Blake Books

It came in a very timely manner and was in great condition, as described...thank you!

This tiny little book/CD pack was my introduction to the FastTrack product line. I liked this title so much that I promptly ordered the same book in the larger format so that I could study it more easily on my music stand. Within about two weeks I had ordered the Level Two book and all of the song books, as well as the keyboard and vocal books. I even ordered the two bass books for my friend's birthday.
These books are VERY easy to use and the examples are fun to play.
Highly recommended by a connoisseur of instructional books and videos!
:) Sarah

I really liked this book. Its written in a very interesting way. Very contemporary language. There are all kinds of exercises with many different types of beats. You are going to be able to play Reaggae, Funk, Bossa Nova, Country, Hip-hop, etc. Just sit down, get your sticks and don't stop practicing. You are gonna love the exercises. The CD is very helpfull too. If you never played drums before, maybe you wanna buy the first edition but if you have some knoledge, this is the book for you.

It's easy to learn playing well when you get this book and CD. Good stuff

This is the book used in my Beginning Drums course, and it is a very good tool to use in a teacher/student environment. It's not a lot of fun if you want to learn by yourself. If you want to learn by yourself, I suggest you start with "Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing Drums, 2nd Edition". Otherwise, a very fine deal.

Though Gardner does indulge in some whining and some defensive CYA rhetoric, his book exceeds the genre's standards because he actually speaks about the game and its players as much as the aggro that occurred off the pitch. Most of these books have very little to say about the game at all.

this gives a great account of the infamous bill gardiner from HIMSELF, not from many of the others who have included him in their hooligan literary works. surprisingly, he comes across as an easy going, loner type, who points out on several occasions he was never part of any firm, he always went alone. this is true to an extent, but from other readings youy can see people formed a firm around this guy knowing that when it hit the fan, this bloke was always the last man standing. so in effect he went alone, but others woudl follow... he is very passionate west ham fan, who would do anything for the club, including organising tours with fans and coaching and scouting for juniors. he shows his human side and how he got caught up in it, and then his perspective of west ham football club and where they are headed. i was expecting a series of violent bloody encounters but it let me down there, but it was good to hear about the feller from himself. he wasnt random in his violence, he did it because he wanted to watch west ham and wouldnt let anyone stand in his way.

A little disappointed. Gardner spent more time trying to disprove that he was a thug than providing the reader with real action. He was a true Hammer fan and I would love to share a pint with Bill and get the real story.

Bill Gardner was a top member of the ICF, the firm that supported (supports) West Ham United in London's East End. What that means is, he kicked butt in the many battles between firms that were huge in the 60s, 70's, and 80s. These are not minor fisticuffs, people. These are full-on wars between hundreds of experienced fighting men. He made a name for himself as a fearless leader. His telling of those battles comes across as honest and, believe it or not, humble. He doesn't want to talk himself up, he isn't looking to crown himself the baddest of the "hooligan" element. (And Gardner didn't go around trashing chippys or doing random hooligan vandalism, he was looking for the lads of the opposing firms, just for the record.) He just remembers the crazy years on the terraces and on the streets after matches, where it all kicks off and it could be a serious, dangerous battle to get back to your tube station. He gives a straight forward and entertaining tale about many, many classic battles between Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham, and of course Millwall, amongst many others,

Gardner is famous for not using weapons (unlike the Everton mob, for example), just his fists and cojones, and his presence was enough to put opponent firms on the retreat. His story telling is great, and there is even a great section on when he worked the door at some gnarly clubs that saw equally fierce action. The book is great and comes from a man who never was looking for the limelight, just a winning West Ham football game and a good steaming in afterwards!

The book is a GREAT read.
I have many WHU friends - some of whom are top flight.
Gardner's writting is very self-effacing.
He brings to life the banter. Banter that can only be heard down Millwall or West Ham and maybe the Orient. A unique humour. Scousers and Mancs don't have it. The north London clubs don't possess it. The west London clubs wouldn't understand it.
There's a sibling rivalry between WHU and MFC, whether you're from Bethnal Green or Bermondsey - maybe it's a docks thing? Hard times are always coupled with humour.
Football violence of the late 60s. 70s and 80s can never be replicated, because of how stadiums are built now and security and the onus of bad behavier being ultimately with the club.
This is a social history book. A good book.

