Chanticleer Book Reviews

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The Breast is History: An Intimate Memoir of Breast Cancer by Bronwyn Hope – Inspirational Non-Fiction

A realistic, up-close look at life as a cancer patient and survivor. The Breast Is History is a strong tool of hope and humor in the darkest days of any woman’s life.

In September 2011, Bronwyn Hope received her initial diagnosis of breast cancer; by March 2013 she had had both breasts removed, had gone through numerous chemo and radiation treatments, taken thousands of pills, and come out of it with a gritty, positive philosophy.

When she was first diagnosed, a close friend advised her to start a blog, something very far from her mind at that moment. But, her friend reasoned, she could inspire others with her story. This was not a fanciful idea, given that Bronwyn was and is a powerhouse—an avid athlete, media maven, entrepreneur, activist, mother, and writer. She took her friend’s advice and this book is the result, a sometimes day-by-day journal of her battle with a disease she admits we often think of as a death sentence.

Through the blog and, one suspects, because of her generally extroverted nature, Bronwyn discovered a very positive aspect of her illness: the immediate outpouring of warmth, good wishes, gifts and visits from a host of friends and family members. But as time passed, and her treatments, especially chemo, took their toll, she records many days of lonely suffering, struggling with nausea, pain in every part of her body, the loss of all body hair, and feelings of profound weakness and despair. Yet she constantly, remarkably, tries to recoup her pre-cancer strength and endurance.

A visit to a Catholic church and a later whirlwind trip to India provide spiritual insights. During her own cancer challenge, Bronwyn’s sister Fiona was also diagnosed with cancer. Helping Fiona through what she had already experienced became a sustaining factor for Bronwyn.

The author does not shy away from tough issues, or from the occasional use of profanity when appropriate. She displays a secure knowledge of many complex medications and their effects and side effects. By detailing how her illness progressed, she provides a guideline for others. Her account is not without humor: she had been a large-breasted woman and had named her breasts Nicky and Paris. Nicky was the first to go, early on, and Paris about two years later. Photographs show the author with her once-straight hair, then hairless (with husband and dog getting a shave in sympathy) and then with the incongruously curly hair that grew in later.

There will be no doubt as one reads this honest account, that Hope has walked the walk and is also very capable of talking the talk. Her wisdom, based on a long, harrowing experience, is anything but saccharine. She concludes, “I am not angry or depressed or saddened by what cancer has taken away from me. I am instead, empowered and strengthened by what it has given me: lessons that are priceless.”

February 8, 2017
Gateways by Jessica Schaub – Y/A Fantasy

Mind bending is one thing, but when teenager Victoria Nike paints her landscapes – and then falls through them into another dimension – you know you’re in for a treat in this charming and intelligent fantasy, Gateways.

There are many similarities between Victoria’s story and that of Dorothy Gale: the emerging of special powers, real or imagined; companions both human and beast; an ultimate confrontation with a wicked witch.

That said, in Gateways, Jessica Schaub has created a wonderful fantasy that takes readers on a journey into parallel worlds, where mages – beings who can invoke the elements and use their energy – coexist with sphinxes and other fantastic beasts. It’s also a tale of self-discovery, of innocence lost and wisdom gained. Schaub succeeds in placing teenagers into a story of mystic powers and magical without her characters losing their modern savvy and their wisecracker-y. This refined skill in storytelling keeps the elements of this story believable.

When Victoria sees her mother’s growing distress, she notices her world changing in subtle ways as well. She retreats into the art room at school, where she paints. When she abruptly finds herself inside of her painting, she has no idea of how to climb out. Her art teacher, Anna Witherspoon, comes to her rescue. Anna is a Painter of gateways, and so, apparently, is Victoria.

When she returns home, Victoria and her twin best friends, Tucker and Bobby Martin, are told by their parents to flee. “No matter what,” Mr. Martin tells his boys, “keep her safe.” Victoria takes Tucker to hide with her inside a painting of a forest.

