Simmons Books

This is my first Dale Brown book, so I haven't read enough to make a judgment on the author. However, I found it hard to keep my interest in this book. The character development consisted of little more than their name and call sign. The characters all tend to be petty, and self centered with little variation. The 'no one is better than me' attitude was tiring in the beginning, and the trend stayed through the entire book. It was very much like a soap opera.

On a good note, the action scenes were enjoyable, but I found myself not really caring what happenes to the characters in the end. I just wanted to get to the end so I could know what happened, and not completely waste the couple of bucks that I spent on the book. My recomendation if you want to read this book is to check it out at the library.

This is the first book I've read by Brown and overall it was pretty good. The book has an interesting cast of characters, each with their own personality and although they're backgrounds are often somewhat mysterious, their is a definite uniqueness to each.

The problem I had with this book is that I sometimes found it difficult to follow what was happening and how various events were related. But, their were fairly detailed descriptions of the various aerial scenarios which are often riveting.

I'm a pretty big Tom Clancy fan and for those of you who've read his work I'll tell you that Brown's writing, unlike Clancy's, focuses much more on the military side to stories and only a little on the political implications. And this story seemed a little less intricate than Clancy's work.

I think the book is pretty good and the stories concerning this top-secret government installation have a lot of room for potential. Dale Brown is no Tom Clancy, but he's talented and has written a novel worth reading if you're really interested.

Dale Brown has collaborated with Jim DeFelice(check out his WAR BREAKER, by the way) to produce an excellent new novel set roughly around the end of Dale's DAY OF THE CHEETAH but tying in nicely with SHADOWS OF STEEL. In the story, Colonel Tecumseh DOG Bastian is assigned by the White House to get Dreamland, the secret base at Nevada's Groom Lake, back into shape or else defence budget cuts will force the place to close. The first half of the book deals with experimenting on new weapons systems, in particular the FLIGHTHAWK unmanned aerial vehicles and also development of the EB-52 Megafortress, another old favourite! Dale Brown has also done well in creating some new characters, such as hotshot F-16 pilot Mack Smith, paraplegic ex-pilot Jeff Stockard who is a leading player with the FLIGHTHAWK system and is also burned out, concerned about his marriage to Megafortress pilot Breanna Bastian Stockard, daughter of 'Dog'. All these personal dramas intertwine well when things heat up in the book's secomd half. As well as the new faces, we also get cameo appearances from Patrick MacLanahan, loose cannon General Brad Elliot(who I sadly miss, this character really rocks!), Madcap Magician SPECFOR operative Hal Briggs and also National Security Advisor Deborah O'Day, who is undecided about closing Dreamland. Overall, memorable characters, fast pacing, easy-to-read narrative and some interesting military technology which might be in use today(you just never know what they've got hidden away) and some pulsating action scenes in the air and on the ground with a deployment of a Marine Expeditionary Unit on a search and rescue mission make this new Dale Brown story well worth the read. I eagerly look forward to reading more in the DREAMLAND series!

Was excited about this new series from Brown based on the goings-on at Dreamland. The opening novel takes place in 1995, not long after the events in his novel Day of the Cheetah. Basically, General Elliot is out of the picture at Dreamland, and Congress and all the other higher ups are close to closing this place down.

Enter Colonel Dog Bastian. He takes over Dreamland, figuring it will be ditched by the powers that be. This is the slow, and I mean slow part of the book, pretty much the first one half to two thirds of the book. Generally, we introduce new characters, besides Bastian, including his daughter and pilot Breanna Stockard, and her husband, who is wheel-chaired after a training accident in the prologue, Jeff. A few cameos from Dale Brown's other novels appear, such as McClanahan and Briggs. The only one that takes part in most of this novel from the past novels is Nancy Cheshire.

While they are working on projects at HAWC, tensions are mounting in Somalia, where Iranians are shipping in Silkworm missles. Also, involved is Libya. The Iranians are trying to get a "Greater Islamic League" set up against the west.

Eventually, our friends at Dreamland are sent over, in their modified EB-52 Megafortresses...along with U/MF's Flighthawks, which are unmanned planes flown by Jeff from inside the EB-52.

The novel picks up speed in the last one quarter as we have aerial and land battle scenes. Can the guys and gals of Dreamland succeed in their mission, and if so, this could save the Dreamland facility.

Also enjoyed Brown and Defelice adding some action from the Navy, and Marines in this one. If not for most of the book being slow, this would have ranked higher.

Betting the series will get better, now that the characters have been developed. Worth getting if you're a techno-thriller fan.

