Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Independent Bookstores

  • Love at First Browse: Celebrating Bookstore Romance Day and the Communities Who Love Them

    Bookstore Romance Day might just be your perfect match

    You know the feeling. Your heart swoons for them, you squeal in excitement as companions come together in love, whatever it is, you’ve found it between the pages of a book. True romance to light a fire in your heart. 

    Held every August, this delightful celebration brings together two of life’s most irresistible pleasures: independent bookstores and the romance genre. It’s a day where book lovers gather to celebrate the cozy, quirky, fiercely passionate indie bookshops that make discovering those romantic tales feel like magic.

    Bookstore Romance Day is your excuse (not that you needed one) to support a local business, shop small, and maybe fall in love with a book, a bookstore, or even both. Buying from a local independent bookstore makes the whole community better!

    woman, man, books, sale, table, shelves

    It’s time to go on a date with your town’s Indie bookstore!

    Independent bookstores are the heart and soul of their communities, championing local voices and fostering meaningful connections between readers and authors. They also provide an unrestrained avenue to books that can be overlooked by a curated algorithym that threatens to overlook great, but unknown, books.

    The space a bookstore inhabits is an intimate expression of the community itself. Every shelf reflects the personality and passion of the booksellers who hand-pick each title based on the desires of the readers they serve. It’s a great way to validate the diversity of your community through their varying interests in reading material.

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    Support Your Local Bookstore and Indie Authors!

    Frequenting an indie bookstore and supporting indie authors comes from the connection, passion, and joy of storytelling shared between themselves and their community. When a reader chooses to shop local, attend readings, or simply spread the word about a favorite new release, it’s like slipping a love note into the hands of those who pour their hearts into every page and every recommendation. These small gestures create ripples—helping authors find their readers, bookstores to keep their lights on, and neighborhoods to become rich with imagination and soul. It’s a romance rooted in reciprocity: when we show up for our bookstores, they show up for us, again and again, with stories, romance and all genres, that make us laugh, cry, and believe in happy endings.

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    Show Your Love of Bookstores and the Romance Found Inside

    Next time you stroll down to your corner independent bookstore, take a moment to think about the amazing relationship your favorite bookseller has with your community and pick up a romance to fall in love with as you celebrate Bookstore Romance Day!

    Fall in love with the romantic streaks from these Chanticleer authors! 

    Vermilion Harvest Cover

    Overall Grand Prize CIBA winner!

    Reenita M. Hora’s Vermilion Harvest weaves love and liberation into literary gold.

    “Why do love and freedom have such a complicated relationship?” This haunting question pulses through every page of Vermilion Harvest, Hora’s breathtaking debut that creates, in one of history’s darkest moments, a luminous testament to the power of love in transcending boundaries.

    A star-crossed romance sparks against the backdrop of empire.

    Set in 1919 Amritsar, Vermilion Harvest introduces readers to Aruna Duggal, a nineteen-year-old Anglo-Indian schoolteacher caught between worlds—too brown for British acceptance, too white for Indian belonging. Born from violence, raised in the shadows between communities, Aruna navigates life’s margins until she meets Ayaz Peermohammed, a passionate Muslim law student from Lahore. Ayaz’s dreams of Indian independence ignite something revolutionary within Aruna’s heart.

    Read more here…

     

    The Third Act Cover

    The Third Act

    The subtitle “A Spicy Lesbian Romance” belies the true emotional depth of Kathleen Brehony’s The Third Act. This story is a testament to the unbreakable connection between a “Tribe” of 60ish lesbian women, and the unexpected possibility of love appearing even in the darkest of times.

    The story opens as Shannon, a member of the Tribe, witnesses her lifelong best friend, Linda, pass away after a decade-long battle with breast cancer.

    Shannon has been by Linda’s side during the last part of her battle, and now she’s the friend who sends the rest of The Tribe the simple message “She’s gone.” They make a plan to come together on Labor Day weekend to celebrate Linda’s life at Shannon’s family’s beachside resort on the Jersey shore in the hopes that the closeness and comfort they’ve shared as friends all these years will help them begin to heal. When they arrive at the coastal cottage, they toast their friendship with a quote from Rumi, “Friend our closeness is this: anywhere you put your foot, you feel me in the firmness underneath you.”

