Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Chanticleer 5 Star Book Review

WALTZING A TWO-STEP by Dan Juday – Inspirational Memoir, LGBTQ+ Memoir, Coming-of-Age Memoir
Dan Juday’s memoir Waltzing A Two-Step is a humble and compassionate look at his formative years.

Born a few years after the second world war, Dan experiences a peaceful and happy childhood in rural Indiana, moving frequently before the family settles on a rural area of land named Springwood in Clinton County, Indiana. The Juday family were devout Catholics and enrolled Dan and his siblings in Catholic schools until the family moved to Springwood. Public school became the only option for the siblings. There Dan does his best to fit in but his status as a minority Catholic in a mostly Protestant community in the 1950s brings its own challenges.

For Dan, his struggles don’t stop there.

From a young age, Dan knew there was something inherently different about himself that didn’t align with what the world around him expected, and as he grows older and enters adolescence, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore. By the time Dan reaches college, the country is facing a lot of cultural changes from the growing political and racial tensions of the 1960s. Young men around him without deferments are being drafted to fight in Vietnam. As he progresses through his undergraduate courses, Dan continues to struggle with finding his place in the world and finding a suitable partner his family would approve of.

Almost by fate, a counselor suggests he switch his minor to Spanish. Dan soon finds a sense of belonging with a group of international students and soon decides to study abroad in Spain. While at the airport, he meets a fellow student named Ricky and embraces the growing desire to live truthfully in a world that is still a long way from being accepting.

Waltzing A Two-Step is a unique memoir in that Dan’s thoughts and feelings serve as a backdrop and rarely come to the forefront.

Dan uses his ability as a strong observer to tell his story through the people and places that surrounded him in his life. Through his quiet observation of the world, he sees the simplicity of life growing up, but as the 1960s bring large cultural shifts, Dan’s simple worldview is increasingly challenged. His struggle to find a sense of belonging is a quintessential part of adolescence and emulates that complex experience throughout the memoir. His journey of self-acceptance of his sexuality will also be relatable to any reader who has experienced similar challenges.

Juday focuses on the themes of family, faith, and self.

He dedicates a section of the book to each with a final one tying them all together as a sort of reckoning. One theme that stands out addresses how people who may only be in your life for a brief moment, in the end, can have some of the biggest impacts. The most beautiful and often bittersweet moments of the book show meaningful relationships that last just a short while. The best example being the immigrant family that lives in the apartment above Dan in New Jersey and welcomes him into their family when he needed one. It’s a beautiful message about life, to embrace the people around you and treasure them as you journey through the trials of life.

Dan Juday’s Waltzing A Two-Step: Reckoning Family, Faith, and Self is a coming-of-age memoir that is a must-read. A compassionate journey of self-acceptance that follows Dan Juday from the rural communities of Indiana, across Europe, and along the East Coast searching for a life well-lived.
- This title is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you buy your books.
June 2, 2021
BEYOND the HUMAN REALM by Gene Helfman – Killer Whale Fiction, Family and Friendship Fiction, Action/Adventure Fiction

Author Gene Helfman, noted academic expert on aquatic biodiversity, delivers a fictional tale about an orphaned orca (killer whale) named Sam and the humans who seek to change his life in Beyond the Human Realm.

The book opens from Sam’s viewpoint. On display for humans, whom he calls “split-tails” or “logriders,” Sam relies on the humans now for food in his too-small habitat. In exchange, he must perform tricks such as carrying balls and leaping about, actions he performs reluctantly if at all. There’s one split-tail that he likes, though, a female who speaks to him gently. Sam allows her to ride on his back as one of his tricks. When a female companion arrives in his habitat Sam falls in love and the pair produces a baby. All seems blissful until the split-tails take his baby, and his partner dies of grief.

Sam can’t know, but some split-tails rally to his side, plotting to release him in the wild, to join wild orcas.

Rudy Laguna, a college professor and renegade whale behaviorist, is recruited by billionaire J. B. Alexander, who wishes to rescue the orca they call “Makai”, a highly costly venture, to make amends for his principal source of income – the manufacture of toilet paper and its decimation and contamination of forests and seas.

