Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Reenita Malhotra Hora

Chanticleerians in the News: Award Winners Take Center Stage at LA Kids Book Festival

When your mission is to Discover Today’s Best Books, you come across good news regarding authors!

Five Chanticleer International Book Award winners are headed to the LA Kids Book Festival, showcasing the caliber of children’s literature our awards recognize.

LA Children’s Book Fest is coming up!

Find Chanticleer Award winning authors Norah Lally, Ruth Amanda, M.C. Dingman, Julie Lomax, and our 2024 Overall Grand Prize Winner Reenita Malhotra Hora!

LA’s first and largest event celebrating early education, bilingualism, and multiculturalism will feature an impressive lineup of Chanticleer talent.

Norah Lally, Gertrude Warner Grand Prize Winner for middle grade fiction, will be representing #1 Amazon bestselling novel Back to Bainbridge about fourteen-year-old Vicki navigating life on Bainbridge Avenue as she searches for her place in the world while discovering that her imperfect family and friends might just be the treasures she’s been looking for all along.

M.C. Dingman, First Place Gertrude Warner Winner, Samantha Smee: A Pirate’s Life, tells the story of Mr. Smee’s daughter who grows up disguised on Captain Hook’s pirate ship, embarking on hilarious adventures that celebrate inclusivity and girl power as she discovers her true self in Neverland.

Julie Lomax, First Place Little Peeps Winner, will showcase Melissa Moo Moo’s Special Lesson from The JuJu Series. When little cow Melissa Moo Moo overhears other cows gossiping about her lack of milk, she learns an important lesson about self-confidence and being herself after a magical encounter with some fallen berries.

Reenita Malhotra Hora, our 2024 Overall Grand Prize Winner for the incredible literary romance Vermilion Harvest, will be there with the much different tale of Sundri and Mundri’s Lohri Adventure. When Badi Ma wraps the sisters in her magical Lohri shawl, they’re whisked away to a bustling village from the past where they invent gadgets, dodge a grumpy king, and call on the famous bandit hero Dulla Bhatti for help—all while celebrating the joyous festival of Lohri.

While Ruth Amanda won’t be attending the festival herself, her award-winning books Geckos in the Garden and Little Peeps Grand Prize Winner Island Moon will be represented. Geckos in the Garden takes young readers on a delightful counting adventure through hidden geckos in a garden, while Island Moon captures the magical tranquility of nighttime on the island of Barbados, following a narrator who witnesses fairies dancing in the moonlight and a sea turtle coming ashore to lay eggs.

We are honored to have so many Award-Winning Authors and Books that we have had the chance to promote and recognize at the LA Children’s Book Fest! If you’re in the area, be sure to stop by and say hello to them!

Our Little Peeps Awards celebrate the artistry and educational value of picture books

The Gertrude Warner Awards honor outstanding middle grade fiction that engages young readers during crucial developmental years

Ready to join the ranks of these celebrated authors?

Whether you’re crafting picture books for our Little Peeps Awards or middle grade fiction for the Gertrude Warner Awards, Chanticleer recognition opens doors to major festivals, bookstore partnerships, and reader communities nationwide. We are proud to be a part of the extraordinary literary careers of these five wonderful authors!

You know you want it…

Discover which division is right for your children’s book today!

September 4, 2025
Authenticity Reigns Supreme – Reenita Malhotra Hora’s Dedication to Telling South Asian Stories

When Reenita Malhotra Hora taps that first keystroke at the start of her next book she’s not looking to soften the truth to match what the public believes.

Her mission is to bust stereotypes and celebrate authenticity.

Telling the South Asian Story

Born in India, a country whose motto is “Truth Alone Triumphs,” Malhotra Hora is dedicated to the idea that authenticity is key when it comes to telling the stories of the South Asian people. Her writing doesn’t rely on tales of flashy Bollywood-style weddings and great food to lure readers in. Instead, her stories reflect the lives of everyday people living in a land that is as colorful and varied as the beautiful saris worn by its women.

Throughout her childhood Malhotra Hora heard the stories of India’s past from her grandfather and discussed the writings of Plato and Aristotle with her father, an avid follower of Greek philosophy. This informal education in history and ethics informed her writing when she eventually moved to the United States where she achieved career success in the world of business and journalism. She has since produced content for Bloomberg and other corporate entities and her writing has been published by major media companies like The Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, The New York Times, South China Morning Post, CNN, among others.

