Stuart Books

Used 2 different versions of Moon Handbooks for trip to NW and both were invaluable. This series gives far more detail then a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide which I normally buy. We used it to plan trips, select accommodations that were NOT chains and found reviews to be spot on. Since the book focuses on just one place in Oregon, it is able to go into far greater detail then the more generalized travel books do.
Because of this and the Oregon Coast version, I buy the Moon Handbooks now over the others.
Well worth the price.

MOON HANDBOOKS COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE: INCLUDING COMPLETE COVERAGE OF PORTLAND is a wonderful book about northern Oregon and southern Washington, including complete coverage of the Portland-Vancouver metro area. Thus, you get information on both rural pleasures, such as hiking and white-water rafting, and urban ones, including shopping, dining, and museums. This is a book that anyone with an interest in geography must own.

I am making a long journey next year that will include the Columbia Gorge and this book really helps define the areas I wish to see. It has been really helpful in the lodging as well as the parks and hiking. I am a photographer and plan on taking numerous images on this trip, so I like to know well ahead of time what I will be seeing. I highly recommend this guidebook to those that visit this area.

We had never been to the northwest before and wanted to get the most out of our first trip. This guide was like having a local with us on the trip. We were able to get to the numerous falls, rapids, windsurfing areas and hikes without wandering around. We stayed in a great hotel that was reported on and picked from the recommended restaurants. The book was well worn when we got home. I highly recommend it.

Book Description: NOW YOU SEE HIM... The man who called himself Michael Dowd wasn't exactly what he seemed. Wherever Michael went, it seemed to Francey Neeley, danger followed. But she couldn't escape an attraction to him. He was trying to pry information from her about a terrorist group, a group that was trying to kill him - and her. Soon, Francey became swept into a world of death and deceit, but she couldn't stay away from Michael. Somehow they had won each other's hearts - a dangerous combination for both.

Romantic suspense as only Anne Stuart can do it. Just when you think the story is going in one direction there's a twist then a turn and the plot thickens. The required, multi-talented bad-boy is present and making things happen. A must read for any Stuart fan.

Description from the book back cover:

Who was this enigmatic stranger with the sexy smile? He called himself Michael Dowd and he came into Francey's life under mysterious circumstances and had her heart fluttering in no time at all. But there was something odd about Michael. Danger followed him wherever he went. Michael knew that falling in love with Francey could endanger not only his life, but hers as well, but love knows little reason. The two seemed destined in a deadly combination, and as the danger escalated, they were swetp into a web of death and deceit that appeared impossible to escape ...

Several weeks ago Francey Neeley was all set to finally accept Patrick Dugan as her lover. With her loft all staged and ready for seduction and her bathtub filled with scented water, she was just putting on the finishing touches when Patrick's sister, Caitlin Dugan, came barging into her apartment, ranting about Patrick having been betrayed. It seems ol Patrick wasn't quite the good guy he made himself out to be and was in fact, a stone cold, fanatical killer, set to assassinate the Queen of England. Caitlin forces Francey to join up with them to see if she can't be used to rescue Patrick but the two women get there too late. He has already sprayed the crowds with a hail of bullets and Francey barely gets away. Right before she faints, she sees Patrick shoot someone who was trying to stop him just moments before that mysterious man shot and killed him. After weeks of protesting her innocence to the various agencies suspicious of her, Francey hides herself away at her cousins healing resort of Belle Reste in the Caribbean. It's taken awhile but she's almost feeling better when her cousin sends a wounded man to her for care. Michael Dowd was in a car accident and is in need of some relaxing R&R. If it's strange that the still discernible trauma to his body looks suspiciously like bullet wounds, she chooses not to dwell on it.