If you are a beginner hand bookbinder like I am - and teaching yourself how to do it - this is a great book.

I had checked it out from the library and knew immediately that I wanted my own copy.

This book is great! There are so many great ideas of how to make the handmade books. I'm sure many have been thought of before, but this book makes sure to run you through each step in an organized fashion to ensure and strong stable book. This book would have come in handy when I was trying to figure out how to make an accordian book for my photography final. The only disappointment is that there are not more color photos. There are color photos of the DONE books, but no color photos of books in the process. I just think it would help me a little bit more. All in all, this is a great book with good ideas. I'm feeling inspired to make a new book now.

I wanted to start making my own books, so I bought this one to help me. I had a few problems. Some of the steps in the starch paste recipe are unclear, so the first time I tried I got starch soup instead. And in the hard cover multi-signature instructions, the steps get very contradictory. They tell you to past the hinge onto the spine directly, then later you're told to paste down the sewing tape BEFORE the hinge.. which would be impossible if you had followed instructions up to that point, because the tape is sewn into the signatures right at the spine.

I've managed to muddle through, but I still would not recommend this book to people just starting out in bookbinding.

This book is awesome. It has beautiful pictures, clear diagrams, and tons of inspiration for any bookmaking project. It gives ideas for gifts (journals) and artists books.

This was the first book I bought for learning bookbinding. I liked the pretty color pictures and the way everything was kept simple. That is also the weakness of this book, as soon as you really decide to get serious there is insufficient information to do a professional job of any type of bookbinding and you end up going elsewhere for more information. But it accomplished my goal, and that is, it got me started in a wonderful hobby. And I still use the technique contained therein for making my own bookcloth and paste. Simple, easy, fun.

I remembered loving this book from my childhood and was happy to read it to my 5.5 year old girl. She enjoyed the whole story, from beginning to end, though she was a bit spooked in places. James' aunts are quite nasty, and the cloud people are very frightening. Dahl is from an older England--a place that could be mean and cruel to children. And so, Dahl's worlds are not always the happiest of places. This only means that the book might be best suited to children from age 7 or 8 on up.

Reading the book as an adult (and having just read two other Dahl books) I have the sense that Dahl tends to make up the story as he goes along. He doesn't seem to have a structure or a plan, but rather relies on his powers of imagination to push the story forward. This can leave his tales in a bit of a freewheeling state. Perhaps he's more of a fireside storyteller than a novelist. But Dahl's sense for his young audience is quite good, and he manages to bring James, the peach, and the insects to a fine end. The tale is worth reading for many a generation to come.

James and the Giant Peach is such an exciting book!
It's about a boy named James who meets a man who has magic crystals. But on accident, he tripped and the crystals spilled all over the peach tree. Which never grew anything so the crystals made that one little peach and the only peach grow really big, so it was as big as the house.So one day he started to circle the peach and found an entrance that he could crawl in, so he did and he heard voices. He got scared, but he kept going and met Centipede, Grasshopper,a Ladybug and Worm and finally a Spider. But with so much vibration, the peach snapped and started to roll away.
And that's as far as I'm going so you will have to read it to find out the rest!

Wonderful, fantastical adventure of a boy and his friends in a giant peach. Roald Dahl has written quite a number of books, and some of them are really more suited for older readers, due to difficulty of language and story theme. But this one I would definitely recommend as a first Roald Dahl book; suitable for all ages. In fact, I liked this even better than "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

As a volunteer reader to school children, I'm always searching for stories that hold their interest. JAMES and the GIANT PEACH is just the book to grab the little peoples' minds and promote the shining upturned faces that every storyteller loves to see. As James and his larger-than-life insect friends ride a wayward giant peach through many heartstopping adventures, I always sense that each listening child has latched onto the insect with characteristics most similar to their own self image and rides with it, relishing each inventive way their bug contributes to the well-being of all the others. In fact, in my post reading conversation with the students, I ask what insect was the favorite. Each child has a different answer and reason for their selection. It's fascinating to hear each little person describe his or her choice.

