Chanticleer Book Reviews

Category: Reviews

BUTTERFLY PINNED by Leslie Liautaud – Psychological Thriller, Suspense, LGBTQ+ Contemporary Fiction

Fleeing a small and troubled life back home, college student Marin falls headfirst into the attention of the fabulous, wealthy, and mercurial Bette. In Leslie Liautaud’s psychological thriller Butterfly Pinned, Marin gives body and soul to Bette for agonizing want of transformation.

Marin has toiled for the chance to become someone new and continues to fall back into her old limitations. Even as she moves to Chicago with a college scholarship, she struggles to escape the shadows of anxiety and poor self-esteem. But a chance meeting with Bette Winston casts her in glorious and terrible light.

Bette enthralls Marin with poetry, luxury, and the backdoor invitation to a world of refined grandeur. She convinces Marin to double-major in philosophy, while pulling her away from classes and all other mundane responsibilities. Marin gets to share this new world with Bette’s high-class friends Ozzie and Harry, shunning any connection to her old, embarrassing life. But as she meets those who know Bette beneath her lustrous glamor, Marin glimpses a sinister history.

However, even Bette’s shadows pull Marin deeper, until she finds herself living in them.

Terrible family secrets wash away under currents of alcohol and unnamed pills. Bette tantalizes Marin with the trappings of wealth and stirs unfamiliar desire in her chest until all that could possibly matter is the chic, impressive woman Bette promises to carve from her flesh.

Even as Marin sees the yawning chasms between Bette and those who truly know her, she can’t resist clinging tighter to her beloved. With each part of her old self that Bette cuts away, Marin grows ever more confident and ever more desperate. The quiet, unfashionable girl who first moved to Chicago becomes no more than an object of Marin’s disgust and fear. She sacrifices school, family, and her own mind at Bette’s shining altar, until she comes face to face with the dark truths that she’d tried to drown.

Butterfly Pinned binds readers with the same aching tension that Bette binds Marin.

We hear conflicting stories about Bette and see as many of her different faces. She’s a coiled snake, a girl in pitiable need of love, a sophisticate who sees the potential hidden in others, and a living façade who shapes her perfect world from glass and blood. A question—what Bette is truly capable of—grows with each unexpected turn in her behavior. When Marin finally gets an answer, the horror is at once shocking and inevitable.

With an intimate, believable cast of characters, Liautaud shapes an emotionally resonant psychological thriller.

Marin desires what many people do—to change, leave behind the parts of herself that haunt and limit her. Her constant battle to prove herself worthy of Bette’s attention is—while the cause of so much trouble—a motivation that makes her deeply sympathetic. Even when she makes her most questionable decisions, readers will follow her with understanding and mounting fear, rather than judgement.

Bette, conversely, defies true understanding. Her capricious affection and gilded life might enchant Marin, but it’s Bette’s fathomless well of emotional need that makes her impossible to merely turn away from. This combination of mystery and intimate intensity gives Bette’s character a powerful gravity as both lover and villain. She looms over the story and everyone in it, maintaining the curiosity and dread anticipation at the heart of this genre.

Liautaud fleshes out her novel with memorable and revealing side characters. The delightful and deplorable alike mingle at lustrous galleries, Marin refuses the caution and help of those who know the danger closing in on her, and each person’s true nature comes to light as the masks of privileged civility fall away. Slivers of Bette’s capacity for harm show in the guarded words of characters like Harry, Simon, and Eleanor—those few not fully taken by her illusions.

A story of desire and self-deception, Butterfly Pinned asks the cost of truly becoming someone else.

Beauty and cruelty go hand-in-hand throughout the novel as the first disguises and demands the second. Marin frequently refuses to look beneath the glimmering surface of Bette’s world. Even when she knows the murky depths waiting for her, Marin sinks for the chance to emerge reborn in glory.

When Marin’s safety and very capacity to choose are taken from her, she faces grim reality and the risk that she might not emerge from those depths at all.

Equal parts fascinating and painful, Butterfly Pinned delivers both a striking thriller and a profound exploration of toxic love and trauma.

