Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Y/a Historical

The CHAUCER Awards for Historical Fiction 2015 First Place Category Winners
CHAUCER Awards 2015 First Place Category Winning Titles

The Chaucer Awards writing competition recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Historical Fiction. The CHAUCER Awards is a division of the Chanticleer Awards International Writing Competitions.

We are pleased to announce the 2015 CHAUCER Awards Official First Place Category Winners. Good Luck to them as they compete for the 2015 CHAUCER Grand Prize Award.

Please note that beginning in 2016, we have divided the Chaucer Awards into two separate competitions: Chaucer Awards for Pre-1750s historical fiction and the Goethe Awards for Post-1750s).

Congratulations to the 2015 Chaucer Awards First In Category Award Winning Historical Fiction Novels:
Antebellum U.S. History: Jay W. Curry – Nixon & Dovey

Women’s U.S. History: Nicole Evelina – Madame Presidentess

Legacy/Legend: Edmond G. Addeo – Uzumati – A Tale of the Yosemite

Ancient History: Christian Kachel – Spoils of Olympus: By the Sword

Middle Ages: Helena Schrader – Defender of Jerusalem

Middle Ages: Glen Craney –The Spider and the Stone: A Novel of Scotland’s Black Douglas

Elizabethan/Tudor – Anna Castle – Death by Disputation

Women’s History: Paula Butterfield – La Luministe

Turn of the Century: James Conroyd Martin – The Warsaw Conspiracy

Young Adult: K.S. Jones – Shadow of the Hawk

World Wars History: Nicki Chen – Tiger Tail Soup, A Novel of China at War

World/International History – Robert A. Wright – Valhalla Revealed
More than $30,000 dollars in cash and prizes are awarded to Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Winners annually.

The CHAUCER First Place Category award winners will compete for the CHAUCER Grand Prize Award for the 2015 Historical Fiction Novel. Grand Prize winners, blue ribbons, and prizes will be announced and awarded on April 30, 2016 at the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala, Bellingham, Wash.

The First In Category award winning titles will receive an award package including a complimentary Chanticleer Book Review of the winning title, digital award badges, shelf talkers, book stickers, and more.

We are now accepting entries into the 2017 Chaucer Awards. The deadline is June 30, 2016. Click here for more information or to enter.

Congratulations to those who made the CHAUCER Awards 2015 FINALISTS official listing.

More than $30,000 worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to the 2015 Chanticleer Novel Writing Competition winners! Ten genres to enter your novels and compete on an international level.

Who will take home the $1,000 purse this coming April at the Chanticleer Awards Gala and Banquet?
March 7, 2016
The CHAUCER AWARDS for HISTORICAL FICTION First Place Category 2014 WINNERS
Chanticleer Book Reviews is honored to announce the First Place Category Winners for the CHAUCER AWARDS 2014 for Historical Fiction, a division of Chanticleer Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.

The Chaucer Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of historical fiction. The First Place Category Winners will be recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala held in late September 2015.

Chanticleer Reviews is proud to be a literary affiliate of the Historical Novel Society.

The CHAUCER FIRST PLACE 2014 Award Winners are:
- Women’s Fiction: J. L. Oakley for Timber Rose
- Legend: Kevin Allen and Emma Rose Millar for Five Guns Blazing
- Legacy: Michael D. McGranahan for Silver Kings and Sons of Bitches
- Pre-History: Mary S. Black for Peyote Fire
- Ancient History: Rebecca Locklann for The Thinara King
- Roman/Grecian Classical: Elisabeth Storrs for The Golden Dice: A Tale of Ancient Rome
- Middle Ages: Helena P. Schrader for St. Louis’ Knight
- Late Middle Ages: Lilian Gafni for The Alhambra Decree: Flower from Castile
- Elizabethan/Tudor: Syril Levin Kline for Shakespeare’s Changeling: A Fault Against the Dead
- 1600’s: Donna Scott for Shame the Devil (manuscript)
- 1700s & 1800s: Karleene Morrow for Destinies
- Turn of the 19th Century: Ruth Hull Chatlien for The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte
- Twentieth Century: David Brendan Hopes for The One with the Beautiful Necklaces (manuscript)
- World Wars: Gregory Erich Phillips for The Love of Unfinished Years (manuscript)
- Young Adult: Sharon Short for My One Square Inch of Alaska
- U. S. History: J. P. Kenna for Beyond the Divide
- World History: Michelle Rene for I Once Knew Vincent
CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to all of the 2014 Chaucer Finalists! Congratulations to those whose works were selected for First Place Category positions. Good Luck to the Chaucer First Place Category Winners as they compete for the CHAUCER AWARDS 2014 GRAND PRIZE position!

