Bonds Books

Linda Goodnight writes wonderful, well-rounded characters in this first book in the Love Inspired series, The Brothers' Bond.

The prologue drew me in and gave me compassion for the hero, Officer Collin Grace, as it reveals his history as a child in the foster care system. This helped me immediately understand his aversion to getting involved when social worker Mia Carano seeks him out to mentor Mitchell, a young runaway. After being separated from his two brothers at an early age, Collin doesn't have much faith in anything, especially social workers.

Mia's background is completely different from Collin's. She comes from a large, loving family and has a strong faith in God. This faith gives her the assurance that she can make a difference, even with all the pain she has seen during seven years as a social worker. Mia's persistent personality eventually starts to break down the barriers Collin has erected, and he soon finds himself drawn to her, in spite of his misgivings.

I read this book in one sitting, and can't wait for the next title to be released in March of 2007!

THIS BOOK IS THE MOST WONDERFUL HTHING I'VE EVER READ.I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW GREAT IT WAS.IM ONLY 12 AND NOT EXACTLY A ROMANCE BOOK KIND OF PERSON.I WILL TRY TO READ EVERY BOOK LOVE INSPIRED HAS BECAUSE OF THIS BOOK. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. I COULDNT PUT IT DOWN! ANOTHER GREAT ONE IS "At Home in Dry Creek".SO READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone's spousal unit had a thing for this book, I am not sure why. Local moose, moose slippers, moose muffin books, etc.

I guess if a moose has made its way into your kitchen, and decides that it is afternoon tea time, you may as well make with the blueberry or chocolate chip to prevent shenanigans.

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. If You Give a Moose a Muffin was one of her picks.

This humorous book has to be one of the most imaginative ever written and illustrated!

The premise starts with a child spotting a moose out the window in the back yard. The child beckons to the moose, gives the moose a muffin, opens the kitchen door, and lets the moose in. Holding the muffin in his teeth, the moose obviously seems to need some jam. The child opens the refrigerator and gets out the mother's homemade blackberry jam. The moose quickly starts eating the muffin, now that it has jam on it. Then another, and another . . . and another until they are all gone. He seems to want you to make some more.

One thing connects to another, and before the book ends the moose will get a sweater, make puppets, create the scenery, put on a puppet show, make a mess, clean up the mess, want some more jam, and still wants some more muffins.

The book works at several levels. First, the idea is simply to be a good hostess or host. That's something that all children need to learn. You should try to please your guest. Even if it is a moose!

Second, there is also an analogy to being a parent, helping a child. So your child can begin to see what it's like to be the caregiver.

Third, how do you accomplish things? Some you buy, some you make, and almost all have consequences. The book helps your child learn to connect the dots.

Fourth, the child and the moose make a terrible mess. No one gets excited, but they do take responsibility to clean up after themselves. Amen!

Fifth, one thing does lead to another. It is easy to get distracted. The circularity of the story helps your child remember what the purpose originally was, and not to get sidetracked.

Sixth, the book introduces ideas of activities you can do with your child. In fact, it's all right to put the book down and start doing those activities . . . or pick a time to do so.

All in all, you get a lot for your time and money.

The illustrations are wonderful in making the moose very human and humorous. The figures are vivid and clear, and are filled with warm, rich colors.

You can take the concept of the book and make up your own stories with your child. Then you could draw illustrations together and do the activities that you pick for the story. You could start with your child's favorite animal and food. If you give your dolphin a cookie, etc. In that way you can stimulate even more bonding and creativity. Have a ball!

Be sure to overcome your stalled thinking that only authors can come up with great stories that you'll both love. I'll bet your child and you can do a wonderful job!

Enjoy!

IMPULSE by Nora Roberts
Practical Rebecca Malone was having the time of her life. She'd quit her accounting firm and gone to Greece for adventure - so when a handsome stranger approached her, she followed her impulse. Stephen Nickodemus found Rebecca irresistible. She was a woman of contradictions, and he wanted her, in a way no man could safely want a woman: for all time.