But that particular painting holds a prisoner, Lucian – a fallen mage accused of murder. Lucian wastes no time in escaping with the painting – the portal leading back to Victoria’s world – and so she, Tucker, Bobby, and Anna have no choice but to set off to recapture him in order to stop him from perpetrating further harm.

This is a coming-of-age novel, and much like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, Victoria learns that things aren’t always as they seem. Bad people turn good, and good turn bad. Family history enlightens and relationships shift. But that is life and Victoria realizes that though her world has suddenly opened into ever-expanding opportunities, there truly is no place like home.

A great read with a magical – air-bending quality that will draw the reader in and not allow them to leave until the very last page.

February 8, 2017
Tupelo Honey by Lis Anna Langston – Y/A

A stick-to-the-ribs portrait of an extraordinary girl who overcomes the deck stacked against her in the deep South. Tupelo Honey is one of our favorites.

When you read more than a hundred books per year, it’s exciting to find one that surprises you. Tupelo Honey by Lis Anna Langston is one of those, sneaking up quietly to bust expectations and leaves you thinking about the story long after closing the book.

Part of the surprise comes from being able to read on multiple levels. On the surface, it’s a sardonic YA adventure through tough modern times. Underneath, a unique and subtle paranormal story grounded in today’s world. At the deep level, a poignant coming-of-age tale about what it’s like to be a neglected child in a twisted family, and how spirit and smarts let one avoid a doom that seems inevitable.

Tupelo Honey is a preteen girl in Mississippi whose mother is an abusive junkie. Her father is unknown but his place is filled by a compassionate drug dealer; her grandmother can offer only love and shelter; her uncles are both crazy; her best friend is suppressed by severely religious parents. Then there’s Mooshi, her invisible pal—half human, half dog—who comforts and helps through his silent presence. Only Tupelo Honey can see him.

She accepts his existence (and others’ disbelief) without question, just as she accepts the poverty, insecurity, and frequent illegality of her life. While she’s wise beyond her years, she’s also still a child who craves loving parents and safe routine. There are so many abnormal people in her world that she takes them as normal, so her emotional reactions are low key where more privileged and conventional people would be freaked out.

This gives the book a sort of creepy, quiet tone from the opening page that seduces the reader onward. Tupelo Honey simply tells her story as she grows through the year that turns her life around.

The author has mastered the art of showing versus telling, giving just enough information so the reader can figure out what’s going on without having to back up or skip forward. Nothing about Tupelo Honey’s story is familiar enough to guess what’s going to happen next, making it an understated page-turner for youth and adults.

February 4, 2017
Beauty and the Bridesmaid by Lisa Souza – Chick-lit

Beauty takes a different a form in Lisa Souza’s page-turning debut novel, Beauty and the Bridesmaid.

Dorothy (Dot) Lindell tags herself as a “relationship black hole.” An overweight software geek with a loser love life whose only wish is to not die a virgin.

At her cousin’s wedding, displayed in a tightly molded purple-ish taffeta gown, Dot feels she wins the award for the ugliest bridesmaid. To add injury to insult, Dot has lost hope of an amorous hookup since her escort, Kennedy J Kennedy is gay – and the life of the party. But when he offers to trade his image consulting services for her software know-how, Dot checks the box for a complete image overhaul.

What she doesn’t realize is that her extensive overhaul is bigger, financially and physically and emotionally, than she could ever have imagined. If facial acid applications through a dermatologist aren’t enough, Dot’s personal trainer works her to death. Although it only takes her three and a half months to lose the weight through rigorous exercise program and her spanking-new meal plan, it all pales in comparison to the painful aftermath of plastic surgery.

As a result of her hard work and her surgeon’s skill, Dot is NOT the same person, anatomically speaking, than before. Changing her moniker to her middle name, Alana (Dot) enters a new world of attraction. Among her many admirers, the first person to ask her on a date is none other than her heart-throb who didn’t know she existed – even though they worked in the same office.