This British schoolteacher might look and act affable and charming but something about him made her nervous. It could be the fact that a few months ago she trusted the wrong man and almost ended up abused and dead. Or it could be the flashes of deadly intent and searing coldness she can sense in his eyes. Right away, murder attempts threaten her new found peace and Michael's close proximity finishes off the rest of her hard won calm. Despite his best efforts to appear easy going, Francey isn't really fooled and when she finds out about him her sense of betrayal doesn't outweigh her hopes of saving the man her heart is crying out for. She can sense how lost the mysterious Michael Dowd is and instinctively knows that just one more death on his conscience will tip the tenuous balance of his soul and she might lose him forever. So she fights for him and won't take no for an answer. While she follows him, danger and intrigue is following her and forces are converging against them hoping to tear these two lovers apart.

Now You See Him is an extremely fast paced and thrilling story by Anne Stuart. Michael Dowd comes across as an utterly ruthless and enigmatic wild card. His mission is to find out how much Francey knows about the fanatical Cadre organization and whether or not she merits his killing expertise. He's here to seduce her and betray her but something about her causes him to falter. She's gotten through his well rehearsed act and he knows that makes her dangerous. Francey is a wounded and uncertain young woman. She doesn't trust her own instincts any more but her instincts were obviously working just fine because they told her Michael was not what he seemed.

Obsession reigns in this story. Nearly everyone has a hidden agenda and poor Francey is left behind to stumble her way through the myriad of lies and deceit going on around her. That she was able to keep her sanity despite everything that befalls her is a testament to the strength of her character and the strength Anne Stuart was able to pour into her. That she made it through everything in a believable manner is just proof of what a good authoress Anne Stuart is because in another author's hands this story wouldn't have flown, much less soared. This was a gripping and extremely engaging read. It reads like an early Ian Fleming spy novel and Michael Dowd is an earlier version of a more rough and deadly James Bond. This was a perfect blend of romance, gripping suspense and action as well as enough scintillating sensuality to make this a highly recommended read. Michael Dowd is definitely not your average hero, he is in fact reserved only for the brave who are able to see past his icy reserve and cold ruthless brilliance. Enjoy!

This book is very similar in style as Moonrise, and since that is my favourite Anne Stuart book that is high praise.

Francey Neeley's life is turned into a nightmare because she thought she loved the wrong man. She fell for The lilt of the Irish voice, the dancing blues eyes and the charm of a man from Ireland, but learn all that was a facade, a mask to hide his real purpose in marrying her - to gain her fortune and use her to get back into Ireland. He planned to kill her afterwards. Francey learns this from his 'sister' who was actually his lover. She tells Francey of the plot to kill the Queen of England when she is visiting the United States, but says someone has blow his cover - she believes it is Francey and both rush to see if they can stop him from the suicide mission.

They arrive just in time to see her attempt to kill the Queen, but she is saved by her guard who takes several bullets before killing the Irish Terrorist.

Now months later, Francey is hiding out on a Jamaican island trying to heal her soul, when her cousin says he is sending a man to stay with her. A man supposed hurt in a car accident, named Michael Dowd. She instantly sees the man is weak and recovering and her heart feels for his pain.

He is recovering all right, but not from a car accident, but the bullets her boyfriend pumped into him while he nearly gave his life to save the Queen. He has come to find Francey, find out what she knew about the incident, how much she is involved. Make love to her to get the information, and then kill her if he discovered she is one of the terrorists.

From the instant her arrives on the island, it is clear someone is trying to kill them both so they must run from their lives.

This again is one of those beautiful gems that Stuart conjures so well!! Another of those Gamma rogues with black hearts and even blacker souls that you cannot help but love!

This book has been sitting on my shelf for a couple years now. The stars must have been in alignment last night (Valentine's Day), because I had the precious time to read it, and really enjoyed it! I am a fan of Anne Stuart, but have to say that while she's known for her very "Bad Boys," I was surprised that while our lead, Jamey Rafferty, a real Chicago gangster, was very intense, he was very honorable. I loved him. Stuart based this novel on actual events. Here's a quick history:

On February 14, 1929, four unidentified men, members of Al Capone's gang, two being dressed as Chicago police officers, stormed into a North Side Street garage and ordered seven members (Rafferty, the story's hero, being one) of the North Side Gang against a wall which they apparently did willingly, believing their captors were real (and comparatively harmless) police. All seven men were then shot and killed with a Thompson submachine gun. Witnesses saw the uniforms and assumed that everything was under control. It was total chaos.

