Digital Books

I found this book to be really helpful when I started using FCP. Everything was written in a manner that was easy to understand, it also contains everything you can do with the program. The instructions include editing, tools usage, transitions, capturing, etc...The book is thorough and the author isn't boring, which is great since there's a lot to remember!

This book is well organized and easy for folks new to FCP. It has the basics and some advanced features. I had to learn FCP quickly as I was responsible for making my son's varsity basketball highlights video. The book covered file organization, how to insert video and stills into the timeline, add audio, make special scenes of B&W to color, slow motion, transitions, credits, and export the movie. The video was a hit. It was very gratifying to see the kids and parents reaction.

Clear, precise and comprehensive. I found the exercises and tutorials well-conceived and appropriately entertaining. This text and DVD companion (tutorials) made learning a software, especially one as technically complex as FCP, a wonderful experience.

I was editing with FCP in under a week with the help of this book!

I used to think the Apple training books were the best, but the HOT (Hands On Training) books, especially those authored by Larry Jordan, are even better. Mr. Jordan explains everything with such ease that it put other authors to shame. And the graphic design and layout of the book, coupled with the use of color in just the right places and a very legible typeface, makes reading these books a joy. Yeah, that's right...a joy to read a 'how-to' book. Who would have thought?

I'd give this 6 stars if I could, just to send a signal to other 'how-to' authors and publishers that this is HOW IT'S DONE.

Summary: A fine companion for the beginner or intermediate Final Cut Pro 5 user.

The Book:
Final Cut Pro (FCP) is a complex swiss army knife of an edit program and can be very intimidating to a beginner. There seems to be way too many layers, windows and other sharp objects on which to cut yourself. But once you appreciate its potential, you will put imovie in your old cigar box of treasures and only bring it out to share with the grandkids.

This book guides you through the maze with agility and style. The author, Larry Jordan, is an Apple Certified Trainer who specializes in FCP and DVD Studio Pro. He is a veteran producer, director, and editor of corporate and network programs. He prides himself as a teacher and it shows in the more than 70 step-by-step Final Cut tutorials and fourteen quicktime movies. He has refined his teaching in his workshops and takes pride in presenting the information in a friendly, organized manner. Larry seems to be one of those tireless types. I'll leave it at that.

The book is part of a H.O.T. (Hands On Training) series presented by publisher lynda.com/books. The founder, Lynda Weinman, a web graphics and design veteran, wrote the very first industry book on web design, Designing Web Graphics, way back in 1995.

"The best tip in the book is that FCP gives you lots of different ways to accomplish the same task... just learn the ones that make you productive so you can forget about how the tool works and concentrate on telling your stories."
Larry Jordan

The book's chapters walk you through the entire process, from organizing and editing to outputting your project. The title page of each chapter shows a table of exercises and a summary of what you'll learn. You follow along with each exercise with the FCP project files and media located on the companion DVD-ROM. Each chapter closes with a list of helpful keyboard shortcuts and a summary of what was covered.

Throughout the book are shaded boxes and pointers identifying features that are new to FCP 5, power tips, warnings, etc. The graphic design, layout, paper texture, etc., are all very pleasing and evoke the attention to detail found in every aspect of the book.

Also on the companion DVD are the fourteen movies of Larry talking us through various aspects FCP, including capturing media, filters and multi-clip editing. Each one is about fifteen minutes and all are helpful in grasping some of the more complex features of FCP. One of the movies I especially liked was Larry's demonstration of slip/slide and ripple/roll edit features. His description helps differentiate the tools and describes when to use each.

Even though there are brief exercises on bringing files into Soundtrack Pro and LiveType, the 478 page book deals only with FCP not the other applications found in Final Cut Suite.

This book is for beginner and intermediate users of FCP. It provides a solid foundation and fills in a lot of holes if you're self-taught. It is written as if you are attending one of Larry's classes, very conversational and punctuated with his opinions and personal preferences. If you like his style, you'll like the book.

I highly recommend Final Cut Pro 5 Hands-On Training to anyone wanting to learn Final Cut Pro.

PRO: Best book I've seen for beginning FCP training. A treasure.

