Nova Books

D. Greer's novel takes a reader through the heart of Nova Scotia in a time period that reflects the struggles of the fishing towns up and down the south shore. This story is uplifting, yet real and closes leaving the reader with a mix of emotions.

This is an enjoyable, moving novel about a small town in Nova Scotia and three brothers who are raised by an incredibly anti-social, cynical mother after their father dies when they are very young.I thought that the author managed to make all the characters interesting and believable, even the ones I didn't like. I really enjoyed this novel, and look forward to Greer's next book.

For those of you interested in immigration policy, Ghorashi's book will prove a valuable resource for understanding how and why immigrants make a home for themselves in a new country. Her comparison of Dutch and America policies are enlightening. The first is a highly structured and regulated system and the second is more chaotic: a kind of sink or swim policy. Ghorashi's analysis of her selected group: Iranian women leftists, reveals the surprising success of the sink or swim policy. Who would have guessed?

On a personal level, I learned so much about my own immigrant relatives from reading the stories and analysis in Ghorashi's book. The insight into the ways in which immigrants create and define "home" and "homeland" helped me better understand my grandparent's relationship to America. I remember how they used to describe Springfield, Illinois as an Eden. As a teen, this confused me, since I found the city incredibly dull. One woman in Ghorashi's book echoes this sentiment in her description of L.A. as paradise. The point is, I have come to understand, that paradise is where one feels safe and at home.

What amazed me were the similarities between the experiences of the women Ghorashi studies and the women I grew up with. The fact that more than 80 years separates their immigrations does not seem to matter. Both groups fled countries that had become hostile to them. Both made new homes for themselves in new countries. Both found ways to survive.

Through the analysis and the women's stories (told in their own words), I learned so much about what it feels like to fight for change - as these women did when they fought against the Shah's regime - experience disappointment at the betrayal of your ideals - and make a new home. Despite the fact that this book focuses on a narrow group of women, there are general lessons about activism, immigration, and survival.

Two thumbs up! (That's all I have.)

What amazed me most about this book is the insight it gave me into my own grandparents and great-grandparents who, like the women interviewed in Ghorashi's book, fled countries that had become hostile and dangerous for them. Some of the stories they told me about their own experiences immigrating to America were echoed by the women in this book. More than 80 years separates my relatives and the women here, but the experiences remain similar.

In addition, I found the book fascinating because of its look at people in the grips of revolutionary change. Wow! Their experiences with the revolution in Iran, the great hope they had for their country, and the ways in which those hopes were betrayed make for fascinating reading.

For people interested in immigration policy, the comparison of the women's experiences in the US and the Netherlands is really insightful. It makes me proud of America's dysfunctional system. I never thought I would say that.

I recommend this book.

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.

Writing Style - 4/5
Characters - 4
Storyline - 3
Resonance - 3

The Not-Too-Revealing Synopsis

A tourist, - no - a traveler who is a trek junkie searching for the next pristine, exotic, faraway land comes across a madman offering him just that. This is a hip, edgy-toned story of the journey, the findings, and the effects.

The Review:
This read was, throughout the book - disagreeable, annoying, shallow and boring while simultaneously amusing, gratifying, intricate and surprising. Garland has a certain carelessness with sentence structure and thought processes that mirrors the nature of the main character (both annoying and amusing). The conceptualization of Utopia was hardly desirable but the considerations of human fallibility were wonderfully related (disagreeable, gratifying). The main character alone is memorable; the others, though distinctive were place holders necessary for some drama (intricate, shallow) and while I was sure that around the half-way point this was going to be a 2 out of 5 star, the character development in the last half knocked it up to a solid 4 (boring, surprising). There is much to be forgiven, even disregarded throughout the read but the final story is worth all the distractions. I recommend this book.

P.S. I saw the movie eight years ago or so when it came out. I don't remember much about it save the video game sequences and that I hated it. I don't it influenced me much on the read - if anything I had low expectations for the book because of the impressions I recalled from the movie.

for any one, any age who has done a tour in SE Asia. Or not done a tour and wants to.