The 1st Place Category Winners compete for the CHAUCER AWARDS 2014 GRAND PRIZE position. The 2014 CHAUCER category winner was announced at the Chanticleer Authors Conference and Awards Gala in September 2015. See the Grand Prize Winners.
- The deadline for The Chaucer Awards 2014 was June 31, 2014.
- The deadline for The Chaucer Awards 2015 is June 31, 2015.
GRAND PRIZE Overall Chaucer Awards Winner from 2013:

Sean Curley, Propositum

To view the 2013 Chaucer Award Winners, please click here.

To compete in the 2016 CHAUCER Awards or for more information, please click here.
CBR’s rigorous writing competition standards are the reason literary agencies seek out our winning manuscripts and self-published novels. Our high standards are also another reason our reviews are trusted among booksellers and book distributors.Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media, L.L.C. retains the right to not declare “default winners.” Winning works are decided upon merit only. Please visit our Contest Details page for more information about our writing contest guidelines.

Please do not hesitate to contact Info@ChantiReviews.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions about CBR writing competitions. Your input and suggestions are important to us.

Thank you for your interest in Chanticleer Book Reviews international writing competitions.
July 15, 2015
The Dante Rossetti Awards 2014 for Young Adult Novels – Official Finalist List
The Dante Rossetti Awards recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Young Adult, New Adult, and Tween Novels. The Rossetti Awards is a division of Chanticleer International Blue Ribbon Awards Writing Competitions.

More than $25,000.00 dollars worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to Chanticleer Book Reviews 2014 writing competition winners!

The Dante Rossetti Awards FIRST IN CATEGORY nine sub-genres are: Contemporary, Fantasy/Steampunk/SciFi, Romance, Historical, Inspirational, Dystopian/Edgy/Urban, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Lighthearted/Humorous, New Adult, and Tween.

The Official Listing of Finalists of the Dante Rossetti Awards 2014 Young Adult Novel Competition:
- Song Magick by Elizabeth Hamill
- An Outcast State by Scott Smith
- The Labyrinth Wall by Emilyann Girdner
- Student Bodyguard for Hire by Callie James
- The Black Shadow by Ben Hutchins
- Skin Deep by Kate Pawson Studer
- Just Going by Jianna Higgins
- Crazy Like Mom by Joanna Bowman Woods
- Scargirl by Eliza Mann
- Fruit of Misfortune; Creatura Book 2 by Nely Cab
- A Slow Climb Up the Mountain by Susan Cornfield Dugan
- Project Aquarius by Colleen Jordan
- The ARK Brothers by James B. Hoke
- Odette Speex – Time Traitors by Padgett Lively
- Unearthed by Karen Seymour
- Kerry’s Shattered Heart by Samantha Giles
- Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner
- The Curse of the Crystal Kuatzin by Jan H. Landsberg
- The Obsidian Dagger by Brad A. LaMar
- The Sage Wind Blows Cold by Clint Hollingsworth
- In the Rock by Mark Facciani
- Orbit by Leigh Hellman
- Ambrosia Chronicles, the Discovery by K. C. Simos
- Chrissie’s Run by S. A. Mahan
- Mark of the Remaker by Ian Yamagata
- Elainraigh: The Vow by S. A. Hunter
- The Star Catcher by Stephanie Keyes
- Kharishma by Jenny L. R. Nay
- Riding with Crazy Horse by PJ Martin
- Strega by Karen Monahan Fernandes
- Ruth 66 by Elizabeth Barlo
- The Sage of the Heroine by Bobbie Groth
- The Diamond of Talakmoon by S. E. Burt
- In the Blink of an Eye by Linda L. Creel
- Solomon’s Lake by Jenny Clark
- Scriptors by Shannon Crolly
- The Curse of the Thrax by Mark Murphy
- Discovering Daniel by Nadine Christian
- The Dragon Within by Cindy Lyle
- The Escape of Princess Madeline by Kirstin Pulioff
- The Flying Burgowski by Gretchen K. Wing
- Twist by Roni Teson
- Once Upon a Road Trip by Angela N. Blount
- Scattered Links by M. Weidenbenner
- Sydney West by Rebecca McKinsey
- Legacy, the Biodome Chronicles by Jesikah Sundin
- Project Aquarius by Colleen Jordan
- Orbit by Leigh Hellman
- Mischief and Mayhem by Monte French
- Solomon’s Lake by Jenny Clark
- Dreams of a Red Horizon by Chris Pawlukiewicz
Finalists will continue on to compete for a first place category win in their sub-genre, and then for the overall grand prize of the 2014 Dante Rossetti Awards. First place category winners will receive an award package including a complimentary book review, digital award badges, shelf talkers, book stickers, and more.

