Nova Books

This is a book about relationships. It is full of camaraderie, sisterhood, male/female bond and above all the father/son bond. It is not without the darker side to relationships as displayed by Tia and also Speed and Ann.
I liked the format the author chose for her story, which is told by four different narrators. The style is easy going, interesting and effective. Often the reader can see the same scene from two different viewpoints. There are two main plots, closely intertwined. I also appreciated the author's descriptions and her humour as well as the way she slipped in some real life issues and people.
The author hits a 'home run' with that scene between TJ and his Dad when they admit their love for each other.I think men seldom do this. When TJ declares "it's cool for a man to have fathered a son but it's even better for a son to have a father around" (99) this touch a realistic nerve which is undeniable.
The book ends on a success note - Bebe's graduation and perhaps the end of her sabbatical! Cheers!
Also check out "What Goes Around..." and "Beneath the Surface" by Paula Aird.

I have not read the whole book entirely, but this a great book for african-americans, because we can relate to what they are going through, and it also has many details.

An amusing read that kept me turning the pages. A little on the male bashing side, but I got some good laughs from beginning to end.

This book made me sick to my stomach. How a woman like Sandy could be so dumb & desperate is beyond me. What sane woman would put up with this type of junk? The characters were not well developed & the ending was dumb. Sandy should have dumped T.J. & kept rolling. But no, her desperate behind just had to anything just to keep a man in her corner.

This was not a thick book but for some reason it took me several weeks to complete. One of the reasons I did complete this book is because I try to finish what I begin... I felt the author was trying to write like the voice of a man.. Many times during the story I found myself wondering do men really talk like that? Perhaps they do? There was not much of a plot and over all it was not a terrible book,just not all that exciting... I love to read but this was not one of the best books that I have ever read.

In this lovely, haunting story about Nurdane, a young girl who is living with the ravages of polio from her childhood, writes her life into the lines of her rugs. Seen as mystical in nature, Nurdane keeps her hands "clean" so that Allah will continue to bless her hands and continue her magical work in weaving beautiful rugs. Because of her great talent with her weaving, her rugs are sought after as great dowry pieces for brides, as they bring the owner everything from magical health to heightened fertility. But at what cost? To keep her talent, maturing Nurdane must weave the rugs as a woman who seemingly has no hope of love or marriage for herself.

This story wove within me a great peace of mind. I found Nurdane's tale haunting, and maybe that is because of my own visit to Turkey this past year and watching women weave beautiful rugs. While it was woven with very feminist story telling, you do not lose the essence of Nurdane and her culture. I found Payne's first novel to be brilliant and amazing in it's level of texture and emotional and literary languages. I'm not 100% sure why so many people gave it a low rating! It could be what I brought to the novel from my own experience, or my own love of literature giving women from around the globe a certain voice. Overall, I found it haunting and beautiful. Don't be disheartened by the reviews, just dive in and weave yourself into this beautiful novel's tale!

I could NOT get into this book at all. I finally gave up. With so many books on my list, I decided it wasn't worth it to continue. The writing seems stagnant. There was no drive to the story.

Aside from learning so much of the Afghanistan people's culture in the 1950's, the book is a well writtten, thoughtful story. My book club enjoyed it. Lack of dialogue tags is a little distracting.

The Virgin's Knot is an interesting view into traditional village life in rural Turkey on the brink of modernity. I wouldn't say it is a 'feminist' novel, or an 'ist' anything; just a darn good read.

No, it's not the book to buy if you want to learn to weave rugs, but it is a very readable account of the choices, or lack thereof, faced by men and women in traditional societies. It reminds me of the time I've spend in villages in Turkey, and it will help to take you there as well.

The novel starts with the slow, languid pace of village life. Some readers might prefer a more brisk beginning, but village life is not brisk. With the appearance of the American, Hennessy, both the plot and the tension build rapidly. Several themes intertwine; our desire for the best, our belief in our limits, our bargains with fate and with God.

Ms Payne has a nice way with descriptive phrases and is able to evoke an image of what the village is like rather nicely. The complexity - dare I go for the obvious and say tapestry? of the story she weaves in interesting; even better, the ending is not given away too early in the book - the story really could turn in any number of directions, almost to the very last page.

So go read it already!

As a retired librarian whose hobby is weaving, I looked forward to reading The Virgin's Knot and found the book to be very readable. Payne gives the reader valuable insights into Muslim society and its treatment of women while deftly avoiding a trite "hollywood" ending. This having been said, there are several reasons that I did not rate this novel higher.
First, there are many inaccuracies regarding textiles. For example, she refers to "woven socks". Turkey is noted for its intricately patterned and vividly colored knitted socks, which are, in some cases, collectors' items. The rugs woven in Turkey at that time would not have used merino wool, but wool from native sheep such as fat tailed sheep. It is also questionable that pile rugs would be wedding rugs, kilim rugs which are flat woven were used for this in Turkey.
Finally, while Payne has an admirable writing style and can be quite lyrical in her descriptions, there are a number of descriptions that should have been picked up by her editor. For example, in describing the landscape, olive trees with dustly leaves lend the aspect of "sequins" to the topography; "shiny" and "dusty" seem antonymic in my mind. In another section shadows cast on the weaver's face from her loom are described as net like. While this description certainly serves to reenforce the trapped nature of the weaver's situation, the actual shadow would have cast stripes of shadow since the woven portion would have been solid.
As a first effort, Payne has written an interesting book and I will read her second.

