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Review Date: 7/26/2006
From Publishers Weekly
Melanie, Mia and Ashley are triplets dealing with the effects of an abusive childhood in Spindler's (Cause for Alarm) dark psychological thriller. Grown up and battling dysfunction, Mia's now married to a physically abusive doctor; Ashley has become a bitter man-hater; and Melanie is a divorced cop fighting for custody of her son. When a serial killer nicknamed the "Dark Angel" starts bumping off abusers who have gone unpunished by the legal system, Melanie begins her own investigation into the mysterious deaths. Most people, including world-famous FBI profiler Connor Parks, think the case is best left unsolved, but Mel is out to win the respect and cooperation of her peers, even if her findings take her too close to home for comfort. Although suspenseful, this hefty novel is diminished by sluggish plotting and uneven writing.
Melanie, Mia and Ashley are triplets dealing with the effects of an abusive childhood in Spindler's (Cause for Alarm) dark psychological thriller. Grown up and battling dysfunction, Mia's now married to a physically abusive doctor; Ashley has become a bitter man-hater; and Melanie is a divorced cop fighting for custody of her son. When a serial killer nicknamed the "Dark Angel" starts bumping off abusers who have gone unpunished by the legal system, Melanie begins her own investigation into the mysterious deaths. Most people, including world-famous FBI profiler Connor Parks, think the case is best left unsolved, but Mel is out to win the respect and cooperation of her peers, even if her findings take her too close to home for comfort. Although suspenseful, this hefty novel is diminished by sluggish plotting and uneven writing.
Review Date: 8/28/2006
Helpful Score: 1
This is a great book! I couldn't put it down!!
Review Date: 9/2/2006
Quick, fun read
Review Date: 7/28/2006
Amazon.com
Sloan Fairchild has made a rousing success of her elegant San Francisco bed-and-breakfast inn, but her love life has suffered--until her best friend's fiance comes to stay for a month. Should Sloan betray her friend, or deny her heart? A deeply romantic story of a woman forced to examine her conscience and make a hard decision.
Sloan Fairchild has made a rousing success of her elegant San Francisco bed-and-breakfast inn, but her love life has suffered--until her best friend's fiance comes to stay for a month. Should Sloan betray her friend, or deny her heart? A deeply romantic story of a woman forced to examine her conscience and make a hard decision.
Review Date: 7/28/2006
From Publishers Weekly
This debut novel by a publishing insider reads like a pallid imitation of Susan Isaacs, complete with a pampered Jewish housewife as sleuth. Alison Waxman Koff and her affluent husband live by the credo of Wall Street 's Gordon Gecko--"greed is good"--but their financial assets in upscale Layton, Conn., vanish in the crash of '87. Alison must do without her shopping trips, her manicures and eventually her husband, who returns to his first wife. Heavily in debt, she takes a job doing what she knows best: cleaning house. She becomes a maid for Melanie Moloney, a vitriolic, odious writer of sleazy biographies who is currently engaged in exposing the sins of Layton's leading citizen, a former Hollywood actor and U.S. senator. When Melanie is murdered, the inept local constabulary ignore the lengthy list of suspects and arrest Alison, who fights back with some unique weapons--even enlisting the aid of her loathsome mother. Heller's pursuit of humor is relentlessly heavy-handed, and her onslaught of lame wisecracks combines with stereotypical characters to further subvert her unsurprising story.
This debut novel by a publishing insider reads like a pallid imitation of Susan Isaacs, complete with a pampered Jewish housewife as sleuth. Alison Waxman Koff and her affluent husband live by the credo of Wall Street 's Gordon Gecko--"greed is good"--but their financial assets in upscale Layton, Conn., vanish in the crash of '87. Alison must do without her shopping trips, her manicures and eventually her husband, who returns to his first wife. Heavily in debt, she takes a job doing what she knows best: cleaning house. She becomes a maid for Melanie Moloney, a vitriolic, odious writer of sleazy biographies who is currently engaged in exposing the sins of Layton's leading citizen, a former Hollywood actor and U.S. senator. When Melanie is murdered, the inept local constabulary ignore the lengthy list of suspects and arrest Alison, who fights back with some unique weapons--even enlisting the aid of her loathsome mother. Heller's pursuit of humor is relentlessly heavy-handed, and her onslaught of lame wisecracks combines with stereotypical characters to further subvert her unsurprising story.