Rudy leads the effort to sequester “Makai,” re-accustom him to catching live fish, repair his broken dorsal fin, acquaint him with an orca tribe, and finally, set him free. Rudy enlists the help of Cassie Flanagan, an aspiring academic whose love of aquatic creatures and former acquaintance with the whale brought them close – but not too close; Cassie wears a gold ring and Rudy lost a previous job for consorting with a female student. The humans’ collaboration will result in “Makai’s” return to wild waters, allowing the embittered orca a chance at happiness – and revenge.

The action in Helfman’s multi-layered tale switches between dry ground and the depths of the sea, floating between the viewpoints of Sam/Makai and the split-tails.

Helfman, Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Ecology and the Program in Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development at the University of Georgia, Athens, weaves scientific details into the narrative reflecting his extensive knowledge of the aquatic realm. Heretofore most known for his non-fiction titles focusing on fishes, Helfman gifts readers with lively dialogue, an intriguing storyline, and delightful characters. Readers will enjoy the possibilities of non-verbal communication between land dwellers and sea beings and no doubt wish for more fiction releases from this author. As the story unfolds, a series of remarkable coincidences tie the tale of the humans and that of Sam together, including the presence of one of the book’s more mysterious characters, a friendly canine whose name may be Genius, Cheez Whiz…or Jesus.

Helfman’s cinematic, wide-ranging novel is a rewarding must-read for anyone who loves seafaring adventure, respects nature in all its aspects, enjoys a ribald romantic rivalry, and most of all those who find whales fascinating as friends and teachers to humankind. In other words, here’s a novel we highly recommend.

June 2, 2021
UNTIL MORNING COMES by Jonathan Epps – True Crime Thriller, Vigilante Justice Thriller, Conspiracy Thrillers

Jonathan Epps pulls from the darkest corners of our headlines a tale most despicable in his latest novel, Until Morning Comes.

Young girls seldom know the dark, wicked places awaiting them in the world, but they do have real problems. They come from hard-scrabble backgrounds and make destructive decisions because they want something more for themselves. These girls don’t know how to get what they desire, only without a doubt, each one understands they need something so much bigger – so much better than what life currently offers, and they will believe anyone – and do anything – to attain it.

In short, they become targets for predators.

The very rich and the celebrated take what they want from these girls and leave them worse off than ever. It’s those people who should know better but don’t care. They hire people to hunt down these girls, profit from them, and promise a future that never comes to fruition, then discard them like trash.

The girls participate in sordid parties for the uber-wealthy, famous, even celebrated elite who enjoy perpetrating illicit and disturbing actions upon the underaged and vulnerable. They take their pleasure in places where drugs never run dry, and consent is deemed optional. Lots of money changes hands, and some of it even makes its way to a few girls. But at one of these events, Ava witnesses a most deplorable act, and instead of helping the girl, she runs away. She can’t forgive herself. Ava’s haunted by the sights, sounds, and smells of that night, and her hatred grows for the people who perpetrated these offenses.

Ava forms friendships with two others, and they all try to move on. Each one deals with the lingering trauma in different ways. The other two begin to piece together plans for the present, hoping they can eventually set goals for happy futures. But Ava fails in all her attempts. She can’t move on from her past. She can’t move on from the horrific scene she ran from, and so she puts together a plan for revenge.

Ava Rose Anderson decides to put an end to the group.

Why? Simple. She has nothing left to lose. Ava seeks revenge for herself and for all those who suffer the aftermath of the life they once lived. She challenges the offenders with exposure of their crimes – and she’s determined to fight that nightmare to the bitter end.

Revenge may give Ava closure, if not peace. Ultimately, she wants to face the man who ran the trafficking operation. She wants to see him dead. Also, she wants to face off with the woman who recruited her – and so many like her. Ava hunts her targets through media and across a couple of major cities to trap the human trafficking ring. She doesn’t know it, but Ava is not the only person on this trail. Who will reach them first, and how will it all end?