April 14, 2025
SEA TIGERS & MERCHANTS: A New American Generation (Salem Stories Book 2) by Sandra Wagner Wright, narrated by Christa Lewis – Historical Fiction, Maritime & Naval History, US Historical Fiction

Sandra Wagner-Wright’s audible version of Sea Tigers & Merchants: A New American Generation, Salem Stories Book 2 continues the sagas of two prominent families that dominate the shipping industry of young Salem. Narrator Christa Lewis fully embodies the unique characters of this swashbuckling historical adventure.

Wagner-Wright takes us back to 1790. In recently independent America, the next generation of the Crowninshield and Derby families try to continue building their fortunes on the treacherous high seas. Threats of pirates, storms, and ever-changing economies drives their fates, their successes, and their failures. Wagner-Wright’s skillful pen brings to life each young person, female and male, as they variously seek out or shun a chance at love on shore.

Captain George Crowninshield and Haskett Derby duke it out for power and control of the Eastern Seaboard, with their families caught up in the contest.

Wagner-Wright shows how these merchants brave great risk through maritime exploits in France, the Netherlands, the West Indies, Africa, and Asia. During their adventures on the sea, these captains fight relentlessly for the vessels—which become as famous as those captains themselves.

Wagner-Wright’s expert knowledge of this time period allows her to illustrate the nuances behind each family’s successes, humiliations, and failures.

She explores a patriarchal society’s desire to control the lives of their women and offspring in pursuit of building empires. We become familiar with the strong women and daughters who support their men and help them make decisions to promote their children and businesses.

Sea Tigers & Merchants recreates the courting process of early Americana, along with other rules and rituals of society at the time. We are taken behind the scenes to see how the women smooth the ruffled feathers of their proud and arrogant husbands, tempering feuds between fathers and sons. Wagner-Wright shows these patriarchs both at their most effective and their most flawed. This lends her male characters a sympathetic human element while highlighting the female power behind these strong men who depend on their women for guidance and counsel.

The post-revolutionary times may have put the war behind them, but they are still fraught with aggressions by the British crown and pirates on the high seas. Wagner-Wright’s historical representation of this period brings to life the real threat imposed by an angry monarch at the mariners of the newly formed nation.

The historical exploration of trade, politics, and romantic alliances in Sea Tigers & Merchants will appeal to any readers who appreciate the revolutionary period in America.

This audible version will further engage and delight listeners through a combination of Wagner-Wright’s masterful storytelling and Christa Lewis capturing the voices of these myriad family members who helped shape a nation.

April 9, 2025
THE MONARCHS by Mark Sabbas – Sci-fi Adventure, Paranormal, Metaphysical

Hounded by an authoritarian military, vicious fellow psychics, and his own mental shadows, teenage Samuel Helen seeks the only people who can help his comatose beloved Evelyn. In Mark Sabbas’s Metaphysical adventure novel, The Monarchs, Samuel has no choice but to trust a strange and powerful girl, Luna, as his guide.

Decades after a nuclear apocalypse devastated Earth, the New Youth were born amidst rebuilding civilization. Vested with large, shining eyes and mysterious psychic power, these children are often feared as demons and taken by the Union military to be molded into weapons. Samuel himself spent most of his life in a military research facility. He grew up believing that a dark and furious power slumbered within him, eager to emerge and wreak havoc.

But Samuel’s not quite alone in this painful world. He has the love of an orphaned non-psychic girl, Evelyn, who urges him to run away with her. And within the walls of the Facility, Samuel relies on the mentorship and counsel of the psychologist Walter. Walter’s old-world music awakens a sense of beauty and inspiration in Samuel, though he struggles to accept Walter’s belief in a beneficent cosmic power.

Thanks to them and the few other New Youth he’s able to befriend, Samuel clings to an open mind and hope for a better world. Both of which are tested when an army of renegade psychics—the Children of the Dragon—lay waste to the Facility.

Despite their words of liberation, leaders Matteo and Tiana leave death and suffering in their wake. They demand absolute obedience on their quest to bring down the Union and rise as Earth’s ‘rightful’ rulers. But even as the Children of the Dragon hold Walter over his head, Samuel refuses to bloody his hands for them. Instead, he and Evelyn flee the desolation.