Review Date: 7/28/2006
From Publishers Weekly
Binchy ( Circle of Friends ; The Lilac Bus ) is a consummate storyteller with a unique ability to draw readers into her tales of Irish life. Here again she mines sources rich in plot and character to produce a captivating narrative. The eponymous copper beech is a huge tree that shades the tiny schoolhouse in the village of Shancarrig. For generations, graduating pupils have carved their initials on the massive trunk, and the book examines what has become of some of them. Though each of the 10 chapters offers the perspective of a single character, Binchy adroitly indicates the ways in which their lives intersect. Thus, the allegedly stolen jewels that are discovered and stolen again in one early chapter become significant in later chapters. Long after two adulterous characters sneak into a Dublin hotel, it emerges that they were spotted by a small soul from Shancarrig, who passes on the information--with unforeseen consequences. A priest's dalliance with the sweet young schoolteacher is shown to have been been suspected by others in the village. The result is a charming and compelling series of interlocking stories about ordinary people who are given dimension through Binchy's empathetic insight. While this book is more fragmentary in structure than some of her previous novels, it should leave Binchy's fans wholly satisfied.
Binchy ( Circle of Friends ; The Lilac Bus ) is a consummate storyteller with a unique ability to draw readers into her tales of Irish life. Here again she mines sources rich in plot and character to produce a captivating narrative. The eponymous copper beech is a huge tree that shades the tiny schoolhouse in the village of Shancarrig. For generations, graduating pupils have carved their initials on the massive trunk, and the book examines what has become of some of them. Though each of the 10 chapters offers the perspective of a single character, Binchy adroitly indicates the ways in which their lives intersect. Thus, the allegedly stolen jewels that are discovered and stolen again in one early chapter become significant in later chapters. Long after two adulterous characters sneak into a Dublin hotel, it emerges that they were spotted by a small soul from Shancarrig, who passes on the information--with unforeseen consequences. A priest's dalliance with the sweet young schoolteacher is shown to have been been suspected by others in the village. The result is a charming and compelling series of interlocking stories about ordinary people who are given dimension through Binchy's empathetic insight. While this book is more fragmentary in structure than some of her previous novels, it should leave Binchy's fans wholly satisfied.
Review Date: 7/28/2006
Amazon.com
...The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old Ben Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a journalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been there. International publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.
...The horror of losing a child is somehow made worse when the case goes unsolved for nearly a decade, reports Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jacquelyn Mitchard in this searing first novel. In it, 3-year-old Ben Cappadora is kidnapped from a hotel lobby where his mother is checking into her 15th high school reunion. His disappearance tears the family apart and invokes separate experiences of anguish, denial, and self-blame. Marital problems and delinquency in Ben's older brother (in charge of him the day of his kidnapping) ensue. Mitchard depicts the family's friction and torment--along with many gritty realities of family life--with the candor of a journalist and compassion of someone who has seemingly been there. International publishing and movie rights sold fast on this one: It's a blockbuster.
Review Date: 7/26/2006
Amazon.com
Got a stress case in your life? Of course you do: "Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things all at once." Carlson's cheerful book aims to make us stop and smell--if not roses--whatever is sitting in front of our noses. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... offers 100 meditations designed to make you appreciate being alive, keep your emotions (especially anger and dissatisfaction) in proper perspective, and cherish other people as the unique miracles they are. It's an owner's manual of the heart, and if you follow the directions, you will be a happier, more harmonious person. Like Stairmasters, oat bran, and other things that are good for you, the meditations take discipline. Even so, some of the strategies are kind of fun: "Imagine the people in your life as tiny infants and as 100-year-old adults." The trouble is, once you start, it's hard to stop.
Got a stress case in your life? Of course you do: "Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things all at once." Carlson's cheerful book aims to make us stop and smell--if not roses--whatever is sitting in front of our noses. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff... offers 100 meditations designed to make you appreciate being alive, keep your emotions (especially anger and dissatisfaction) in proper perspective, and cherish other people as the unique miracles they are. It's an owner's manual of the heart, and if you follow the directions, you will be a happier, more harmonious person. Like Stairmasters, oat bran, and other things that are good for you, the meditations take discipline. Even so, some of the strategies are kind of fun: "Imagine the people in your life as tiny infants and as 100-year-old adults." The trouble is, once you start, it's hard to stop.