Stuart brought the feeling of the 1920's to the present day. This all actually happened in Chicago and Stuart has written this story as if all 7 members have been returning for 48 hours every year on Valentine's Day to get the chance to redeem themselves by falling in love and in turn staying mortal. Which brings us to our heroine, Helen Emerson; she's a state prosecutor and the only daughter of a very large Irish-Catholic family of cops. Helen's been targeted by a sadistic killer from Rafferty's past and he's determined to protect her. It was a great set of circumstances, a great set of characters. This book really was worth hunting for; unfortunately I don't believe it's currently in print. But if you can find it, it's a true gem.

By turns funny, exciting, wistful, romantic and erotic! This story concerns the star-crossed love between a modern female prosecutor and a handsome gangster killed in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1920's Chicago and doomed to live only on Feb. 13 and 14th--until he finds true love. Throw in a psychotic villain from the hero's era, the confusion of life in modern-day Chicago, another at-risk couple, and the urgency of the hero's 48-hour time limit, and you have a well-written romantic treat.

Although this is a short novel, it is a cute story. Somehow the men who died in the St. Valentine's Massacre have been given a second chance. Every year on the anniversary they returned for 48 hours. All have found a soulmate and started new lives except for Jamey Rafferty.

Jamey has come back every year for 64 years but he has not found a woman to love him. this year when he comes back the last of the men Billy Moretti is in trouble. His wife comes to Jamey and begs him to help Billy. Although he has other plans for his 48 hours he has to help his friend. After finding out the name of the ADA who is on Billy's case, he hunts her up.

Helen Emerson is an associate District Attorney in the DA's office. Friday the 13th has always been a bad day for her, and she almost decides to call in sick. Before she can do anything Jamey arrives at her door at 6 o'clock in the morning. Pleading Billy's case and getting her help are not to hard for a slick operator like Jamey. Finding her too attractive and virginal as well as one of a family of cops is hard on him. He knows he only has a short time and he intends to leave her just like he found her.

But Cupid and the last of the old gang change his mind. Ricky Dragos aka Willie Morris is set on killing her. He blames her for his wife's death.

This is a wonderful fantasy and full of charm. The love story is warm and Jamey is still a slick charming rascal. I enjoyed the book very much.

No one, but no one, writes bad boy, amoral heroes as well as Anne Stuart. As someone said about the hero of one of Anne Stuart's historicals, you might be mad enough to marry him, but you wouldn't let him around the children.

In this novel James Sheridan Rafferty, who died in the Saint Valentine's Day massacre, found himself found himself, as he did every 13th and 14th day of February once more in Chicago with 48 hours to pack in a whole year of living. Helen Emerson is an entirely too mundane prosecutor who finds herself opening her door to Rafferty at 7 am one morning. He's there to try to talk her into giving Billy Moretti one more chance on probation.

It's not just Rafferty who came back. All of the men who were killed in the massacre found themselves back in the city on February 13, 1938 and once a year since. Over the years, as each one has met and come to care for a woman they discovered that they could escape the cycle and live and die a natural life. Now it's down to Rafferty, although there's a couple more like Billy Moretti who he was trying to spring that morning of Friday, February the 13th, still alive and kicking. And some of the men who died in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre deserved killing more than others.

Rafferty realizes in those 48 hours that someone is trying to kill Helen Emerson and, more importantly, that maybe she is his ticket back to reality if they can both stay alive.

Fast, fun and breezy, Anne Stuart has cooked up a great little Valentine Day's gift here to please the most demanding taste.

This is an excellent book. It does help in my morning readings. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to start their day off in God's word.

