Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

  • BICKER and the SOOLIVANS by Jenna Hestekin – American Civil War Era, Historical & Heartwarming Romance, Family Drama

    BICKER and the SOOLIVANS by Jenna Hestekin – American Civil War Era, Historical & Heartwarming Romance, Family Drama

    The Soolivan family is split apart by the Civil War, but when the ugly side of fate intervenes, a silver lining appears to bring a broken family back together again. While Andy Soolivan is convalescing in the hospital with his new friend, Bicker, he receives news that his uncles have all been killed. In a letter explaining the details, August Soolivan urges his son Andy to come home. The family has suffered enough.

    As the Soolivan family comes back together, a one-armed Bicker arrives like a lost pup looking for a home. He is welcomed into a family that values togetherness above all else. Penelope, the oldest daughter, catches his eye. The only problem is Penelope. She’s hiding the fact that she is engaged to her beau, who is still fighting in the war. She agonizes, though, because he hasn’t written in weeks. But she isn’t the only daughter in the family with secrets to keep. Will fate allow the Soolivan family to find peace when the war has taken so much from them, and will the emerging feelings between Penelope and Bicker be allowed to flourish? Fate and family are at the heart of Bicker and the Soolivans, and everyone from the casual reader to the critic will feel their heart warmed throughout this authentic feel-good story.

    Hestekin’s greatest strength is her ability to create well-developed, engaging characters that fuel a wonderfully character-driven story. The majority of the novel takes place at the Soolivan home and in the nearby small town of Alma, Wisconsin. The characters drive a gripping tale of a family coming together to heal from the losses of a devastating war and the splitting apart again to follow love’s new beginnings.

    Bicker and the Soolivans will sweep you off your feet, make you forget about the current state of world affairs, and fall in love with the antics of a midwestern family in Civil War-era America.

    Jenna Hestekin’s Bicker and the Soolivans earned Semi-Finalist status in the CIBAs 2018 for American Western Fiction, the LARAMIE Awards.

     

     

    **You can purchase a copy of Bicker and the Soolivans directly from the author’s website, by clicking here.

  • JETTY CAT PALACE CAFÉ by Judy Keeslar Santamaria – Magic Realism, Psychological Literary Fiction, Literary Fiction

    JETTY CAT PALACE CAFÉ by Judy Keeslar Santamaria – Magic Realism, Psychological Literary Fiction, Literary Fiction

    Judy Keeslar Santamaria’s skillfully crafted debut novel, Jetty Cat Palace Café, takes the reader from the sophisticated urban areas of Washington state to its remote cranberry coast, accompanying professor Morgen Marín on a life-altering quest.

    Like a present-day recipient of a DNA test gone wrong, when 34-year old Morgen, celebrated pianist and music professor, leaves after visiting her elderly grandmother Eleanor, her mind is spinning. Eleanor, preparing for the inevitable, shared family history, documents, and longstanding questions, which blindsided her granddaughter.

    Everything Morgen believed about herself is wrong—not an uncommon experience, but still . . .

    For Morgen, clarity is often elusive. She frequently misperceives the world around her. Like Alice, after she walked through the looking glass, Morgen exists in a kind of alternative universe. While Alice’s experiences were novel, magical even, Morgen’s are not. She lives on the autism spectrum.

    Setting out with her mother’s restored Volkswagen bus and the keys to a storage unit containing family papers and memorabilia, Morgen has a clear sense of purpose. She is on a single-minded journey to find her mother’s stolen cremation urn, learn the identity of her biological father, and free herself from the man who has dominated and abused her for years.

    Her search takes her to a remote fish camp on Washington’s cranberry coast, miles away from the hectic, affluent areas bordering the Puget Sound. The cast of characters she meets are society’s flotsam and jetsam who drifted in on random currents and found safe harbor in this isolated place, straight into the Jetty Cat Palace Café. With the locals’ claims of the place being haunted, the café binds the motley group together with unseen ties.

    How these random people, in this unlikely place, are melded into parts of Morgen’s past and future creates a story that stretches readers’ credulity and imagination. And, as in looking glass land, Morgen learns that things are not always as they seem, random events have meaning within their own context, and actions from the past exist as long as there is someone left to perceive them.