Review Date: 7/28/2006
From Amazon.com
Book Description
Originally published in 1973, this uninhibited story of Isadora Wing was a national sensation: fueling fantasies, igniting debates, and even introducing a notorious new phrase to the English language. In The New York Times, Henry Miller compared it to his own classic Tropic of Cancer, predicting, "This book will make literary history, that because of it women are going to find their own voice and give us great sagas of sex, life, joy, and adventure." It went on to sell more than twelve million copies. Today, Fear of Flying is a classic--a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood
Book Description
Originally published in 1973, this uninhibited story of Isadora Wing was a national sensation: fueling fantasies, igniting debates, and even introducing a notorious new phrase to the English language. In The New York Times, Henry Miller compared it to his own classic Tropic of Cancer, predicting, "This book will make literary history, that because of it women are going to find their own voice and give us great sagas of sex, life, joy, and adventure." It went on to sell more than twelve million copies. Today, Fear of Flying is a classic--a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood
Review Date: 7/26/2006
Helpful Score: 2
Amazon.com
In the mid-1970s, an American graduate student in anthropology joined the ranks of white-powdered geisha in Kyoto, Japan. Liza Dalby took the name Ichigiku and apprenticed in the famed Pontocho district, trailing behind "older sisters" bemused by this long-legged Westerner intent on learning their arts and customs. In Geisha, this observant ethnographer paints an intoxicating picture of the "flower and willow world" to which she gained entry. "Why are you studying geisha?" asks one slightly belligerent older sister. "Geisha are no different from anybody else." Not quite, says Dalby dryly, pointing out that geisha and wives play utterly divergent, though complementary, roles in traditional Japanese society. "Geisha are supposed to be sexy where wives are sober, artistic where wives are humdrum, and witty where wives are serious." While hardly feminists, they reap freedoms unknown to other women. Dalby illustrates broader cultural differences, too, with a million tiny details about boisterous customers, how many hundred-weight of tabi (split-toed socks) geishas go through, what defines iki (chic), why maiko (young apprentices) are drawn to the life, and what geisha wear, from the skin out. Acknowledging that her growing personal stake in the masquerade prevented objectivity, Dalby frees the reader to enjoy a fluid and fascinating look at one aspect of Japanese culture. --Francesca Coltrera
In the mid-1970s, an American graduate student in anthropology joined the ranks of white-powdered geisha in Kyoto, Japan. Liza Dalby took the name Ichigiku and apprenticed in the famed Pontocho district, trailing behind "older sisters" bemused by this long-legged Westerner intent on learning their arts and customs. In Geisha, this observant ethnographer paints an intoxicating picture of the "flower and willow world" to which she gained entry. "Why are you studying geisha?" asks one slightly belligerent older sister. "Geisha are no different from anybody else." Not quite, says Dalby dryly, pointing out that geisha and wives play utterly divergent, though complementary, roles in traditional Japanese society. "Geisha are supposed to be sexy where wives are sober, artistic where wives are humdrum, and witty where wives are serious." While hardly feminists, they reap freedoms unknown to other women. Dalby illustrates broader cultural differences, too, with a million tiny details about boisterous customers, how many hundred-weight of tabi (split-toed socks) geishas go through, what defines iki (chic), why maiko (young apprentices) are drawn to the life, and what geisha wear, from the skin out. Acknowledging that her growing personal stake in the masquerade prevented objectivity, Dalby frees the reader to enjoy a fluid and fascinating look at one aspect of Japanese culture. --Francesca Coltrera
Review Date: 8/29/2006
Helpful Score: 1
A fun read...I couldn't help laughing out loud at some of the dialogue!!
Review Date: 7/28/2006
Amazon.com
Stephanie Jardine is at the apex of her career and life running the American branch of Jardine's, the prestigious Crown Jewellers of London. A young widow, she has three grown sons and one very precious teenage daughter, Chloe. Then one day, an unexpected act of violence committed by a stranger on the other side of the world plunges Stevie into turmoil and despair.
To save her injured daughter's life and ensure her future, Stevie must go back to her own past and confront a relationship that has only brought her heartbreak. As she battles for her daughter, Stevie comes to understand how fragile life is and how it can be forever changed by others when least expected.
A moving novel about family secrets, betrayal, and redemption, Power of a Woman is the story of an innocent victim of a stranger's vengeance, who manages to triumph through her own inner power as a woman.
Stephanie Jardine is at the apex of her career and life running the American branch of Jardine's, the prestigious Crown Jewellers of London. A young widow, she has three grown sons and one very precious teenage daughter, Chloe. Then one day, an unexpected act of violence committed by a stranger on the other side of the world plunges Stevie into turmoil and despair.
