Clubs Books

My children are growing up with Spier just as I did. The youngest love to look at the pictures and hear me tell about them. Older children love to make up the story as it progresses. Great tool for promoting imagination.

You don't have to be a child to revel in Peter Spier's beautiful full-color art (and at age 55 I can speak from personal experience). Here he tells the story of a typical American Christmas season with never a printed word, beginning on December 13 and going on the following January 4. A family of five (plus dog and cat) shop the bedizened mall, make decorations, address and send out Christmas cards, choose and trim their tree, shop for and prepare their holiday feast, go to church, open their presents, and welcome grandparents for Christmas dinner. Nor does the artist fail to show the post-holiday chores--taking down the trims, vacuuming shed needles off the carpet, returning gifts and putting the denuded tree out on the curb. From the hectic (the mall scenes) to the beautiful (the family standing outside its own house to inspect the effect of the decorations, a streetscape showing neighboring homes including two that aren't decorated at all), the fun (a mass snowball fight) to the contemplative (Mom and Dad sitting before the fire on Christmas night after the grandparents have gone home and the kids are in bed) to the mischievous (the family cat tearing a piece of meat off the turkey carcass as it sits on the kitchen counter), it's all here. Spier's Christmas is a season of love and joy and peace, as we're told Christmas should be. This book should be tradition in every home that celebrates it.

We set this book out with all the other Christmas decorations every year. It's a tradition. Even the older ones in the family enjoy the book without words. The beautiful illustrations take you through a journey of a family's Christmas season. If you love Christmas, you must have it.

This is too delightful a book to be out of print!

Mr. Speir again showcases his talent for detail in this charming, word-free picture book about Christmas. The story is linear, have a starting point and logical ending point, but many of the images in between could easily be shuffled about with no detriment to the overall book.

What we have here are snatches of personal memory, vignettes of both public and hidden moments, perhaps even just a glance that catches a simple image from a childhood Christmas past, all faithfully recorded in the mind's eye and replayed with each new Christmas season for years and years. I was struck by how carefully Mr. Speir was able to capture these images for us, all of which we instantly recognize in a sort of collective unconscious, or universal memory.

The ornaments packed away in the attic, the hectic shopping at grocery stores and shopping malls, hanging a wreath, standing outside in the quiet dusk to admire the Christmas lights and the tree in the window, a packed church service, carolers, bringing small gifts and a visit to the elderly nieghbors, the cat sitting by the electric candle on the window sill and looking out at the world, the silent night, the magic of Christmas Morning, the presents, the dinner, the relatives, the phone calls to old friends and family seperated by distance, the quiet moment by the fire at the end of the day.

Everything, absolutely everything is here, lovingly detailed by Mr. Speir's ink pen.

This is the perfect Christmas, with no fighting, no stress, no phony commercialism, no bickering children or adults. Like memory, Mr. Speir wisely highlights the good, the pleasant, the golden, the loving, and the ideal rememberances of Christmas.

A rare and wonderful achievement, and a Christmas book to be treasured.

So glad I decided to read the previous two reviews and take the chance of ordering - just got the book today, beautifully hardbound and yes, the very same as the library copy. I thank the two previous reviewers, it certainly pays to check things out a bit more thoroughly before you order. Great pictures, easy to understand instructions, I'll prize this book.

This edition of the book is far less expensive than the "DK" edition. The only difference is the outside cover.

The first 47 pages of this book are indispensible (a must read) unless you have mastered both sophomore and junior level (college) courses in plant propagation. These pages are an invaluable guide to gardeners everywhere. Discussed are the general forms of propagation, methods used, etc.

Following (pages 48 through 309) are 7 sections on thematic kinds of plants: Trees, Shrubs/Climbers, Perennials, Annuals/Biennials, Cacti/Succulents, Bulbous Plants, Vegetables. Each of these sections contains information on specific methods applicable to these types, and an "A through Z" guide to common Families or Genus (e.g., Guara) in that category, plus specific propagation methods (where applicable) to particular species.

