Review Date: 5/25/2007

Will she say yes?

THE QUESTION IS LOVE

Cedric Williamson has been hoodwinked into a most unwise investment, to his dismay. Where to turn for advice? Perhaps his aunt's companion, Miss Jane Gabriel, might help -- the pretty scholar always has her nose in a book and she seems to know everything worth knowing. But she betrays a charming inexperience when it comes to matters of the heart -- a subject in which Cedric would have to declare himself the expert.

THE ANSWER IS FOREVER

Jane Gabriel finds Cedric's attentions a distracting nuisance. She cannot imagine why he pays her so many compliments, brings her flowers, and flirts with her shamelessly. A handsome rake of such renown cannot possibly be interested in her... or can he? That is the most intriguing question of all....

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Review Date: 2/14/2012

This was my first book in the series so it was difficult to catch on to what all was going on BUT I stuck with it and was glad. I listened to this set twice and the second time through I really caught on to the story. I will have to back up and find the 1st book now and do it properly.

The reader for this set was really good. EASY to listen to and he had a nice range of voices for the different characters.

I was totally caught up in the story.

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Review Date: 9/9/2006

AUSTIN POWERS WANTS YOU
...to join in the fight against uptight squares!

A public service announcement from Austin Powers:
"We need new swingers and International Men of Mystery. The price of swinging is constant vigilance, man. So, to all you swingers-in-the-making who want to be just like me, I say -- Behave!"

HOW TO BE AN INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
...is the ultimate how-to guide for groove-seeking missiles like yourself who wish to fight Evil (as in Dr. Evil), uphold Freedom (as in Free Love), and swing with the Birds (as in Chicks). Even if you don't know the difference between "jobblies" and "choppers" ... Don't have THROMBO! With Austin Power's sure-fire tips, any randy cat can switch on and shag like a pro, baby! What a gas!

Includes:

How to Pick Up Chicks
How to Sound Like a Swinger
How to Dress Like a Swinger
Austin Power's Secrets of Disguise
Hang-Ups and Turn-Ons
Groovy Cocktail Guide
"How Good a Shag Are You?" Self Quiz
A Memo from Dr. Evil
How to Play the Sitar
Birds of the World
Naughty Engravings

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Review Date: 6/5/2019

Almost a cliffhanger ending!

So some of the members of the Expedition 12 team have appeared back at their homes, or in the biologist's case - the empty lot she used to go to for solitude. The Psychologist who we learn was also the Director of the Southern Reach agency itself is not among the returned. In the absence of the Director, John "Control" Rodriguez, has been assigned to the agency as a "fixer." He's to find out what is going on at the Southern Reach and report back to a handler known as the "Voice" by a secret cellphone. The Assistant Director, Grace, and many of the other staff are understandably not welcoming. The Director seems to have been revered and many, Grace among them, are still waiting for her to return.

The members who have shown back up from Area X remember almost nothing about their time there. They do not know how they got out of Area X and back to their homes (or empty lots.) It's all very mysterious, confusing, and then there are creepy staff members and strange shrines to who-knows-what in closets, drawers, and hidden rooms.

Book 2 quietly sneaks up on you as you try to unravel the secrets of Area X, the Southern Reach, and even Central. I kept listening and holding my breath for the next shoe to drop and when it does... the action doesn't stop ... only the narration. For now.

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Review Date: 5/17/2012

Clever collection!

Cute pictures of kids and entire families with their pets - not just their dog or cat either. Many are actually taken in studios! Captions are entertaining and not snarky. There is a section where pets were captured inadvertently, in the background, doing what comes naturally - so this part may not be for the kiddies. This was just a nice little book to enjoy while relaxing (for me). I look forward to going to their website in the future to see photos that didn't make "the cut" or maybe just not "the cut-off."

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Review Date: 1/23/2019

Angela and Brian Cagle were happy. An unlikely match, they had worked hard to make their marriage work, and when Bobbie was born, their happiness just expanded.

