Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Memoir

The 2022 HEARTEN Book Awards for Inspiring & Uplifting Non-Fiction – CIBAs Long List
The Hearten Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Uplifting & Inspiring Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Hearten Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Hearten Non-Fiction entries to the 2022 Hearten Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Hearten Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Hearten Book Awards novel competition for Uplifting and Inspirational Non-Fiction!

Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Bill Leone – My Life With My Wife
- Kerrin Margiano – Enjoy the Gift of Childhood
- Ed Norwood – Be a Giant Killer: Overcoming Your Everyday Goliaths
- Mitzi Perdue – Mark Victor Hansen, RELENTLESS
- Megan Whitmer – Mom Life Versus the Everyday Apocalypse
- Laura Whitfield – Untethered: Faith, Failure, and Finding Solid Ground
- Regina Petra Meyer – Change of Course: Sailing into Love & Adversity on Caribbean Shores
- Ann E Feldman – Building Communities of Trust: Creative Work for Social Change
- Randi Benator – Awaken to Your Calling: A Guide to Discovering Your Career Path and Life Direction
- Beverly J. Armento – Seeing Eye Girl: A Memoir of Madness, Resilience, and Hope
- C.J. Hudson – Destiny Lives on Fairhaven Street
- Mark Berridge – A Fraction Stronger
- Kyomi O’Connor – A Sky of Infinite Blue- A Japanese Immigrant’s Search for Home and Self
- Mohan Ranga Rao – Inner Trek – Trek Himalayan
- Roselle Madrone, Robin Detmer, & Kris Dutter – The Open Book: A Family Memoir of Adventure, Trauma, and Resilience
- Jocelyn Jones – Artist: Awakening the Spirit Within
- Janet Thompson – The Golfer’s Wife: From Birdies to Quadruple Bogies and the Rough in Between
- Jackie Haines – Pinball, the Stray I Needed
- Laura Bartnick – Being Creative
- Benjamin Plumb – The Satisfied Introvert: A Memoir About Finding Safety in an Extroverted World
- Mike Coleman – The Way from Me to Us
- Linda C Wright – A Bittersweet Goodnight
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

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Good luck to all as your works move on the next rounds of judging.

The Grand Prize Winner for the 2021 HEARTEN Awards is
Diane Trull & Meredith Wargo for
DAWGS: A True Story of Lost Animals and the Kids Who Rescued Them

Click here to see the 2021 Hearten Book Award Winners for Uplifting Non-Fiction

We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Hearten Book Awards for Uplifting and Inspiring Non-Fiction & Memoir. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC24.

Please click here for more information.

See our Full List of Non-Fiction Divisions here!

Winners will be announced at the 2022 CIBA Awards Ceremony, sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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.

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!

Featuring: Book to Screen expert and attorney Maggie Marr
January 20, 2023
The 2022 Short List JOURNEY Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction
The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

These titles have moved forward in the Long List Journey Non-Fiction entries to the 2022 Journey Book Awards SHORT LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Journey Semi-Finalists. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SEMI-FINALIST of the 2022 Journey Book Awards novel competition for Overcoming Adversity in Non-Fiction!