To save her injured daughter's life and ensure her future, Stevie must go back to her own past and confront a relationship that has only brought her heartbreak. As she battles for her daughter, Stevie comes to understand how fragile life is and how it can be forever changed by others when least expected.
A moving novel about family secrets, betrayal, and redemption, Power of a Woman is the story of an innocent victim of a stranger's vengeance, who manages to triumph through her own inner power as a woman.
Review Date: 7/28/2006
Amazon.com
The main appeal of Primary Colors, of course, lies in guessing who's who in the fictionalization of Bill Clinton's first bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and just how much of its juicy plot is true. Combining the narrative structure of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men with thinly disguised versions of headline news from the spring of 1992, Joe Klein created a portrait of American politics that has become virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.
The main appeal of Primary Colors, of course, lies in guessing who's who in the fictionalization of Bill Clinton's first bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and just how much of its juicy plot is true. Combining the narrative structure of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men with thinly disguised versions of headline news from the spring of 1992, Joe Klein created a portrait of American politics that has become virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.
Review Date: 7/28/2006
Amazon.com
Millions of dollars are at stake in a huge tobacco-company case in Biloxi, and the jury's packed with people who have dirty little secrets. A mysterious young man takes subtle control of the jury as the defense watches helplessly, but they soon realize that he in turn is controlled by an even more mysterious young woman. Lives careen off course as they bend everyone in the case to their will.
Millions of dollars are at stake in a huge tobacco-company case in Biloxi, and the jury's packed with people who have dirty little secrets. A mysterious young man takes subtle control of the jury as the defense watches helplessly, but they soon realize that he in turn is controlled by an even more mysterious young woman. Lives careen off course as they bend everyone in the case to their will.
Review Date: 7/26/2006
Amazon.com
The "Sex and the City" columnist for the New York Observer documents the social scene of modern-day Manhattan. The reader gets an introduction to "Modelizers," the men who only have eyes for models, as well as a more common species, the "Toxic Bachelor." Reading like a society novel gone downtown and askew, Sex and the City is a comically sordid look at status and ambition and the many characters consumed by the sexual politics of the '90s.
The "Sex and the City" columnist for the New York Observer documents the social scene of modern-day Manhattan. The reader gets an introduction to "Modelizers," the men who only have eyes for models, as well as a more common species, the "Toxic Bachelor." Reading like a society novel gone downtown and askew, Sex and the City is a comically sordid look at status and ambition and the many characters consumed by the sexual politics of the '90s.
Review Date: 7/26/2006
Amazon.com
At the age of 5, Malika Oufkir, eldest daughter of General Oufkir, was adopted by King Muhammad V of Morocco and sent to live in the palace as part of the royal court. There she led a life of unimaginable privilege and luxury alongside the king's own daughter. King Hassan II ascended the throne following Muhammad V's death, and in 1972 General Oufkir was found guilty of treason after staging a coup against the new regime, and was summarily executed. Immediately afterward, Malika, her mother, and her five siblings were arrested and imprisoned, despite having no prior knowledge of the coup attempt.
They were first held in an abandoned fort, where they ate moderately well and were allowed to keep some of their fine clothing and books. Conditions steadily deteriorated, and the family was eventually transferred to a remote desert prison, where they suffered a decade of solitary confinement, torture, starvation, and the complete absence of sunlight. Oufkir's horrifying descriptions of the conditions are mesmerizing, particularly when contrasted with her earlier life in the royal court, and many graphic images will long haunt readers. Finally, teetering on the edge of madness and aware that they had been left to die, Oufkir and her siblings managed to tunnel out using their bare hands and teaspoons, only to be caught days later. Her account of their final flight to freedom makes for breathtaking reading. Stolen Lives is a remarkable book of unfathomable deprivation and the power of the human will to survive.
At the age of 5, Malika Oufkir, eldest daughter of General Oufkir, was adopted by King Muhammad V of Morocco and sent to live in the palace as part of the royal court. There she led a life of unimaginable privilege and luxury alongside the king's own daughter. King Hassan II ascended the throne following Muhammad V's death, and in 1972 General Oufkir was found guilty of treason after staging a coup against the new regime, and was summarily executed. Immediately afterward, Malika, her mother, and her five siblings were arrested and imprisoned, despite having no prior knowledge of the coup attempt.