We are now accepting submissions into the Dante Rossetti Awards 2015 for YA Novels. Deadline is April 30, 2015.

More than $30,000 worth of cash and prizes will be awarded to the Chanticleer Novel Writing Competition winners! Nine genres to enter your novels and compete on an international level.
March 6, 2015
An Editorial Review of “Double or Nothing” by Meg Mims

Murder, mystery, intrigue, and romance make “Double or Nothing” by Meg Mims a historical Western page turner. The plot twists, engaging characters, and keen writing will keep you in suspense to the very end.

The mystery is set during the rough and tumble California mining days of 1869. The author, Meg Mims, vividly brings these times to life with her accurate historical research and her clear and striking imagery of bustling towns, dangerous quicksilver mines, and rugged landscapes.

Lily, our protagonist, is a spirited and headstrong young woman who is recovering from her two-thousand mile cross-country journey by train (that was not anywhere as safe and luxurious as she had previously read about in newspapers).

She is still in mourning for her beloved father who died a few days before her twentieth birthday. Lily believes he was murdered in cold blood by one of his trusted business associates whom he was a partner with in a California quicksilver mine. Lily is determined to find the murderer and bring him to justice. She heads out immediately after the burial to Sacramento to her guardian uncle, her father’s brother, who also was a partner in the same mine with her father.

Upon her arrival, Lily’s Uncle Harrison immediately throws her (Lily will inherit her father’s fortune on her 21st birthday) into socializing, attending soirees and hosting his dinner parties. She quickly finds out he has a hidden agenda; he is intent on marrying her to a business associate in order to further his political ambitions before she comes of age and becomes independent of his guardianship. Harrison has forbidden her from seeing the one she truly desires, “Ace” Jesse Diamond. He is the ruggedly handsome gunslinger who saved her life more than once on her dangerous journey to Sacramento from her Evanston, Illinois home.

Lily is introduced to the man her uncle has planned for her to marry—Santiago—at a formal dinner soiree. Sparks and witty repartee fly when Ace enters the room and is seated next to them. He looks just as dashing in his cutaway coat and fancy white shirt as he did on horseback wearing his trail clothes. His good looks, southern drawl, and disarming smile reaffirm Lily’s feelings for him.

Ace, as it turns out, is Santiago’s business partner. Uncle Harrison then announces to the room of two hundred guests that Santiago and Lily are engaged to be married. Ace leaves the dinner party in a huff after spitting out a toast to “the couple.” And the story has just begun.

Headstrong Lily plans to use a visit to her friends in San Francisco as a way to escape the clutches of her uncle before he forces her into marrying Santiago. The rebellious Lily decides never to return to her uncle. She is also determined to find Ace so she can explain that she had no idea about the engagement and that she would never marry Santiago.

Lily’s disappearance sets off a chain of events. In way over her head, Lily’s strength is tested when she realizes just how deep the devious mine owners’ scams go and how connected they are to the politicians. She discovers just how low they will go to obtain and to keep their wealth and power when they frame Ace for a deadly explosion. And Lily is the only one who can prove his innocence.

“Double or Nothing” by Meg Mims was awarded the Laramie Awards for Western Fiction First Place for Mystery. An entertaining Western mystery read with just the right amount of romance. It is the second novel in the Lily Granville Western Mysteries series and we look forward to reading more about more of Lily’s adventures. Thank goodness that Meg Mims leaves her readers with the knowledge there is more to come!

June 19, 2014
An Editorial Review of “Ephemeral Palaces” by Nancy Foshee

A winsome romantic mystery that takes place in the Gay Nineties or, also known as the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons.

Ephemeral Palaces, by Nancy Foshee, transports us to Chicago, 1893, when the city was hosting the World’s Columbian Exposition (aka the World’s Fair). The magnificence of the exposition was unparalleled in the event’s history with more than 27 million people attending its six month run.

