Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Self-Discovery

  • SPLINTERED DREAMS: The Dare to Love Series Book 1 by Diana Lynn – Romance Fiction, Contemporary, Self-Discovery

    After decades spent in a loveless, broken marriage, Crisa wants another chance at love. In Splintered Dreams, a romance novella by Diana Lynn, she must first stumble through her own insecurities to find it.

    When Crisa’s husband, Alan, dies unexpectedly she is left with a stark emptiness inside her heart. Her marriage had been a sham. Her husband’s infidelity and lies crushed her idea of love and left her with questions about who she is, what she wants, and will she ever trust someone with her heart again. Casual sexual relationships can’t fill the void. She needs true love.

    Physical intimacy is only part of what Crisa desires. She yearns for the kind of love that lasts a lifetime.

    A chance at love falls in her lap when her friendly, affable coworker, Slade Doyle, finds her in the office cafeteria. Their friendly banter turns to flirting over coffee, followed by an intriguing invitation to dinner. The surprise relationship sprouts easily, but Crisa must push past her instincts to protect her vulnerabilities as she struggles to find a path to love once again.

    However, Crisa is not the only one who must tackle demons from the past. Slade’s had his own bumpy journey through a series of failed relationships and meaningless hook-ups.

    Splintered Dreams lays bare the familiar challenge of healing a heart and trusting yourself enough to love again.

    No matter how long it takes, or what mistakes are made along the way, Crisa and Slade begin to search for lasting love. By traveling this road together, they uncover layers of their own selves they would have otherwise never found.

    Older than most romance protagonists, Crisa and Slade develop a mature relationship based first on friendship. They stumble a few times in their decision-making, but don’t allow poor reasoning and motivation to stand in their way. Instead, communication leads them, and their conflicts opens the door to a deeper understanding of themselves, and each other.

    Crisa and Slade’s budding love draws readers in with unanswered questions behind the choices they’ve made in the past and how those same choices affect their own love story.

    Crisa chose to stay with her late husband after he offered her a more than generous divorce settlement twenty years before his death. And Slade, with his long history of short-lived, sometimes unhinged relationships leads us to wonder if something in his own personality was the cause of his failed adventures in dating.

    The journey to find these answers, and true love, makes Splintered Dreams a bright, thoughtful romance.

    Diana Lynn’s endearing love story explores the burgeoning relationship of two people who must break down the defenses they’ve erected through the years to protect their hearts so they can open the door to true love.

     

  • YOU CAN’T FOOL A MERMAID by Judy Keeslar Santamaria – Magical Realism, Family Saga, Self Discovery

    Blue and Gold Badge Recognizing You Can't Fool a Mermaid by Judy Keeslar Santamaria for winning the 2023 Somerset AwardYou Can’t Fool a Mermaid by Judy Keeslar Santamaria is a glorious dance of well-intentioned ghosts. In the words of Violet, a twenty-one-year-old pianist, it’s “bewitching as hell.”

    Santamaria opens with a tiny mermaid bodysurfing through the gutters of Seattle. College student and pianist Violet Bacon chalks up “gutter-mini-mermaid” to her wildly imaginative mind, but when she stumbles upon a magical theater-turned-piano-rescue with a retinue of shopkeeping cats, the separation between imagination and reality no longer seems as important as discovering her true self.

    Violet has been living a lie: keeping up the pretense that she’s dating a woman to make her father angry. She reluctantly goes along with what other people want and pretends she doesn’t desperately need a cat. As she practices a complex Stravinsky concerto, her abiding love for music is all that sustains her.

    But Hector Kouris, the proprietor of the theater-turned-rescue, reintroduces Violet to her childhood piano, Bossy.

    The piano seems to speak to her through phantom notes in the days that follow. Santamaria deftly folds a menagerie of other companions into Violet’s life, living and inanimate: a friendly pigeon guide, a blue cat from the ocean, a mysterious and otherworldly busker who knows more than he should, and a patchwork-quilt tote bag that collects treasures leading to hidden truths.

