Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Chanticleer 5 Star Book Review

The BEST WEEK THAT NEVER HAPPENED by Dallas Woodburn – Teen and YA Coming of Age Fantasy, Teen and Y/A Magical Realism Fiction, Y/A Contemporary Fantasy Fiction

Dallas Woodburn’s debut novel The Best Week that Never Happened is a roller-coaster ride through Hawaii and the mysterious depths of its briny deep, sparkling with unreal magic, a poignant romance, and incessant hope.

Tegan Rossi, a freshly graduated eighteen-year-old, awakens in the secretive hideout she discovered with Kai Kapule as two eight-year-old children on her first trip to Hawaii Island. She needs to make amends with Kai as they had a major squabble over something very important that she now oddly forgets. When Tegan catches up with Kai in Hawaii, she enters her best week yet – the Best Week That Never Happened.

The first-person narrative is a fusion of Tegan’s past three years ago and ten years ago, as well as a mystified chronicling of her present with Kai on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Tegan and Kai run into each other for the second time in Hawaii ten years later. At Kai’s earnest request, they both meet at their childhood hideout The Lava Tubes. Reliving the nostalgia, they re-emerge as inseparable friends, sharing their lives over the phone 4,880 miles apart. Tegan’s reluctance to meet up with Kai’s graduation wish (a visit from Tegan) turns up in the two-months past narrative. With the present time leapfrog, Tegan arrives in Hawaii, fretting over her inability to remember how she turned up there.

In the medical center of Kai’s aunt, Tegan discovers an hourglass tattoo on her body she never had.

A series of incredible happenings follow. Tegan’s suitcase shows up out of nowhere with all she could ever wish for, her mom doesn’t seem to exist, at least she’s not answering her calls. Oh, yes, and the hourglass tattoo is losing sand. Most curious, Tegan discovers her Instagram photo in front of a train with a caption about her departure from Philadelphia to Washington DC. But the train crashed, killing 67 passengers.

In her quest for an explanation, Tegan receives a message, “to trust enough to take the leap.” It is Tegan’s conforming to the message which will eventuate her best week, the week of confessing love, dealing with insecurities, and reliving the déjà-vu moments from the past with Kai into a reality.

The Best Week That Never Happened ushers readers through alternating states of reflection and pessimism, until finally riding the waves of optimism and hope.

Dallas Woodburn explores the complexity of a teenage psyche. Through Kai and Tegan, she reflects on our innate insecurities and the tendency to not embrace new ideas and opportunities out of fear. With the development of the two characters, the narrative tone gradually shifts from a tragic to an optimistic perspective, referencing their development as adults. This subtle shift brings about a symbiotic relationship between pessimism and optimism in which we all live.

The aversion to change and embracing a better future is a predominant theme throughout the book.

This underlying struggle is reflected in Tegan and Ross. Tegan struggles with the decision to confess her feelings for Kai, adamant to keep the relationship unchanged. By not confessing to her feelings, she risks making the best week of her life with Kai only an illusion of reality. Kai dreams of becoming an artist and gets shortlisted to the prestigious CalArts College in Los Angeles. He adores his usual marine life with his family in Hawaii, his paradise, away from the suffocating fear of being stuck “at the bottom of the barrel” outside of Hawaii. Overcoming their fears and insecurities is what makes the debut novel, The Best Week That Never Happened, so very relatable.

With a twist of magical realism and captivating storytelling, The Best Week That Never Happened revolves around the contemporary concerns of teenagers and adults alike. It’s an exciting read with a powerful message borrowed from Martin Luther King, Jr., “Take the first step in faith. You don’t need to see everything on the staircase, just the first step.”

The Best Week That Never Happened by Dallas Woodburn won the CIBA 2020 Grand Prize in the Dante Rossetti Book Awards for Young Adult novels and is one book we highly recommend.

April 4, 2022
GREAT AS a BUTTON by Masoud Malekyari – Children’s Books, Children’s Self-Worth Books, Children’s Picture Books

Masoud Malekyari’s Great As a Button is a delightful children’s book that places a soulful little plastic adornment at center stage in a thought-provoking story that offers up a positive lesson about self-worth.