    In Jetty Cat Palace Café, Judy Keeslar Santamaria’s often lyrical, meticulous writing, engaging characters, vivid imagery, and intricate plot work together to create a winner.

     

  • CONFESSIONS FROM the CONSORTIUM of ROGUE GENE SCIENTISTS by Charles and Cassandra Doe – Metaphysical Science Fiction, Medical Fiction, One-Hour Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Reads

    CONFESSIONS FROM the CONSORTIUM of ROGUE GENE SCIENTISTS by Charles and Cassandra Doe – Metaphysical Science Fiction, Medical Fiction, One-Hour Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Reads

    Confessions from the Consortium of Rogue Gene Scientists is presented as a letter to guide the surviving children of a pair of married scientists who have died as a result of a mysterious genetic illness. The letter is an attempt to prepare the children, explain who and what they are, and what they will likely encounter and why.

    I would be remiss if I didn’t start with what Confessions from the Consortium of Rogue Gene Scientists isn’t before I try to describe what it is. It isn’t a novel or novella. It is around 6,200 words. In literary terms, that’s about 25 pages. It is a mixture of poetry and rational reasoning that borders on brilliant.

    The children’s parents are genetic engineers and researchers. The children are the products of their parents’ work. They are genetically engineered, even though the practice is against the law. Despite the intense societal backlash against the genetic engineering of people, it was the only way to assure the children would not be afflicted with the diseases that killed their parents.

    Confessions from the Consortium of Rogue Gene Scientists is written in the first-person, past tense in the voice of the children’s last surviving parent, their father. The observations within it are revealing; observations on the nature of man, the nature of life, and the root of why things are the way they are. This short story will open your eyes and make you think, and maybe make you a little sad.

    In a sense, this remarkable, thought-provoking treatise serves as a chilling warning to what the children can expect in the future—a warning, perhaps, not only for the scientists’ children but for us all. In a very real way, the letter feels like the start of something bigger, a strong foundation for a groundbreaking work. We can only wait and see. What is certain, the work may be short, but it will stay with you for a very long time.

     

     

     

  • COWBOY by Bob C. Holt – Literary Fiction, Vietnam Era Coming of Age, Literary

    COWBOY by Bob C. Holt – Literary Fiction, Vietnam Era Coming of Age, Literary

    Love is at the center of Cowboy, a novel set in the turbulent 1960s. Love of family, friends, country, love of exploring your personal freedoms, and of course, the love you can experience when you’re young that hurts so bad you can taste it.

    Jim Davis is a Texan, born and bred, who knows early on he must sample life away from the insular farm life of his small home town. Life at home is complicated by the turbulent relationship with a highly religious hard-driven father and a younger, football-star brother. Love of country and love of God are never far from the life of his family, but neither is Jim’s love of girls and sex, which carries a level of complexity all its own.

    Jim’s plans for his own future become even more problematic when his father insists that he join the military. When he enlists in the Army, Jim becomes an officer, and, thanks in part to his completion of a dangerous mission—and his girlfriend, the daughter of a general—a successful life in the military seems all but assured.

    Except he’s not biting. What else does the world offer? Jim leaves the military, winds up as a student at an eastern university, and discovers for the first time the drugs, sex, anti-war sentiments and other new feelings that became everyday experiences to others of his generation. All that becomes secondary to his relationship with Trish, the girl he falls in love with, who provides him with even greater complexities and harder choices that he could have ever foreseen. Can he allow her emotional roller coaster to control his life? Then again, can he truly live without her?

    While their relationship is the centerpiece of Cowboy, the novel also provides a sketchbook of the times as seen by a young man who doesn’t necessarily buy into the social revolution in the glowing terms as do many of his contemporaries. Setting aside all that, Jim’s willingness to wait out the twists and turns of Trish’s life will ring true for anyone of any generation who has entered the country of love and discovered there are no paved roads and no roadmap.

    To 21st Century readers, this is a historical novel. It takes place more than a half-century ago when so many of the social mores were first challenged by millions of young people across the world. How people talk to each other sometimes feels stagy. But it still rings true, both to the times and to the emotional makeup of the many characters who appear throughout the novel.