Thsi is the first book from Stewart Brisco. This was given to me by my pastor and I recomend this for every man who needs to take time every
day to spend quiet time and get closer to GOD.
W.R. Baker, Dallas, GA.

This is by far the best devotional I've found yet. I have search for a devotional that mixes a scripture reading with insightful application and had been fairly unsuccessful until now. I have been reading this daily on my Pocket PC and completely love it. There are times I want to call all my friends to tell them about what I've read. I have been a Christian for many years and have solid understanding of the word. Taking that into account, I don't know how great it would be for a new/baby Christian. Nonetheless, I have tried many devotionals and this is my favorite by far!

This is an excellent devotional; concise, yet rich. I have not read the whole thing, but what I have read so far as quickened my heart for God and inspired me to live a more Godly life. I particularly like the readers on the CD.

I had a chance to see the book when it and its illustrations were on display at the Museum of Children's Art. "One, Two, Three! This Book 's for Me!" is well conceived and very educationally oriented. Parents will find it valuable in teaching their children to count and read.

I have two children -- ages 2 and 4. I am using "One, Two, Three! This Book's for Me" to teach the younger one to count. I have several counting books and "One, Two, Three" is definitely the best. I am also using the book to teach my older child to read with some success. I strongly recommend this book.

I have a five year old girl. She has benefitted greatly from this book. I use the picture glossary at the back of the book to teach ABC... phonics. The text has a nice rhythm that reminds me of the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". The sentences also rhyme nicely and I noticed that this helps my daughter to read the rhyming words. I strongly recommend this highly educational book.

Written and illustrated by Stuart Samuel, One! Two! Three! This Book's For Me! is a simple yet enjoyable counting picture book presenting the numbers 1 to 10, illustrated with simple, bold color pictures. A fine read-aloud rhyme text helps reinforce the concept of numbers in young people's minds, One! Two! Three! This Book's For Me! is especially recommended for children ages 2 to 5 and an excellent addition for family, day-care center, preschool, and kindergarten collections.

"Out of the Woods" documents the difficult and sometimes harrowing adolescences of four resilient teens and former residents of the High Valley psychiatric facility. Their stories offer universal lessons for how troubled teens can adapt to and overcome adversity to lead successful, happy adult lives.

The first chapter introduces the idea of resilience and asks the question of how some teens manage to overcome deeply troubled teen years to reach adulthood relatively intact and function successfully in the adult world while others seem unable to find a path "out of the woods." Some face a more difficult task than others, but even the most disadvantaged can overcome seemingly impossible odds, while others who have almost everything they need, including stable, loving homes and a safe, supportive environment, can find themselves in a nightmare of violence, depression, and drugs. These extremes demonstrate that factors within the individual are as important, if not more so, as external factors, in coping with adversity and securing a more hopeful future.

Before getting to the interviews with the four individuals who make up the heart of the book, the authors explain their motives and methodologies behind their longitudinal study of 70 individuals, all of whom were under 15 when they were institutionalized in the locked psychiatric ward of High Valley. The researchers explain how their psychoanalytic and therapeutic approach in their search for adaptive mechanisms led them to answers from interviews with the teens themselves, the most resilient of whom accepted their own share of responsibility for their situations as they attempted to understand their experiences and empathize with those whom their behavior affected.

Each of the next four chapters tells the story of a resilient individual in his or her own words from interviews spanning many years. While each life appears different in the details, their common success in finding ways out of the woods of their troubled pasts leads the researchers to identify three common elements crucial for resilience: acceptance of personal agency in overcoming adversity, the ability for honest and objective self-reflection, and a sincere commitment and dedication to other people and relationships.