As Bobbie grows, he begins to exhibit some unusual traits. As an infant and toddler, he doesn't develop speech as expected but babbles in an extraordinary way that the members of the Cagles' charismatic church family claim is âspeaking in tongues.â But the babbling doesn't fit the known patterns for it to be glossolalia. Too, the boy doesn't engage with others at all but has spells that come over him in which he repeatedly builds towers out of bits and pieces he finds at hand.

Against Brian's wishes, Angie takes the boy to the nearby university medical research hospital to try and determine why their son is the way his is. But when Homeland Security takes an inexplicable interest in Bobbie, too, Angela grabs the boy and flees leaving Brian and everyone she knows and loves behind.

Now, after a decade on the run, they are closing in and Bobbie's father is with them. As Bobbie approaches his sixteenth birthday, things are starting to come together, leading them to a mysterious location in the West Virginia mountains.

This story is definitely not over! The action was fast and tense and as much as Angie is in the dark about what is going on with her son, the reader is as well. Is the human race ready to evolve to a new level? Are aliens guiding our development? Is it God's plan? The story is well written, entertaining, and fresh. Recommended for a variety of readers because this is a thriller, a mystery, and an epic scifi tale!

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Review Date: 8/26/2006

In the looming shadows of Gotham City, two villainous souls devise twin schemes of revenge against the city's dark guardian. Two-Face, disfigured by chance and fueled by vengeance, is obsessed with destroying Batman, while the Riddler, a disillusioned genius, pursues the destruction of billionaire Bruce Wayne. Together they've hatched a plot to absorb and control the minds of all of Gotham City's residents, and only Batman and his new partner, Robin, can stop them! But the Dark Knight is hindered by a mystery from his own childhood. He must hope that a newfound love can help him overcome the incident that made him what he is. In the end, the must decide: will he be Batman - forever?

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Review Date: 1/25/2019

Supermodel Sloane McBride returns to her small Central Texas hometown of Millcreek to personally discover what really happened 23 years ago when her mother disappeared without a trace. At the time, the police investigation (or what passed for it) blithely accepted her father's story that Clara McBride had just walked away from the house and marriage in the dead of night probably to join the secret lover with whom she was having an affair. But Sloane, then five, had been home that night and awake, and had heard the final altercation between her parents.

As she'd grown, Sloane relived that night over and over in her mind, and based on those memories always secretly feared that her father had murdered and hidden her mother's body. As soon as high school graduation was over, Sloane had fled town without a word to anyone including Micah, the boy she'd been going with, and her best friend, Paige.

Sloane had gone to New York City and, luckily for her, was discovered by a kind and honest agent who launched her into a highly successful modeling career. Now at loose ends after her beloved mentor's death, Sloane is going back home for the first time in 10 years to ferret out the truth of the night her mother disappeared.

Sloane walked out without a word on the four most important people in her life: her father, her brother, her boyfriend, and her best friend, and must confront those relationships when she's back in town. Her father and brother believe she's back to ruin her father, now the town's mayor, with her suspicions. Complicating matters, Micah and Paige had gotten together after her abrupt departure, had a child, and had only recently divorced.

With Micah now a police officer in town, and her father and brother both trying to block her probing into the past, Before We Were Strangers is tense, exciting, and provides a satisfying number of twists and turns. Part mystery, part thriller, part second-chance romance, author Brenda Novak has created an engrossing novel of what happened and who done it. Readers should be entertained!

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Review Date: 1/25/2019

Supermodel Sloane McBride returns to her small Central Texas hometown of Millcreek to personally discover what really happened 23 years ago when her mother disappeared without a trace. At the time, the police investigation, or what passed for, blithely accepted her father's story that Clara McBride had just walked away from the house and marriage in the dead of night probably to join the secret lover with whom she was having an affair. But Sloane, then five, had been home that night and awake, and had heard the final altercation between her parents.

As she'd grown, Sloane relived that night over and over in her mind, and based on those memories always secretly feared that her father had murdered and hidden her mother's body. As soon as high school graduation was over, Sloane had fled town without a word to anyone including Micah, the boy she'd been going with, and her best friend, Paige.

