the galaxy a better place for all living things. Early on, we learn that aliens adopted both Eudora and her older sister Molly. Their new Mom resembles a beautiful gray wolf from the dog-like species of the planet Pox, and their father, Max, looks like an octopus and hails from planet Pow.

Through an imaginative first-person narrative, this “most awesome girl” draws us into her space domain.

Looking for more than a typical childhood existence aboard this flying craft, Eudora’s latest desire is to figure out how to increase the speed of the Athena. After hacking into the spaceship’s PA system, Eudora’s enticing birthday party announcement works as a ploy to empty the engine room. Here she applies her formulas and makes adjustments at the computer terminal in an attempt to break the Astroliner’s speed record.

In Eudora’s funtastic, futuristic world, we meet all types of innovative technology and fabulous new friends.

For example, her pet drago named Bologna appears as a cross between a bunny and a dragon. Young readers will discover electropad devices that hold all the students’ books, notes, and work – and hear tales of exploding pumpkins that wreak havoc on a fuel storage chamber. Not only is this a book that fits in well with the STEM programs now in many educational curriculums, but the story quickly touches on an array of themes, from sibling rivalry and family variations to lessons about learning from our mistakes.

Laced with humor, Eudora comments to her audience, “And you thought your parents were weird!”

An opening illustration by Talitha Shipman sets the stage with a spaceship flying amidst a star-studded galaxy.

Readers will see lion and octopus-headed creatures and a being with Spock-like pointed ears. Details in the artwork throughout the book capture the extreme facial expressions of these spacecraft residents. Eudora’s gleeful look while destroying an asteroid at the push of a button changes to a disgruntled frown when the captain reprimands her. The final pages offer a creative word search puzzle, and the audience also learns that more cosmic adventures with Eudora are on the way.

Eudora Space Kid: The Great Engine Room Takeover will indeed win an audience among inquisitive, inventive-minded youngsters who like to push boundaries and reach for the stars.

July 29, 2021
A SONG of VENGEANCE (Call of Vengeance Book 3) by John Stafford – Global Thriller, Christian Suspense/Thriller, Supernatural Thriller

A Song of Vengeance: A Novel (Call of Vengeance book 3) by John Stafford begins right on the tail of where A Sword of Vengeance left off. In this novel, much like the two before, Stafford displays his talent for weaving in real-world individuals into his Global Thriller tale.

Reeling from the damage inflicted on the Forces of Darkness by Brady, the young American master of The Light and his compatriots, the Evil One seeks revenge. It is now 1980. The Temple Mount in Israel, now consecrated with Christ’s blood after Brady’s successful mission, literally vaporizes any soldier of the Darkness who enters its doors. At a meeting at the Temple Mount, Iranian loyalists—in this telling, Iran seems to be the headquarters of the Devil on Earth—receive instructions by the Darkness to hunt down Brady, capture or kill his wife, Michelle, and kidnap her unborn baby.

One of those at the meeting is a young Imam named Rouhani. Current events fans will recognize the name as the powerful former President of Iran. Also attending is the Banker, a treacherous Vatican priest who controls funds purloined from the Holy See used to fund Darkness missions across the globe.

A new agent of the Darkness emerges.

Meet Gudren Himmler, daughter of Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler, a historical figure who assisted Nazis on the run after World War II. In this book, she connects Nazis and anti-Israel Arabs. Among her many activities, she accuses Saudi Arabia of desecrating Mecca, which she hopes will bring about the fall of the Saudi family and its ties to the United States. She explains this to an Arab who will deliver her messages to the appropriate people and whose lover, unfortunately, winds up being a barbecued lunch for Gudren and her guest.

Such are some of the forces of evil arrayed against Brady and his friends. In this newest volume, quite literally, the Devil is in the details.

Meanwhile, back in Ohio, Brady and company now live on a fortified farm, with detailed plans for their protection that include both military-like fortifications as well as assistance from their Heavenly protectors.

For the first time in the series, Brady’s grandfather, Giovanni, one of the many ongoing characters in the series, helps Brady understand his role as the leader of the anti-Darkness forces. Giovanni spells out the historical war between the forces of good and evil. He directs Brady’s attention to recovering mystical stones that fell from heaven at the same time the angels fell. The quest for the stones becomes the main adventure in the remainder of the book. As the men ready for their journey, the Army of Darkness cooks up plans of their own.

In contrast to the Darkness followers, Stafford develops Brady’s circle of supporters with strength, mission, and clear focus of purpose.

Brady’s family expands as other people join their Catholic family, including growing support from the Mighty Men of King David, an Israeli militant group. The daughter of its commanding officer has now married one of Brady’s brothers. Marriages and details of rich family life take the edge off some of the novel’s more violent passages. There’s even a surprise visit at one of the weddings from a VIP. Since this is a Catholic-themed book, it’s not hard to guess who shows up.