Jonathan Epps masterfully develops his latest thriller with public figures we all recognize from today’s headlines. True crime and thriller fans alike will find Until Morning Comes riveting and simply impossible to put down.

May 27, 2021
A DIVINE WIND by Norman M. Jacobs MD, MS – Technothrillers, Literature and Fiction, Environmental Thrillers

A Divine Wind by Norman M. Jacobs MD, MS is a technothriller that will keep readers glued in their seats until the last page is read.

Working in secret, one government experiments with technology that allows them complete control over the weather. If the user guides the technology with a heavy hand, the weather will strike like a weapon; likewise, if those at the control wield compassion, calm weather that nourishes the land will result. Calculated strategies could deploy storms against one’s foes. Of course, any intentions to channel the weather for good may produce scattered, unintended, and deadly consequences. There’s an old saying, “An ill wind may blow nobody any good.” However, a divine wind may unite people if they don’t kill one another first.

Doron Ben Avrahim suffered significant losses in his life. At just eight years old, his parents died in the 9/11 Twin Towers attacks. The young and devastated Doron journeys to Israel, becoming a ward of his relatives. Now Israeli army lieutenant Doron is captured in Iran. It happens just one week before his wedding. On the day of the arrest, Sarah, his beloved fiancé, tried on her wedding dress. Life offered Doron nothing except Sarah. All joy had forsaken him as a child, and six months into his captivity, if not for Sarah, he didn’t care if he lived or died. Then a tornado sweeps into Iran and changes everything.

Everyone wants to know what happened and why.

High-ranking officials in the United States, including the President and Vice President, develop curiosity about the strange weather events in the Middle East. Governments around the world press for information. What happened? Was it an artificial event? Who did it? Can the technology be duplicated? And, how can we get our hands on it? Israeli officials, driven by their people’s plight of living under constant threat of annihilation, want to keep the technology secret. It makes no sense to share it with the world.

Can there ever be peace?

As governments of the world do what governments do best – investigate, interrogate, and spy on one another, the world’s citizens learn of a unique family that crossed borders. These people have learned about what can unite them and how they can all dream of a better world. Once they envision it, they believe they can create it. Can a foundation be built on a dream, or will it crumble under the winds of change?

Author Norman M. Jacobs, a physician/scientist, builds his plot on a most intriguing premise: the ability to alter weather patterns and control specific storms at will. The theoretical science, including its eventual and significant butterfly effect, develops in a most fascinating and approachable way, leaving readers imagining the likelihood of such a tool’s viability in our world today.

A Divine Wind begins at a heart-pounding, thrilling pace, as any technothriller should. Jacobs then weaves historical events into his characters’ lives, bringing depth and empathy for what shapes their actions. Here, Jacobs allows us a glimpse into the communities and destinies of two cultures and questions their futures. In the end, we ask the all-important, sobering question, can there ever be peace? Ultimately, Jacobs delivers an intelligent technothriller far too close to home to be anything else but highly recommended!

May 22, 2021
ODYSSEY of LOVE: A Memoir of Seeking and Finding by Linda Jämsén – Eastern European Travel, Biographies and Memoirs of Women, Travel and Adventure Biographies

Odyssey of Love: A Memoir of Seeking and Finding by Linda Jämsén is an utterly charming Eastern European take on Eat – Pray – Love.

This odyssey begins with its 40-something author exchanging her job and dead-end relationship in Boston for two years in Budapest. The goal? To explore new career opportunities, live an adventurous life as an American expat in Europe, and, possibly, hopefully, find her soulmate.

This surprising and slightly scary journey begins on a fortune-teller’s advice, and while that may seem far-fetched to some, it’s just the ticket Jämsén needs to pull herself out of her daily rut and push herself in the way of a second chance at life and love.

Can starting over be easy?

Jämsén is a bit skeptical about the soulmate search. Not that she doesn’t want to find someone, but she doesn’t think it could be that easy. Even if one considers moving halfway around the world and starting over to be a small task. The only thing she understands, both things are inevitable if one takes the first – and all the subsequent steps – in the general direction.

Finding a soulmate requires more than a bit of divine providence, if not a miracle or two. Luckily for Jämsén, the fortune-teller told her what to look for along the way.