Though the two young lovers are aided by a mystical presence, it isn’t long before they’re found by a pair of hunters with cruel intentions. Samuel begins to draw more on his metaphysical power, but after his rescue attempt Evelyn is left in a state of supernatural unconsciousness. They would have surely died if not for the sudden appearance of Luna, a New Youth with incredible power both destructive and enlightened.

Luna speaks of a Sanctuary led by her sister, where they can find safety and a healer capable of reaching Evelyn’s soul. But to get there, Luna and Samuel have to follow a mystical river and evade capture while caring for Evelyn’s body along the way. Samuel struggles against his internal demons, trying to grasp enough power to protect himself and his companions without giving in to guilt and hatred.

Luna guides Samuel through the physical and spiritual alike as they both face shadows of the past.

While Samuel can’t be sure how much to believe Luna’s words, he opens himself to the idea of connecting with a broader world consciousness and eventually learns that he has to accept the darkness inside himself in order to embrace the light. Samuel’s good heart and dedication to Evelyn make him an endearing protagonist and help to anchor his metaphysical experiences in relatable emotion.

Luna herself breathes levity and life into the story as she clashes with Samuel’s troubled, sorrowful state. Their shifting dynamic will pull readers eagerly down the river with them. As Samuel learns more about Luna’s violent past, he and the reader alike wonder who this otherworldly girl really is.

Samuel’s metaphysical encounters reveal that more than just his own destiny stands at a vital crossroads—the whole of Earth is caught in a battle between good and evil.

The Monarchs shows a world on the precipice of great change. On one side are the old paradigms of violent dominance, perpetuated by both the Union military and the Children of the Dragon. On the other stands a vision of community and mutual understanding—an enlightened age rising from the ashes. This isn’t a battle that can be won by force, but rather through radical forgiveness and communion with the divinity inside every soul.

Through music, out-of-body visions, and meditative dreams, The Monarchs engages with philosophy and spirituality.

Although readers might struggle to grasp these visions at first, growing familiarity with the characters gives more shape to the abstract imagery and implications. Samuel in particular illustrates the idea of divine unity through his reckonings with traumatic memories and struggle to forgive himself for his mistakes. Later in the story these visions sometimes retread the same emotional ground, although with distinct settings and imagery.

This adventure centers its message of optimism and universal belonging.

The hope for a better world pushes Samuel on in the face of cruelty and loss. He learns to reject cynicism and a focus on the self, gradually putting his faith in a greater metaphysical plan than he can see at once. In his darkest moments, songs from his mother and from Walter’s revered records give him comfort.

Throughout their journey, Samuel, Luna, and Evelyn are buoyed by the kindness of old friends and strangers alike. An old priest gives them shelter and spiritual guidance, a mother invites them to share her roof and food, and even some of those who did them harm in the past return to offer a helping hand. The Monarchs is a story of forgiveness, hope, and the power of love freely given.

April 7, 2025
PUPPIED To DEATH: A Dog Lover’s Cozy Mystery, Barkview Mysteries Book 9 by C.B. Wilson – Cozy Animal Mysteries, Murder Mysteries, Amateur Sleuths

Puppied to Death: A Dog Lover’s Cozy Mystery by C.B. Wilson takes television editor-in-chief Cat Hawl from the quiet seaside town of Barkview to the lush landscapes of Hawaii on a mission to find her missing sister, Lani.

The scene for book 9 in this award-winning series is laid when Professor Aimee Loong hires Lani as a dog sitter for her French bulldog, Oolong. As Lani and Aimee grew closer, she joins Aimee in her search for a family artifact of significant value — a Chinese lacquered box that has been missing for centuries.

It matches two other similar boxes, and when brought together they are rumored to contain a powerful message: How to grow the best Oolong tea, a variety that dates back to the time of the Chinese emperors. Although this appears to be of minor importance to the common person, to Professor Loong’s family the tea’s value is immeasurable. If Aimee finds the missing box, her family’s farm could rely on that secret technique for many more successful years producing the prized tea.

But when the professor is found dead and Lani vanishes, Cat enters the picture. She must rely on her wits — and the help of her Mahjong-loving mother and a group of amateur sleuths — to uncover the truth.