Join us in celebrating the ShortList authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Ian Gregory – On Insanity
- Sandi Paris – Catching Rain
- Michael Wohl – In Herschel’s Wake
- Ashe and Magdalena Stevens – Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss and War
- Norris Comer – Salmon in the Seine: Alaskan Memories of Life, Death, & Everything In-Between
- Laura Whitfield – Untethered: Faith, Failure, and Finding Solid Ground
- Nicholas Chittick – A PRISONER’S FIGHT: The Pandemic as Seen From Inside the Illinois Department of Corrections
- Linda Murphy Marshall – Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Translation and Discovery
- Kim Fairley – Swimming for My Life
- Kyomi O’Connor – A Sky of Infinite Blue- A Japanese Immigrant’s Search for Home and Self
- Roselle Madrone, Robin Detmer, & Kris Dutter – The Open Book: A Family Memoir of Adventure, Trauma, and Resilience
- D. Terrence Foster, MD – The Stress Book: Forty-Plus Ways to Manage Stress & Enjoy Your Life
- Mark Berridge – A Fraction Stronger
- Joseph G. Krygier with Victor Breitburg – A Rage To Live: Surviving The Holocaust So Hitler Would Not Win
- Katherine Caire – Accidental Sisters
- Donna McCart Welser – Rue’s Butterfly
- Lyn Barrett – Crazy: Reclaiming Life from the Shadow of Traumatic Memory
- Simone Yemm – Stalked by Demons, Guarded by Angels: The Girl with the Eating Disorder
- Philip Lister – A Short Good Life: Her Father Tells Liza’s Story of Facing Death
- M. E. Schuman – The Understory: A Female Environmentalist in the Land of the Midnight Sun
- Meredith O’Brien – Opening The Door: My Journey Through Anorexia To Full Recovery
- Susan Frances Morris – The Sensitive One
- Stuart Nagero – Truth is Indestructible
- Amelia Zachry – Enough – A Memoir of Mistakes, Mania, and Motherhood
- Carolyn DiPasquale – Reckless Grace: A Mother’s Crash Course in Mental Illness
- Jackie Carol Haines – Pinball, the Stray I Needed
- Benjamin Plumb – The Satisfied Introvert: A Memoir About Finding Safety in an Extroverted World
- Mike Coleman – The Way from Me to Us
- Gabriel Bron – The Journey Home: Portraits of Healing
- Catherine Ehrlich – Irma’s Passport: One Woman, Two World Wars, and a Legacy of Courage
- Melissa Harris – One Pound, Twelve Ounces
- Denise Collins – What Happened to John
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 JOURNEY Awards is:

Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days

Andrea Wilson Woods

The 2022 JOURNEY Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 10 year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2023 JOURNEY Book Awards are open until the end of July. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

IN-Person – April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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.

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
January 10, 2023
The 2022 Long List JOURNEY Book Awards for Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction
The Journey Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Overcoming Adversity in Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoir. The Journey Book Awards is a genre division of Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs).

Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring true stories about adventures, life events, unique experiences, travel, personal journeys, global enlightenment, and more. We will put books about true and inspiring stories to the test and choose the best among them. See our full list of Non-Fiction Divisions here.

These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Journey Non-Fiction entries to the 2022 Journey Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Journey Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC23).

The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.

We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.

These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Journey Book Awards novel competition for Overcoming Adversity in Non-Fiction!

