Bonds Books

I found this book to be dynamic, esoteric to some extent, difficult to understand. However, I am not a marketer. It is not possible to contact Mr. Jack Wilkerson with the numbers given in his book, and he did not answer the letter I wrote to him. Why is he so distant? -- Terry Deneen AKA Therese Ann Hiester

A "must read" for anyone in the auto business, marketing, sales, or attending B-School. Easy-to-read, really makes you think about the future of marketing!

Iron Bond really hits the nail on the head when it comes to how cars will be marketed in the future. I wish everyone at GM, Ford and Chrysler would read this. The author has some very unique perspectives and ideas on the whole deal.

Welcome to the world of Ironclaw! I guess. I'd never heard of the Ironclaw RPG on which "Scars" is based until happening upon this book by chance. The Ironclaw realm revolves around four rival 'Houses', each lording over a share of an island- the Equine Avoirdupois, the Boars of the Doloreaux, the Bisclavet Wolves and the main focus of this novel, the Foxes known as the Rinaldi.

The plot centers around Danica, a bounty hunter just 'doing her job'. When the Don of House Rinaldi is murdered, along with (seemingly) both of his sons, the prosperous port city of Triskellian is thrown under a shadow of suspicion and paranoia. Rumors abound that one of the Don's sons, Fabrizio di Rinaldi, has survived, somehow...and then a mysterious party hoping to restore Fabrizio to his rightful throne hires Danica to apprehend a pretender to the line of Rinaldi succession. Thus begins a twisted tale of politics, duty vs. honor, and dealing with 'scars' in more ways than one...

As a hardened, cynical hunter, unopposed to doing what she has to to 'finish the job', Danica is somewhat of an antihero. This is contrasted with her unsolicited accomplice for much of the novel, would-be paramour Tucker, who is a refreshing deviation from a typical thief stereotype- cheerful, outgoing...and painfully naive. Both are dynamic characters and as the novel progresses, the plot almost becomes more about the changes the perilous bounty hunt has wrought on Danica and Tucker than about the pretender, culminating in a near-tragic ending, as both are forced to reexamine themselves and all they held dear. Do you really know someone? Friendship, honor and even their own convictions regarding right and wrong are put to the test. "Scars" is an appropriate title, as it applies in multiple meanings, for multiple characters...I won't elaborate, because I don't want to spoil the plot; this is definitely a book worth reading.

"Scars" is very well-written, albeit with some errors. Mackinnon uses the right balance of action and description, and adds 'flavor' to some characters through use of accents, such as the Gaelic-tinged English employed Innkeeper Delaney and the Bisclavret wolves. I really liked the 'introspective' style from the viewpoints of multiple characters. Mackinnon allows the reader to know what goes on in the minds of his characters, lending them a depth that serves to enhance the plot, as well as make the reader genuinely care about them. As the main character, it's no surprise that the best example of this is Danica, whose unfortunate past is fed to the reader in appetizing tidbits that engage, rather than confuse the reader, in understanding why Danica is the way she is.

Of course, "Scars" is not without a few minor detractions. First, typos abound throughout; the publisher should have run this manuscript through a spell-checker before publication, because it's a shame to see spelling errors and inexplicable white spaces in paragraphs in a book with an otherwise stellar script and professional cover. Second would be the use of RPG terms. While it is done sparingly and in most cases, the context is apparent, there are 1-2 places that did not make sense.

At an all-too-short 128 pages, "Scars" packs the punch of an epic, but won't take you a month to read. Well worth the money, and here's hoping there's a sequel to tie up the few loose ends from the conclusion of "Scars"!

I received this book as a participation prize for playing in an Ironclaw game at a convention.

The storyline was good once you worked around confusing character introductions in the first few chapters of the book. Combat was described realistically without getting either technical or boring. Due to the author's confusing over which version of English he was using, as well as some glaring - but non insurmountable - editting errors, I had to knock off a star. In the few uses of magic in the book, the spells were described in detail rather than with just a spell name.

Even if you haven't played the game, this book is a good introduction to the Ironclaw world.

Awsome book... realy cool story line, and an interesting veiw of what goes on in someones head as they take the little steps that lead them to the moral point of no return. I actualy cared about the characters and loved the setting. Only two things keep the book from being a 5 (if the rating thing had a 4.5 i'd give it that) The first is the length. The book is kinda short...,but what can you expect from a small publishing company? (still well worth it though) The second is that the text has gaps in it in odd places. This sometimes had me going back trying to figure out if i'd missed something.

Kudos to the author for the great story, and to the artist for the awsome cover.

