Contemporary Books

Delivery was super speedy! The product was exactly as the seller described! I would definitely do business with them again!

The product was as I expected it to be according to the product description. Very satisfied.

Cuanto me alegra que haya una autora que cuenta parte de la historia dominicana. Me encanta como Julia escribe. Este libro esta muy bien hecho pero ojo: Julia Alvarez escribe en ingles no en español. Aun asi, me parece que la traduccion de esta historia esta estupenda.

Me quedé muy impresionada con la historia y literalmente me lo devoré. Está basado en hecho reales, lo cual fue un factor para que me gustara más. Lo recomiendo.

Es una historia interesante y entretenida, sobretodo para aquellos latinoamericanos que nos interese la historia. Aunque es una novela, tiene mucho de fondo històrico. Los personajes son agradables, bien logrados. Me dejó el interés de conocer màs sobre la historia de Trujillo. No llega a la excelencia de La Fiesta del Chivo de Vargas Llosa, es una buena Historia

Zane Mackenzie is everything you want to see in a Navy SEAL -
Dang! but he is hot!
Finally we get a young woman that is worthy of the hero.

Barrie Lovejoy takes the only out to driving away the emotional and physical trauma she was subjected to in her kidnapping.

Zane Mackenzie, in the tradition of his father and brothers is man enough and sensitive enough to deal with Barrie.

When Zane is wounded in portecting Barrie, she becomes distaught at being forced to leave Zane behind without knowing if he would live.

I loved finding about Wolf and his family, especially Michael and Josh [why don't they have stories of their own?] Poor Joe, 5 sons and no daughter. It took Barrie and Zane to pull a fast one.

There is just something about these Mackenzie men that puts your hormones on red alert. We need more of these guys and more women like Barrie.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- definitely all are keepers - what a collection of men.

Linda Howard loves to minimize her female characters into nothing more then sex objects. All of her female main characters are virgins. Quite frankly I am sick of reading about how super important that really is. All of her female characters make love for the first time like insatiable beasts ignoring their physical response to having been made love to for the first time. These characters are so fake and I am really getting sick of them. This novel really hit the bottom because her virgin girls theme I have just described to you, that has been a consistent theme in all of her other books in the Mackenzie line repeated the same ridiculous line. Why can't someone write about a beautiful woman who isn't a virgin and who really does enjoy sex for sex...without having to write an erotica?

Another satisfying story about a MacKenzie brother. I enjoyed every word. And Barrie was a good match for Zane. Linda Howard is a master story teller.

I also like Beverly Barton but didn't care as much for Defending His Own as I have some of her other books. Secret baby stories bore me so that's probably the reason. Also, I don't much care for stories where something happens to a character as a teen and he/she holds it against the world forever. Good grief! We all grow and mature. Some of these people never do. Along with the secret baby, this is an over-used and unnecessary plot device. It creaks.

Another MacKenzie that I fell in love with! I read the story in one sitting. I just could not put the book down. Zane is so intense and sweet and sexy! Wow! The anecdotes about Nick are so wonderful. Makes me want to have a Nick of my own. I'd love to read her story when she's all grown up.

Having read SARAH'S CHILD, I was not too impressed. Having read DUNCAN'S BRIDE worked much better, but while it was a good read, it was not an outstanding read. Several review sites recommended MACKENZIE'S MOUNTAIN, but I never bothered to find a copy. In December 2005, I stumbled across this book (MACKENZIE'S PLEASURE), which is the story of Zane Mackenzie, the youngest son of Wolf Mackenzie and his wife Mary Elizabeth (hero and heroine of Mackenzie's Mountain). I have mixed feelings about SEAL-themed books - while I have loved Brockmann's series, I somehow prefer reading about firemen to reading about SEALS. Give this book a chance, if you share my hesitations.

Zane Mackenzie is called upon to execute a mission to rescue an ambassador's kidnapped daughter Barrie Lovejoy out of Libya. The first third of the book is about how the rescue takes place and with what consequences. In the second third, Zane and Barrie are separated by circumstances until they manage to find each other. Since there is a mystery and a bit of romantic suspense to the plot, I will not go further with the plot summary. It is probably sufficient to say that Barrie's kidnapping and rescue is somewhat more complicated than either Zane or Barrie realized.

The book begins with Wolf Mackenzie worrying about his children, from Joe down to his adopted son Chance and his youngest son Zane. Thus, Linda Howard provides the new reader with sufficient background to Zane, to understand what kind of family he comes from and what kind of person he is likely to be. The book then moves to a botched Naval exercise which leaves Zane short of two men. It is at this point that he is asked to rescue the Ambassador's daughter. Barrie Lovejoy is no spoiled socialite, although she has been protected by her father all her life (for understandable reasons). Her courage and endurance, as well as her unusual (but understandable) decisions, appeal to Zane. Barrie is poised, emotionally mature, and able to make decisions quickly. Zane has been dedicated to his job, but frustrated by the promotions that take him away from active duty. When Zane and Barrie end up spending an intense night and day together while hiding out, they form a bond even though they know virtually nothing about each other.