    While Cowboy has the shape and feel of a memoir, it’s a worthwhile read for anyone who wants to remember the ‘60s or has a curiosity about that fabled era that their parents and/or grandparents lived through. More important, however, is the love story of Jim and Trish. The dynamics of their fragile love ring true for anyone of any age.

    Cowboy by Bob Holt won CIBA 2018 Somerset First in Category in the SOMERSET Awards for literature.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • bada-BOOM! (A Hamlin Park Irregulars Novel: Book 3) by Wally Duff – Female Sleuths, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery

    bada-BOOM! (A Hamlin Park Irregulars Novel: Book 3) by Wally Duff – Female Sleuths, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery

    In this fast-paced, contemporary mystery thriller, Wally Duff takes readers on a wild, fictional ride with this third installment featuring the colorful and versatile Hamlin Park Irregulars. This group of playground moms and friends are at the ready to follow a fellow mom’s investigative lead in the interest of revisiting her former journalism career.

    Tina Thomas, a former investigative reporter who lost her job when she ignored orders issued by the FBI, is now a stay-at-home mom. Unable to resist the lure of a good story, Tina soon finds herself involved in chasing down Dr. J. Randall Fertig, a Chicago surgeon who claims he can perform an operation that cures patients of breast cancer. Having never published his techniques or results, a hospital committee has been formed to verify Fertig’s work. But when a committee doctor suddenly dies in a violent one-car crash considered a probable suicide. But when a second doctor’s death is listed as a suicide, Tina’s instincts kick in, leading her to believe that Fertig is killing off committee members to keep them quiet. With the help of an eclectic and well-defined cast, including her playground cohorts, each with their own workable attributes and a duo of sharp and suave detectives, Tina is soon back in the thick of things. The adrenaline rush doesn’t let up until a surprising climactic reveal that includes an unexpected nod to the contemporary #MeToo movement.

    Duff makes efficient use of short, rapid-fire chapters that move the plot along at a steady pace. Each new reveal serves as an enticing breadcrumb on the trail of heightened drama and suspense.

    Engaging characters integrate easily into the activities of the investigation, whether a computer savvy mom with her hacking skills, or the model beauty of the group who uses her female charms as “the great distractor.” Two male hair stylists help liven up the mix and up the fun factor, particularly when they feel they must escort Tina out the back door of their establishment, fearing her bad hair vibe will reflect poorly on them. Another group of muscle “friends” adds assistance and intrigue with their uncanny ability to help Tina handle the details of some rather delicate situations.

    Duff weaves wit and a bit of dark humor throughout, such as in the details of Tina’s ownership of an unregistered glitter-covered gun that she acquired from a neighbor who “accidentally” died on her kitchen floor. Tina’s calamitous antics also invite humorous Murphy’s law tension. When things keep going wrong – from a cell phone going dead in the dark, to a dropped fanny pack, and a sneeze that can’t be stifled – readers sense the tense, yet comical edge of this central character’s mishaps.

    From secret revelations and bizarre disguises to break-ins, explosions, car chases, and drug-induced deaths, Duff draws us into this modern-day tale marked by suspicious activity, creative investigation, and a colossal denouement. While the initial cancer cure premise may get a bit waylaid amidst the story’s progression, the rousing action keeps readers thoroughly invested and hopeful for a resolution. A sneak peek at the next offering in this series concedes the return of a character from this medical debacle, intent on taking Tina out.

    bada-Boom! ushers us into the medical world and the downfall of its profit-motivated physicians, complete with struggling stiletto-wearing female drug reps and overseeing hospital boards, all pitted against one another with sometimes dire consequences. This latest smart and compelling offering is exactly what the doctor ordered – absorbing entertainment!

     

  • The ADVENTURES of RUG BUG – Volume I: The Revolution by Kay M. Bates – Children’s Bug & Spider Books, Children’s Mouse & Rodent Books, Children’s Action/Adventure Books

    The ADVENTURES of RUG BUG – Volume I: The Revolution by Kay M. Bates – Children’s Bug & Spider Books, Children’s Mouse & Rodent Books, Children’s Action/Adventure Books

    In this imaginative middle-grade reader from Kay Bates, a friendly nomadic beetle gets caught up in a conflict between a city of hospitable mice and the tyranny of rat overlords. Here the amiable insect puts his knowledge and training to good use by joining forces with his murine allies in an all-out effort to bring peace to their domain.