CON: Who has time to go through it all, plus the movies. Just have to pace yourself.
NOTE: This is written my Jim Jewell and I'm posting it

Amazing! This is one of those things that I downloaded with every intent on reading it later when I had time. But once I took a peek, I couldn't stop, everything else went on the back burner. This was the best 'me' time, I had in quite a while. Sultry Saadia draws you in with the first poem, leaving you breathless to the end....

Saadia's writing always leaves me wanting to read more...and more...
Her poems are powerful, confident, honest, funny and sexy. Never dull and always lively. The juxtapositions in her work never cease to amaze.
These are the kind of poems I wish I had written. That I want to send to my friends, because it's what I'm thinking. I love 'Mischief: Inspired by Tequila' ... ("My discarded/ red dress/watches us rejected and/dry"). And 'Kerouac's Lover' is just plain hot.

Her poetry has a way of making you root for sin. Always.

I'm not going to try to wax poetic here. I just want to say that Saadia's poetry is top notch! She can write about anything imaginable, and that is the mark of a true artist. Like the title says, her poems have the ability to hit you like a bullet, and other times like a nice soft pillow. The variety is amazing. Reading her poems is a joy and at the same time educational. Those of us on Xanga refer to her as our "poetry professor." I have learned more about poems, poetry, forms, and creativity in the last few months, than I have learned in my lifetime. I am grateful to have found the writing of this talented poet, and I am also grateful that I can call her a friend. -Randy Van Otterloo

She's a lover, and a lady, a mother, and a wife, a sinner, and a saint sharing pieces of life. She, and her words, so beautifully irresistible, that she will lure you in with her "Lavish Lines and Luscious Lies". You will go happily to your demise. What better way to go. Give in to her sultry temptation, and you will be rewarded with "Flirtations and Booze"

Saadia's writing, is a weekend in the finest hotel with the lover of your dreams, and memories that will last a lifetime..... She takes you for a ride in a BMW Z8 through the canyon roads of southern California at 100 miles an hour... Hang on tight! The ride is an intense one, but she has everything under control. ..... and now, I can't wait for the next ride :o)

Brent

This may be a "short," but it's long on brilliance. Aschemann's keen intelligence and stiletto wit carries the reader along breathlessly into worlds wished for but never quite achieved. Perhaps she's holding us up to the prism of her reality, forcing us to look inside ourselves, holding us responsible for our forbidden thoughts. Whatever it is, she certainly knows her way around words and makes them work hard for the money.

Required reading.

This is a very nice reference work for image processing professionals. It is a collection of articles by various experts in aspects of image processing, reporting on the state-of-the-art in their particular domains. The coverage is broad and deep. However, it is not for everyone. The writing style is that of a refereed journal. If you are not comfortable with that style of exposition, or if you are simply trying to find a snippet of code to implement a particular algorithm, this is not the book for you. At the other extreme, do not expect to find new and startling insights into the field that you did your dissertation on. However, if you want to understand the current state of the art of a colleague's field, or if you need to expand your expertise into a new area of image processing, this is a very good place to start.

This is an encyclopedia of image processing topics. It contains some introductory material to help people understand what images are and how to process them. The majority of the text, however, is for experienced people wanting to look up topics.

This book is big. It is about 8"x11" by 900 pages. It contains material from 100 different professionals on 50 different topics.

The style is academic. The editor is the editor of the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. The page style is similar to what you would see in an IEEE Transaction.

There is plenty of math. The text explains the mathematics, but not to the depth I would like to see.

The authors illustrate the techniques with many images. If there are no "before and after" images in an image processing book, reject it. Well, this book has plenty of images. That is a strong point.

A week point is there is no source code illustrating the techniques and algorithms. I find this a major weakness, but one that is not unique to this book.

The authors leave much to the reader. This is not a read from cover to cover book. The reader must go slow, take notes, study, and read again to understand the material.

All in all, this is a good source of knowledge on image processing. If you work with images and write software to process images, you should have this book on your desk.

This is the book to have on the subject! It covers almost any aspect that you can think of in image/video processing. This is a MATH intensive book and it will not tell you how to directly implement any of its concepts in code. The author assumes that the reader will be able to do this on there own. Topics are very well explained, but sometimes I needed to reread a topic 3 or 4 times and go over the math a couple times to fully understand. Great book to have as an encyclopedia like resource on the shelf.

