Accommodation Books

We have traveled in Scotland and England for 6 years. We never fly over with reservations. Scotish and British Tourist Boards have a presence in all the Airports You can depend on receiving good housing. They each publish several different accommodation directories. We use them as guides

Woodalls delivers a great book for anyone that is planning a tenting vacation. Each state has a section full of information beginning with a grid type map. You can look for different camping locations based on your exact destination within each grid block. There is also a handy quick-reference guide listing activity types and if these activities are on-site or nearby. Climate info, calendar of events, topography, as well as travel info sources are all included with phone numbers, addresses, and websites. Each camping area has a brief description and contact numbers for getting more info directly from the sites. The rather large section at the beginning of the book is divided by activities and where they are offered in each state. If your only interest is fishing, for example, you can go to that section and flip through some 30 pages of specific information. Bicycling, hiking, canoeing, and other varying adventures also have special sections. With all 50 states included, as well as Canada, I found this book to be a great resource.

This is a good guide to have if you want to be pampered. It will consistently send you toward the best accommodations and resorts (spas too) that America has to offer. The reviews are not done by professional, independent evaluators, but rather by a consensus of the common populace (8,000) who have gone to experience and rate the hotels, resorts and spa..

The writing in the Zagat guide is a bit bland and can be uninspiring. Take the Inn of the Anasazi (NM), they write, "This first rate adobe inn with a great location is a magical experiences, mixing Southern Charm with high-end-class." Where as the "Mobil Travel Guide: America's Best Hotel and Restaurants" paints a picture for you when you read about a property: "The Anasazi Inn is mesmerizing, with timber ceilings, creamy sandstone walls , cactus in terr-cotta pots and New Mexican art.".

The indexes are a very helpful (All-Inclusive Price, B&B, Beach Settings, Destinations Spas etc.) but the one index that is missing is "Bargains". You will find the average per night fare costing $200 - $400 per night. It should be stated that Zagat started as a patrician's guide to restaurants. But not here, for you will be disappointed to find that this guide had no reviews of the restaurants that are found in the hotel and resorts

However, I have used the guide various times to search out the "Top" places to stay in the U.S. and I am always pleased with the recommendations. So, if you travel a lot, and have the money to get the best you will be well served by this guide.

This fifth book in the Full Series is the best so far. The first book Full House was a nice romance book with a limited mystery, but it introduced us to Max. The next three books: Full Tilt, Full Speed and Full Blast took Max and now Jamie into adventures and a developing romance. When it seem to be evening out, enter this book. I love that the characters move from book to book so that there is an atmosphere of familiarity without stagnating. For me it brings this charming southern town to a more dimentional level. This book also brings in the humor I associate with Evanovich in Her Plum series. Though not as developed I still found some laugh out loud moments and look forward to Full Scoop, the next in the series.

This was the first book I have read by the two authors. It was a hoot. The characters were full of fun. Annie reminded me of ...me! She is a klutz that means well, but things always seem to go wrong. Wes,her love interest,is a hunk without being over whelming.
The two boarders were touching, but I loved the "doc". Every time I think about him I get the giggles. Evanovich is always good for a laugh, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another book co-authored with Hughes.

It was a fun book, just like the others. When I started reading it i could not put it down

Full Bloom, another in a the "Full" series by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes carries on with the humor and romance of the rest of the series.

I fully enjoyed the mystery, the romance and humor of this book--often laughing out loud. I'm really glad my mother introduced me to this series of books.

My only issue with this book is that the main characters from the last three books in the series, Max and Jamie, as well as their lovable computer, Muffin are relegated to minor characters. Who are Annie and Nick? I mean I like them well enough, and the story line, but it is odd that a series takes a turn like this and focuses on totally new characters. When I started this series, I thought each book did just that, focused on new characters and stories. Then, after three books with Max and Jamie, I thought the series had morphed into their series.

That said, the book and the entourage of new characters was enjoyable. It is a comedy, romantic suspense and does not disappoint.

I have lots of guidebooks - and lots of Lonely Planets, for that matter. But despite the fact that they say they are for "independent travellers", I keep finding ridiculous reviews on restaurants and hotels, to the point where I've stopped using them.

The History, Snapshot, and similar sections are great, but if you have a brain of your own - use it. Forget their restaurant and hotel recommendations, as I'm not even sure they visit the places. Sometimes they have history or comments on places that is worthwhile to read, though. All tourbooks may have these drawbacks, to be fair.