Join us in celebrating the Long List authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
- Ian Gregory – On Insanity
- Sandi Paris – Catching Rain
- Michael Wohl – In Herschel’s Wake
- Ashe and Magdalena Stevens – Lost in Beirut: A True Story of Love, Loss and War
- Norris Comer – Salmon in the Seine: Alaskan Memories of Life, Death, & Everything In-Between
- Laura Whitfield – Untethered: Faith, Failure, and Finding Solid Ground
- Nicholas Chittick – A PRISONER’S FIGHT: The Pandemic as Seen From Inside the Illinois Department of Corrections
- Linda Murphy Marshall – Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Translation and Discovery
- C.J. Hudson – Destiny Lives on Fairhaven Street
- Kim Fairley – Swimming for My Life
- Kyomi O’Connor – A Sky of Infinite Blue- A Japanese Immigrant’s Search for Home and Self
- Carter Obasohan – Notes From Out West
- Roselle Madrone, Robin Detmer, & Kris Dutter – The Open Book: A Family Memoir of Adventure, Trauma, and Resilience
- D. Terrence Foster, MD – The Stress Book: Forty-Plus Ways to Manage Stress & Enjoy Your Life
- Mark Berridge – A Fraction Stronger
- Joseph G. Krygier with Victor Breitburg – A Rage To Live: Surviving The Holocaust So Hitler Would Not Win
- Katherine Caire – Accidental Sisters
- Donna McCart Welser – Rue’s Butterfly
- Lyn Barrett – Crazy: Reclaiming Life from the Shadow of Traumatic Memory
- Simone Yemm – Stalked by Demons, Guarded by Angels: The Girl with the Eating Disorder
- Philip Lister – A Short Good Life: Her Father Tells Liza’s Story of Facing Death
- Tina Scott – The Forbidden Fruit: A True Story of Sex, Drugs, and the Afterlife
- M. E. Schuman – The Understory: A Female Environmentalist in the Land of the Midnight Sun
- Meredith O’Brien – Opening The Door: My Journey Through Anorexia To Full Recovery
- Susan Frances Morris – The Sensitive One
- Stuart Nagero – Truth is Indestructible
- Amelia Zachry – Enough – A Memoir of Mistakes, Mania, and Motherhood
- Carolyn DiPasquale – Reckless Grace: A Mother’s Crash Course in Mental Illness
- Jackie Carol Haines – Pinball, the Stray I Needed
- Benjamin Plumb – The Satisfied Introvert: A Memoir About Finding Safety in an Extroverted World
- Mike Coleman – The Way from Me to Us
- Linda Kolsky – Heavenly Hindsights: How One Mother Found Meaning in her Life After the Death of Her Child
- Gabriel Bron – The Journey Home: Portraits of Healing
- Catherine Ehrlich – Irma’s Passport: One Woman, Two World Wars, and a Legacy of Courage
- Melissa Harris – One Pound, Twelve Ounces
- Denise Collins – What Happened to John
- Lynette Ingram – Flares from a Fallout Shelter
- Linda Lee Henderson – Wake Up Mom!
Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!

This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews.

Please click here to visit our page to LIKE, COMMENT, and SHARE on Facebook.

Additionally, we also post on Twitter. Chanticleer Twitter’s handle is @ChantiReviews

Or click here to go directly to Chanticleer’s Twitter feed.

Good luck to all as your works move on to the next rounds of judging.

The Grand Prize Winner for the CIBA 2021 JOURNEY Awards is:

Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days

Andrea Wilson Woods

The 2022 JOURNEY Book Awards winners will be announced at CAC23 on April 29, 2023. Save the date for CAC23, scheduled April 27-30, 2023, our 10 year Conference Anniversary!

Submissions for the 2023 JOURNEY Book Awards are open until the end of July. Enter here!

Don’t delay! Enter today!

IN-Person – April 27-30, 2023! Register Today!

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.

Join us for our 11th annual conference and discover why!
December 6, 2022
SHE HAD BEEN A TOMBOY: Raising a Transgender Child, a Mother’s Journey by Sandra Bowman – Family Memoirs, Parenting, LGBTQ+

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.

There were numerous hurdles to be crossed, not only for the transgender girl, then young woman, but the rest of her family.

Author Bowman writes about the challenges for the younger child as well, who feels overlooked so often as his older sibling takes precedence. He overachieves in order to make up for the pains suffered by his parents, such as his father’s frequent work-driven absences that leave his mother, the narrator, isolated and struggling.

“Robert flies here, he travels there. He works hard. I am alone.”

Once they learn to work together, the family struggles to understand how they can help both children.

They wrestle with emotional highs and lows, including those of the mother-narrator herself.

“I hurt profoundly. Again I cry. I sit and I stare. At absolutely nothing.”

Despite going through so many trials, the daughter slowly grows to understand herself and her role in the world.

“Because again, she must raise herself up. … She will raise herself, by herself … she will get herself to a state of autonomy.”

As her daughter matures and eventually flourishes, the mother-narrator slowly adjusts to her new reality, as do the father and the younger child, learning about themselves, the world, and their family.