They were first held in an abandoned fort, where they ate moderately well and were allowed to keep some of their fine clothing and books. Conditions steadily deteriorated, and the family was eventually transferred to a remote desert prison, where they suffered a decade of solitary confinement, torture, starvation, and the complete absence of sunlight. Oufkir's horrifying descriptions of the conditions are mesmerizing, particularly when contrasted with her earlier life in the royal court, and many graphic images will long haunt readers. Finally, teetering on the edge of madness and aware that they had been left to die, Oufkir and her siblings managed to tunnel out using their bare hands and teaspoons, only to be caught days later. Her account of their final flight to freedom makes for breathtaking reading. Stolen Lives is a remarkable book of unfathomable deprivation and the power of the human will to survive.
Review Date: 7/28/2006
From Publishers Weekly
The eponymous heroine of Eva Luna returns as the narrator of 23 tales, sumptuous marriages of Chilean writer Allende's earthy characters and her celestial version of magical realism. Although other figures from that novel also reappear (for example, Eva Luna spins her stories at the request of her lover Rolf Carle), this collection is in no sense a sequel: indeed, each piece here can stand alone. Allende's people are warm-blooded, original, memorable. A simple lyricism evokes European emigres to South America; social climbers; outlaws; schoolteachers; Indians; a nearly indefatigable imagination explores the critical moments in these figures' lives. Many of the stories build on the intricate attachments of unlikely lovers, such as a dictator and the foreign woman he abducts or a criminal and a judge's wife. Allende's inventiveness justifies her own comparisons of her literary creation to Scheherazade, and throughout all these short works whispers the mysticism of Eva Luna herself--her well-placed faith in a world of spirits and in the immortality of human love.
The eponymous heroine of Eva Luna returns as the narrator of 23 tales, sumptuous marriages of Chilean writer Allende's earthy characters and her celestial version of magical realism. Although other figures from that novel also reappear (for example, Eva Luna spins her stories at the request of her lover Rolf Carle), this collection is in no sense a sequel: indeed, each piece here can stand alone. Allende's people are warm-blooded, original, memorable. A simple lyricism evokes European emigres to South America; social climbers; outlaws; schoolteachers; Indians; a nearly indefatigable imagination explores the critical moments in these figures' lives. Many of the stories build on the intricate attachments of unlikely lovers, such as a dictator and the foreign woman he abducts or a criminal and a judge's wife. Allende's inventiveness justifies her own comparisons of her literary creation to Scheherazade, and throughout all these short works whispers the mysticism of Eva Luna herself--her well-placed faith in a world of spirits and in the immortality of human love.
Review Date: 8/25/2006
From Booklist
Davidson's third Queen of the Vampires novel continues in the same vein as Undead and Unwed (2004) and Undead and Unemployed (2004). Betsy, still obsessed with shoes, discovers that Ant, her wicked stepmother, was possessed by the devil back in 1986 when she gave birth to Betsy's half-sister, Laura. This means that Laura, adopted by a minister, is actually the Spawn of Satan. And that's not all: the creepy Book of the Dead prophesies that the Spawn of Satan and the Queen of Vampires will rule the world. How is Betsy going to tell the warmhearted, churchgoing, innocent Laura that her birth mother was the devil, and that Laura may be on the path to world domination? Subplots involving a fiend named George, a baby shower, and a wedding keep the action perking along. Readers who love the sassy, foul-mouthed Queen of the Undead will enjoy this latest installment. Diana Tixier Herald
Davidson's third Queen of the Vampires novel continues in the same vein as Undead and Unwed (2004) and Undead and Unemployed (2004). Betsy, still obsessed with shoes, discovers that Ant, her wicked stepmother, was possessed by the devil back in 1986 when she gave birth to Betsy's half-sister, Laura. This means that Laura, adopted by a minister, is actually the Spawn of Satan. And that's not all: the creepy Book of the Dead prophesies that the Spawn of Satan and the Queen of Vampires will rule the world. How is Betsy going to tell the warmhearted, churchgoing, innocent Laura that her birth mother was the devil, and that Laura may be on the path to world domination? Subplots involving a fiend named George, a baby shower, and a wedding keep the action perking along. Readers who love the sassy, foul-mouthed Queen of the Undead will enjoy this latest installment. Diana Tixier Herald
Review Date: 10/8/2006
Great read - Jodi Picoult has a beautiful writing style and the story is engrossing. I couldn't put it down!!
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