This tale unfolds from a first person POV as a lonely, black plastic button falls off a shirt. The button ruminates over its plight of feeling too plain to be noticed, and wishes perhaps to be a sock, a key, or a pair of glasses, i.e., a more important item that the button surmises someone would go out of their way to look for.

Amidst encounters with an inquisitive dog and some playful ants, the button has longings to reside in a big castle while adorning a king’s coat, or to sail across the ocean while attached to a boat captain’s slicker. Fate suggests that the button might be in trouble if snatched up by birds; lucky if used by a seamstress; or forlorn when not chosen like the more ornate accessories in a tailor’s shop. When given to a young boy, surprising opportunities send the button in an unexpected direction where ultimately, he discovers newfound importance on a sunny winter’s day.

Illustrations by Sebastião Peixoto prove glowingly complimentary and are a key component of the story.

The natural color shadings render quiet, yet well-defined drawings. Quirky and whimsical features lend true personality to the bevy of characters. From the intense facial details of a battling buttons army to the sad expression of the central plastic disc pondering his plainness, this simple character with its curlicued thread body is artfully brought to life.

Peixoto also smartly visualizes enlightening options between the little button’s desire to live in a royal palace, contrasted with an outdoor tent-like open book structure, where a smokestack chimney provides warmth on a snowy day. Likewise, the thought of adventure on the high seas is pitted against the simplicity of a paper vessel floating down a curbside stream.

Great As a Button is a charming take on learning to be happy with who you are.

Like the little button, it may take some of us a bit longer than others, but finding our particular niche is key. Our own unique traits and talents will lead us to where we belong, and satisfaction will come with contentment. Comparisons with others is unnecessary, as we come to realize we are each an individual with our special place in this world.

Like the simple button who comes to understand his self-worth, this quaint, imaginative read is an important work with a vital message for both young readers and the confident adults they aspire to be.

Great As a Button by Masoud Malekyari won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA Little Peeps Book Awards for Early Readers Fiction.

March 30, 2022
EUDORA SPACE KID: The Lobster Tale by David Horn – Children’s Humor Books, Children’s Action and Adventure Sci-Fi Chapter Books, Children’s Humorous Action Adventure Chapter Books

In Eudora Space Kid: The Lobster Tale, author David Horn continues the spell-binding adventures of a third-grade girl living on a massive spaceship in the year 4021. Eudora Jenkins enjoys using her very sharp mind to play tricks on the grown-ups – but her latest one may backfire and cause an interplanetary crisis.

As The Lobster Tale opens, Eudora, the narrator and mastermind of her sometimes disastrous but always hilarious gambits, is in a tunnel on the AstroLiner Athena. The plan? Just a few minor computer alterations. She is aided in this naughty but essentially harmless prank by her sometimes nervous buddy Arnold. Her changes will be revealed later when she and Arnold visit the ship’s bridge. Both are excited to watch the regularly scheduled battle training exercises they will view on the main computer.

Arnold’s stepdad is what Eudora calls a “Lootenant” (her spelling does not always keep up with her math and technical skills). He will allow them into Athena’s inner sanctum to watch war exercises staged to practice in case they are attacked by the galaxy’s worst enemies, the Qlaxons. Watching the practice is a rare treat and needs the approval of the ship’s captain, Captain Jax.

Of course, Captain Jax welcomes Arnold, but some of the staff are annoyed to find Eudora with him. You see, Eudora has a particular reputation for mischief, which is proven again when her minor computer tweaks cause the “red alert” signal to blare out as an ancient earth song, “Wiggle Your Booty.”

Eudora is sent to the “brig,” run by her mom. Her punishment? She is consigned to a holding cell to do her homework.

While there, she learns that Athena’s head chef wants to commandeer all the lobsters in the ship’s aquarium to prepare a great feast. Eudora’s stepdad oversees the aquarium and studies sea animals. He would never agree to have the lobsters boiled and eaten.

Eudora hatches a plot to save the lobsters. Arnold, his usual slightly reluctant self, agrees to help. Sneaking through the ship with two huge bags of lobsters, they are caught up in what appears to be a potential war with the Qlaxons. But things really heat up when a lobster from Eudora’s stash leaps out and attacks!

Horn’s creative skills are undeniably in sync with the younger readers (age 6 to 10). Children will be magnetized by the latest tale of Eudora’s shenanigans, supported perfectly by the energetic, illustrations by Deven Hoover.