I agree with another reviewer that when I got into this book, I could easily see Bruce Willis taking another stab at the "Die Hard" formula in this one--but getting it right again (after that third movie flopped). One man against an army of terrorists who hold several hostages, including the man's love interest...sound familiar? Well, it works anyway. This is a fast-paced book that never really slows down once it gets started. Its breathless pace will keep your interest until the end. No, there aren't many surprises here, but the fact that the hero has a broken foot is an interesting twist.

There are a few "Oh, come on" moments in here where the hero ignores the obvious solution to a problem and goes for the grand-stand play, but if you can overlook those, you get a great story. Despite its weak points, this is an interesting story and worth the time to read it. Recommended.

Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason struck gold when the wrote the action-packed book, Ignition. Terrorists take control of the space shuttle, Atlantis, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Join Col. Adam "Iceberg" Friese, Nicole "Panther" Hunter, and other fun characters in their quest to save the shuttle and it's crew from being blown up by the terrorists. This task would be a lot easier for "Iceberg" if he wasn't alone and didn't have a broken foot.

The plot- well, you have your usual bunch of bad terrorists, two from France, an Australian, plus other red shirt wearers who get killed in no time at all, led by a slimey leader. You have the good guys, led by "Iceburg", his nerdy brother, and his ex girl friend. Iceburg has a broken foot. The leader of the hostages is pain, and argues with Iceburg. Iceburg has to rescue his girlfriend. He does that by stealing a chopper. Its cliche city in other words. You name the stereo type, plot device seen in any number of action movies and books and it is here.

Having said all that, you will probably enjoy the read. Its face paced, frantic, and has even a few one liners that will make you laugh out loud. The characters have no depth at all, but who cares, this is an action thriller, not war and peace. And if you do want fast paced, exciting action, this is a great book for it.

You will probably enjoy this one, gentle reader, but take it for what it is- a few hours of light entertainment ( i read it in three days, and that was for a few hours a day), that will be put on your shelf and probably not touched again.

Grade: C

This is a book with action on every page. I couldn't put it down and was forced to stay up late to finish it. The only weakness is that the lead character's broken foot would not permit him to do the things he does. But that aside, the story is exciting, the reading is easy, and this is definitely a book to read and enjoy.

This book was extremely badly written. The characters all have a big ego and the worst dialogue. The plot seems interesting at first but becomes an even-worse-than-B-movie plot. I hoped it would be good because I'm a huge K.J. Anderson fan but this was horrible (right next to Ai! Pedrito!). Hopefully both of these terrible novels were because Anderson wasn't working alone.

Instead I highly recommend Hopscotch and Captain Nemo, both by Anderson.

Here I am, listening to a really good book on tape, when what happens? It wraps everything up and ends in about 30 seconds of time. I fumbled around thinking my iPod had malfunctioned, but no... they were saying "we hope you have enjoyed...blah blah". I've never seen such an abrubt and unsatisfying ending in the hundreds and hundreds of books I've read. If another book is forthcoming, I'll be a little molified, but not much.

Most murder mysteries end with an "Aha!" and some pleasant words about the future. This book takes you through an abbreviated version of the process of gathering enough evidence to go to trial, and then blissfully spares us the courtroom drama. The characters are wooden, much of the drama staid, and worst of all, the staging of chapter and scene is formulaic, but the action is engrossing and the writing good enough. There is little poetry in it, but a gruff sense of duty and interest in the pursuit of criminals, and then some romance/drama from the main characters to keep our interest despite never fully being resolved. For readers of urban mysteries, the change of setting to rural New Mexico might seem a shock but the basic story and the personalities required to play out its drama remain the same.

I note that a number of the reviewers who gave this book a low rating received few indications that their reviews were helpful. Just a note to those who bag on the reviewers that you could be doing a disservice to potential readers. I mean, those guys nailed McGarrity's effort on this book. It is not that good of a work, it was not exciting, the writing was pedestrian, the prose linear, character development non-existent, the plot plodding, and the book ended with a whimper, not a bang.

Cop mystery books that regale us with police procedure do NOT have to be boring; Wambaugh's The Golden Orange, Floaters, and Finnegan's Week come to mind. Even his minor characters are more colorful and better developed than the main characters in this book.