There is a 2nd edition of this book that was published in July 2005, so all reviews earlier than that are referring to the first edition. Regardless, the second edition of this book is just as good as the first. There are many texts that do a good job of covering image processing, but few do such a good job of covering all of the aspects of video processing - motion detection and estimation, video enhancement and restoration, and video segmentation. There is an entire section on video compression which discusses the H.261 standard, wavelets and video compression, object-based video coding, and the various MPEG standards. There are also articles on video indexing and retrieval and a unified framework for video browsing and retrieval.
In the area of image processing, there is much good information here, but the basics are better explained in "Digital Image Processing" by Gonzales and Woods. Once you master that book, this makes a good secondary reference on image processing. Although this book does go over some image processing basics, it is better at explaining more advanced concepts such as multiframe image restoration, wavelet denoising, 3D shape reconstruction from multiple views, and statistical methods for image segmentation. There are many bad books out there that are collections of articles, but don't let that scare you off. This really is a collection of very good articles published together in a coherent fashion.
There are plenty of equations, example images, and instructive figures in the articles to help explain each concept. Highly recommended.

This book is just GREAT.
It covers almost every single ascpect of image and video processing. Everything is in deep and very good explained. A lot of before-and-after example pictures (important ones in color) are provided too. But beware. You need a fairly good understanding of math to read the book. It is not intended to explain how to use Photoshop, but rather how to write your own ;-)
This book is not a read-along book. Sometimes you have to read a section 2 or 3 times to understand it.
I think sometimes a good Snippet of C-Code would help to understand, but this is acceptable.
Again: A outstanding book, which fully covers all my needs.
The price of 100 us$ is ok, because it's a lot of a book...

If you agree to Albert Murray's definition of the blues as the music used by African Americans to drive away the blues (who come down like "great big showers of rain") - than this is blues at its best.
Performed in 1965, the year Malcolm X was murdered, when the realities of American life were a little bit too much for everyone, let alone a sensitive soul such as Coltrane's - the music is certainly an attempt to pierce in reality, to reach for a better world.
Coltrane's tenor sound is as strong as ever, and his playing is inspired and driven. Later he would take this direction and further explore it with Rashid Ali, Pharoah Sanders, and his wife Alice. There is a tension here created by the fact that Coltrane was going in a direction that was not totally shared by Tyner and Elvin Jones. It did limit Coltrane if you compare it with his later works - but why compare ?
All track are inspired - and Coltrane makes sure every sound he plays is meaningful. Tyner, Garrison and Jones follow his lead - and whatever differences they in dierction - only make for great music.
This is spiritual music by an exploring musician, a spiritual leader, who plays at the top of his form, concerned only with his own creative process (in the group context).
If you want to enrich the spiritual journey you are taking - try it - as it certainly enriched mine.

Coltrane was in transition when he recorded this version of Meditations. The album was only released in the 1970s. Although Trane's style is beyond A Love Supreme, it has not yet crossed the boundary to his full later style. Listen to the way his soloing on "Love" slowly ascends to an improvisation of pure sound, screaming atonally. These steps to a fully free style are only tentative, however.

THis is also the last album recorded by the classic quartet that had faithfully served Trane (in one form or another) since about 1960. There is definitely strain between Trane and his less enthusiastic pianist, Tyner. Tyner seems determined to hold back Coltrane's music and somehow make it fit into classic music theory. When Coltrane begins screeching, Tyner frantically plays louder and more severely, trying to catch the leader's stratospheric ambition in the gravity of classic harmony.

Nevertheless, the music is incredibly beautiful. The tune "Compassion" may be my favourite, with a music theme that might represent the heartbeat of God. "Joy" is very fierce and uplifting; "Love" is strangely angst-ridden.

I think first meditations is an underrated and overlooked album. Many people think it is not good because it wasn't released until 12 years after it was recorded.(Recorded in 1965 released in 1977)It was technically the last album made in the studio by the classic quartet.If you think it's a rip off of Meditations it's not they have some of the same songs but this is not in free form like Meditations.

Greg Cornelius says here in his review of this record "all heaven breaks loose"! I wish I had written that! What a perfect description of this record! Bravo to you Greg Cornelius! Impulse should really make this and Meditations a two c.d. set, so you can compare and contrast them, I love them both so don't ask me which is better, but I do lean towards the later version just because I am a Pharoah Sanders Junkie. But both versions are essential. Great great beautiful record, one that everyone needs to hear. But that cover art just doesn't suit the mood at all, come on now, think Gaudi's Sagrada Familia at Twilight instead. Yet another flawless piece of music from the master.

