Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Inspirational Romance

  • KISMET OR KAMASUTRA by Martha Rather, Book 3 in the Romantic India Series

    KISMET OR KAMASUTRA by Martha Rather, Book 3 in the Romantic India Series

    A tour guide in India and a practitioner of Healing Touch, Sonia has a country farmhouse in Nashville, loyal friends, a generous but unfaithful husband, a flame on the other side of the world who seems to have forgotten her, and … breast cancer.

    This highly engaging story, Part 3 of the series Romantic India by author Martha Rather, begins with Sonia burning up her “chemo pajamas” with her best friend, Clara Mae, in a wild “Freedom Fire Ceremony.”

    We learn in flashbacks the very real fear and agony Sonia experienced in her two-year struggle with breast cancer, losing her memory and almost losing her mind. Now she faces losing Carl, her antique dealer hubby, who prowls for old furniture by day and sweet young things by night.

    Sonia pals around with a lawyer friend, Bob, though she dreams, frustrated, of handsome Raj, her fellow tour guide and Indian prince who, she is told, is about to get married on the other side of the world.

    When Sonia and her friends are tapped to squire some struggling musicians across India, it’s a chance to re-establish trust with the still-single Raj, break with Carl forever, and watch the haunting dreams of previous lifetimes unfold in this one.

    Following the old dictum that writers should write about what they know, the author, like her heroine Sonia, has roots in South Dakota, lives in Nashville, has traveled extensively in India, and is a practitioner/instructor for Healing Touch International. Martha Rather writes in a wonderful girlfriend manner as though she is a dear friend catching us up on the latest happenings. She also seems as much at home with Southern accents as with Hindi street talk.

    Settings, too, are a highlight, from a plain old Tennessee farmhouse to the romantic majesty of the Taj Mahal. There is rarely a moment when the action lags. The first half of the book, with its vivid descriptions of Sonia’s battle with chemo and radiation treatments, projects a depth of self-exploration and insights. Readers are then taken on a rollicking jaunt through India, with a group of self-important musicians and tourists in tow, for the second half of the story.

    Nonetheless, Martha Rather is careful to keep emotions and libidos always on the boil for her intended readers who enjoy stories filled with intrigue, romance, friendships, adventures, handsome princes, and, maybe, a flirtatious elephant thrown into the mix.   

    Kismet or Kamasutra is a journey of self-discovery and the possibility of changing one’s stars.  Kismet means destiny; fate and Kamasutra mean desire, but which one will win out?  In this uplifting and transporting novel of love and connection, Sonia and Raj must confront their worst fears and the fateful patterns that started a thousand years before.

  • CONFESSIONS of an ASSASSIN by Linda Heavner Gerald

    CONFESSIONS of an ASSASSIN by Linda Heavner Gerald

    Catherine Carnegie, daughter of the Black Sheep of the New York Carnegies, enjoyed the idyllic childhood of wealthy parents. She and her brother Nathaniel attended only the best schools and were cared for by a loving family retainer who made certain they never wanted for anything. However, when Catherine at age eighteen naively asserts her independence, choosing to go to the University of Alabama instead of a northern Ivy League school, her position in the household immediately becomes second-best to her Nat, who has chosen to follow in his father’s footsteps, attending Harvard. And though she has even severely disappointed her beloved grandfather, Catherine holds firm, leaving to attend a southern university to, as she envisions it, become her own version of Scarlett O’Hara.

    Thus begins a series of life-changing mistakes Catherine makes in the name of independence that will cause her heart-wrenching regret in her later years. Once at university, Catherine will come under the influence of a friend who urges her to go to work for a secret government agency. In the beginning, the work is glamorous and exciting. Eventually, though, Catherine will accept the assignment that almost destroys her life.

    Heavner begins this novel as a reminiscence by Catherine who, at fifty years of age, is looking back on a life of bad choices and regrets. She has become a woman who rarely leaves her house for fear of being “discovered” by the agency she worked for, or of taking an action that will cause them to eliminate her. She is tormented by the loss of the only man she has ever loved, and experiences frequent nightmares of the events of her past. As the story unfolds, Heavner hints at the possibility that Catherine’s salvation may come in the form of a package, the contents of which may free her from her pain, regrets, and grief.

    Although Heavner has employed the well-known literary device of telling her story in the style of a memoir, readers may become frustrated with the lack of action in the story, particularly in the early chapters. The story premise is unique and engaging, and many will find it fascinating, though they may become irritated with its obvious craft and editing flaws.

  • An Editorial Review of “Rebellious Heart” by Jody Hedlund

    An Editorial Review of “Rebellious Heart” by Jody Hedlund

    Rebellious Heart makes history come alive in the years prior to the War of Independence.  The first sentence gripped me; the story and the writing skill held me captive until the end.

    Hedlund  bases her fictional characters on real people who lived during those times.  Ben Ross and Susanna Smith must make life-changing choices amidst looming threats in the thirteen colonies of the new world.

    Birthed into families of different social status, Ben and Susanna resist their growing affection for each other. Though he has a Harvard law degree, he is a poor farmers son. Susanna is born into high social status and wealth.  Matters of conscience and circumstances push them together and gradually Susanna moves away from the stiff and merciless norms of the time. They risk terrible consequences—alienation of family and hanging for treason — while they move deeper and deeper toward their quest for freedom.  For them, lines of behavior are no longer clearly defined, but swing on both sides of the social dictates and the law.

    Hedlund lets us see the determination of those  loyal to Britain, their fear for loved ones at risk, and their fierce adherence to the morés surrounding social tradition and religion in this page-turning drama that explores ethical dilemmas.

    Ross and Susanna risk discovery to firmly stand against family, the law, and the British crown, the greatest power on earth at that time.  The novel brings to life the courage many embraced in the midst of their well-founded fear, yearning to win freedom from tyranny in the thirteen colonies.

    Jody Hedlund’s Rebellious Heart  shows us individuals stirring the seeds of rebellion and inspiring many to follow their lead, forging the beginning of the free and independent United State of America. This is her fifth historical romance novel.

    [Reviewer’s Note:  Rebellious Heart  is appropriate for all ages.]