Both author and artist have humorized their personal descriptions, transforming even those usually didactic segments into a fun read. Eudora is an exemplary narrator, referencing earlier actions she has taken (i.e. writing to the president of the galaxy “to get homework added to the list of enemies”) or simply skims over another adventure, saying, “I’ll tell you about that another time.”

This chatty, youth-centered storytelling brings out the hilarity and occasional genuine peril of Eudora’s antics far more powerfully than a third-person approach. This storytelling style serves to keep youngsters turning the pages. With a strong female protagonist accompanied by her more cautious and diplomatic companion, David Horn succeeds in fascinating all who read the book, whether the audience is young or a bit older. In short, Eudora Space Kid: The Lobster Tale is one Children’s chapter book we can highly recommend!

Read our review of the first book in the series, Eudora Space Kid: The Great Engine Room Takeover, here.

March 28, 2022
WHEN the WIND CHIMES by Mary Ting – Sisters Fiction, Kauai Hawaii Travel Books, Single Women Fiction

In When the Wind Chimes by international best-selling author Mary Ting, Kate Summers wants to make this Christmas extra-special for her older sister, Abby, and four-year-old nephew.

A year ago, she’d given up Christmas with her family to spend the holiday with her boyfriend, Jayden, whom she had caught cheating on her the next day. Not only is she hoping to erase that memory, but she also has another even more important reason to make this Christmas special. A few months after her disastrous break-up with Jayden, her brother-in-law, Steve, passed away from cancer, so Abby and Tyler will be spending their first Christmas alone.

After taking a leave from her job as a graphic designer in LA, Kate flies to Poipu, Kauai, determined to make this an amazing holiday, but on her way to her sister’s house, she meets a mysterious man, who gives up his cab for her. Kate can’t get the handsome stranger out of her head, and when she sees him again in her sister’s art gallery–and destroys his expensive shirt with paint–she is both mortified and excited.

Billionaire Leonardo Medici, the heir and CEO of Medici Real Estate Holdings, is the most sought-after bachelor on the island and the most elusive. Lee just wants privacy and a temporary nanny for his four-year-old daughter, Bridget. When Kate applies for the job, neither is aware of their previous connection to each other until they meet in Lee’s mansion after Kate is hired by his permanent nanny, Mona. Bridget quickly bonds with Kate, and as they grow closer so do Lee and Kate. Kate’s rocky relationship past, however, keeps her on edge, and she must find a way to overcome the damage done by her cheating ex before she can ever learn to love again.

The unpredictability of life and fate’s subsequent role in a person’s future is a major theme within this novel.

Abby, Kate’s sister, never expected to be a widow in her twenties. Steve, her husband, died suddenly from cancer. The disease progressed more quickly than doctors predicted, and she is left to fend for herself and Tyler. Moving to Kauai, the place where she and Steve honeymooned, is an attempt to escape her sadness and find peace in the place where their life together began. Starting her own gallery in such a small community was another uncertainty, and while the gallery struggles at times, destiny brings Lee into her small business, and he becomes her best customer. Lee purchases art to stage his more expensive listings, which is how he encounters Kate a second time after a quick-passing rainstorm brings them together the first time. Had Kate not jumped into his cab, slinging water all over his suit, they would not have met. Kate would have never seen the ad for a nanny had Abby not come down with a cold and needed Kate to drop Tyler off at preschool, and she would not have gotten the job had Mona not needed a replacement nanny for two weeks. The kismet that brings Lee and Kate together is an interesting and humorous part of the novel. This fate-filled string of coincidences adds a hint of the supernatural to their love’s beginning.

Vulnerability is another great theme found in the award-winning, When the Wind Chimes.

Abby is most definitely a strong woman. She not only begins her own business but also must be both mother and father to her son. However, Abby can’t do everything on her own. With her struggling business and the demands of her private life, she welcomes the help Kate brings and hopes she will stay on the island rather than going back to Los Angeles. The close relationship between the sisters is touching, and Kate’s job search shows how much she loves Abby and Tyler. Even though she fails to find a job as a graphic designer and has no experience as a nanny, she takes the job, planning to give the money to Abby to help her support Tyler.