When I listen to this album, it doesn't seem to sit right. The performances are excellent and the compositions are great. It seems to be missing something. This version seems to be more for Tyner and Jones while the later (originally released) version is more Trane's conception of this music. I am assuming that is why he shelved this version and rerecorded the music. This version lacks the total abandonment of Trane's best and most spiritual works such as A Love Supreme and the quintet version of Meditations.

That said, I do listen to this one often to contrast the quintet version. This is still an essential purchase for true fans.

R.H. Benson wrote two mystical visions of the future. _The Dawn of All_ is an extremely romantic and improbable 1911 parable of a 1971 world mostly Catholic and at peace, ready for the Second Coming. _The Lord of the World_ came first, in 1907, and was a darker vision. A world of flying craft, major scientific advances, and comfort has become a place of materialist despair. Euthanasia is routine, for the desperately ill and the terminally bored. Oliver and Mabel Brand, a rising young couple, are the golden ones -- Oliver becomes a major political figure, but Mabel chooses the cool despairing end of legal euthanasia. Father Percy Franklin is one of the last Catholic priests in a world hostile to freedom, church, university, and history. Eventually elected the last Pope, he is restricted to the dusty forgotten village of Nazareth. Julian Felsenburgh is a charismatic American adventurer who means to and does become Lord of the World, anti-Christ. Details are less important than the very modern mood. Believing in progress as the only good, people are swept into any movement that promises it. The past is ruthlessly exterminated. The quest for one world government that begins with Esperanto ends with one world dictatorship.

This book is amazing. It has helped me realize what this world would be like without the catholic church, the inherent dangers of secularism, and the path to rectify the evil of modernism. By doing this, it has helped bring me back to the catholic church. This author is on par with Aldous Huxley and George Orwell in both his ability to visualize alternate worlds with precise understanding and his ability to write in a eloquent yet succinct manner. It is a short book and I highly recommend it.

Robert Hugh Benson grew up at the end of the nineteenth century, when it looked like Socialism would sweep over the world and make religious worship outmoded. His father was Archbishop of Canterbury; and he joined the Church of England but later converted to Catholicism. In his introduction to this book he wrote that he took the idea of Man (not the Son of Man) becoming the ideal and 'took it where it would go'.

Knowing that this book was written in 1904, before the Great War and the dissolution of the European Empires, and the nascent beginning of flight, it is interesting to read his views of what the world would look like in 100 years (or about now). He saw the end of poverty and hunger, and the raising of HUMANITY to the paramount position. His views on woman are arcane, as one of his characters dismissed his wife as 'just a woman', and that they make no strides of independence. He talks about inter-city flight at the amazing speed of 150mph, one year after Kitty Hawk.

The stories bottom line is that once Man begins to worship himself (in the guise of Julian Felsenburg), he not only has no need for idealized religion, but that the persecution of anyone who disagrees will become an act of Sedition and punishable by death. Religion is represented in this story by Roman Catholicism (all others having given in and disbanded, except for a few 'elderly jews wandering in Palestine) which fights a peaceable rear guard action against the forces of HUMANITY.

The language is a little difficult and flowery, while the ideas are interesting but sometimes the catholicism is hard to comprehend, but all in all it's worth reading.

Robert Hugh Benson (born November 18, 1871; died October 19, 1914) was the youngest son of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and younger brother of Edward Frederic Benson. Benson studied Classics and Theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1890 to 1893. In 1895, he was ordained a priest in the Church of England by his father.

His father died suddenly in 1896, and Benson was sent on a trip to the Middle East to recover his own health. While there, he began to question the status of the Church of England and to consider the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. His own piety began to tend toward the High Church variety, and he started exploring religious life in various Anglican communities, eventually obtaining permission to join the Community of the Resurrection.

Benson made his profession as a member of the community in 1901, at which time he had no thoughts of leaving the Church of England. But as he continued his studies and began writing, he became more and more uneasy with his own doctrinal position, and on September 11, 1903, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church.

He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1904 and sent to Cambridge. He continued his writing career along with the usual elements of priestly ministry. He was named a monsignor in 1911.

Lord of the World is one of his more exemplary works and well worth reading.

