Foley Books

Phillips obviously researched his topic thoroughly and has great insight into Jackson and the reasons Missouri found its identity with the southern states.
Phillips weaves his story masterfully. Well done.

Driving in Jefferson City, Missouri a few years ago, I saw a man selling Confederate flags by the side of the road. In the St. Louis area, where I live, this man would probably have been beaten to within an inch of his life, but to most Missourians, St. Louis might as well be New York City. In out-state Missouri, publicly displaying a Confederate flag does not seem to be an unofficial felony.

Why? Why did a state which began life and perceived itself as Western become the most Confederate state in America(as some of us like to point out, WE didn't surrender until 1882, when Frank James turned himself in after Jesse's murder)? In this biography of Claiborne Jackson, the Missouri governor who tried to take his state out of the Union, Christopher Phillips argues that Missouri's transformation from Western to Southern basically boiled down to the protection of slavery. Central Missourians, the people around whom this book mostly revolves, did not see owning slaves as contrary to democracy but central to it. Their families had owned slaves since emigrating to the West from Kentucky or Virginia. Threats, or perceived threats, to slavery finally drove segments of Missouri's leadership to a full-fledged Southern identity and led to Missouri's exceptionally violent civil war, which in turn fueled Missouri's fierce postwar attachment to the Confederate States.

This is both a good biography of Jackson and a good study of antebellum Missouri. But I do have a few problems with it. Phillips spends the bulk of his time in the Boon's Lick(now called Little Dixie another result of the war)among the slaveholding aristocracy there. Natural, one assumes, because that's where Jackson was from, but the rest of the state is neglected. St. Louis is paid attention to, but other areas of the state, like the fiercely Unionist regions of the Ozarks, are barely mentioned. And once the war starts, Phillips seems in a hurry to wrap things up; I wish he'd spent more time on the war itself.

Nonetheless, if you're interested in antebellum American history, this book is well worth your time.

The book is well written and has excellent pictures detailing each herb. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know about many common herbs, their history and their uses.

THE NEW HERB BIBLE was written by a garden designer, a beautician, and an osteopath/naturopath. The authors provide a much useful information about the major herbs used in cooking, cosmetics, and healing. Some of the material is quite good, but there are omissions and discrepancies the novice will not catch. The book is filled with many lovely photographs, a must for best selling gardening books these days, but not always an indicator the text is the most comprehensive, accurate, or current.

The "gardening" section of the book covers herbs that do well around London, but many of them may do better or worse in the States. For example, England sits on a nice chalk base and English Lavender does quite well along walkways. In the hot, humid, and acid soil found in many parts of the states, Lavender rots (does well in the Great Valley of Virginia which sits on a limestone bed!!). The authors suggest that the blue Cranesbill Geranium `Johnston's Blue' and the Lady's Mantle Alchemilla Mollis will bloom all summer, but they won't south of the Mason-Dixon line or in most of the west beyond the Mississippi. These plants bloom in the spring in the Upper South, and then they fry. Experienced gardeners know that certain roses do well in London, but others do well in the States.

The "cosmetic" section of this book is fun, and probably the best reason to buy it. However, making cosmetics is work, and if you have Fresh Fields next door, you may prefer to buy herbal cosmetics-I do. However, if you feel adventuresome, you too can make mint eye lotion and rose and basil perfume, provided you are able to grow the roses that produce the attar you need for the latter. You won't have any trouble at all growing the mint.

The "medicinal" section of this book is interesting, but I prefer Penelope Ody's COMPLETE BOOK OF MEDICINAL HERBS (she's English) or THE GARDEN PHARMACY by James Duke (retired from the USDA). RODALE'S ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HERBS is also a good bet (organic). You will probably want to own more than one book on the subject of medicinal herbs since some herbs can kill if they are misapplied. As the medicinal use of herbs is a tricky subject, I believe in a little cross-referencing. For example, the verdict is still out on Ginko, an "herb" recommended by this book (with caution). THE NEW HERB BIBLE mentions recent drug trials where possible, as does Dr. Duke and the RODALE book. Even when you are fully informed by books, a little trial and error will be required as all of us have different constitutions.

THE NEW HERB BIBLE is a useful survey work, but probably more useful for those living in England (5 stars) than the States (3 stars).

It is perfect for beginning teachers and parents that are trying to encourage young children to analyze books and use critical thinking.