This is not to denigrate Mr McGarrity's work (he is a published author and I am not). However, potential readers, on the basis of these reviews, might want to invest their money in other books rather than take (are you ready?) a big gamble on The Big Gamble.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

all the McGarrity books feel the same. This is my 3rd review, and the 5th or 6th Kevin Kearney book I've read. And I can't add much to my previous reviews:

1) This book like the others are all easy to read and follow, and the characters are easy to like.
2) Like all good crime authors, he does a very good job of showing us how a crime investigation proceeds. I think some other reviewer said he was an ex-police officer or something like that. (You don't have to be an ex-cop because Michael Connolly was an ex-crime reporter and his crime books has a lot of realism too.)

The bad:
1) There is no suspense! We get to see from the criminals' point of view. Bad if you want suspense, and good if you need to put the book down and do something else. I say that because in some books you can't stop reading because you want to find out whodunit. In McGarrity's books you already know, so there is no urgency.
2) The ending, like all the others, are rushed. He literally (no pun intended) wraps up the book in 2-3 pages. Another reviewer said maybe he had a 274 page deadline, because all the books end on page 273.

My conclusion: I'll still keep reading, I think they're fine, just not great.

If you are a fan of Tony Hillerman's Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn novels which regularly serve up a cocktail of assertive storytelling, unusual mysteries, wonderful atmospheric descriptions of Southwestern geography, and accurate portrayals of Native American culture, this offering by Michael McGarrity will not slake your thirst.

Sure, The Big Gamble is set in New Mexico and one of the two protagonists is a Mescalero Apache Deputy Sheriff, but that is about as "Native American" as the story gets. The two protagonists have recently learned that they are father and son, and go to great lengths to avoid communicating with each other as they each investigates one part of the mystery surrounding to discovery of two dead bodies that were disposed of in the same place.....11 years apart. The villain(s) in the mystery are pretty obvious and the final "roundup" of the bad guys unfulfilling, almost like the writer had a certain number of pages he was obligated to complete in order to fulfill his contract and had achieved that number so he wrapped up the entire story in 4 pages.

The thing that keeps the reader engaged is the authenticity of police procedure in the gathering of forensic evidence during the parallel investigations being conducted by the duo as well as the interconnection of the plethora of crimes, ranging from gambling and prostitution to murder, that their diligence unearths.

Not a great book, but not all that bad.......Overall, an okay choice for a lazy afternoon.

I work with Habitat for Humanity and we use a ot of Hardie Bd. siding. The Gecko set makes installation much easier and accurate. Buying it through Amazon was also fast and easy. Thanks

A boring book filled with narratives, possibly copied from an encyclopedia, about historical figures. Apparently, stories from their own lives could only fill a few chapters of this book.

It takes a narcissist of tremendous proportions to foist this scrapbook off on an unsuspecting public. On the plus side, Cokie Roberts does more than her usual cut and paste from the work of others in From This Day Forward. When not pulling from the work of others, Cokie (and the compliant Steve) offer up tidbits that are supposed to inform the reader how s/he too can have a great marriage.
Apparently the basic rule for a successful marriage is to live in your own little world the way kooky Cokie does. I doubt she realizes how racist she comes off in parts of the book. (Yes, Cokie, condescension is a form of racism.) Or how laughable most will find her book. Reading of the great "trauma" of her life, you realize this is someone who hasn't experienced many character building moments in her life. The great "trauma"? Learning that her new employer wouldn't provide a limo and that Cokie would have to take taxis around NYC. Oh, the horror! Oh, the shame! How did Cokie ever survive?
(Had she been told to take the subway, one gets the impression Roberts would have called it quits right then.)
A vapid celebration of what appears to be a vapid marriage isn't necessarily shocking -- what's shocking is that Cokie (and husband Steve) put their names to it. Had a child offered this slight volume as a souvenir to a wedding anniversary, we all would have "oooh"ed and "aaaawe"d over it. But for grownups to write such a book about themselves is the height of narcissism.
The book works best as anthropological study of When Gigantic Egos Mate.

I always loved Cokie Roberts on TV and when I saw this book, I figured it would be fun to read about her marriage to Steve Roberts. I recommend this book highly to everyone thinking of marriage especially.

From the beginning I was drawn into this couple's world and liked the way they each expressed themselves in separate chapters. I found the entire book exciting, informative, inspiring, and so thankful that they took time to write about their unique marriage and how they make it work.

This is a refreshing book. A rare book about how a marriage can work. I've been married for fifty years and I know this couple will celebrate gold as well. Lots of love and best wishes to Cokie and Steve and thanks for sharing your busy happy loving life with us.

You'll be glad you read this book too.

I picked up this book for $5 at Borders, mainly because I enjoy listening to Cokie Roberts on NPR. I was curious to get to know her a little better.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. She and Steve take turns writing, as if they're dialoguing back and forth. I appreciated their commitment to their marriage in a day when it's not all that popular to stay married to the same person.