"A Century before Left Behind there was Lord of the World," reads the cover blurb in the striking Wildside Press edition. But while both books deal with end times, that's where the similarities end. In Benson's vision, Catholics are the last remaining Christians. The Left Behind books, named for a line in Larry Norman's song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready," on the other hand, follow the idea of the rapture popularized in Hal Lindsey's bestselling book, The Late Great Planet Earth.

I ordered this book from Amazon after reading Gwen Watkins' essay in Charles Williams: A Celebration (also available from Amazon) comparing Benson and Williams as writers. Williams being my favorite author, I was very excited to come upon a similarly gifted novelist. Benson wrote Lord of the World in 1907; it takes place in a future about a century later (around now). That's also around the time that Chesterton wrote his novels. Both he and Benson write so colorfully that it's sometimes hard to know what's going on. Whether people were more imaginative then or that was the style at the turn of the century I don't know. But having read GKC helps one read Benson, and vice versa.

Williams is often held to be obscure for his descriptions of supernatural and occultic ritual. Benson's obscurity lies in his pre-Vatican II Catholic vocabulary and bits of the Latin Mass, which will not be familiar to many readers. That aside, this is an absolutely gripping story. Having once started, I couldn't put the book down. Uncannily, in this 1907 novel, Benson prophesied a dark future that became reality, first in Germany and then in the USSR. Writing in the then new genre of science fiction, he envisioned a technologically advanced world nevertheless rushing headlong to destruction. It's amazing how contemporary he sounds as he looks forward in time to our present and his future.

After fumbling through my iMac's "Help" system, with little success (because I didn't know enough to ask the right questions), this interactive book, with a DVD, about the Macintosh iHub applications (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD) was a "bolt out of the blue"!

It is the best organized, and easily understood tutorial that I have ever experienced in my long computer life
(I had my Boy Scout Troop attendance on punch cards in 1937).

In a short period of time this book had me downloading my "old" VHS movies, creating titles with special fade effects, importing background music, and producing DVDs of my family's "visual history" for my kids and grandkids to play on their TV's. Thank you Mr. Heid!

I hope Mr. Heid follows this up with an "update" that covers the new iLife release.

Buy this book and an iMac and you'll never look back! Great read, and an awesome DVD. If your into digital photography, music or making home movies this book shows you how the digital hub applications are so simple a child could use them, but they also are so powerful as a professional I would swear by them.

Note that as of April 2003, this book has been superceded by the author's newer "The Macintosh iLife, an Interactive Guide to iTunes, iPhoto, iMove and iDVD" which covers newer versions of these applications. I wish I had known that when I ordered this book...

Still, I enjoyed the Macintosh Digital Hub a lot. It is a great overview of the iApplications, explaining their purpose and how to do common tasks in an interesting and easy to follow way. It also points out tips and shortcuts you may not be aware of if you haven't read the documentation (and who really does?)

The book itself is beautifylly laid out (coffee table style) with lots of ilustrations and pictures and the DVD complements it nicely. I'd recomend watching the DVD and then reading the more detailed chapters. This type of book would make a great gift to someone who just got a Mac.

I've had my iMac for about a year now and thought I had become a reasonably successful user of the iLife software (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD). Since purchasing this book, I now realize I have only scratched the surface of possibilities for my iMac as the 'digital hub' of my home. This book/DVD combo provides for the most effective method of learning I've come across in a how-to book; I read about the steps necessary to complete an action- for example, within iMovie, then watch it on the DVD, then try it myself, stopping to pause and review the DVD if I find myself a little confused or unsure of the next step. The book and DVD complement each other perfectly. I am extremely pleased with this book. It has demonstrated the elegance and intuitive simplicity for which I bought an Apple computer. Kudos to the author and editorial team.

My office is littered with "how to" books about computers and software and none can compare to this approach. It's like having someone in the room while you make your way through the learning process. I've always believed you can't just learn how to use these programs and put them away until later. You have to use them every day, and then you will know what you are doing; this approach breaks the ice. This is like the "Teach Yourself Visually" series, only better because the DVD supplements what is in the book. They have others on Word and Photoshop and I will be buying them soon. The only bad thing I can say is buy you copy from Amazon.com for [money], I paid [money] at [name].

Excellent book with a very easy exposition of photogrammetry an the newest applications it offers. Very good to understand what's behind camera tracking software in the postproduction market.