Sloane had gone to New York City and, luckily for her, was discovered by a kind and honest agent who launched her into a highly successful modeling career. Now at loose ends after her beloved mentor's death, Sloane is going back home for the first time in 10 years to ferret out the truth of the night her mother disappeared.

Sloane walked out without a word on the four most important people in her life: her father, her brother, her boyfriend, and her best friend, and must confront those relationships when she's back in town. Her father and brother believe she's back to ruin her father, now the town's mayor, with her suspicions. Complicating matters, Micah and Paige had gotten together after her abrupt departure, had a child, and had only recently divorced.

With Micah now a police officer in town, and her father and brother both trying to block her probing into the past, Before We Were Strangers is tense, exciting, and provides a satisfying number of twists and turns. Part mystery, part thriller, part second-chance romance, author Brenda Novak has created an engrossing novel of what happened and who done it. Readers should be entertained!

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Review Date: 12/7/2009

The Best Book of Paradox 3.0 will bring you up to speed like nothing else can. The author's refreshing, readable journey through the Paradox relational database management system speaks to anyone who wants to put information to work. The book teaches you practical, productive Paradox skills by building a real application right before your eyes. As you discover the easy way to create simple Paradox applications, you'll be bolstered by helpful tips, warnings, reminders, and quick-reference tables. You'll also find:

All the features of Paradox 3.0, the most powerful Paradox yet

The basics -- modes, commands, menus, and the elements of a database

Simple methods for designing and bullding related tables

Queries, reports and graphs -- the exciting Paradox payoff

Scripts and PAL, Paradox programming tools for both nonprogrammers and programmers

Networking and performance tips, troubleshooting, and installation instructions

Detailed reference sections

If you own Paradox, you're halfway to maximum information management with minimal effort. Come the rest of the way -- put Paradox together with its Best Book.

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Review Date: 6/13/2012

I thought it a fanciful premise. Daphne is a centuries-old vampire. An unnamed U.S. governmental agency has coerced her and several others of her kind into being "secret agents" in a program called "Darkwing." (And gosh, I kept thinking of Darkwing Duck.) But the story is very well written. It was laugh-out-loud funny in a couple of places. I was vastly entertained. Stayed up waaaay too late one night just to finish it. This is book one in a series. Yes, it is improbable, but heck, the good guys are *vampires* - hello? I will be looking for the next one.

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Review Date: 7/15/2007

Politics make strange coffinfellows...

Vampire Seamus Fox is supposed to be the campaign manager for a Vampire Nation presidential candidate. Instead, he finds himself running around Vegas keeping tabs on the candidate's wife and female entourage.

Seamus has had his fill of women: a disastrous and deadly love affair has haunted him for over two centuries. Talk about baggage. But suddenly he finds himself obsessed with a mysterious stripper who dances behind a screen. The sultry yet shy Cara Kim whets his appetite for more, but leave it to Seamus to fall fangs over feet for that rarest of Vegas attractions-a good girl.

After a sudden run-in on the street, though, they may soon have a lot more in common...

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Review Date: 11/13/2006

"There is one way -- you must marry me."

Melanie could hardly believe she'd heard Jason Kerr correctly.

Her father's death had left Melanie and her grandmother without much money, but they had hoped to manage. Then Melanie learned of the outstanding loan from Jason Kerr.

Now, to regain his money, he proposed to sell the collateral Melanie's father had given him -- their beloved family home. Melanie knew the shock would kill her grandmother, but to agree to Jason's proposition seemed unthinkable. Was there another way?

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Review Date: 7/1/2006

A very good abridgment - seamless!

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Review Date: 8/24/2014

In this second installment in the Shinobi Mystery series, Matsui Hiro and Father Mateo return to try and find the killer of one of the shoguns chief samurai. Set inside the shoguns mansion and grounds, the story features murder, political intrigue, and romance within another mental trip to medieval Japan for the reader. This book is just as entertaining and interesting as the first in the series and once again, we get an authentic glimpse into the life and culture of 16th century Japan.

My only disappointment with this series is that the next isnt due out until 2015, of course.