I bought this to read while in Thailand. I was staying on the beach in Chawaeng, thinking this'd be a great read. The best I can say is that it's an ok holiday read. It seems to take itself a little too seriously - like it's trying to become great literature, but needs just a little more. The dramatic point comes a little too late and is too obvious in coming - so the tension doesn't build as it should. Also, it seems like there was a storyline that got dropped entirely - there was a whole bunch of foreshadowing, but nothing ever came of it. I guess this might have been the authors attempt at a "twist", but it came off feeling more like "oops, forgot that one" :(

Ah well - it's still worth reading once and provided an interesting fictional context to where I was staying. I never got out to the lagoon cos it was raining and high swell - yep, it exists and yep, you can go there on the tour.

Maybe next time will be better. ;)

The Beach is an easy book to read that should leave any traveller nodding their head in recognition, dismay, or both.
While it doesn't explore the complexities of the modern, post-colonial relationship between "east" and "west" to a great extent, it does explore that relationship just enough to keep the book interesting.
It's not really a thriller; it's written in the fast-paced, easy-flowing style of a thriller and it contains a lot of violence, but the narrator's perspective is too focused on the mundane aspects of things for the book to really be called "thrilling."
Richard, the protagonist is not really that "shallow," "immoral," or a "slacker," as people have commented. But he is simple. He's a lonely person who travels and does drugs - two very primitive sources of stimulation, really - because more grounded, consistent ways of life don't seem to work for him. He's not a rebel nor does he have much angst. Like many travellers, he hides from himself by putting himself in unfamiliar surroundings.
Many travellers may complain about the protagonist's "narrow" view of the world, but they are missing the point. Richard reveals a truth about travel that many readers may be afraid to face: no matter how much we talk about "experiencing another culture," and "getting to understand the world," most of travel really consists of hanging out with people like ourselves, and what we ultimately like about travel, more than any kind of deep learning, is excitement and fun.
But, yes, Richard's level of consciousness is ultimately quite shallow (Perhaps Garland's is as well?), and sometimes I, too, found myself disappointed by that fact: sometimes, I wished that the book would offer more insights into the problematic relationship between backpackers and their destinations and the ultimate silliness of the Western desire to find "unspoiled," "natural" places, and I wished for more interesting sentences (I appreciate the simplicity and straight-forwardness of the narration, but there are many simple writers who still manage to create great sentences, and Garland is not one of them, nor do I think he wants to be.)
But I was grateful for the absence of something else from the book: pretentiousness. In recent years, and even moreso in the 1990s, "depth" consisted of vague pop culture references and poetic, ironic, self-congratulatory writing.
Garland's voice, on the other hand, is so modest as to be almost boring, and his pop culture references are done without any irony: he talks about video games merely because they are a big part of his life. He doesn't attempt to comment on the nature of pop culture, he just talks about it a lot. He doesn't say that pop culture has "shaped" our "postmodern" culture, or "replaced" anything "real"; really, video games are just one of the many things that influence his life.
The Beach, for its lack of pretentiousness in dealing with potentially "big" subjects (the relationship of east and west, pop culture, alienation), would almost merit five stars.
It is refreshing that The Beach doesn't seem to be trying to "add up to much," but it is nonetheless frustrating that it doesn't add up to much. When the narrator references Vietnam movies and draws superficial parallels between The Beach and the Vietnam war, the result is just that: superficial. Garland did not develop this motif enough for it to be interesting, nor did he keep it minimal enough for it to not get annoying.
The constant barrage of phrases along the lines of "This is Vietnam, boy!" are neither as silly nor as scary as they should be.
At times, it appears that The Beach will become either an action-packed adventure story or a profoundly developed reflection on the world, but it does not really deliver on either of those levels unless you ignore certain aspects of it or put too much energy into reading between the lines.
In the end, however, The Beach is a satisfying, commendable novel. It is an easy-to-read piece of pseudo-travel lit that, if it does not define a generation, certainly does, to a small extent, define a certain type of traveller that existed in that generation.

Reading this book really made me think. As someone who has suffered from wanderlust my entire life this book hit home. Its a great adventure story but its also about self exploration and friendship. Great Book.

Reading this book is sort of analogous to having a days-long therapy session; this is something I see as both a strength and a weakness. I don't think many people would deny Chabon's strength as a storyteller, but, like Quentin Tarantino's movies, his single-minded obsessions often come out as stronger than the characters would have realistically experienced them. Chabon is pretty good at hiding this sort of writing-as-katharsis impulse, but there are a few points in the book where you're reading about comic books, Jewish oppression, and homosexuals, and wondering if this is a book or a confessional.