I identified with each of these teens in my own, particular way. I remember when my mother would punish me for biting the nanny, even though the nanny was mine to do with as I pleased. And then there was my tenth birthday, when my parents got me a Shetland pony rather than the Dartmoor pony I wanted. The worst may have been my sixteenth birthday, when I specifically told my parents that I wanted a Porsche 911 type 996 GT3, but they tried to buy me off with a stupid Boxster instead and ended up embarrassing me in front of all my friends. I could go on about my parents' abuses, but I am slowly learning to put all that horror into proper perspective. I am using the lessons from this book, exercising my personal agency by taking control of my trust fund, reflecting upon and dealing with past traumas with the help of the best doctors and pharmaceuticals, and committing myself to the people that matter most to me, especially my publicist, stylist, and personal assistant.

I work in Child Protective Services with families who are involved with this system for chronic neglect of their children. This book offers a look at some of the reasons parents rise above their childhood adversity. It offers the positive side of what goes wrong for so many kids as they grow to adulthood. These resilient teens had "connections to competent and caring adults", achieved "cognitive and self-regulation skills, positive views of self, and motivation to be effective in the environment." The authors use the kids' interview narratives, during inpatient and then as adults, to show how different kids make different sense of what happens to them over time, how some used adversity to reflect and make sense out of it and fit them into the context of their lives, and the others' (contrast group's) themes remained "frozen, fossils of childhood explanations that never quite grew up."

It's a dangerous world. We need to study risk factors and pay attention to the things that can go wrong. But that can't be the whole story. Without a little balance, parents will succumb to learned helplessness and clinicians will surrender to burnout. We need to remember that most parenting is good-enough parenting, and there are plenty of examples of kids who overcome truly horrific situations. In addition to asking what is bad for kids, we should also be asking what characteristics promote resilience. While some people ultimately surrender to difficult circumstances, others seem to have qualities that allow them to overcome adversity. We can talk in broad terms. Abuse is bad. Neglect is bad. Poverty, racism, social injustice, illness, loss of a parent, clueless parents. All bad. The absence of those risk factors is good. Having a lot of competent adults in your life who genuinely care about you is good. But the actual real life way in which internal and environmental factors interact to create resilience is a mystery. Lots of kids grow up in pretty tough circumstances and they don't all turn out the same, just as the kids who start off with all the advantages don't all turn out the same.

Dr. Hauser began with a follow-up study of people who were psychiatrically hospitalized as adolescents. What we are presented with here are the narratives of a sample of individuals who are doing well now. Coming from an Anthropology background, I have a fondness for personal narratives, but I acknowledge that they can feel like something off the softest end of the `soft-science' continuum. However, at this stage of the game, this is an appropriate and useful way to explore the topic. We don't have the sophistication yet to reduce personal histories to crunchable variables (actually, there are quantitative analyses from the same data sets that produced this book. You can search out those results if that's more your thing, and there's a lot more analysis yet to be mined from this data set). In a sense, the narrative approach is a more helpful way to understand the phenomenon of resilience, since resilience itself may have more to do with the myths people make of their lives than with any particular contortions of vectors and eigenvalues. Narratives give us people's lives in the context in which they frame it. And it is this very ability to coherently develop your history into a good story that, depending on your point of view, either reflects or accounts for successful acclimation to adversity.

It is in this sense that Dr. Hauser and his gang have done a great service in presenting these tales of resilience in a way that makes them both satisfying tales to read as well as fertile ground for generating hypotheses about how resilience emergences from adversity.

It's good to be realistic but it is important to not lose sight of the positive things. The stories here are inspirational and at times quite moving. For struggling parents, as well as for clinicians fighting to stay hopeful as they tread through their caseloads and today's headlines, this book is a refreshing treat. The medical model, in particular, trains us to view the world in terms of pathology, so it is important to step back from time to time and view the world from the perspective of mental health as opposed to mental illness. Most importantly, as the phenomenon of resilience is further explored and better understood, it will without doubt contribute to better preventative approaches to mental illness.

This book is extremely thoughtful and well written and provides an incredibly hopeful and stimulating, if not groundbreaking, view and approach for working with teens in trouble and, perhaps, for giving greater insight and influence to the people who love and/or care for them.