RAVISHED! by Paris Afton Bonds
Nelli Walzchak was a take-charge nurse on the job, but her personal life was virtually non-existent. A Mexican vacation changed all that when she found herself kidnapped by a dashing buccaneer who wanted her professional help, then asked her to stay on forever when he learned that what he really needed was her love.

THE ROAD TO MANDALAY by Kathleen Korbel
Workaholic Kate Manion had finally taken a break from her high-pressure job and now sailed the high seas on a windjammer. Devil-may-care captain Jack Whelan melted her icy exterior to find a woman passionate with desire. Could their love be the real thing, or was this just a shipboard romance?

I am only reviewing IMPULSE, the nora roberts entry. I got this book out of the library, where it was a standalone large print.

Thought this is early roberts, it is extremely charming and holds almost everything I love about her books. The heroine is strong, but doesn't know it. The hero is romantic, but diesn't know it.

There is a wonderful backdrop in Greece. There's a bit of the 80's "masterful male" about it, but not too much.

My only problem with the story was that it was short. Well, and they had casual sex. Can't do that these days. But for its length, it was a great read!!

(*)>

The down-to-earth approach of this book ensures that it is more dense than other guides for beginners. Gets you from knowing absolutely nothing to a level at which you can start reading about technical analysis, read financial papers, annual and quarterly reports. Good 'further reading' tips. Good coverage of bonds. Options and futures are discarded as being equivalent to gambling. Parts about the risks of investing, how to spread the investment, and the role of brokers is a little boring, but this really is a good starter.

The Small Investor is an excellent book to read if you are looking for a complete and basic introduction to the subject of investing. I found the chapters on Professional Help and Selecting Mutual Funds to be particularly helpful. A feature that Jim Gard included that I really appreciate is the "Recommended Further Reading" that is at the end of each chapter. It gives you a place to go to examine the subject in more detail than would be appropriate in a "Primer." This book is ideal for anyone just entering the world of investments. Financial Planners and Money Managers should consider giving a copy of this book to each of their new clients. Jim Hagen

This book delivers on the promise of providing a solid explanation of 2 things... A mysterious circular clay tablet from the British Museum and the site of a major impact event in modern Austria.

The book is well written, well researched, and the evidence is presented in an easy to understand way. The author's understood their topic, and set out to provide academic proof not just conjecture. They delivered.

I could not put the book down, and read it in one long sitting.

I was first interested in the book to see if it confirmed any dates in the long, 13,000 year chronology of the Bible. (See bibletime dot com or Harold Camping's 13,000 year Bible Chronology.) This impact event does match. The impact date given in the book is just after Peleg's first year, (using the Bible Time version) at the time when the earth was "divided." This impact event provides a great explanation of that mysterious reference.

Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell have produced a thorough, scholarly book here which is centred around analysis of the cuneiform tablet K8538 (the "Planisphere") at the British Museum. The tablet seems to be a 700 BC copy of an astronomical clay 'notebook' dating back to the pre-sunrise of 29th June 3,123 BC in Kish (modern Iraq).

Most of the early chapters analyse the Planisphere a sector at a time, decoding the star signs and Sumerian commentary by matching constellations and planets against state-of-the-art programs which can reproduce the night sky from any location and at any time in the last few thousands of years. But it's what happened next which captures the interest. Just before dawn the astronomers see a bright object appearing from behind the clouds, moving faster than anything they have ever seen before. It's big enough to show phases as it traverses the sky from East to West (at this stage it is still exo-atmospheric) before it vanishes into the earth's shadow and then below the Sumerian horizon to the North-West.

Thirty seconds later (p. 71) the object enters the top of the atmosphere over Greece and an ionised shock-front becomes visible as a gigantic arrow head in the pre-dawn darkness. As the object traverses the coast of Albania it is seen as an enormous fireball, larger than the sun.

The asteroid dumps enormous amounts of energy into the atmosphere. As it reaches the southern Alps, it is releasing the equivalent of a one kiloton atomic explosion every metre while the shockwave over-pressure on the ground amounts to several atmospheres.

In its final second of flight, the asteroid gouges a 2 kilometre cut out of the mountain overlooking Austrian Köfels, at the 6 degree gradient of its very shallow trajectory. This glancing blow was sufficient to vaporise the asteroid.