The book rivals any collegic textbook I have seen, with the exception of books on the propagation of specific types of plants. Further, I believe this book is the best primer on propagation for the gardener, especially prior to reading a book on the propagation of plants with particular, exotic needs.

I bought this book based on J.F. Rosen's review -- hoping s/he was correct and that it is the same book as the very expensive AHS book of the same title. I searched the internet to see if there was any way of verifying the information before buying this book. I couldn't find any verification so I just took the plunge and bought this book. It is definitely the same book without the DK Publishing markings. In fact, the inside title cover actually says American Horticultural Society. It's a great book ... it's even better at these prices!

I have this book and it is the exact same book as the one published by the American Horticultural Society. The publishing companies are different, but the dates are the same (1999), the photos on the hard cover are also different, but the differences end there. Page for page, photo for photo - identical. I found it used in almost brand new condition for a little overf $2.00, incredibly cheaper than even used copies of the American Horticultural Society edition.

This book is amazing! It pulls the reader in and hangs on! You will likely not be able to put it down until it is read. It is an easy read yet well written. It holds real world events including political agendas and the personal life of a city office member. PLEASE BUY TWO COPIES!! One for you and one for a friend!!

I had to read this book for a State and Local Gov't course in colleg. Most books that are required tend to be dry. This book defies that concept. Scott does an excellent job decribing the in's and out's of local government through the eyes of a city manager. He does a good job of keeping the reader's attention throughout the novel. Must Read if your interested in government the slightest bit.

This is a well written novel. Lazenby knows his subject well. He understand the politics. I had intended to read this on my vacation. I was going to read just the first three pages. I got hooked and finished the book. It may seem hard to believe but this is a very exciting novel about local government. I recommend this book to any that have interest in government, politics, policy-- or just want an interesting novel to read. I hope Lazenby continues to write.

A novel about being a city manager sounded like a formula for pure boredom -- and I have experience as a local elected official and teach public policy. I am glad that I felt "duty bound" to read this book, it is extraordinarily well done. Lazenby masterfully creates a complex, multi-tiered plot involving all of the complexity and many of the issues faced by local governments today. Even a casual reader who simply wants to get a sense of what really happens at City Hall everyday will be well rewarded with both information and entertainment by this book.

Anne has a crush on Eric, the best and cutest football player. She turns to her friends in the Fortune Tellers Club to help her find out if Eric likes her, too. Just when they think they've figured things out, there are mysterious fires at school. This is the second in the series of stories involving the "psychic sleuthing" team. Like it's predecessors, this is an easy read and a great page turner. What kid doesn't have a sense of wonder and fear about graveyards? It's a swift-moving mystery with established heroines. It's fun enough to get a non-reader reading.

The Fortune Tellers Club is a delightful series by professional storyteller Dotti Enderle. This series, geared towards ages 9-12, features three best friends--Juniper Lynch, Anne Donovan, and Gena Richmond--who use divination to solve mysteries, explain relationships, and understand life experiences.

Playing With Fire is book 2 of the Fortune Tellers Club series, and is told from the perspective of Anne, a cheerleader at Avery Middle School. Anne has a crush on Eric, the gorgeous star of Avery's football team. She asks her fellow members to do a Tarot reading to see if Eric likes her...and if she has any chance with him. Using a 4 card spread, the reading is amazingly accurate--but it's not until later they realize just how much. A series of mysterious fires have the fire department stumped--and The Fortune Tellers Club happens to witness one of the fires first hand. Using divination techniques such as reading the ashes, the girls are determined to get to the bottom of these fires--and find out if Eric has something to do with them!

The characters are fleshed out *much* better than the first book of the series (The Lost Girl). I almost gave up on the series after Book 1, but I'm glad I didn't! The action is fast-paced, and the element of mystery provides excitement and intrigue.

A fan of Dotti Enderle's Fortune Tellers Club series could get comfy with Gena, Anne and Juniper.

The three are best friends, concerned about boys, school and each other, and in this second book of her series, the author has another winner.

Anne finds herself obsessed with Eric, a hot new boy at Avery Middle School. Best buds Gena and Juniper try to help her get his attention, with mixed results.