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Review Date: 7/15/2007

Hooking up with a vampire has its risks-but getting pregnant usually isn't one of them. Tell that to Brittany Baldizzi, who finds herself in the family way with no father in sight. After their one night of passion, vampire Corbin Jean Michel disappeared off the face of the earth-or at least off the Vegas strip.

Corbin is a vampire with a cause, secretly trying to find a cure for his condition. But when he finds out Brittany is pregnant with his child, Corbin can't keep his paternal instincts from trumping his bloodsucking ones. Even when showing his hand could cost him the woman he can't help but love.

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Review Date: 3/21/2016

Annette Dolce feels betrayed by life and by the father of her two illegitimate children. She is the mother of twin girls, Ella and Emma who couldn't be more different from each other in personality. Emma takes after her mother; Ella, her father.

The girls' father, Dr. Todd Davis, Ph.D., is a professor at the local university. He has recently found success in his pharmacological research on a new drug for treating prostate cancer, and his love life when he falls in love with his student, and much younger woman, Dr. Faye Brady.

Annette and daughter, Emma, don't accept Todd's new liaison nor his subsequent marriage and make no secret of their displeasure. Ella is accepting but is the scapegoat for the unhappiness and frustration of her mother and sister. When the local lifestyle magazine publishes a big spread on the new super-couple, Dr. & Dr. Davis, and "their" daughters, Annette goes off the deep end and plans to get revenge for all her past perceived insults, injuries, and betrayals.

The Blow-Up Man by Nina Blakeman was a suspense-filled story of a madwoman scorned. Fast-paced with interesting characters in a rural West Texas location (which I loved!) The author's descriptions of the various settings were vivid and creepy, yet familiar. (Like the author, I, too, am a Texan.) The plot incorporates intense scenes of torture and child abuse.

Good, strong secondary characters in Faye's mother, Madeline; Annette's live-in boyfriend, Angel; an obnoxious and privileged med student, Matthew Nolan; and the new priest in town, Father Sweeney all add depth and help to advance the story. Cool medical terminology lent a feeling of authenticity and genuineness but some of the details of the research were a little much for me on occasion.

I highly recommend this tense and highly readable novel for those that like their suspense "gritty." I was pleased to see mentioned somewhere online that there is a sequel in the works. Yay!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review Date: 7/17/2008

This was my introduction to these GREAT characters, Alvirah and Willy! I've never read anything by Mary Higgins Clark and these 2 stories were so entertaining I'll have to seek out the novel that first brought these 2 to life. Made an uninteresting drive "fly" by.

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Review Date: 9/6/2018

When Maeve was six years old, her mother was taken away by the authorities for unspecified crimes against the state. Since that time she lived with her Uncle Lou, a horrible, abusive man that runs a sham of an apothecary. Maeve's job is to scavenge old bottles from the nooks and crannies and alleyways of the 'The Floor,'the poorest slum of the city of Falside where they live, and fill them with medicine to sell in the shop. In reality, the 'medicine' is the polluted water from the local river and a sprig of whatever plant material she has gathered. It is a grinding existence until Topley and her loving parents open the bakery next door.

Topley's family gives Maeve a vision of another life that she, too, can have once she turns 18 leaves Uncle Lou. But when Topley suddenly falls ill and her desperate mother resorts to some of Uncle Lou's medicine, Maeve's dream of a better life changes to one of revenge.

Maeve's world of Falside is grim and bleak where women are restricted and controlled and viewed as property. The birth of female children has, unaccountably, become a rare occurrence, and leaving Falside is viewed as treasonous and punishable by death. But there is a glimmer of revolution here and there such as in 'The Paper Duchess,' an old bookstore off the beaten path, where Denver, Kerise, and Tale try to discover what happened to Maeve's mother.

The Bottle Stopper is a dark and well-developed beginning to The Paper Duchess series. It is recommended for readers that enjoy dystopian tales and those with similarities to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

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Review Date: 7/29/2013

Furthering the previous action from Part 1, the characters are filling out and new ones are being introduced. So far I'm really delighted with the characters and the settings both domestic and exotic. Can't wait to get to Part III.

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