Mr. Dahl wrote many children's books before his death in 1990, and each of them is a masterpiece of invention, excitement, humor, and scariness that children love to experience. In my opinion, JAMES and the GIANT PEACH, his first children's book after a decade and a half of writing adult stories, is the most appealing, never failing to capture the attention of young listeners and filling their minds with wondrous images.

If you haven't read it, do so. If you haven't read it to a child, do that also -- as soon as possible.

Perhaps I should confess right up front that this review of what is popularly regarded solely as a children's book is being written by a 50+-year-old male "adult" who hadn't read a kids' book in many years. For me, Welsh author Roald Dahl had long been the guy who scripted one of my favorite James Bond movies, 1967's "You Only Live Twice," and who was married for 30 years to the great actress Patricia Neal. Recently, though, in need of some "mental palate cleansing" after a bunch of serious adult lit, I picked up Dahl's first kiddy novel, "James and the Giant Peach," and now know what several generations have been aware of since the book's release in 1961; that this is an absolutely charming story for young and old alike, with marvelous characters, a remarkably imaginative story line and some quirky humor scattered throughout.

As most baby boomers and their kids and grandkids probably know by now, this short novel introduces us to James Henry Trotter, a young boy who is forced to move in with his nasty Aunts Sponge and Spiker when his loving parents are eaten by a rhinoceros on the streets of London (!). His miserable existence takes a turn for the better when a mysterious old man gives him a bagful of magic green crystals, which James promptly and accidentally spills near the base of a barren peach tree. What follows is wondrous in the extreme, as James discovers a septet of insectoid friends inside the enormous, house-sized fruit that soon develops. Along with his new buddies--a centipede, an old grasshopper, an earthworm, a glowworm, a silkworm (which character was oddly dropped from the 1996 Disney filmization), a spider and a ladybug--James sets off in the detached peach on a trans-Atlantic journey, and this is just the beginning of his great adventures. Dahl makes sure that each of his insect characters has a distinct personality of his or her own; the centipede is a snarky showoff, the earthworm a constant worrier, the grasshopper wise and serene, the silkworm a quiet nonentity, Miss Spider sweet and caring, the ladybug warm and maternal, the glowworm mainly concerned with keeping her light going. Each brings its own set of abilities to the fore in times of crisis, James' own particular strength being his great boyish intelligence, natch. They are a terrific team of characters that effectively show the little ones the value of teamwork and overcoming differences.

Adult readers of "James and the Giant Peach" will likely be struck by errant thoughts as the story progresses. For example, the violent deaths of Spiker and Sponge, not to mention James' parents, are surprising, if glossed over lightly. Perhaps these instances of violence are the reason why this book ranks #56 on the American Library Association's list of "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999." (Dahl's "The Witches" is #27.) Still, generations of impressionable youths have managed to take in the "objectionable" aspects of this book with no discernible damage to their delicate psyches, as far as I can tell! Adult readers may also be amused at the mention of a "famous factory where they made chocolate" in the book (a foreshadowing of 1964's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"?), and wonder at the number of sophisticated words (such as "wampus," "manticore" and "prock") that Dahl dishes out for the kiddies. They may also get a huge kick out of the hilarious poems and songs scattered throughout the story, as well as by the lighthearted humor in general. (I think it's hilarious that Miss Ladybug winds up marrying the head of the NYC Fire Department!) Grown-ups may also find cause to wonder why all those 502 seagulls fall into James' lasso trap. Couldn't all those birds detect this trap after 50 or so were snared? But this is a quibble. From magical beginning throughout its action-packed length (I haven't even mentioned the shark sequence yet, or the extended segment with the Cloud Men, which the Disney film unwisely drops if favor of an underwater ghost ship that is not in Dahl's novel), this book is a joy and a pleasure for young and--as I have just proved to myself--um, older alike. This classic work hardly needs MY seal of approval at this late date, but I just wanted all the adults out there to know that this might be a fun read for them, too. And now, I think I'm gonna go pick up "The Witches"....