An underlying theme to this easy read is fire, or anything associated with heat or flames -- think fever, fever blisters, birthday candles.

Will Anne get the guy? Will the destruction at the school be explained? Read Playing With Fire to find out, and be prepared for a clever small surprise at the end.

School's back in session and there's a hot new boy at school --in more ways than one.

Anne has a crush on Eric. Does he like her back? He seeks her out at lunch and for homework help. The Fortune Tellers Club use all their skills to try to find out.

Then there's a series of fires. Is Eric behind them? Is he pyrokenetic? Another mystery for the Fortune Tellers to solve.

An excellent read with a surprise ending. I look forward to more in this series.

THE POEMS OF GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS. Fourth Edition based on the First Edition of 1918 and enlarged to incorporate all known poems and fragments. Edited by W. H. Gardner and N. H. Mackenzie. 362 pp. Oxford and New York : Oxford University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-19-281094-4 (pbk.)

For anyone who is interested in Hopkins, and everyone should be, this is the standard and authoritative edition. It gives us the only complete and accurate text which for the first time puts the poems in their true chronological order.

The poems have been arranged in four sections : Early Poems (1860-1875?); Poems (1876-1879); Unfinished Poems, Fragments, Light Verse, &c. (1862-89); Translations, Latin and Welsh Poems, &c. (1862-67). The book contains a useful and informative Introduction and Foreword, and is rounded out with very full Notes, a series of Appendices, and Indexes of titles and first lines. It is also beautifully printed on excellent paper, stitched, and bound in a sturdy glossy wrapper.

Hopkins had a unique sensibility, and brought something very special and of great value into English poetry. He seems to have had the ability to enter into the intelligence and feelings and spirit of all life forms, whether animal or plant or even landscape, to resonate with the indwelling divinity within them, and to somehow magically bring the miracle of their vibrant being over into his poems.

Hopkins is in fact a striking example of the fully human sensibility as described in the works of Heidegger and the great thinkers of the East, and exemplifies a quality of sensibility which most of us seem somehow to have lost. We skate dully and blindly over the surface of things, but Hopkins plunges into the depths of being and carries us along with him. In other words, he puts us back in touch with reality, with what life is really about. Hence his enormous value and importance.

In a complete collection such as this, there are bound to be many poems that fall short of greatness. For the newcomer to Hopkins, one suggested approach might be to first read some of his greatest poems, poems such as 'God's Grandeur,' 'Spring,' 'The Windhover,' 'Pied Beauty,' 'The Caged Skylark,' 'Binsey Poplars,' 'As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame.'

There are many beauties to enjoy in Hopkins - his unique use of language, his control of sound and rhythm, his amazing images and metaphors - but for me the most beautiful thing of all is the news he brings, news of a universe in which all things are of infinite value and infinitely precious, and in which no creature is of any less value than another because all are indwelt by divinity:

"Each mortal thing does one thing and the same : / Deals out that being indoors each one dwells ; / Selves, goes itself ; _myself_ it speaks and spells, / Crying _What I do is me : for that I came_" (p.90).

Hopkins makes us acutely aware of our loss, and our crime. His poems map out a path back to a saner, more balanced, and more wholesome and intelligent way of dwelling on the earth, dwelling lightly upon it with all other creatures and as its guardian, not its ravager.

"O if we but knew what we do / When we delve or hew - / Hack and rack the growing green! / ... After-comers cannot guess the beauty been...' (pp.78-9).

Hopkins, I think, would have been very much in agreement with Heidegger who tells us that the earth must once again become a _Spielraum_ , a space of great beauty in which to play, and one in which all creatures, instead of being treated as mere objects, are allowed to do what they came here to do, to develop the full potential of their natures and fulfill themselves as manifestations of divinity. His poems are unforgettable, and one envies those who may be coming to them for the first time.

The first poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins I read was "PiedBeauty," which was included in a book of poetry for children thatwas given to me by my great-aunt. In high school, I read "Spring and Fall: to a young child" and loved it, though I did not realize it was by the same author. It was only college that I connected the two, and discovered a wonderful poet, who has become one of my favorites.

