Clubs Books

Anne has a crush on Eric, the best and cutest football player. She turns to her friends in the Fortune Tellers Club to help her find out if Eric likes her, too. Just when they think they've figured things out, there are mysterious fires at school. This is the second in the series of stories involving the "psychic sleuthing" team. Like it's predecessors, this is an easy read and a great page turner. What kid doesn't have a sense of wonder and fear about graveyards? It's a swift-moving mystery with established heroines. It's fun enough to get a non-reader reading.

The Fortune Tellers Club is a delightful series by professional storyteller Dotti Enderle. This series, geared towards ages 9-12, features three best friends--Juniper Lynch, Anne Donovan, and Gena Richmond--who use divination to solve mysteries, explain relationships, and understand life experiences.

Playing With Fire is book 2 of the Fortune Tellers Club series, and is told from the perspective of Anne, a cheerleader at Avery Middle School. Anne has a crush on Eric, the gorgeous star of Avery's football team. She asks her fellow members to do a Tarot reading to see if Eric likes her...and if she has any chance with him. Using a 4 card spread, the reading is amazingly accurate--but it's not until later they realize just how much. A series of mysterious fires have the fire department stumped--and The Fortune Tellers Club happens to witness one of the fires first hand. Using divination techniques such as reading the ashes, the girls are determined to get to the bottom of these fires--and find out if Eric has something to do with them!

The characters are fleshed out *much* better than the first book of the series (The Lost Girl). I almost gave up on the series after Book 1, but I'm glad I didn't! The action is fast-paced, and the element of mystery provides excitement and intrigue.

A fan of Dotti Enderle's Fortune Tellers Club series could get comfy with Gena, Anne and Juniper.

The three are best friends, concerned about boys, school and each other, and in this second book of her series, the author has another winner.

Anne finds herself obsessed with Eric, a hot new boy at Avery Middle School. Best buds Gena and Juniper try to help her get his attention, with mixed results.

An underlying theme to this easy read is fire, or anything associated with heat or flames -- think fever, fever blisters, birthday candles.

Will Anne get the guy? Will the destruction at the school be explained? Read Playing With Fire to find out, and be prepared for a clever small surprise at the end.

School's back in session and there's a hot new boy at school --in more ways than one.

Anne has a crush on Eric. Does he like her back? He seeks her out at lunch and for homework help. The Fortune Tellers Club use all their skills to try to find out.

Then there's a series of fires. Is Eric behind them? Is he pyrokenetic? Another mystery for the Fortune Tellers to solve.

An excellent read with a surprise ending. I look forward to more in this series.

What is there not to love about chocolate, except when they are filled with a dab of nitrobenzene. This classic mystery from 1929 makes nearly every major list of the best of the best.
Roger Sheringham and his friends at the Detection Club are presented a stump-er by Scotland Yard. Each member presents their solution based on their insight into the murder, the characters, and the evidence. You will be turning the pages all night wondering who has their facts straight. This one contains all the elements that cozy mystery lovers enjoy in a read that is well paced and full of surprises.
I discovered my copy on the bottom of a "to read" pile, had forgotten buying it, but it goes near the top of my list of all-time favorites.
Writing as a Small BusinessSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelUnder the Liberty Oak

I read this book after seeing it mentioned over and over again on best-mysteries-of-all-time lists.

Berkeley's novel is built around a fictitious, famed detection club (no doubt based on a real club that had authors such as Christie, Sayers and Dickson Carr as members). The members of this illustrious club set out to solve a mystery revolving around a poisoned box of chocolates. Every sleuth turns in a seemingly plausible solution, each topping the previous person's explanation. Until the end, that is, when a less-than-likely member offers the most surprising (and probably correct) interpretation of the facts.

Not only is this a real puzzle of a book, but it gently and self-consciously tweaks the fair-play traditions and cliches of the ultra-British "Golden Age."

It's very clever, very funny, and reads like a shot. What else do you want from a mystery?

This is a very clever little mystery. It is easy to understand why Anthony Berkeley is considered to be the grandfather of the Golden Era of detective fiction. The book was written in 1929, but in spite of that date the mystery itself is not at all dated. The book is based on the premise of six amateur detectives given an unsolvable case by Scotland Yard. Each member of the Crime Club has to come up with a theory and point out the murderer. Each of the six come up with completely plausible solutions, but we don't actually find out the correct one until the last sleuth speaks. It is certainly a different take on "and then there was one". Berkeley certainly knew what he was about when he penned his detective stories! They are true gems.

It's British, it's amateurs solving a murder, the clues are all in front of you. What's better? And then on top of it all, this book gives us a crime club at which the members present their individual results and critique each other (with some dry wit at the expense of the genre). Great stuff.