The book moves from the US to the Mediterranean back to the US. Despite these changes of locale (sketched in deftly for the most part), we remain focused tightly on the hero and heroine. MACKENZIE'S PLEASURE is one of the few stories where I genuinely liked the hero and heroine from the outset, and where I also felt that they were right for each other. That this contributed to my liking the book is not in question. Linda Howard's writing style also helped, as did her characterizations. Zane is an alpha male but not an overbearing alpha, but a protector and leader. The other SEALS came alive as did the heroine and her Ambassador father. What didn't work so well for me was the villain and his motivation (especially as explained to Barrie at the end).

Written by bookjunkiereviews 22 January 2006

Una novela que marca a todo el que la lee... el lenguaje en su máxima y más hermosa expresión.

La historia con Bèrthe Trépat, la carta de La Maga a Rocamadour, Talita pasando por el tablón y, claro, el capítulo 7 (toco tu boca...). Este libro me deja sin aliento. Nunca, pero NUNCA he leído nada de semejante belleza.

I really enjoyed this original book.

It has taken me years to sit down and finally make a serious commitment to read Julio Cortazar's "Hopscotch/La Rayuela." I cannot think of a better companion to devote a few weeks to, maybe even longer - hey, whatever it takes! It depends on your reading speed and the time you take to truly savor the poetry of the author's language. So, be willing to make a small personal investment in this very special novel, and the reward you reap will be a worthy one. Julio Cortazar will take you to places you have never been before in literature, and may never experience again. I read "Hopscotch" over this past summer, after a thirty year delay. I can be very stubborn about putting off what is good for me!! The author's imagination is boundless, his prose rich and luminous, his wit and sophistication rare, the dialogue brilliant, the plot...I won't attempt to describe that with a few adjectives. Wander through the extraordinary labyrinthine plot on you own - the way is yours to discover. I promise, you won't get lost!

I was introduced to "La Rayuela" about thirty years ago, when a close friend, with similar reading tastes, gave me the book. Enthused after just reading the novel, he told me that I reminded him of one of the characters, La Maga. (What a compliment...I think!). I was living in Latin America at the time. With personal interests at stake and much curiosity, I bought a copy in Spanish, which I read with some fluency back then. After experimenting with which way to approach the novel, and trying both ways, I gave up...and just read the parts about La Maga. I had little patience at that point in my life, and needed to acquire some, and to read slower, with more of a sense of play and participation. Cortazar wants his readers to participate - to make reading his book an interactive experience, not a passive one. I was and still feel touched when I remember my friend's comments regarding La Maga. She is a magnificent character and Cortazer's prose, his language, (Spanish), is exquisite. So, about a year later, I thought I'd give it another try, in English, perhaps with better results. None! I just wasn't ready, I guess. That happens to me with fiction occasionally. I have to be open to the experience. Yet, after all these years, I still thought of Horacio Oliveira and La Maga from time to time. And why not? They are truly unforgettable. As I wrote above, I did make time, at last. For an adventure of a lifetime, I recommend you do the same.

When Julio Cortazar published "La Rayuela" in 1966, he turned the conventional novel upside-down and the literary world on its ear with this experiment in writing fiction. He soon became an important influence on writers everywhere. "Hopscotch" is considered to be one of the best novels written in Spanish. The work is interactive, where readers are invited to rearrange its text and read sections in different sequences. Read in a linear fashion, "Hopscotch" contains 700 pages, 155 chapters in three sections: "From the Other Side," and "From This Side" - the first two sections are sustained by relatively chronological narratives and so contrast greatly with the third section, "From Diverse Sides," (subtitled "Expendable Chapters"), which includes philosophical extrapolation, character study, allusions and quotations, and an entirely different version of the "ending."

The book has no table of contents, but rather a "Table of Instructions." There, we learn that two approved readings are possible: from Chapter 1 through 56 "in a normal fashion", or from Chapter 73 to Chapter 1 to... well, wherever the chapters lead you. The instructions are all in your book and are extremely clear. At the end of each chapter there is a numeric indicator to lead the reader to the next chapter. One never knows where one will be lead. Due to its meandering nature, "Hopscotch" has been called a "Proto-hypertext" novel. Cortázar probably had this work in mind when he stated, "If I had the technical means to print my own books, I think I would keep on producing collage-books."

