The Ozma and Goethe Awards both close at the end of July! Don’t let your History become a Fantasy!
The Ozma Award for Fantasy Fiction and The Goethe Award for Post-1750 Historical Fiction close submissions on JULY 31st.
You can’t win if you don’t submit!
Submit to the CIBAs Today!
Only 10 days left to submit your books to the prestigious CIBAs and embark on an extraordinary journey to success. With over $30,000 in prizes awarded annually, now is the time to make your mark!
The Ozma Awards for Fantasy and The Goethe Awards for Late Historical Fiction are still open until JULY 31st!
Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Ozma Awards!
Lilla Glass – The Unseen
Charles Allen – The Order of the Red God
Jaime Castle & Andy Peloquin – Black Talon
Jonathan Uffelman – Book of Leprechauns: The Lore Gatherers
PJ Devlin – The Chamber
And a huge round of applause to this years Overall Grand Prize, and Division Grand Prize for OZMA
A Vengeful Realm by Tim Facciola!
Congratulations to the Winners of the 2023 Goethe Awards!
William Maz – Bucharest Legacy: The Rise of the Oligarchs
And a huge round of applause to this years 2023 Goethe Grand Prize Winner- If Someday Comes by David Calloway
The CIBAs offer more than just recognition — they provide a ladder to success with a range of achievement tiers and expert long tail marketing strategies. From the highly anticipated Long List to the prestigious Overall Grand Prize Winner, the CIBA lists energize both authors and readers, maximizing your digital footprint and expanding your fan base.
We are always eager to support the Best Books through the CIBAs. Join the ranks of celebrated authors who have already taken this critical step in their publishing.
Your book deserves to be discovered, celebrated, and shared with the world. Don’t miss the chance to showcase your talent and gain valuable exposure at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (April 3-6, 2025) where Winners from all 25 Book Award Divisions will be announced and honored.
In a world hungry for good books, your story deserves to be heard. Submit now and leave a lasting impression.
One of our many Historical Fiction Categories, Named after German Writer, Scientist and Playwright Johan Wolfgang Van Goethe (1749-1832), Considered to be one of the most Influential and Greatest Writers of the German Language.
This Award Division covers anything after 1750, so there can be anything from The American Revolution, to the 1930s.
Let’s take a look at some of our Grand Prize Winners and Discover your next great read!
If Someday Comes By David Calloway
This is the true story of my Great-Grandfather George Calloway, a slave in Cleveland, Tennessee, before and during the Civil War. It is written as historical fiction, based on George’s life, and stories I heard growing up. It is a tale of determination, perseverance, and achievement.
George protected his family through war, famine, and plague; he risked his life repeatedly to protect his owner’s family, and thus his own wife and children.
More fact than fiction, George’s story has also been my journey, grappling with the humiliation of slavery; sorting through the many myths and false modern-day narratives, and discovering a long lost relative, I found that to understand America, you must first understand the Civil War. George was then, and remains, a hero of our family.
Winner, the 2023 Phillis Wheatley Historical Fiction Prize
Grand Prize Winner, 2023 Goethe award for Historical Fiction
Winner, The 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards African American Fiction Award
Award-winning Irish author Orna Ross has created a volume comprising the first two novels of The Irish Trilogy, drawing from her Irish birth and upbringing for a special grasp of the country’s history, how its wars and political strivings have affected its people directly, personally, over multiple generations.
Her two books take on a span of time rooted in the early 1920s and delve deeply into the interlocking fate of the extended family and ancestry of Jo Devereux. Jo, the book’s central narrator, leaves Ireland in her twenties, only returning in her forties in 1995 when she learns that her mother is near death.
The journey back will draw her into the family’s complex relationships, and reacquaint her with Rory, her former, and perhaps only, true love.
In Linda Ulleseit’s novel The Aloha Spirit, we meet the plucky heroine, Dolores, as her father leaves her.
“Dolores’s father deemed her useless when she was seven. Neither he nor her older brother, Pablo, ever said that, but every detail of their leaving told her so. Papa had tried to explain the Hawaiian custom of hānai to her. All she understood was the giving away, leaving her to live with a family not her own.”
Her story starts in 1922; the place, multi-ethnic, multilingual Hawaii. Papa, a sugar cane cutter from Spain who worked in Hawaii, decides to take his son Pablo with him to seek his fortune in California. His wife died five years earlier. He leaves 7-year-old Dolores with a large family on Oahu in an arrangement called hānai, an informal adoption. Dolores doesn’t know the family well. She feels abandoned, with no idea when or if her father will send for her or return.
Peccadillo At The Palace: An Annie Oakley Mystery By Kari Bovee
Kari Bovée’s Peccadillo at the Palace, the second book in the Annie Oakley Mystery series, is a historical, mystery thriller extraordinaire. Fans of both genres will thrill at Bovée’s complex plot that keeps us guessing from its action-packed beginning to the satisfying reveal at the end.
The book opens with the Honorable Colonel Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show to England on a voyage to perform for Queen Victoria. They are not on the high seas long, when Annie’s beloved horse, Buck, jumps overboard. Her husband and the Queen’s loyal servant, Mr. Bhakta, jump in to save the horse, or was Mr. Bhakta already dead before he reached the water? Thus, begins the mystery of who killed Mr. Bhakta, leaving all to wonder, is the Queen safe?