However, Kate’s willingness to try something new despite her uncertainty extends to her own artistic ability. Since her horrible experience with Jayden, she has lost her confidence and desire to paint even though Abby has successfully sold Kate’s pieces in the past. It takes courage and a release of her own fear to get her in front of a canvas, but her regained confidence brings her into contact with Lee again–albeit accidental. Lee has his own vulnerability issues. Opening up and bringing Kate into his life is a risk. He cannot allow just any woman into his life. Most of the women who approach him are only interested in his money or looks, and he must protect both his privacy and Bridget. His own past causes him trepidation because he harbors a deep hurt that is known only to those within his immediate circle. Both he and Kate learn to face their deep-seated emotions rather than burying them beneath fear and uncertainty, but to do that, they must give vulnerability free reign.

When the Wind Chimes is more than a romance novel. It’s a heart-warming, feel-good read that will leave readers wanting more.

Mary Ting won the Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBAs in the Chatelaine division for Romance and Romantic Fiction novels for her spell-binding novel.

March 25, 2022
DRUMS and DRAGONS: A Field Guide to Mokele-mbembe and Other Living Dinosaurs in Africa by Ryan J. Lyons – Occult Horror, Adventure, Mythology and Folk Tales

Ryan J. Lyons presents Drums and Dragons: A Field Guide to Mokele-mbembe and Other Living Dinosaurs in Africa with such a realistic edge, readers may wonder at the fictional account of the many prehistoric survivors contained within the book.

Lyons crafts Drums and Dragons as a journal written by an assistant curator, who joins an expedition into the African jungles to discover cryptids. Readers will become immersed in the spell-binding story of what happens when one dares to believe that this world still has hidden things yet to be discovered. Lyons’ approach to his work will delight and inform readers, as every aspect of these creatures’ lives is carefully documented.

Meet Matt Preston, an assistant curator at the F. Donald Hagstrom Museum of Natural History in Fairview. His life takes a strange turn, and he encounters the notorious “monster hunter,” Walter Spink. This meeting sets the stage for a mission to find dragons in the African wilderness.

The expedition leads the two dragonologists to uncover the existence of many species of surviving dinosaurs.

Preston records it all. The comprehensive work includes additional information in its appendix: A. Brief Guide to African Dragons, B. List of Plants Consumed by Mokele-mbembe, and C. Body Measurements of the Biafran Sea Dragon. Preston’s journal serves to shed light on Walter Spink’s legitimate discovery, which an apathetic public dismissed and mocked in the 1980s.

It turns out that not everyone seeking the elusive beasts is a friend to them.

Spink and Preston must preserve these species from natural predators in the forest and from human game hunters. Meanwhile, a feticheuse, a witch doctor of Toukalaka village, attempts to stop the two men from seeking more dragons. She warns them that they are the most significant risk to these creatures’ survival. As for Preston and Spink, they believe in what they are doing.

Drums and Dragons illustrates how we derive meaning and purpose through caring for others and other species, and author Lyons accomplishes this with a good bit of humor.

Spink, a well-informed naturalist, divulges information on dragon physiology, diet, habitat, behavior patterns, and plants indigenous to African forests. Moreover, he shows compassion for the dinosaurs, to the point that he frets about one female mokele-mbembe’s choice for a mating partner. This dry humor permeates Matt Preston’s record.

This story concerns the nature of dwelling on desire.

Spink determines to stop the hunters from killing his savage dragon friends. He also insists on keeping track of their lives as long as possible. When the feticheuse demands that he leave the dinosaurs alone, and in exchange, she will keep the creatures safe from the hunters, he is torn. What happens next will make the book stick in readers’ minds long after it is finished.

Drums and Dragons by Ryan J. Lyons won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Paranormal Book Awards for Supernatural Fiction and comes highly recommended!

March 18, 2022
The DEVIL’s BOOKKEEPERS: The Noose Tightens, Book 2 by Mark H. Newhouse – Jewish Literature, Jewish Historical Fiction, WWII Historical Fiction

Mark H. Newhouse, son of German Holocaust survivors, includes the very personal and poignant first-hand sourced materials made available to him by the Yale University Press in his important historical fiction series, The Devil’s Bookkeepers. This inclusion lends a ribbon of humanity and compassion that raise the series to premiere status – a study, if you will, of the immutable human spirit. Newhouses’ series should encourage all who read it that hope is a gift and kindness and understanding is the answer to hate. It is a gripping story of love and survival that will haunt you until it’s shocking climax.