Horacio Oliveira, our protagonist and sometimes narrator, is an Argentinean expatriate, an intellectual and professed writer in 1950's bohemian Paris. He and his close friends, members of "the Club," do lots of partying, drinking, and intellectualizing, discussing art, literature, music and solving the world's problems. Oliveira lives with and loves La Maga, an exotic young woman, somewhat whimsical, at times almost ephemeral, who leaves behind her, like the scent of a light perfume, a feeling of poignancy and inevitable loss. La Maga refuses to plan her encounters with Oliveira in advance, preferring instead to run into each other by chance. Then she and Oliveira celebrate the series of circumstances that reunite them. Eventually, he loses La Maga, who loses her child. With her absence, Oliveira realizes how empty and meaningless his life is and he returns to his native Buenos Aires. There he finds work first as a salesman, then a keeper of a circus cat, and an attendant in an insane asylum.

As Oliveira wends his way through France, Uruguay and Argentina looking for his lost love, "Hopscotch's" narrative takes on an emotionally intense stream of consciousness style, rich in metaphor. Back In Argentina, Oliveira shares his life with his bizarre double, Traveler, and Traveler's wife, Talita, whom Oliveira attempts to remake into a facsimile of La Maga.

The game of hopscotch is only developed as a conceit late in the narrative. It is first used to describe Oliveira's confused love for La Maga as "that crazy hopscotch." The theme develops as a metaphor for reaching Heaven from Earth. "When practically no one has learned how to make the pebble climb into Heaven, childhood is over all of a sudden and you're into novels, into the anguish of the senseless divine trajectory, into the speculation about another Heaven that you have to learn to reach too." The variations on the children's game are described as "spiral hopscotch, rectangular hopscotch, fantasy hopscotch, not played very often." The allusions continue and include some beautiful passages.

"Hopscotch" is much more than a novel. Ultimately, it is best left for each reader to define what it is for himself/herself. Pablo Neruda in a famous quote said, "People who do not read Cortazar are doomed. Not to read him is a serious invisible disease." I don't know whether I would go so far. Remember, I put off the experience for many years. But this is one novel that should be read during one's lifetime. It is brilliant and it is fun!
JANA

Rayuela es, junto a otras obras como "El Túnel" de Sábato, una de las pocas muestras de literatura Existencialista latinoamericana. Y el resultado difícilmente pudo ser mejor, este libro de Cortázar fue aclamado por la crítica internacional y actualmente está junto con "Cien años de Soledad" ,y algunos otros pocos, dentro de las novelas latinoamericanas más renombradas.

En la primera página de "Rayuela", el autor indica que la obra es en realidad muchos libros y no sólo uno, pero que principalmente son dos libros (dos formas de leerlo). El primero se lee en forma continua, desde el capítulo 1 hasta el 56. El segundo se lee de acuerdo a un orden específico que da Cortázar, y abarca muchos otros capítulos, la totalidad de la obra. La palabra Rayuela se refiere a un juego, y algunos críticos consideran que esta 2da opción es también un juego, una broma del autor. Incluso al llegar a cierto capitulo (leyendo de la 2da forma), te ves dirigido luego al capítulo que leíste antes, formándose así un circulo de tal manera que la obra no tiene fin. ¿Cómo leer Rayuela? En lo personal la leí en forma continua, y no me arrepiento, aunque confieso haberle dado una hojeada a los capítulos no leídos.

No quiero contarles la trama de la novela, que si bien es muy valiosa, no es lo principal y no vale la pena conocerla antes de la lectura (como en casi todos los libros, en mi opinión). Basta con decir que narra la historia de Horacio Oliveira, un argentino de espíritu libre, sus años en París y en Argentina, y sus problemas existenciales. Como en toda novela existencialista, el principal atractivo es la profundidad de los personajes y la habilidad narrativa del escritor para envolvernos en la personalidad y mente de estos; en todo esto triunfa Julio Cortázar. En Rayuela, además de Oliveira, hay otros caracteres interesantisimos, como la famosa "Maga". La construcción de este personaje es una genialidad del autor, "La Maga" termina siendo una suerte de "Madame Bovary", una mujer a la cual ni Oliveira ni el lector podrán nunca olvidar.

Que más decir, "Rayuela" es un libro infalible, genial, de lectura imprescindible para cualquiera que disfrute leyendo a Sábato, Camus, Hesse, Sartre o Dostoievski. Pero es para cualquiera en realidad, pues es un libro verdaderamente extraordinario.

RATING: 4 of 5

Life choices change for all of us over time. Priorities, and those things that provide satisfaction and comfort can also change many times over in each of our lives. How couples stay together or don't is at best a gamble. Paul and Joanna are just one example among many that looked on the outside like one that would last, and yet it was simply covered by a thin veneer of tolerance that finally gave way one day. So begins Joanna's search for what will satisfy her and what she wants for her life.