Bought for my daughter but i ended up reading while she is finishing book one. its a great book.

Survival of the fittest was always a theory that described nature. But for Alison, this theory is perfect for her family.

Alison thought she had a pretty good life, except for the parts where her parents hardly acknowledged her until they needed a favor. But then the FBI came knocking at her door and arrested her mom, accusing her of embezzlement. With her mom in jail, there is no one who Alison can turn to (like there was anyone before). With her dad left, who has no idea how to take care of the situation, aunts and uncles who only care about Grandma Diamond's fortunes, and a boyfriend who is becoming pretty distant, the only person Alison finds comfort in is her cousin, Lily.

Lily is pretty ecstatic that Alison's mom was arrested (of course, she would never say that to Alison). But the one thing that Lily wants the most is to see her perfect cousin get knocked off her high horse and become the biggest loser both at school and in the real world. It may take a while, but Lily is definitely ready to see her cousin go down, and her first move is Chad, Alison's boyfriend.

Chad is beginning to feel like his and Alison's relationship is drifting apart, and is seeing an opportunity to open up with her cousin, Lily. Not only would he be dating the hottest girl in school, but all the popularity and money that comes along with Lily is a pretty good incentive. Just as long as no one finds out about his financial status or what he has to worry about in his house. If he did start to date Lily, it would not only hurt Alison but also his best friend, Tom.

Tom has a huge crush on Lily (but of course it is a secret). With his twin sister, Zoey, back home, after being kicked out of her fifth school, Tom just wants to live his life without any inclusion of his father, and hopes that Lily sees how he would be a better boyfriend for her. It's not so easy, though, since his sister has gotten weirder and the reason why she got kicked out of the last school might just ruin his reputation.

Zoey is back and ready to take revenge on Alison, who she thought was her friend but betrayed her at the worst possible moment. But will Zoey really turn on Alison, since she is the only friend and ally she has?

Everyone has their secrets, and everyone has their strategies. Let the games begin.

Not only devious but also very entertaining, PLAYING WITH FIRE is one book that you will want to read. Just be glad that their secrets aren't your secrets, even if they may be little.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen

When I first read the first one where Alison thought kelly
would be there for her but then kelly is betraying her and
stole her boyfriend and mostly having every one betraying
Alison. Zoey seems she is using Alison for Revenge but is
having second thought. When the Grandmother had that
bomb and didn't die? That was weird because she walked
right through it. When Alisons dad called and warned her
to stay there, Alison was worried. When she went home, her
dad was gone. When she opened the peice of paper her dad
left on the desk, a key fell out and the paper said nothing
on it.

The book Playing with Fire is an amazing book! I can't wait to read the second book becaus at the end of the book (Playing with fire) THe grandmother is in the pool house and a bomb goes off. but, Alison is by the pool and she sees that happen and yells "Grandmother!"

awesome awesome book! alison's was a normal rich girl until her mother got put into jail. now thanks to kelly, her cousin the backstabber, she is cosidered the outcast. the pitiful outcast. she can trust no one, not even her boyfriend chad, who unexpectedly turned on her. meanwhile her exfriend zoey gets expelled from boarding school and moves back to alison's school. can alison trust her friend? or is she just another rival?

i typed up the first sentence just for you!

there were two things alison rose could count on:her best friend and cousin, kelly,and the fact that everyone in her family would stop at nothing to destoy one another.

please buy this book. what are you waiting for? go!

I really wanted to like it since I loved Blake's Louisiana Dawn. But in the book Luke the plot was boring (he saves the helpless girl) and the chemistry was not intense enough for me. He loves her from page 1 (like a puppy/too sappy for me) and drops everything to follow her to a conference (when supposedly she despises him and she does not want his help). I guess it was too unrealistic for me.

luke figures he's the only one in Turncoupe, Louisiana, who can save novelist April Halstead from someone intent on revenge...
If only he could get her to cooperate. years ago Luke let her down in the worst possible way.
great read

Luke has it all -- suspense, steam, and characters you can fall in love with. Luke and April charmed me from the very first, and I couldn't wait to see how it all turned out!