"Each is a psychological and aesthetic puzzle," Gay Daly writes about the women who modeled for the Pre-Raphaelite painters. "One woman sits with eyes closed in a religious trance that seems to border on sexual ecstasy. Another, longing for an absent lover, stretches like a langorous tiger, her voluptuous body wrapped in a dress of rich royal blue velvet that dominates the canvas, insisting that the viewer dwell on her curves" (pp. xvii-xviii). Founded in 1848, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, namely William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, "believed that every rose must be painted from a live flower, every face from an actual human being" (p. xviii). They searched every Victorian street corner, drawing room, and church for the faces and bodies that would fire both their artistic and romantic fantasies. The "beautiful" and equally "disturbing" women they painted came from almost every class and corner of London. Among them were the "spoiled, petted daughter of a solicitor, a hearty, motherly prostitute, a wily barmaid, and the daughter of a Methodist minister" (p. xix).

Drawn from letters written by and to these intriguing women (p. xxii), Daly's book triumphs at bringing the Pre-Raphaelites and their romances to life in these pages. For instance, Daly explores the ten-year romance between Rossetti and his "medieval shining angel" (p. 32), Lizzie Siddal (a shopgirl), which ended with her suicide at age 32; Hunt's "dance of approach and avoidance" (p. 120) with a "gorgeous young" barmaid, Annie Miller (p. 101), a "street urchin" who "swore like a trooper and couldn't read a word" (p. 104); and Millais' sexually-charged marriage to Effie Gray, who was previously linked to John Ruskin in a strange marriage that was never consumated. Along the way, Ruskin, Charles Dickens, George Eliot and Rudyard Kipling make appearances in Daly's ambitious book.

Although it was challenging to locate a copy of Daly's out-of-print book, her study of the Pre-Raphaelites was as interesting to read as a Victorian novel. She insightfully examines Victorian social values and marriage, and reveals that the romantic lives of the Pre-Raphaelites were just as mesmerizing as their luminous paintings.

G. Merritt

The author reveals the intimate lives and souls of both the Pre-Raphaelite painters and their models. The thoughtless treatment of the women by these self-centered men is made acceptable only by the evidence of the genius involved in their craft. Daly's ability to bring these complex personalities to life is captivating.

Gay Daly's first book I believe is so rich with facts and so well researched I couldn't help thinking all the way through how much time and effort she must have put into it.

It is a journey back in time to Victorian England making you feel you like you are there watching these amazing artists do their thing. To have found out so much detail on the lives of these people was astonishing to me and if you read it you will get a fabulous education on the Pre-Raphaelites and what they believed in.

Fact that reads like fiction is my favorite genre - and this book is it: pet elephants in London apartments, exhumed beauties, a long married virgin and of course plenty of sex and drugs. Daly gives biographies of the artists with emphasis on their love lives and how that tied in with their paintings (the women discussed modeled for them even if they weren't models in general). Artists covered: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, William Holman Hunt, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Each is given a biography with many reproductions of art works, and much much focus on the woman or women they loved.

Although the book focuses on aspects of the artists lives which might tend toward lurid rather than serious, the stories interweave seemlessly with the paintings, so this book is anything but soft. For example Elizbeth Siddal became ill while poseing for Millais' Ophellia. She posed floating in a bathtub full of water while he depicted the famous drowning victim. She was Rossetti's favorite model and girl and the recuring illness influenced both their lives. He often painted her as Beatrice and in his mind saw him and her as playing out the doomed story of Dante and Beatrice.

The biographies of each artist were constantly reinforced and tied to art works. Reproductions of art were small but good quality. There were examples of sketches and the single painting by Siddal, a self portrait. This is particularily interesting because she depicted herself as serious and severe while these famous artists depicted her as the epitome of beauty.

This is very readable and gave me more appreciation for the stories behind these paintings. I recommend reading this if it sounds at all interesting to you. Libraries should archive a copy because this is excellent art history with more emphasis on women than usual, and because the painting and sketches by Elizabeth Siddal are very rarely reproduced. There is also a good discussion of the founding and early history of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and some detail about the childhoods of each artist.

It has been a long time since I have read such an involved and fast-paced book.

Monique Mucia lures you in and doesn't give you a chance to get bored.

Read this book, you won't be sorry.

Lucifer impregnates the gypsy woman Falon when she left the haven of her clan. After the rape, Falon returns to Devil's Mountain, Wallachia to give birth to his child before dying in fear of the devil's whelp. The lad Vladimir Dracula struggles with the lure of his patriarchal bloodlines with only his cousin Vashti providing him some peace from his sire. Eventually Vlad leads the army in the fight with the Turks.

Fourteen years later, after imprisonment by the enemy and a thirst for human blood, Vlad returns home to finds Vashti hates him for the death of her father. Vashti locks him up, but releases Vlad only to have him jail her. In the dungeon, Lucifer visits Vashti because he plans to use her to gain his son's cooperation. She concludes that she is the key to who will own Vlad's soul, his devilish father or God. Will Vashti help Vlad follow the light or will she complete her vengeance by sending him into the eternal darkness as her own sister has chosen?