Ms. McFadden has taken parts of many marriages to weave this tale of two women of different generations that meet and share the trials of their married lives and individual dreams unfulfilled. I was pulled into their stories early and as their stories progressed, I started to read slower and slower as a means of making the story last longer. I played this game of trying to figure out which way each story would turn and yet right to the end I was held at bay. I commend Ms. McFadden on her first novel and look forward to reading more of her work.

Corporate wife Joanna Harrison is suffering from extreme loneliness at the start of Maryann McFadden's novel. Her successful husband has just been promoted, so they will have to move again and she doesn't want to pack up her empty nest and start again in a new city. So to clear her head, she just leaves and drives south from New Jersey to Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

Grace Finelli is dying of pancreatic cancer. She doesn't want to burden her family with a deathwatch, so she has moved to Pawleys Island and rented a beach house. She needs someone to stay with her for her last six months of life. Joanna answers her ad and agrees to stay for six months to help with errands and cooking in exchange for a room. She does not know that Grace is terminally ill.

McFadden has created two delightful women for this book and then has woven their stories in, out and around each other. The final bit of detail in this tapestry is Joanna's husband, Paul, who is downsized out of a job soon after Joanna leaves home. While she is learning independence, he is learning to live with himself and to find useful ways to occupy his lonely days.

These characters are all well drawn and interesting. There are also several secondary characters that add spice to the novel: Paul and Joanna's son and daughter, Grace's family, and the people on Pawleys Island that care for loggerhead turtle nests on the beach. The parts about the turtle hatchlings reminded me of a similar book, The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe, that I read in the summer of 2002.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, originally self-published in 2006.

Armchair Interviews says: This is a great summer book-easy to get into and filled with warm-hearted emotions.

I enjoyed this, as I am especially fond of Pawleys Island. It is an easy read with a decent story - although the main character is not particularly likeable nor plausible.

But the author's comment about Amazon playing games with her (relative to the pink edition of her book) was rather irritating. After all, Amazon is making her book available to the masses - I wouldn't have found her book if not for Amazon.

How often do we feel trapped within our lives? Some, more than others. How often, instead of changing things, do we just continue on, with the attitude that this is our life and it is what it is? The Richest Season is the story of Joanna, a woman married for 25 years to Paul, a corporate head honcho, with his sights set on climbing that corporate ladder, all the way to the top. With this climb has come years of moving and loneliness for Joanna, especially now that their 2 children are grown and moving on with lives of their own. It is one fateful day, while Paul is away on yet another business trip, that Joanna decides to take matters into her own hands and change her life. Not having a clue to what her future may hold, she travels to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, a place she had fallen in love with many years ago. Once there, she soon finds a job caring for an elderly lady, Grace, in exchange for room and board.

Within a short time, Joanna finds herself getting to know the "locals", carving a niche for a new life and discovering things about herself, that bring her deep happiness. She and Grace develop a close bond and rely on one another for a deep emotional connectedness, that they are missing within their own lives. In the background, however, still lingers Paul and the life that Joanna once lived. With times of uncertainty and questions plaguing her, Joanna hangs onto her new found inner strength to guide her through to what the future holds in store.

The Richest Season reminds me of Tending Roses, by Lisa Wingate. The resemblance, to me, is the lesson that we all must make the most of our lives and not just let it pass us by. Maryann McFadden's novel is one that moved me both physically and emotionally and is not one that I will soon forget. Happiness, sadness, joy and every emotion in-between, are engulfed within this beautiful masterpiece of literature. The Richest Season is a definite not to be missed story and one that everyone should have the pleasure to read. The beautiful Pawleys Island is vividly brought to life, as is the everyday existence of Southern living. Joanna, Grace and all of the characters will find a place within your heart and become part of your life within the first few pages.
Do yourself a favor, grab a copy of The Richest Season, a nice cold drink and a wonderfully comfy spot to settle in - once you start reading, you won't want to stop!

Do not miss this novel! A true treat and one I'm going to share with all of my favorite readers! Maryann McFadden tells a detailed story which makes me want to head for Pawley's Island, SC this very moment! You will LOVE this book!!

Robin Kall
[...]

I read this book over 10 yrs ago and it is one of the few I have actually read more than once.

This earlier book of Danielle Steele's is one of my favorites. The main character is an interesting and strong woman. The story is filled with suspense, danger and of course, romance.

I love this book!!!!!!!!! This is my all time favorite book.
Buy this book you will not regret it.

first i saw the movie on tv.and i just loved it.i dont have enought words to describe what i felt.seeing the movie was like i was there;the story is just great.and thats why i decided to read the book to see the differences,because we all know that a movie can be quite different from the book and what i can say is that it only keept beeing better and better.this book is one of a kind.unique.i would say.it becamed one of my favourites and i recomande it to every one. you shall not regreat buying and reading it. i assure you.