Someone wanted the Queen’s man dead, and he is, but was it a matter of racism, intrigue, or an accident? Annie’s search for clues points her in several directions, but is it the doctor, or the woman dressed in rags with the posh accent, or the crass American businessman and his floozy wife? All have motive. Even Annie’s husband has motive with his Irish background and ties to the Fenians and the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
The Lost Years of Billy Battles By Ronald E. Yates
(2018 Overall Grand Prize Winner)
For those not familiar with the series, Yates presents his books as works of “faction,” a story “based in part on fact” but also “augmented by narrative fiction.” The protagonist, William Fitzroy Raglan Battles, born in Kansas in 1860, lives a full 100 years and takes part in some of the most significant events of his time. He encounters key figures of the day (Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, President Wilson, Francisco “Pancho” Villa, among others), gives us their backstories, and quietly appraises them.
Yates, a journalist with a keen eye for nuance and subtlety, has created a protagonist with superb critical thinking skills. William, a journalist, and occasional soldier examines people and transactions from every angle. Just as at ease in a Kansas saloon as he is at the captain’s table on a grand ocean liner on the Pacific, Billy Battles is also ruthlessly honest about his shortcomings and feels tremendous guilt when he acts impulsively or inadvertently causes harm to others. Yates has crafted a fully human character who is easy to admire, perhaps because he is admirably cognizant of his own flaws.
I’ve begun few books as eagerly as I did this one. Having read the first two volumes of Ronald E. Yates’ extraordinary trilogy, Finding Billy Battles, I couldn’t wait to continue his story in the final volume, The Lost Years of Billy Battles. The third installment lived up to the exceedingly high standard set in the first two volumes. Billy Battles is as dear and fascinating a literary friend as I have ever encountered. I learned much about American and international history, and you will too if you read any or all of the books. Each is an independent work, but if read in relation to the others, the reader experiences that all too rare sense of complete transport to another world, one fully realized in these pages because the storytelling is so skillful and thoroughly captivating. Trust me; you’ll want to read all three volumes.
Thank you for celebrating our Goethe Hall of Fame Winners with us!
Remember to add your next reads to your StoryGraph or Goodreads account! Now that you’re set on your next five reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Journey Winners is to submit today!
Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000!
Are you a Chanticleer Author who has some good news to share? Let us know! We’re always looking for a reason to crow about Chanticleerians! Here are some recent achievements from our authors:
Submissions Deadline for the 2024 Goethe Book Awards for Post-1750s Historical Fiction is July 31st!
Named after Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832), Considered one of the most influential writers in the German Language, The Goethe Award covers Historical Fiction from the Time Period of His lifetime and afterwards, 1750-20th Century.
Why do we like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe so very much? It’s simple! He’s the guy who wrapped up everything we believe in with this simple sentence:
“Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”– Goethe
In his lifetime, he saw the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1750 through Mary Shelley’s publishing of Frankenstein in 1818 – and everything in between! Check out the list of what happened during those nearly seventy decades at the end of this post – you will be A-MAZED!
The CIBAs Levels of Achievements. Books are promoted each time they advance!
As you may have noticed, some of the Goethe Awards categories extend even a little beyond our chosen Time Period. Lets take a look!
The Georgian Era and Regency covers the reigns of four King Georges of Great Britain.
A very handsome King George I
While the period starts in 1714 when the German King George I began his Reign, we don’t get into the 1750s until George III began his reign in 1760. You may have seen a version of his early reign in the recent Netflix show and Bridgerton spinoff Queen Charlotte, or as a character in the award-winning Broadway musical Hamilton.
Corey Mylchreest as Young King George in Bridgerton.
George IVs reign is more often called the Regency, as he was acting as Prince Regent from 1811 until his father’s death in 1820, and he continued as king until his own death in 1830.
At which point we get to the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Queen Victoria took the throne in 1832 until her death in 1901, and the Edwardian covers her sons reign in the early 1900s until WW1.
This award division covers time periods anywhere from the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution beginning in the late 1700s, and can go all the way to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. American, European and The Rest of the World are all covered. (See the list of 27 Events that Happened During Goethe’s Lifetime at the end of this post.)
Note: While the Goethe Awards categories have some leeway, the question we often return to when discussing with authors who have work on the edge of this time period is “does it mostly take place here?” and “does it fit with the feel and style of Late Historical genres?”
There are three other historical divisions in addition to the Goethe Awards:
Theater Director of Frankfurt for decades, Playwright, Scientist, Novelist, Politician and more. One of his best works is a posthumously published play named Faust.
Faust is a German legend based on a real man, Renaissance alchemist and astrologer Johann Georg Faust. Supposedly selling his soul to the Devil for power and knowledge, his is a story that has been told many times over. As plays by Goethe, Christopher Marlowe (Although some believe Marlowe’s was actually written by his friend William Shakespeare), and Gertrude Stein.
The legend of Faust continues today as a short story by Washington Irving, in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey, one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, and an inspiration behind Queen’s hit song, Bohemian Rhapsody.