Author Bowman’s highly stylized writing flows, serving the story she tells of her daughter’s coming-of-age. The reader empathizes with the family’s effort to grow.

Overall, Bowman’s memoir about her transgender daughter is an emotional, forceful tale about discovery, illumination, and eventual understanding.

November 28, 2022
IN The UNDERWOOD by Kourtney Spadoni – Graphic Novels, Mental Health, Coming of Age Memoirs

In the Underwood by Kourtney Spadoni is a memoir in graphic novel form, a thoughtful and gentle story about a young girl struggling with mental health issues, and learning how to keep them at bay as she grows up.

What if Alice’s adventures in the strange and fabulous Wonderland were the result of a mental health crisis instead of a story? In the Underwood draws metaphors inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and evokes the mood of Robert Frost’s classic poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Author Spadoni relates with a simple narrative and delicate art style how as a child she was prone to severe bouts of anxiety, leading to her crying uncontrollably in her classes and avoiding other children in social situations.

She describes episodes in which she withdraws and attempts to hide within herself. A cat, in Wonderland and in real life, appears and acts as an occasional guide through the fantasy land, where a mad queen in red tells her over and over again that she’s not good enough, that she’s weak, before she eventually learns to stand up to the queen.

Ultimately, she manages to tell herself that despite her fears, “it’s not the end of the world.” This phrase becomes her personal talisman. Through her ups and downs, she steps forward and through the darkness before coming out on the other side, addressing her fears and eventually conquering them.

In the long run, Spadoni comes out of her shell, gains friends, develops a group with whom to share similar interests, and learns how to control and deal with the anxiety that overwhelmed her when she was younger.

However, later on, depression comes for a visit, and she has to step up for another fight—a fight she is now better equipped to win.

The art and coloring of In the Underwood match the mood of the work, and like the Frost poem, they conjure the depth and even the darkness and stillness of the night. The words themselves seem to swirl in a mist, sometimes vivid and sometimes faint, reflecting the author’s mind, both when it’s at its lowest and darkest and when it’s at its strongest.

Kourtney Spadoni’s tale about battling mental illness as a youngster, told in vibrant graphic novel form, is a winning combination and should be a go-to for young people in crisis.

In the Underwood by Kourtney Spadoni won First Place in the 2021 CIBA Shorts Awards in the Graphic Stories category.

October 14, 2022
PRISON From The INSIDE OUT: One Man’s Journey from a Life Sentence to Freedom by William “Mecca” Elmore & Susan Simone – Journalistic Non-Fiction, Memoir, Civil Rights Law

Prison from Inside Out: One Man’s Journey from a Life Sentence to Freedom is an illuminating chronicle that tells the story of a man who not only survived the stoniest soil but used his experiences to thrive as a human being.

This arresting memoir is essentially a road trip of William ‘Mecca’ Elmore, a man with a tumultuous childhood, growing up in a neighborhood chock full of social problems. It is in this environment that Elmore is involved in a crime that consequently leads to his arrest and trial. The story builds upon his incarceration in various correctional facilities, his experiences, his release through a Mutual Agreement Parole Program, and his eventual redemption.

The story is documented by Susan Simone and includes accounts from Elmore’s sister, his mother, friends, and cellmates giving this memoir an all-round picture of prison life for those behind bars and those they leave behind to go and serve their sentences. Often, due to years of incarceration, former convicts face a hard time, at times life-threatening, making a reentry into society and sometimes returning to a life of crime. This tapestry brings out the redeeming value of human beings by giving hope to this group through its honest account and how he managed to survive after release.

At turns, heartbreaking, cheerful, and inspiring, Elmore’s memoir glides in deep awareness.

His perceptible emotional voice, ever-present in the narrative, pulls back the curtain to reveal the harsh realities of prison life, the sometimes indelible effect of solitary confinement, the politics that revolve around prison, and the determination to keep one’s head up amidst the chaos. The text is not potentially traumatizing nor does it ignore some of the inadequacies of the US penal system, but rather seeks to educate in a hopeful way about the true possibility of starting anew.