Wilson weaves a complex mystery filled with unexpected twists and charming characters.

Fans of cozy mysteries will appreciate the quirky cast, from the fiercely loyal Mahjong Mamas to the ever-watchful bulldog who holds more secrets than he lets on. The interplay between Hawaiian culture, ancient family rivalries, and modern-day murder gives this story a fresh, engaging angle.

The storyline gives readers enough curious details to keep them eagerly turning the pages as they search for clues. As heart pounding excitement builds, you are immersed in the danger of a rivalry that stretches back to the days when the emperor sat upon his throne in the Forbidden City.

As with previous entries in the Barkview Mysteries, Wilson doesn’t shy away from blending humor, heart, and suspense.

Puppied to Death balances the charm of its dog-centric world with a genuinely puzzling mystery that will keep readers guessing. Pair that with well-developed characters who you’ll root for throughout the adventure, and you’re in for a T-R-E-A-T.

For dog lovers and cozy mystery fans alike, Puppied to Death delivers a satisfying tale of intrigue and charm. Whether this is your first visit to Barkview or you’ve followed Cat’s adventures from the start, this delightful ninth installment will leave you eager for the next mystery to unfold.

March 26, 2025
WHERE The SLEEPING LADY LIES by M.E. Schuman – Environmental Thriller, Mystery, Amateur Sleuth

An Environmental Thriller inspired by the 9.2 Good Friday earthquake of 1964 in South Central Alaska, M.E. Schuman’s Where the Sleeping Lady Lies is a story of political espionage and environmental danger.

The legend of the Sleeping Lady is a tale of a giant woman who falls asleep waiting for her lover to return from battle. When tragic news arrives that her lover was killed, the other women cannot bear to wake her, and to this day the Sleeping Lady still lies as part of the landscape.

In the present day, Sam is on her way back to Alaska, a few weeks after a catastrophic earthquake has hit.

She received a call from her friend Jackson, whose twin Jacob, is missing and presumed dead. Though Jackson is careful about what details he shares over the phone, there’s something not adding up about the earthquake and a mining operation his friend Camden was involved in.

Sam soon learns that her best friend Shelby has also been missing since the earthquake. Urged to come home, Sam investigates a company called ARKose, who was conducting a highly secretive mining project in the area. As she and her comrades uncover more information about the company’s shady motivations, it becomes a race against time to stop future catastrophes that would cost countless lives.

The chapters shift from focusing on different points-of-view, so readers get a wider scope of the actions and motivations of the characters.

Author M.E. Schuman has traveled the world and has a master’s in environmental science and policy, which gives Where the Sleeping Lady Lies a strong understanding of the issues it tackles.

There is quite a bit of science jargon in the dialogue, but Schuman does a good job at working explanations into the story. Sometimes this exposition can be a bit heavy, but this can be necessary in most cases when writing about complex scientific concepts.

Where the Sleeping Lady Lies brings an interesting and refreshing scenario to the Eco-thriller genre, with plausible modern-day science rather than near-future or outlandish environmental circumstances.

M.E. Schuman’s Where the Sleeping Lady Lies is a subtle yet exciting environmental thriller that skillfully explains scientific concepts and findings in a way that makes it accessible to readers without losing the details that are important to the plot. This makes Where the Sleeping Lady Lies an especially satisfying read for people interested in science.

March 24, 2025
BEFORE The SCRAMBLE: A Scottish Missionary’s Story by Roderick Sutherland Haynes – Historical Record, African Missionaries, 1880s

Before the Scramble: A Scottish Missionary’s Story by Roderick Sutherland Haynes reveals the day-to-day writing of an early Christian missionary in what is now Malawi—one of very few such first-hand accounts to have survived nearly a century and a half.

Driven from Scotland by evangelical zeal, economic depression, and the lionized stories of David Livingstone, James Sutherland travels for months to the Eastern coast of Africa. But the young agriculturalist still has a long journey ahead of him before he arrives at the Livingstonia Mission on Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi). He boats up the rivers Zambesi and Shire alongside fellow missionaries and workers from local African tribes.