I also enjoyed the glimpses into slave marriages and Old West marriages. I'm glad I picked up this book. It was a pleasant read for sure.

Linda Barnes writes great Carlotta Carlisle mysteries but this was not a great favorite.

Not the greatest detective yarn, but with enough chops and spice to make it worth the ride in the end. Found the tape version and found the narrator compelling. Reminded me a bit of the old radio shows my grandmother loved, but with less melodrama. Have no idea what narrator looks like, but if there's a movie version, I'd go with her.

PI Carlotta Carlyle has been hired to work undercover searching for fraud on Boston's Big Dig. She is to be a mild-mannered secretary working in a construction trailer. This is not what Carlotta had in mind.

She also ends up, with the help of her little sister, being hired in a missing person's case. Veronica James left for a weekend and never came back. Now her landlady, and friend, wants Carlotta to find her. She hits one brick wall after another in her search for Veronica

Things aren't going much better in the fraud investigation. Then a construction worker dies and Carlotta isn't sure it was an accident.

There's a break-in at Veronica's. Carlotta isn't too sure things are what they seem here as well.

Carlotta ends up putting herself in some dangerous situations to try to bring both cases to a close.

I recommend this book. I really enjoy Carlotta. I must admit this wasn't one of my tops in this series, but it was an enjoyable read. I think people who have lived through the Big Dig in Boston relate better to this story.

My Dad worked for Bechtel for most of his life as an engineer, and one of the projects he worked on was the Big Dig in Boston, as well as the Chunnel over in England. Living in New Hampshire was a new experience for my mother and him, as they were confirmed Californians, but what finally got to him was the incredible amount of dishonesty going on at this dig, not on Bechtel's part, but rather on local politicians as well as ones all the way up the line. I remember him coming home shaking his head in total disgust at the way things were being handled; how much it was costing to get anything done as people held out their hands for more money...contractors, politicians, law enforcement, etc. He finally asked to be removed from the project, spent the last couple of years before retirement working in California quietly.

It was because of this knowledge that I picked up this book on the Dig, to see that my father's word backed up, even in a book of fiction. This had to be one of the biggest pork projects/boondoggles ever passed on the American public, and we can only hope that in the process of all this dishonesty, contractors and builders involved did not shortchange on materials and labor. It needs to be remembered that the entire city of Boston lies above this underground highway, and the possibility for catastrophe on the scale of say New Orleans and its known inadequate levees might occur.

Carlotta gets involved in this project, when a friend who is in business for himself asks her to check out somethings. She ends up not only having to change her appearance and her usual methods of getting to the bottom of possible wrongdoing (dressing up and playing secretary is not the view we usually have of Carlotta). She ends up with two separate cases that end up being intertwined, saves the lives of a child and many other people who were going to be the target of home-grown terrorists (book was written prior to 9/11), and she finds a new 'friend-mate' in law enforement, whom I am sure we will see more of in the future.

I really enjoyed this mystery. Good plot, good and factual history leading up the this project, and good use of Carlotta's native city with its various problems (as well as its good parts). Hope to read more about this project and from Linda Barnes in the near future!

Karen Sadler

Using Boston's "Big Dig" as her novel's primary setting, Linda Barnes creates a complex but intriguing mystery in which her heroine, Carlotta Carlyle, a six-foot, red-haired private eye, goes undercover as a secretary on the Big Dig construction site. She is helping the Inspector General's Office investigate possible corruption on the $14 billion project to build a two-mile underground tunnel for the Central Artery. In her off-hours, she has been persuaded by a Boston dowager, Dana Endicott, to work on an unrelated second job, locating Endicott's missing companion, who departed for the weekend and never returned, leaving her beloved dog behind.

The mystery becomes more complex with the suspicious death of a construction worker, the disappearance of the boss's teenage daughter, the FBI's preparations for the April 19th Patriots' Day celebration at Faneuil Hall with several ex-Presidents in attendance, and a possible connection to David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.

The ninth in the Carlotta Carlyle series of mysteries, The Big Dig picks up Carlotta's personal life where she left off in her previous novel, Flashpoint. She has recovered from her gunshot wounds and her ill-advised romance with the son of a Boston underworld character (featured in that novel) and is back at work, following a devastating fire at her house in Cambridge. The action here is nonstop, and Carlotta, as a free-wheeling detective who follows her intuition and her heart, defies the stereotype of hard-boiled tough, revealing herself instead as a woman who is particularly sensitive to the needs of children, especially the missing teenager, Krissi Horgan.