As told through Dot, Souza’s first person narrative describes a young woman whose involvement as a bridesmaid is less than stellar for several reasons, hideously unflattering dresses near the top of the list. Beauty and the Bridesmaid is a fascinating story that will hit the nerve of women who have ever felt or been told that their physical appearance just isn’t enough.

Souza’s distinct cast encompasses a wide range of personalities. From the down-and-outers and geeks to the haughty, and those that are purely villainous, Souza has designed much of her figures to function as foils for the main purpose of shaping Dot’s persona. Scenes continually alternate between Dot’s work, home life, friendships, and attendance at weddings as she transforms from an unattractive heavyset woman to a slim drop-dead gorgeous diva. An appealing feature of Dot’s character is her snarky comebacks, which as comedic as they are, function as her defense mechanism. Underneath her callous demeanor is actually a very humble and compassionate side that remains consistent even though she changes outwardly.

Souza slowly but steadily builds her plot with various elements to keep the story fluid. Aside from cliffhanging chapter endings and scenes replete with copious amounts of unexpected everything, Souza eliminates monotony by sprinkling the storyline with Dot’s therapy appointments, her Barbara Cartland romance reads, and bridal excerpts from Sarah Stein and Lucy Talbot’s The Bridesmaid’s Manual.

Beauty and the Bridesmaid is a perfect read with broad audience appeal for both Chick Lit and Romance aficionados.

February 1, 2017
Between Heaven and Hell by Jacqui Nelson – Western Romance Drama

The year is 1841 when nine-year old Hannah watches the murder of her family by drunk white renegade men. She was found by native Americans and taken in. Thrust into a new and unfamiliar life that will challenge and change her forever. But over a decade later, a tragic event has left her on the run from the tribe she grew accustomed to and now she must find a way to make a living on her own.

She and her trusted horse travel to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas – in other words, Hell – where she hopes to find a job. With the skills she learned from living with the tribe and her dead eye skills with a gun, she’s hoping to land a scouting job. There, she meets Paden Callahan, a seasoned traveler and military man who is looking for a replacement for his current scout, Dawson.

After being taken at such a young age, Hannah finds it better to be strong and live independently than take up a typical woman’s profession. Hannah has honed her shooting skills and has an aim better than most men, which astonishes everyone and angers those she bests. But, despite her skill and strength, Callahan still isn’t too sure a woman can handle the tough trail life and also isn’t too sure he can control himself around a woman this beautiful.

With little options to choose from, Callahan reluctantly allows her to come, but they both discover there are more dangers following Hannah than anyone realized.

Between Heaven and Hell is an alluring romance that captivates readers in a time period where Pioneers fought for land and Native Americans retaliated in order to keep what was their home. Jacqui Nelson’s characters are multi-dimensional and drift between bridging the gap between the two groups.

Hannah is an inspiring strong woman whose path represents the bridge between Natives and Settlers, and who spends most of the novel struggling to reconcile her two very different identities. Her life with the tribe has helped make her the woman she is, yet many of the settlers she must find a life with are those who do not understand, nor wish to understand, where she came from. Despite her personal battle and the difficulties she faces as a woman on her own, Hannah proves herself to be tough and resilient.

Callahan is also haunted by his past, though it differs greatly from Hannah’s and he fights to understand her and how to help her. The connection that develops between them despite their differences makes their relationship worth rooting for.

Nelson delivers a perfect, steady-paced book with poetic descriptions of romance and easy-to-follow fluidity of Callahan and Hannah’s journeys. Those who love romance and hot sensual scenes, along with the Western historical fiction, will find themselves enamored with this novel.

January 25, 2017
A DANGEROUS DESCENT: A Sarah McKinney Mystery by Marian Exall – a contemporary cosmopolitan mystery

A hectic life, a missing daughter, love lost and found come together in this spellbinding mystery thriller, Marian Exall’s second book in the Sarah McKinney series, A Dangerous Descent.

Sarah McKinney, a witty, hard-working New Yorker, is whisked off to France to help her old mentor find his long-lost daughter in the second book of this thrilling mystery series.