While Steel's books may not hold high literary status, her books are popular, and reading The Ring is one of her best efforts.

Steel, through her well honed writing skills, takes the female character through several love relationships starting with a character that she learned to love against all odds. Her love of a German Nazi solider, and her love of another, finally leads to finding the greatest love of her life. Read the book and you'll find out how love does endure through all situations and finally wins out. One of her best books.

Ellen Meister knows how to create lovable and interesting female characters! Maddie, Ruth, and Lisa were all wonderfully developed stay-at-home moms rather than than usual dull cliches used to describe housewives. I loved the plots and worries of these three women and couldn't put the book down--and that's saying something! Meister has a terrific writing style that flows easily.

However, I absolutely hated the movie production/George Clooney plot running through the book. I wish Meister had thought of a more realistic problem for the PTA, and I was happy when it wasn't mentioned and I could pretend it didn't exist. The PTA moms were also consulted about every tiny detail of the movie deal and held an enormous amount of power for ladies who only have control over which flavor of Juicy Juice is at the kids' Halloween party! It's too much of a stretch of the imagination for me. I also felt the ending needed work--in typical romance fashion, everyone comes to a happy resolution, but Meister's ending is rushed and sloppily thrown together in a brief 4 page epilogue. I also didn't appreciate pornographically described sex scenes such as, "Maddie looked...to Cora Ann, face slick from cunnilingus, and wondered if this was the kind of 'scene' she had in mind." (It's a scene I know I don't want in my mind, thanks.) Yuck. It is possible to write with some taste, even in a mindless beach read.

All in all, I would recommend reading the book just for the great characters, despite the other flaws. I think Ellen Meister has great potential and did a good job on her first novel!

Ellen Meister's Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA reveals that there is much more happening at PTA meetings than discussions of bake sales. Meister has excellent comic timing and revels in the exploits of her three compelling heroines, Maddie, Ruth, and Lisa, bringing a fresh look to seemingly familiar situations: the appearance of an old flame, caretaking of aging parents, and coping with alcoholic parents. Set in our culture of celebrity, George Clooney appears as a Christ-like figure, seemingly able to deliver redemption, forgiveness, and salvation to our heroines with simply his proposed presence in Applewood, Long Island.

"Confessions" is certainly no literary masterpiece, but Meister's writing style is fun and breezy, and her characters are a riot. No, they're not particularly believable, and the plot sometimes veers off into ridiculous sit-com territory, but you just won't care. You'll be having too much fun to care, and hoping for the best for these kooky women.

If you're in the moody for something light and fluffy with a healthy dose of middle-aged soccer-mom angst thrown in, this is the book for you. (Best if you've graduated from the chic lit geared toward "girls" in their 20's -- this is better for women who've attended a few PTA meetings themselves!!)

Have a glass -- or a bottle -- of wine and enjoy.

Yes, it's a cliché and it's also one of the two highest compliments you can give to any novelist. I'm a busy mom with plenty of my own writing deadlines to meet, but I MADE time to read this novel all the way to its satisfying conclusion. Ellen Meister is a wonderful storyteller--smart, witty and wise. I really did feel I'd made three new friends, sharing their problems and coming through it all with a better sense of what's important to me in my life. Fun, but not at all fluffy, I can honestly say this is a book worth reading (which is, by the way, the other compliment every writer longs to hear). Give yourself a treat and find out what really goes on behind those PTA smiles!

This is a perfect example of a work of fiction where I didn't like the characters but I loved the book. Good writing, a funny plot bordering on the absurd, and colorful, fully fleshed out character development, make the farcical and morally ambiguous ladies of the Applewood PTA surprisingly believable. The time spent reading these pages was for me, pure, self-indulgent entertainment. It was like watching Bravo television shows about The Real Housewives--or like watching the catfights between the Carrington wives back in the old days of Dynasty. Aside from juicy, gossipy `grown-up' sorority spats, this romp has a little of everything: Medical dramas, tennis matches, infidelities, ménage a trios, alcoholism, learning disabilities, fires . . . just about every kind of suburban drama known to a generation raised on a soap opera diet.

Meanwhile, if the actor George Clooney has ever entered your fantasies, or if you've ever spent time on a PTA committee and recognize the circle of self-important hags running the show like it's work as important as the UN, and if you don't mind a few predictable and contrived plot twists, pick up this book and give yourself a dose of literary masturbation. I don't ever want to meet these women, or serve on any committees with them, but reading about them was a hoot. Well done.