Goethe’s own works inspired many things, musical pieces from Beethoven (who rather admired Goethe), Schubert and Liszt, and multiple films, including one by Nosferatu director FW Murnau.
Goethe in general was a fascinating person. Meeting some of the most famous people of his time, Like a meeting with Napoleon in 1808 where Napoleon revealed one of his favorite books to be Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther. And even though he rather disliked the Romanticism movement, Romantic artists and writers are the people he influenced the most.
Fast Forward to more Modern Times: The Grand Prize Winner of the 2023 Goethe Award!
If Someday Comes By David Calloway
While a full review is forthcoming, here’s what early readers are saying:
A book you need right now. Sentence structure, character, and scene development are fully unpacked here. Excellent pacing with a great inclusion of the facts around the civil war, slavery, and presidential figures. The reading is driven forward by the story coupled with the simple rich historical depth.
Some events that occurred during Goethe’s lifetime:
1750 – The Industrial Revolution began in England
1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg Austria
1761 – The problem of calculating longitude while at sea was solved by John Harrison
1765 – James Watts perfects the steam engine
1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany
1774 – Goethe’s romantic novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, propels him into European fame
1774 – Goethe’s play Gotz von Berlichingen, a definitive work of Sturm und Drang premiers in Berlin
1776 – America’s 13 Colonies declare independence from England. Battles ensue.
1776 – Adam Smith publishes the Wealth of Nations (the foundation of the modern theory of economics)
1776 – The Boulton and Watt steam engines were put to use ushering in the Industrial Revolution
1783 – The Hot Air Balloon was invented by the Montgolfier brothers in France.
1786 – Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart premiered in Vienna
1789 – George Washington is elected the first president of the United States of America
1780 – Antoine Lavoisier discovers the Law of Conservation of Mass
1789 – The French Revolution started in Bastille
1791 – Thomas Paine publishesThe Rights of Man 1792 – Napoleon begins his march to conquer Europe
1799 – Rosetta Stone discovered in Egypt
1802 – Beethoven created and performed The Moonlight Sonata 1802 – A child’s workday is limited to twelve hours per day by the British parliament when they pass their first Factory Act
1804 – Napoleon has himself proclaimed Emperor of France
1808 – Atomic Theory paper published by John Dalton
1811 – Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro publishes a hypothesis, about the number of molecules in gases, that becomes known as Avogadro’s Law
1811 – Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility was published anonymously. It was critically well-received.
1814 – Steam-driven printing press was invented which allowed newspapers to become more common
1818 – Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein 1832 – Goethe’s Faust, Parts 1 & 2 are published posthumously (March 22, 1832)
At Chanticleer we love Romance Books and we love to show it off with our Chatelaine Awards! We’re currently working as hard as we can to get out the Finalist List for those Awards, and you can see the Semi-Finals for them here! Who will win? Only time will tell.
However, right now we just want to celebrate some of the best romantic books we’ve been able to discover. Like chocolate, romance is one of those extraordinary genres that can go with almost anything! Historical Romance, Mystery Romance, YA Romance, SciFi Romance, Fantasy Romance, the list goes on!
Even better, romance is one of the bestselling genres out there! Being able to add that tag to your book makes it that much more marketable! For our own Chatelaine Awards, we’re always happy to crow about our winners!
Our 2022 Chatelaine Grand Prize Winner was Operation Mom by Reenita Malhotra Hora.
What does Chanticleer have to say about Operation Mom?
Master storyteller Reenita Malhotra Hora’s YA romance Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man takes us on a charming journey through the life of one teen, Ila Isham.
Hora introduces Ila and her best friend Deepali, two boy-crazy teens on a summer quest. Readers will fall in love with the smart, sassy, angst-filled, rebellious Ila. A typical teenage girl, Ila lives in Mumbai with her mom and Sakkubai, their house manager. Ila’s mother calls her obsessed, but that seems unfair. Is she obsessed just because her every waking minute is spent thinking of Ali Zafar, famous pop icon, singer, and heartthrob? Or is she obsessed with fellow classmate Dev?
No, Ila couldn’t be taken with Dev because he’s one of three young men that her best friend Deepali is juggling in her summer experiment of exploring her “feminine mystique.” This turn of phrase becomes just one of many opportunities for Hora’s humor to shine as Ila remarks, “That’s a book by Gloria Steinem . . . no Betty Friedan.” Deepali’s response? “Yaar. Don’t be so literal.” The delightful balance between Ila’s book smarts versus Deepali’s street smarts carries us through Hora’s expertly crafted story.
Operation Mom also took home a First Place Blue in the Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult Fiction. We’d love to share other romance books that meet with other genres and why they touch our heart!
A SPYING EYE: A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel
By Michelle Cox
2023 Overall Grand Prize
Grand Prize for the M&M Awards for Cozy Mysteries
A Cozy Mystery Romance!
Brooding Château du Freudeneck, just outside Strasbourg, France has villains in the drawing rooms, stolen art hidden in the cellars, and bats in the belfry – all the best elements for a 19th-century Gothic mystery.
However, in Michelle Cox’s novel, A Spying Eye it’s the 20th century. The Great War is passed, but the next war already looms on the horizon. The people of Strasbourg feel the growing conflict sharply, at the heart of Alsace-Lorraine, a fertile region that has been contested between France and Germany since time immemorial.