From the first day of 1942, the conditions in the Jewish ghetto of Lodz, Poland, deteriorate. In Mark H. Newhouse’s historical fiction novel, The Devil’s Bookkeepers: Book 2, The Noose Tightens, those who thought their situation would get better now wish to survive and save their loved ones, But can they?

The narrator Bernard Ostrowski, an engineer, should have enjoyed the prime of his life. He married a beautiful young wife, Miriam, who gave birth to their newborn daughter Regina. Ostrowski landed a lucky position in the records office of the ghetto’s leader, Chaim Rumkowski (an actual historical figure drawn by the author in dark, realistic detail). Rumkowki uses brutal force to forge the ghetto prisoners into a manufacturing hub for the Nazis in a still hotly debated effort to save its residents as the Nazi noose inexorably tightens.

Ostrowski’s team includes a young man named Singer. And as the war continues to escalate, Singer urges Ostrowski to escape with his wife and child. Singer even promises to help them do so. However, Singer disappears, leaving an astonishing letter declaring his love for Miriam behind. The letter torments him as he tries to survive and save Miriam and his daughter.

In the meantime, the Nazis begin deporting Jews from Poland – to where, no one knows.

Rumkowski receives news that will shatter the bookkeepers’ faith in his leader’s basic decency. As the Nazis ramp up the expulsion of Jews from the city. Ostrowski, finally realizes that the noose is closing on everyone in the ghetto. Starving and weakened, he and Miriam must attempt to escape.

Newhouse opens each chapter with brief vignettes from the primary sourced materials that will chill the reader.

This book offers truth enmeshed with a well-crafted, imaginative, and credible story that will change and challenge readers. Newhouse wishes that in absorbing it, we may all say, “Never again to anyone.”

The Devil’s Bookkeepers series by Mark H. Newhouse is highly recommended and won the Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA Fiction Series Awards.

Read our review of the first book in The Devil’s Bookkeepers series, The Noose, here.

March 9, 2022
ACROSS the DISTANCE: Reflections on Loving and Where We Did & Did Not Find Each Other by Christina A. Kemp – Memoirs, Biographies of Women, Dysfunctional Families

In her nonfiction debut Across the Distance, Christina Kemp showcases a collection of eight personal stories that delve into the most poignant relationships throughout her life.

The well-crafted narratives encompass relationships with her parents, brother, childhood friends, boyfriends, and mentors as they moved in and out of her life. Themes of love, loss, distance, self-preservation, and healing rise to the surface.

Within the book, Kemp ponders the course of a romantic relationship as she realizes that love cannot make underlying differences disappear. At thirteen years old, her father died, and Kemp analyzes how she was able to come to terms with his death, reflecting on his kindness and heroic deeds. Several years later, she is diagnosed with the same condition that took her father; she feels as if she carries her father’s memory in the cells of her own body.

There is a clear distance between herself and her mother. Harmful and passive-aggressive tendencies placed the two at odds. While Kemp appreciated the Saturday morning conversations they often shared, her mother seemed more concerned with criticism than connection. The woman could shove her daughter across the room without reason. Regarding her rage, the author aptly describes it as “hot explosive sandbags that otherwise leaked at the seams.” Eventually, Kemp learned to accept the child/parent schisms.

With a background in counseling psychology, Christina A. Kemp delivers an in-depth assessment of her personal connections that will resonate with readers.

Examining these relationships brings clarity to familial ties and how they affect every other relationship in life. Indeed, Kemp better understands how to love on her own terms and realizes when to leave a relationship. One could spend a lifetime attempting to understand the landscape of relationships that make us who we are.

Each of the stories opens with a simple black & white photo.

The magpie cat, Lucy, stretches on hind legs, looking for an escape beyond the confines of her new island home. The model beauty of Kemp’s mother shows with full wavy hair and makeup, a scarf tied jauntily around her neck. A lone sailboat on distant waters captures the lingering loss of her father. Each image renders a stark, yet ethereal quality connected to Kemp’s life.

Kemp’s styling renders the beauty and harshness of significant moments in artful detail.