While Odyssey of Love inevitably falls to comparisons with the “other” book and its movie, Jämsén’s journey takes several different roads to lead to her happy ending. And it’s those differences that make her trip a delight to accompany.

Odyssey of Love isn’t merely a travelogue.

It’s the story of one American woman who leaves her life behind to experience as much as she can of living and working in another country. Moreover, living and working in a country with a vastly different history from the U.S. where English is not the first or even second language spoken.

Jämsén navigates life in another culture in fits and starts, two steps forward and one step back, forming friendships that cause both cultural harmonies and cultural clashes – sometimes in the same conversations. She’s courageous and very human in her mistakes and her inevitable heartbreaks.

Then, on September 11th, 2001, the United States underwent one devastating event after another, and Jämsén’s homesickness deepened.

While it can be said the story focuses on the author’s immersion in her temporarily adopted country and her search for love, the story has a spiritual aspect to it, as well. But the spiritualism of Odyssey of Love has a solid Western orientation, rather than the Eastern journeys of that other book. Linda searches for places and icons representing Mary’s journey from the Christmas nativity scene to her death in either Ephesus or Jerusalem.

Odyssey of Love shines a light on a fascinating and very personal journey of one woman’s pursuit of her dreams to find the place and the person where she belongs. Her discoveries along the way, both the world she surrounds herself in and the internal musings of her own mind and heart, take readers right along with her.

Readers who fell for the author’s journey of exploration in Eat – Pray – Love will be over the moon and halfway to the stars to follow along on Linda Jämsén’s Odyssey of Love.

May 20, 2021
Beyond Balancing the Books: Sheer Mindfulness for Professionals in Work and Life by George Marino, CPA/CFP – Mindfulness, Healthy Lifestyles, Positive Transformation

George Marino, a practicing CPA and Mindfulness Coach, explores the possibilities for sustainable positivity in one’s work-life through mindfulness principles and practices in his new book, Beyond Balancing the Books: Sheer Mindfulness for Professionals in Work and Life.

It would be difficult to find a profession more fraught with detail, deadlines, and distress than a typical CPA. Applying to that particular realm the idea of mindful meditation is a challenge that author Marino has taken on because it is a process he has lived. He opens his book by comparing two CPAs and their approaches to life and work-life.

Larry wakes up early, already stressed by the problems facing him at the office. Whenever he’s alone, he reaches for the nearest device to fill the silence; he is a Type A personality, driven and competitive. However, work increases his inner anxieties, fears, and self-doubts. Amy, by contrast, wakes at her usual time, feeling rested, starting the day with a positive mantra, enjoying breakfast with her family, and looking forward to the possibilities of helping others through her work skills, focusing on the client’s needs and feelings. Through these examples and many others, Marino illustrates basic tenets and techniques of mindfulness, a practice that, among other benefits, can reduce physical symptoms of stress.

Marino has designed his mindfulness-based template around the phrase “beyond balancing the books,” or the three B’s.

“Beyond” signifies the stillness and peacefulness that result from reining in the thought process by simply becoming aware of one’s surroundings. “Balancing” refers to the blending of “human” and “being,” that is, of one’s typical human physical state and the possibilities of a mental or spiritual realm that exists and can intermingle with, and enhance, one’s physical existence. “The books” represents our “accounting for what really counts” – finding higher purpose. Simple exercises, such as three minutes of deep breathing, provide a start in the right direction. Marino expands the practices to help readers examine their true feelings about troublesome situations. Doing so helps his clients to accept and allow their feelings to meld into larger, positive goals.

Marino has a second career as a life coach, where he counsels those in his own profession and those outside of the accounting world. At One Heart Coaching, LLC, he employs images of the accountant’s crucially essential work tasks of preparing taxes and assisting in business management. His book is filled with a wide variety of wisdom, from the classical – Sufi poet Hafiz, Shakespeare, modern writer Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now). Discovering and practicing mindfulness changed Marino’s life, and he desires to help as many individuals as possible.