Withstanding the trials of unfamiliar landscape, constant travel, and tropical disease, Sutherland makes it to the largely British-controlled region around Lake Nyasa. Here, his work has only begun. Early missionaries worked in many fields at once to keep their stations running, and Sutherland takes on the even greater task of helping establish a new mission on a more promising plot of land.

From November 2^nd, 1880 to May 20^th, 1881, Sutherland recorded his experiences—not with an eye to being etched in history, but as one man in a complex and mercurial world. Haynes frames Sutherland’s journal entries with historical context, creating a fuller picture of this pivotal moment.

Before the Scramble contains clear and extensive research—into Sutherland himself, the many other figures who shaped the Lake Nyasa region, and the wider colonization of Africa. Primary sources and the works of various history experts match the authenticity of Sutherland’s own records. Readers will find bountiful references for further exploration of their own.

This book begins with a broad-scope introduction to the time and place where Sutherland worked, including maps which make British Central Africa approachable even to those with little previous knowledge of it. Haynes examines the influence of figures like David Livingstone on the mindsets and motivations of people in the late 19^th century, further illustrated by Sutherland’s own writings on their work.

Before the Scramble gives Sutherland’s entries enough space to breathe, preserving his authenticity as a direct witness and actor.

Sutherland writes simply compared to intentional historic records of the time, and in that simplicity gives his honest account of a land and people he’s never seen before. He shows the paternalistic views of his time, including a genuine belief in his spiritual calling as a missionary, but also curiosity and awe at the unfamiliar natural beauty of the Lake Nyasa region.

His specific language provides ample opportunity to learn about the terminology of the day, and what it reveals about the culture surrounding these missionaries. Sutherland writes this personal journal with an unguarded voice, open about the particular hardships of travel as well as his thoughts on the various people he meets—African, Arab, and British alike.

These journal entries conclude with a number of poems that Sutherland referenced, as well as three letters he sent back to his family members. These give a rare insight into his personal emotional perspective on life at the time, a fascinating piece of history that can’t be found outside of such direct first-hand accounts.

As Sutherland illustrates the complexities of his life, Haynes gives a nuanced explanation of the role these early missionaries played in the eventual colonial scramble for Africa.

Haynes points out the Victorian attitudes that people like Sutherland held and which were used to justify European imperialism: the cultural supremacy of Europe; the moral imperative to convert ‘heathens’ to Christianity; the desire to bring commerce and ‘civilization’ to Africa.

While the history of colonialism bears out the immeasurable violence behind these ideas, Before the Scramble considers the moral nuances of people like Sutherland, especially as he witnesses some of the cruel Arab slave trade that European powers claimed to be fighting against.

Regardless of intentions, Haynes explains how the work of these missionaries established infrastructure and social dynamics that would empower the following imperial conquest. And how, in turn, that conquest would provide the powerful backing for future missionaries to achieve their goals of conversion.

This truly unique record shows the intricacies of daily life that are so easily scoured away by the sands of time.

Before the Scramble is both a fascinating read in itself and a valuable companion piece for broader-scope historical writing about the early missionaries in central-Southern Africa. Sutherland’s ground-level experience of the Lake Nyasa region provides a glimpse into the challenges and subtle realities of those who walked a similar path to him. History readers, however well-seasoned, will find Before the Scramble a remarkable and human account of journey, purpose, and complex colonial groundwork.

March 19, 2025
THROUGH QUICK And QUINN by Erica Mimran Sherlock – Contemporary Fiction, Friendships & Relationships, Grief & Loss

Through Quick and Quinn, Erica Mimran Sherlock’s young adult novel, follows two intertwined journeys of grief, healing, and questioning the status quo.

The titular characters Quick and Quinn both experienced family tragedies at a young age but deal with the aftermath in very different ways. After Quick’s family moves to a new town in an attempt to get away from so many memories of what they had lost, Quick and Quinn start attending the same school. Shortly thereafter, in their junior year, everything changes.

While working together on a class assignment, Quick and Quinn find they share an interest in research. Their friendship slowly grows beyond their shared hobby and becomes the missing piece of each other’s healing journey.

With graduation creeping ever closer, Quick and Quinn have many tough decisions ahead of them.

They struggle to mend the wounds still present within themselves and their families and fear their friendship might not last. Much as Quick and Quinn hope to stay in each other’s lives, the natural course of adulthood threatens to turn adolescent relationships into mere fond memories.