As soon as I saw the recommendation from Clive Cussler I should have known....
Dale Brown has written some good stuff but this is awful. Overly technical and the first half reads like a soap opera! No action until way into the second half of the book and while the action is well handled, the characters are on the dull side.
I am sure many of you will now enjoy voting that this is an unhelpful review, but this was a painful read at times.
Zzzzzzzzzz.

Georgiana is a smart young lady who wants to gain respect and admiration for her detective abilities. Someone stole a necklace from the hostess's bedroom during a party. While Georgiana investigates, one of her suspects assists her. She jumps to conclusions too fast, but eventually succeeds in solving the mystery. I wasn't surprised or delighted. The heroine was a little too syrupy sweet for me. The story was half solving the mystery and half developing the romance. The ending was cute.

Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: three. Setting: Bath, England, probably regency period. Copyright: 2000. Genre: mystery regency romance.

This was the first romance book I had ever read. I was one of those girls that was strictly interested in fantasy, wizards etc. But since then I have become a hopeless romantic. I have at least 11 other romance books and none of them even competes with this book. It has romance, an actual plot and is riviting with suspense. If you have to read one book this summer let it be this one.

Deborah Simmons has got to be the biggest buried treasure amongromance authors that I know! While perhaps not as fabulous as TheLast Rogue of The Vicar's Daughter, *any* lover of witty and sexy regency-set historicals should love The Gentleman Thief. Just about everything works in this book, although it does bog down slightly towards the end, only to be redeemed by a sparkling souffle of a finale.

TTFN

I was misled by the glowing reviews into buying this book. What a mistake! We are told over and over again how clever the heroine is, but what the story shows is that she is uterly devoid of intelligence and common sense--hence the disasters she keeps on creating. The story is full of improbable scenes. I, for one, would like to know how the hero and heroine, after falling into the water in the Pump Room, manage to get home without being observed by anyone, or have their servants notice that their clothes are ruined and thus make a fuss.

Because I love the writing of author Deborah Simmons so much, I've forbidden myself from reviewing her at my own site (All About Romance). But nothing can stop me here from telling you how delightful I found The Gentleman Thief.

While this author is equally at home writing intense medievals, she sparkles like a jewel with her witty and sexy historicals set in and around the regency period.

If you enjoy words so witty that even the names of characters can make you laugh, and if you enjoy delicious love scenes, please give this one a try. I believe Deborah Simmons is as good, if not better, than Amanda Quick, and if you have loved some of Quick's older regency-set historicals, trust me that you'll adore Simmons' as well. My favorites by Simmons? The Vicar's Daughter (A+), The Last Rogue (A), this one (B+), and The Devil Earl (also B+).

Had this one not lagged ever-so-slightly at the end, it would have gotten an A from me as well.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

Publisher, All About Romance

The story starts out with one suspenseful night and just gets better and better from there. Georgiana Burne-Jones is only doing her job when she literally stumbles onto a dead man. The problem is she may be counted among the murder suspects. Enter Coleman Worth, successful businessman with a tough-guy edge to him. For some reason his gut instincts tell him that the woman is telling him the truth when she claims to be an innocent bystander framed for the murder. He knows the perfect place to take her until the whole mess is cleared up. So they run. That's when I really started to enjoy the story even more. The bad guys are hilarious. The couple is very sensual. I loved the book!

THIS BOOK READ REALLY FAST. THE ROMANCE BETWEEN THE COUPLE WAS MY FAVORITE PART, BUT I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY THE STORY. I WON'T GIVE THE ENDING AWAY BUT IT WAS A CLEVER TWIST I DIDN'T SEE COMING. I COULDN'T PUT THE BOOK DOWN.

This comic, romantic, suspense story was NONE of the above. The humor is certainly forced; the attraction sounds like good ol' lust; and the suspense can put you to sleep.

Has anyone else noticed that Georgiana talks like she belongs in the Victorian era--that is, when she isn't busy doing a good imitation of a parrot? And that, for a supposedly mature, 37-year old financial wizard, Cole sure acts more like a kid out on a joyride?

I think SS should stick to writing historical romances. Her "Desert Rogue" was much better.

I didn't think this book was boring. I thought it was really funny in the scenes with the bungling villains and found myself laughing out loud. I also really liked the hero... of course, he's from Texas!

A fifth grader could have done a better job writing this story. The characters had no depth at all. The "romance" part was nothing more than two people having sex within 24 hours of meeting each other--both claiming they were not promiscuis. Right! The plot (if you could call it that) was extremely weak and poorly written. It was as predictable as a scene from "I Love Lucy" without any of the humor. Too stupid to be believable. What a waste of publisher's money. Ms. Simmons should spend more time developing characters and plots, or maybe reading some of Susan Elizabeth Phillips' books would help. I had to force myself to finish this debacle.