    Rug Bug is a blue-bellied, green-shelled hexapod who is injured while trying to get away from the swatting wrath of humans and a feline he’s encountered while flying about The House. To escape, Rug Bug (or, Rug to his friends) slips into a baseboard hole and soon finds himself in the bustling world of Mousetopia. In this miniature anthropomorphized setting, Rug finds help and treatment at the City Health Center, then locates a safe haven at the “Cheeze Wheel,” a local eatery/catering establishment. Here he befriends a motley crew of employees and quickly learns of the long-standing feud between the greater rodent populace led by Fat Rat Bart and his army and how they terrorize Mousetopia and its inhabitants.

    With no military forces or means of retaliation, Mousetopians are forced to live under the thumb (or rather a paw) of rat rule. While a monthly acorn & cheese tax holds the city in fear, additional threats from Bart lead the Cheeze Wheel owners and staff to contemplate the liberation of Mousetopia. Using Rug’s past technical training as a member of the fighting Beetle Brigade, plans for a revolution begin. Unfortunately, vermin spies are at large, and Mousetopia experiences a significant defeat. Notorious Bart is not above mouse-napping, which suddenly brings the younger generation into the conflict. Meanwhile, Rug and the adults look for additional reinforcement from outside sources to deal with their plight.

    While Bates offers up this engaging rodent utopia by showcasing thematic contrasts of good vs. evil, at its heart, this proves a relatable story with a beautiful medley of furry, long-tailed characters exuding human qualities. Readers experience the likes of a tap-dancing young mouse who marches to his own drum; school bullies who strike within the halls of mouse academia; a pacifist rat soldier who longs for a gentler career; and a down-trodden mouse community choosing to rise above its oppressor.

    Using witty footnotes sprinkled throughout the narrative, Bates’ humorous notations readily provide definitions for vocabulary words that may be new to some readers. From a quick-thinking Rug pulling on a cat’s whiskers to release a mouse from its grip to arthropods in training donning fighting-stick helmets that resemble toilet plungers, Bates detailed writing also conjures comical images Middle-Graders will giggle about.

    Within this likable story highlighting unexpected friendships, Bates provides a heroic little character who not only finds solace in an unfamiliar kingdom but who also works diligently to bring about peace and harmony in a conflicted world. The lesson behind this rodent revolution reveals charming, authentic, and creative entertainment. An adventure destined to win young readers and those who love them!

    The Adventures of Rug Bug: The Revolution won 1st Place in the 2018 CIBAs, in the Gertrude Warner division for Middle-Grade Fiction.

  • BLOOD on the CHESAPEAKE by Randy Overbeck – Paranormal, Crime Thriller, Ghost Mystery/Suspense

    BLOOD on the CHESAPEAKE by Randy Overbeck – Paranormal, Crime Thriller, Ghost Mystery/Suspense

    Once upon a time, Darrell Henshaw saw dead people. Or rather, one specific dead person: his uncle. When Darrell was just 13, Dead Uncle Ed sat on the end of his bed and warned him not to go joyriding with his brother the next day – and not to let his brother go, either. Darrell only half-believed in ghosts in general or Ed in particular, so he only half-paid attention to that warning. Darrell didn’t go, his brother did, and his brother lost some toes to hypothermia and his chance to play varsity sports.

    Darrell is an adult now and has been for a while. He’s also the new football coach and history teacher, at crumbling Williams High School in the very tiny town of Wilshire, Maryland. He believes it’s his job to bring a high school championship to the school in its final year in its old building. But the ghost that haunts the halls of Williams High School has other plans for the new coach. Ghost-sensitive Darrell is the spirit’s one last chance at revenge before the walls of the place where he was murdered come tumbling down.

    Blood on the Chesapeake is, first and foremost, a ghost story. Darrell is haunted by the ghost of a young black man, just as the entire school has been for over 50 years. The ghost moves objects in Darrell’s office, operates the staff copy machine, and generally appears all over the school, but most frequently in Darrell’s office and the widow’s walk outside his window, the place where the young man supposedly hanged himself. But there are also plenty of people who hint that there is more to the story, and it’s that search for more that drives Darrell to uncover the truth, through a search of primary sources and historical records that is both fascinating and meticulous at the same time. In that search, readers will experience both the joy of discovery and the despair of what is revealed. It seems that some things are even worse than imagined.