Which means those bats are in the unfortunate head of the elderly Baron Von Harmon, the current lord and master (as much as he’s still able to be, at least) of the Chateau, while the stolen art is pursued by both the villainous Nazis and the only slightly-less villainous agents of Britain’s MI5.
THE LAST LUMENIAN
By S.G. Blaise
2023 Cygnus Grand Prize Winner
A SciFi Romance!
Nineteen-year-old Lilla could have an idyllic life, but in The Last Lumenian by S.G. Blaise, she comes face to face with a rebellion and their just cause.
Lilla’s father leads the Pax Septum Coalition, a nineteen-planet confederation. As a princess in her own right, she should be enjoying the status and wealth that comes from living on Uhna, the richest planet in the coalition due to the diamond mines found by her pirate ancestors centuries ago. She most definitely shouldn’t be worried about the rebellion brewing right under her father’s nose. However, when Lilla meets rebels in a refugee camp, she thinks she has found her destiny, a true purpose.
Wanting to fight against the injustice and horrific treatment of the refugees, Lilla tries desperately to prove herself, especially after a disastrous first mission where she not only crashes her ship but also ends up in the hands of General Callum, leader of the Teryn Praelium.
Norah Andell, Princess of Mercia and future North Queen, has been missing for three years.
Her father secreted her away to protect her from a prophesied attack in a ten-year war, but he dies shortly after their departure and takes her location to the grave. Alexander Rhemus, Lord Justice to Queen Regent Catherine, Norah’s grandmother, was told by a seer that Norah would be found in the deep forests of the Northern Kingdom, and has searched the woods ceaselessly. Having loved her since they were children, Alexander’s desperation leads him to the Wilds, a legendary and feared area where men often do not return. So opens The North Queen.
To Alexander’s shock, he finds Norah, who has no memories of her former life or even of her own name. At first, she refuses to believe she’s the missing princess, now Queen, and bristles against her newfound world and the restraints it casts upon her.
Norah struggles with a position she doesn’t want, governing a people on the verge of starvation and facing an arranged marriage to protect her people from the Shadow King, a ruthless man hell-bent on taking her kingdom.
A PLACE Of REFUGE: Book Four of First Light
By Linda Cardillo
A Historical Romance
Izzy Monroe has lost herself. Three months after an accident that damaged a portion of her brain, she isolates herself in her parent’s home on Chappaquiddick Island, on the eastern end of Martha’s Vineyard.
She has spent her life in the world of academia, working on a doctorate in literature at Harvard, but now with her short-term memory gone, she has to give up her dreams. Her emptiness and doubt have left her rudderless and deeply depressed.
When her former college roommate, Maria, suggests she intern at Portarello, Maria’s grandfather’s self-sustaining farm in the Italian countryside, Izzy isn’t immediately convinced she can make the journey alone much less work at the successful inn and thriving farm. However, Izzy remembers the peace she felt there on the one visit she and Maria made years ago, and she knows this is her only chance to regain any sense of normalcy.
Featuring authors like D.D. Black, book doctor Christine Fairchild, and Mark Berridge, our twelfth annual conference is shaping up to be excellent! You won’t want to miss out on the best tips around the business of being an author!
Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
Disguised gender identities, warfare, and thwarted romance all play a role in this many-layered novel, Seven Aprils, by award-winning fiction author Eileen Charbonneau.
When Tess Barton, a hardscrabble farm girl, saves the life of a man attacked by a panther, she and he little realize how fated this encounter will prove. Ryder Cole, the man she saved, moves on, pursuing a medical career just as the United States seems destined for war. Intrepid Tess will move on, too, when she learns that her widower father sells her in matrimony to an old, brutish shopkeeper. A wise crone cuts Tess’s hair and garbs her in men’s attire. Reborn as Tom Boyde, who will soon, strangely, meet up with Ryder and become one of his “men,” conscripted into Lincoln’s armies. Tess/Tom shows promise as a medical assistant with some undeniable cooking skills, and together with two other conscripts, they make the team in the Union’s army hospital units.
Things change again for Tess when she and the others visit a brothel in Washington, DC.
The madam spies a young woman in Tess/Tom right away. She dresses and perfumes Tess and sends her to Ryder. As for Ryder, he’s not stopped fantasizing about the huntress “Diana,” who saved him from the panther. As this strange link develops, Tom helps Ryder write to his “sister” Tess since Ryder has feelings – for Tom – that can only be assuaged by the hope of meeting the young man’s female twin someday. Meanwhile, their sexual affair blooms. Diana/Tess will meet Ryder only in darkness, though, and Tom/Tess serves mysteriously as their go-between. When the war ends, Ryder, assuming Tom to have been killed, feels compelled to seek out Tess, who has meanwhile met the Underground Railroad founder, Harriet Tubman, and has more than one surprise for her former lover and comrade-in-arms.
Seven Aprils feels a lot like the mistaken identities and disguises found in a romping romantic Shakespeare comedy.