The final 4 kilometre-wide, 850 million tonne fireball hit the mountain at Köfels at 14 km/sec. The energy released was 14,000 Megatons, producing not a crater, but the demolition of the mountain into the gigantic landslide we see today.

The aftermath was an ejecta plume which spread backwards, recapitulating the entry trajectory. This searingly hot mass would have launched into space, achieving a height of 900 km over the Mediterranean, and re-entering over northern Egypt and Syria. The astronomers of Kish saw the plume like a gigantic tree, low on the horizon, a few minutes after their strange star had vanished.

As it re-entered, the plume dumped 500 Megatons of energy into the atmosphere (= four simultaneous detonations of the largest H-bombs ever tested). This would have incinerated anyone beneath it. It also seems likely there were major climate changes post-impact.

Bond and Hempsell tell a thorough story although inevitably there is always a great deal of interpretation with such ancient and fragmentary material. But as they observe, it all seems to hang together.

(Four stars because you have to be interested in cuneiform decoding to get the most out of this monograph. The physics of asteroid entry and impact are very much in second place).

Wow! What a great book. This collection of Bond songs really give you an All Time High. I found that the level of the music was perfect for me. Not only can you play the songs to your heart's content, but they include the words to the songs, so you can sing along too. They also have awesome pictures between the songs, which really give it the James Bond attitude. I gave it a five, because I felt that the level, pictures and songs were chosen perfectly for this book. The book includes the whole song, unlike other music books that cut it short. If I could live twice, I would definitely make the same choice again.

This book is great for musically tallented James Bond fans, or someone who just likes to play good music. I believe that the arrangements of music in this book are excellent, however, the only thing I don't like about the book is this: It should include all of the James Bond theme songs! Other than that, This bok is great. That's Why I an giving it a score of 4 out of 5.

This book is a definite page-turner! C. Bond Dutoit's initial
offering in "The Truth Series" trilogy will definitely leave you
wanting to know the release date of the next installment.

His love of family is evident as we get a peak behind the
scenes into the lives and loves of his fictitious President,
an evangelical preacher, an up and coming reporter and
the astronauts chosen for a mission to Mars.

Yes, the mission to Mars scenario has been played out on
the screen and in literature, but Dutoit takes it a step further.
He forces us to reassess our belief system and how it would
be affected should the answer to questions of scientific
and religious importance be found in a totally unexpected
place...on the red planet.

Although Dutiot's first effort has a few drawbacks, he'll no
doubt have gained his writer's chops as he moves ahead.
And with action taking place simultaneously in various cities
on Earth and on the red planet, you'll want to jump on board
for the fast-paced action of The Truth so you can decide how
your life would be changed should these mysteries be solved
once and for all.

Dutoit has woven romantic trysts, clandestine meetings, personal greed, political deception, cover up, and conspiracy in this science fiction novel. NASA's exploration of planet Mars seeks answers to the age old question of whether life exists on other planets.

Politicians influenced by leading conservative church leaders take steps to insure that reports from the team of astronauts and scientists participating in the exploration will not upset the status quo. The possible outcome of "Project Hope" has far reaching implications for all mankind that will directly impact several powerful political and religious leaders.

Dutoit has skillfully created a whole cast of strong, believable characters that enrich the fast paced plot and subplots of this complex story. NASA team members, a young reporter, an aspiring secretary, a world renowned evangelist, and the president of the United States all play intricate roles in revealing or in suppressing truth. I found myself empathizing with hero and villain alike.

I especially appreciated the underlying theme of the book. The author kept alive the importance of truth in all phases of life. He dramatically provides conflict and drama as his characters face struggles with faith, temptation, and fear in their search for truth.

Chris Dutoit has a colorful imagination and is a gifted storyteller. This is the first in "The Truth Series" trilogy. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

What a great series to help kids explore their specific passion. Not just for individual homes, but this entire series would be a great set for any school or library. On career day or days where Daddy or Mommy come talk to the class about their profession, these books could be used to expand children's exploration. How about assigning each child an area of interest? Fourth and Fifth graders could do class presentations on a specific career field and dress up in the style of the particular profession.