The book covers the general theory behind of matchmoving and photogrametry pretty clearly. There's step by step tutorials that guide you thru the matchmove process such as manual and auto tracking. I was a beginer and learned quiet a lot. I only wished he covered more on the interface of matchmover. Still a great book though.

If you want to know about "black" art of matchmoving this would be the author and this would the book.

Recently, I started doing matchmove work again, after a two year break. Before starting the new job, I wanted to brush up by reading this book. This is an excellent reference and I wish I had it when I started matchmoving four years ago. For the novice I can not recommend this book enough. For a manual, this book is easy to read and breaks down all aspects of matchmoving in just 250 pages. I did not go over the tutorials on the CD, I am just reviewing the written portion of the book.

Since this is only the Matchmoving book out there, there not much to say. The book has some really nice tutorials, is clearly written, and once you finish the book you should be able to go out and shoot your own footage for CG animation/fx.

I'm anxious to find out more about this nutty mother and her offspring. Part mystery, part farce, mixed with a dash of family issues that most people can relate to. Sibling rivalry at it's most hilarious. Good job Ms. Kaye. You've left me hungry for more.

The story and characters are very engaging and draw you in immediately. A Mother's Day party and Mom has gone missing. Through Sandy we learn that Mom's unusual, quirky lifestyle seems to have had a distinctly different impact on each of her children. There's a humorous, irrerevant tone to the writing and everyone is bound to see a little bit of their own dysfunctional family in these characters and their relationships. I want to learn more about all of them and especially want to know what happened to Mom -- I hope I get the chance to read the entire book!

I printed out copies of Kaye's pages to give to family and friends--because I know they'll love them and because I know someday they'll forgive me for not giving them the entire book. The story sank its teeth into me instantly: the voice is wry and winning; the characters, vivid yet familiar (oh, isn't that just like my family, like any family). Three adult siblings gather to celebrate Mother's Day, but Mom fails to show up--because she's neglectful, self-absorbed, in serious trouble? Right away, you sense Mom might be all of these (and more), and you understand she has wrought amusing but not quite forgivable havoc in her children's lives. Kaye accomplishes that in just fifteen pages. Read this!

This is one wacko family and from the very beginning the reader is thrown into the middle of it, longing for a little peace just to be able to sort out all the relationships and get a handle on whose neurosis is whose. It feels as though Sandy, through whose eyes we get to know these people, is longing for the same thing... just a bit of normalcy, please. It reminded me of the beginning of an HBO show like Six Feet Under, and I know that I would be a faithful follower because I need now to know who all these people are and what happen to them. I'm hooked!

After a bit of a cacophonous beginning, I got in sync with the rhythm of this intriguing story. The characters are quirky, and as new information is revealed about each of them, they grow in depth and become more interesting. Although there is tension between the siblings, there also is humor - a great combination. I guess the most telling reaction I had to this excerpt is that I was really sorry when it ended mid-sentence. I hope I'll get a chance to get to know Sandra, Carol, Larry, Jae, and the rest of the kids...and, of course, to find out what happened to Mom.

This is wonderful writing, full of vivid images and delicate, half-felt resonances, conjuring imagined memories, calling to mind treasured recollections of favorite spooky books from the dim past. I can't wait to settle into a sleeping compartment on the Orient Express and read the whole thing! Don't miss the Prologue the author has provided.

The book: "Music of the Mists" written by Leona Francombe pulls the reader in from the very beginning. The prologue sets the tone, one of foreboding and fright. The protagonist, a musician, lives in Cornwall and the house, its surroundings and the eerie wind blowing around the house make for a feeling of suspense, carefully crafted in beautiful prose by this author. The reader experiences a sense of urgency heightened by a letter the protagonist receives from her uncle in Brussels. The Prologue and the first two chapters entice the reader to wish for more.

Read the prologue first (see author's comments), then get pulled right into this intriguing mystery. Evocative descriptions of places and characters--I can't wait to read the rest of the novel!

Music of the Mists by Leona Francombe promises to be a must-read for all ages. The Prologue and first two chapters of this book are well-written, gripping and obviously thoroughly researched. It leaves the reader hoping for publication of the remainder in a timely fashion!