Though there are a great many characters to track and numerous subplots and red herrings to follow, Barnes is spot-on with her descriptions of the Dig, the ambience of Quincy Market and its tourist bars, the local traffic routes and landmarks, and the more distant small towns in northern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire which figure in the action. Bostonians will particularly enjoy the local color, but the descriptions are specific enough that those unfamiliar with the area will have no trouble imagining the developing action. Fun to read, with a story that packs a lot of wild action, The Big Dig is a quick-paced mystery that also fills in more of Carlotta Carlyle's personal background and further develops her character. n Mary Whipple

This book is a mishmash, and is poorly named, particularly the subtitle (maybe the publisher chose it?). It's interesting and heartfelt, and obviously the author cares a great deal for the subject. But it wanders back and forth.

She makes some errors that would be astonishingly easy to have corrected.

As someone else pointed out, the Immaculate Conception is Mary being born without the taint of original sin, not Jesus's birth. That's the Virgin Birth.

The word "discalced" does not mean anything "literally" about poverty. It means "shoeless."

The correct name of the high school in Seattle is not "Blanchette" but "Blanchet."

She has no bibliography and cites no sources for her information.

Interesting and heart-felt, but not a work of scholarship, which is a pity.

I find it hard to believe that the author was ever "almost" a nun. This rambling memoir gives no insight into the vocation, and is blantantly wrong on a serious matter of theology, e.g. The Immaculate Conception. This church dogma refers to Mary being born with without original--immaculate at HER conception. It does NOT mean "she was not defiled in the process" of conceiving Jesus! This is a basic tenet of the Roman Catholic church, and one that jumps out at a reader with a background of religious education.

The book rambles a lot. The subject inside has nothing to do with the title. I was pulled in by false advertizing on that alone. I felt like I was invited to an old country estate and left outside to look in the windows. The interesting vignettes are far and few between, and the reader never really gets to know the characters well. I don't know the author, presumably who is the center point of the book. There are better books that discuss the decline in religious life, or chronicle individuals who have lived out their vocations.

Perhaps "The Calling" will be a better read for someone else.

The overall sense I received from this work is that Catherine Whitney is more interested in speaking of herself (without so much as answering the question of why she suddenly shifted from would-be religious Sister to unbelieving radical feminist). The anecdotal information about several Sisters in the earlier chapters seems a promise of real development later, but this promise remains unfulfilled.

Half stories, some of which seem flavoured by stereotypes and prejudiced assumptions, are profoundly unsatisfying, particularly since the natural presumption to which the early chapters would lead was that depth, development, and understanding of the various Sisters' situations would follow. It did not happen. There is a sampling of moments from various Sisters' lives (not, as the sub-title implies, a chronicle of a year in the life of an Order), but no insight into anything.

The subtitle "A Year in the Life of an Order of Nuns" leads one to expect a book similiar to The View from a Monastery or A Monastic Year - both of which are excellent books. The books is rather another of the "sisters meet Vatican II' style written from the point of few of a Catholic-educated, nonpracticing Catholic.

The focus of the book is on what it means to be called; initially the author works from the premise that "called" means primarily called to religious life. At the conclusion, her primary insight is that ones "call" may be to a particular aspect of secular life.

She traces her slowing change view of nuns and call primarily through sisters she knew as a child or young adult - most of whom left the order. By not including some of those who joined the order after the substantial changes (for example, one who serves as a hospital chaplain), she fails to explore what a "call to religious life" means today. This results in an understanding of call that is primarily individualistic in a church that is fundamentally communal. The author is also sloppy in her Catholic terminology, sloppy in a way that reveals that her research assumed as a base the Church from which she was estranged rather than the Church of today. An example: she refers to the nun serving the King County Jail as "saying Mass" a role reserved for ordained priests rather than the more accurate "presiding at a Eucharistic service".

What the book truly is a memoir-exploration of a non-practicing Catholic sifting through her childhood with adult eyes, using the nuns who taught her in school as a catalyst for this exploration. In this exploration, we learn the stories of several young nuns who entered and left the order. We learn the stories of some who stayed, who redefined what it meant to be a nun (Dominican sister to be more precise). Those who stayed are presented rightly as remarkable people facing the world squarely in the face - assisting in jail, in urban social services, in hospitals, in rural Hispanic populations ...

The writing is such that you get a sense of who each person is in a very short section which leaves you wanting more or leaves you chuckling about the description if you know the individual described in person or through books. For example, she briefly mentions Fr. Joseph as becoming charimatic - Fr. Joseph has written and self published a delightful biography.

I recommend the book as a delight insight into a particular side of Catholic childhood and female religious orders. I am concerned that some readers may mistake the book for a more universal statement.

Reviews for this book are all over the place, which is kind of like the plot of this book. The characters are all very quirky, but somehow likeable and compliment one another well as the story progresses. Not a great read, but a decent one. A little bit of a "FRIENDS"-esque feel. Certainly not predictible, but interesting and leaves the reader genuinely wondering how things will work out for each of the characters. A good beach read, and maybe one to leave at the beach for someone else to stumble upon.