This is a great story. I enjoyed reading from beginning to end. I loved that both hero and heroine had to really fight to overcome there problems. I also like the prospective of how strong can be a bond between a father and a son.
Beautiful story
Barbara

One of my biggest dislikes in "series" written by different authors is the fact that excellent writers have to write within the confines of a set storyline and often are given characters with "histories" that don't fit well with the writer's normal writing style. Such is the case with The Connelleys series. Some of the books have been very good and some have been so-so as the author for that particular book was working with a storyline/history, etc. that they didn't create and are not comfortable writing in and therefore the stories come off as missing something. This is definitely the case with this book.

I normally very much enjoy Cindy Gerard's books. Her heroes are normally excellent with complimentary heroines. Unfortunately with this book, while the hero is indeed a very good one, the heroine is one of the weakest and most spineless I've seen in some time.

The book does move the plot along in The Connelleys storyline but does not leave you with a good impression of the heroine until the end. If you are reading the series, get it, otherwise, if you are looking for Ms. Gerard's normally excellent stories, look elsewhere.

A devastating train wreck killed all passengers, leaving the Connellys to believe that Michael was dead. No one knew that although he had book passage on the train, Michael lay severely injured elsewhere as the result of vicious mugging. For two years Michael had no memory of the life he left behind in America, and the woman who had asked him for a divorce. Then he saw the photograph of is wife engaged to another man and carrying his son.

With Michael's reported death, Tara Connelly Paige lost her spunk. Compliancy replaced zeal, surface calm replaced passion. Indeed, the only thing that still brings sparkle to her days is the son conceived on the eve of his father's departure. Then suddenly, Michael reappears, and Tara is terrified of allowing the tumultuous emotions of the past to sweep her away for fear of being destroyed...again.

THE SECRET BABY BOND, book nine of the continuity Dynasties: The Connellys. Author Cindy Gerard successfully pens a novel that functions as well as a standalone as it does within the scope of the series. Michael's disappearance and subsequent reappearance is both convincing and poignant. Tara's emotional shutdown seems equally appropriate in light of her feelings of guilt, love, and grief. Her fear of reawakening old passions threatens to paralyze her, forcing her to reject second chances despite her desires. Filled with rich emotional nuance, complicated family relationships, and complexities of the heart, THE SECRET BABY BOND comes very highly recommended.

I'm a great fan of the Spiral: Bonds of Reasoning anime, so I only glanced at a fanscan of the manga several years ago out of curiosity. But I was surprised, and even taken aback by how different the manga was.

In the first place, the level of violence in the manga is about twice that of the anime, and the anime is plenty violent. There's (so far) at least two more deaths, and the illustrations of those deaths are bloodier. While this would not ordinarily be a recommendation with me, I found it raised the level of tension in this first volume of the manga to that reached much further into the anime (and I can't say more without spoiling both).

Second, the amount of problem-solving increases along with the violence. Since the pleasure of Spiral is in seeing the hero solve problems under pressure, this is all to the good.

Third, the adults in the story are (somehow) more clownish, more realistic, and more at risk. The hero's sister-in-law, in particular, comes across as a woman at risk. In the anime, this is symbolized by the amount of drinking she does--in the manga, it's much more clear that she is grieving and feels betrayed, wavering between hope and despair. This gives the feelings of the hero a much more solid foundation than they had in the anime.

I am taking off a star for the graphic nature of the violence, but all in all, I'm really enjoying this manga, and recommend it both to those familiar with the anime and to those who are completely new to Spiral.

I love the anime, and I really wanted to read the manga.

I guess from the point of view of a new reader, it might be a little sloe and confusing, but remember that there are a lot of volumes, and the story builds on itself. I am excited that number 3 is available for preorder! (I have ordered but haven't recieved no. 2 yet)

basically it is

- mystery genre
- set around a character whose brother has disappeared and is a link to the mysterious blade children.

I don't mind spoilers myself, but I don't want to ruin the story for anyone who hasn't read it.

Most series -- be they book, TV, comics or movies -- are subject to a bit of shakiness when they first start.

And the first volume of "Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning" is no exception. Kyo Shirodaira and Eita Mizuno present us with some genuinely intriguing murder mysteries, but these standalone stories are dotted with clues to remind us of the oblique, rather frustrating storyline.

Two years ago, Ayumu Narumi got a phone call from his older, genius brother Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka announced he was investigating the "Blade Children," and then vanished.

In the current day, a girl falls or is pushed from a balcony, and dies. Ayumu has the bad luck to be near where she fell from, and soon the girl's friend is telling everyone that he murdered her. Even though the police inspector is his sister-in-law Madoka, he's still the prime suspect. But Ayumu has the same astounding analytical skills as his older brother

With the help of a flaky school reporter, he soon ferrets out the real murderer.... only to find that she is somehow connected to the Blade Children. And then she is murdered, and to find more answers, Ayumu must find out who killed her, in the hopes of finding someone who knows where Kiyotaka is.