    The truth that Darrell unearths is one that the entire town has shrouded in a cloak of silence – and shame. After all, even in the early 1960s, lynchings were terrible things that happened in rural areas of the Deep South, not in suburban Maryland.

    As Darrell dives deeply into history, the real history, he learns that it happened there and that the attitudes and beliefs that caused that young man’s death are alive and well – as are the men responsible for that death. Men who will do anything to protect themselves. After all, they’ve already committed one murder. Why not more?

    While the hauntings of the high school and its coach are certainly the chilling stuff of which nightmares are made, it’s the truth that Darrell uncovers that is the real terror. Terrible things could happen there – and did happen there. And they were covered up there because history is written by the victors. In this case, the survivors and the victims have no voice.

    Blood on the Chesapeake is a haunting story about the lengths and depths that one man will go to finish his unfinished business. If revenge is a dish best served cold, this time that revenge is served with the chill of the grave.

     

     

  • ELEPHANTS IN MY ROOM by Christie Nicholls – Dark Humor, Love, Sex & Marriage Humor, Actor & Entertainer Biographies

    ELEPHANTS IN MY ROOM by Christie Nicholls – Dark Humor, Love, Sex & Marriage Humor, Actor & Entertainer Biographies

    A bitingly funny collection of life-stories from Christie Nicholls – stand-up comedian, actor, and writer – made all the more piquant by her repeated insistence that she has no short-term memory. Fortunately for us, her long-term reminiscences more than make up the deficit.

    Nicholls has divided the book into four parts. In the first, “A Broad Abroad,” she recalls her experiences of traveling to far-flung places, beginning with a summer in Belém, Brazil as a child. She and her brother, for some reason nicknamed Beluga, slept in hammocks and played in a swimming pool, but much of her cherished time involved a German Shepherd named Ferdinand, from whom she learned dog talk. Raucous family bowling in Bologna, Italy, is contrasted with attendance at a staid English wedding. At a later period, Nicholls and her mother went to Sweden, where the budding comic tried her hand at stand-up in newly acquired Swedish, leading to an amusing mix-up of jargon.

    “Odd Jobs” highlights employment, from babysitting to trying to sell magazines by phone and getting the ax for her admirable refusal to inveigle a woman who was going blind to buy a subscription. Nicholls’ recollections of those “Dearly Departed” includes lessons learned from a singularly inspiring music teacher, and time spent with her grandparents – with the pain of watching them slowly “disappear” from failing health and dementia.

    In “Boys to Man,” she confesses a few of her more outstanding, and hilarious, meet-ups with the opposite sex, revealing her youthful whims and desires. The final episode, and the book’s closing, is a comedy of errors that gradually reveals itself as a well-crafted salute to her partner and their quirky manner of demonstrating mutual respect.

    Nicholls is a charming yarn spinner, revealing much about herself in this lively aggregation, and not all of it merely for laughs. She expresses her self-doubts and her struggles with schooling and recalls the year she did not win a prize from her music teacher. The experience of not being acknowledged for her effort spurred her to try even harder next time. Nicholls admits her many flaws in a characteristic satirical manner, almost certainly dramatized for comic effect. But poignant moments arise frequently. After feeling frustrated in her early relationship with her grandfather Poppop, who could be, and often was, sarcastic and bombastic, she took up his cause. She protected him when he became wheelchair-bound, rewarded by his beaming smiles.

    Anyone familiar with the author’s significant talents will be happy to learn that she can write as well. Indeed, those getting to know her through this debut writing romp will want to see her show, follow her on social media, stalk her at the grocery store… well, we discourage stalking. What you will come away with is a genuine respect and admiration for Nicholls, a smart modern comedian, who brings her audience joy and quite possibly makes the world a brighter place to reside.

     

     

  • MORE THAN JUST WEATHER and MUSIC: 200 Ways to Use Alexa by Bradley Metrock

    MORE THAN JUST WEATHER and MUSIC: 200 Ways to Use Alexa by Bradley Metrock

    So you think you know Alexa?