Another winner from Jenny Colgan! This book was so fun to read. It was part screwball comedy, part love story. The heroine is not your typical couture loving girl about town. In fact she's practically hopeless in social situations.

I read, and loved, Amanada's Wedding. It was funny, fast-paced, and had characters you could identify with and a villian you loved to hate. So when I saw Talking to Addison, I was very excited to read it. I do have to admit that there were funny parts to this book, and I actually kind of liked the ending (despite the fact that a lot of the events leading to it were highly unrealistic). But, it was actually painful to get through the entire middle portion of the story! I was very disappointed in this book. Unless you are a HUGE Jenny Colgan fan, I wouldn't bother with this one.

"Talking to Addison" begins as a very quirky, funny, British read, with its protagonist, Holly Livingstone, spewing one liners about and insults to her insane flatmates, coworkers, and the world in general. The author does well in establishing the novel's place and in creating Holly's voice and, to a certain extent, her friends. However, the characters and the subject are all things we've seen and read before, in more successful ways. Holly and her cohorts remain two-dimensional, underemployed, disillusioned twentysomethings. As for the plot, it carries along nicely until the final third where it completely goes off into a far-fetched farce. While the last act holds a few smiles, all I could do was wonder where Addison's mother was in all of this mess, as she completely disappears at the most crucial time. The novel becomes unbelievable and loses any of its earlier charm.

After reading and enjoying Amanda's Wedding, I wasn't sure how Talking to Addison would measure up. I was hoping for a fun, light novel, which I did get, but then there was a bonus -- Talking to Addison was HYSTERICAL!

This book probably has the most real comedy in it that I've ever read. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life. The timing was perfect! The characters were so fantastic and goofy. I loved every second of this book. I hope there is more to come from Jenny Colgan.

Talking to Addison begins with Holly Livingstone living in the land of nightmares. Her roommates are crazy clean freaks, and Holly just can't take it anymore! So she begs her best friend, Josh, to let her move in with him and his roommates. This is where the story really begins. Living in the flat are Kate, a neurotic career-woman, and the ever elusive Addison, who holes up in his cavern of a room instant messaging his agoraphobic girlfriend 3000 miles away. Holly is determined to make him hers, which leads to some very funny scenarios.

I recommend this one very highly. I rarely give chick-lit 5 stars because for the most part they are good, but not earth-shattering. Well, I couldn't help myself on this one! Talking to Addison is super-funny and I think well deserving of the highest praise.

Controlled by Masterson Corporation, Moonbase has been set up as an advance research facility crewed by researchers and scientists. However, Paul Stavenger has greater dreams for Moonbase; he sees it as becoming its own self-sufficient community in space, totally non-dependent on anything from Earth. But, beneath this lofty goal, trouble has been brewing. Paul has been having an affair with Joanna Masterson, who happens to be the wife of Greg Masterson II, the head of Masterson Corporation. To make matters worse, Greg II is found dead, the victim of an apparent suicide; or is it? Now, it appeared that Joanna's son, Greg III, would be in prime position to take over as head of the corporation. However, Joanna manages to shock everyone on the Board of Directors by nominating Paul, her new husband, to become the new CEO. Paul is elected, and Greg III is left shocked. But. Greg III intends to shut down Moonbase, no matter who or what gets in his way.

Soon, Joanna discovers that she is pregnant with Paul's son, but much worse things are about to happen. Nanotechnology is used on the moon for a variety of reasons. Paul has gone to the moon to study the uses of nanotechnology, but Greg has gotten wind of Paul's plans. He has inserted "gobblers"; visciuos nanobugs, into the batch of nanomachines Paul is working with. These Gobblers somehow managed to work themselves into Paul's suit and destroy it. Paul and two other workers are killed by the gobblers.

Fast-forward 18 years. Doug Stavenger, now a young man, has become interested in keeping his father's dream of transforming Moonbase into its own community. Meanwhile, Greg III has spent years in therapy trying to come to terms with what he did to Paul. Joanna, now CEO of Masterson, has decided that Greg will take over as Moonbase director. But, this decision proves to be fatal as events play out over the rest of the story. Will Doug and Greg be able to co-exist, or will their simmering lack of trust threaten to boil over?

I thought this was a very good book. I thought the character development was good, especially Paul and Greg III. However, I did feel that some of the characters were more shallow than some of the others. I did enjoy the action that took place at Moonbase more than that of what occurred on Earth. I made the mistake of reading "Moonwar", the sequel to "Moonrise", first so I kind of knew beforehand how this book would end. Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading this book.

I recommend "Moonrise" very highly. Although I feel that this is not Ben Bova's best work, it is till worth reading. Highly recommended for science fiction fans.

I was in a mood for some "hard" science fiction when I was in the bookstore the other day. Remembering how much I liked Ben Bova's stuff in the past, I started looking through his newer stuff and settled on "Moonrise." Moon colonies and nanotechnology! What could be better?