Dr. Hauser's courage in challenging society's practices of discarding kids who don't fit into the most homogenized profiles and production-line approaches to education in America -- which he calls "using adolescence as the great 'tracking' and 'sorting' period" -- is nothing short of inspirational to me. We are far too quick and eager to ostracize and incarcerate anyone who doesn't fit some excessively standardized norm we've defined and/or accepted in our society, and we lose so much of the power and value that diverse ideas and collaborative thought can offer. I believe it to be a documented fact that our institutions are filled with many highly creative and talented souls, and Dr. Hauser's observations, perspectives and theories offer light and hope for helping more of those souls to successfully navigate the paths of their fractured childhoods, by helping them to find and use reflectiveness ("curiosity about one's own thoughts, feelings and motivations"), relatedness ("engagement and interaction with others") and agency ("conviction that what one does matters" and that "one can intervene effectively in one's own life") to overcome their pasts. This book talks about how to look for and nurture these characteristics, which underlie the observed traits of resilience he witnessed in the young people, followed over decades, who proved best equipped to find their way back from the depths, and successfully emerged as valued and contributing members of society.

`Out of the Woods' is a hopeful testament to the critical importance of mental health care and its advocates in and for our society. The ideas that Dr. Hauser and his fellow researchers put forward, for me, seem to question the wisdom of our recent societal movements away from valuing psychological care and intervention, in exchange for increasingly exclusive overuse of our legal and penal systems.

This book truly inspires optimism and hopefulness about the capacity of people to overcome adversity, and to repair dysfunctional childhoods, and not based on gimmicks or psychobabble but on insightful and well founded observations, drawn from the decades-long narratives of damaged teens who found their way out. As a former near-casualty, my heartfelt thanks to you and your team Dr. Hauser!!

How do we match socks into pairs? Which ones go together? Which ones don't? This book teaches kids about matching two things to see if they go together or not.

I used this book with my classroom. I really like the story, but the illustrations aren't as good as some of the other MathStart books.

My son alwys gets his sister (3 months) a book to look at on our weekly library trips. We read this one to her and she looked at the pictures very closely! My son enjoyed the matching game at the end.

A lonely striped sock is looking for his other pair of sock. He searches the whole places from washer to laundry bag but he can't find a match of his pair. When he almost gives up on his search, he finally found one. However, thing does not seem to be smooth at all times, his mate is torn.

This is a brilliant colored book coupled with snappy rhymes that teaches patterns, early math skill and problem solving skill. Suggested activities in this series will provide parents with ideas about simple math concepts. An entertaining short picture-book that will delight your toddler while trying to figure out the difference between the pair of colourful socks.

This textbook is excellent for life science students who want to approach ecology from the point of view of ecosystem functioning. A precise and clear systematic description of ecosystems organisazion is given, from physiology to complex communities organization. It also focuses on the emrgence of new functions and features every time the complexity level increases, which is essential to have a full systematic comprehension of ecosystems. Underlying physical-chemical processes are always taken into considaration, which contributes to easily understand all the general aspects of ecosystem functions. A must read.

a technical book written for ecosystem ecologists but easy to read. I had to get it for a class, but it was well put-together and organized.

My research is on integration of terrestrial carbon modelling with remote sensing and I was looking for a book which explains different aspects of the terrestrial ecosystem along with latest research results. This book by some of the famous researchers on the subject explains in a very lucid way every aspects of the terrestrial ecosystem while not failing to include the minute yet important details of the same. I found the chapters on carbon input to terrestrial ecosystems, terrestrial production processes and global biogeochemical cycle very stimulating. The book starts with the basic concepts and then go on to dig deeper to help nourish the curiosity with latest findings and reports. Best for begineers in ecosystem ecology or related field to get a crisp and clear idea on complex interlinking of different processes of the earth's terrestrial ecosystem. Additional readings at the end of each chapter would cater the need for the more hungry ones to go deeper. very nicely sequenced and fun to read with excellent drawings/diagrams.