As a story about two Jewish cousins who write comics, one of them a homosexual, this is a concern that runs through the length of the novel, even if the concern is a minor one.

I sometimes find myself swayed by the power of final pages and final sentences, and this book really delivered what I wanted. Satisfying, not entirely happy, not expected; strength at the same time as surrender. Chabon seems to understand the art of making near-heroes out of characters at one time both extraordinary and self-destructively passive.

Fabulous example of what fictions does best. Reading this intelligent, highly creative novel will introduce you to a cast of characters you would never have the pleasure of meeting in "real" life and take you to times and places you couldn't otherwise experience. The humor, sincerity, and inventiveness of Chabon's writing will capture your imagination from the early pages and sustain you throughout. Even at over 600 pages, you'll be sad to say goodbye.

A beautiful book about Sammy and Joe, two cousins who end up writing and drawing comic books together, the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a staggering tale of dedication, commitment, human frailty, perseverance, loyalty, and the many faces of the most powerful of all super powers, love. it shows the power of the love and appreciation of art, the power of family, the power of ethnicity, and the power of dreams. There is a riff early in Kavalier and Clay in which Sammy throws out ideas for heroes that is a hilarious send-up of super powers. Chabon knows that Sammy knows from the beginning that he has the power of his dreams, the power of his loyalty, and ultimately the power of love that will carry him through adversity to find happiness. Joe on the other hand must face the unimaginably grim reality of leaving everyone he loves behind to face the Nazi horrors. There is never a mystery about what Joe's loved ones face, and we feel along with him the guilt of his finding new people to love in the America of the mid-20th Century, a place of amazing opportunity and amazing charlatans. Chabon destroys the idea of nostalgia by exposing some societal norms that border on the Nazism that the characters set out to fight, each in his own way. The book is set in a particular time and Chabon does not glamorize that time, just portrays it honestly.

Normally I view the Pulitzer Prize as an enormous badge of mediocrity. Look how many books chosen for it have fallen from fashion, never to darken the door of literature beyond their meager days in the sun. Yet with Kavalier and Clay the pretentious puffer fish of the Pulitzer Prize committee plucked a plum. This novel will stand because of Chabon's marvelous wordcraft, and the most super of all powers.

I like the writing in this book. I like the characters in it. It took me to a different time and place. The characters are rich and complex. I cannot, however, recommend this book. It has many sub-stories within its main storyline. Many of them are never resolved. They just fade away. The book zig-zags all of the place. I finished four-fifths of the book and gave up. I got tired of twists and turns that ended nowhere.

Kavalier and Clay are Jewish cousins, Clay (morphed from Klayman) a short New Yorker crippled by polio, Kavalier a tall brooding escapee from Europe just before Hitler locked the gates and opened the extermination lines. The day after Kavalier's surprising arrival in New York, after his amazing escape from Europe via Japan and San Francisco, Sam and Joe launch the multi-million dollar earning Escapist comic book line in a combination of daring, talent, and brinksmanship bluffing.

The rest of the book is the story of how they survive success and conquer failure. The book reads quickly, with only an uncomfortable homosexuality subplot to ruin the enjoyment of the interaction between the cousins and the bubbling potboiling excitement of the early days of comic books in the 1930 and 1940s.

this is the best book I have ever read. I had it on tape and hard cover. I just got it on CD. It has been my fovorite book for over a decade. The more I read it the more it makes me think and the more I see in it.

This book is a beautiful and haunting Sci-Fi meditation on the nature of God and faith. It uses an extraterrestrial plot line to brilliantly articulate the strengths and weaknesses of the human race. I consider myself an atheist, and find myself re-evaluating faith, religion and even the practice of theology and philosophy after reading this book.

Reading this book conferred on me a type of spiritual punch I imagine Arthur C Clarke's "Childhood's End" and CS Lewis' space trilogy must have had on readers when originally published. I consider this book the modern exponent of introspective Sci-Fi, possibly sharing that seat with Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake".

Muddiness gives water the illusion of depth; complexity does the same for writing. But after wading around in it for an hour or two and never leaving the shallows, you're left disappointed.

At heart, this book is a mockery of Christianity, if that matters to you.

Russell can write in the sense of stringing words together well, but her basic recipe just doesn't satisfy. She gives plenty of conflict, but no resolution. How many different ways can you mix together a couple pounds of ambiguous Torah and Holocaust themes, and try to pass them off as a new dish? However, if you pretend you are reading this as a fictionalized anthropology case study, you might enjoy it.