The text opens a door to a much-needed discussion on the need to have prison reforms that guide prisoners on a path of transformation and staying crime-free upon returning to society rather than crushing their hope and resolve to change. William’s courage along with his family’s to tell their stories without acrimony will go a long way in offering hope to many who feel sidestepped and forgotten.

The book winds up towards a ruminative ending that sees Elmore, Bessie, and Cheryl primarily reflect on Elmore’s past incarceration giving the book a heartfelt conclusion.

The book integrates vintage photographs along with captions inviting the audience further into the story. Candid and insightful, it stands among the world’s most moving testimonies of the profound value of literature.

Ultimately, Prison from the Inside Out: One Man’s Journey from a Life Sentence to Freedom by Susan Simone and William Elmore is a beacon of hope for those who have passed through the prison system and a necessary read for legislators, police officers, and all who work with the penal system.

Learn more about the background of the book by visiting the website: www.PrisonFromTheInsideOut.org

Prison from the Inside Out by William Elmore & Susan Simone won Grand Prize in the 2020 CIBA Nellie Bly Book Awards for Journalistic & Investigative Non-Fiction.

May 20, 2022
The PERFECT PREDATOR: A Memoir by Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson – Memoirs, Medical, Microbiology

The Perfect Predator is just the kind of edge-of-the-seat scientific/medical thriller that Robin Cook and Michael Crichton used to write, that nail-biting search to find the right treatment in the nick of time to prevent a pandemic from sweeping the world.

The difference here is that The Perfect Predator is a true story, and the pandemic that epidemiologist Steffanie Strathdee fights on behalf of her husband is one that scientists have been warning about for decades. Her husband wasn’t even the first to be struck down by it – but he was the first to receive a cure that could save many others. If only the world heeds the warning made so clear in this spellbinding book.

On vacation in Egypt in late 2015, Strathdee’s husband contracted a stomach bug. Nothing he hadn’t had before and shrugged off, but this time was different. Somewhere along the way from the pyramids to the clinic to the first of several medevac flights, Thomas Patterson came into contact with one of the deadly, antibiotic resistant virus strains known as “superbugs” – and it decided he’d make an excellent host. At least until it killed him.

And it tried. Over and over again. From Egypt to Frankfurt Germany to the world-class medical center at UC San Diego, where the couple both worked. Where they had contacts in just the fields that they’d need in order for Steffanie to cobble together the ultimate “Hail Mary” pass. That it would be possible to send a killer, a virus killer, into Tom’s body to eliminate the deadly virus that would otherwise eradicate Tom Patterson’s life.

If it worked, it would be a miracle. But also a clarion call to whoever reads this book that a century of use and overuse of antibiotics has created these superbugs that can no longer be vanquished by what was once a miracle drug. And that if the research and medical establishments don’t get a handle on the problem and find methods of treatment that do not rely on antibiotics, the 1.2 million people who died from antibiotic resistant bugs in 2019 is only going to be the tip of a very large and deadly iceberg.

The Perfect Predator is a compelling story of scientific research that has a very human-centric story at its beating heart.

Steffanie’s memoir of what happened, to her husband, to her family, to her colleagues and to herself is beautifully written. It is also a story that is absolutely chock-full of the science behind everything she does. Not to worry! Steffanie’s writing style thoroughly explains the science without ever getting bogged down – and while making it accessible to any non-scientist reading this account.

And she never loses sight of the human face on all those details, not just what she is going through personally. While she needs to separate “Wife Steffanie” from “Scientist Steffanie” in order to get things done. It is very clear how difficult that is. She is also painstaking in giving credit and kudos to all those who made this journey possible.