Finally, I think I'm going to stop buying Lonely Planet's, though. First, they always act like driving is so scary everywhere, when it's actually quite easy to anyone with a brain. They also forget to give worthwhile tips on getting a car, etc. I imagine that this is their way of "saving the Earth". To a person who does care about the Earth, but doesn't believe that being a dirty hippie is going to save anything, this - and all their other BS trying to coerce their opinions onto you as fact - gets really freakin' old. Yes, yes, I know, LP is founded by some hippie freak from AUS or something - whooptie doo. That doesn't mean I have to pay some jerk who's going to push his politics on me, whether I agree with them or not.

I found this guide very helpful. I travelled to Japan 10 years ago but this was a fully guided trip, and i was a school student.
This time around, my husband and I did all the planning ourselves. Lots of information, would be perfect for someone who has never travelled to Japan before.

I always buy LP series whenever I travel to Asia and Europe. I bought a previous edition and the current edition of Lonely Planet Japan over the past 4 years. It helped me get around Japan without a problem. But for those who can't speak Japanese or can't recognize kanji, this book has serious errors that might send you to a different place. An example is that in both editions they messed up the kanji vs the English for Asakusa (historical district) and Akasaka (business district). These are completely different areas of Tokyo, you're in trouble if you're showing this to a taxi driver or someone on the street. Another example is the kanji symbol for bathroom is wrong. For someone who wants to go right away, it might take you a while to find someone who can guess what you mean if you point those kanji characters at them.

Those are just a few things that I spotted so far (i only read about tokyo, nikko, and kyoto). I also don't like the restaurant recommendations in this book. First of all, if a restaurant is in this review then most likely everyone will go there. The best about japan is that you can stroll around little alleys next to skyscrapers and will run into a neighborhood restaurant that's good and cheap. the price they listed for the so-called cheap restaurants are almost doubled the price of what I can get in a big city like Tokyo. Makes me wonder if those writers actually lived there after all.

I would still use this book in Japan to get around, it's still quite informative and entertaining to read. but for those who can't speak japanese or recognize their written characters, I suggest you bring another book with you.

I rented a car at Narita (Tokyo) and headed north on a 3-week road trip. This book has some reasonable hotel recommendations, even at the higher end of the price scale, but it is hard to understand how the authors of the book picked restaurants. At one Lonely Planet favorite I was served a soggy tuna sandwich that might have been found in England circa 1950. A place in Sapporo billed as serving "authentic Indian food" had nothing on the menu that I recognized from Indian restaurants in the U.S., England, or India. Finally the only restaurant in Japan where I managed to get food poisoning was a Lonely Planet suggestion.

Good on hotels, however, and the maps are helpful once you get into a city or region.

The 8th edition is 150 pages less than the 7th. What did they cut out? Hokkaido, Tohoku, and hotels seem to be trimmed in a lot of areas. For example, Kushiro got cut to a bare mention and Onuma National Park north of Hakodate no longer made the list. If you want to see the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi, it's still in there but you're going to have to stumble across it in a box listed under "Ainu Rennaisance." I suppose Tokyo-Kyoto is what sells so if you cut, then do it far away from these two areas.

The budget hotel listing has gotten thin, and this was the main content I liked to use. Many times, the only budget accomodation listing is the Youth Hostel. Many times there are only 1 or 2 listings after the YH, but the price is high. I know there are lots more budget options, but I also know the best lists for budget lodgings are obtained at the information center in town. Why couldn't they check out some on that list and put them in the book? You're now better off checking the web before you go or waiting until you get to the info booth near the train station to get a complete list and find something that meets your budget.

I suppose some people use the restaurant listings but I can't comment. However, I usually eat at a place that's near to wherever I am at meal time. I also like the listing of the few 'gaijin' hangouts; most of the clientele are Japanese anyway.

There are complaints on the lack of information on the banking system. It's all in this edition. My guess is a reviewer got caught out after hours and got ticked off. Banks are open until 3, M-F; you're better off checking out the Post Offices which are open until 5/6 PM. ATMs close with the bank or post office. All this is in this edition, you just have to read it. I cash enough money at one time for 3-5 days worth of hotels and expenses. Credit cards won't pull you through in this country.

The maps are either small scale or generalized. They're good for getting you to a place if not around it. I've found most of the maps in both the RG and LP very similar. The Let's Go maps are a bit better due to being bilingual, but they're the same scale. It's best if you pick up a local map upon arrival. Even some of these aren't too good either, and can leave off many smaller roads and streets. If you want a good map, I've found that I have to buy the atlas-type book for the area of interest in a bookstore or a highway rest area. There are several brands, such as "Mapple," and they are arranged by 'ken' or prefecture. Some come with both romaji (western European characters) and Japanese. You just have to page through them to see what you can read. The best are only in Japanese but they are detailed down to the traffic signals.