From the author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

My twelve year old daughter and I listened to this book together, and in a rare instance of complete agreement, we both pronounced it EXCELLENT. We repeatedly found ourselves engaged painlessly in converation about what should have been difficult themes, such as all the different "wars" in Holling's life, the Shakespearean notion that conflict and humor can exist in the same time and place, lost opportunities, etc. Whether this book is a "winner" in literary circles is an issue I will leave to the experts. What I can say without reservation is that the book is truly a "winner" in terms of young person enjoyment and in terms of potential for readily sparking important conversation.

This is the first book I've read by Schmidt and I stayed up late just to finish it. There are many things I loved about this book. For one, Holling seems just like any ordinary 7th grade kid but then through his periods with Mrs Baker, he develops into a remarkable young man. Family life during the 1960s to early 1970s was also vastly different. Children were not as spoiled and usually listened to their parents even though they may have felt some resentment. I also liked the way Schmidt allowed the humour of so many situations in the book to surface so much so that I believe that most kids, boys especially would enjoy this book. I am now going to try and find a copy of Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy!

Wonderful, refreshing, silly, plausible...I loved this book and highly recommend it for children and adults. It's a quick read with clean verbage. How unusual!

Wow! If I could give this book 6 stars-I would. I have read lots of middle school books, and yes a few have been excellent. This one was nearly impossible for me to put down. The book was so funny in parts, that I had a difficult time trying to stop laughing. Other parts were exciting, touching, a bit sad, and very thought provoking. Yes, this book is easy to read, but not at all shallow by any stretch of the imagination. It really has a lot to say, but does it in a subtle non-preachy way.

I think anyone grades 5 or up would love this book. The book is told through the eyes of a 7th grade boy, and it is comes across so real it is impossible not to have a connection with this character. You don't have to be a middle school teacher or an avid reader to love this book. It is one of those very few books that knocks down all walls and invites all readers to enter.

On the suggestion of a friend who has excellent taste in books, I bought this book for my eleven year old son, who's appetite for books exceeds what I can keep up with! It was so gripping that he sat up until two in the morning to finish the book. (I can sympathize; I've done that!) His review (five stars) for the library book club was so enthusiastic that the next night I sat up until two in the morning to read it! This is probably the best recent children's book I've found! I loved it! And it gently introduces topics such as racism, the Vietnam war, bullying, determination and self-sacrifice that parents can discuss with their children. Kids love the book because it's witty and has a great story. Then again, I loved it for that too! So four thumbs up, two from me and two from my son!

Porter Osborne is an innocent Georgia farm boy who thinks his way right through the blind, sometimes cruel authority of the WW II Army Medical Core and the Normandy invasion. The characters in this book are plucked wiggling straight from red Georgia dirt, complete with Southern dialect, quaint attitudes, and raw wit that died when the first atomic bomb fell. If you love someone who grew up in the South during the 1940's, you'll understand them better after you laugh your way through this tale.

My favorite professor recently recommended Ferrol Sams's trilogy, though, for some reason, I had never heard of Sams or the books.

I don't remember the last time I didn't want novels to end. Each is beyond wonderful, tying with my all-time favorite--maybe even better--Sinclair Lewis's "Arrowsmith."
It's hard to pinpoint why I enjoyed these so much, but I could identify readily with the main character, though I grew up in metropolitan areas and am Jewish.

In fact, I'm inspired to write a novel! Part of it will deal with a nice Jewish boy teaching in a backwoods fourth-rate hick Baptist college. Autobiographical? I wonder.

If you loved Run with the Horsemen and The Whisper of the River, then you have to know what happens to Porter Osborne, Jr. This book completes the story excellently. Having lived in the same area of the country as Porter, and knowing the Georgia locations mentioned in the stories, I felt familiar with him and his experiences. Ferrol Sams is truly a wonderful storyteller.

I can say this much in praise of When All The World Was Young -- if you really enjoyed the first two installments of the trilogy, you will not be disappointed by the third. It has all the charm and innocent playfulness that Sams fans have come to love, plenty of adventure, and even some sex and violence for those of us who just can't take any more of this hokey, precocious, wide-eyed boy.

Count me in the latter group. I think I'm just tired of Porter Osborne, Jr. He's just too....uml....nice. And even when he shows a slightly nastier side, it's just not believable. Sams made an attempt at creating edgier dialog in this one -- after all, we're dealing with enlisted men in the army now -- but it just doesn't ring true. He hit the mark in the first novel, when Porter was a young boy. That's the voice that Sams writes best. Unfortunately, that voice is still with us in this book, even though Porter is now 22 years old. The character has supposedly matured, but the writing has not. And so it's impossible to picture anything other than an eight-year-old farmboy.

Read this book if you loved the first two. Otherwise, I think you can safely skip it.