I have had to purchase a second copy because the first one was so worn!! This book is an absolute must for elementary teachers! It takes 50 well-known children's stories such as Cinderella and Stone Soup and gives you questions for every level of Bloom's taxonomy. Super resource!

Darling book filled with inspirational photos. If you are really into white, you will love all the fun ideas to try. It is one of those books you look at again and again for the beautiful pictures.

This book was full of beautiful snowy white Christmas pictures. More pictures than projects, more of a decorating book. A lovely coffee table book, especially during the holidays.

I was able to read this book in one evening. For a person with some hands on knowlege of NT but no training, the book cleared up some of the mystery. It is well organized and written in an easily understandable style. I highly recommend it to anyone getting started with NT Server 4.0.

I was studying for my MCSE, and looking for a book as a supplement to the study guides that would give me real-world scenarios and provide me with an understanding of what really happens to NT installations and deployments. This book was head and shoulders above all of the generic NT "textbooks" I found. In fact, two days after purchasing it I had used information from the book to : 1. Recover from SID corruption and 2. Optimize a "textbook" installation to increase performance by over 20%! I highly recommend this book!

Elaine Fantham (perhaps best known in the non-academic community as the Classical commentator on NPR) authored, with other contributors, this superb introductory study to women's studies in ancient Greece and Rome in 1994. Since then, the whole field of studies in the lives of classical-age women has taken off like a rocket, but Dr. Fantham's book - with her co-writers, Helen Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy, and H. Alan Shapiro - still manages to provide the best introduction I know to this subject. As stated in the preface, "The purpose of this book is to gather the most important primary sources, both written and visual, for the lives of ancient women, and to present them within their historical and cultural context." Therefore this is a tremendous sourcebook not only for original sources on women's lives, but with equal emphasis to art as well as the written word. If you're beginning to learn about this fascinating field (which is still 'relatively' new in classical studies), this book is a must.

This book is a wealth of information on women in the ancient world (mostly Greece and Rome). It is written in such a way that the reader should have no problem understanding any of the concepts. I was afraid that the writings would be bias, but that was not the case. I bought this book as a required textbook for a college class and was suprised to find it here cheaper than at the college bookstore. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the kind of lives that the women of antiquity lived.

This book is totally fabulous! I'm a big proponent of first person accounts with living with an ostomy and this book is one big anecdote from both ostomates and ET nurses. It is so full of information that I'm going to read it through a couple times for all the information it has to offer. Although this is meant to be a resource for traveling, I actually found the details of people discussing how they normally care for their ostomies and then how they change their care for traveling to be very enlightening and to contain lots of information not found in the traditional IBD and ostomy books. Perhaps the greatest benefit though, was being inspired by the various individuals who have not let their ostomy slow them down in the least and who lead active lives that should be the envy of non-ostomates! A must have book for the reference shelf.

Well, I finally found some free time to read the book "Yes We Can." If you have not heard about it yet, it is a book that deals with folks traveling with an Ostomy. One of the authors is Barbara Kupfer (Babs) . Many will know her, as she is a regular in the StuartOnline Ostomy chat room.

The book, which is 298 pages, is full of traveling information that is very useful for us ostomates who enjoy traveling. It is not just the views of one person, but from folks from all over the world. It has in-depth information on how to handle just about any situation that may occur while traveling. From flying to hiking, you will find it all.

The book starts out with the twenty-five most frequently asked questions. It is then followed by stories from many folks who have traveled. Then it goes into many good tips for traveling. In the appendix you will even find a good list of ostomy information and management guidelines during your travels. You will also find a glossary of ostomy terms and a language translation chart for many of the related words.

If you are a new ostomate or even if you have had one for many years, I would highly suggest purchasing this book. I found it to be very informal along with some good information.

It's definitely one of the best romance books I've read. I read this one it spurred me to read every last one of the other books this author has written. I loved the story, the hero, the heroine. They seemed to have so much more depth than a lot of characters I've read about in the past. And the love scenes...very steamy. Such a great book.

This was a pretty good read. Although, I thought the ending was rather corny. However, I can't wait to finish the series.