This was the WORST book I have ever read. The lone star that I gave this book goes to the author for her efforts in writing it.
I was encouraged to read this by all the amazing 5 star reviews and once I was done, I felt defiled.
I can appreciate good books, too....but this?? ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING.
Sex addicts might enjoy this read.

I have read thousands of books... This is THE best books I have ever read. I am not a religious person, I have no God, I have read the bible, the Koran and alot of other religious texts. This being said and stated above.
This is a story of love, discovery, and the search for faith in the most extreme and at the same time closest place...the human, and alien soul.
Bar none the best first contact story I have ever read... It is a violent scary, heartwarming tale of love, misunderstanding, hatred, and faith.
Enjoy.

This book was a great coming of age story regarding adolescents and young adults at the turn of the twenty-first century New Orleans. This book kept my interest because it was unpredictable and the character development was realistic and mesmerizing. If you are looking for a mystery that explores the trials and tribulations of nearly every character in the book, then you have come to the right place indeed!

I read this book about 4 years ago, and I reread it at least 3 times a year. Its at the top of my book list. A very good read.

I'm not sure how you would describe Rice's potential audience, but I must be one of them! I could take all the positive comments written about this book, and repeat them. I won't. I'll just nod my head. Set in New Orleans - for all those poor residents of New Orleans after Katrina, this is a spooky premonition, with the climax of the book being an equally disastrous storm. I usually take a while to read books, as I read at the speed of talking. However, I read this in one go. (Cliche I know, but I've never done this before or since). If a storm hit my place, I would take this book with me.

It's not always a bad thing to delve into one's own life experiences when developing a novel for the public. Some of life's greatest lessons can be learned from childhood experiences, but in the case of author Christopher Rice this is not the case. Sure, `A Density of Souls' isn't a word for word accounting of this kids high-school days BUT it's apparent that he was at the short end of quite a few cruel pranks and or jokes growing up. The books main character is probably not too far off from Christopher at all, maybe even only in name. The problem I have with this novel is that it promises a lot but delivers very little and ultimately dissolves into a gigantic waste of time and talent. Yes, I said talent because I have had the pleasure of reading Christopher's sophomore novel `The Snow Garden' and was blown away by his creative and artistic story telling capabilities. Sadly, if I had not read that novel FIRST I would have never given it a second thought after reading this drivel.

So, why, you may ask, do I loathe this novel so much? Well, for starters it has a tendency to drag out for long stretches of pointless banter, siphoning off onto small side plots that really have nothing to do with the initial story or end result and appear to be the authors attempt at expanding the lifeless characters he's created, but he fails miserably. He in a few areas begins to offer small glimmers of hope that maybe, just maybe this story is actually going somewhere impressive but he never really follows through with anything. The beginning of the novel hints towards a dark secret that when revealed is nothing more than boys at play and has no real shock value what so ever. The end, while at times impressive, turns out chaotic and overly dramatic and becomes nothing more than a cry for help from the homosexual community for acceptance.

The story, as one reviewer mentioned, is clumsy. His story revolves around four childhood friends whose friendship is turned upside down when one of them comes out as homosexual. That odd one out was Stephen Conlin. Worse yet, his former friends Greg Darby and Brandon Charbonnet were not only popular but jocks, which, you know, stereotypically puts them in ultimate defiance to Stephen's newfound lifestyle. The fourth member of this group is Meredith Ducote who doesn't seem to know how to feel. She doesn't necessarily agree with the way Stephen is treated but it's not like she really does anything about it. Christopher paints his male bullies as the worst of the worst, giving them no human emotion but that of hatred and cruelty and so they come off one dimensional and unrealistic, until the very end where one of the two can honestly be sympathized with as frustrated and confused.

In the end I have to say that this was not worth the time I spent muddling through it. It was one of the biggest disappointments in literature for me recently because, as I mentioned, I really enjoyed `The Snow Garden' and was highly anticipating relishing in this debut. Sadly, that was not the case and I'm left cold and distant and unsure if I'll even attempt to read Christopher's third novel `Light Before Day' (which I've read was the worst of the three so I'm strongly leaning towards passing it up). I just wish that this novel could have really taken me somewhere instead of teasing and then dropping the ball. Christopher is not without talent but his debut novel is without heart, soul and purpose and I highly recommend that you avoid and start with his fantastic sophomore novel because that is the beginnings of a great writer. I will say, that lonely star is for his descriptive writing which, in it of itself, makes at least the setting come alive. New Orleans has never been so engrossing.

