Maine Books

We have just returned from our trip to the 3 states and we found the guide helpful, more in the planning than in the actual trip itself. I would suggest this and one of the other guides, like Froemmer, as well as searching the net for options. One negative-the map that is included in not of a scale that is helpful to the driver. Too many missing roads. The maps in the sections, as well as the numbering system for attractions, are a plus. They also left a few note pages in the back, thoughtfully, so you may keep them with the book easily.

FODOR'S MAINE, VERMONT, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 10TH EDITION is a great book about New England's northern section. In addition to where the best lodging, shopping, and dining are, it also describes plenty of outdoor activity ideas for anyone trying to look good for their significant other and/or their favorite celebrity. If any of those things are important to you, you need this book.

Offers quite a variety of hikes in Maine. Could use perhaps some more detailed maps. Have not got a chance to use yet as I am planning a trip for September 2007.

I'm a native of Portland, and my friend (who's not originally from Maine) and I found this guide really helpful. Though I know the state well, I don't know all the little things about certain trails, such as whether certain trails allow dogs (important to my friend) or where a good place is to park the car (important to me, since I'm the one driving the two of us to these places). This guide tells you all that, and about all the hidden parking/entrance fees of certain trails. Highly recommended!

The illustrations, maps and photographs alone make it a worthy coffee table book, but the depth and breadth of scientific information will keep one fascinated for months or more.

For those who want to understand the ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine and the interelationships of the sea, tides, gulf stream, the shore, the birds, the fish, whales, and how they have and will change through time...this is for you. Brilliant satellite photographs and clear explanations of "how it all works".

I really enjoyed this tale. The author has a neat sense of humor, even when dealing with lots of difficulties on the job. It made me realize what it was like for a general practice back in those days, and likely for todays' rural doctors.

Great local color, humorous outlook, authentic reminiscences ofrural medicine.

I loved this book. I love Marcia Evanick as a writer and the misty harbor series is wonderful. The setting is calming and allows you to fall in love with the lives of Norah and Joanna Stevens. A great read I have shared with all of my friends.

Twenty-four years old petit Norah Stevens and her mom have relocated to Misty Harbor, Maine where she gets a job writing a weekly column for the Hancock Review that provides Views from the Other Side. Her mom's Pomeranian Zsa Zsa has moved under the next door neighbor's bush where Norah tries to get the canine diva. Ned Porter sees her and introduces himself. However, Norah fears his size as he seems even bigger than her father who beat her up last year.

As Norah adjusts to living amongst the Redwoods with even the females extended Porter family easily topping six feet, she finds herself attracted to Ned though remains afraid of him. Ned reciprocates, but believes the beautiful runt is wrong for him as he needs females like his outdoor hefty but beautiful sister-in-laws. Still as love connects them, their relationship cannot grow until she overcomes her phobia that giant males equate to abuse.

HARBOR NIGHTS is a fine contemporary romance that focuses on how abuse can potentially devastate a person's psyche and ultimately even relationships with a caring soulmate. The story line is character driven as neither Norah nor Ned is comfortable with the size gap, but their reasons greatly differ. He because he assumes a big outdoor guy needs a big woman; she because of her father's recent physical abuse. Though the resolution seems abrupt as love conquers all (this reviewer believes it would need time to heal the wounded), fans will enjoy the return to Misty Harbor (see BERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS and BLUEBERRY HILL).

Harriet Klausner

I have been waiting for a comprehensive book like this to guide me from area to area. I do some traveling and also am in contact with others that travel and this book really helps to get you to the nearest health food store. I also found the book and illustrations to be professionally well done. I found this book to be a must for all travelers who desire to eat healthy food and who wants to find the same products he/she can get at home.

I found this book to be an intresting guide to health food stores in the United States. It is a great refrence to anybody who is intrested in healthy food, also wishes to know such things as, if they sell in bulk before they get to such and such a store. I recomend it for the travaler who is looking for a health food store wherever they go.

This book really does a good job of capturing the life of maine islanders and the ups and downs of living amongst a small population (gossip, extending credit at the store, and helping out your neighbors). I am looking for the rest of the trilogy now :).

This absorbing family saga (the first volume in the Tide Trilogy) follows the life of its central character, Joanna Bennett, from girlhood to adulthood. Although that hardly qualifies as riveting subject matter, the novel is altogether satisfying on two levels.

First, the setting is extraordinarily vivid and crucial to the action. Joanne lives on a small island off the coast of Maine, the daughter of a lobsterman and sister to 5 brothers struggling to earn a living in that same increasingly difficult way. The ocean in all its moods, the ever-present wind, the wheeling seagulls--these and other natural elements permeate the story in such a way that I felt I'd actually been living on the island by the time I'd finished reading the book. Most readers would agree it's a remarkable, and very pleasant, experience to have a book transport you so completely to another time and place.