All in all, this guide is for the individual traveler who is traveling mostly by a JR Rail Pass. It covers more places than any other guide, and in doing such doesn't have space to give a long history, photos (Eye Witness Guides), or a long history or stories about each stop. If you need the history included in the guide, look to one of the others. The Rough Guide covers fewer places but has more of the background on each place, and is popular for this reason. If the places you're going are all covered in the RG, then use that one. If you're going to Tokyo and Kyoto, you can look to the Frommers, Fodor, or Eye Witness guides which is almost all history, culture, and pictures, or just get the LP-Tokyo guide.

This guide is for practical information: finding a hotel, getting around, and getting to the places you want to see. It's not for the "drive-only" or "tour-group" individual traveller, as the former will be everywhere that not listed in any travel book, and the information for a tour type trip is thin. It's pretty good at fulfilling it's niche except for the diminished hotel listings in the budget range. Because of the thinned hotel listings, I drop a star.

Also look at: Rough Guides Japan; Let's Go Japan; Moon Guides Japan. These are all for "on-your-own" traveling.

BUY THIS BOOK!
I love the way she writes it is the grown woamn in me that read Judy Blume non stop that appreciates this effort the most!

if you read this Gally it is me Rebecca ;-)

inartfully written and dissappointing all the way through. An uninspired, and even unfunny, attempt to parody JD sallinger meets a Mccally Cullcand movie. There is so much better stuff out there to read. How does stuff like this get published?

The story is unclimactic - it doesn't grow and only leads to a predictable ending. The viewpoint from the 12 year old girl is not convincing and is trite. The whole story was stale.

The sun is sweltering. Sweat drips from your every pore and your muscles ache from heat exhaustion. Nothing sounds more refreshing than a cool glass of ice water.

Similarly, the school year drags on. It is past the middle of the last quarter of the year, and exams and papers have piled up. And right now, nothing could be more enjoyable and refreshing than reading Galaxy Craze's By the Shore.

What makes By the Shore so enjoyable is not the writing, although it is good, and not the humor, although it is funny, but the story line, which is a dead-on portrayal of the life of a 12-year-old girl.

May lives with her mother, Lucy, and her younger brother, Eden, in a boarding school-turned-bed and breakfast in rural England. Lucy is distracted from motherhood by the men and friends in her life. Eden is too busy to notice because he lives in a make-believe world of fairies and elves. But May wants some attention from her mom.

May tells one friend that her parents are still married, but that her father lives in the city. She tries to be popular by buying new clothes and hair barrettes with furry fishes on them.

When an eligible bachelor author comes to stay in the bed and breakfast, lives are turned upside-down in a romance too sweet to be seen through any but the eyes of a child.

Rufus comes to Lucy's bed and breakfast to work on the book he is translating. His on-again, off-again girlfriend, Patricia, makes many visits because she is jealous that Lucy is seducing Rufus. Patricia is right to be worried, as she is soon out of the picture. May's father enters the scene and May watches as her parents quickly rekindle, then extinguish any romance that might have been left between them.

Fortunately, Rufus remains.

Amidst all the turmoil of her mother's love life, May tries to find her place at school and in her family. Patricia lies to the popular girls at May's school and says May knows the famous musician Jet Jones, and that he has even kissed her. Suddenly May finds herself invited to the most exclusive birthday party of year, but leaves her best friends behind in the process.

Not surprisingly, May discovers that popular girls are not all they seem, childhood fantasies about parents should remain fantasies and, most importantly, her father is a jerk.

As By the Shore unravels, what's left is two people in love, a family full of surprises and two friends who love each other enough to remain friends.

Aside from a glass of ice water, what could be more refreshing than that?

First - I was a bit surprised to find that By the Shore is currently rated at only three stars, as I enjoyed it so much and contemplated giving it a 5 star rating again, four years after my first reading. Then I took a look at the 1 star ratings and saw that a group of mean children (or jealous unpublished non-authors) had conducted a "one star" smear campaign against Ms. Craze. Don't let this sway you from reading By the Shore. The book is moving and thought provoking. Its strength is in its subtleties. I found myself reflecting on my childhood as I read, and was drawn back to memories that had escaped me for years. I look forward to this new author's next effort.