The plot, undeniably complicated, appears in seven phases – beginning in 1860 with Tess and Ryder’s first encounter and concluding in 1866. When done with subterfuge, the two can finally see each other in complete honesty. The novel abounds with what is clearly the author’s deep commitment to historical fact. Many women disguised their physic to serve in the war. The scenes of army medical care, savage as it had to be under the harrowing circumstances, are founded on real accounts. And the background of noted battles and locations is drawn from the annals of recorded history.
If the tale seems a bit too fanciful, how could Ryder not see that Tom was a female at some point in their mixing? Held together by the reader’s own wish to have it so, readers have a chance to sit back and enjoy the show. So long as Tess/Tom can sustain her/his deception, there will be a gripping war chronicle and a sensual love story on the boil. And in the end, Charbonneau deftly ties up all the threads, leaving an opening (this being Book 1) for more such dramas to play out in the future. Seven Aprils took home the CIBA Laramie Grand Prize for the Best Western Romance novel in 2019.
Lady Caitlin Southall wants to save her home in Bronwen Evan’s first novella in the Wicked Wager Trilogy, To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield.
According to her deceased mother’s will, Caitlin inherits the estate upon her marriage or her twenty-fifth birthday, whichever occurs first. Since she’s twenty-three with no suitors on the horizon, Caitlin’s estate falls under the care of her father, the Earl of Bridgenorth. When her father loses Mansfield Manor in a faro game to the Duke of Dangerfield, Caitlin’s hopes of independence seem lost.
Harlow Telford, a rakish devil, determined to see Caitlin’s father ruined, rejoices when he finally succeeds in divesting the Earl of Bridgenorth of his family home.
Harlow vowed revenge fourteen years earlier when Bridgenorth seduced his recently widowed mother and left her pregnant. His half-brother Jeremy had been paying the price of that betrayal his whole life. Harlow swore he would give Jeremy what should have been his birthright, Mansfield Manor.
But when the beautiful Caitlin marches into his home, demanding its return, Harlow’s captivated by her spirit. Caitlin’s undaunted in determination, and the two agree to a best of three challenges. If Caitlin wins, she gets her house back. If Harlow wins, he’ll get Caitlin in his bed. As the two face off against each other, they soon find much more at stake than they initially realized.
Harlow Telford may seem like the typical, lust-worthy hero, but there’s much more.
After suffering a broken heart at the hands of a cheating fiancé, Harlow swore off love. He spent his adulthood bedding women and gambling, but readers may suspect that Harlow possesses a conscience. Even while making the scandalous bargain with Caitlin, Harlow vows to propose marriage before Caitlin’s reputation falls into ruin. Though he should hate her for the sins of her father, he cannot ignore the lessons learned through watching his mother’s suffering at the hands of a rigid Victorian society.
Harlow sees the injustice of Caitlin not inheriting her mother’s estate and makes numerous plans to rectify the mistake without compromising the promise he made to his half-brother. Harlow cannot take advantage of anyone hurt by the very man who hurt his mother. He finds himself wanting her respect, something he never expected to need from a woman.
Lady Caitlin Southall, on the other hand, possesses an iron will and a salty disposition.
Growing up motherless with a derelict father forced Caitlin into a keen awareness of her financial situation. Her bravery and fire make her a fantastic character, especially when she slaps the arrogant, albeit perfect, face of Harlow.
Caitlan doesn’t hesitate to take matters into her own hands, even though that could mean destroying her reputation. Despite giving in to Harlow’s lecherous designs, she remains determined to find a husband who sees her as a true partner, not an heir-bearer. Her home means more than a place to live. For Caitlin, the manor embodies her security, a chance at financial independence from her father and husband. Retaining Mansfield Manor would prevent her from being sold off to the man who can fill her father’s empty purse.
A simple theme for the novel revolves around the idea of what makes a house a home.
Caitlin’s overwhelming desire to retain Mansfield Manor nearly becomes her undoing when she risks not just her reputation but also her life. Harlow’s love for his brother causes him to take revenge upon the man responsible for the unfortunate situation. His actions almost cost him the woman he loves. Both must learn that people make a house a home – not the stones with which it’s built.
To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield won First in Category in the CHATELAINE Book Awards, a division of the CIBAs, for Romance novels.
The Search (Across the Great Divide: Book II)by Michael L. Ross brings to life the history and events of the Westward Expansion in a post-Civil War US. In this sequel to The Clouds of War (Book I), we once again follow Will Crump, now a young Confederate Veteran, a POW survivor, and a sufferer from what must be PTSD. With the war over, nightmares and tension with the family disrupt his life and plans to marry his pre-war sweetheart. He wants to get away from civilization, build a little cabin in the mountains, and live in peace.
Will strikes out on his horse Dusty and soon picks up a stray dog he names Lightening. Both animals play essential roles in Will’s survival throughout his journey, and readers will worry for and root for them as much as for Will as they face the wild west head-on.
Early on, Will witnesses a native woman trying to escape two native men who seem to be holding her captive. When he realizes her life is in jeopardy, Will jumps into action and puts his sharpshooting skills to work. At this point, Will struggles to control his incapacitating panic amidst the flashbacks brought on by firing his rifle. He rescues the young woman, Dove, and they travel together.