This is one heck of a book! I'm very, very impressed. I'm certainly going to use for my courses, and I think it will be used by many others teachers and professor. I think it will find itself along side Schlesinger's Biogeochemistry as a standard textbook for ecologists and global change scientists.

The text is written by some of the best ecologists on the planet, and is very complete and up-to-date. Amazingly, it is also very well written and completely understandable to the average biology student.

I especially like the organization of the book into four major sections: context, mechanisms, patterns, and integration. This works very, very well.

Each chapter is about the right length, with the right level of detail. I also like the use of highlighting, and the list of suggested readings. They work very well.

Overall, this is a fantastic book -- destined to become a classic in the field.

After checking this book out of the library multiple times, I decided to buy it because of the balanced overview of the Queen and her England. Many biographies of Queen Elizabeth I are riddled with the author's personal prejudice for or against the Queen and this one does not. I enjoy the photos as do students in the workshops I teach.

The Public and Private Worlds of Elizabeth I is a nicely written look into her personal and private life. It is very informational; from the workings of Elizabethan politics to the fashion of the time. It is informative with out getting overly academic. It is great for anyone wishing to research and/or recreate aspects of that time period. I encourage anyone who is intererested in Elizabeth I to purchase this book. One of the greatest features of this book is the full color pictures. Definitely a must have!!! A wonderful coffee table book too.

This work has a wealth of information about Elizabeth I and
the era itself. She is portrayed as an elegant monarch, dressed
in silk and other fine clothing. A portrait of Elizabeth
depicts her stately appearance as a Tudor. Elizabeth liked to
stroll in the area of the Great Hall at Hatfield. A personal
astrolobe is depicted-a fine personal item created circa 1560.
Her coronation was a stately affair depicted in a personal
portrait considered to be priceless today. This work is perfect for historians and others interested in the period of Elizabeth. The full color portraits are valuable
in their own right.

Excellent, excellent book for anyone who is interested in Quenn Elizabeth I or the Elizabethan era. Interesting little tidbits of knowledge about court life, politics and Elizabeth's private life. The pictures are absolutely beautiful and go along so well with the the written text. Definate A+!

Having spent a lot of time in Russia as a professional journalist I was very curious on seeing the title at first glance. After reading, there was simply no question that the author of "Russian Bride Guide" knew his stuff. The book offers the pleasant experience of reading something which flows so smoothly and is so easy to absorb, that it is matched only by the breadth and wealth of information for the reader.

As the book points out, "There are opinions by the ill-informed....truth in the reports of scam victims....and fairytale endings posted on various internet sites..." The strength of the book lies in the personal knowledge of the authors and their own international marriage. "Russian Bride Guide" lives up to it's title and successfully guides sincere men in just about every step of such an endeavor, from where to start, choosing an agency and contact methods, communication tips and strategies, travel in Russia, and finally how to bring a lady home through the maze of various international immigration challenges.

My favourite section was the advice on culture, mindset and worldview which the authors made fun and interesting to read. Even the advice on where to look in the FSU is very helpful and the author's experience over many trips by air and car give the reader a primer on how to handle flights, hotels, taxi's, restaurants, apartments and so many other travel essentials.

This reviewer also appreciated the depth in which the authors delved into the topic of how to help a new wife adjust to her new home in the West. This is a topic almost always ignored in similar books and the advice given is borne from both experience and wisdom. The chapter on VISA's and immigration was broad but very brief and that is understandable given the ever-changing policies of various Western nations in regards to immigration. That overview however is helpful to the man who is new to the process because it dispels several of the common myths and helps the reader form a correct understanding of how to proceed.

Readers should pay close attention to the book's finely tuned chapter on communication. Communication is often a causality of language and cultural differences and even the method (technology) of communication employed is important. In this regard the author's experience allows practical wisdom to be gleaned by the reader and again sets this book far apart from most other attempts. And just because a woman "speaks" English doesn't at all mean that she understands English and the author's offer solutions for helping a lady become fluent in her new language.