For a fan of Hopkins looking for an authoritative volume, this edition is a treasure. In addition to his better known works, it contains early poems, numerous fragments, and unfinished works, in fact "every scrap of English verse which can be ascribed... to Hopkins" (from the Introduction xvii). In addition, it contains a good essay on Hopkins and his work, and extensive textual notes.

Hopkins poetry may appear obscure and difficult at first, and in fact it is, at times, wildly original. Hopkins' language is deliberately archaic and inventive, and he both revives wonderful words not used since Shakespeare, and makes up his own. Hopkins also writes in "sprung rhythm," a metrical style that is almost syncopated, and juxtaposes stressed syllables. I recommend reading his poems out loud. The sheer beauty of his language will inspire you to recite the words over and over again, until you understand his meaning: the essence which he is trying to distill. New readers may be daunted by this volume at first, and find that Hopkins' great poems are "submerged in a mass of less significant fragments" (Intro xiv). I would suggest his sequence of ten sonnets (#31-40) as an ideal place to start reading.

Hopkin's friend and fellow poet Robert Bridges wrote that Hopkins strove "for the unattainable perfection of language," and at times he seems to have actually obtained it: "Men go by me whom either beauty bright / In mould or mind or what not else make rare: / They rain against our much-thick and marsh air / Rich beams, till death or distance buys them quite." (The Lantern out of Doors, #40). END

Gardner and MacKenzie have compiled a fine collection of Hopkins' juvenalia, mature work, and uncollected fragments/translations.

I wish that I knew what to say to compel readers unfamiliar with his work to buy this or another collection. The Terrible Sonnets are among the most moving treatment of spiritual anguish in the English language. If you are doubting, take the time to look "Carrion Comfort" up on the web-- the poems are available at Bartleby.com. This book is one of my constant poetic companions.

For readers already familiar with the more famous pieces, it is a treat to see his younger work and translations. Reading the book as a whole gives a picture of a mind in motion. What led him to this point?

"NO worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?"

Read it, read it, read it.

This review does not relate to the quality and character of the Oxford Complete Poems. It rather relates to Hopkins unique greatness as a poet which I will try to say a few words about.
Hopkins created his own style of verse, his own vocabulary for perceiving the world, his own special rhythm and language in poetry.
He is not the most easy poet to understand, and I will admit that his longer poems lose me.
When I consider his work I relate primarily to five, six , seven poems which seem to me extraordinary. " The world is charged with the Grandeur of God" and " Thou art indeed just, Lord" and "Felix Randall the Farrier, Is he dead then?' are to me the most memorable. They contain a power and beauty, a tremendous sense of identification with and understanding of the suffering in life, a kind of unique and intimate perception of the details of the natural world.
Hopkins the tormented priest wrote to my mind some of the most memorable and beautiful lines in the English language. Consider the closing of ' Thou art Indeed Just Lord" "Birds build but not I build/ but break Times wounds And never breed one work that wakes Thou O My Lord of Life Send my roots Rain."

What is there not to love about chocolate, except when they are filled with a dab of nitrobenzene. This classic mystery from 1929 makes nearly every major list of the best of the best.
Roger Sheringham and his friends at the Detection Club are presented a stump-er by Scotland Yard. Each member presents their solution based on their insight into the murder, the characters, and the evidence. You will be turning the pages all night wondering who has their facts straight. This one contains all the elements that cozy mystery lovers enjoy in a read that is well paced and full of surprises.
I discovered my copy on the bottom of a "to read" pile, had forgotten buying it, but it goes near the top of my list of all-time favorites.
Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelUnder the Liberty Oak

I read this book after seeing it mentioned over and over again on best-mysteries-of-all-time lists.

Berkeley's novel is built around a fictitious, famed detection club (no doubt based on a real club that had authors such as Christie, Sayers and Dickson Carr as members). The members of this illustrious club set out to solve a mystery revolving around a poisoned box of chocolates. Every sleuth turns in a seemingly plausible solution, each topping the previous person's explanation. Until the end, that is, when a less-than-likely member offers the most surprising (and probably correct) interpretation of the facts.