    With the help of this host of confidantes, Violet learns about not only her deceptive father, but the history of all those she loves. (Those who enjoyed Santamaria’s debut novel will be delighted to learn that the character Morgen from Jetty Cat Palace Café returns as Violet’s mentor.)

    Motif after motif enters the story, first in ripples, then in rivers, until oceans of symbols haunt Violet’s life in a wild storm that sings, “to thine own self be true.” Santamaria’s expert handling of magical realism will leave you wondering what is real as she convinces you to just “go with the flow but be mindful.”

    Santamaria guides readers to connect with the ghosts of their past just as Violet does, for people sometimes need to go backward before they can move forward.

    At the center of Violet’s journey through family history lay a mysterious tragedy that occurred at the theater years ago. Violet learns secret after secret in a heart-wrenching crescendo until she finally discovers the spirit at the heart of this beautiful patchwork story. Readers will come away understanding that no one can escape their ancestry, but the way people respond determines whether the past is a prison cell or a key.

    As part of Violet’s journey, Santamaria invites readers to explore many cultures and communities. Her handling of neurodivergence and disability is especially thoughtful.

    This book is the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys cats, magical realism, a dash of romance, music, and characters who bravely face intergenerational trauma. It doesn’t allow any character to be singularly villainized, for all live in the shadow of their ancestors. If you were raised to doubt yourself but have since learned that you can’t fool your inner mermaid, this book might haunt you long after you finish reading it.

    5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

  • The MAGICAL GUIDE To BLISS by Meg Nocero – Personal Transformation, Self-Discovery, Follow-Your-Dreams

     

    The Magical Guide to Bliss is the first book in Meg Nocero’s creative and empowering Butterflies & Bliss Trilogy, an authentic series that nurtures readers along their paths of self-discovery.

    With heartfelt intention, Nocero openly shares daily lessons and reflections that helped her find happiness, and will hopefully help others to move beyond their comfort zones and view life as an adventure. The Magical Guide to Bliss invites the reader to recognize the value in simple things like faith, hope, love, and joy. These facets of life help in an effort to transport ourselves and those around us from a realm of sorrow and defeat to uplifting enlightenment.

    This unique motivational journey has 366 entries, each representing a day of the year. In the calendar-like set up, each month focuses on a specific concept and features Nocero’s reflections on it. From February’s theme of love, to the “Attitude of Gratitude” welcomed in November, all 12 chapters highlight a distinct transformative idea. Readers can explore the book from beginning to end, or as a leisurely daily practice either according to the calendar, or at random.

    Each reflection opens with a related quote from a wide range of writers, artists, and celebrities.

    Whether the sound advice of actress and comedian Lucille Ball to “Love yourself first and everything falls into line,” or British novelist C.S. Lewis’ affirming words “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream,” the messages reveal that each day offers new opportunities and a chance to step into bliss. Prayers of gratitude from the renowned Dalai Lama to thoughts of the French artist Henri Matisse about searching for a balanced life and peaceful existence all prove to be well-chosen phrases to compliment the overall purpose of this guide.

    Nocero’s own glorious revelations offer insight on a variety of efforts like letting go of the past and overcoming fears, using your imagination, breathing in life’s blessings while breathing out the hardships, and staying optimistic.

    These valuable insights come along with magical keys and mantras intended to open the locked doors encountered on the road to bliss. The keys come in the form of simple actions to take, such as writing out a vision statement, watching an inspiring movie, repeating positive influencing words, or performing deep breathing exercises to clear your mind and connect with your spirit.

    A small photo journal along with bibliography and suggested readings at the end of the book adds a personal touch. These recommended works served Nocero along her own blissful path, and she hopes they will prove equally beneficial to others.

    Reeling from the loss of her mother, Mary Jo, the creation of this guide clearly served as a catalyst for Nocero to move beyond the darkness of a devastating time in her life. The Magical Guide to Bliss is dedicated to the loving memory of her mom.