    It is here, with the gathered Tribe, that we begin to understand the long, complicated history between Shannon O’Connell and Elizabeth Mathews.

    Read more here…

    Back to One

    Antonia Gavrihel shows off superb storytelling and narration skills in her audiobook, Back to One, where passion, family, and, most importantly, friendship clash in an emotionally intimate slow-burn romance.

    When Catherine Leigh meets famous actor Kyle Weston at a Hollywood party, an unbreakable bond snaps into place. But, while Cate and Kyle each acknowledge this intense connection, their life situations make a courtship impossible. Cate is happily married, and Kyle’s career leaves him with little time for any personal ties.

    The two vow to take romance off the table and love each other as best friends—or at least try to.

    Cate and her young family help reinvigorate Kyle’s strained relationship with his son Scott, while Kyle revives Cate’s acting career. This surprisingly wholesome romance focuses on the support that two true friends can give each other, and how it forms a strong foundation to lean on during difficult times.

    Back to One, Gavrihel’s debut novel, was quickly followed up with three additional books in the series of the same name. This audiobook version brings even more vibrancy to her work.

    Read more here…

    Spruce Harbor Possibilities Cover

    Spruce Harbor Possibilities

    Spruce Harbor Possibilities, the second book in David A. Stone’s Spruce Harbor series, pulls an independent bookstore owner and a savvy tech billionaire into an improbable whirlwind romance, but each with their own reasons to be guarded about love.

    Romantic Maggie Bennett’s last breakup diminished her self-confidence, and she’s since put all her energy into running her cozy literary shop in the small community of Spruce Harbor, Washington. Her best friend and co-worker Bobby wants her to get back in the dating game, but for the moment Maggie contents herself with the solace of her bookstore and her Golden Retriever, Mr. Darcy.

    That is until Jason Porter arrives in town.

    Handsome and extremely wealthy, Jason was co-founder of the Lifestar Gaming Company, recently and unceremoniously sacked by the Board of Directors and his business partner.

    Though they come from different worlds, there’s an undeniable attraction between Maggie and Jason.

    Read more here…

    Occhi Belli Cover

    Occhi Belli

    Luca Lucchesi had it all—a successful restaurant, a loving wife, an adoring mother. Then it all came crashing down. Occhi Belli by Tim McDonald explores the depths of Luca’s despair, his battle with alcohol, and ultimately his journey back to life—and love.

    Luca hadn’t planned to work in the restaurant industry but eighteen years later there he was, what one would call a “lifer.” Time flows differently in the lives of restaurant people, and it flew by for Luca. He was coming up on Occhi Belli’s tenth anniversary but felt like he’d opened it just yesterday. Luca’s vision had been a simple one—to build a great restaurant with great food and great characters. With that goal in mind, he built Occhi Belli into a hugely successful neighborhood gem in north Seattle. He’d poured his life into it and truly loved it, but at what price?

    He knows he drinks too much, but it is part of the world in which he lives. So far, he’s been lucky and has never been caught driving after drinking. Then his luck runs out.

    He totals his car, is hit with a DUI, and his life begins to unravel. His wife, Lillian, announces she’s had enough and files for divorce. After nine years of watching Luca put his restaurant and alcohol before her and their marriage, she chooses her own well-being over his. But suddenly single at thirty-six, Lillian wonders what she will do next.

    Read more here…

    Find more love between the covers with these Chanticleer articles!

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    Celebrate the Romance Genre with Professional Recognition

    Romance is one of the most beloved and marketable genres today, and a little romance goes a long way in making any book more appealing to readers. Professional recognition helps your love story stand out in this competitive but rewarding market.

    Got a great romance read? Chanticleer Editorial Book Reviews provide the professional third-party validation that romance authors need to build credibility with readers. Our comprehensive reviews serve as powerful marketing material, giving you polished content to share with romance readers who are always hungry for their next great love story.

    A typewriter with Chanticleer Reviews advertising Editorial Book Reviews

    Confident you’ll get a great review? Consider submitting to the Chanticleer International Book Awards Chatelaine Romance Division. Whether you’re writing contemporary romance, historical love stories, romantic suspense, or steamy sensual fiction, the Chatelaine Awards recognize outstanding romance across all subgenres.