Helpful but a bit outdated, but still a useful reference guide for those of us still using Windows XP.

If you never used XP before, or need to learn how to use something as elementary as Windows XP Disk Clean Up feature, then perhaps this book is for you.

There is far too much space wasted on overly simplistic and obvious elements of XP, things you already know if you have used XP for more than two weeks.

Some of the registry edits that are listed step by step, simply did not work on any of my three machines. Yes they are simple too..but they simply don't work. Deleted Key Values reappear next time you boot up, and this is not dealt with at all.

I can't believe a book that is such a waste of time can get so many rave reviews. I can understand someone taking the time and trouble to post a review if they are disappointed in a product, but how in the world could anyone find a reason to give this waste of time glowing reviews??

Let the buyer beware.

PC Magazine is always a great source for computer technical information, and this book is a good example. It is technical yet easy enough for lay people to read and understand. Each topic is independent of the others, so if you are looking for a specific solution, you can find it. I recommend it.

Contains some good information. Would work better as an online book. A lot of references to different programs and their locations; And they are correct.

Some fix's were not explained in enought detail. Some solutions were very complicated

Trace Ballinger fought his way off the streets, into Harvard, and became a ruthless attorney. Elderly Cora Grant was one of his favorite clients. He called her "friend", even though she was a blue blood. She was considered to be eccentric. Her estate, Grantwood, was a maze and often doors were opened only to find a brick wall. Hidden rooms and secret staircases were everywhere. Trace was to execute the estate for her when she died. Cora left money to almost everyone in town! Grantwood and a huge inheritance was left to Schuyler, Cora's niece.

Schuyler flew in from her home in France. Cora left her a request to put "some old ghosts to rest". Cora believed the house to be haunted. Schuyler believed someone was playing games. Spooky sounds, lights in the night, and someone tried often to kill her. The two team up to catch the culprit, find and reveal old secrets, and explore the attraction between themselves.

**** A romance that reads much like a gothic! This one is a Keeper, Readers! It hooked me on page one and never let me go. It kept me reading well into the night. Highly recommended! ****

This is the first romance I've read by this author, but it won't be the last. Lip Service had a story that kept me reading, an interesting romantic couple and I was surprised to find it was funny, too. But not the kind of silly slapstick humor I've read in some romance novels. I highly recommend this book.

I was hard pressed to finish this book but perservered. I would have done better to toss it and find something more interesting to read.

There was absolutely NO emotion by any of the characters in this book. The only reason the reader would know there was any was because the author said so.

And the ending was so murky, it's a definite let down. Why had the villain plotted revenge for 30 years? For what? The tragic event took place more than 58 years before. How would that have affected the villain?

I felt that a lot of pages got left somewhere. Jammed in a fax machine? Eaten by the author's dog? Don't know and don't care. If this is an example of Ms. Simmons work, I don't care to read anything else. This one goes to the used book store ASAP. Hopefully, to be traded for something worth reading.

Save your money for a good book with a decent plot and real emotions.

I couldn't even bring myself to concentrate on "Lip Service." The characters were not developed well and the circumstances surrounding their meeting were strange. I just didn't get into this book as much as I wished I could have.

It still manages to be mildly entertaining, despite the tired plot, fairly flat characters, and hackneyed mystery. The dog-in-the-pocket was funny, as was the sensitive Mrs. Danvers (who was fired from a previous position for burning toast. They thought she was trying to set fire to the house). If you are looking for a romance novel with something different to offer, you proablably shouldn't start with Lip Service, but if you are lloking for a mildly entertaining diversion to last you a few hours, buy it used.

This book really touched my heart. Not everything in it is comparable to what my son has but there were some similiar attributes. It is so nice to know that there are similiar people in the world going through what we do. It really warmed my heart and let me know that we are not alone. I recommend this book as a gift for anyone in ASD.

I absolutely loved this book. It lets you knowwhat a child with autism is going through

I applaud the author for her attempts at telling a story through the eyes and words of her son. The concept is correct, the method is not. The story rambles, often jumping from topic to topic. The "handwritten" font is creative, but actually hard to read. It could have been so much more effective to have this book written by someone with more legible printing. The photos are at times compelling, but others are too obscure for children to interpret. I bought this book for my seven-year-old son, to help him understand my four-year-old autistic son. There were some helpful thoughts, but this book seemed to create more confusion and questions for him.

This could have been much better. I admire parents who use their experiences to write stories to help us learn about children with disabilities. However, in this case it seems like it was only done to make a buck. More thought should go into a book than what appears to have happened here.