    This motivating work is a simple road map that’s easy to follow. While there is some repetition along this soul-stirring route to bliss, it reinforces the powerful messages and affirmative insights being shared.

    “Your past is over, your present is waiting, and your future holds much possibility.” Nocero’s ardent and passionate writing proves a worthy guide for that future.

     

    5 Stars! Best Book Chanticleer Book Reviews

  • FIND ME in FLORENCE by Jule Selbo – Women’s Divorce Fiction, Romantic Fiction, Literary

    Chatelaine 1st Place Best in Category Blue and Gold BadgeThirty-five-year-old Lyn Bennett explores the life of her late mother before she was married, in Jule Selbo’s romance novel, Find Me in Florence.

    In 1966, Jenny, a Mud Angel, dropped everything to fly to Florence, Italy, in search of treasures buried in mud and water after the Arno flooded. She worked tirelessly alongside her fellow Mud Angels to rescue these priceless works of art and ancient books.

    For all of Lyn’s life, she heard her mother’s stories until they became mundane and commonplace. But before Jenny passed away, she gave Lyn instructions on where to find her precious journal from her time in Italy. She left the cryptic message “Find me in Florence,” so when Lyn, an up-and-coming writer, has a chance to teach at a writer’s retreat in the city her mother loved, she jumps at the opportunity. Three years later, she still journeys there yearly for one month to explore Florence. With her latest book under her belt, Lyn decides to tell her mother’s story.

    Lyn’s life shifts dramatically, and she soon searches for more than her mother’s history.

    When she arrives in Florence, Lyn’s life seems on the upward swing. She put her writing back on track after the death of both of her parents, married a successful lawyer, and hopes to begin a family soon. However, all of that vanishes when Stan, her husband, surprises her not long after her seminar in Florence begins. Stan and Susie, Lyn’s best friend since junior high school, had an affair. The two followed Lyn to Florence to deliver the news in person, thinking her love of the city might lessen the blow of utter betrayal. Lyn’s true journey begins with this revelation. Suddenly, Lyn loses her hope as the people of Florence must have lost when her mother volunteered fifty years ago. But like the city, Lyn must endure.

    Soon following the bombshell announcement, Lyn struggles between what she “should” do and what she “wants” to do.

    She should accept this betrayal like an adult, negotiate reasonably with her cheating husband, forgive her BFF, and move past all of her pain. But surrounded by Florence, a city that called to her mother to leave her normal life, Lyn learns not to follow “the should” but to chase after “the want.” The vitality and passion of the Florentines give Lyn the strength she needs to “shed [her] skin.” Lyn rids herself of a life lived in fear of taking chances. Her mother’s own rash decision to become a Mud Angel and experience the adventure of a lifetime propels Lyn to stop accepting the expectations of everyone else. Perhaps Jenny meant for her daughter to learn this very lesson. As Lyn explores her fledgling confidence, she begins to realize all her mother gave up by returning to the US to fulfill her promise to marry Lyn’s father. She feels the life her mother could’ve lived if she had followed the “want” rather than the “should.”

    This clash of responsibility and desire extends beyond Lyn’s story. Matteo, a man Lyn grows to care for over the course of the novel, wrestles with his wants as well. His responsibilities weigh on him, coming from a proud Italian family with a lineage and family home dating back four hundred years. They hope–expect–him to marry a woman closely connected to the family business. But after a chance meeting, he draws closer to the American with the broken heart. He should stay away, give her time to mourn the loss of her marriage and best friend, but he wants more from her. Though Matteo should pursue the woman his family has chosen, he wants the woman he shouldn’t, and like Lyn, he will have to decide whether to follow his heart or his head.

    This novel celebrates Florence, its people, and its customs.

    Any lover of Italy will enjoy the history included in Lyn’s story. With the detailed descriptions, readers come along on the journey to this beautiful city, eating at its most celebrated restaurants, and walking its ancient streets. Florence shows Lyn her innermost feelings and surrounds her with passion and acceptance. Embracing and appreciating Florence makes Jenny’s story alive, rather than just a dusty story from half a century ago.