I read this book a LONG time ago and I loved it, but it fell apart and I lost it. I couldn't remember the title or the author, but I remembered the main characters name and the title had rose in it. I finally found the title on this site. This is a WONDERFUL book that kept me captivated, I still remember it till this day.

This book was recommended to me because I love a good paranormal story. I was a tad disappointed in the fact that it was more romance involved and only got spooky at the beginning and the very end of the book. The two main characters sort of got on my nerves about how they were so very deceitful to each other, but always seemed to forgive one another for horrible things that they did to each other. That was kind of unbelievable, but then again it is a fiction novel. It was good enough for me to finish the entire book, but like I said I was told it was more a paranormal novel so I kept waiting for something spooky to happen chapter after chapter. If you like just romance novels, then this is for you. If you like a good spooky novel, before reading this, I would suggest you look elsewhere first.

This book was recommended to me because I love a good paranormal story. I was a tad disappointed in the fact that it was more romance involved and only got spooky at the beginning and the very end of the book. The two main characters sort of got on my nerves about how they were so very deceitful to each other, but always seemed to forgive one another for horrible things that they did to each other. That was kind of unbelievable, but then again it is a fiction novel. It was good enough for me to finish the entire book, but like I said I was told it was more a paranormal novel so I kept waiting for something spooky to happen chapter after chapter. If you like just romance novels, then this is for you. If you like a good spooky novel, before reading this, I would suggest you look elsewhere first.

This book deals with the paranormal - ghosts & such. At first I thought it was going to be really creepy... as it turned out, it was only creepy in a couple of spots. The romance was the main focus of the book & it was ok, but it dragged out a little too much & the 2 main characters had a real habit of doing things that I considered really dishonest... can't say that I'd want the 'hero' in my life acting like Jonathan did (the heroine, Devon, didn't act ANY better). It may have just been my attitude while reading the book, but I couldn't seem to connect with the characters... never got a deep feeling for them. KM has some pretty good storylines - but feelings never seem to 'jump off the page' for me.

Here is the story of Devon James, a successful writer with a relationship that is on the rocks. Deeply unsatisfied with her personal life, she develops writer's block. She has a deadline for her next book looming in the near future and a relationship that is suffocating her. To solve the two problems, she books a weekend at an old bed and breakfast on an island off the state of Connecticut. The trip there is gloomy with rain, an impatient fiancé, and what turns out to be an old Victorian house in the midst of renovation. Devon and her fiancé Michael try to make the best of it and they stay overnight in the house against their better judgment. That evening they make love and Devon can sense a spirit in the room with them actually participating in their lovemaking. (No, this isn't a graphic love scene.) Well after fiancé Michael falls asleep, Devon has a terrifying vision of another spirit in the room and is so terrified by it that she is unable to go to sleep for fear that she'll be injured by the malevolent ghost. Michael sleeps restlessly beside her while she is awake the entire night. When they wake up they resolve to leave as quickly as they can.

They return to New York City and Michael wants everything to go back to normal, but they never do because Devon is so fascinated by the old house and the ghosts she encountered there that she begins to research what happened at the old house. Rather predictably, she breaks up with Michael, who, though not a bad guy, never took her writing seriously. He wants her to settle down and become the perfect corporate wife. She has known she doesn't love him and gives up trying to make things right with Mr. Wrong.

During the course of the research on the old house, Devon meets the wealthy Jonathan Stafford, owner of the old house. He lives in New York running a huge conglomerate. His son is at a special hospital, crippled from the waist down. Jonathan is very protective of his son and as the owner of the old haunted house, he bristles at Devon's research. He's afraid that something in his family history will come out to embarrass him and more importantly, to embarrass or traumatize is crippled son. We don't find out why his son is wheelchair bound until the conclusion to the story so I won't say much more there.

Jonathan will use any means possible to persuade Devon to drop her research of the old house and the history of his family on the island. Devon has a complete and justified mistrust of Jonathan's motives. In spite of that, a relationship develops between the two characters. Now that I've set the stage for the story I can tell no more as it would ruin the suspense. This was a very chilling ghost story mixed with a sizzling romance. The ghost story is so well done that it could have easily stood on its own without the romantic element. The romance is so well done that it'll send you looking for your husband or significant other. This was a very satisfying read.

This is actually the first book I've thrown away. The characters were shallow, the plot was silly, just no substance. They were ready to jump each other right when they met! I just didn't get it, thought it was really a soft porn story, way too much sex!