I was thoroughly disappointed in this book and plain didn't like it. The handwritten font was the least of my objections regarding this work. It is easy to see where and how the pictures could cause some confusion. One of the challenges many people on the autism spectrum have is being able to decode facial expressions.

My chief complaint about this book is the title. I think the 1988 movie "Rain Man" has done more to reinforce stereotypes about autism than it ever did to foster understanding. The term "Rain Man" is considered highly offensive in many autism/Asperger's circles and is best avoided.

I am good and tired of people with autism being portrayed as rocking; staring fixedly at something; spinning objects or watching anything that rotates; demonstrating savant abilities and having no viable social skills. That stereotypical behavior simply does not apply to the entire autistic population. Savantism applies to roughly a little less than 10% of the autistic population. Autism is a neurobiological condition that affects sensory processing and communication. The range and variations are as great as there are individuals with autism. Seriously, I rue the release of the movie "Rain Man" and sincerely hope the term and image of "Rain Man" will not be so liberally applied to people with autism. That hurts all and helps no one.

I didn't think this one was helpful at all and would recommend "Autism Through a Sister's Eyes," "All About My Brother," "Views From Our Shoes: Growing Up With a Brother or Sister With Special Needs," "Ian's Walk" and "My Brother Kevin Has Autism" instead. These are excellent books that explore sibling issues and foster understanding and acceptance of autism.

If this book helped others understand the underlying rationale for behaviors associated with the condition and provided understanding, that is to the good.

EXCELLENT BOOK I STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE INTERESTED ON THE SUBJECT

I too was taught by Dr. Meisenberg, which he teaches at a Caribbean Medical School, Ross. First of all, he has a very strong accent to understand in the class. Second, I did not find the book to be written well. Third, the other professors who also taught my biochem class stated that there was some errors and information missing. Personally, I would suggest Basic Approach to BioChem,(which was suggested by one of the other biochem teachers to me) if you are like me and struggled in undergrad with chem & organic chemistry. It spells out everything also another good Biochem that helped me get through this course was Lippincott's Biochemistry...a good book too.

This book is designed to educate medical students. It is easy and if you do the questions at the end of the chapters it helps you have a sound foundation of medical biochemistry. It is CLINICALLY oriented!!!

the visual illastrations are almost non existant and the book was extreamly disorganized, for example, he will discuss a topic in one chapter, then talk about something else, then go back to it in another chapter. I would go with Voet, lipincott and BRs biochem

The author, Dr. Meisenberg, actually teaches Biochemistry at the medical school I attend. I found the text very well formatted and the illustrations extremely helpful. I personally read this book from cover to cover and along with the BRS, I think Biochemistry doesn't have to be a painful experience. Meisenberg integrates metabolism and other important subjects into several chapters to re-emphasize key points over and over. Many elaborate illustrations and graphs make learning hard to remember facts easier, and with the help of pertinent biochemical clinical facts you'll soon find relevance in a clinical setting far away from the classroom.

I did not finish this book, which is very unusual for me to do. Also very unusual: I liked the secundairy characters better than Natasha. A lot of talking about how wonderful she was (why?) and how much they loved her (why?). The more I read this, the more I disliked her. Every emotion spelled out and not much room left for serious action. And the action we did get, was very predictable. This is no professional writing. Where was the editor? I am not a native speaker and all the spelling errors irritated even me. I read this third book, because I bought the whole series in one time, but I already regretted it after reading the first book. My advice if you are still interested in these books: read en buy one at a time.

I loved this book. I love the characters and the story line. It doesn't have the emotional angst of Ms. Hamilton's books- thank heavens. Their's a good plot. Characters to love! Sexual tension and well written sex scenes. There's only a minimal amount of typos in this book. Now if Simmons can just get away from character names like Al Cantone (hey it's chicago, it's fiction use Al Capone) and Chad Pitt, duh...just use Brad Pitt. These names really jerked me out of the story. If it wasn't for that, I'd have rated this book a '5 star'. Now to make it through the next 12 months until the next book. Simmons is a winner!

D.N. did it again, another exciting, sexy, erotic, laugh-out-loud, action-packed thriller. I swear, nobody does it quite like D.N. You get to see a brand new side to the old characters and a wonderful introduction of all new characters each with their own personality. D.N. Simmons is one author who can manage to write a series with a lot of characters and give each on depth, personality and class.

The pacing was non-stop, there was no time wasted on needless conversations and details and I love that about D.N. Simmons novels. The editing has gotten much better and I'm anxiously looking forward to the four book in this series, Hostile Territory.

D.N. Simmons is thee best author in this genre!

I was recently turned on to this series after expressing my disappointment with another author of this genre and I have to give a "I'm not worthy" to the person.