Unfortunately, Bova manages to suffocate every ounce of suspense and mystery from these potentially thrilling topics with stilted dialog, boring board-room politics, contrived behaviors, and repetitive narrative.

- The first third of the book switches back and forth between the moon and earth without any obvious literary purpose, and I found this to be terribly annoying and even tedious.

- You know very soon that Greg is a murderer, so nothing he does is surprising. The only shocking aspect is how everyone lets him get away with it. For example,

- Joanna is supposed to be a savvy and disciplined corporate woman who is strong enough to edge her unbalanced son Greg out of the top position at the family aerospace corporation -- but not strong enough to do anything about the seven or eight people he's admitted killing by page 150. Then she practically lets Greg babysit her younger son Doug (the "good" one). You know, the one about whom Greg said, "Abort it!" and "Get rid of that monster you're carrying in your belly!" and so on. Joanna is not a "complex" characterization, just mind-numbingly random.

- Booze and sex are sprinkled throughout awkwardly as if some editor said, "make this PG-13." All female characters are described primarilly by how attractive they are to men. The liquor "still" on the moon is referred to in the same cut-and-paste way every time.

- What I *was* looking for -- the "geek porn" of in-depth discussion of nanotechnology and the science of making a moon base -- was there in only the most stingy quantities, like chocolate syrup on a Weight Watcher's cookie.

- The whole anti-nanomachine movement is presented like the characters in the book: mono-dimensionally, with precious little explanation or discussion of their rationale. They oppose the technology because, well, they're ignorant luddites, what do you expect they would do? This isn't really thought-provoking at all, just shallow politician-bashing and religion -baiting.

Some reviewers found this book hard to put down. I found it hard to continue to the end.

This book was excellent, I couldn't put it down. I'm in the middle of reading the sequel, which I am thus far unable to put down as well. I was amazed at the end of this book and found myself disappointed that I'd finished it, because that meant I wasn't reading it anymore. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was I thought the characterization could be a little better. I tried really hard to like Paul Stavenger, I really did, but I just didn't find his character to be all that sympathetic. I liked him just fine until he cheated on his wife with Melissa and it all went downhill from there. Doug was more sympathetic than Paul, but he really had the opposite problem. Paul was at least real to me, even if I didnt like his personal life. Doug is a great guy and all, but jeez, give this guy some flaws already! No one is THAT perfect. But despite the character issues, it was still a wonderful book.

I shall write of both "Moonrise" and "Moonwar."

These are the stories of Moonbase, a permanent lunar settlement built by an American corporation in the mid-21st century. These tales chronicle the political and societal tension wrought by unpopular scientific endeavors, and the unforeseen consequences thereof. The books portray a future wherein a new fascism creeps across the entire globe, embraced by a superstitious public, and at dire odds with the free-thinking scientists living on the Moon--men and women who journeyed there to escape the shackles of Earthside ignorance and fear. You will find intrigue, betrayal, villainy, sexual bartering, rugged individualism, and even love within these books' pages.

But Ben Bova's vocabulary is disappointing. His dialog is often uninspired and even predictable. His narrative, his pacing, his exposition, his character development, and even his plot development are all very Saturday matinee. Even worse, his understanding of relationships is shallow.

But what gets these books off the ground and keeps the reader till their last pages is Ben Bova's love of space exploration. The man fervently believes that space exploration will benefit all of mankind, and not just the bureaucrats or big business. When Ben Bova describes an exclusively astronomical scene, his passion is undeniable. In the first book, there's a scene wherein an 18-year-old walks upon the lunar surface for the first time, and it borders on epiphanous. Ben Bova brings the Moon's unique beauty into sharp focus; sometimes, you can actually feel the regolith beneath your boots. It's this passion, I believe, that makes these books worth reading--in spite of their shortfalls.

In Moonrise, Ben Bova writes a good story of what could be on the Moon in the future. While it is somewhat predictable, it's still a good story.

Masterson Corperation is working on exploring and mining the Lunar surface for solar power and other minerals, and it is the dream of Paul Stavenger, retired astronout and designer of one of the compainies most profitable products, the Clippership which makes travel around the world possible in less than an hour by ships which work above the atmosphere in low orbit.

The company is in turmoil as Gregory Masterson the second dies sudenly and under questionable circumstances, and Gregory Masterson the third expects to take his place as President of the company. However, the wife of the late president nominates Paul Stavenger, her lover and fiance to the position, setting forces in motion which could tear the company apart as Gregory the second rages and plots to regain his rightfull place.

The trials and triumpsh of Moonbase, and of Nanotechnology are closly linked. Nanotechnology is opposed by an extremist religious movement which organises protests and terrorism against any who use it, Moonbase becomes the last place where it is safe to use nanites. However, even this is in danger.