The characters of Quick and Quinn come alive through their shared but distinct experiences with grief and tragedy.

Everyone deals with grief and trauma differently, with Quick retreating to the internet for his “digs” and Quinn drawing towards meditation and crystals. The supporting characters throughout Through Quick and Quinn are understated but support the narrative’s focus on the two protagonists.

Young readers will relate to Quick and Quinn’s feeling of not belonging as they start high school, as well as how one teacher can make all the difference.

The emotional focus of the story is very effective. Quick and Quinn are well fleshed-out and their interactions are complex and meaningful as their internal journeys through grief and healing grow organically from their similar pasts. This demonstrates how important their relationship truly is.

Erica Mimran Sherlock’s Through Quick and Quinn is a debut young adult novel about growing up and growing out of grief, and how life-changing the power of love can be.

March 17, 2025
GUIDED: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road by Kirsten Throneberry – Memoirs, Surviving Loss, Spirituality

In her stunning memoir, Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road, Kirsten Throneberry weaves together the highs and lows of a road trip packed with life wisdom, where she explores grief, spirituality, and rekindled hope.

Throneberry’s achingly vulnerable memoir splits its readers’ hearts and tenderly sews them back together.

In the aftermath of the devastating loss of her husband, Kirsten sells her home and takes her two small sons, two elderly pups, and eccentric mother on a year-long road trip around the United States in their new-to-them Bigfoot RV.

Encouraged by the same spirit guides whose earlier advice for her husband’s health left her broken and untrusting, Kirsten must learn to face the open road with an equally open heart and mind.

Kirsten forces herself past her comfort level, attempting to heal old wounds, confront and patch up her relationship with her mother, and curate a life of wonder and independence for her sons. All the while hoping that as she carries out her mission, she will somehow be able to restore her faith in her guides and herself.

Throneberry guides readers toward their own life-fulfilling adventures, reminding them, “The point is not simply to live, but to shake yourself awake, to open your eyes, eyelash after eyelash, until you finally understand your true nature.”

Learning to live through humble collaboration, true intuition, and radical acceptance is core to this heartwarming autobiography.

Throneberry intentionally exposes her life—both its exquisite beauty and deep suffering—in each and every sentence, creating a relationship with the reader that feels truly authentic.

First unfolding in Hawaii, the narrative follows the family to their home in Seattle and around the country until their journey leads them all the way back to the Pacific Northwest region. The intricate play between places, people, and timelines will make readers feel like they have returned home as well.

At times jaw-dropping terrifying, laugh-out-loud hilarious, and curl-up-in-the-fetal-position sad, Throneberry beautifully sculpts not one but five interwoven lives out of the rubble of life-altering loss.

Guided empowers readers to expand what they believe is possible and to connect with the guides that inspire them. Kirsten Throneberry is a vibrant and deeply empathetic storyteller. Bold, courageous, and attentive to delicate relationships, her story is studded with bright jewels of inspiration that will carry readers through their own difficult journeys.

Readers of Guided: Lost Love, Hidden Realms, and the Open Road will feel held by these pages, no matter what battles they face. After all, as Throneberry writes, “Despite the unexpected and sometimes heartbreaking twists and turns inherent in any life, we are never truly alone. Something is always pushing us forward, onto the next situation or person that will encourage our evolution.”

March 14, 2025
THE ZYGAN EMPRISE TRILOGY by Y.S. Pascal – Sci-fi, Action & Adventure, Space Opera

In Y.S. Pascal’s The Zygan Emprise Trilogy, Shiloh Rush and her partner William “Spud” Escot act as our guides on a wild rocket ride through the universe.

Shiloh and Spud share a secret. By day, they’re actors in the sci-fi TV series “Bulwark.” By night, on weekends, and whenever they get the call from their ‘real’ boss, they return to their true work as secret agents for the galaxy-spanning Zygan Federation.

Their job is to keep the peace, fight terrorists and rebels, and protect the universal timeline from nefarious villains who would do anything to rewrite history in their favor. Earth is, of course, a key to the future of the galaxy beyond the imagination of even the most Earth-centric Terran.