I was expecting Christopher to be a richly talented writer, considering who his parents are, but this novel was horrible. First, the characters, I did not feel anything for them, they were so dull and the only thing he seemed to focus on was the gay factor. There is more to a person than their sexual preferences, far more and I felt that outside of that fact, these characters were flat and lifeless. This novel disappointed me so greatly, I will not read another C.Rice novel. There seems to be a struggle between his personal desire to write about his own lifestyle and his ability to tell a good story. I absolutely don't mind gay men as leading characters, but give me a story! Tell me something more about them other than the obvious and make me feel something for what you put them through, I felt nothing, because this novel is thin, too thin and I just didn't care about these people; one dimensional in scope and very sloppy pacing make this book one to forget. If you are buying solely because you like Anne, don't bother.

This book is totally hilarious! Dave Barry has a great style filled with jokes that will make you laugh for hours. The pacing is great - plus, lots of good characters with an awesome plot. And nobody does south Florida comedy better!

There should be more books like this one. I'd recommend this to anyone...it's one of my favorites. And if you're looking for another good book to read after Big Trouble, check out National Darkroast Day.

This is an off-beat little sort-of-hard-boiled crime thriller (think Elmore Leonard lite with a dose of wacky humor). Dave Barry's brand of humor didn't always translate well into the fictional format, in my opinion, but for the most part he pulled it off. If you're a fan of his humor columns, you will probably like this novel, but that will depend somewhat on whether the darker elements bother you--there are some unsavory characters here. Barry does just enough characterization to make each character distinct and recognizable, but in some cases you wish he did more (when you actually liked the characters).

The plot is fairly-well handled, but it was unfortunate that 9/11 happened not too long after this came out (though this really hurt the movie, which was in production pre-9/11 but was released shortly afterward, more than the book).

Dick Hill's narration of the audio version is quite good, especially his ability to do distinct and recognizable voices for each character. His delivery helps the humor along as well.

Dave Barry weaves a funny, complicated tale, and this is one of his best. Full of off beat characters, absurd but somehow true to life scenarios, and bad guys who get their comeuppance, this is an engrossing cassette set to listen to. The narration is excellent as well, by a true audio artist!

Anyone who has read any of Dave Barry's work knows how completely hilarious his analogies and descriptions can be. However, almost all of his work has been short editorial articles. This novel is like a full feature film of Dave Barry's notoriously outrageous mind.

This book is probably the funniest book I have ever read, even considering novels by Christopher Moore, Douglas Adams, Carl Hiassen, and many others. I don't know if I can ever look at Florida the same way after reading this book. Since finishing it, I've chuckled every time I've even hear the word 'Florida', and that was a few years ago.

Writing comedy is difficult, and Dave Barry clearly put a huge amount of thought and time into the writing of this novel. Anyone that reads this book will find that their time and money was well spent.

BIG TROUBLE is a very funny crime novel. I've never read Dave Barry's column (which, as of this date, no longer exists), but this book makes me wish that I had. There are many laugh-out loud moments, especially in the first half of the book, when the huge cast of characters is introduced. Barry also has a great time skewering the culture and people of Miami.

This is a farcical novel, and you have to keep that in mind as you read it. If you're looking for serious or sophisticated humor, or emotional depth in the characters, you definitely won't get that here. BIG TROUBLE is instead a fun, raunchy farce, and succeeds at that level.

If you're looking for light fun, this short novel is well worth your money and time. It only took me a few hours to read, and is a perfect book to take to the beach or on vacation.

Three and a half stars.

Beginning with A Kiss of Shadows, Laurell Hamilton has an excellent series. I recently re-read all six and cannot wait for the next installment. Please tell me there will be a next installment.

Product arrived in a timely fashion and in great shape!
Really enjoyeable purchasing experience.

This Book is so awesome I read the paperback version to death! Laurell found a way to merge sex and magic into a well rounded sensual way, without overstepping into the relm of "been there, read that, copycat" as I find so many romance novels to be. She also did her research and was able to incorperate many details with religion surounding Faery kind. For all you Laurell K Hamilton virgins out there.... Beware, The Meredith Gentry series is highly addictive! The first time I read this book I read for 7 hours straight! Front to back cover! And you only get more sucked into Merry's world as you go! Have fun everyone!