Not only is this a real puzzle of a book, but it gently and self-consciously tweaks the fair-play traditions and cliches of the ultra-British "Golden Age."

It's very clever, very funny, and reads like a shot. What else do you want from a mystery?

This is a very clever little mystery. It is easy to understand why Anthony Berkeley is considered to be the grandfather of the Golden Era of detective fiction. The book was written in 1929, but in spite of that date the mystery itself is not at all dated. The book is based on the premise of six amateur detectives given an unsolvable case by Scotland Yard. Each member of the Crime Club has to come up with a theory and point out the murderer. Each of the six come up with completely plausible solutions, but we don't actually find out the correct one until the last sleuth speaks. It is certainly a different take on "and then there was one". Berkeley certainly knew what he was about when he penned his detective stories! They are true gems.

It's British, it's amateurs solving a murder, the clues are all in front of you. What's better? And then on top of it all, this book gives us a crime club at which the members present their individual results and critique each other (with some dry wit at the expense of the genre). Great stuff.

"Each is a psychological and aesthetic puzzle," Gay Daly writes about the women who modeled for the Pre-Raphaelite painters. "One woman sits with eyes closed in a religious trance that seems to border on sexual ecstasy. Another, longing for an absent lover, stretches like a langorous tiger, her voluptuous body wrapped in a dress of rich royal blue velvet that dominates the canvas, insisting that the viewer dwell on her curves" (pp. xvii-xviii). Founded in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, namely William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, "believed that every rose must be painted from a live flower, every face from an actual human being" (p. xviii). They searched every Victorian street corner, drawing room, and church for the faces and bodies that would fire both their artistic and romantic fantasies. The "beautiful" and equally "disturbing" women they painted came from almost every class and corner of London. Among them were the "spoiled, petted daughter of a solicitor, a hearty, motherly prostitute, a wily barmaid, and the daughter of a Methodist minister" (p. xix).

Drawn from letters written by and to these intriguing women (p. xxii), Daly's book triumphs at bringing the Pre-Raphaelites and their romances to life in these pages. For instance, Daly explores the ten-year romance between Rossetti and his "medieval shining angel" (p. 32), Lizzie Siddal (a shopgirl), which ended with her suicide at age 32; Hunt's "dance of approach and avoidance" (p. 120) with a "gorgeous young" barmaid, Annie Miller (p. 101), a "street urchin" who "swore like a trooper and couldn't read a word" (p. 104); and Millais' sexually-charged marriage to Effie Gray, who was previously linked to John Ruskin in a strange marriage that was never consumated. Along the way, Ruskin, Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Rudyard Kipling make appearances in Daly's ambitious book.

Although it was challenging to locate a copy of Daly's out-of-print book, her study of the Pre-Raphaelites was as interesting to read as a Victorian novel. She insightfully examines Victorian social values and marriage, and reveals that the romantic lives of the Pre-Raphaelites were just as mesmerizing as their luminous paintings.

G. Merritt

The author reveals the intimate lives and souls of both the Pre-Raphaelite painters and their models. The thoughtless treatment of the women by these self-centered men is made acceptable only by the evidence of the genius involved in their craft. Daly's ability to bring these complex personalities to life is captivating.

Gay Daly's first book I believe is so rich with facts and so well researched I couldn't help thinking all the way through how much time and effort she must have put into it.

It is a journey back in time to Victorian England making you feel you like you are there watching these amazing artists do their thing. To have found out so much detail on the lives of these people was astonishing to me and if you read it you will get a fabulous education on the Pre-Raphaelites and what they believed in.

Fact that reads like fiction is my favorite genre - and this book is it: pet elephants in London apartments, exhumed beauties, a long married virgin and of course plenty of sex and drugs. Daly gives biographies of the artists with emphasis on their love lives and how that tied in with their paintings (the women discussed modeled for them even if they weren't models in general). Artists covered: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, William Holman Hunt, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Each is given a biography with many reproductions of art works, and much much focus on the woman or women they loved.