And there are even more mysteries, when a blackmailing translator is found dead, in a mansion's locked library. Before she died, she drew a squared spiral in her own blood, indicating that it was murder. But how did the killer murder her without entering the room -- and what connection does she have to the Blade Children?

Since this is just the warm-up, there are some awkward moments in the first volume of "Spiral." Most importantly, it feels like the murders were concocted to be difficult and clever, and then strung onto the whole storyline of the Blade Children to connect them. It's not much, as of yet.

What little we know of the Blade Children is pretty dark -- there's talk of a "curse," and murder being a part of who they are. But there's a gentle undercurrent of humour, despite the dark overtones. One of the funniest scenes: Madoka going nuts because Ayumu failed to prepare a gourmet meal, due to a lot of police interrogation.

And Shirodaira and Mizuno do a solid job with detective stories -- their methods of murder are pretty solid, as are the clever solutions that Ayumu comes up with. It takes a bit of thought to figure out the solutions; be forewarned, one of them leaves you on a cliffhanger until Volume Two.

Ayumu verges on annoying occasionally, acted disaffected and disowning his gifts. But it's not hard to see why he would be frustrated by a brother who was a genius at everything. Madoka is entertainingly tightly-wound, but thus far Hiyono the Bizarre Perky Reporter is kind of annoying.

The first volume of "Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning" suffers from a disjointed beginning, but fortunately things get better later on. A shaky beginning to a good series.

Wonderful starting point for creating measures and helps to explain some other anthrozoology studies that have been published.

This book is great in that it provides the actual survey tools used to assess the human-animal bond, as well as references where to find where the tools have been used. Wonderful that this information can be found at your fingertips! Would appreciate clarification on whether we can freely use these tools. Highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to evaluate human-animal interactions, even in regards to other types of research, such as compliance in other aspects of veterinary medicine.

I enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to others.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"(...)

Barry Bonds Record Breaker is a great book to tell you a lot about Barry's career in baseball. The book also tells you about Barry's homeruns, like when he beat Mark McGwire's record with 73 homeruns. Also, he got 4 Most Valuable Player Awards, (WOW!), 8 Golden Glove Awards, and is the only player to have over 400 homeruns and stolen bases. I enjoyed learning about Barry's career in baseball.

It was avery good book overral as you can see I gave it four stars and it had a good story, lots of action and left you hanging sometimes but it was good. The WORST problem with this book was that there were so many ERRORS. One part in the book had three pages copied again in the book so it was like pages 1 and 2 were exactly the same as 3 and 4. Also, there were quite a few spelling and grammatical errors. I can't think of any right now but there were. Also, it was kind of annoying how the author always said "blood brothers" and he said it like every time he mentioned Matt and Sam. He almost NEVER used just brothers ,so that was annoying having to read "blood brothers" like every other sentence. But it was good.

It was avery good book overral as you can see I gave it four stars and it had a good story, lots of action and left you hanging sometimes but it was good. The WORST problem with this book was that there were so many ERRORS. One part in the book had three pages copied again in the book so it was like pages 1 and 2 were exactly the same as 3 and 4. Also, there were quite a few spelling and grammatical errors. I can't think of any right now but there were. Also, it was kind of annoying how the author always said "blood brothers" and he said it like every time he mentioned Matt and Sam. He almost NEVER used just brothers ,so that was annoying having to read "blood brothers" like every other sentence. But it was good.

This was the first novel by Steele that I read, and after that I have been reading each of her novels. The heroine is a lovable daughter, who is not too obnoxious but has a mind of her own. Her widowed mother marries a rich widower whose son has some reservations about the marriage. This causes some skirmish between the heroine and the son. How this bond of vengeance turns into love is extremelly interesting and touching. A must-keep book and a wonderful romance.

Tarrent yes it is close to Tryant, close and to good to be true.
Keely is a loving daughter, and she will take on anyone for her mother, Catherine. Catherine has been asked to marry her boss Lucas Varley Tarrent's father.
Tarrent decided to stop the wedding, by paying off Catherine.
Now he has to face Keely, the strong language he uses is offenseive, and he means to be.
Tarrent finds Keely isn't a push over and neither is her mom.
Although we see why Tarrent wants to stop the wedding, his father asks each and every housekeeper to marry him. So when the real thing comes along, Tarrent thinks it's just another goldigger after his father's money. What is never clear is why he didn't try to reason with his father instead of insulting Catherine, and Keely.
Keely like all of Ms. Steele her female character is not a lip biting hold back the angry retorte type. And I love it.
Because of this, Ms Steele is one of my favorite writers.
Susan Fox, Helen Brooks, Rebecca Winters are way up there with the late great Betty Neels.