    Jule Selbo’s Find Me in Florence won 1st Place in the 2019 CIBA Chatelaine Book Awards for Romance and Romantic Fiction Novels.

     

    Chanticleer Book Reviews 4 star silver foil book sticker

     

     

  • BARBED A Memoir by Julie Morrison – Women’s Biographies, Memoirs, Ranching

    BARBED A Memoir by Julie Morrison – Women’s Biographies, Memoirs, Ranching

    blue and gold badge recognizing Barbed: A Memoir by Julie Morrison for winning the 2023 Journey Grand PrizeJulie Morrison saddles up to take us for a ride through the harsh dry mountains of northern Arizona and beyond in her memoir, Barbed.

    Readers visit the ranch where Julie’s parents try to keep the family legacy alive. Julie reveals a cowboy’s world where she meets walls instead of doors but never gives up.

    Barbed opens with Morrison living in the rainy Seattle area with her husband. But the lure of a cowboy’s life on the range – working cattle and riding horseback – beckons them both. Julie needs salvation like this for her marriage, now distant and cold.

    Reality turns their idealistic, romantic fantasies into a daily grind of working the land. Julie and her husband fight the losing battles of finding enough water and grassland for the cattle and keeping recreationalists from cutting their fence lines. And worse yet, who would have thought mud would be a problem in arid Arizona? Readers learn about the workings of a cattle ranch as Morrison tries one fix after another to save the property.

    Morrison realizes that the operation hemorrhages money.

    To move the budget from red to black, she must make some significant changes. But the cowboys she works with as a manager meet these changes with resistance at every step. The cowboys ride the horses until their joints are out of alignment and their feet are bruised and lame. Julie’s attempt at proper horse husbandry becomes another leak in the ranch’s finances, and she struggles between the money problems of the ranch and what she can do for these poor animals. Morrison soon reaches the breaking point.

    Morrison’s exploration of self bolsters her in this harsh world. She sees the success of other ranch women and a select few men, people who support her efforts and encourage her even when she wants to drop from exhaustion and self-recrimination.

    This memoir does not pussy-foot around complex issues that women experience in business or marriage.

    Morrison never lets conflict stop her, though she acknowledges that depression can hold her back. Her bravery will inspire readers who might not have to stand toe-to-toe with hardened cowboys or encounter rattlesnakes during an average workday. As she works through the problems of the ranch, she also works through her own self-discovery.

    She sees her father, a man she loves, as so pressured to continue the family legacy without incurring more expenses that he perpetuates problems rather than helping her solve them. Until her arrival, his deference to “the cowboy way” had gone unchallenged – as something acceptable. In addition, the similarity between the cowboys who work her family’s ranch and her husband shines too bright to ignore. Morrison pulls the cover off the lies we tell ourselves as women to remain in the security of failed relationships and not seek the path of healing and strength.

    This memoir opens the book on a fascinating, nontraditional life filled with adventure and mishap.

    Morrison, alone, supports her ideas and dreams of a better world for the horses she cares for – and for herself. However, the harsh life she lives and the disappointments she suffers do not break her. They move her forward toward the healing she needs.

    Barbed abounds with sagacity and affirmations that ring true for readers who may never set foot on a ranch or ride a horse. This tough, savvy woman shows us how to persevere and survive in the harsh climate of a failing business and a failing marriage. She teaches us how to let go of what doesn’t work and find what does, and how to keep trying – even when all doors seem to be firmly shut. Morrison keeps on knocking.

    Julie Morrison’s aptly titled memoir, Barbed, connects her myriad of encounters into one cohesive tapestry. She faces the difficulty of not backing down or taking the easy path of giving up and embraces what happens when she reaches the other side. Does she find Nirvana? Morrison finds a life worth living, and she moves forward to contentment. She saddles a new horse and rides a new path, and in the end, she finds herself.

    5 Star Best Book Chanticleer Reviews round silver sticker