Readers will benefit from the many supplemental resources such as a “Mindfulness at Work Questionnaire for Professionals” and a reading list for further study. Marino’s guidebook is a rich mine of helpful advice for anyone seeking a calmer, more spiritually focused approach to life’s dilemmas. Highly Recommended!

May 18, 2021
The SOMEWHERE I SEE YOU AGAIN by Nancy Thorne – Coming of Age YA, Vietnam War Era, Friendship/Adventure
Nancy Thorne weaves a brilliant story that encompasses all of the outrageous and contradictory emotions of two young women in her YA novel, The Somewhere I See You Again.

Set in eastern Canada, Thorne takes us back to the early 1970s when the Vietnam War was headlining the news. Hannah has her own war, though, and she has given it a name, Luke. It stands for leukemia, which has changed her life and colors her world as her mom battles cancer.

Hannah lives on Sloan Hill, the wrong side of town, where her family struggles to survive. Her mother’s battle with Luke leaves her weak and bedridden. Hannah must find a job to help out and pick up some of the lost income. To make matters worse, Hannah’s high school is being torn down, which means she and her best friend Stacy will attend Carver High and hobnob with the Burgess aristocracy. Hannah rides on Stacy’s social coattails as her friend’s quiet beauty opens doors and gains them entrance into the homes of the wealthy.

One of the many goals on Hannah’s list is to get inside her dream house, a mansion where her father works as the groundskeeper. Hannah learns that Christopher Holding lives in her dream house and thus begins her mission to set Stacy up with Chris and get invited to his big party. Once inside, she takes photos to share with her father but unwittingly captures images of Chris dealing drugs. Oops.

Stacy has her own set of problems.

It’s only been a year since her father’s death, but her mother decides to become involved with a real creep – Mr. Callaghan, whose interests seem to expand beyond the attentions of Stacy’s mother and onto Stacy. When Mr. Callaghan becomes her mom’s fiancé, Hannah and Stacy know she’s marrying him for the security he brings, not for love. Stacy goes along with Hannah’s plan and becomes Chris’s girlfriend, even though she’s in love with Danny, a short-order cook who dreams of being a chef. She keeps Danny a secret because she knows Hannah would never approve.

When Stacy needs money to help her mom, Hannah devises a plan to blackmail Chris for his drug money with the photos she took at his party. Because his dad is on the fast track to being a judge, pictures of his son dealing drugs would destroy his chances. The photos, it turns out, become leverage. The day the two girls decide to approach Chris, he is already gone. His father accepted a job across the continent in Vancouver, BC.

Nancy Thorne delivers her characters in high-resolution.

Thorne develops a real schemer in Hannah, who goes into overdrive. Mr. Callaghan finds them both jobs in a swank hotel in Jasper and even gives them train fare. Instead, they hitchhike across Canada straight to Vancouver. Along the way, they meet a young American trying to avoid the draft. Things go from crazy to insane as Hannah and Stacy maneuver the travails of hitching cross-country to blackmail Chris. They survive a bear attack, forest fires, and scorching disappointments that will keep readers on the edge of their seats, all to the backdrop of music from the time. Hannah learns who her real friends are, and she comes to understand something more about the complicated world in which she lives.

Nancy Thorne’s The Somewhere I See You Again will have readers laughing and crying and rooting for Hannah and Stacy as they brave the open roads of Canada during the Vietnam crisis era, searching for salvation and a better life. What they find, however, is so much more fulfilling. Highly recommended.
May 17, 2021
KOBEE MANATEE® – Climate Change and the Great Blue Hole Hazard by Robert Scott Thayer – Children’s Environmental Books, Children’s Marine Life Books

Author Robert Scott Thayer and illustrator Lauren Gallegos bring to life another beautifully told tale in the fourth book in the series, Kobee Manatee® – Climate Change and the Great Blue Hole Hazard.

In the engaging and increasingly popular Kobee Manatee® children’s book series, the lovable sea cow and friends are off to help Cousin Quinn clean up the plastic that’s littering the ocean area around her new underwater eating establishment. The 500-mile journey across the water turns into an enlightening adventure, as these characters face unexpected challenges and dilemmas, many brought on by the harmful effects of climate change and ocean pollution.