     

    Chatelaine Book Awards with a white woman holding her hands under her chin

    Award recognition adds prestige to your romance novel while providing ongoing marketing material that resonates with romance readers—one of the most loyal and enthusiastic reading communities. Romance readers trust recommendations, and professional recognition signals quality they can count on.

    The romance market rewards authors who invest in professional credibility. Give your love story the recognition it deserves.

    Explore Editorial Review services to add professional credibility to your romance writing.

    Submit to the Chatelaine Awards and join the ranks of professionally recognized romance authors.

  • The Historical Resonance of Banned Books Week

    Banned Books Week

    Two men watching as a book burns from the movie Fahrenheit 451
    From left to right we have Michael Shannon as Captain Beatty and Michael B. Jordan as Guy Montag in the screen adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451

    It’s still here because it still happens

    Banned Books Week, celebrated during the last full week of September, brings authors, publishers, readers, educators, and activists together to underscore the importance of intellectual freedom and our constitutional right to access information. It’s an event that serves as a platform to advocate for free expression and to highlight the detrimental effects of censorship.books, banned, stamp, pile

    The Effects of Banning Books

    Banning books not only limits access to diverse perspectives but also stifles critical thinking and discussion. When we silence voices, we miss out on the chance to engage with different experiences and viewpoints and leaves underrepresented people isolated and oftentimes ostracized due to a lack of understanding and empathy for the struggles, triumphs, and complexities of others.

    Banned Books Week is an annual event first organized by the American Library Association (ALA) in 1982. It shines a light on the many books that have been challenged or banned in schools and libraries, and it reminds us of the vital role literature plays in shaping our understanding of the world and who we are as people. We are still advocating for these rights forty-two years later.

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    Fighting Book Bans in the Golden Age of Russian Literature

    Bans have been used put into place since Biblical times, but a more modern version is found in Imperial Russia. It’s an interesting point in history when skilled authors used fiction as a way to subvert censors and challenge the structure of their societies through the written word.

    Russian writers, the great storytellers of the “Golden Age” of literature (18th & 19th century), were masters of observation during a time when their society was rapidly changing. Western ideas brought back with soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars provided Russian citizens the freedom of thought for the first time in their long history as a monarchy. In a matter of a few years the Russian intelligentsia absorbed the knowledge of over three hundred years of Western Enlightenment and became the catalyst for conversations on the rights of man and the role of church and state in the lives of their citizens. Suddenly, a feudal society’s eyes popped open from a deep sleep and they realized their dreams of freedom were real and within reach.

    A black and white photo of seven Russian men, all of whom wrote banned books.
    The great Russian writers–top row from left: Stepan Skitalets, Fyodor Chaliapin, Yevgeny Chirikov; bottom row from left: Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Ivan Bunin, Nikolay Teleshov.

    The Russian people were in a position to expand their knowledge base exponentially and soon conversations heard in the salons and receiving rooms of St. Petersburg, Russia’s cultural capital at the time, had become passionate with talk of the “rights of man”. Influence the church and state had over the middle class decreased and their power over the people began slipping away. The common man gained the ability to ask his own questions and decide his own fate for the first time in Russian history, and as they sipped their vodka they began to speak of revolution.

    And a few wrote.

    Government censors, focused solely on traditional news sources, weren’t quick enough to pick up on the messages behind fictional plots and this gave writers a way to move the private conversations they were having out into the mainstream. As a result, Russian literature stands to this day as some of the most important novels in our society, regardless of where your origins lie. By examining the human condition with compelling narratives these great Russian writers succeeded in questioning the way we live and think about our lives, and all under the watchful eyes of those who would have banned those same ideas if presented as non-fiction.

    boy, reading, book, lightbulb, question mark

    Celebrating the Freedom to Read and Write

    During Banned Books Week, libraries, schools, and bookstores host a variety of events to celebrate the freedom to read. Read-alouds and panel discussions highlight the significance banned books, and social media campaigns are now engaging audiences online, encouraging them to share their favorite banned books, quotes, and personal stories.