Sarah McKinney was happy with her chaotic life as a mediator in New York, where the most complicated thing she had to deal with was her love life. When she meets up with an old mentor, she doesn’t expect the meeting to end with her hoping a plane and flying halfway across the world.

But hop that plane she does, to help out her mentor fulfill his promise to his dying wife: locate their estranged daughter living in France. But finding Chantal isn’t easy. She’s not where she’s supposed to be. With urgent business back home, Sarah’s mentor pleads with her to find his daughter. She agrees and with the help of an old flame, she’s off to locate the missing girl.

But finding Chantal proves more difficult than expected and Sarah finds herself chasing leads down dangerous paths.

Marian Exall’s A Dangerous Descent is a captivating mystery that skillfully keeps the reader glued to the page. The book starts out with a light tone that tricks readers into thinking they are following the witty escapades of a New Yorker, only to find the journey darkening and becoming much more dangerous as the story progresses.

But the immediate likeability of Sarah, as well as her touching relationships, keeps the novel positive. Readers will smile as often as they grip the seat of their chairs.

Indeed, Sarah’s narration is perhaps the best part of the novel, and she remains worth rooting for throughout the story. Her traumatic childhood has left her tougher than a bed of nails, and she keeps her wits about her during terrifying situations. Exall masters the characterization of Sarah, portraying her as a sharp, collected professional against the foil of Chantal’s bizarre disappearance.

Exall’s writing is sharp and well-paced, with natural dialogue and gorgeous descriptions of setting. So much so, the reader is bound to feel as if they are in France as well!

A Dangerous Descent is Book 2 of a thrilling mystery series with a soft spot for tender-hearted lovers.

December 16, 2016
The GOLDEN DICE (A Tale of Ancient Rome) by Elisabeth Storrs — passion, betrayal, & victories

Set in the 4^th century BCE, this gorgeously-written, masterful blend of fact and fiction exposes the raw passions, betrayals and victories of three strong women as they navigate politics and corruption in an ancient world at war.

With famine weighing heavily in the Roman territories and its war coffers depleted, Rome is once again on the move. Political as well as blood alliances forged in previous battles are shattered under the Roman Consular General’s Northern military drive – a tactical move to extend Rome’s borders and claim dominion over the 12 adjacent city-states. Veii, the closest and most powerful of the twelve is the first to feel Rome’s metal. Caught in the crosshairs of this ancient war are three women, one Roman, one Veientane and one walking the razor’s edge of conflicted loyalties, all with secrets that link their lives in ways they could never imagine.

Caecilia, daughter of Rome, keeps her secret locked away in her heart. Decreed to wed Vel Mastarna of her rival city, Veii, Caecilia becomes a pawn in the politics of power. Having been previously recalled to Rome in a violent emotional tug-of-war, Caecilia’s love for her Veientane betrothed has only deepened, and from what Vel believes to have been a prophetic roll of his golden dice, Caecilia is back at his side. But Caecilia is a half-cast, straddling the wall between Rome and Veii, seen as a traitor to Rome and just another “Helen of Troy” to the people of Veii. And as the home and family she’s built in Veii is threatened she is forced to make choices that have the power to make history.

Pinna, once the proud daughter of a Roman soldier, has lost everything except her will to survive. Reduced to the status of “night moth,” an unregistered prostitute, plying her trade among the gravestones, Pinna gathers knowledge and secrets that she uses to her advantage. And when a twist of fate opens up an unexpected opportunity Pinna calls upon her sly wit to breach the established Roman social hierarchy. But Pinna’s scheming does not go unnoticed and the secret of her “tomb whore” past threatens to be her undoing.

Semni, a gifted Veientane craftswoman, craves the world of sensory experience. But her hunger for a fully sensual life leaves her with an illegitimate pregnancy and her cuckolded husband throws her into the street, penniless. Fate again intervenes, this time bringing Semni into Caecilia’s house as a servant. Although Semni’s circumstances are significantly reduced she has the opportunity for a new life and possibly for the first time, love. As Semni adjusts to the rhythms of her new home she turns a blind eye to what she thinks are minor indiscretions of another servant girl. But she soon learns that her silence endangers Caecilia’s household and may cost her the man she loves.