I was immediately swept into the atomosphere and mystery of the book. The prologue and two first chapters set up an intriguing and interesting scenario. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book!

I truly enjoyed this series. There is so much depth and emotion in all three books. My Shadow Warrior concludes the story of the three sisters; Isobel, Gillian and Rose. Rose is a strong heroine, intent on saving her dying father at any cost. She seeks out the Wizard of the North, William in hopes that he will be able to save her father using his powers. After a rocky start he agrees to travel home with Rose to heal her father. The story is romantic and dark with lots of sexual chemistry. Deidra, William's daughter who is the heroine of My Immortal Protector (my favorite Holling book) is introduced in this book.

The fascination with the paranormal implies a big dose of imagination; Jen Holling is creating three heroines of different mystical powers: Isobel, Gillian and Rose MacDonell; in My Shadow Warrior, they merge the powers toward solving the mystery of the illness of Allan MacDonell, their father, and the fate of Lilian MacDonell, their mother.
Must read the entire trilogy

I am a die hard fan of romantic novels. I have all three of the series and I absolutely love them they are all really good.

The final novel in the MacDonell Brides trilogy, this is the story about the youngest sister, Rose, a powerful witch and healer.

She was only eight when witch hunters burnt their mother alive. Sent far away from her home, she's waited for the day when she could return to Glen Laire and be with her family once again. Now her wish has finally come true, only to find out that her father is dying. For all her healing powers, nothing seems to cure whatever ails her father. Frustrated with his declining health and her inability to heal him, she writes to William MacKay - the reclusive Lord of Strathwick and a very powerful healer. But when he ignores her letters, she braves the wildness and sets off to the northern highlands ready to beg him to see her father.

William, the so-called Wizard of the North, is known for his great healing skills. But with Scotland in the grip of a nationwide witch hunt, he has been a virtual prisoner in his own home when his own clan has turned against him. When Rose appears outside his fortress, he initially denies her entry. But her persistence soon wins over, and before he could think twice, he accompanies her back to Glen Laire to try healing her father, only to discover that they are dealing with witchcraft that is beyond his powers.

MY SHADOW WARRIOR is, in my opinion, the best novel in the trilogy. It is more character-driven and we really see the attraction grow between the main characters. Rose and William are well suited, connected together by destiny and the magical powers they were born with. We see more of the characters from the first two books, as they help Rose and William uncover the person behind the witchcraft that is slowly killing their father. Some new secondary characters are also introduced, and I thought William's daughter, Deidre, was simply adorable and her own special ability adds to the fun.

While this book can stand-alone, it is better to read the other two novels to get a richer understanding of the MacDonell sisters. I must admit though that the mystery regarding the black wizard is rather obvious from the first book, however, I enjoyed the trilogy especially this book. The first two novels are MY WICKED HIGHLANDER and MY DEVILISH SCOTSMAN.

This is the third installment of The Brides of the Bloodstone trilogy. It's the story of Rose, youngest of the three MacDonell sisters. While they were little girls, their mother, a powerful witch, was burned at the stake. In fear for their lives, their father hid them separately. Now many years later, and on his deathbed from a mysterious illness, the MacDonell has summoned his daughters home.

Their lives are still in danger so he has arranged each of them to be married to men he can entrust with their safety. Rose, the youngest and blessed with the healing touch, is betrothed to Jamie MacPherson, a childhood friend she hasn't seen in years. Her wedding, however, has been postponed so she can devote herself to discovering the source of her father's illness.

Despite her many efforts, her father continues to deteriorate. To Rose's mind, her only hope is William MacKay, a gifted healer also known as the Wizard of the North. Since her many letters to him have gone unanswered, Rose decides to travel to his fortress to see him in person.

William is determined to shun the girl who has traveled many miles to see him, but curiosity forces him to disguise himself and seek her out. What he finds is a beautiful woman who is dedicated to helping others, even at risk to herself.

His fascination with her finally forces him to see her and eventually agree to travel to MacDonell castle to see her father. But in truth there is a sinister plot behind the MacDonell's illness and his wife's death and this mysterious enemy will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

This was such a great ending to a wonderful trilogy. The plot of the MacDonnell's illness and the mother's death at the stake is woven throughout all three books. It is finally resolved in this last tale but what an ending. Jen Holling has done a masterful job weaving several storylines together to create an enchanting tale of love, treachery, and greed.