I suspect we all fantasize from time to time about being saved from ourselves. Luke and April are the perfect couple, but life has thrown them a few curves. I was up half the night zipping through this incredible book. Loved the keen glimpses into the life of a real live fiction writer. Jennifer Blake is an accomplished author and has been a personal favorite for many years!

I read Kane, then went on to Luke and can't wait for something, anything, on Roan. The "southern" thing hooked me.Luke and April have thee chemistry! The way they come together after everything,makes you believe in true love.

This was a very easy, quick, light read. Tom chronicles his dating adventures in the year following his separation in a collection of brief (1-2 page) articles. Not a lot of detail, and this is definately not a "how-to" book or even a book to give you much hope (Tom seems to strike out a lot). Just one man's experience. If you're in the same boat (recently single) you'll probably enjoy it. If not, you probably won't be able to relate.

A good read. Lots of humor, would make a good movie.

If you are in your 50's or above and are getting back into dating, this book is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tom has written almost 1000 articles for Southern California newspapers and has appeared on national television four times (i.e. Good Morning America, Fox News, CBS) talking about different subjects like internet dating, how to meet men/women, do's and dont's of dating for people just getting back into the dating environment, etc. I could not put it down. I bought many for friends as gifts. Both his books are worthy investments.

THIS BOOK IS A GOOD READ AND WOULD MAKE AN EXCELLENT MOVIE. IT CONTAINS MUCH HUMOR AND COVERS MANY OF THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF REAL LIFE. TRY IT, YOU WILL LIKE IT!!!!

Being able to laugh at one's self is a gift and Tom Blake has that gift. I was wiping tears of laughter from my cheeks. This is a must read...at any age. There is a lot of wisdom wrapped up in this author's humor. I'm putting Middle Aged and Dating Again at the top of my gift list!

'The Prairie' is the third of Cooper's Leatherstocking tales in order of publication and the final in chronological order. It is also the last of the original three books ('The Pathfinder' and 'The Deerslayer' were written much later). Here Leatherstocking - now referred to as the Trapper - is in his late eighties and yet still possesses some of the vitality of a hardened wilderness man.

The book seamlessly segues from 'The Pioneers' even though ten years have elapsed. Disenchanted by the spread of civilization, the Trapper crosses the Mississippi to escape its influence. At the start, Cooper's theme about the destruction of the American wilderness is woven into the narrative.

Unfortunately, the tight plotting Cooper displayed in 'The Last of the Mohicans' - the book he wrote before this one - is largely missing in 'The Prairie.' The plot takes a good 150-200 pages to get moving, and then it has some long lulls in between some rather interesting scenes.

In general, the book is pretty much what you would expect from Cooper - though he demonstrates in these five books that he is nothing if not inconsistent. The supporting characters in this book are rather more thinly drawn than even his usual work, so there's not a lot of empathy for the reader. For much of the book, I found myself reading just to find out the final fate of Natty Bumppo.

"The Prairie" piles a far-fetched mystery atop an implausible plotline, but there's something endearing about its sheer disregard for authenticity. The ultimate success of this installment of Cooper's Leatherstocking series is not in its realism--which is in short supply here--but in its comedy (often calculated but sometimes unintentional) and its social commentary.

Natty Bumppo appears again simply as "the trapper"; it's near the end of his life, and he has escaped his former residence in the Hudson Valley for the peace of the empty prairie. His tranquility is shattered by the arrival of an outlaw family of squatters, pursued by a young man--a bee hunter, no less--inexplicably and secretly following them. In quick order, the mysteries collect: a strange and beautiful young woman emerges at the edge of the family's outpost, a member of the family is murdered, and the stalker's interest in the family is not entirely clear.

There's an additional hanger-on, Obed Batt, M.D., whose character, it must be said, straddles the wrong side of the thin line between humor and silliness, between clever and cliche. Meant as a satirical portrait (think "absent-minded professor"), Batt is a "man of science" who is a bit of a bumbling fool and who, in an ongoing gag, mistakes his own beloved donkey for a wild and hitherto undiscovered beast. He intrudes the novel much like David Gamut, the equally exasperating psalmist in "The Last of the Mohicans."