The Perfect Predator is the story of one woman’s successful quest for a medical miracle. Any reader who enjoys medical and/or scientific thrillers will be right on the edge of their seat every step of the way. But it’s the warning at the center of the story that will chill those same readers to their bones.

The Perfect Predator by Steffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Journey Awards for Narrative Non-Fiction and Memoirs.

May 6, 2022
The SATISFIED INTROVERT by Benjamin Plumb – Memoirs, Vocational Guidance, Family & Relationship Advice

From his earliest days, author Benjamin Plumb understood he was an introvert, someone who, described in a classic definition, feels more comfortable with their inner thoughts and ideas rather than what is happening externally.

In his well-written memoir, The Satisfied Introvert, he tells us his life story through the lens of his introversion. He explains how he coped, often poorly, with his solitary nature in both his personal and business life, applying a variety of processing mechanisms that he describes as “recipes.” He explains that those processes didn’t apply to every life situation and sometimes kept him from seeing the possibility of making better decisions that would have made much of his life more gratifying.

The purpose of his book, he explains, is to help fellow introverts find safety in an extroverted world and gain more satisfaction in life. “The recipe,” he explains, “is a coping mechanism that works in some situations, but you can’t stay dependent on it. To feel truly safe, you must move beyond your winning recipe and take off on your own.”

The book takes the reader on his journey, from being the introvert in a show business family through his early romances, his education at Stanford and Harvard Business School and various entrepreneurial attempts around the world.

He describes in detail how he found both success and failure in the business world, due, in his view, to applying and mistakenly depending on the defensive processes he acquired to protect himself as an introvert in an extroverted world.

How he finally found peace and the success he hoped for in his professional and personal life is one of the achievements of this detailed personal memoir.

People who identify as introverts will find this an excellent read because the writer is unafraid to expose the details of his life focusing on how he coped with his introverted nature.

It is more of a cautionary tale, not a how-to manual. Whether it’s setting up businesses in South American jungles or revealing the dynamics of a marriage gone sour, The Satisfied Introvert is a series of life lessons learned along the way.

For non-introverts, it’s a cogent description of a personality bent that may be misinterpreted or misunderstood in friends, colleagues or even family members. It may help you to see someone in a different light you may have thought to be stand-offish. unlikeable. Rather than a tell-all confession, it’s written by someone who hopes the sharing of his life will be of help to others.

Overall, it offers a clear insight to a personality trait that is often misunderstood and little discussed. A read we are happy to recommend.

April 27, 2022
OUR TIME to DANCE: A Mother’s Journey to Joy by Eva Doherty Gremmert – Epilepsy, Biography, Parenting

Our Time to Dance: A Mother’s Journey to Joy by Eva Doherty Gremmert demonstrates the importance of advocacy for those who are disabled, intellectually or otherwise.

In the early morning of August 18th, 1979, Eva Doherty Gremmert awoke with a contraction. A young mother already, Eva is worried about how she will cope with caring for two infants. She tried to calm her concerns by remembering that babies typically arrive easier and more quickly the second time around; however, the delivery ends up being long and exhausting. Once her son Nick arrived, Eva could not shake the feeling that something might be wrong. For the first several months of Nick’s life, doctors actively ignored her concerns and told her nothing was wrong with her son.

A mother knows best, and with a lot of courage and determination, Eva and her husband Arden finally find a doctor that listens and agrees with their concerns.

Their world becomes full of physical therapy and pediatric neurological appointments. When Nick reaches school age, Eva and Arden also become very involved in ensuring he receives the right educational program. Sometimes, a whole new program needed to be created. The road is often tricky, but Nick is full of life and love, and of course, dancing.

Eva crafts Our Time to Dance into a beautiful story of a mother’s unyielding love. She holds nothing back as she describes her fears of motherhood and the emotional toll of caring for her intellectually and physically disabled son. This book ultimately is not just about Nick’s particular story but also about the importance of advocating for those with disabilities and their families. Eva describes many instances where educational professionals could not provide Nick with the proper program and, subsequently, underestimated his unique abilities and potential to learn.

