Saturday 2 September 2023

Chill Awards is CLOSED

 

Chill Awards has become an internationally recognized acknowledgement for good, well written books. However, despite its popularity I have, after a great deal of thought and with a heavy heart, decided to close Chill Awards.

Seven years ago, I set up the Award Programme to help shine a light on independently published books.  Hundreds of books have passed through the Programme and, whilst not all, many received an Award.

 As much as I have enjoyed running Chill Awards it is a 24/7 commitment. Often after spending hours dealing with submissions, readers, Awards and all that is entailed to run Chill Awards successfully, I find I can no longer sit at my desk to do my own writing or other things that need my attention.

 Over the years I have met many wonderful people; authors and readers, and a number of these have become great friends. Sadly, I have also met a number of authors who are far from pleasant. Although I have made this decision, it hasn’t come easily. I will miss the daily contact with authors and readers, but I do need to step away and work on other projects I have started. I won’t disappear from helping authors, I will be continuing with my podcasting and looking forward to talking with more great writers and readers.

Although submissions are closed, books that are left in the Award Programme, I will endeavor to have all read by three Chill readers and where appropriate, Awards will still be made. However, that will be the end of Chill Awards.

 A special thank you to all the many, many readers who over the years have given their time to evaluate the mountains of books that have been submitted. Without you, there would be no Awards. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 A special thank you to Cathy Helms of Avalon Graphics for her kindness and professional support especially with the Cover of the Month Awards.

It is the end of a special era, but it is the beginning of new things too.

Until we talk again,

Best wishes

Pauline

Book of the MONTH - August

Book of the Month Award

August


Spinster Daisy Suckley, a cousin of Franklin Roosevelt, was one of a band of unconventional women close to FDR along with Frances Perkins, the architect of social security, Eleanor Roosevelt, the fiery labour organiser, and Missy LeHand, the supersecretary who was a political operative in her right.

FDR gave them careers. In turn, they ensured his presidency was stronger and bolder and more effective. But they all had their own secrets and ways of working the system. Told through Daisy's eyes, their friendships, animosities, affairs and political agendas shaped the president's terms. This is their story, the women who influenced FDR, as told by his alternative wife, Daisy.

Genre: 315
Pages:   Biographical Fiction







Wednesday 30 August 2023

Days End by Chantelle Atkins & Sim Alec Sansford



Days End
by
Chantelle Atkins & Sim Alec Sansford

has RECEIVED a


A PREMIER Readers’ Award


Premier Readers’ Award is honoured to books that receive exceptional high evaluations from Chill Readers.

This book is shortlisted for Book of the Month.

All things must come to an end…

With the Organisation hot on their trail and their powers growing stronger by the day; JJ Carson and Darcie Duffield are more determined than ever to save Fortune’s Well from the looming darkness.

But when history threatens to repeat itself, and an unseen foe is watching their every move, who will make the ultimate sacrifice to save them all and bring about the end of days?

Days End is the highly anticipated conclusion to the Fortune’s Well trilogy.


Pages: 242
Genre: in Superhero Fantasy 

Days End

  was read and evaluated by THREE Chill's readers against the following...

Were the characters strong and engaging?
 Was the book well written?
Did the story / plot have you turning the page to find out what happened next?
Was the ending satisfying?
Would you recommend to someone who reads this kind of story?



Try The Leopard's Mouth by Charles Moberly



Try The Leopard's Mouth
by

Charles Moberly

has RECEIVED a


Chill with a Book READERS’ Award


AFRICA 1970
Briony and Tom, both in their twenties, are very different characters. But opposites attract. In business, as in love, they complement each other.
They buy a farm and discover a rare drug. Tom grows it and Briony markets it. At first, they are oblivious of their responsibilities to the land and its people. But gradually they realise that they have been supporting a racist and colonialist regime.
The onset of the Rhodesian – Zimbabwean War of Independence tears at the couple’s relationship. Misunderstandings arise from their conflicting personalities and from external pressures. Events pull them apart, but also bind them together.
Try the Leopard’s Mouth is a romantic thriller set in Africa. It is also a historical novel, grounded in real events in the period 1970-80.

Pages: 375
Genre:  Action & Adventure Romance Fiction

Try The Leopard's Mouth was read and evaluated by THREE Chill's readers against the following...

Were the characters strong and engaging?
 Was the book well written?
Did the story / plot have you turning the page to find out what happened next?
Was the ending satisfying?
Would you recommend to someone who reads this kind of story?














Monday 28 August 2023

Beneath The Darkening Clouds by Juliane Weber



Beneath The Darkening Clouds
by
Juliane Weber

has RECEIVED a


A PREMIER Readers’ Award


Premier Readers’ Award is honoured to books that receive exceptional high evaluations from Chill Readers.

This book is shortlisted for Book of the Month.

Quin and Alannah have overcome obstacles and endured heartache, but their biggest challenge is yet to come. It's 1845 and Ireland is plagued with unrest when the unthinkable happens – the potato harvest on which most Irish peasants depend fails. With their livelihoods destroyed, thousands are left desperate for food, making unease and fear ripple across the land; and with the response of the British government inadequate, hunger and disease soon follow. Now it’s up to Quin and Alannah to save the people living on their estate.