Joanna Masterson/Stavenger must walk a tightrope between her son, and doing what is best for him, and her new husband, and protecting him, and later her second son, Doug Stavenger, son of Paul, from the plots of her criminally insane elder son. However, we can see where a mother's love and protection can go too far in trying to protect one who should be locked up.

In the end, it's up to Doug to save his father's legacy and dream of a future on the Moon, even if it kills him.

More of the same. After 2 other books where the writting is the same, it was torture to listen to the same simplistic discriptions over and over again. Cashel is really strong, but not stupid. Cashel goes at a steady pace. Ilna is bitter and angry, but really cares about people deep down. Blah, Blah, Blah. The first book was just ok. They do not get better.

Oh no, another one? I thought the first two books were great, and it should have ended there. Stealing from Virgil and Assyria, while sticking time-warped 20th century kids in late medieval Italy, was brilliant. I love a good semi-historical yarn. Oh, you say those kids didn't time-travel from the present to their ages of yore? Could have fooled me. Who hid the blue jeans?

The third book, for which I had to wait, had only one or two memorable scenes, and no tent pole ideas as tall as the first two books. Methought Drake had used up his source material, so I was glad when I could say I had finished reading the trilogy.

The series doesn't need to "explore relationships more deeply" -- it just needs some new ideas. Someone should give Drake a sabbatical.

I wrote this review after seeing the fourth book and thinking of it as an interminable homework assignment. Drake actually has quite a few good tricks in this third book, I just couldn't recall any of them until I read a one-paragraph refresher.

I was reading these series because I thought the only interesting character is Ilna the Weaver, and I was curious about what happened to her. I was very surprised when I read this book and found it to be by far the best one in the series. The plot was much better than the first two books. Prince Garric and Tenoctris are trying to close the bridge that opens Valles to the cosmos, letting in dangerous creatures. Same old same old there, nothing new and exciting. Sharina is taken through the bridge by a creature that serves the Dragon, turning Sharina herself into a servant of the dragon. However, the Dragon is not evil, he needs her help to recover his mummy that is being used to destroy the world. He sends Sharina through many worlds with her new friend, the birdman Dalar. Cashel goes in search of Sharina and ends up in the Underworld after killing the wizard he was supposed to ask for help. He is accompanied by the wizard's ring, which has a demon trapped in it. The demon Krias is a refreshing addition to the stories with his witty sense of humor. He reminds me strongly of the faerie Mellie that Cashel befriended in Lord of the Isles. Lastly, my favourite character Ilna has her best adventures yet, which make the book a good and interesting read. She is taking the child Merota, niece of Lord Tadia, with her on a ship to Erdin. On the way they are shipwrecked on Yole, risen from the sea again with an army of dead things. Ilna meets the best character Drake has yet introduced into the story yet, the sailor/pirate Chalcus. He actually loves Ilna, and he let's us see her softer side. His witty humour and dialogue add a lot to the story. I found myself breathlessly waiting to find out what would happen to him and Ilna next. It seems that Drake has finally figured out how to write romance. He did a very poor job with Mellie and Halphemos. I was sad about Halphemos' death, but Chalcus is much better than he ever was.

To start, I have to say that the Lord of the Isles series has kept me company on many otherwise boring and lonely nights. I enjoy the characters and their abilities, and I have to admit Tenoctris' constant modesty over her abilities and lack of power gets a chuckle out of me, particularly as she always seems to have just enough ability to do what is needed. None of the main characters ever fail in Drakes world. Well, it is fantasy. However, the series' attempt to be just that, a series, while also trying make each book a standalone, simply isn't working. Halfway through Servant of the Dragon, the constant backfill and reminders of a character's particulars became very annoying as I found myself saying out loud "Yes, I know, I know!" And the structure of the plot is also repetitive, as many have indicated. The reader can use more insight into the characters' darker side, as we have with Ilna, easily my favorite character. Everyone else is just a little too perfect. I would love to see Ilna lose out to the dark side of her persona, perhaps due to her jealousy of Liane, or have the others wonder that Garric is talking to himself maybe just a little too much. Garric needs to stop being so accommodating to his ancestral spirit Carus, and Tenoctris' spells need to fail significantly and at the wrong time. Maybe Cashel needs to realize what a powerful wizard he really is, perhaps too powerful. The possibilities for storylines and conflict are great given the character's current development. I hope in the future Drake may stray from his formula.

That said, I read fantasy to be entertained, and I like the characters the author has created. Overall it works for me, especially on those boring rainy snowy nights and long subway rides.

After the first two books, this reader expected the characters and the plot to develop. Unfortunately, Servant of the Dragon reads like a shopping trip to the fantasy stacks at the local bookstore! Drake established some really promising characters and world building in his first two books in the series, then in this installment, the reader is forced into all sorts of confusing battles where the main characters are seperated are tossed about from world to world facing unrelated situations. I really enjoyed his first two books but Servant is almost unreadable.