Underneath the sarcasm and the satire and the silliness is Cooper's entire catalog of romantic idealism--the themes and lessons found in Cooper's other works. Natty is still the pioneering and rugged individualist escaping the encroachments of civilization; many of Natty's soliloquized sermons are conservationist pleas for the wise use of America's natural resources; and the Indians Copper idealized in the Northeast have been transplanted to the West. (The author's knowledge of the Great Plains was based on second-hand accounts and redrawn in the fields of his imagination.)

In spite of its fragile plot, facile characters, and (ultimately) futile homilies, "The Prairie" is rarely boring. But be warned: when the secrets are revealed, nine out of ten readers will react with a hearty "Oh, please!" (The tenth will have given up caring). But Cooper ultimately compensates the patient reader with one of the most poignant denouements in American literature.

James Fenimore Cooper's 1827 novel "The Prairie" is an epic adventure featuring two major plots, twelve major characters, and a cast of thousands. Set in the Great Plains shortly after the Louisiana Purchase (the Lewis and Clark expedition is mentioned en passant), "The Prairie" sets two Indian tribes, the Sioux and the Pawnee, against each other as well as two disparate groups of white travelers. Even though Cooper had reservations regarding Sir Walter Scott that writer's influence on Cooper cannot be doubted. (One of the characters in "The Prairie" is named Le Balafré, as is a character in Scott's "Quentin Durward", published in 1823.) On the other hand, Cooper's style foreshadowed Charles Dickens in many passages, particularly the powerful depiction of frontier justice in Chapter Thirty-two. The central section of the novel, with its siege of Ishmael Bush's encampment and the portrait of Bush's Amazonian wife Esther, seems to have affected Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". There are two young heroines, one swoony and the other spunky; but there are several heroes, including Duncan Uncas Middleton, a descendant of characters from "The Last of the Mohicans", and Hard Heart, a Pawnee partisan. (Partisan is an obscure synonym for chief which Cooper uses throughout the book.) Then there is Cooper's most famous character Natty Bumppo, who had already appeared in "The Pioneers" in 1823 and "The Last of the Mohicans" in 1826. He was to figure twice more in the 1840's as a young man, but "The Prairie" describes his final days as a graybeard. The odd thing is he's never named -- he's simply called the Trapper. Evidently his Deerslayer days are over, though he's referred to as "venable venator" by the novel's comic relief character Obed Batt (or Dr Battius, as he pedantically prefers). One assumes that Natty had become such a popular character readers were not confused by his anonymity. At any rate, he carries the complicated narrative, partly because he communicates with both the whites and the Indians in their native languages. The narrative's flow is smooth and rapid, and "The Prairie" is a page-turner for a lazy afternoon or a long flight.

Third in the Leatherstocking Tales series, The Prairie finds Nathaniel Bumppo beyond the Mississippi as the encroachment of civilization pushes him further and further afield. There are five books to the Leatherstocking Tales. Cooper did not write them in chronological order. Accordingly, The Prairie relates the close of Bumppo's career among the Pawnee and Sioux of the Great Plains. As with The Pioneers, The Prairie starts slow and takes time to develop. Additional concessions must be made for a least one plot twist that tickles the limits of plausibility. It should be remembered, however, that the age and the romantic style of writing then in vogue permitted latitude today's novelists are not afforded. Be that as it may, once past this questionable plot development, it matters little for the book is that grand.

Sioux and Pawnee, contesting the plains, find Bumppo, a wagon train of shifty settlers, and a bee-hunting suitor caught between them. What follows is a historical novel which includes every ingredient required for a masterful yarn. Bumppo, in this case "the trapper", represents the ultimate antiestablishmentarian as he longs only for freedom and the space to enjoy it, despising the restrictions of polite society. It is a message that has not lost it's power. Indeed, James Fenimore Cooper, through the Leatherstocking Tales, exquisitely captures a period and place in a manner so evocative that the reader longs to range beside "the trapper" through thick and thin , through the length and breadth of the fledgling American frontier. Having read more than my share of historical fiction, The Leatherstocking Tales rate as one of the finest examples. The Prairie is no exception.