“The Golden Dice” is the second installment of Elisabeth Storrs’s award-winning “Tales of Ancient Rome” series. In it the author delivers engaging, believable characters infused with compassion, intelligence and unrelenting strength with a level of historical detail, both fact and fictional, that transport the reader to all of the glory and turmoil of ancient Rome.

Readers who’ve enjoyed the passion and extraordinary historical detail of Renault’s “Alexander Trilogy” and Thornton’s “The Conqueror’s Wife” will love “The Golden Dice.” A great read!

August 15, 2016
The Only Witness by Pamela Beason

Seventeen-year-old Brittany Morgan’s infant daughter was taken from her car—an apparent kidnapping. Brittany’s young mind is quaking in attacks of hope, fear, guilt and desperation. Why would anyone take little Ivy from her? Where can Ivy be by now? Is she being held for ransom? Is she still alive?

Detective Matt Finn hopes so. As a recent transplant from the mean streets of Chicago, where experience taught him to expect the worst, to the relative innocence of a small town in the Pacific Northwest, where everyone already has an Ivy-fate theory, he knows that this investigation is not going to go smoothly. His clue file is empty and the clock is his enemy. If only he could find a witness to the crime! Well, Dr. Grace McKenna over at the “Talking Hands Ranch” just left what she hopes was an anonymous tip that might be able to help the investigation. It seems that one of her charges witnessed the snatching of baby Ivy.

In The Only Witness author Pamela Beason employs knowing doses of drama, humor, adventure and romance to polish her clever premise into a sparkling jewel; a friendly persuasion of plot and character development that maintains a high level of reader interest and fascination.

Beason’s linguistic skills are evident in the often endearing scenes in which Dr. McKenna is patiently trying to coax some useful testimony from the agitated Neema who has a story to tell. Neema is the endearing gorilla that Dr. McKenna is teaching sign language to at Talking Hands Ranch. She is a dangerously strong and potentially aggressive “witness” with the IQ and attention span of a human five-year-old. Nevertheless, Neema knows how to negotiate for a banana and steal your heart while doing it.

Beason manages to plunge deeply into the hearts and minds of her main characters without creating any interruption of narrative flow. Brittany Morgan’s teen angst, Matt Finn’s dealing with his wife leaving him as he adjusts to being a cop in a rural town, Grace McKenna’s worries about the future of her underfunded project, Neema’s feverish need to communicate: all intriguingly support and contribute to the smart pace of Beason’s hip and socially relevant who-done-it. Indeed the author has a good time taking well-aimed shots at some of the peculiarities of our priority-challenged culture.

The Only Witness is a marvel of story-telling. Pamela Beason’s novel is one of those rare gems that is intelligent and informative but also embracing and charmingly accessible. The Only Witness is the Grand Prize Award winner of Chanticleer Book Reviews Blue Ribbon Novel Contest.

November 1, 2012
The Inn at Little Bend by Bobbi Groover

Hardship has followed Grayson Ridge, a motherless girl named for the orphanage that took her in, from the moment she fought for her first breath. At fifteen, fearing she’s killed the man who “adopted” her as slave labor, Grayson bolts into the wilderness, where she steals clothes and cuts her hair to become River, a homeless boy on the run. Rescued from vicious vagabonds by a kinder, gentler drifter, River attaches to taciturn Drake Somerset—temporarily, she thinks, but their history has only just begun.

What follows is a story of false identities, gender bending, and impassioned—if at times confused—love; Shakespeare’s As You Like It served up romance-style. Grayson’s many personae end up in classic predicaments, some truly horrifying and many nearly fatal, and she and Drake spend a good amount of time patching up each other’s wounds. That is, when they’re not challenging, exasperating, tormenting, and misinterpreting each other. The author has a fine ear for natural, quick-witted dialogue, and it’s one of the pleasures gleaned from reading this well-crafted tale.