Of course, these books can also be used for teens and young adults. Kids who like writing will learn there are job opportunities beyond an author or a poet. Careers such as advertising copywriter, freelance writer, talk show producer, paralegal, and more are discussed in detail.

This book and others in the series will help children identify exactly what their interests are and the many types of professions that one can choose to be successful in life. After all, the first step to being successful is choosing to do something you love.

My mom was helping me find books to help me decide a career and we found this book. It helped me a lot! I learned about being an editor, writer, journalist, and many more. It has a great test to help you decide what you really like to do. I definitely recommend this book to any other kids, and also adults, that like to write.

Upon opening SilverFin and skimming a bit through the first pages, it looked like this might be nothing more than a Harry Potter clone novel. But I am a Bond fanatic at times and like to try all aspects of the series, many of which I enjoy.

The prologue of the book brings up an interesting point I think: this isn't the average children's novel. It doesn't seem to be as magical or clean as say, a Harry Potter story is (although it has been quite some time since I last read one of those). I think it finds a niche somewhere between an adult-based murder/action novel and a more toned down Harry Potter fantasy story. I would have liked to see it even more in the direction of the grittier, Ian Fleming styled novels, but this is Young Bond. The eels are a great idea and used effectively throughout the entire story.

The first section of the story, ETON, tells of young "James", (a bit odd not to see it written as "Bond" all the time now) finding his way through school. Higson writes to make him seem like a loner or different than all the other boys at times, but it seems to generally work. I expected a childhood rivalry and/or confrontation(s) to occur, so they didn't really surprise me when they did.

So far at least, Higson has clearly made this his own James Bond, perhaps he has the benefit of not having to follow after Fleming like Gardner and Benson did with the older James Bond we're used to.

SCOTLAND is the next section of the book, and the poorest in my opinion. While Red Kelly makes for a fair ally (he really doesn't seem to be needed all that much), the weakest character by far in the entire story is "Bond girl" Wilder Lawless. Why, oh why, oh why did that horse have to be named Martini? She has little character development and that so called risque passage where she pins down James on the ground is more embarrassing and out of place than...hmm...risque. Stuffing leaves in his mouth?

THE CASTLE, the third and final section of the story is the best I would say. I look at the villains of movies and books as often being just as important as the hero. You need a strong villain to show off a strong hero. At least in SilverFin, we have a fairly good villain in Lord Randolph Hellebore. I'm not going to go deep at all into descriptions about him or his plan due to spoiler issues, but I think he is developed well from beginning to end.

At least in this final section we get to the action, the adventure, and the danger of a James Bond story. His escape from the castle, and the ordeals with the eels are well thoughtout.

The ending may not seem as too big a surprise to readers, it didn't to me personally, but it was still relatively enjoyable. I was pleased to see a change in Bond's actions and character towards the very end of the novel compared with what we see in the first sections of the story.

In the end, it's not a Harry Potter novel. It's darker and more distinct in it's own ways and being a change from the normal continuation novels may help it to become more enjoyable for some fans. We have a relatively good start to this series in SilverFin. Now I'm looking for an even better Young Bond #2 next year.

www.commanderbond.net - James Bond 007 website

In the 1930s in the Scottish Highlands, fourteen year old Alphie Kelly sneaks under a fence that contain dead animals and other keep out trespassing notices to go fishing at Loch Silverfin. However, strange behaving eel attack the lad.

At the same time that Alphie vanishes, James Bond enters Eton after spending the last couple of years living with his Aunt Charmian following the deaths of his parents in a mountain climbing incident. He runs into trouble from the start with an older student, American George Hellebore and the teen's father weapons tycoon Randolph.

James heads to Keithly, Scotland to spend the Easter holidays with his beloved aunt and his ailing Uncle Max. On the train, he befriends Red Kelly who is heading to the same area to search for his missing cousin. In Keithly, James and Red breech the perimeter fence, trespassing on Randolph's property where he is conducting experiments on a super soldier that will eliminate the frailty of those he observed during the last Great War.