Fare thee well, Natty Bumppo.

I chose to read this series in chronological order and not the order in which they were written. This being the third to be written but last in order, I read this one last. I must say that I was surprised at how enjoyable a read it was seeing that the last two I read (The Pathfinder and The Pioneers) were pretty disappointing. This novel has excellent descriptions of the prairie setting and the characters involved without weighing the reader down with page upon page of needless descriptions or rhetoric. The story line was very well-conceived, plausable, and coherent; qualities which not many books can boast. Of course, this being the last book in the series, I was concerned about how the author would conclude the saga of Natty Bumpo. Not wanting to spoil anything, I must say that I was very impressed with the way Natty's character was handled. There is nothing worse than reading five or so books and having the author ruin them all by messing up the character at the end. No need to worry here. This novel pretty much has all the ingredients which make The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans exceptional: indian warfare, revenge, some romance, the differences and similarities between Natty's and the American Indian's religious views and philosophy on life, and of course just some good ol' action. I would recommend reading this series in chronological order, but if you do have to skip one of them, The Pioneers can be that one and you would not really miss a beat.

I was very impressed with Jennifer Blake's story of Chloe and Wade. Although this book does stray from Blake's usual tale of rural Louisiana life, it is well written and reflects the political climate of our time. The references made to the RAWA movement and the harships women suffer under the Taliban rule had a huge impact on me. I truly enjoyed this book and it will be saved on my "Books to keep shelf". Additionally if you enjoy Suzanne Brockmann, I think you will like this book.

Wade Benedict, fulfilling his friend's final wish that his daughter be rescued from the Arabian land where she moved with her mother. Unfortunately, despite the harsh conditions, or rather, because of them, the lady in question, does not want to be rescued, preferring to stay, fighting for freedom. Wade, however, will go to any length to get her out, though when Chloe realizes she can continue her work back home in Louisiana, and that her cruel stepbrother's plans for her marriage to gain her money will place her life into a literal hell, she agrees.

The battle to get out of the country is bloody, but they manage to survive, only to find that it has followed them home, and is not a Jihad, a holy war, that pulls in the entire clan into even more fights, barely escaping with their lives. Perhaps of equal importance are the battles of the heart Chloe and Wade face as they must decide what to do with the relationship they have found themselves suddenly to be in, each with their own issues to face before they can claim the love that awaits them, if they survive.

***** In the most exciting novel of the series, WADE concludes Ms Blake's Bayou Brothers line, making me sorry I have missed all but one of the others, if they are all this fine.

Readers get to catch up with characters who have surely become their friends in past books, and to meet a dynamic new couple. Heart pounding excitement never lets up, though romantic interludes amidst it all light up the pages with passion instead of gunfire. Every character is vibrantly drawn, and the storyline is one that could be ripped from current life as the Taliban and their world seem to haunt our everyday lives. Brava, Ms. Blake. Perhaps she can find another Benedict cousin hiding in the swamplands, if we are lucky.

This was a very different and interesting plot than the usual fare. This is about the Taliban and how one woman becomes trapped in a country exactly like Afghanistan and how one man tries to get her out.
So different from what we normally see in romance, this was brilliant. Written right before the terrorist attacks, the book almost never was released. I am glad it was. Ms Blake takes us into a frightening world where everything is black and white and there is no room for error. Where women are second class citizens and treated worse than rodents.
This is a tale about an American woman trapped inside with no hope of escape and about her father's last dying wish to get her out.
Wade is that man. Former military with the Special forces, he sneaks into the war torn country and tries to convince the woman to leave with him. Afraid and without hope, she shrinks away from the bold American risking his neck to fulfill a last wish.
With the Taliban onto him, Wade must make a decision, leave the frightened woman behind and save himself, or drag her out against her will and risk being caught.
Heart-pounding and action-packed, this is a must-read. I stopped short of 5 stars because of the unrealistic ending. Without revealing anything, it wasn't up to par with the rest of the amazing book.
A well worth read!