    How You Can Get Involved

    1. Read a Banned Book: Pick up a book from the list of frequently challenged titles. Some notable examples include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Hate U Give.
    2. Support Your Local Library: Visit your local library and participate in Banned Books Week events. Libraries often provide resources and information about the challenges they face.
    3. Raise Awareness: Use your social media platforms to spread the word. Share posts about your favorite banned books and why they matter to you.
    4. Engage in Conversations: Discuss the importance of free expression with friends, family, and colleagues. Encourage open dialogue about challenging topics often found in literature.
    5. Advocate for Change: Get involved with local advocacy groups that support intellectual freedom. Attend school board meetings to voice your support for diverse literature in schools.

    hand, book, bookshelves, blue

    Banned Books Week serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of free expression and the need to protect the right to read whatever we want to read. By celebrating literature that has been challenged or banned, we reaffirm our commitment to fostering an inclusive society that values diverse perspectives. So, let’s turn the page, open our minds, and embrace the stories that challenge us to think critically and compassionately about the world around us.

    If you are interested in reading books that challenge beliefs and ideas, we suggest these title:

    Tsarina's Crown Cover

    Tsarina’s Crown

    Jerena Tobiasen delivers a sharp, first-rate novel in Tsarina’s Crown,first installment in TheNightingale and Sparrow Chronicles,capturing a precise panorama of Russian politics and British espionage during a delicate period in time.

    The year is 1915 and Simon Temple, a young naval officer aboard the RMS Guardian— a British Royal Navy Ship— patrols the North Sea for questionable communications and marine activity. Months later, he is entrusted by the British crown to serve as a liaison on a covert mission in Petrograd, Russia. Simon is careful not to blow his cover as a young aristocrat while he is thrust into the world of international politics, the ruthless Russian Revolution, and becomes caught right in the middle of two powerful royal families.

    Read More here…

    Remedy for a Broken Angel

    Remedy for a Broken Angel by Toni Ann Johnson is an intense examination of the troubled personal histories of two beautiful and talented women of color.

    Their stories are told in alternating chapters which reveal the mother’s and her daughter’s attempts to reclaim and understand their broken pasts. Each chapter is a revelation into the pain and damage caused by unknown family secrets. Both women struggle with a legacy of shame and self-blame for the price they’re paying for never hearing the truth. Each must learn the lessons found in past years of failure to communicate.

    Read More here…

    America's Forgotten Suffragists Cover

    America’s Forgotten Suffragists
    Nellie Bly Awards Grand Prize Winner

    Comprehensive in its own right, America’s Forgotten Suffragists by Nicole Evelina is an essential addition to the canon of women’s suffrage and first-wave feminism.

    Equal parts local history of women’s right to vote in the nineteenth century and biography of Virginia and Francis Minor, America’s Forgotten Suffragists illuminates the story of a wife-and-husband feminist duo who were the first to fight for women’s suffrage at the Supreme Court level.

    Read More here…

    Seeing Glory

    Seeing Glory by Bruce Gardner is a sweeping, thought-provoking Christian historical novel of the American Civil War. The novel portrays the critical roles of family ties and religious faith in shaping personal attitudes and actions towards the horrors of slavery and the war itself.

    Spanning the era from the famous abolitionist John Brown’s Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 through the end of the war nine years later, Seeing Glory focuses on the gut-wrenching conflicts over slavery and the southern way of life faced by David, Emma, and Catherine Hodge, fictional siblings, raised on a wealthy plantation in Virginia.

    She Had Been a Tomboy Cover

    She Had Been a Tomboy

    She Had Been a Tomboy: Raising a Transgender Child, a Mother’s Journey by Sandra Bowman is a deeply revealing memoir about a protective mother who watches her sensitive child grow into someone who is familiar, yet new.

    This moving narrative tells the story of her two children: how they were born and how they grew. She Had Been a Tomboy hops from one period of the children’s lives to another, showing how the elder child matures and how the female within slowly blooms into being, little by little revealing herself.

    But the long journey to realization and understanding of self was not easy, nor was it gentle.

    Read More here…

    Open a banned book this week and prove you are a champion for the freedom of thought during Banned Books Week! 

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