Kobee Manatee® is always ready to lend a hand – and make a new friend.

Fresh from their latest adventure in the Cayman Islands, Kobee, along with Pablo, the hermit crab, and Tess the seahorse, swim to Belize, where they find the home of the Great Blue Hole. En route, Pablo rescues a spotted turtle ensnared in plastic, so the long-lashed loggerhead, Tameeka, happily joins the trio. Venturing on, these friends circumvent dangers, from the whip-like tentacles of a man-of-war to the poisonous intentions of a scorpionfish.

But these are not the only dangers the friends face.

The friends’ excitement upon reaching the expansive Great Blue Hole phenomenon quickly fades as Pablo tumbles into its dark depths. Luckily Tameeka’s deep-diving skills help save the day. After everyone pitches in with the ocean clean-up, they enjoy a fun gathering at the café, including an offering of seagrass subs and Kobee’s guitar accompaniment.

Conversations between Kobee Manatee® and his cohorts are lively and animated, with an ever-present focus on the beauty, dangers, and casualties witnessed within the ocean environment. As a clever educational component, the book is accented throughout with small images of Kobee Manatee® ancient treasure map-type scrolls that reveal informative, fun facts relevant to the narrative. These range from the knowledge that nearly 8 million metric tons of plastic are dumped in the ocean every year and insight that warming climates cause sea coral to fade to a list of conservation organizations fighting the destruction of our oceans and coastlines.

Lauren Gallegos’ illustrations further bring the pages to life and provide a wonderful complement to the story.

The backdrop of a pale blue ocean world lends a perfect contrast to the vibrant colors of the central characters and surrounding marine life. Whether a plump, gray Kobee sporting a fluorescent yellow jacket and purple cap, a seahorse with a violet body and raspberry bouffant mane, or an orange-shelled crustacean with his green bug-eyes, the vivid hues and expressive details are sure to attract a young reader’s attention. Shades of mauve and purple, turquoise, green, and tangerine highlight visuals of kelp, coral, sea fans, and fish life, while the dark saturation of royal blue emphasizes the far-reaching depths of the ocean’s monstrous Great Blue Hole.

For young readers who enjoy imaginative tales surrounding affable and heroic sea creatures, as well as parents and/or teachers looking for a way to introduce youngsters to the importance of marine conservation, Kobee Manatee® Climate Change and The Great Blue Hole Hazard offers a perfect blend. Highly recommended!

May 4, 2021
CRUDE INTENT: An Alex Sheridan Thriller by Elizabeth Jeffett – Romantic Thriller, Thriller and Suspense, Mystery Thriller

Elizabeth Jeffett delivers a hot, steamy second book in the Alex Sheridan Thrillers, Crude Intent.

Alex Sheridan, the androgynously-named heroine of Crude Intent, just about has it all: a gorgeous body and face, millions of dollars, and a business acumen enabling her to match wits and wiles in the male-dominated oil wildcatting business. And let’s not forget the cadre of powerful and sexy men who love her.

It would be more “all” except for the close people around her who keep getting brutally murdered. The scheming competitors and/or psychopaths who work hard at ruining her life and nearly succeeding, and the dangerous circumstances that almost end her life several times even when the intentional murderers fail.

In this second book, Alex Sheridan has survived more than her fair share of trauma.

The grisly murder of her previous business partner, Christine Welbourne, weighs on Alex. The steamy affair with oil worker Colt Forrester that began in the first novel, Silent Partners, continues. But when a fire breaks out at one of her fracking wells outside Denver, polluting the air and threatening to burn down pristine forest lands surrounding the installation, all hell breaks loose as fracking opponents launch media-friendly protests. TV coverage is everywhere, and business opponents can smell an excellent opportunity to leverage the disaster as a means of acquiring Alex’s valuable oil leases and putting her out of business.

Then comes the terrible news.

Colt Forrester is missing and might be a murder victim. With the very public knowledge of their rocky affair, Alex becomes the prime suspect in Colt’s suspected death.