The structure of the book has two timelines that transition back and forth.

One timeline begins just before Nick is born – the other picks up when Nick reaches adulthood and experiences more severe seizures. This results in his doctor’s suggestion that they prepare for the possibility of his passing. Eva and Arden decide to take a big road trip so that Nick can visit friends, possibly for the last time. As they depart, Gremmert reflects on the many challenges throughout Nick’s life, from physical therapy and his education. On every page of this story, readers see Nick’s abundant love and joy with everyone he meets.

Eva hopes that by writing Our Time to Dance, readers will “find the strength and hope they need and the joy they desire.” Finding the good in difficult situations makes going through them a little easier.

The powerful message contained in Our Time to Dance makes the book a treasure, and is sure to help those who live with and work with persons with disabilities. Gremmert won First Place in the CIBA 2019 Journey Book Awards for narrative non-fiction for her inspirational work. Highly recommended!

March 16, 2022
ACROSS the DISTANCE: Reflections on Loving and Where We Did & Did Not Find Each Other by Christina A. Kemp – Memoirs, Biographies of Women, Dysfunctional Families

In her nonfiction debut Across the Distance, Christina Kemp showcases a collection of eight personal stories that delve into the most poignant relationships throughout her life.

The well-crafted narratives encompass relationships with her parents, brother, childhood friends, boyfriends, and mentors as they moved in and out of her life. Themes of love, loss, distance, self-preservation, and healing rise to the surface.

Within the book, Kemp ponders the course of a romantic relationship as she realizes that love cannot make underlying differences disappear. At thirteen years old, her father died, and Kemp analyzes how she was able to come to terms with his death, reflecting on his kindness and heroic deeds. Several years later, she is diagnosed with the same condition that took her father; she feels as if she carries her father’s memory in the cells of her own body.

There is a clear distance between herself and her mother. Harmful and passive-aggressive tendencies placed the two at odds. While Kemp appreciated the Saturday morning conversations they often shared, her mother seemed more concerned with criticism than connection. The woman could shove her daughter across the room without reason. Regarding her rage, the author aptly describes it as “hot explosive sandbags that otherwise leaked at the seams.” Eventually, Kemp learned to accept the child/parent schisms.

With a background in counseling psychology, Christina A. Kemp delivers an in-depth assessment of her personal connections that will resonate with readers.

Examining these relationships brings clarity to familial ties and how they affect every other relationship in life. Indeed, Kemp better understands how to love on her own terms and realizes when to leave a relationship. One could spend a lifetime attempting to understand the landscape of relationships that make us who we are.

Each of the stories opens with a simple black & white photo.

The magpie cat, Lucy, stretches on hind legs, looking for an escape beyond the confines of her new island home. The model beauty of Kemp’s mother shows with full wavy hair and makeup, a scarf tied jauntily around her neck. A lone sailboat on distant waters captures the lingering loss of her father. Each image renders a stark, yet ethereal quality connected to Kemp’s life.

Kemp’s styling renders the beauty and harshness of significant moments in artful detail.

One day, the author overhears a lively conversation between a father and daughter about college plans; it is with shame and sorrow that Kemp realizes she’ll never share that experience. And then, amidst the rural surroundings of a northwest island, she considers the natural beauty of the changing seasons. The colorful descriptions and intimate detail throughout the text prove refreshing. Consider, “the island winds playing like a symphony.”

Across the Distance is most definitely a personal journal. However, even as the author finds catharsis in her stories, readers, too, will find meaning in the telling.

Readers are invited to take the book as a sequential whole or read one story portrait at a time. Either way, they will gain insight and understanding as they journey through this book and explore the intimate workings of relationships.

Across the Distance will appeal to those who seek to understand the connections and divisions we so often encounter in our lives.

February 21, 2022