Sloan Fairchild has spent her life feeling second-rate. Her parents are so involved in each other and their careers as Egyptologists that they barely acknowledge Sloan's existence expect as a glorified assistant. Her fiancé made no secret of the fact that he found her staid and boring, and left her behind without a glance when he found someone better. Alicia is a good friend to her, but Sloan has always felt she paled into insignificance compared to the beautiful and vivacious woman. Recently, Sloan has made changes to her boring life, chucking her job to turn the San Francisco Victorian she inherited into a B&B. It's hard work and Sloan is barely eking by, but she's enjoying her new life nonetheless.

Even more dramatic changes are in store for Sloan when she agrees to take in Alicia's fiancé for a month while he finishes work on his latest novel. Carter Madison was best friends with Alicia's late husband, and he has decided to take responsibility for Alicia and her two young sons. He is thrown into turmoil upon his first meeting with Sloan, and feels a spark he's never felt with any woman, including Alicia--and it's a feeling Sloan reluctantly shares. While they cannot deny their attraction for each other, they both know that their relationship has no future. Carter has made a commitment to Alicia and the boys and can't destroy their lives in order to be with Sloan.

I had a number of problems with this story, including the following:
--There was a lot of cheating and betrayal of trust going on here.
--That said, Carter's act of self-sacrifice just seemed a bit much for me. I'm just not sure why Carter felt the need to step into his dead friend's shoes. Alicia was not hurting financially, so the whole setup seemed overly contrived to me. (But, once everyone made that commitment, they should have stuck to it.)
--I'm not sure I even liked any of the main characters. Sloan's constant self-effacement was annoying, Carter's moods were offputting, and Alicia was flighty and inconstant.

BREAKFAST IN BED was initially published in 1983 and, while it isn't an utterly terrible book, it hasn't held up well under the test of time. Its biggest sin is that it is ultimately boring. There are so many better books out there--including some by this author--that I'm not sure that it's worth the investment of readers' time and money except for fans of Sandra Brown interested in getting a taste of her early work.

(Note: Alicia's story can be found in SEND NO FLOWERS.)

Breakfast in Bed is a quick afternoon read with some fun twist. This is a story about Sloan Fairchild an owner of a new B&B and Carter Madison a famous author who is spending a month in her B&B. The twist is the Carter and Sloan are attracted to each other but Carter is engaged to her Sloan's best friend. The heart of the book is that they both want to do the honorable thing. This wasn't my favorite book but the author did a great job with the sweet story. I would also suggest books by Kate Angell, Deirdre Martin and Kimberly Raye.

I really was not impressed by this one. I am a huge Brown fan, but what was she thinking?

The main heroine was boring and a little wierd if you ask me. The whole story was really annoying to me.

Sloan Fairchild has spent her entire life feeling worthless. It happens with her family and anyone else she loves. She decided to put herself into her B&B. She was content until Carter Madison came into her life. He was trying to finish his novel, and needed some peace and quiet to complete it. They both felt the attraction, but he was her friend Alicia's fiancé. As they both try to fight their feelings, they fight a losing battle.

This is one of the first Sandra Brown books I read, and find myself pulling it out to reread it again and again. It is a classic story.

What an utterly fantastic book! I wasn't sure what to expect from it since it was a book I randomly picked up the library. It just looked interesting, and since I love romantic suspense (and that's what it was labeled as) I thought, what the hell, why not? And I ended up loving the book, even though it was completely not what I expected.

Return To Me is best described as a thoroughly primal, raw, passionate, story. It's extremely erotic. It might not be the most sophisticated story in terms of language, style, and plot, but it more than makes up for it with bold sexuality, strong characters, and an interesting storyline. Though the book is classified as a romantic suspense, it is not on the level on your typical book of that genre. The suspense plot is subtle, more of a background aspect, and there's not a lot of guess-work involved. The story is more focused on the characters themselves, but it works for the book.

Simon is the typical tortured, bad boy hero and I was instantly fascinated by him. He's so internally conflicted about what he wants, what he deserves, and the demons from his past, but yet he doesn't lost that Alpha male personality. I just wanted to give him a big hug. Ellen is the polar opposite...the shy, wealthy, good girl. It's one of my favorite dynamics in romance books. The depth of the characters is fairly thorough. There were a few points I thought could have been better explored, but for the most they had nice dimension. They had a powerful chemistry together, but were constantly fighting themselves over preconceptions, deservedness, and a host of other issues. Their relationship was very push-pull. I was rooting for them from the beginning.