But all the while, danger lurks from other quarters, as Quin delves into mysteries from his past, incurring the wrath of powerful enemies.

Join Quin and Alannah on their journey, as love and loyalty are put to the test in a myth-shrouded land.


Pages: 453
Genre: British & Irish Historical Literature

Beneath The Darkening Clouds

  was read and evaluated by THREE Chill's readers against the following...

Were the characters strong and engaging?
 Was the book well written?
Did the story / plot have you turning the page to find out what happened next?
Was the ending satisfying?
Would you recommend to someone who reads this kind of story?



Saturday 26 August 2023

The Fractured Globe by Angela Fish



The Fractured Globe
by
Angela Fish

has RECEIVED a


A PREMIER Readers’ Award


Premier Readers’ Award is honoured to books that receive exceptional high evaluations from Chill Readers.

This book is shortlisted for Book of the Month.

Nature? Nurture? Or just plain luck?

Single mums, Tia and Kay, meet when their sons are born on the same day.

Tia is a product of the welfare system but wants a better life for her son. Her entrapment by her manipulative and controlling boyfriend in the world of drink, drugs, crime and enforced prostitution suggests otherwise. Is she a ‘born devil’ or can she change and break free?

Kay comes from a stable home but sacrifices it all, initially, to live her own kind of life.

Overshadowed by betrayals, mistakes, regrets, and the mystery of an abandoned child, their paths – and those of their families – run parallel or criss-cross over twenty-five years.

Can determination and the power of the snow globe offer a chance of happiness?

Pages: 281
Genre:  Parenting Morals & Responsibility

The Fractured Globe

  was read and evaluated by THREE Chill's readers against the following...

Were the characters strong and engaging?
 Was the book well written?
Did the story / plot have you turning the page to find out what happened next?
Was the ending satisfying?
Would you recommend to someone who reads this kind of story?



Friday 25 August 2023

Whatever The Future Holds by Heidi E V McCann



Whatever The Future Holds
by
Heidi E V McCann

has RECEIVED a


A PREMIER Readers’ Award


Premier Readers’ Award is honoured to books that receive exceptional high evaluations from Chill Readers.

This book is shortlisted for Book of the Month.

"I suppose that in order to feel a ray of hope, see the light, you have to have first lived in darkness. "

Life is supposed to go a certain way. You grow up, you fall in love, you partner up, and you grow old together. But what happens when your happily ever after is interrupted, forever changed by shattering news?

Heidi McCann was just a young teenager that summer in 1990 when she first laid eyes on the boy who would become her first love, and eventually the man who would change her life.

Curtis Roger Vance was handsome, popular, and just a little wild. It was the story that small town romances in rural Vermont are made of. At least at first.

Curtis and Heidi did fall in love and begin their life together, albeit through several breakups and a long twisty road to young adulthood. However, far too early on in their life together, they were dealt the devastating blow that Curtis had ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Curtis' remaining time on earth would be fraught with questions, catastrophic illness, and the most beautiful and heartwarming coming of age, surrounded by the fierce love of the woman by his side, and a community who rallied around them both.

With a remarkable mix of tenderness and frankness, McCann guides us through their love story, their anguish, their heartbreak, and the ultimate redemption that comes with perfect healing in death, while exploring the realities of life and the process of grief for those left behind.

This is a book about learning to live while preparing to die as well as a book about the process of grief. It is beautiful, it will crack you wide open, and it will heal your heart in ways you do not expect.

All that I am I give to you,
and all that I have I share with you.
Whatever the future holds,
I will love you and stand by you.
We will be united for all eternity.
This is my solemn vow.

Pages: 334
Genre: Medical Biographies & Memoirs

Whatever The Future Holds

  was read and evaluated by THREE Chill's readers against the following...

Were the characters strong and engaging?
 Was the book well written?
Did the story / plot have you turning the page to find out what happened next?
Was the ending satisfying?
Would you recommend to someone who reads this kind of story?



Friday 18 August 2023

Daisy Chain by Justine Gilbert



Daisy Chain
by
Justine Gilbert

has RECEIVED a


A PREMIER Readers’ Award


Premier Readers’ Award is honoured to books that receive exceptional high evaluations from Chill Readers.

This book is shortlisted for Book of the Month.

Spinster Daisy Suckley, a cousin of Franklin Roosevelt, was one of a band of unconventional women close to FDR along with Frances Perkins, the architect of social security, Eleanor Roosevelt, the fiery labour organiser, and Missy LeHand, the supersecretary who was a political operative in her right.

FDR gave them careers. In turn, they ensured his presidency was stronger and bolder and more effective. But they all had their own secrets and ways of working the system. Told through Daisy's eyes, their friendships, animosities, affairs and political agendas shaped the president's terms. This is their story, the women who influenced FDR, as told by his alternative wife, Daisy.

Pages: 315
Genre: Biographical Fiction

Daisy Chain

  was read and evaluated by THREE Chill's readers against the following...

Were the characters strong and engaging?
 Was the book well written?
Did the story / plot have you turning the page to find out what happened next?
Was the ending satisfying?
Would you recommend to someone who reads this kind of story?