One day, the author overhears a lively conversation between a father and daughter about college plans; it is with shame and sorrow that Kemp realizes she’ll never share that experience. And then, amidst the rural surroundings of a northwest island, she considers the natural beauty of the changing seasons. The colorful descriptions and intimate detail throughout the text prove refreshing. Consider, “the island winds playing like a symphony.”

Across the Distance is most definitely a personal journal. However, even as the author finds catharsis in her stories, readers, too, will find meaning in the telling.

Readers are invited to take the book as a sequential whole or read one story portrait at a time. Either way, they will gain insight and understanding as they journey through this book and explore the intimate workings of relationships.

Across the Distance will appeal to those who seek to understand the connections and divisions we so often encounter in our lives.

February 21, 2022
SOULMATED (Joining of Souls Book) by Shaila Patel – Paranormal Romance, YA Paranormal, Coming of Age

Eighteen-year-old Liam Whelan must balance the pressure and danger of his new role leading his entire empath clan while searching for a fabled ‘soulmate’ in Shaila Patel’s paranormal romance novel, Soulmated.

Since the age of six, guided by his father’s visions, Liam and his family have traveled across the United States, moving from town to town searching for the girl destined to “join” with Liam. However, no empath in centuries has found a soulmated union. No one knows what joining actually means. Liam tires of his parents’ search for what he considers a fantasy girl, but he agrees to give up one more year of his life. The family moves to North Carolina for Liam’s senior year.

Laxshmi Kapadia will graduate a year early. Her mother, an overprotective and overbearing widow, plans Laxshmi’s entire life. Either her daughter attends med school or marries a proper Indian boy. Neither prospect appeals to Laxshmi, who wants to major in dance and doesn’t even want to start dating, let alone get married. So, when she meets the handsome new boy two doors down from her house, she doesn’t understand why he’s so drawn to her, unaware of her latent empathic abilities.

Liam marvels at Laxshmi’s power, smitten with her mesmerizing eyes. But as the two become closer, a strange power begins to emerge, a force that threatens their lives and draws the attention of the enemies that Liam must face as a leader.

Liam and Laxshmi bear the weight of responsibility, both to the family and themselves.

At barely eighteen, Liam has to prove himself worthy to lead his clan. He embraces the great honor but fears the added burdens of becoming the “prince.” In addition to his rigorous schooling, he constantly reviews the financial documents of his people to be sure of their success. His heightened empathic abilities make him an asset to the entire empath world and a dangerous wildcard. Liam doesn’t want to control the Group of Elders, but his father pushes him toward that future. This responsibility combines with his remarkable potential, and Liam becomes lost in his abilities.

Laxshmi struggles under no less responsibility.

Her father died five years ago, and since then, Laxshmi’s mother has focused entirely on her. Mrs. Kapadia struggles financially and determines that her daughter must do better by becoming a doctor or marrying a wealthy man. Though she balks at her mother’s control, Laxshmi can’t help but feel she must be the dutiful daughter to keep a promise made to her father. Can Laxshmi give up on her dreams for the sake of her mother? Laxshmi honors her mother’s wishes to stay away from all boys, especially those who are non-Indian, though it means she may be missing out on a genuine love with Liam.

Ironically, both Liam and Laxshmi find a certain freedom in the responsibility of a relationship with each other. Though they must invest great emotion, they make that trade for the chance to choose their paths. Rather than being burdened by another’s emotions, they make each other stronger.

Shaila Patel’s Soulmated won 1^st Place in the 2015 CIBA Paranormal Book Awards for Supernatural Fiction.

February 11, 2022
HOT HOUSE: Book 1 of the E & A Investigation Series by Lisa Towles – Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Crime Thriller

Two private investigators find themselves reluctant but effective partners in Lisa Towles’ fast-paced psychological thriller, Hot House, Book 1 of the new E & A Thriller Series.

Two separate cases start to merge in a very murky middle. Mari Ellwyn unravels an attempt to blackmail a federal appellate court judge. Derek Abernathy looks into the mysterious death of a college student. He also investigates the death and disappearance of two of the reporters covering her case.

The reporters pursued the trail of a story involving the judge with whom Mari works. It seems the judge had a connection to the dead college student in Derek’s case. As they dig deeper into the joined cases, threats against Mari start to come from all sides, even from her former handlers at the CIA.