This thrilling adventure pulls from all corners of the science fiction genre—from Star Trek: First Contact to classic movies like The Last Starfighter and Galaxy Quest, and even the sci-fi master Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy.

The Zygan Emprise Trilogy travels faster than light over a vast canvas of intergalactic empires, political machinations, tyrants who have lost their way, and heroes who need help finding theirs.

In Shiloh Rush, readers will find a protagonist with more than a bit of attitude as she searches for her brother. She soon learns he’s not the only one who needs saving, and along the way she discovers who her true friends are and just how many of them are also her real enemies. As many great sci-fi heroes do, Shiloh realizes that the black and white world she thought she belonged to is lined in shades of grey, and it’s easy for anyone to hide their current darkness behind the light of their past good deeds.

Shiloh’s adventures are tremendous fun, especially as her course grows darker and more dangerous along the way. Her partner’s secrets—many, many secrets—add to the depth of the story and ultimately to their true friendship. Political betrayals, heel turns, and Shiloh’s constant investigation into the falsehoods of the galaxy around her will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Whether it be through Shiloh’s hit TV series, her secret agent work for the Zygan Federation, or her journey to find the truth of her own origins, The Zygan Emprise Trilogy by Y.S. Pascal takes readers on exhilarating, heart-stopping romps through the universe.

March 12, 2025
STOP WORRYING ABOUT MONEY by Jacqui Clarke – Financial Planning, Personal Finances, Money Management

Stop Worrying About Money by Jacqui Clarke serves as a lucid and candidly insightful guide to understanding the cornerstones of financial literacy, whether for a working professional, business owner, or anyone seeking to better manage their savings and investments.

This practical and insightful approach to financial awareness endeavors to decode the mystifying fundamentals of financial freedom, wealth management, and money psychology. Rather than merely presenting facts on numbers and investments, it adopts a holistic perspective, covering principles of earning, understanding, and wisely managing money.

Written by an experienced professional and fiscal guardian to many, Clarke’s Stop Worrying About Money paves a clear and accessible roadmap for navigating the often-chaotic terrain of financial planning.

The book begins by exploring how upbringing and personal experiences shape a person’s financial habits.

Clarke underscores that financial literacy extends beyond earnings. From highlighting the benefits of early planning and discipline to acknowledging the commonality of financial mistakes—spending to impress, neglecting financial planning, and remaining unaware of personal expenses—Clarke’s real-life anecdotes add credibility to the book’s insights.

Stop Worrying About Money introduces the concept of building a personal financial support system, or “finance village,” where trusted voices collaborate.

Warning against the perils of blind trust, the text advocates for thorough verification, transparency, and the application of logic and research when assembling a financial network. The infamous Melissa Caddick Australian financial fraud case described in the book strengthens the argument for planning finances with a trusted advisor.

Clarke’s perspective on financial freedom as a journey rather than a destination encapsulates the book’s core message.

She equates financial freedom not merely with a bank balance but with a mindset rooted in conscious financial decisions, cautioning against lifestyle inflation where increased income leads to increased expenses. Clarke further emphasizes the importance of estate planning with a robust financial strategy to ensure the optimal utilization of future wealth.

This timely guide gives due attention to the impact of financial issues on personal relationships.

Exploring concepts such as financial infidelity and financial abuse, the text offers advice on fostering transparency and setting shared financial goals. It also highlights the value of side hustles as a means of securing long-term financial stability, illustrating how a well-planned sabbatical can serve as a reset for both mental health and career growth.

The book culminates in a prudent approach to financial literacy, including advice for parents to instill financial wisdom in their children.

By blending theoretical financial advice with pragmatic applications, the writing embraces simplicity and relatability, incorporating real-life examples, case studies, and interactive exercises. This approach transforms an otherwise dry subject into an engaging and accessible discourse, making financial literacy digestible.

Stop Worrying About Money by Jacqui Clarke is an informative resource free from convoluted financial jargon. Whether for beginners or seasoned professionals, it provides a foundation for understanding and taking control of personal finances. Ultimately, the work is more than a financial guide—it is a journey in self-awareness that reaffirms money as a means of living, rather than the ultimate objective of life.

March 10, 2025