This is only the beginning of Alex’s troubles in this fast-paced, romantic thriller. The sheriff and the district attorney investigating the case come after her. A giant competitor uses many operatives inside and outside the law to bring Alex down. The press, sensing a newsworthy scandal, start to portray Alex as a villain in her oil well fire disaster. Critical suspicious characters emerge at different times in the chess-like game against her.

Elizabeth Jeffett takes time to develop Alex into a believable hero.

Losing Colt and the murder of her partner Christine take their own substantial toll on her emotions as she fights against the seen and unseen forces moving against her. It is up to a loyal cadre of friends and associates, as well as a new love interest, Angus “Bull” Hawthorn, a Red Adaire-like oil well firefighter, to help keep her together in the series of disastrous revelations that threaten to destroy her. Yet Alex is no shrinking violet. As calamity after calamity engulfs her, she still finds the guts to vigorously confront the forces arrayed against her and uses her formidable personal and professional powers in the good fight to save her empire.

A subtle but interesting sidelight of the book is its well-researched focus on the fracking industry, the powerful but controversial method of extracting oil from oil shale that has helped the U.S. become a leading exporter of crude in the 21st Century. While most contemporary books portray fracking as an environmental villain, this book takes a somewhat neutral approach to the practice.

Not every strand wraps up at the end of Crude Intent. A third book is in the offing, according to an endpaper in the novel. Unlike many books designed as a series, this novel can be read from start to finish as a complete experience. Readers wanting to know what happened to certain storylines left as cliffhangers in this volume will still find satisfaction in the many unexpected twists and turns in this swift-paced engaging novel.

April 29, 2021
SACRED LIFE: Healing from the Virus in Consciousness by Bedri Cag Cetin, Ph.D. – Spiritual Self-Help, Personal Transformation, Spiritual Growth

In his biographical work, Sacred Life: Healing from the Virus in Consciousness, Bedri Cag Cetin, Ph.D. explains his version of “The Golden Key,” a phrase he uses to formulate an “Inner Guide” which seeks above all else “…peace, happiness and harmony for all involved.”

Cetin uses his advanced education, world travels, failed and then healed personal relationships, business dealings, and training under spiritual leaders to formulate his thoughts. According to Cetin, decisions based on or that cause fear, chaos, or blame reflect Ego-driven actions in one’s journey toward inner peace; whereas using one’s Inner Guide to make decisions will result in peace and harmony.

Each chapter in the book reflects a chapter in his own journey. Cetin illustrates the times in his life when he either caused chaos from Ego based actions or eventually found peace due to trusting and surrendering to his “Inner Guide.” At the end of each chapter, the author offers insights and comments that further explain his ideas. The organization of each chapter, premise, personal example, realization, acceptance of the Inner Guide, ultimately make Sacred Life easily understandable and therefore valuable.

Sacred Life falls into a loose category of “spiritual self-help” books.

Throughout the book, the author’s casual voice makes it very easy for the reader to grasp these universal and sometimes ethereal truths. Similar in tone to Tosha Silver’s Outrageous Openness, Sacred Life offers neither pretentious nor overly complicated phrasing. Rather, the path created in the book may deliver a great journey for those seeking to learn the first steps toward a more enlightened life. At the end of the book, Cetin encourages his readers to ask their Inner Guide, “What is it that I really want?”

Reminding his audience that Healing, a return to Wholeness, requires a total surrender of the illusions and barriers that obstruct the way. The Ego’s chronic addiction to “feel good” behaves much like a drug addict’s dependence on drugs. The resulting action unravels into spiritual numbness.

Cetin refers to this “numbness” as the “dark night of the soul,” but he encourages readers not to despair. Through work and attention to the Inner Guide, one can be unburdened from carrying years of accumulated baggage and find true freedom and happiness.

Universal truth points to peace and harmony.

Sacred Life: Healing from the Virus in Consciousness reflects and explains a universal truth: That peace comes from awareness, and conflict arises from dependency on the Ego. Training one’s thoughts and desires to be satisfied with peace, happiness, and harmony could ultimately end all discord and create a balanced, peaceful life.

April 24, 2021