All the books in the series relay credible details, whether in the construction of Brady’s fortified farm, military-style attacks by the forces of both good and evil, or acts of vitriolic violence by the Darkness. As the Devil wages war on human society and uses major historical events and figures to do his vile deeds, readers will be relieved to know that the Evil One may have met his match. Fans of Paranormal Global Thrillers will surely devour this series. Start at the beginning with A Prayer of Vengeance.

July 26, 2021
SEVEN APRILS (American Civil War Brides Book 1) by Eileen Charbonneau – U.S. Military Romance, American Civil War Brides, Historical Romance

Disguised gender identities, warfare, and thwarted romance all play a role in this many-layered novel, Seven Aprils, by award-winning fiction author Eileen Charbonneau.

When Tess Barton, a hardscrabble farm girl, saves the life of a man attacked by a panther, she and he little realize how fated this encounter will prove. Ryder Cole, the man she saved, moves on, pursuing a medical career just as the United States seems destined for war. Intrepid Tess will move on, too, when she learns that her widower father sells her in matrimony to an old, brutish shopkeeper. A wise crone cuts Tess’s hair and garbs her in men’s attire. Reborn as Tom Boyde, who will soon, strangely, meet up with Ryder and become one of his “men,” conscripted into Lincoln’s armies. Tess/Tom shows promise as a medical assistant with some undeniable cooking skills, and together with two other conscripts, they make the team in the Union’s army hospital units.

Things change again for Tess when she and the others visit a brothel in Washington, DC.

The madam spies a young woman in Tess/Tom right away. She dresses and perfumes Tess and sends her to Ryder. As for Ryder, he’s not stopped fantasizing about the huntress “Diana,” who saved him from the panther. As this strange link develops, Tom helps Ryder write to his “sister” Tess since Ryder has feelings – for Tom – that can only be assuaged by the hope of meeting the young man’s female twin someday. Meanwhile, their sexual affair blooms. Diana/Tess will meet Ryder only in darkness, though, and Tom/Tess serves mysteriously as their go-between. When the war ends, Ryder, assuming Tom to have been killed, feels compelled to seek out Tess, who has meanwhile met the Underground Railroad founder, Harriet Tubman, and has more than one surprise for her former lover and comrade-in-arms.

Seven Aprils feels a lot like the mistaken identities and disguises found in a romping romantic Shakespeare comedy.

The plot, undeniably complicated, appears in seven phases – beginning in 1860 with Tess and Ryder’s first encounter and concluding in 1866. When done with subterfuge, the two can finally see each other in complete honesty. The novel abounds with what is clearly the author’s deep commitment to historical fact. Many women disguised their physic to serve in the war. The scenes of army medical care, savage as it had to be under the harrowing circumstances, are founded on real accounts. And the background of noted battles and locations is drawn from the annals of recorded history.

If the tale seems a bit too fanciful, how could Ryder not see that Tom was a female at some point in their mixing? Held together by the reader’s own wish to have it so, readers have a chance to sit back and enjoy the show. So long as Tess/Tom can sustain her/his deception, there will be a gripping war chronicle and a sensual love story on the boil. And in the end, Charbonneau deftly ties up all the threads, leaving an opening (this being Book 1) for more such dramas to play out in the future. Seven Aprils took home the CIBA Laramie Grand Prize for the Best Western Romance novel in 2019.

July 23, 2021
To DARE the DUKE of DANGERFIELD: Wicked Wagers Triology Book 1 by Bronwen Evans – Regency Romance, Historical Romance, Victorian Romance

Lady Caitlin Southall wants to save her home in Bronwen Evan’s first novella in the Wicked Wager Trilogy, To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield.

According to her deceased mother’s will, Caitlin inherits the estate upon her marriage or her twenty-fifth birthday, whichever occurs first. Since she’s twenty-three with no suitors on the horizon, Caitlin’s estate falls under the care of her father, the Earl of Bridgenorth. When her father loses Mansfield Manor in a faro game to the Duke of Dangerfield, Caitlin’s hopes of independence seem lost.

Harlow Telford, a rakish devil, determined to see Caitlin’s father ruined, rejoices when he finally succeeds in divesting the Earl of Bridgenorth of his family home.

Harlow vowed revenge fourteen years earlier when Bridgenorth seduced his recently widowed mother and left her pregnant. His half-brother Jeremy had been paying the price of that betrayal his whole life. Harlow swore he would give Jeremy what should have been his birthright, Mansfield Manor.

But when the beautiful Caitlin marches into his home, demanding its return, Harlow’s captivated by her spirit. Caitlin’s undaunted in determination, and the two agree to a best of three challenges. If Caitlin wins, she gets her house back. If Harlow wins, he’ll get Caitlin in his bed. As the two face off against each other, they soon find much more at stake than they initially realized.

Harlow Telford may seem like the typical, lust-worthy hero, but there’s much more.

After suffering a broken heart at the hands of a cheating fiancé, Harlow swore off love. He spent his adulthood bedding women and gambling, but readers may suspect that Harlow possesses a conscience. Even while making the scandalous bargain with Caitlin, Harlow vows to propose marriage before Caitlin’s reputation falls into ruin. Though he should hate her for the sins of her father, he cannot ignore the lessons learned through watching his mother’s suffering at the hands of a rigid Victorian society.