Suggest you go ahead and buy this one as you will want to reread it, as you will the first two of this story. The writing is great and as with the first two books, quite refreshing. Sams consistant character developement and syntax are a wonder. There was very little I did not ejoy in this book and the first two of the series. Thank you again Mr. Sams.

In true form this book was a wonderful read, most difficult to put down.
Action all the way, as the books say you'll never view the weather as before, makes you wonder!! The next book is a must read!!

Love this whole series. This author is just great. Rachel Caine came highly recommended by Jim Buthcher, author of the Dresden Files. If you've read any of her Weather Warden series, you just have to read Book 4 to keep up with the characters and find out what happens to them.

Rachel Caine's 4th entry in the Weather Warden series is a page-turner deluxe, and a highly enjoyable way to spend a few hours. The scenes depicting Joanne's job at the TV station make this book well worth your time, even if you were to skip over the magic, romance, intrigue, and humor. One of the things that makes this such a good series is the rich cast of supporting characters, added to in this book with the addition of Joanne's sister. This is almost becoming as humorous a series as Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum's series!

I have been putting off writing this review since February. Why? I didn't think I could put into words how amazing and fantastic this book truly is. It wipes the floor with the three previous Weather Warden books, which is a feat in itself as those books are among the best ever written. Windfall is even better.

But now I'm finally writing the review. Expect it to be rambling and full of me gushing about how much I love this series and this book in particular.

I love Windfall so much, I've borrowed it from the library four times in succession, and even got an overdue fine because I didn't want to take it back. The books aren't available to buy here, so I have to rely on the library. But it's worth the fines and the borrowing since the book is so damned good.

If you've read the other reviews, you'll know the basic plot - Joanne has moved back to her hometown of Florida after quitting the Wardens, has a new job as a TV weather girl at a local station, and is trying to find a solution to her problem. What's her problem? Her Djinn lover David is draining her power. In Chill Factor, he was turned Ifrit, and is slowly wasting away to full Ifrit state. On top of this, Jo has a police officer from the Las Vegas police department on her case (he wants information about his dead partner Quinn from Chill Factor), master Djinn Jonathan has given her an ultimatum - heal David or else, her older sister Sarah turns up homeless and wanting to shack up with Jo (and meets a "cute British guy" who is not what he seems), Jo is still pregnant with a Djinn child forced onto her by David and she is forced to wear stupid foam outfits at her job and is continually hit on her by her sleazy weatherman co-star.

All these plot elements add up to one fantastic story - and this is only the tip of the iceberg. This all escalates into something much larger as the book goes on. It seems like too many storylines to follow at once but it's all woven together easily and will keep you riveted.

On the character side of the things - all the favourites are still around. I was glad to see that Lewis still had a major part in this story, he's one of my favourites. I'm also glad Rahel is still in it, and I'm surprised at how much I like Jonathan (I hated him in Heat Stroke & Chill Factor). The new characters are great too - even though Jo's sister Sarah is annoying, it's hard to hate her. Cherise, Jo's sidekick in weather presenting hell is one of the best new characters introduced to the book in ages! She's cute, perky and hilarious. Her and Jo's banter lightens the more darker serious tone of the book (I'm so glad she's going to be in Firestorm!). Eamon, otherwise known as "cute British guy" (a name given to him by Jo and Cherise) is a two dimensional character who is very very interesting. What disappointed me is that Marion was left out of this installment, and that they brought Kevin back. Kevin REALLY annoys me, he's so tiresome.

Some scenes of Windfall left me in tears - especially most of the (limited unfortunately) scenes with Jo and David. I'm a David fan, so to see him transform into something horrible is just awful - their relationship is heartbreaking and one scene near the end of the book had me crying. I'm kind of worried that it's over for them now, but we'll find out in Firestorm. This book is much darker and much more serious then the previous books, and is full of action. It's non-stop, there's no boring scenes. The humour is still present - most of Jo and Cherise's adventures at their job are amusing, and the "great mall expedition of 2003" bit had me laughing.

Well, I did ramble and say how much I loved this book. I truly do. It's the best of the series (maybe to be surpassed by Firestorm?), and Rachel Caine continues to impress me with her writing skills. The Weather Wardens are my favourite book series of all time, and Windfall definitely is one of the best books I've ever read. You absolutely need to read the previous books before cracking into this one, they provide backstory for the events of this one.

I'm eagerly anticipating Firestorm (September 5th!), and more from our fiesty heroine Jo. Well done Rachel Caine!

This book is the cause of great tiredness today - I tried to stop reading it at 11pm last night when wanting to go to sleep but it had become so exciting that I couldn't sleep and had to pick it up again, finally finishing it at 1am.