Breaking Out on a New Path

In 2021, during the height of the COVID pandemic, Malhotra Hora took a leap of faith with her writing and left her very successful career in business to turn her full attention to telling stories that represented her upbringing, her place of birth, and the people who influenced her throughout her life. It was a frighteningly big step to take, leaving a well-cultivated and prosperous career to lean into the creative world of fiction, but that did not deter Malhotra Hora. Her commitment to portraying her culture, with all its beautiful complexity, drove her onward. Today, she has authored nine books, comprising both non-fiction and fiction works.

Malhotra Hora’s first book, Operation Mom, is a young adult tale about a teen girl’s quest to simultaneously find the super star she has a crush on and a new romance for her overly-attentive mother. It’s a delightfully, humorous story with lovable characters and laugh-out-loud situations. It proved to be a great start to a literary career that has earned her well-deserved praise and eventually the reputation of being the South Asian ‘Nora Ephron.’

With a style that sizzles with great characters and scenarios, Malhotra Hora’s fiction is funny and compelling. She continues to unapologetically pursue her conviction to portray her characters with unbridled authenticity, and her stories beat with the heart of a vibrant culture. She strives to represent truth as she captures the essence of the South Asian spirit in children’s stories (When Ayra Fell Through the Fault), young adult tales (Operation Mom), novels (Vermilion Harvest), and nonfiction books (Ayurveda: A Holistic Approach to Health) where she shares wellness advice focused on the Hindu traditions of the Ayurveda philosophy.

An Ambassador of Truth

Regardless of being thousands of miles from India, its spirit continues to live on through Malhotra Hora’s writing. It’s taken her around the world and won multiple awards and accolades, including the Chanticleer International Book Award in the Chatelaine division for romance.

To Reenita Malhotra Hora it is clear that representing her South Asian culture in its truest form connects with people around the world. It’s a natural extension of the commitment she continues to carry that always puts authenticity first in her writing.

Chanticleer is thrilled to bring Reenita Malhotra Hora back to the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC2025) and the International Book Awards (CIBA) on April 3-6, 2025, to share her knowledge with Chanticleer authors.

Don’t miss out on this chance to learn from author and podcaster Reenita Malhotra Hora!

Register now! Space is limited!

Follow this link to reserve your spot at this special event!

March 14, 2025
OPERATION MOM: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man by Reenita Malhotra Hora – YA, Romance, Comedy

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.

The two girls decide to help each other conduct their “summer experiments,” but for Ila to achieve her goal of meeting Ali Zafar, they must find a diversion to preoccupy Ila’s mom, Veena, a successful journalist, author, and intellectual.

The way to do that, they both decide, is to introduce her to a man who will sweep her off her feet. So sayeth the boy-crazy girls, and thus begins the antics of Ila and Deepali. Ila trusts and admires her best friend’s knowledge on the subject of romance, which is her biggest mistake, and with Deepali in charge, the two find themselves in constant mix-ups and fantastic situations.

To top it off, Dev, Deepali’s boyfriend “number three,” helps them create a dating app profile for Ila’s mom, but they give her the unlikely moniker “Venus” because no one uses their real names on these apps. When Ila begins fielding replies from prospective suitors, she finds she is out of her league—big time.

Enter Dev to aid and assist our hero. Ila’s attraction to the “unachievable” Dev is an impetus for her attraction to Ali Zafar, a more attainable target according to Ila. But Dev’s physical presence nags on Ila. Dev is there, and Ali is not. Yet, Dev was Deepali’s, so Ila, out of loyalty to her friend, pushes him away. The more he helps her, though, the more difficult that becomes.

Hora’s tale showcases what it is to be seventeen with a protective Punjabi mom – or any mom for that matter.

She captures the sometimes-difficult relationship between mother and daughter, friend and friend, husband and wife, and boy and girl. Her exploration of coming of age in a world filled with imperfect people is both humorous and heartfelt, and from beginning to end, we love her for her innocence, stubbornness, and intelligence.

This book will have you laughing out loud. It will keep you reading into the night to see what life has in store for these lovable characters who leap off the page and capture your heart and your imagination. Reenita Malhotra Hora’s novel, Operation Mom: My Plan to Get My Mom a Life and a Man, is a highly recommended and delightful five-star read.

September 9, 2022