The last thing Will finds is peace, and he begins to think that coming west might have been a mistake. Nevertheless, he and Dove reach Fort Laramie, where Will grows to respect and even love a native woman. Nevertheless, he has made a vow to return her to her people, and he will not rest until he has done so.
There are a host of characters surrounding Will, many of whom come directly from history. Through extensive research into the events of the time, Ross has developed a plot and narrative that is believable and entertaining. History comes alive with his expert storytelling prowess, and he does not shy away from incorporating the brutal attitudes of the US government and its citizens toward Indigenous peoples.
Ross remains true to his story, and the result is a read that will not disappoint. This book can easily be read as a stand-alone book but might inspire readers to go back and read Book I and anticipate Book III’s release. For fans of Ross and stories set around the Civil War-era, or those new to the historical fiction of the Westward Expansion, this novel informs and entertains in a fast-paced, page-turner that is stunning in its descriptions and satisfying to the very end.
Ross uses one character, Gabe, as a sympathetic lens to expose the subtle differences between the tribes and that of the whites that overrun native hunting lands. Gabe serves as a go-between for Will in his pursuit of returning Dove to her father and in negotiations for the couple’s marriage.
Within the context of the settlers’ infringement on the migratory nature of indigenous people, the story unfolds. The Indigenous peoples’ very way of life is threatened and pressed to acts of desperation, leaving readers to wonder if Will and Dove’s story will ever come to fruition.
Grace Michelle never asked for stardom or fame. Content to sew costumes with her mentor Lucile, Lady Duff Gordon, Grace doesn’t need adoration from anyone. Still, when her sister Sophia, a rising starlet in the Ziegfeld Follies, begins a rapid downhill spiral and then ends up dead, Grace is thrust into the spotlight by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
Florenz, or Flo, was her savior, rescuing Grace and Sophia from a life on the streets when they were mere children. He enrolled the girls in dance, voice, and acting lessons, too. Now, Grace feels obligated to take up the reins and save his floundering Follies. Grace knows her sister’s death was no accident and definitely not the suicide those around her believe. However, the only place to find the truth is California, where her sister was last seen alive with her new husband, Jack Pickford, brother to the famous actress Mary Pickford.
When Flo sends Grace to Hollywood on a promotional tour, Grace reluctantly agrees, even though it means traveling with Chet Riker, a private investigator indebted to mobster and Flo’s financier, Joe Marciano. Haunted by Sophia’s death and overwhelmed by the pressure to bring Flo success, Grace doesn’t need to fall for the handsome stranger, but neither can deny the longing they feel. As Grace gets closer to the truth, she realizes everyone is keeping secrets, even Chet, and the only person she can rely on is herself. But will she be enough?
A significant issue raised within the novel is that of female independence. At twenty years old, Grace is just beginning to understand who she is and what she wants from life. Having moved from seamstress to junior designer, she is finally on the path she most desires, one spent in the shadows of the stage, not in the gleaming gel lights her sister so loved.
As Grace finds her voice literally and figuratively, she knows she cannot follow in her sister’s footsteps, neither on stage nor in life. As she investigates Sophia’s death, she becomes emboldened and more sure of herself. Grace learns to challenge those in power, people who would have terrified her before. The more strength she finds, the more righteous anger develops. Though she will fulfill her obligatory role in Flo’s latest scheme, Grace vows to fight for freedom once the promotion trip is over and to never again allow a man to take care of her but to put her own feet on the ground when and where she chooses.
Chet Riker is more than just a pretty face. Tall, dark, and handsome, he fits the image of most romance heroes; however, Chet’s story adds another layer to this period thriller. Chet is haunted by his memories of World War I, a man with a complicated past, but not in the expected “brooding hunk” way. Chet was given up by his mother when he was a boy. Old enough to remember her, Chet spent his life wanting to find her again someday, but when he does, he discovers she is dying and in need of an expensive operation. Money is needed, and that need leads him indebted to a vicious mobster. That debt takes him to Flo, who then attempts to use him in an illegal scheme and eventually sets him up as an unwitting conspirator in his machinations to use Grace. He knows he must pay off his debts or risk his PI career–and possibly his life. Torn between his anger at being used by these two men and his newfound love of Grace Michelle, Chet will have to decide between honor and honesty or ruthlessness and reputation. His story, much like Grace’s, will force him to fight for independence or to remain a captured pawn in a game of titans.
Set against the glamorous stage of the Roaring Twenties, this star-studded whodunnit will not disappoint fans of mystery and history. Grace in the Wings won First in Category in the CIBA 2019 Chatelaine Awards for Romantic Mysteries.
As we step toward Valentine’s in quarantine, we might be a little further from our loved ones than normal, but hopefully that doesn’t mean we’re further away from love. Just like we can stay in touch with each other in different ways, we can take a moment to appreciate the different types of love we still have access to.
Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else. Like all young men, you greatly exaggerate the difference between one young woman and another…. And the only way to make sure of that is to keep changing the man; for the same man can never keep it up. – George Bernard Shaw
Now we like Shaw for his obscure connection to our Chatelaine Awards, which you can read about here (the long and short of it is that Shaw based Eliza Doolittle’s character from My Fair Lady off of Jane Morris, the woman, Jane Morris, in the Chatelaine portrait by Dante Rossetti).