Book 4 of this excellent series is slightly different in that some time has passed since the end of book 3, rather than it being a non-stop roller-coaster ride of Joanne's life. She's now working as a sidekick on a weather channel, living in a nondescript flat and not using her weather powers at all to prevent a power lobotomy. David, her seriously weakened lover/Djinn, has to spend almost all of his time in the bottle as he's draining her powers and is on the verge of becoming an Ifrit.

This story focuses rather more on Joanne and how she deals with different situations without using her powers. The usual list of characters are there - Lewis, Jonathan, Paul, Rahel, Alice, David and Ashan, but we also meet her sister, her sister's new boyfriend and a policeman who was a former partner of Quinn's.

There's a kind of subtext in this book about good and evil - yes, Quinn was evil but he also had some good. Another character who appears good turns out to be evil, but he also has some redeeming features. Although overall this series might come across as a battle between good and evil that's not always the case - yes, the wardens are manipulating the weather to prevent loss of life and damage through natural causes, but we learned in the last book that the Ma'at believe that the wardens have actually increased the problems from the weather due to their interference. We learn more about this at the end of the book as we discover the underlying reason that things are going wrong.

The romance between David and Joanne is still there in this book, as is the little surprise that David left for Joanne in the last book, but the story focuses more directly on Joanne. When the book finished I found myself breathless, waiting for what was coming next (I have several more months to wait for it to be published, unfortunately) but also slightly disappointed in the direction Rachel Caine had taken with a couple of the main characters. I shall wait and see how the follow-up pans out and if she brings these new threads into the story in a satisfactory way. Somehow I think she well, she hasn't let me down so far.

Overall this is a very good book; the dialogue is perhaps a little less sparkling than normal, but there's plenty of action and the characters keep growing, including Djinn who are so difficult to understand, Jonathan being the most impenetrable of them all. I recommend this series highly, although I think it's probably best to read them in order.

To call this my favorite Rad book is like saying "Chunky Monkey" is my favorite Ben & Jerry's ice cream. It's ALL good, my friend. But "Fated Love" has a great deal of emotional connection to it that puts it on a whole new level for me. The pace is superior, the character development is fantastic and the resolution is, well, "aww shucks." I'm a sucker for a sweet ending. I highly recommend this book on so many levels.

You know what you are getting with Radclyffe: a well-written, well-edited, multi-dimensional romance with characters dealing with disappointments or painful pasts, leading to an ultimately happy ending. This is a tried and true formula, and curling up with one of these books is a delight.

As far as specifics regarding this novel, I love it when Radclyffe uses a medical setting, because she's able to so deftly make it a realistic and interesting world. Quinn was an intriguing character with a bit of a mystery surrounding her undisclosed health reasons for leaving her surgical career. Honor was a sympathetic character in trying to deal with her grief, and balance a family and professional life. Chemistry sparked, but even beyond that the gentle way Quinn pursued inserting herself into Honor's life, her delight with Arly (Honor's daughter), the way she just couldn't help but pursue this woman despite the fact that she clearly had issues, all these elements combined to create a rich narrative.

This book sets itself apart with the realistic or unflinching way it deals with falling in love again after having lost a previous partner. The themes of moving on after great loss are represented in a variety of ways, through both Honor's grief and Quinn's coping with finding new ways to embrace happiness apart from the career she'd dreamed of having. This whole set-up was rife with believable road-blocks to happiness for our protagonists, ones it was fulfilling to follow them in overcoming. A very good read, as was expected, and a book I'll be keeping in my collection.

Radclyffe has truly done it with this one. I have only been reading lesbian romance for approimately a year now, however, I have read everything by this author. To date this book is My Favorite. Great Story, Great Characters, Great Romance.

I couldn't put it down. I read this in one sitting and have read it two more times since then. This is an excellent story. Again I love the hospital settings and the surgeons. Radcylyffe has a way of TRULY bringing her characters to life. There is no way you can't love Honor and her undying devotion to her late wife. Radclyffe does an excellent job in portraying her reluctance to pursue Quinn, but in the end you want them to be together. I also loved Arly.

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent!

This book combines the Ying and the Yang. It creates a professional bonding that is so powerful it makes your heart expand for all that is good in the world.
The characters are well developed proffessional women who personify dedication and integrity.
The love for a child, a mother-in-law, and for a lost soul mate is very powerful.
I found myself feeling the heart renching discovery of memories lost but never forgotten.
An absolutely amazing read, which leaves the reader wanting more, but never questioning that these characters will live happily ever after.
Devlyn

Some of Radclyffe's most believable and spectacular books utilize her professional expertise, medicine, to great advantage. As in all of her novels, her surgical skill is in evidence with prose pared down to clean essentials; never a cliche and original images that linger after the reader has closed the book.