    A new book on the ubiquitous Amazon-created voice assistant, Amazon Alexa: More than Just Music and Weather  will convince you otherwise within its first few pages.

    Start by looking at the table of contents. There are 226 different commands you can say to your voice-activated gadget. Some are certainly the basics: latest news, weather, access to your favorite music, and more. Those you would expect. But then there’s “baby sleep white noise,” “Yes, Sire (an Alexa game, not a 50 Shades of Gray manual), the ability to control your Rhoomba vacuum or Braava jet mop, and so much more.

    It’s not only a great list of suggestions of the many things you can do with your Alexa device, it’s also an impressive education in the many ways in which voice-activated assistants are becoming a vital part of daily life.

    We’re well accustomed to the way that our mobile phones have become essential to our daily lives. Alexa—more accurately, the Amazon Echo device with the Alexa voice assistant—debuted in late 2014. It was followed shortly by the Google Home system, making Google’s legendary information treasure trove available in the home, and Microsoft’s Cortana voice system for Windows. Alexa’s system, however, came out of the chute with a greater number of Alexa-centric services and a more comprehensive list of vendors whose products and services were already linked to Alexa. It’s these impressive listings that this book brings into focus for everyday readers.

    Each service is listed on its own graphic page that explains the service and presents the voice command you say to Alexa that will get you there. It’s a fun experience and a helpful guide to get the most out of this useful technology.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker

  • CHASING CLEOPATRA by Tina Sloan – Espionage, Romantic Suspense Thriller, Mystery

    CHASING CLEOPATRA by Tina Sloan – Espionage, Romantic Suspense Thriller, Mystery

    Was there ever a woman as glamorous and complex as Cleopatra Gallier? She’s 44, drop-dead gorgeous, charmingly clever, fabulously wealthy, a martial arts expert, and she lives in a luxurious villa on a stretch of Hawaii’s coastline.

    All would seem perfect in Cleo’s world and she puts on her “best game face,” but sadly we learn, she’s traumatized for life after a horrendous childhood assault. Since then, she has kept her distance from others, particularly, men. Well, except for one.

    But as Chasing Cleopatra opens, the new novel by American actress Tina Sloan, Cleo’s undercurrents of pent up passion are going to vent. She literally crashes into a young man―a much younger man―with her car―a minor accident, actually. But Cleo finds herself inexplicably and uncontrollably sexually attracted to the young handsome rogue and he is more than willing to reciprocate. Raging hormones on both sides of the sexual divide take over making for some torrid romancing.

    So, you think, this is going to be that kind of novel.

    Clearly, from the first words, you suspect there is going to be a lot more than “that” in Chasing Cleopatra and you will not be disappointed.

    Cleopatra’s lustful affair with young Jake Regan becomes more complex as she discovers his presence in Hawaii is due to a Christmas holiday vacation with his (Norman Rockwellesque) family. Mother and his two brothers have arrived. Jake’s dad is expected to arrive at any moment from yet another far-flung business trip. But the coup d’état is that Jake’s longtime girlfriend, who also is en route, is expecting wedding bells to be announced at the gathering. It becomes obvious that Cleo and Jake’s unrelenting passion will have an impact on the Regan family.

    What neither of them can anticipate is how their relationship over the next few days will also force the other members of his family to reveal their own secrets, some of which will open old wounds and create some life-changing events.

    One of those secrets will reveal a pending Al Qaeda attack on Pearl Harbor. The other will delve deeply into Cleo’s past and touch her most challenging moment: the death of the only man she ever truly loved. Who would think that one of the Regan family’s secrets would become an existential threat to the life and purpose of Cleopatra Gallier and the Regan family?

    The writing is lush, with the perfect amount of details, and the storytelling had this reader turning the pages. The intriguing backstory seems to presage a series of books on the life and times of Cleopatra Gallier. If so, they would make a great addition (with a more contemporary slant) to the reading list for devotees of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Catriona McPherson’s Dandy Gilver series.

    Combining a romance novel with a thriller is not easy, but Chasing Cleopatra delivers the goods with plotting as intricate as a silver spider’s web.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker