Iris Chacon's Blog: Iris's Sunshine State of Mind

Audiobook review of THE CHOCOLATE LABRADOODLE CAPER,
A Damien Dickens Mystery,
by Phyllis Entis.
Audiobook narrated by Harry Dyson.

★★★★ Rated four stars by Iris Chacon.
This writer received a complimentary copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest and objective review.

I recommend this audiobook to listeners of any age; it contains no offensive material.

I had previously read the ebook version of this enjoyable novel by Phyllis Entis. Hearing the story narrated, though, was a different experience entirely. I was surprised at how the pace of the story seemed more sedate and mellow, giving me time to digest and appreciate all the deep detail incorporated into the story as the result of the author's extensive research. Perhaps when reading to myself, I went too fast, eager for the next clue, and failed to appreciate the beauty of the descriptive passages in their recreation of the period setting.

This new audiobook is of excellent production quality and was easy to navigate with the Audible.com interface. I listened to it on my Kindle, but it would perform as well on other devices.

Narrator Harry Dyson does a fine job of bringing our mystery-solving hero, Damien Dickens, to life as a likable, smart, personable fellow. Dyson's voice suits the pace and tone of the book very well and causes the listener to feel instant affinity for every character -- females as well as males. I'm hoping to hear his narration of future Damien Dickens Mysteries.


Phyllis Entis weaves several plot lines so skillfully that I didn't realize the many connections between the disparate mysteries until she led me to them in the end. Be warned that the adorable labradoodle appears only briefly (I won't say more, to avoid spoilers here), but the puppy is still an integral part of the plot.

Whether you have ever read a Damien Dickens Mystery before, you will enjoy this one; the story stands on its own.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars by Iris Chacon

Witty, wise, and wonderful! This is a trip to the Grand Canyon that you will never forget and you will be glad you never took. Jacob Smalls, the narrator, is a self-deprecating travel writer who specializes in travel books about Bolivia.

Admittedly, his reading audience is small. To make ends meet, Jacob writes freelance travel articles as well. This is how he happens to accompany his ex-girlfriend, Jewel Rider, on a travel writers' junket to the grand opening of the "Grand Chalet Grand Canyon" resort.

Jacob is going because it is a free trip, with free food and liquor, with a beautiful ex-girlfriend who recently dumped him (maybe he can change her mind on this trip?). Jewel, who considers herself a more serious journalist than other travel writers -- or at least more serious than Jacob -- is going on the trip, she says, "to take down the murdering enviro-terrorists" who are ruining the Grand Canyon and starving the Southwest of its water supply.

When Jewel is, in fact, murdered -- possibly by the owners of the Grand Chalet -- Jacob has a new purpose in life. He will not fail her in death as he failed her in life. He plans to find her killer and, along the way, just possibly convince a new girlfriend to leave her husband (his host and chief suspect).

The murder mystery is suspenseful and constantly surprising, but it is the funny, smart, superbly detailed prose of author Jeff Soloway that make this book a treasure. Soloway has created a winsome philosopher in Jacob Smalls, whose narrative is interwoven with increasingly resonant insights about human nature and the nature of true love.

Whether or not you plan to visit Bolivia or the Grand Canyon, make definite plans to get and read THE LAST DESCENT. It is a priceless literary breath of fresh desert air.

This book contains minimal offensive language and no explicit sex scenes, but extra-marital sex is assumed to be the norm. There is neither positive nor negative inclusion of religion.

This writer received an uncorrected pre-publication proof in exchange for an honest and objective review.

More recent blog posts appear on Iris's official webpage, http://www.authoririschacon.wordpress....

Happy reading, fellow Goodreads readers!

Clean stories continue to garner happy readers and good reviews. Case in point: this review of SYLVIE'S COWBOY posted recently by OnlineBookClub.

Sylvie’s Cowboy by Iris Chacon is a crime/thriller novel with a small twist of romance. This novel is a quick read that sucked the reader in and didn’t let go until the end. The characters were well developed and the plot well written. As the story progressed, and the plot unfolded I found it difficult to stop reading.

Sylvie Pace and Walter McGurth, two people from different sides of the track, are forced together when trouble brews in her father’s business. Her father dies and Sylvia’s life is in shambles. With the help of Walter she must learn to be independent. Sylvie moving from a life of luxury to a life of nothing is no easy feat. But being pulled into a game of tug of war far greater than she could ever know, leaves her fighting for not only her life but Walter’s life. While piecing together the level of deception in her life, Sylvie grows as a character into a woman that can stand on her own two feet.

I really enjoyed reading this story. The story was quick to pull the reader in as well as hold the reader’s attention. The plot's well written and very intriguing to see it unfold from Sylvie having to start over, how easily she can be manipulated to how she overcomes her faults. But in the end she proves to be able to rely on her new found independence. The story had its quirky ups and downs with each character. All of it was easy to figure out which made it even more interesting to read for me as the reader.

What can I say, there is nothing I didn't like about the book. It is one I would happily read again. In the end, Sylvia finds herself and love. Walter McGurth[sic], forced into watching over Sylvie, risks his life following her around and keeping her away from the people that would kill her. While we see Sylvie grow we also see him grow as he learns how to open up to somebody else.

Sylvie’s Cowboy by Iris Chacon is a quirky crime/thriller novel that is sure to pull the reader in until the end. It was an interesting crime/thriller novel and I would recommend it to those that love crime/thriller books and even those that love a little romantic twist. I rate Sylvie’s Cowboy a 3 out of 4 stars because I thought it makes for good light reading to pass the time quickly.

Many thanks to reviewer TrishaAnn92 at OnlineBookClub.org. And many thanks to readers who continue to support family friendly writing.

“Going Green” may be trendy in the secular world, but good stewardship of the world and its resources has been a major tenet of the Judeo-Christian faith since the first man was created in the Garden of Eden.
I confess that my family has been lagging in our attempts to be more environmentally friendly. We have made the attempt, however. Let me tell you about our household’s Environmental Stewardship Initiative.
The problem is, though our grandparents were farmers and ranchers, lived close to the land, and learned useful skills at their mother’s knee, we are clueless urbanites. This dooms our efforts to “Go Green.”
When we attempted to buy local produce, we ended up with grapes from Chile, oranges from California, and mangoes from Jamaica. All of them are growing not five minutes from our house. We just don’t know how or where to purchase them. There are no labels on those piles of loose fruit in the grocery store. How do we know which ones are foreign? Thump ‘em and listen for an accent?
Unable to buy local produce, we decided to grow our own. We would become organic gardeners. We went to the websites, watched the videos, subscribed to the magazines, and we planted vegetables in pots on the small porch of our condominium.
The entire state promptly entered a period of extreme drought.
Our cucumbers never appeared at all, though they had lovely yellow flowers and huge vines that carpeted the entire porch. The tomatoes were the size of grapes and went from green to yellow, but never red. The lettuces were beautiful, but finger size. Waste not, want not: we harvested mini-greens and feasted on teeny-weeny salads.
Our worst failure yet, however, has been at composting. It seemed a simple concept. Pile up the organic waste and let it rot. This should require no special skill. We knew we could do this.
We forgot the characteristics of urban trash. Our nascent compost pile wanted apple peels, peach pits, stale bread, chicken bones, cooking grease, egg shells, coffee grounds, and so forth. Our kitchen waste consisted of cardboard packages, plastic microwaveable bowls, empty Pam spray can, empty warm-and-serve chicken tenders bags, deflated Splenda packets and lots of pizza boxes. Urbanites have terrible eating habits, and we don’t cook.
Our “compost” consists of a large dill pickle jar now full of used coffee grounds (we DO make coffee) and a banana peel. It sits on the back porch near the vegetable pots that now contain either blank dirt or unidentifiable brownish vegetation.
We conclude that as our family moved further from the farm with each generation, the food-cultivation gene has been bred out of us. Yet, with God, all things are possible. So we haven’t given up. For those whom He calls, He also equips, and we believe that, eventually, we’ll learn. We’ll get better.
For now, we are what we are, and God is gracious and merciful toward us in our failed condition. We tried to Go Green. We just didn’t make it past aqua.

Another comforting sign that clean, wholesome fun has not gone the way of the dodo: the e-novel Schifflebein's Folly has proved popular with readers and critics alike.

Witness this recent review from OnlineBookClub:

“Schifflebein’s Folly” is a delightful story where good things happen to good people and everyone has a happy ending. For me, this was a refreshing change from some of the darker stories I’ve been reading lately.

Lloyd Schifflebein is a hard-working, honest, loving, and all-around nice guy. He’s in his 30’s, he’s single, he works with the maintenance crew for the Parks Department, and he has always dreamed of a home and a family. Dreamed so hard, in fact, that for all of his adult life he has been preparing for his future family. He bought a fixer-upper and fixed it up, adding some bedrooms and a workshop. He has a gourmet kitchen and has taught himself how to cook, so he will be able to feed his children properly. His plan is to adopt and he has been faithfully renewing his application every year for the last fifteen years. He has already prepared the rooms for the children and built all the furnishings for the rooms himself. And he keeps bunnies as pets, they have their own room, so that his future children will have the opportunity to have a pet and learn how to care for it. Now he is quitting his job and starting a business constructing equipment for playgrounds so he will be able to work at home and avoid the need for daycare for his kids.

The story takes us through the challenges that arise as Lloyd gets closer and closer to his dream. Some new people come into his life that believe in him and want to help him, but some not so charitable characters are at the same time trying to make his dream impossible to achieve. The sequence of events will keep the reader on their toes throughout the story.

I can recommend this book to any reader as there is no violence, sex or questionable content. This is a story that will make you feel good about the world and about pursuing impossible dreams. The book is less than 200 pages, so it’s a quick read. I see it as a perfect rainy day book for any age level. The author really seems to have had fun writing this story and it was a delight to read. I’m not quite sure what genre to place it in, unless feel-good is its own genre. Iris Chacon shows a real gift for creating unique but believable characters here, and the pace of the story is consistent throughout and doesn’t drag at any point.

I hope you will pick up this little book and enjoy it as much as I did. I’m giving this 4 out of 4 stars because it was a happy story with a few unexpected twists.

There are readers out there for wholesome love stories, not just for bodice rippers and explicit erotica. It's not always easy for readers of Clean Romance (a/k/a Sweet Romance) novels to find the sort of stories they crave.

That's why I rejoiced to receive the following glowing review from OnlineBookClub of my e-book, FINDING MIRANDA.

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Finding Miranda" by Iris Chacon.]
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Finding Miranda by Iris Chacon is a sweet and wholesome romance that is definitely worth a read. I was given the Smashwords edition. The book is about 160 pages, including a short sample for another of the author’s books, and it reads really quickly. I finished it in one sitting. This is the type of romance novel that I could read several times a year, just to make my day a little brighter. I give Finding Miranda a 4 out of 4.

For me, the key to a good romance novel is the leads. There can be a wonderful and well-written background story arc, but if the chemistry is not really there then the whole book falls flat. In the case of Finding Maranda, the chemistry is definitely there and the reader can see the characters having a future together after the story ends. There are a few doubts and misconceptions along the way, but the writer does not linger on them too long and the two characters are rational enough to communicate and talk about their issues.

Who are the leads, you may be asking? Well, let me introduce you. Miranda Ogilvy just moved to Minokee, Florida and is the new librarian at Live Oak Municipal Library. Her age and appearance are not really specified, aside from long hair, short stature, and glasses, but she does see herself as a plain Jane Eyre. All her life, she feels like she’s been invisible. No one really looks her in the face and they forget they ever met her. Miranda actually handles this aspect of her life with great aplomb and just tries to go with it. She is kind to people and passionate about her work. These character traits might put her into the much hated “Mary Sue” category, but she does show other characteristics as the plot thickens that make her unique and interesting, as well as realistic.

Her counterpoint, Shepard Krausse, is a radio Deejay. He is blond, gorgeous, and is referred to as “Thor” a few times in a teasing manner, mostly by his best friend, Pietro. A big aspect of his life is that he is blind. This is treated with great respect and some realism. He has a large guide dog named Dave, who happens to be his other best friend. Dave enjoys using expensive hair products and has strong opinions about the NRA. Shep is nice, slightly arrogant, and passionate about justice. He grew up in a rich and powerful family but wants his life to go in a different direction for now.