Meredith Gentry is a woman undercover, working for an L.A. detective agency, and running for her life from the Unseelie Court of Faerie! But, something is going on. There are schemes within schemes, and someone high up in the hierarchy of Faerie is doing things that even royalty can't get away with. If Meredith is going to get to the bottom of things, she will have to be clever and more than a little bit lucky...especially if she is going to stay alive.

This is the first book in Laurell K. Hamilton's wonderful Meredith Gentry series. The story is wonderfully gripping, with suspense and danger galore. Now, along the way, there are a few very well written sex scenes, giving this book its reputation as a work of erotica...well, then it is excellent erotica. But, it is so much more than that. If you live action and adventure thrillers, especially those with a supernatural twist, then you will like this book.

I think that it is a great book that is sure to please the adult palette. I highly recommend it to you!

(Review of A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton)

Wow. I was really looking forward to reading something by Anita Blake as I heard so many great things about her books, but I could not even finish this book. (that is not common for me). I read over half of the book hoping that it would improve and it did not.

This started off sounding pretty promising....a case that involved a dead man's wife and mistress (who are now friends). Quickly though, the case seems to be left behind. I found Meredith was having (mostly meaningless) sex with pretty much every male creature she encounterd. I like the supernatural type books, but some of the creatured were a bit over the top.

Very disappointing. I did purchase the audio version of this book (I was pretty sure I would like it) and the reader was okay, but did not like the way she portrayed the male characters.

I would not recommend this book.

I'm sorry I revisited the Stephanie Plum series. This book was just plain trashy. The characters have little sense of responsibility or loyalty. The "engagement" between Plum and Morelli is a farce, and Stephanie should slap some sense into herself. The heart aspect of the story was interesting and amusing, but not well developed.

No more Evanovich books for me.

This is one of the better books in an already excellent series. Most of the good points of the series is played up in this title, while many of the bad parts are missing, making for an overall good read.

The thing that makes Plum books good, beyond Stephanie herself, are the side characters. Seven Up has introductions of some of the more interesting and enjoyable characters, including Moony and Doug "the Dealer", both of whom you instantly like. Even the one shot characters like Benny and Ziggy are enjoyable.

The one character I have a problem with is Joyce. She is one note, and that note has been played. I wish Evanovich would move away from that character. Of course, the big thing in this book is her deal with Ranger. It is nice to see their relationship move forward, as it was starting to feel a bit stalled.

The story is what you can expect from a Plum novel. A mystery that is not overly complex but that does have enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.

If you are a fan of the series, this is a must have. You will not regret it.

After I read the sixth book in the Plum series, I started thinking they were all sounding the same: Stephanie flubs yet another apparent slam-dunk apprehension, gets shot at, can't find her pepper spray, on-again/off-again with Joe Morelli, sees black spots before her eyes -- please. I just want her to develop some -- get better at her job, give it up, organize her purse -- anything!

And there's more of the same in this seventh book, too. For the uninitiated, Stephanie Plum is a reluctant bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey, and the wackiest things always happen to her as she's trying to bring in her FTAs (failed-to-appear). Surrounded by a cast of characters out of Central Jersey Casting (crazy grandma, grumbly dad, nervous mom, prostitute-turned-assistant...), she fumbles her way into the most improbable situations. Her cars get trashed; her apartment gets broken into. You get the idea.

But a funny thing happened to me with this book: I just sat back and read and enjoyed the darned thing, formula and all. Ms. Evanovich is just a funny writer, and this book was just a fun speed read (it was due the next day at the library). I will continue with the series, even if (or maybe especially if) Stephanie stays the same. She's finally kind of growing on me.

I loved the first 6 Stephanie Plum novels on CD, but the reader of #7 is horrible. Her delivery is v-e-r-y s-l-o-w. It ruins the pace of the book. Also, she gives really strong accents (which are really bad, by the way) to everyone. Everyone EXCEPT Stephanie, the quintessintial Jersey girl. Stephanie sounds like a 50 year old midwestern matron.

Skip this audiobook. The reader is terrible. She tries to do a Jersey accent that comes off sounding like she has a speech impediment and a lisp. Bad!!