Tracy Talley~@

This isn't the first Jennifer Blake novel I've read, and my recollection is that her other books were much better than this one. I know it's the last in a long series of novels about the Benedicts and their cousins; perhaps she ran out of steam. This book's concept was promising, and I found the first half of the book very interesting. I was fascinated by Chloe's transformation from precoscious American teen into an outwardly submissive yet internally rebellious Muslim woman. I felt I really understood how women in those countries must feel. Chloe's and Wade's escape from Hazaristan was thrilling. But when they arrived in America, the story started to drag, drag, drag. And the dialogue became stilted and inane. I know that Ms. Blake hails from Louisiana, but I thought all the "aw, shucks," good ole boy dialogue among the Benedict clan was just too much. I also thought Ahmad's character became so overblown as to be a caricature. Because he was the author's sole plot device, his conduct became more and more bizarre and incredible, in order to keep the plot going. I mean, come on, he slits his own sister's throat because she tried to help Chloe escape? Then, in spite of the fact that he is apparently very occupied helping al Qaida with their terrorist efforts (and really, was the al Qaida tie-in really necessary?), he takes time out to follow Chloe to America so he can kill not only her, but the entire Benedict clan? Because of all this distraction, the first love scene between Wade and Chloe was anticlimactic and flat. I don't know about any other love scenes, because I put the book down after that and never picked it up again. In my humble opinion, don't bother with this one. Jennifer Blake can write and has written much better books.

I never thought Jennifer Blake could create a character that I felt more deeply about than LUKE, another in the Louisiana Gentlemen seires,but she's done it with WADE. The heroine, Chloe Madison, finds herself is such a typical female quandry - torn between duty and her true desires - that this book reaches you on a level far above the fascinating storyline. A must read! Then get your hands on KANE, ROAN, LUKE AND CLAY to see what else you've missed. No one can make you long to meet a Southern Gentlemen better than Blake!

This novel is a slam-bang, hackneyed adventure story that focuses on a boring protagonist and stilted characterizations that are shallow and lacking any kind of soul. Bailey writes a simple novel for simple people more akin to a TV movie than an actual five-star novel. Lame one-liners abound in what passes for dialog and Bailey's descriptive ability provides little atmosphere as he keeps the plot speeding on so you don't actually think about what actually motivates these characters. Short chapters are often a symptom of poor writing (there are 30 in 180 pages of story) because the author has precious little substance to actually communicate to us about the situations which the characters are involved.

Bottom line: a regular old dime-store novel that is not a timeless classic worthy of five stars.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1N34GET99VBTQ Hear Blake talk about his journey to writing Zapatista...

For me, Blake Bailey's Zapatista was a fun and adventurous read. He takes you on this incredible journey and leaves you feeling encouraged and inspired to do something great.

Set amid the Zapatista revolution of the 1990s through the present day, Zapatista is a novel about a writer who gets caught up in the struggle for the poverty-stricken Native Americans of Mexico. In the middle of guns, bloodshed, and the hope for a more equal tomorrow, he falls in love with a beautiful Native woman and his life changes forever. Zapatista documents Blake Bailey as a gifted writer of memorable fiction who is able to make his characters live and their surroundings form an impressive context for original storytelling. A portion of the proceeds from Zapatista will be donated to the Zapatista movement in Mexico.

This book is an adventure, a wild ride, a plane crash to avoid a forced military landing, grab the bags of money and run. A tale of a person displaced, going on a vacation and end up killing for a cause. If you have ever been an occasional traveler in Mexico this book throws out a whole new twist, while teaching you some history about the Chiapas Indians and the Zapatista movement.

This is an excting, engrossing story of an American caught up in the Chiapas Indian revolution in Mexico -- a subject I knew nothing about prior to reading the book. The author gives a vivid portrayal of the struggles of the Chiapas Indians and makes it very real to the reader in a poignant way. This was a definite page-turner, as I couldn't wait to see what would happen to the protagonist next. I would definitely like to see more books from this author.