Harlow sees the injustice of Caitlin not inheriting her mother’s estate and makes numerous plans to rectify the mistake without compromising the promise he made to his half-brother. Harlow cannot take advantage of anyone hurt by the very man who hurt his mother. He finds himself wanting her respect, something he never expected to need from a woman.

Lady Caitlin Southall, on the other hand, possesses an iron will and a salty disposition.

Growing up motherless with a derelict father forced Caitlin into a keen awareness of her financial situation. Her bravery and fire make her a fantastic character, especially when she slaps the arrogant, albeit perfect, face of Harlow.

Caitlan doesn’t hesitate to take matters into her own hands, even though that could mean destroying her reputation. Despite giving in to Harlow’s lecherous designs, she remains determined to find a husband who sees her as a true partner, not an heir-bearer. Her home means more than a place to live. For Caitlin, the manor embodies her security, a chance at financial independence from her father and husband. Retaining Mansfield Manor would prevent her from being sold off to the man who can fill her father’s empty purse.

A simple theme for the novel revolves around the idea of what makes a house a home.

Caitlin’s overwhelming desire to retain Mansfield Manor nearly becomes her undoing when she risks not just her reputation but also her life. Harlow’s love for his brother causes him to take revenge upon the man responsible for the unfortunate situation. His actions almost cost him the woman he loves. Both must learn that people make a house a home – not the stones with which it’s built.

To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield won First in Category in the CHATELAINE Book Awards, a division of the CIBAs, for Romance novels.

July 21, 2021
SHAPING PUBLIC OPINION: How Real Advocacy Journalism™ Should be Practiced by Janice Ellis, Ph.D. – Media and Internet Politics, Political Advocacy, Human Rights

Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D., introduces the journalistic theories of Walter Lippmann in her new non-fiction work, Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy Journalism™ Should be Practiced.

Walter Lippmann, considered one of the foremost journalists in the field over the last 100 years, was a mentor in absentia of Dr. Ellis in the art of advocacy journalism. During Lippmann’s 40+ year career, his columns were syndicated in over 250 newspapers nationwide and over 25 other international news and information outlets. Lippman focused on the ethical dissemination of information, especially about communities, society, and the world. A theory, which Dr. Ellis calls Real Advocacy Journalism™.

Real Advocacy Journalism™ theory pertains to foundational behavior and ethical standing for those who report on, translate, and share information with the masses. This theory identifies the tension between individualism and collectivism, the private sector and public sector, the ruling elite, and the dormant masses.

Real Advocacy Journalism™ eschews demagoguery and tribalism for a belief that reason, logic, facts, truth, and clear graphic language are the most effective instrument of public persuasion.

Remarkably well researched, Dr. Ellis shows throughout the book how Lippmann identified challenges to factual sharing of information and how he spoke to the importance of choosing words wisely.

Three tasks every journalist must consider in the pursuit of Real Advocacy Journalism, 1—separate words and their meanings in order to disentangle complex ideas, 2.-be effective at creating a visual picture to explain the words and concepts used, and, 3.-have a good understanding of the traits and characteristics of the target audience.

Lippmann knew the impossible task of considering everything that the typical listener may utilize in their life as a filter of information. As the audience grows, the number of common words and references diminishes. The information becomes more abstract, lacking a distinct character of its own. This phenomenon leaves the general audience to interpret the message as they see fit, not necessarily equal to the original information. Age, race, gender, social standing, mood, and “his place on the board in any game of life he is playing” inform how information is understood. The journalist must set the highest goal to clarify, evaluate and draw conclusions for readers and listeners too preoccupied or too removed from the actual events to judge clearly for themselves.

The problem occurs when the constant feed of partial information is based on opinion and not wholly on facts.

Information in its most proper form may be perceived as dull and uninteresting. To gain viewers, “opinion news” sources have become increasingly personal and deliberately dramatic to stop the viewer from tuning out or turning the channel. Not having the time, energy, or understanding to draw their conclusions, the listener accepts this partial information as truth.

Ellis cites Robert O. Anthony as saying, “The secret to Lippman’s ability to reach such a wide audience lay in his expert understanding of the information, his reasonableness of temper, his complete honest and profound attachment to the principles of liberty.”

Lippman’s “survivors,” Kennedy, Schlesinger, and others claim Lippman taught them how to think.

He perfected a rare ability to impose verbal order on chaos. Even when wrong, corrected, or later expanded on, the goal was not to be the only voice but to be like “the village light post.” Ellis’ book exposes the dangers of “opinion news” and how very counterproductive “celebrity journalism” truly is, as it puts profits and popularity (ratings) over actual truth.

Ellis encourages readers to research and discover the meaning of the words being used to grasp the whole picture of what any news source presents. Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy Journalism™ Should Be Practiced won Grand Prize in the 2019 CIBAs, Nellie Bly Awards for Longform Journalism.

July 19, 2021