But the secret buried, literally, at the heart of this case comes with a shock. Because the victim was not who she seemed. At least not all of the time.

Hot House delivers a dark, edge-of-the-seat thriller. It begins as a relatively straightforward investigation into seemingly unrelated mysteries. But as the story follows the investigation, especially Mari Ellwyn, two levels of mystery open up.

On the surface, Ellwyn and Abernathy are dogged and determined investigators who mostly follow the rules, if only because they want to make sure that the case will hold up for their mutual frenemy, Ellwyn’s ex-lover and Abernathy’s former boss, Ivan Dent, Chief of Detectives for the LAPD.

Not that they don’t play a bit fast and loose at the edges of those rules. After all, sometimes in the pursuit of truth, the investigators have to step outside the lines.

Everyone involved in this mystery seems to have deep, dark and often deadly secrets. It’s clear from this new investigation that Dent’s detectives missed way too much in that initial search. Abernathy won’t talk about his firing from the LAPD. Ellwyn keeps her real motive for pursuing this investigation under wraps.

But Sascha Sophie Michaud had the most secrets of all – some of which she kept even from herself. And Michaud’s secrets provide the threat to the investigators – along with making the case so difficult to solve.

Readers will easily put themselves in Mari Ellwyn’s shoes.

She loves her dog, she’s not so sure about relationships – she even has a strained one with her family. But her few friends will ride or die with her. As capable as she is – and she is very capable – readers will shake in their shoes as this mystery threatens Mari’s life.

The resolution of the case is marvelously done, managing to be both expected and unexpected at the same time. Not that the reader will see any of it coming.

In the final pages, while the disparate cases that Ellwyn and Abernathy began with have wrapped up very satisfactorily, it’s clear that Mari Ellwyn has just pulled another thread on a case she’s been following for over a year. Hot House ends with the sense that there’s more for Mari to uncover in her own personal quest.

Readers will be left hoping and looking forward to Mari Ellwyn’s future investigations.

February 5, 2022
LOVE THAT MOVES the SUN by Linda Cardillo – Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Renaissance Fiction
Linda Cardillo debuts triumphantly into historical fiction with her novel, Love That Moves the Sun.

Vittoria Colonna, an Italian noblewoman and poet born in 1490, lives with grief and isolation. As an adult, she meets and forms a deep friendship with the revered painter and poet Michelangelo. This meeting forms the center point of the novel that takes readers back and forth through time. The story traces Vittoria’s life from her childhood and betrothal to her future husband Ferrante, to her later years with Michelangelo.

As a child, Vittoria leaves home for the island of Ischia. There, she lives with her betrothed Ferrante and his aunt Costanza d’Avalos.

Vittoria and Ferrante’s future union will strengthen political alliances. Later, Vittoria becomes a widow and withdraws from public life for several years. One day, she meets Michelangelo, while he paints The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. Their friendship changes each other’s lives forever.

Cardillo takes great care with the novel’s front matter. She includes lots of material to help the reading experience.

In the front sections of the book, readers will find a timeline, to help as the novel shifts around. The author also provides a list of historical figures, and fictional characters added for entertainment value. In her author’s note, Cardillo adds that while she followed facts as much as possible, she filled in the gaps with fiction. This shows respect to the life of Vittoria Colonna. Cardillos brings her to life in fiction as Vittoria did for her husband in poetry.

A theme of polarity shapes Love That Moves the Sun.

Michelangelo, an artist of paint and of words, “Sees humanity’s secrets and brings them to life on the page.” But the unwavering expectations of the public burden him. Vittoria struggles between staying in her self-imposed seclusion to pray and write, and the powerful pull towards rejoining society and her bond with Michelangelo. The events of the past and present also mirror each other. Events have a subtle organization that sees them building off the context of what happened before. As the past meets with the present, the gaps in Vittoria’s story come together. Readers get the full picture of her life and feel like they know her strongly.

Linda Cardillo’s Love That Moves the Sun keeps alive the memory of Vittoria Colonna’s life and work, as a woman who struggled between being a woman of God and a woman in love. Readers of historical fiction and romance should not miss Love That Moves the Sun.

Love That Moves the Sun by Linda Cardillo won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Chaucer Book Awards for Pre-1750s Historical Fiction.
January 31, 2022