By the same token the chapter entitled "Overcoming Language Barriers" fails to match the overall usefulness of the book and could have used a guide for common conversational expressions instead of trying to explain the differences between the English and Cyrillic alphabets. As the subject pertains to Russian women, perhaps a guide on how to correctly pronounce things like common female names and/or major cities of the region would have been helpful to readers.

Without a doubt "Russian Bride Guide" is easy to read and worth recommending to others. The authors have created something which genuinely offers the "inside scoop" that is crucial to a successful search and will show you how a girl from the former Soviet Union can make your life complete. It is an absolute must-read for any man looking to Russia for a wife.

The only thing I could add would be to echo the sentiments of Russian author Boris Pasternak, "Love is not weakness. It is strong. Only the sacrament of marriage can contain it."

The book is simply "excellent". It is factual without being offensive. It's helpful without being overbearing. It is instructive without being condescending. I didn't read ANYTHING in the book that I think is bad or unwise advice. I made my first visit to Russia in 1997 and have been happily married to a RW since 2002. In that light, the book basically says pretty much what I'd say if I had the time, patience or creative ability to write a book myself. IMHO it is the BEST book on this topic that I have read, and I've read just about all of 'em.

While detractors might suggest you can get much of the same information for free on the various lists and newsgroups dedicated to this topic, I think the price of the book is certainly worth getting the correct information condensed in one easy to read package without having to wade through all the interference, deflections, off-topic posts and flame wars such groups & lists tend to attract.

The asking price for the book is a wise investment for any person considering this marriage option. I'd highly recommend that such men invest in this book and read it from cover-to-cover before they even look at their first agency or free-dating website.

As a neophyte in my search, I read just about everything I could get my hands on. Now as a veteran of 7 months (very tongue in cheek) my impression of the book is pretty much what the others (more experienced) have been saying regarding the content; "Thoughtful and well grounded in the basics of fact and generally accepted opinion."

What I do find interesting, is the book appears to parallel my methods to this point (the opposite actually, as my methods appear to parallel the book). This in itself is reassuring to me, as I see that my paradigm has a sound foundation of sorts. Although many of the efforts I have been making are supported by the book, there were several points in the text that opened my eyes regarding current and future expectations. One thing I had not yet thought about was her move to the U.S.. I had no idea of the trauma involved, not to mention the significant sacrifice on both the husband and the wife. Also the introduction of the future spouse to a local Russian community...or not.

I would find it difficult for anyone to claim exclusive knowledge on this subject, especially when you consider everybody will have a different story and experience. What I like best is the book is not written as a definitive work. It is proffered as a compilation of general knowledge and experience, from a variety of sources, in a format that allows the reader to understand the concept of pursuing a Russian Woman (RW) for the purpose of marriage.

Since I choose my own course regarding the pursuit of my Ukrainian partner, I endeavor to consider everything I see, read, and hear. My opinion of this book is that "it should be mandatory reading for any man even considering pursuing a woman from the Former Soviet Union (FSU)". If you can make it through the book and not have a heart attack on the cost aspect alone, then I would say you are well positioned for your journey. I have read the book cover to cover twice now, and for the first time in my life, have tabbed a few pages of things I need to review as my journey continues.

If you are serious about finding a wonderful woman. A woman who's values match your's without the trappings of what many people consider the spoiled offerings of many western women, then this book is an excellent start. If you are not sure about this journey when you start the book, you will be when you finish.

This book is excellent. The writing is fluid; the presentation is logical and the content is exceptionally useful. The author should be very pleased with his handiwork. And men at virtually any stage of their search for a lady from Russia, Ukraine or other former Soviet Union country would be well-advised to buy a copy and read it carefully, taking the advice to heart. In one single source there is now a wealth of current and useful information that will allow any man to avoid virtually all the pitfalls and take all the right steps for a successful relationship with a lady from the former Soviet Union. I'm impressed!