I quite liked this book, except for a few very disturbing things.
Spoiler warning!
First, I didn't like it that the heroine was raped. This really was not necessary, and it's just so cruel to do this to any character in any romance book. The writer could come up with some other explanation for heroin's choice of profession. Besides, I doubt that any raped woman would decide to sell herself - high-class courtesan or not. Furthermore, a raped woman would not willingly perform sexual service of any kind to a man who doesn't even respect her.
I also had problems with the fact that the hero is a duke. Not to mention that the marriages of the dukes were arranged - they were engaged at a young age and had no choice in whom to marry. And no duke could possibly marry a woman who is his mistress! The society would never, under no conditions accept a person who sold herself. Not to mention that he brings her to his home when he decides to make her his mistress.
Well, these things aside, this book still made me feel many things - joy, fear, sadness, desperation, anger, happiness - and to me, that is the point of reading.

"The Duke" was the first book I picked up from Gaelen Foley, and it still remains one of my all time favorite historical romances.

I loved Bel, and I loved the fact that she wasn't a traditional heroine, but rather one who accepted and chose a lot in life that would forever brand her. Throughout the story, you understood her choices, understood the depths of emotions that brought her where she was. I loved the look at life from that perspective, how someone in her shoes would be treated, would feel...and time and again, she rose to the occasion.

You are truly drawn through the paces with the Duke and Belinda, as they learn to love, as they learn to accept. I enjoyed the build up to their relationship, I enjoyed every interaction they had. And I loved seeing how they grew in the course of the story.

Bottom line, there are no perfect people here -- Gaelen Foley's characters are real and make us root for that happy ending all the more. An excellent read.

I felt happy after reading it. It put me in a good mood. I liked the heroine. There was a twist that I hadn't expected. The separation after they got together was well done. Bel leaves him and I was glad, cheering her on. For many romance novels, I am disappointed in how the author separates the lovers. It's a treat when I agree with the reasons one of the lovers leaves.

Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: six. Setting: 1814 London. Copyright: 2000. Genre: regency romance.

To date there are seven books in the Knight family series, of which I have read six, as follows. My review for His Wicked Kiss was posted to Amazon on 2/6/07. All the rest are posted on 5/26/08.
The Duke (4.5 stars)
Lord of Fire (2 stars)
Lord of Ice (3.5 stars)
Lady of Desire (4.5 stars)
Devil Takes a Bride (2 stars)
His Wicked Kiss (3 stars)

This is the second book of the Knight series which is Lucien Knights story. He is handsome, intelligent, a lethal spy and and the type of hero you love to get attached to as you read. His character is my favorite of all her books. The Heroine Alice is sweet, not quite up to par with Lucien but still their story is a great one to read about. I have noticed that a lot of romance novelists write a beautiful love story and then throw in some kind of half thought conspiracy at the very end that seems awkward and misplaced. NOT so with Gaelen Foley. Her plots and conflicts are as well developed as the characters you begin to fall in love with drawing you into the book. Lord of Fire is one of her more sensual books with some shocking scenes too. I recomend this book as well as the whole series. Though not neccessary, I recommend you read them in order starting with "The Duke" and enjoy getting sucked into the series.

This is the story of Lucien, twin brother of Damien Knight. I read Lord of Ice before this and it has to be one of the best in historic fiction I've read. The problem in this one is, as others before me have mentioned too, the unlikable heroine.

The beginning of the book was more than promising. Dark, sensual, exciting scenes start to unfold in Lucien's country home with mysterious guests, spies, secret passage ways and an incredibly pure heroine in the middle of all, strangely attracted to the master of all these, Lord Lucien Knight. Lucien "forces" her to stay with him in his home and they fall in love; the dark hero and the pure heroine. So far so good. As soon as they both admit to their love for each other I started to hate Alice (and perhaps dislike Lucien). She treats Lucien, who up until then appeared strong, confident, decisive, as if he were a child. "Please be careful my love", "oh, my heart what must you have been through" etc. And strong Lucien, puts his head on her lap for her to coddle him as if he were a puppy. I understand that he was starved for love but this transformation from rock hard to puddle was more than a romantic ever asked for. The only thing that saves him in the end is that he chooses revenge instead of love. And Alice is not happy that he is not firmly wrapped around her little finger! Oh no! She decides she has had enough of him and goes straight into the enemy's hands instead of Lucien's warnings about what could happen if she came to London. It turns out that pure and innocent and good Alice, is an unbelievingly CONTROLLING female, that rather sees Lucien as his mother than his lover. And poor Lucien, what has befallen him! It is my opinion that most romance readers like me, do like their heroes strong and solid as rock, but soft and caring about their one true love. What this book misses, is the diference between soft and "jump doggie, jump!" which Lucien has turned to.

Not my cup of tea this one. On the other hand, the story of Damien, the other twin, is for me the best in a series of great books.