This 3rd entry in the Sally Good series is a disappointment. The community college setting is still fine and Dr. Good effective as head of a department with a jealous fellow teacher who believes she should have been given the position. The premise that a modern college president would expect a teacher to renounce witchcraft because her late husband's ancestor was hung as a witch is 1692 is tenuous.
The disappointing aspects are that the killer is so sketchily referred to in the beginning of the book that when the revelation comes at the end, the reader is thinking, `who's that?'
Both the dust jacket and amazon's description referred to Sally's fellow teacher, Jack, as her lover, so I kept watching for Jack to break up with Vera, and realize he was still interested in Sally. It never happened. While it would enhance my reading pleasure if this amateur female protagonist had a romantic interest, the bad part of her not having one was that she had no backup when she inevitably found herself in the usual `perils of Pauline' situation.
Henceforth, I'll stick with Bill Crider's excellent Sheriff Dan Knowles series with it's colorful and dependable folks in Clearview, TX.

At Hughes Community College in Texas, President Fieldstone is upset with English Literature Professor Sally Good because the instructor's deceased husband happened to be related to the Salem witch Sarah Good, declared a witch over four hundred years ago. However, with the assault on the Potter books and a bond referendum on the ballot box pertaining to the college, Fieldstone worries that the nebulous link will reflect badly on the school in the eyes of its conservative donors and voters.

Irritated over the absurdity of the situation, Sally next learns from Jack Neville that former English Professor Harold "The Garden Gnome" Curtin was murdered. Sally as the English chair forced Harold to leave because he treated students like "ants in his domain". Sally also finds out that the Internet, home of misinformation, has informed local voters that Professor Sally Good is Witch Sarah Good using her powers of evil to probably kill the Gnome. To avoid burning at the stake by Fieldstone, Sally must uncover who killed the disliked professor.

At first brush, readers will think along the lines of Sally that the hoopla over her indirect link to a four century dead in-law is ridiculous. However, Bill Crider lampoons the misinformation and disinformation that flows as freely as information on the Internet into a solid rumor spreading mechanism that paints quite a picture. The heroine realizes she must clear her name by finding the culprit; she may not be dealing with dark forces, but this is worse as she struggles with the Internet and Fieldstone. Mr. Crider provides a terrific academic amateur sleuth that satirizes the Internet at a time when the presidential race depends on disinformation.

Harriet Klausner

I only began reading this informative book two days ago, however, I am already of the opinion that this book is going to be the launch pad for my recovery. At 36 years of age, I could not understand why I have felt the way I do all of these years. The depths of "Depression" have been challenging and debilatating. My hopes lifted as soon as I picked up the book and read the first comment on the back cover.

" Depression: the imprisoning experience of isolation and fear which comes when we realize that there is a serious discrepancy between what we thought our life to be and what it actually is."

That was a powerful statement. It made me suddenly realise that if it could be summed up in so few words, then there was hope to cure me of this disease, or atleast the opportunity to live with it. The references to other people's situations and how they are affected is essential as one of the worst things about depression is feeling isolated and alone. When I read of other case studies, it is evident to me that there are many others suffering the same symptoms and struggling to find away out of the prison of depression.

Another aspect of the book which I find appealing is the use of words and terms that are easily understood by anyone. It has been helpful in my attempt at having my loved ones understand what I am going through. ie: " fear that everyone she loved and needed would reject her. She believed that no matter how hard she worked to make people love and need her, sooner or later they would discover that inside I'm foul and disgusting."

Overall this book is easy to read and understand. It has lifted my spirits a little and put me in touch with some part of me that I thought was lost. I am using this book as a stepping stone to other avenues of help.

I only began reading this informative book two days ago, however, I am already of the opinion that this book is going to be the launch pad for my recovery. At 36 years of age, I could not understand why I have felt the way I do all of these years. The depths of "Depression" have been challenging and debilatating. My hopes lifted as soon as I picked up the book and read the first comment on the back cover.

" Depression: the imprisoning experience of isolation and fear which comes when we realize that there is a serious discrepancy between what we thought our life to be and what it actually is."

That was a powerful statement. It made me suddenly realise that if it could be summed up in so few words, then there was hope to cure me of this disease, or atleast the opportunity to live with it. The references to other people's situations and how they are affected is essential as one of the worst things about depression is feeling isolated and alone. When I read of other case studies, it is evident to me that there are many others suffering the same symptoms and struggling to find away out of the prison of depression.

Another aspect of the book which I find appealing is the use of words and terms that are easily understood by anyone. It has been helpful in my attempt at having my loved ones understand what I am going through. ie: " fear that everyone she loved and needed would reject her. She believed that no matter how hard she worked to make people love and need her, sooner or later they would discover that inside I'm foul and disgusting."

Overall this book is easy to read and understand. It has lifted my spirits a little and put me in touch with some part of me that I thought was lost. I am using this book as a stepping stone to other avenues of help.