Although the book focuses on aspects of the artists lives which might tend toward lurid rather than serious, the stories interweave seemlessly with the paintings, so this book is anything but soft. For example Elizbeth Siddal became ill while poseing for Millais' Ophellia. She posed floating in a bathtub full of water while he depicted the famous drowning victim. She was Rossetti's favorite model and girl and the recuring illness influenced both their lives. He often painted her as Beatrice and in his mind saw him and her as playing out the doomed story of Dante and Beatrice.

The biographies of each artist were constantly reinforced and tied to art works. Reproductions of art were small but good quality. There were examples of sketches and the single painting by Siddal, a self portrait. This is particularily interesting because she depicted herself as serious and severe while these famous artists depicted her as the epitome of beauty.

This is very readable and gave me more appreciation for the stories behind these paintings. I recommend reading this if it sounds at all interesting to you. Libraries should archive a copy because this is excellent art history with more emphasis on women than usual, and because the painting and sketches by Elizabeth Siddal are very rarely reproduced. There is also a good discussion of the founding and early history of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and some detail about the childhoods of each artist.

I liked the book it was interesting, I gave it a good mark because it was written like harriet would have wanted it written.I found it hard to put the book down. I learned about much about the jefferson family and their history.I would read another title by this author

I enjoyed this book, even though i don't agree with some of the decisions harriet made in the book. It was good she was able to buy one of her family member at the slave auctions. I think both of her husband's would have loved her even though, she had black in her, but overall it was a good read, to let you know what happened to some of the characthers first met in Sally hemming.

At the beginning of the book I could not put the book down. I live so close to Charlottesville and I was very interested in the very possible idea that Thomas Jefferson had a "second" family that was forbidden. The way Thomas Jefferson was portrayed in the book as a man who truely cared about his "second" family, but was unable to express that in front of anyone including them was hard to relate to. I think I am open minded and could not tolerate this behaviour from someone in today's society. Thomas Jefferson is believed to have had several children by Sally Hemmings however the only thing he ever gave to any of them was the privilege to leave Monticello at the age of 21 to live as they wish. Only he would not give them the papers they needed to be legally free. The book portrays Harriet Hemmings as the President's Daughter who passed as white in Philadelphia. She married into a prestigious white family and became a very wonderful person only she can not escape the fact that she has 1/8th black blood. She has a white skin tone with green eyes however she lives everyday wondering if someone, anyone knows who she really is. At the end of the book she finds out that someone has known for several years that she was "black" but never cared! I thought the book was great except towards the end I started to lose interest. This book is a great pic for anyone who is interested in the very possible history of their county's history.

Truly, this writer is a historian. The size of the book had me somewhat concerned prior to reading. However, I am glad I took the plunge. Wow! I just finished this book yesterday, and much to my chagrin, I discovered how much history I did not know. Even though this book is a novel, it is jammed packed with truisms. She dealt with the difficult history of race i.e. white president, black slave, and all of the dynamics of the era. It is not an easy read and some of the family letters did become somewhat cumbersome near the end. The book left me wanting to know more about the Civil War. She skillfully placed human characteristics on our historical figures. As a result of reading the book I am going to buy her previous work "Sally Hemings" to provide me the background. Educational read.

It has been a long time since I have read such an involved and fast-paced book.

Monique Mucia lures you in and doesn't give you a chance to get bored.

Read this book, you won't be sorry.

Lucifer impregnates the gypsy woman Falon when she left the haven of her clan. After the rape, Falon returns to Devil's Mountain, Wallachia to give birth to his child before dying in fear of the devil's whelp. The lad Vladimir Dracula struggles with the lure of his patriarchal bloodlines with only his cousin Vashti providing him some peace from his sire. Eventually Vlad leads the army in the fight with the Turks.

Fourteen years later, after imprisonment by the enemy and a thirst for human blood, Vlad returns home to finds Vashti hates him for the death of her father. Vashti locks him up, but releases Vlad only to have him jail her. In the dungeon, Lucifer visits Vashti because he plans to use her to gain his son's cooperation. She concludes that she is the key to who will own Vlad's soul, his devilish father or God. Will Vashti help Vlad follow the light or will she complete her vengeance by sending him into the eternal darkness as her own sister has chosen?