I am a great fan on Ms. Foley's writing, and while the book was not poorly written per se, the characters were not compelling. I am in no way adverse to an espionage type romance, but how on earth the Puritanical Alice was paired with Lord Lucifer (Lucien) was beyond me.

Alice was too prim, too proper, too naive, and rather annoying. Very annoying, even.It seems very easy to create a Stupid Illogical Heroine. To illustrate this- Alice witnesses the death/murder of a Russian spy, then afterwards when Lucien warns her to stay away from London because her life is in danger, she responds angrily that all he does is lie, and why should she take his word. (I'm paraphrasing). I mean really you imbecile !
There ought to be a rating system for these blockhead heroines.

I finished reading this book in 1 day.

This is Lucian's story. The "fallen" twin who just never quite measures up to his brother. A spy who hosts "orgies" in his underground grotto to gain useful information for national security. A man who is the verge of personal collapse. He has seen, experienced, and performed dispicable acts of humanity and is completely disenfranchised with everyone and everything. He is alone.
Enter Alice Montague.

She is his opposite. A naive, innocent, virgin who has never seen half the things that haunt Lucian. The scene and circumstances to which they meet for the first time is perhaps my favorite meeting of all time, and there are scenes throughout this book that make it UNFORGETTABLE (ie..the rain scene, the hot springs scene, the key scene..just to name a few).

Other reviewers have mentioned the unlikelyhood that these two could ever actually get together. Others talk about Alice's naivity and purity as being annoying or stupid. I just don't agree. Alice is exactly what Lucian has been missing from his life, and if she were any different, I don't think she would've had the impact on him that she did.

I really liked Alice....I really loved Lucian. He was a unique blend of power, strength, vulnerablity, and tenderness. He is in touch with his feelings and tells Alice he loves her before she tells him. He goes to extreme measures to keep her with him, but as soon as their friendship develops past attraction, he gives her the keys (literally and figuratively) to leave. Of course by this time, WHY would she want to! This is a wonderful love story. This is really Lucian's story of his redemption and acceptance of himself...the definition of "a keeper".

I disliked the heroine Alice's actions. Lucien was a highly skilled spy. He told her to stay away from certain things, but she didn't and as a result, she caused problems, putting him in danger, herself in danger and causing a spy to get away. Later in the story Alice's sister-in-law didn't do what she had been told to do, and as a result she was taken hostage. This story used women's stupid actions to cause the conflicts and help the bad guys which I didn't like. I also didn't like the way Alice gave an ultimatum to Lucien that he stop trying to catch the bad guy, telling him to have someone else do the job.

Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: 1814 London. Copyright: 2001. Genre: regency romance.

To date there are seven books in the Knight family series, of which I have read six, as follows. My review for His Wicked Kiss was posted to Amazon on 2/6/07. All the rest are posted on 5/26/08.
The Duke (4.5 stars)
Lord of Fire (2 stars)
Lord of Ice (3.5 stars)
Lady of Desire (4.5 stars)
Devil Takes a Bride (2 stars)
His Wicked Kiss (3 stars)

the characters, like the plot,tend to fizzle early on, causing this book to be a boring read after the initial promise of star crossed love. instead we get a conflicting strong alpha male hero who, by the end of the book, degenerates into tears quite a lot and mostly over nothing.
our heroine, on the other hand, who is portrayed as having virtually no experience dealing with emotional issues, forces a pseudo-reconciliation
between the hero and his father. i wanted so much for this book to be stronger as i think the character of billy blade could have been a great
fully fleshed out person. if that had happened i probably could have put up with jacinda and her blonde corkscrew curls falling all over the place. as one reviewer said,if you must read this, get it from the library and save your money for a better buy.

Ok, I know that Billy Blade is not of the Knight family, but he sure is the star here, more so than Jacinda. He is just the person you dream of falling in love; strong, sensitive, daring, with wicked sense of humour. And let's not forget the gorgeous looks!

The story in two lines, is that Jacinda fleeing from a mariage her brothers arranged, falls on a gang fight in the slums of London. She meets Billy Blade there (not for the first time mind you!) and they are attracted to each other. He returns her to her family and later he is forced to enter London's society in his real name, that of Earl of Rackford. They meet again and finally he wins her hand although at first she is unwilling to sacrifice her independance.