Along with the budding romance, there is a main plot about corrupt business practices, politicians, and a bit of action/mystery. The plot is too simple to go over very much without spoilers, but essentially Shep gets arrogant and ends up putting himself and others in danger. Overall, everything is tied together really well and I don’t feel like anything needs to be added or removed from the story.

The interactions between Shep and Miranda are very cute and sweet. It feels like falling in love, but not quite there yet. Their relationship in the book is the warm feeling of possibly finding the one. The interactions between Shep, Miranda, Pietro, and Dave are fantastic and humorous. You want to be in the book so you can hang out with them. There is actually a lot of humor in Finding Miranda, which is what I was hoping for. When I saw the book cover, I felt like this would be a quirky kind of romance and it’s exactly what I thought it would be. Straight from the beginning of the book with the introduction of the neighborhood morning coffee tradition (where the older ladies sit on their porch and ogle Shep as he goes running), almost every aspect of the story is handled with natural humor, even some of the more serious things presented. The title might lead the reader to believe that Miranda needs to be found at some point, but after reading this book, I realized that one of the largest story arcs is Miranda finding her own voice and finding that there are battles that are worth fighting.

There is some very minor profanity in the usage of the word “hell”, but it’s humorous and well-placed. There is non-graphic violence and death that is treated respectfully. As far as how sexually graphic it is, I give it .5 out of 5 Chile Peppers. There is some adorable kissing and hugging. I think that readers ages 12 and up could read this without any problems, but people under the age of 15 might not relate enough to the storyline to stay engaged. I would recommend Finding Miranda to readers that enjoy sweet romances. Fans of Debbie Macomber and Joann Fluke would enjoy reading this.

Most adults take pride in being rational, informed, strong-minded people who accept the world as it is and cope with it accordingly.

We are wrong.

Our inner dialogue betrays us with a single word: “should.” It expresses indignance and proves that we expect the world to be other than it actually is. Just listen to yourself.

A child throws a tantrum in a restaurant. We think the parents should handle it quickly, wisely and quietly; the child should obey his elders; the manager should ask the annoying family to leave. None of those things will happen.

--We think our soldiers should come home, undamaged, and receive the thanks of a grateful nation.
--We think politicians (or news anchors, or clergymen, or salesmen) should speak the truth and stand behind it.
--Policemen should always be calm, controlled, kind, helpful, honest, brave, and universally respected.
--Grandparents should always die before parents and parents before children.
--People who sing in public should be able to carry a tune.
--People who sing the national anthem in public should know the words.
None of these is reality. This is not how the world really works.

Why does the voice in our mind respond automatically with such assertions, then? Some say it’s because we internalized the Ten Commandments in our youth [another unrealistic assumption]. Some say it’s because homo sapiens has evolved some innate sense of fairness. Some philosophers even insist that this phenomenon of the human psyche is proof of the existence of God.

However we came by this instinct, it is ubiquitous. Perhaps we could train ourselves to eliminate the expectation of rightness, fairness, goodness, or shouldness in the real world. Without those expectations, though, would we still have the optimism and hope we need to cope with reality?

Iris Chacon's Florida mystery e-novel, Sylvie's Cowboy, is being serialized, FREE, on Wattpad.com. New chapters are posted every other Tuesday beginning August 4, 2015.

You can add your questions, comments, or suggestions to the author at the end of each chapter you read. I look forward to responding to your ideas and questions.


Not on Wattpad yet? Sign up now. It's free, and you can read (or write) all you want -- and meet others who are like minded.



Don't want to read a chapter at a time? Download the entire novel for FREE at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

Lloyd Schifflebein would be very happy with the 4/4-star review his story, Schifflebein's Folly, has received from OnLineBookClub.org.

The reviewer concluded their opinion by stating,"I hope you will pick up this little book and enjoy it as much as I did. I’m giving this 4 out of 4 stars because it was a happy story with a few unexpected twists."

The reader also commented, in material extraneous to the published review:
"I would love to have Lloyd, Charley and the kids as neighbors on my street. Thanks to Iris Chacon for brightening my day."

Thank you, Reviewer Shamoun, for brightening Iris's day as well!