Review Date: 1/16/2014

An excellent account of the rescuing of Americans in Iran. The movie was great but, this book gives a little more detail and the movie changed some of the details just a little bit. I loved how you got a little bit of insight into how the CIA works

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Review Date: 6/27/2013

A look at eight presidents who took office in times of unprecedented crises. Mark Updegrove does a great job explaining the challenges faces these eight presidents. George Washington led a fragile nation while defining the role of the presidency. Thomas Jefferson faced a two party schism that divided the nation. John Tyler faced the constitutional crisis caused by the first death of a sitting president. Abraham Lincoln inherited a bitterly divied country on the brink of war. FDR had to deal with the fear of a nation during the Great Depression. Truman became president at the end of WWII. John F.Kennedy became president as the cold war heated up. Gerald Ford in the wake of the Watergate scandal became the first unelected president. All eight presidents had something in common. They all showed strength of character when leading the country through crisis.

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Review Date: 11/13/2013

this is a novella that continues Chloe's and Bennett's story. It takes place a year after the events in Beautiful Bastard with flashbacks to events that happened between Chloe's presentation and the present day.

Chloe and Bennett have been too busy with work to spend a lot time alone together so Bennett convinces Chloe to join him in France for a much needed vacation. Chloe and Bennett are so perfect for each other and I am so glad that they got their happy ending!!

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Review Date: 11/5/2013

Many great recipes. A lot of pumpkin recipes, perfect for the holidays

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Review Date: 6/27/2013

This is the 11th book in Deirdre Martin's New York Blades Series. This series combines three of my favorite things: Romance,Hockey,and Ireland. In Breakaway Deirdre Martin combines characters from her Blades series and her Wild Hart Series. Breakaway takes place in Ireland where New York Blades player Rory Brady comes home to win back the girl he left behind. Another great entry in the Blades series. I will highly recommend anyone to read this series and the wild Hart series. You do not have to read them order but I recommend that you do.

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Review Date: 9/4/2019

Great stories come in small packages. This one was a quick read. It took me a few hours to read. Just when you think this is just a normal new neighbor romance, there is a major twist at the end that changes the whole thing.

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Review Date: 5/30/2014

Another great Nora Roberts novel. Great romance with enough danger and suspense to keep things interesting. I kinda want Lila's life except being a target of a psychopathic killer.

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Review Date: 7/3/2013

This is the story of Katherine of Aragon. A young women raised to be Queen who went to great lengths to fulfill a deathbed promise. In order to keep her promise she must tell a crucial lie that changed the course of history. This is another great book by Philippa Gregory. I now want read more about Katherine's life. There is more to her story than just being the old, devout, dull queen that Henry VIII divorces for the young ambitious Anne Boleyn.

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Review Date: 2/6/2018

For half my life I have been getting the news from the Daily Show. I started watching the Daily Show in highschool, early 2000s. This show had a lot of influence on my political awakening. So I was really looking forward to reading this book. It did not disappoint. It takes you through 16 years of Daily Show history from Jon Stewart taking over for Craig Kilborn to Trevor Noah taking over for John Stewart. It even talked about some negative office politics stuff too!! Overall, a very good insight in how a little comedy show on basic cable became such a huge cultural and political icon.

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Review Date: 1/16/2014

This is my first book by J.R Ward. She has gained a new fan. I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series. J.R Ward as written a story with a perfect blend of romance and ass-kicking.

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Review Date: 1/16/2014

Not the best Nora Roberts has written. I am hoping the next books in the trilogy are a little bit better especially Branna and Fin's story. I found the supporting cast especially Branna and Fin far more interesting than the main characters Iona and Boyle. Iona and Boyle's story was just not that interesting.

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Review Date: 1/16/2014

Helpful Score: 1

A very thought provoking mystery involving nine experienced Russian hikers who never made it back alive. The mysterious way that these hikers died has led to decades of speculation and spawned several conspiracy theories. Donnie Eicher gains unprecedented access to the hikers journals, personal photographs and the official government files. He uses these sources to piece together what really happened on that mountain almost 60 years ago. The author does a good job of explaining all the theories and giving reasons why they are not plausible. The theory he comes up with makes a whole lot of sense and he does a great job in making his highly technical theory understandable to the average person.

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Review Date: 10/24/2013

Helpful Score: 2

I absolutely loved this book. I knew Chicago hosted the 1893 world's fair but I had no idea how much of an impact it had on the future of America good (architecture, Shredded wheat, Ferris wheels,Alternating Current electricity) and the bad(electric chairs, snake charmer song.) I am very disappointed that the Ferris Wheel was eventually destroyed for scrap.

I always like discovering little tidbits of information through reading for instance I learned that Cracker Jacks,Shredded Wheat, Juicy Fruit Gum, and the Ferris Wheel were first introduced at the Chicago's World's Fair in 1893. I also learned Chicago was not nick named the Windy City because of the wind. I love reading about Chicago history. It was and still is one of the most interesting American cities.

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Review Date: 10/29/2013

Helpful Score: 2

I loved reading this book. A lot of has been written about Elizabeth as Queen, but not much has been written about the years leading up to her accession to the throne. This book focuses on the first 25 years of her life from birth to her accession. I gained a lot of new insights into her life, her relationship with her father and her siblings, and her religion. She was a such a remarkable women and this book really shows you why.

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Review Date: 9/10/2015

Well known fairytales with erotic twists and little bit of female empowerment. Some of the stories are better than others but overall a quick entertaining read.

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Review Date: 3/30/2016

It started out slow, but that may be because I read book 2 a long time ago so I did not quite remember what happened. Four stars might be a little generous because for some reason Eva and Gideon's obsessive co-dependency was getting on my nerves. I do not remember thier neediness and insecurity annoying me so much in the first two books. Despite this, the story is still pretty good and I look forward to reading the next book.

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Review Date: 11/20/2018

Woodward takes a journalistic approach with little editorializing to reveal details of life inside the Whitehouse. If you are Trump supporter or hater, this book won't change your mind. It does not necessarily paint President Trump in a bad light 100% of the time. Really the worst thing said about him is he is liar and does not know how the the government or economics works. Which to be fair is pretty bad if your the president of United States. My biggest take away from this book is the fact that the Whitehouse is one big dysfunctional family. Although, I pretty much knew this already before reading the book.

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Review Date: 9/1/2015

I did not like it as much as fifty shades of Grey. It was almost like a rereading Fifty shades and I am not a big fan of rereading. Though I did like reading Christian's view on things.

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Review Date: 6/27/2013

Helpful Score: 1

I liked this book. It is well researched and the information is very interesting. However, the book reads like a doctoral thesis and can be dry and technical. It does a very good job in answering the difficult question why Eurasian societies developed earlier/faster than other societies and were able to conquer other socities like the Americas. The easy answer is the immediate causes found in the title, guns, germs, and steel. However, this book tries to answer the question with the ultimate causes. Long answer short the differences between the continents in several environmental factors that led to Eurasian societies developing farming earlier than other societies or some societies not developing farming at all.

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Review Date: 4/11/2019

An anthology of quotes about history submitted by over 100 historians from around the world. The quotes come with short commentaries explaining why they chose the quote. A little dry at times but mostly a very interesting book. It includes some pretty good and profound quotes about history.

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