Although the plot seems farfetched (ok, it maybe is) it becomes too real as soon as you start reading. Mrs Foley is surely a very skilled writer if she manages to pull through such a story and make it seem believable. This is a book that contains everything; a hero with a very dark childhood but strong enough to escape it, witty dialogues, lovely scenes (the scene where Billy and Jacinda meet for the first time in high society is FANTASTIC!) and as always with Mrs Foley, intrigue and action. I like it that Jacinda and Billy are so well matched; both have a healthy disregard for society rules, are not so firm/proper as the rest of the Knight clan, strong will and desire for adventure. Although I would love Billy for myself (LOL!) I can see why Jacinda is the ideal mate for him!

Two things bothered me though. First thing that bothered me is how long she kept resisting Billy and clinged to her independance. I mean, what woman is her right mind would reject Billy? Second, is her insisting on going to visit Billy's dying father. I am not sure a "happy" ending could or should be attempted after Foley's description of Billy's father as an utter villain.

Not so dark or heart wrenching as the Knight twins stories before this, with the overall atmosphere somewhat different and lighter from previous works of Gaelen Foley, this is a great book that is sure to entertain historic romance fans.

I was absolutely hooked on this book for the first three chapters...then, sadly, this book bored me and never really lived up to it's potential. The reasons for this lay with Jacinda Knight and the romance between her and Billy Blade.

Billy Blade as a hero showed amazing promise. Entirely a tortured hero, which I usually love, he turned from street savvy gang leader to "gentleman", and I must say I liked the former way more. I liked him far more in the beginning of the book than I did in the majority of the book where he spent his time trying to win the headstrong Jacinda.

Jacinda was a horrible heroine. I just didn't like her at all. She was either pretending not to know Billy, babying him like a child, or trying to get another man to notice her in front of him! All of these extremes left a bad taste in my mouth.

I didn't understand the love connection here, and though I am a huge Gaelen Foley fan, I just don't think this was a good love story at all. I don't know what kind of woman would've been fit for Billy Blade, but it certainly wasn't Jacinda Knight.

I also detested Billy Blade's father and I wish that Foley wouldn't have felt the need to neatly tie up everything in the final chapter. The man was despicable and I had no interest in the idea of somehow coming to understand and have empathy on him. It also seemed unlikely that Billy Blade would've been able to come to the peace that he did so quickly after years of such brutal neglect and abuse.

I did have interest in Blade's friend Nate. What happened to him, is he OK...I wish there could've been a reunion.

So far the Knight Miscellany books have gone in order not only in how I read them, but how I liked them. I loved the Duke the best, Lord of Fire second, Lord of Ice not even close to as much, and now Lady of Desire hardly at all. I'm wondering if I should stop now or continue with the series hoping it improves. Only a talented author could keep me hooked even after back-to back disappoiontments. I think that I'll probably give her another chance, and probably another and another and....another!

I had tears of happiness at the end. Billy had been physically abused as a child and ran away from home at age 13. He became a gang leader with admirable qualities.

CAUTION SPOILERS: Toward the end, I loved the scenes of Jacinda with Billy's father. She took his abuse without offense and responded in ways that wowed me. On page 317, Billy asks her "How could someone do that?" referring the way his father treated him growing up. I loved her answer. Part of her answer follows: "Humanity, my dear, is a blind, mad parade of sorry fools. People are flawed, and sometimes they make terrible mistakes. You must never let yourself be deceived into thinking that your father's hideous mistakes were somehow your fault." I definitely recommend this book. There were a lot of good ideas and some interesting events.

Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: five. Setting: 1816 England. Copyright: 2003. Genre: regency romance.

To date there are seven books in the Knight family series, of which I have read six, as follows. My review for His Wicked Kiss was posted to Amazon on 2/6/07. All the rest are posted on 5/26/08.
The Duke (4.5 stars)
Lord of Fire (2 stars)
Lord of Ice (3.5 stars)
Lady of Desire (4.5 stars)
Devil Takes a Bride (2 stars)
His Wicked Kiss (3 stars)

I was very disappointed in this book's ending. The character of Billy was well done and Jacinda was all right but the ending was too ridiculous. Maybe these should be just short stories because there really isn't enough meat within to warrant an entire book; and, I am not aluding to the sex scenes which have become comically repetitive with all these authors. I am beginning to realize that many of these authors steal from their own prior books because each one is soooo predictable - the same thing happens to the young virgin in each and every book - almost verbatim! I am toying with the idea of writing a book called Clever Hands and Proud Nipples. Try finding some new adjectives people, these are ridiculous.