"High Tide at Noon" satisfies on a second level by making the reader care about the characters and what happens to them. Joanna's life as a young girl seems idyllic on the surface, but two men (one of whom she marries) bring plenty of trouble her way in due course. We also get to know the rest of her family, following them, as well, through the ups and downs of their lives--always with the sea and the disappearing lobster catches as background. When the lobster traps keep coming up empty, you care. I count that as an admirable achievement on the author's part.

...I want to find out what happens next. Need I say more?

This book was very unique and interesting. As a teacher, I use it in the classroom to explain couplets during my poetry unit. I also talk about illustrators and the Caldecot award. I feel strongly that Kelly Paul Briggs will be a Caldecot winner in the future. The one critique that I have is that a map would have been helpful in being able to visualize the many islands off the coast of Maine.

This beautifully illustrated book is a fun read for both parent & child. It is well-researched, and would make an excellent gift.

Liss MacCrimmon is devastated when a knee injury ends her dream job as a Scottish dancer. With her future up in the air, she returns to her hometown, the small Moosetookalook, Maine. Her aunt has asked her to take care of her business while she is gone, a Scottish store. But instead of the relaxing refuge she hoped to find, Liss is caught up in murder. She discovers the body of her elderly neighbor in the storage room of the shop. It is hard to imagine who would want to kill the retired third grade teacher, even if she is by far the nosiest woman in town. Liss is drawn into the investigation to clear her name by finding the real killer.

Ms Dunnett is an experienced, professional author. She weaves the tartan plaid of suspense into a bolt of solid mystery bound by a strong character thread. Her setting is detailed and realistic (as makes sense since she she just has to step outside her door to see matching surroundings.) The small world of rural Maine lends itself well to the cozy genre. This is the first of what should prove to be a long running Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries. Ms Dunnett has created Liss as a character that can develop over time; she lays the foundation for Liss to grow and progress without skimping on her character's strength in this debut. First books in a planned series can often feel like just an advertisement for the future. Ms Dunnett has not done that, she has written a solid mystery that could stand alone if desired. She paces the action with a structured rhythm that draws the reader into the story from the introduction to the truly surprise ending without pause.

The second and third books in the series will be Scone Cold Dead in August, 2008 and A Wee Christmas Homicide in October, 2009. It will be interesting to see what is planned for Liss in the future. The character is clearly enough defined in Kilt Dead that readers will care what happens to her. There is also enough romance left hanging to leave the curious reader dangling and coming back for more.

Kaitlyn Dunnett is best knows as Kathy Lynn Emerson, the author of the successful series of "Face Down in' historical mystery series, and many other works of fiction.

Liss MacCrimmon is one of the few people who are ecstatically happy with her career. She is a professional dancer in the touring how Strathsprey and she knows every Scottish dance and each number in the show to perfection. Tragedy strikes when she injures a leg and the doctor tells her she can never dance again. She is depressed because her leg will work normally only as long she puts no extraordinary stress like dancing on it.

She returns to her child home of Moosetookalook, Maine where her aunt owns a store selling Scottish products. On the day she arrives, her aunt leaves for Scotland and Liss in charge during the Maine Highland Games. When Liss returns home from the fair, she finds the dead body of her third grade teacher, Amanda Norris in the stock room. The autopsy shows she was killed and state police officer LaVerdiere thinks Liss is the only suspect. Refusing to wait around to be arrested, Liss looks for other possible suspects, not knowing her actions could get her killed.

KILT DEAD is a delightful cozy, the first in what this reviewer hopes is a long running series. The heroine is feisty, determined, and strong-willed; when she believes she is right, she obstinately goes her own way and doesn't listen to the advice of others. The setting is a small quaint town in Maine (capital of American cozies) with a support cost of wonderful quaint characters. Mystery readers will welcome Kaitlyn Dunnett as a fresh author whose protagonist provides the audience with a delightful opening act.

Harriet Klausner

Thanks, Amazon, for having this book I wanted. I couldn't even find it when I was actually in Bar Harbor!

If you are curious about the history of Bar Harbor, particularly the wealthy from New York, Boston, Philladelphia and beyond who summered in their "cottages" in Bar Harbor, this is the book to get. There are black & white photos of many, many cottages along with the history of ownership. Included are some interesting antedotal sidebars of the characters and their wealth. What a shame they all burned in the great fire or were demolished later. So interesting!