Anyway, Shaw’s opinion on the ability of men to offer variety aside, did you know the Greeks have seven different names for love? Let’s dive in!
The Greeks Seven Names for LOVE with Recommended Book Titles from Chanticleerian Authors whose works we love.
1) Eros:
Eros is what we normally think of when we first hear the word love, the romantic and the passionate. Here are some great titles we recommend for the Eros readers out there.
Heart of a Few by Jon Duncan: It isn’t distance that makes the heart grow fonder in this novel, but the thrill of trying to save the world from fascism in WWII. Here the aristocratic Livy Ashford falls for pilot Jamie Wallace. Like the couple’s passion for each other, the reader’s own delight will draw them through this book in a flash!
The Skeptical Physick by Gail Avery Halverson: Fire, plague? Nothing can keep these Simon McKensie and Catherine Abbott apart! Gail Avery Halverson dives deep into the romance and the historical details that inspired the background setting for this whole novel. Winner of the Grand Prize in the Chatelaine Awards
2) Philia:
Philia is more of the love for our intimates and friends, those who we choose to keep close to us. Titles for the friendly readers out there.
Victorian Town by Nancy Throne: A Time Traveling young woman finds friendship and joy in the past. Abby Parker never quite felt she belonged at home, but a magic ring that transports her back in time gives her a chance to make real connections and stand out in a time where outspoken women are often pushed to the side. First Place Category Winner in the Dante Rossetti Awards
Mischief and Mayhem by L.E. Rico: Jameson O’Halloran might be surrounded by steamy looking men, but don’t be fooled. This story focuses most on the ties of family and the family we choose as we move through this veil of tears to live our best life. First Place Category Winner in the Chatelaine Awards
3) Ludus
Ludus is a close cousin of Eros, the playful, flirtatious love that is a little harder to make work over a Zoom room. For all you sassy flirts, we recommend the following
Love’s Misadventures by Cheri Champagne: The title says it all as you jump into Miss Anna Bradley’s hurried search for a husband, being in danger of forever living as a spinster at the ripe old age of 25. Written in the tradition of Jane Austen for the modern reader, this novel features debonair gentlemen who can keep their distance and pack a picnic, while delightful friendships make up a wonderful background cast of characters. First Place Category Winner in the Chatelaine Awards
Secrets Revealed by Kate Vale: Sometimes what’s meant to be fun and easy turns into something more, as happens when Owen Haskins and Faith Russell’s initial tense relationship breaks through to romantic as the casual adversaries turn into casual lovers and then maybe more. First Place Category Winner in the Chatelaine Awards
4) Storge
Storge is the unconditional love that we hope comes from family, chosen or otherwise. These titles are great reads for those who love family connection.
Promise of Tomorrow by T.K. Conklin: When Shyfawn Tucker’s adventure with her friend Mabel leads to disaster, the two need to figure out how to survive on their own. Meanwhile, Shyfawn’s sister Jo isn’t the type to sit around while her family is kidnapped. A story rich in romance, but that explores the ties that bind family together and what it means to find the best in everyone while still being true to yourself.
Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes you Knew by Ellen Notbohm: A beautiful book for parents who are struggling to better understand their children. Probably the highlight of the list is 10. “Love me unconditionally.” Don’t base approval on an “if” along with an emphasis on people with autism being whole and not promoting a harmful narrative of fixing people. A thoughtful look at the ways we can unconditionally accept people regardless of difference. Winner of the Grand Prize in the Nonfiction Instructional & Insight Awards
5) Philautia
Philautia is probably the most forgotten love we need to try and remember, which is self-love.
Hard Cider by Barbara Stark-Nemon: After building up a family and life that she can be proud of, Abbie Rose isn’t one to call it quits. She embarks on a totally new career path to keep living life to the fullest and be the truest version of herself that she can be. Winner of the Grand Prize in the Somerset Awards
The Knock by Carolyn Watkins: Sometimes understanding your family’s love means loving yourself when they can’t be there. Carolyn Watkin’s beautiful look at childhood with a deployed parent will tug on your heartstrings. First Place Category Winner in the Little Peeps Awards
6) Pragma
Pragma is another good overlapping love that’s usually connect to other loves. This one encompasses committed, companionate love.
Seize the Flame by Lynda J. Cox: A story of forgiveness and finding a way to love again. Will Drake Adams and Jessie Depre be able to overcome the traumas of their past and their current betrayals to find love together again?
My Sister’s Super Skills by Lauren Mosbeck: Sometimes commitment and love mean helping our family through tough times. Mosbek does an excellent job laying out fun tools to help kids deal with anxiety and depression, especially with the current state of the world. First Place Category Winner in the Little Peeps Awards
7) Agápe
Agápe: The last and biggest love that is empathetic and universal love.
Blossom – The Wild Ambassador of Tewksbury by Anna Carner: The story of how Carner and her husband took a deer into their family and then try to raise awareness to keep her safe. Balanced with reflection of Carner’s own youth, a beautiful reminder that we are all connected with the tone of a nature thriller. First Place Category Winner in the Journey Awards
The Last Outrageous Woman by Jessica Stone: Sometimes a past lover’s dream can take you places you never dreamed possible. That’s what happens eighty-six-year-old Mattie decides to embark on a worldwide adventure with her best friend Edna and Edna’s niece. It’s a whirlwind of fun where each woman seeks fulfillment in their own way while jumping into an international stage and connecting with the wider world at large.