PRINCE ETERNAL: SACRED SOUL is a great retelling of the Dracula legend as the tale is a delightful historical horror novel that brings to life 1430 Eastern Europe but never loses focus of its Dracula theme. Besides the 1430 Wallachia background, some of the key cast members seem human with flaws and frailties while others (like Lucifer and Vashti's fallen sister) make the inhuman feel genuine. Monique Mucia provides a stirring adaptation that will send the audience seeking more dark blood novels in what looks like a superior series.

Harriet Klausner

Monique Mucia has taken Vladimir Dracula out of the dregs of evil and inhumanity, and placed him among some of the greatest heroes in print. Her characters are vibrant and sensual. The plot is unpredictable, yet enticing. Dracula, himself, is mentally and phisically alluring.

As a self-published author, Monique has proven herself as a capable and talented writer. The bookcover is a work of art that rivals any in the industry.

I am pleased with my purchase of this novel and hope others

will find gratification with this read.

This books is a MUST. Dracula is given birth to and not just arrived.... he is the product of rape of a gypsey and Lucifer.. He spends must of his youth in torment and ridicule. Vashti his childhood friend she sticks up for him often. Then both their worlds fall apart.. Vlads disappears and Vashti's father and uncle are killed Vashti believe Vlad is the murderer.. However, Vlads suffered at the cruel and depraved hads of Jamel a Turk with evil intentions. He finally gets away from his clutches having spent 14 years of torture.. at the hands of Jamel and henchmen. Vlad once again meets Vashti.. only to find that she is bent on revenge for the murder of her relatives.. Vlad spent most of his life in torment trying to keep away Lucifers influance.... But they still share the bond that was there in their childhood.. This story give birth to a legend and not only from the tale of Dracula but also briefly I believe on the on the story of Vlad the Impala.. that is if Vlad gives in.. to his evil side.. when he lets his guard down.. This story is full of emotion and I spent one day reading this book unable to put it down.... I finally finished reading it at 4.30 am.. in the morning not want to finished reading until I had finished the whole book... Anyone... who love a good solid story full of emotion and depth.. will not be disapointed.. I certainly wasn't I can't wait for the Sequel... Prince Eternal: Sacred Blood... I think.. this is one of the best purchase I have made in the book arena for a longtime.. ITS A KEEPER.. Thanks you Monique for many hours of intriging entertainment..

This book contains beautiful fullcolor, fullpage photos of Prince and the people around him. It gives a great inside view in this man's life that is at least very interesting for a longtime fan like me.
Both photos from his onstage and offstage life. Yes, some pictures are of instruments, but they are just as important to him as the musicians. The same goes for the crowd shots. After all: without a crowd, there's no show.
Some pictures are posed, others are (most likely) spontaneous shots. In some photos he looks like a Prince, perfectly groomed & dressed as most of us know him, in others he looks almost like any ordinary guy. One of my favourite photos is that of Prince on a scooter wearing an old t-shirt with cut-off sleeves. It could be anyone's vacation photo.
The short text phrases on the even pages are sometimes funny, sometimes touching. They add something extra to the book though.
Even though it's not a cheap book, I'm glad that I bought it and I will progably browse through it many times again.

I really enjoyed the beautiful pictures of Prince. They were very unique. They enable you to see a more personal side of Prince.

This item only has photos on every other page and not all are of the artist. 19 of the 68 total photos are of instruments, band members, children and crowd shots. The pages without pictures have a small quote or song lyric. The photos are varied in style and very imaginative. I don't like my photo taken, but I wouldn't mind being photographed by this photographer. This one captured Prince as the larger than life performer and a very soft average Joe side of Prince. One of the most beautiful photos in the book shows an unmade-up, unshaven, relaxed man shadowed by his hammock. I've never seen Prince look more peaceful or handsome! This would be a good book for a student of photography or avid Prince fan.

Prince in Hawaii is a well presented picture book. Beautiful candid photos of Prince on glossy pages. Accompanied by small phrases for the reader to reflect on. Makes a lovely book to have lying around to pick up and flick through at will. A must buy for all Prince fans. Worth evey penny. :)