SILVERFIN is a fine young James Bond tale in which the lad shows glimpses of the cool spy, but just as often displays young teen bravado to hide a lack of confidence. Thus the middle school audience that this novel targets can believe that this is indeed James during his school years. The investigation is intriguing and Randolph is a solid Bond villain. The Eton chapters set the tone for James and his allies vs. the father and son Hellebores. Fans will enjoy their altercation that makes up Part Two of the fine novel.

Harriet Klausner

I borrowed this book from a family member. I read the first chapter, then borrowed the rest of the books. They are amazing, epic, and addicting. i found the characters especially amazing. I mean, richard isnt one of those idiotic main characters who are full of themelves. He has purpose. I must admit, i kind of fell in love with him as i read the series.
Faith of the Fallen is the best one!

Bought this a number of years ago and only read a few pages. Then picked it up again and read through at upwards of a couple of hundred pages in a day. Agree with the comments about writing style but did not want to look ahead to his later volumes to see if his style has matured, and so my comments are specific to just this novel. Also agree the plot had many elements of other fantasy novels as well, though it also had some interesting twists. As some have pointed out, it starts out like it is written for young readers, but towards the end becomes very adult in its content.

Yet in the end, it had me page turning for hours on end so clearly it easily held my interest. Despite issues of his writing style, he gets one critical element right. Fantasy series such as by a number of English writers flood you with too many characters too quickly. The result is you lose the plot trying to remember who a particular character is and why you should care. Goodkind introduces characters and then spends enough time that you remember them the next time they show up. This helps the plot move along at a good reading pace.

There were enough twists, turns, and surprises to balance out the groaners. Remembering that this was the first novel in the series, the real question is whether you would want to read the next. I usually alternate series, but in this case, I am moving into Volume 2 right away. Four starts for the first novel flaws, but otherwise, thoroughly enjoyable reading.

I really enjoyed the world created and the magical aspects in it. I thought the plot was strong with a complete story arc within the book while building a small piece of a much larger narrative. I find many books that are written with the intention of being part of a series stand incomplete on their own. This was not the case for this one.

The one issue I did take with the book was whether the book was an adult or children's book. Goodkind writes for a child, in that feelings are literally written out. Important emotions are laid out, so a young reader will not miss them. I figured this was a children's book, so I felt fine with the writing style of obviousness. I would have rather had it been more adult. The style got annoying after so many pages. I felt if the emotions weren't so obvious, the relationships, especially the one between Richard and Kahlan, would have appeared more organic and deep. Reflecting back on it now, it seems like an easier way for Goodkind to create a connection than to create one out more subtle writing. Sometimes the relationships seemed fake because of the writing style. Too much "telling" instead of "showing."

Returning to the point of adult vs. children fiction, I reached the portion of the book with torture and I was confused. The torture was graphic and out of place in a children's book. After reading many page with a writing style that appeared to be for a young, less sophisticated crowd, I was surprised at the mature portrayal of torture and torture mentality. I felt if Goodkind was going to discuss this subject, he should have made the whole book at that level. The writing style and content seemed disjointed.

This book is not meant for readers under 25 in my opinion. Other than that I don't know what's up with all the bad reviews! I thought it was fantastic! I know it had some uncomfortable scenes and may be out on the edge for some mainstream readers, but life is not always comfortable. It doesn't hurt to be taken out of ones comfort zone. It's better in fantacy than in real life. The book also had love, faith, and truth. I will hold alot of things to my heart that this book teaches. Such as, Don't take people at face value, and No matter how bad the situation, there is always a lesson to be learned. Although, I don't think Goodkind means for this to be a book of lessons, some of the lines in the book are worth remembering. I am sooo looking forward to the next adventure and hope Goodwin doesn't let me down. Life is not always easy, even in a fantacy world of wizzards and confessors.

Truly awful dialog and unbelievable character interaction. I've never met people who interact like this. I've seen amateur movies with dialog this awkward, but I've never read a novel with reviews this enthusiastic that turned out to have such amateurish writing. Seriously, the Captain Underpants books are better written than this thing is.