Do you have another type of LOVE to add to the list? We do!
BIBLIOPHILIA – The LOVE of BOOKS
Are you a Bibliophile? We are!
Here are some of Kiffer’s favorite earworms (aka lyrics) concerning love.
Because all you need is love. Love is all you need. The Beatles
Love will bring us together. Captain and Tennille
Love lifts us up where we belong. Joe Cocker and Buffy Sainte-Marie
What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Hal David
Happy Valentines Day! From all of us Chanticleer Reviews!
Love comes in many forms and so do our contests! Submit here! Want to tell us about some of the favorite loves you’ve read? Talk to us on Twitter, Facebook, or join us here on The Roost.
There isn’t much to do in Little Current, Abby Parker’s hometown. Desperate to escape her alcoholic mother and absentee father’s drama, Abby Parker takes her dog Riley for a walk near the local tourist attraction, Victorian Town, a restored settlement from the 1800s. When Riley unearths a silver filigree ring engraved with the initials “BB,” Abby doesn’t hesitate to slip the ring onto her finger. In a haze of white, Abby is transported back to 1876.
Abby’s strange clothes and unfamiliar words quickly warrant a visit to the town doctor, Albert Edgecombe, where she meets Martha, his teenage daughter. With Martha’s kindness and easy nature, the girls form a fast friendship despite Abby’s confusion and constant questions. Soon she realizes when the ring is removed from her finger, she returns to her own time. Though warned repeatedly by her modern friend Jess, Abby cannot resist returning to 1876 and Martha’s family. Martha’s older sister, Elizabeth, seemingly left town though no one can confirm her leaving. The mystery of the missing Edgecombe sibling and a connection to the local blacksmith, Ben Dunstone, piques Abby’s interest until she can’t resist defying the laws of nature and returning frequently. However, the ring’s power is draining, and Abby will soon have to choose between the twenty-first century and the new family she has found.
The place of women in 1876 creates an issue for Abby and a theme within the novel. Abby is clearly a modern girl, independent and opinionated. In typical late-teen fashion, she arrives unabashed and uncensored in the quiet Victorian town. Even after she finally understands her “transport,” she refuses complete conformity, continuing instead to both shock and scandalize Martha Edgecombe. Her struggles exemplify most women’s lives and are symbolized in many ways by the simple task of dressing to fit in. In a time of corset, pantalettes, and bustles, Abby is a “shorty-short” girl. Just as she fights her garments in what should be an easy task–dressing for the day–she fights the notion that women should settle, not in their attire and certainly not in their life choices. When Martha mentions women’s roles, those of mother and wife, Abby scoffs and is even disgusted by the suggestion that that should be a good life for a woman. Repeated references to the fairytale Cinderella and Abby’s refusal to want the rescue of a handsome prince highlights her feelings and her appreciation of the place of modern women.
Friendship is another important notion within the novel. Jess, Abby’s modern bestie, is a significant part of Abby’s life. Abby has little to no family support; her mother is an alcoholic, while her father stays gone most of the time. Even Abby’s brothers, who are adults, are absent from Abby’s life. Other than her sheltie, Riley, Abby is alone. Jess is her only real human connection until she develops a close bond with Martha. Both friendships mean more to Abby than anything. She turns to Jess for advice in her time travels. Martha becomes a sister to her when the Edgecombe family welcomes Abby into their family after her abrupt arrival in 1876.
Abby’s closeness to Martha keeps her returning to the past, though her chances of being stuck there increase with each trip. Moreover, she is hurting Jess by venturing into the past. This pull keeps bringing Abby back to the present even when she begins to feel drawn to the past. Though she must eventually choose between Jess and Martha, both girls have a firm claim on Abby’s heartstrings and give her the family she chooses instead of the one into which she was born.
Abby’s sense of purpose is an admirable trait that gives her character a strong, heroic feel. Abby cannot let go of Elizabeth’s disappearance. She refuses to stay safely tucked into her own time when a possible murderer is wandering around in the distant past. Nearly from the first trip, Abby feels she was “chosen” for a reason and beyond determined to discover what that might be even at significant physical and mental risk to herself. What begins as a mystery becomes a rescue mission when Abby finds her friends’ fate through historical documents. Abby cannot leave the fate of Martha and Ben to chance.
Victorian Town won First in Category in the CIBA 2019 Dante Rossetti Awards for Young Adult fiction novels.
Disguised gender identities, warfare, and thwarted romance all play a role in this many-layered novel, Seven Aprils, by award-winning fiction author Eileen Charbonneau.
Heart of a Few by Jon Duncan
There isn’t much to do in Little Current, Abby Parker’s hometown. Desperate to escape her alcoholic mother and absentee father’s drama, Abby Parker takes her dog Riley for a walk near the local tourist attraction, Victorian Town, a restored settlement from the 1800s. When Riley unearths a silver filigree ring engraved with the initials “BB,” Abby doesn’t hesitate to slip the ring onto her finger. In a haze of white, Abby is transported back to 1876.