Ms. Groover has structured her narrative against backdrops that move effortlessly from Virginia’s plantations to the West and back again, fashioning her framework with details that are as unobtrusive as they are knowledgeable. The love story is rather refreshingly old-school: this is no thin plot on which to hang a string of bedroom romps. Instead, it is the untangling of Grayson and Drake’s many masquerades and misunderstandings that intrigue the reader, although each character’s passions are given plenty of consideration—and yes, heat.

Despite the quintessential American settings and psyches, a whiff of “Jane Eyre” blows through: the orphanage and the search for home; the young and moral woman resurrecting the heart and soul of a man who has closed himself off in tormented guilt; the themes of forgiveness and conscience over passion. What is decidedly different: the raw, almost desperate feistiness of River, the abundant humor, and the wonderful secondary character of Aggie, whose unrequited love for Drake never stops her from being Grayson’s friend and mentor.

The Inn at Little Bend won first place in Chanticleer Book Reviews’ Published Novels Romance Western-Mystery category.

October 31, 2012
Tree Soldier by J.L.Oakley – Historical Fiction, FDR Era Work Camp, Pacific Northwest

In this action-packed, emotionally charged historical novel titled Tree Soldier, J.L. Oakley takes us back to the era of the Great Depression. With millions of Americans unemployed, President Franklin D. Roosevelt devised a New Deal work relief program called the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Some three million unmarried young men went to work in CCC camps across America—building roads and bridges, establishing flood control, and replanting depleted forests. Of the men’s $30 monthly paychecks, $25 was sent to help their desperately poor families.

Oakley skillfully weaves this history into a suspense-building story of love, forgiveness, and redemption. The story commences with the arrival in 1935 of a new squad of “Tree Soldiers” at Camp Kulshan, a CCC forestry camp in the rugged North Cascades, near the little village of Frazier, Washington.

While most of the new recruits are sort of rough teenagers from urban New Jersey and New York, our protagonist is a college student who left school and his farm home in eastern Pennsylvania to join up. The strong and handsome John Parker Hardesty has more than a paycheck on his mind, however. The pensive young man, who sometimes seeks solitude in the forest, is trying to escape his nightmare memories of two tragic events in his life. His fellow recruits nonetheless respect the polite, clean-cut, Park who can also hold his own in the physically competitive proving ground environment of camp life. Many of the new recruits seek out his company, especially a wiry, 18-year-old Italian kid named Mario Spinelli, who takes the upper bunk above Park. Before long Park becomes the squad’s “straw boss.”

Camp Kulshan is no fun summer camp. The physical training is tough, camp chores are boring, and not all the Tree Soldiers are easy to get along with. The boys of “Joisey Squad” (from the Jersey accents of several) are dubbed “foreigners” and suffer some rough hazing. However, camp life is not all work and no play. The people of Frazier appreciate the camp’s contribution to the community and in friendship arrange baseball games and picnics. The Tree Soldiers reciprocate with a dance in the mess hall. Boys meet girls, sparking romance, but also jealousy. Park is drawn to the dance floor by a pretty, auburn-haired young woman, Kate Alford. He breaks in on an arrogant, self-serving camp officer, David Callister, who has his eyes possessively on Kate. As Park takes Kate in his arms, Callister stalks off the floor.

As the story’s pace increases, so does the emotion it evokes. Suspense builds as reputations are undermined, treachery and deceit threaten lives on the verge of redemption, while storms brew and forest fires erupt. Oakley’s characters come to life as their respective roles are defined with the drama of trials and tests of wills, and determination builds. Love blossoms, but not without thorns. Friendships are solidified, and trust and support are developed in the face of duplicity and enmity. In the final pages of this compelling book, Oakley introduces one more human trait, one she saw fit to include in its title—forgiveness.

J.L. Oakley’s Tree Soldier will draw you in and keep you turning the pages. Tree Soldier won Chanticleer Book Reviews Blue Ribbon Award of Grand Prize in our Published Novels Contest 2012 earning it a coveted CBR star.

September 5, 2012