The book - though I adored it - isn't for everyone. With such a strong, in-your-face sexuality throughout the entire story, there are a lot of people who won't care for it. There's nothing pretty or tame about the sex in the book. It's down and dirty and raw, but passionate at the same time. It's one of the things I loved most about the story. I've always wanted to read a romance book with a high level of eroticism but yet a complete romance. It's just not something you tend to find in the mainstream. Sex is more pretty and mild in those and more about the romance, which is fine most of the time. There's a lot of erotica on the 'net, but those are generally just gratuitous sex with no romance or just a smidge. So it was exciting to find a book with a bold sexuality and yet a wonderful romance to go with it. But with that said, like I stated previously, Return To Me won't appeal to everyone. If you like your sex on the vanilla side and sporadically occurring, then you'll hate the book so DON'T READ IT!, but if you like some chocolate with your sex you'll love it as much as much as I did.

So...fantastic book in my opinion. I can't wait to go find more of McKenna's stories.

This book is similar to Hot Night and Jaid Black's One Dark Night in that the villain is a psychotic sociopath. Simon is a photojournalist who is convinced that he brings disasters with him where ever he goes and a child hood lover of El who is very beautiful and engaged to the son of wealthy socialites; Brad but the engagement is in trouble because they thought she owned the mansion her bead and breakfast is in when she paid her mother for it and owes the bank big time. The problems are compounded by Brads overbearing ways and his bitch of a mother. The plot is OK but not nearly as well done as Hot Night and Simon's inability to commit to EL is not convincing. The characters are alright and the sex scenes well written with a little Ds (Simon and El both switch roles).

Flawed but not horrid and a decent read.

I have read and loved all five of Shannon McKenna's books. Her characters are different and interesting. Her books are thrillers, with terrible bad guys and a lot of suspense, and always a happy ending. She's one of my favorite authors.

I purchased this book to try out a new author, but I must say I am not a fan if this is a typical example of her work.
What a whiney, pathetic, emotional wreck this "Alpha male hero" is. Why would anyone put up with being treated like that!
The heroine is not much better - she is successful, independant, knows what she wants and yet keeps coming back for more. I am sorry I ordered more of this authors books before I had sampled this one. In my opinion there was not much substance to the story, the plot was flakey, the characters were entirely unbeliveable and the whole book did not make much sense.

I was very disappointed in this book, it read like it was a
graphic sex novel instead of mystery/romance. Totally unseemly
in my opinion. Crude language and there was a little suspence
in the story line, however, it was overshadowed by explicit
sex descriptions.Actually, I felt the mystery was a weak one,
and felt like 100 pages of this book was just crap. Nothing
read smoothly, and the characters lacked depth, although we didn't really get to read much about them, so maybe that isn't
an adequate characterization.
In my opinion, I'm seething, because I wasted my money.!
I have read other books by McKenna, but didn't expect this.

If you have the time to travel Europe, you can use this book to check out some very interesting, and unusual housing.

I bought this book hoping it would be all it promised - the definitive guide to convents and monastery guesthouses in Europe. There are no maps and no indexes. The descriptions are very lazy, nearly a copy/paste. The lack of an area maps with the guesthouses marked makes this guidebook very diffcult to use.

To the author: try to use this book to find places to stay in any given city - you'll quickly see, it's no help. You need an area map with the guesthouses plotted. In the description, tell us how far the location is from the largest, closest city.

I found this book to be very helpful in detailing the options available to travelers in Europe. I know I will utilize it for and upcoming trip to Italy.

We were very pleased with the format of this book. Not only is the book practical (it has the monastery contact information we were looking for), but it also approached the subject from a spiritual perspective - very important. The only disappointment, however, was that it didn't have any maps, which made it more difficult to find out where many of the places were located. But nonetheless, it's been very helpful for us, and we've also loaned the book out to friends who have also found it very helpful in making their travel plans. We give it four stars.

I bought Kevin Wright's book before a trip to Europe. The idea behind the book is a winner; unfortunately the execution leaves much to be desired. (Largish) monasteries that do exist are not mentioned, Wright would have at least one monastery be in a town in which it most certainly has not been for the last 500 years; accuracy is not always Wright's strong point.

It's a huge shame that Wright didn't approach the right offices in Rome, as can easily be done done, and assemble a much more comprehensive and authoritative guide to Europe's monasteries and their guesthouses. Instead, he seems to have largely done his research on the web.

It may well be cheaper to buy this book than to do tons of web searches, but before doing so, you ought to be apprised of this book's limitations.