The author unfolds her fast-paced story that deals with the submerged conflicts of the time that are just beginning to erupt to the surface: the emerging labor movement in counterpoint with the Robber Barons, the first Skyscraper emerging from the ashes of the Great Chicago Fire, and the swirling together of cultures from different nations and religions from the European mass migration. People from all walks of life were converging at first to build the exposition, then to work at it, and then to attend it. Different levels of the social strata converged at the exposition, along with the new public parks, sprawling roads and railways, and industrial works that were creating the now great city of Chicago. The women’s suffrage movement was beginning and starting to gain momentum, and the country was starting to finally heal from the American Civil War.

Readers will be swiftly caught up in this story of love at first sight, treachery, family secrets, sabotage, and technological innovations of the time, meshed with the conflicts between the classes, religions, and national origins. Foshee intertwines her cast of characters against the subtext of this backstory to make for a lively novel that historical, cozy mystery and romance fans will enjoy reading.

Shakespearean charades and surprises ensue when one of Chicago’s most prominent and most eligible young heiresses, Alexandra Schaffer, beguiles an up-and-coming young architect, Logan McConnell. They meet when she helps Logan pick up items from a display that he accidentally knocked over in the grandiose Marshal Fields department store. Meanwhile, Alexandra’s brother, Joey, has fallen head over heels in love with the Schaeffer family’s Swedish maid’s daughter Ingrid, but he is forbidden to pursue the relationship by the family patriarch.

Foshee adds elements of mystery and suspense, with a dash of ominous threats to this romantic story that takes place in this volatile time of American history. She deftly explores the dynamics of the Gilded Age and some of the era’s significant events that will impact the future of America and its capabilities to take on the challenges that the future will bring. Ephemeral Palaces is an engaging historical novel of the Gilded Age that was well-researched and well-written and a pleasure for this reviewer to have read.

June 3, 2014
An Editorial Review of “Artemis Rising” by Cheri Lasota

Rendered with a lush and lyrical touch, this Y/A historical fantasy depicts the romantic yearnings of two innocent lovers, both dedicated to and trapped by the belief that they embody tragic figures from myth and legend.

Born of a pagan mother and a strict Catholic father, fifteen-year-old Eva Maré learns the hard way that when the two religions clash, catastrophic results follow. Aboard a ship bound for the Azores, Eva undertakes a ritual to transfer the role of Arethusa, a sea nymph dedicated to Artemis, from mother to daughter. But instead of the Goddess’s blessing, hell’s own fury is unleashed. The ship crashes into the volcanic face of Ilhéu das Cabras, though not before Diogo Cheia, a marquês’s son possessed by his desire for Eva, displays his wrath over her rejection.

Eva, now Arethusa, regains consciousness on the Azorean island of Terceira, surrounded by the flotsam of the shipwreck that took the lives of her parents and nearly everyone else on board. Badly wounded and rendered mute by an act of violence she cannot remember, she is rescued by a beautiful young man, who takes her to the orphanage in Angra do Heroísmo, where he lives. There Arethusa is healed, but it won’t be long before she discovers Diogo survived as well.

Thus begins the ages-old tale of two men fighting over the woman they both love. But this is no ordinary triangle: Diogo believes himself heir to the role of Alpheus, the river god to whom, in Greek mythology, Arethusa is bound for eternity. To complicate matters, Tristão Vazante, Arethusa’s rescuer, had been led to believe he is the embodiment of the Cornish knight Tristan and that Arethusa is his Isolde.

This well-written and crisply paced novel mixes the two myths: one Greek, the other of the canon of Arthurian literature. It’s possible the author intended the two disparate myths to represent the clash between paganism and Christianity—and the way the main characters eventually reconcile their religious conflicts—but one is distorted to emphasize evil, while the other is less a Christian morality play than a medieval tale of courtly love.

However, the sweetly chaste passion of Tristan and Arethusa carries the day, along with the Azorean setting, with its seaports and beaches, caves and cities, all wonderfully evoked and enhanced by a sprinkling of Portuguese expressions. An early scene, when Arethusa dreams between life and death after the shipwreck, is a sensory feast. The inevitable showdown between Arethusa’s two suitors challenges the traditional endings of the two myths in a way that is as anticipated as it is satisfying. Readers who enjoy being swept away in romantic fantasy will not be disappointed.

Artemis Rising by Cheri Lasota was awarded First Place in the Mythological Category, The Cygnus Awards 2013. The Cygnus Awards is a division of Chanticleer Book Reviews Blue Ribbon Writing Competitions.

August 1, 2013