As a self published author, D.N. Simmons does what a few published authors have failed to....write a story so engrossing that the errors don't glare out at you or kick you out of the story.

Her vampires are confident, sexual, sometimes self centered and powerful creatures, yet they are vulnerable and are wiling to admit that they have weaknesses that they must overcome without it becoming a weepy soap opera, the same can be said of the shape shifters.

Want a good read, someone who pulls you not only into her imagination but, if you are from Chicago, as I am, makes you feel that you are on the same streets as the characters, give D.N. Simmons a go.

I've addicted to this author's novels. The characters are fantastic, the actions scenes are just wow and the sex scenes make you want to grab your lover and ...........well you know what I mean.

The weres kitties and wolves are strong, no one has been raped, molested or mistreated in these novels and it's refreshing to read.

The main characters work together to resolve problems, there is no angsting, whining, or beating each other up about who slept with whom, and when, there are no supernaturals depending on one person to SAVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE them, I love these books.

If you are trying to learn Russian, this calendar is a great resource to have. The themes and selection of words are extremely helpful and very useful in everyday conversation.

This is perfect if you are trying to learn Russian. The selection of words by themes is a wonderful way to learn and remember your vocabulary.

The is the best resource I have found for vocabulary enrichment ever! The method in which the words are presented (i.e., by themes) is excellent. I can't wait for next year's calendar.

My fiancee said this calendar was not correct in its translations or accuracy in the alphabet. He said it was the worst way to learn Russian. You cannot be a beginner with this calendar. You must already know the alphabet and verbs, etc. A complete waste of time and money!

I do enjoy this calendar; however, it has quite a few mistakes and no stress marks, so I have to look up most multi-syllablic words in my dictionary. This is a decent calendar, but I feel that if you see a different calendar with the same idea it would probably be a better investment.

I will make this short and sweet...

If you want to know what seals go though with training, and carry out missions its a great book...it just can get a little confusing with all the abreviations.

If you want a no-brainer book with lots of action, lots ofblood & lots of sex, than this book is for you. Because this bookhas a lot of those elements, but nothing more. It offer absoluatly nothing new concerning the tactic, the technology or the thinking of special operation. It seems that all the female agents in the world only use sex to collect intellence. So, if you want only sex & blood, this is your book. Otherwise, avoid this.

This is definately a dual-personality book. The training and background information is wonderful and gives excellent first-hand insight. In fact, I could have been perfectly satisified if the book finished with the deployment of the team. While it is obvious what characters will survive the training - this is but a minor flaw to the first half.

However, then there is the rest of the book. Where our wonderfully square-jawed superman hero fights against someone that only he seems able to stop. The women are little more than hookers, while the bold American men stride through obstacles that nobody else can handle - characterization takes a drop and realism takes a back seat to flights of fantasy. I really hate to see such a transparent plot jacked into what could have been an excellent book.

Rip out the last half of the book and you have a good story and some over-the-top, but acceptable characters. Taken as a whole........well, it's a poor read. Still, if you are a fan of Clancy's later books (where everyone is incompetant except our brave perfect and god-like heroes) then you should be able to muddle through.

This is a fabulous and entertaining read! I found myself enthralled with the characters, the plot, and the action! So often, books in the action-adventure genre are very predictable. Few are believable and fewer still offer any real insights into the way the world operates. Reading Silent Option, I had a sense that everything occurring could possibly be true. Larry's grasp of international affairs, coupled with his fundamental understanding of human nature, really brought this book to life for me. I found myself really caring about the lead character, Derek Evans, and his personal struggle to stay true to his principles. I definitely recommend this book, and I truly hope we hear more from Larry Simmons. He is a major talent.

I am average person and am put off by overly descriptive novels and books were so many adverbs and adjectives are thrown at the reader that one looses track of the story line. These are the books we are forced to read in High school and college. A book that requires the instructor of the class to paraphrase and reiterate the main idea of the book just so that everyone can follow along. That's were this book doesn't go. It has a brilliant yet pure linguistic style, written to taste touch and fell the story not to impress some arrogant professors at Harvard. You fell the brutality of war, the decisiveness of the heroes, and the coldness of the villains. Best of all is the sensation of victory and belief that courage, honor, valor and the destruction of all obstacles make life worth living. Perhaps if this book was required reading in our nation's schools and universities, are young could learn about values, morality and why we as a nation must stand against all oppressors domestic and foreign no matter what the odds, simply because it is right. All hail Larry Simmons, hero and master of words and actions. This man has more honor in his toe then Bill Clinton's entire family has in their bodies. I thank you all for valuing my review and wish you well.