PRINCE ETERNAL: SACRED SOUL is a great retelling of the Dracula legend as the tale is a delightful historical horror novel that brings to life 1430 Eastern Europe but never loses focus of its Dracula theme. Besides the 1430 Wallachia background, some of the key cast members seem human with flaws and frailties while others (like Lucifer and Vashti's fallen sister) make the inhuman feel genuine. Monique Mucia provides a stirring adaptation that will send the audience seeking more dark blood novels in what looks like a superior series.

Harriet Klausner

Monique Mucia has taken Vladimir Dracula out of the dregs of evil and inhumanity, and placed him among some of the greatest heroes in print. Her characters are vibrant and sensual. The plot is unpredictable, yet enticing. Dracula, himself, is mentally and phisically alluring.

As a self-published author, Monique has proven herself as a capable and talented writer. The bookcover is a work of art that rivals any in the industry.

I am pleased with my purchase of this novel and hope others

will find gratification with this read.

This books is a MUST. Dracula is given birth to and not just arrived.... he is the product of rape of a gypsey and Lucifer.. He spends must of his youth in torment and ridicule. Vashti his childhood friend she sticks up for him often. Then both their worlds fall apart.. Vlads disappears and Vashti's father and uncle are killed Vashti believe Vlad is the murderer.. However, Vlads suffered at the cruel and depraved hads of Jamel a Turk with evil intentions. He finally gets away from his clutches having spent 14 years of torture.. at the hands of Jamel and henchmen. Vlad once again meets Vashti.. only to find that she is bent on revenge for the murder of her relatives.. Vlad spent most of his life in torment trying to keep away Lucifers influance.... But they still share the bond that was there in their childhood.. This story give birth to a legend and not only from the tale of Dracula but also briefly I believe on the on the story of Vlad the Impala.. that is if Vlad gives in.. to his evil side.. when he lets his guard down.. This story is full of emotion and I spent one day reading this book unable to put it down.... I finally finished reading it at 4.30 am.. in the morning not want to finished reading until I had finished the whole book... Anyone... who love a good solid story full of emotion and depth.. will not be disapointed.. I certainly wasn't I can't wait for the Sequel... Prince Eternal: Sacred Blood... I think.. this is one of the best purchase I have made in the book arena for a longtime.. ITS A KEEPER.. Thanks you Monique for many hours of intriging entertainment..

This book contains beautiful fullcolor, fullpage photos of Prince and the people around him. It gives a great inside view in this man's life that is at least very interesting for a longtime fan like me.
Both photos from his onstage and offstage life. Yes, some pictures are of instruments, but they are just as important to him as the musicians. The same goes for the crowd shots. After all: without a crowd, there's no show.
Some pictures are posed, others are (most likely) spontaneous shots. In some photos he looks like a Prince, perfectly groomed & dressed as most of us know him, in others he looks almost like any ordinary guy. One of my favourite photos is that of Prince on a scooter wearing an old t-shirt with cut-off sleeves. It could be anyone's vacation photo.
The short text phrases on the even pages are sometimes funny, sometimes touching. They add something extra to the book though.
Even though it's not a cheap book, I'm glad that I bought it and I will progably browse through it many times again.

I really enjoyed the beautiful pictures of Prince. They were very unique. They enable you to see a more personal side of Prince.

Prince in Hawaii is a well presented picture book. Beautiful candid photos of Prince on glossy pages. Accompanied by small phrases for the reader to reflect on. Makes a lovely book to have lying around to pick up and flick through at will. A must buy for all Prince fans. Worth evey penny. :)

This item only has photos on every other page and not all are of the artist. 19 of the 68 total photos are of instruments, band members, children and crowd shots. The pages without pictures have a small quote or song lyric. The photos are varied in style and very imaginative. I don't like my photo taken, but I wouldn't mind being photographed by this photographer. This one captured Prince as the larger than life performer and a very soft average Joe side of Prince. One of the most beautiful photos in the book shows an unmade-up, unshaven, relaxed man shadowed by his hammock. I've never seen Prince look more peaceful or handsome! This would be a good book for a student of photography or avid Prince fan.

I will go ahead and tell you this is not a review on the book. If I wrote a review on the book it would be positive anyway because of how I feel about Trey Ragsdale. I am a slow reader and read everything I can on my own feild of asset management and financial planning.

Anyway, Trey Ragsdale is a first rate citizen. He really enjoys politics and lives it out in his own life. He has a strong family heritage in politics, dating all the way back to James Ogelthorpe. So he is qualified to write this book. His friend Joe put his life on the line for the US in war.

All I can say is that I have learned alot from watching Trey Ragsdale think from another person's perspective and effectively build relationships with people that way. I'm sure this book, which I did buy, is an excellent one because the authors are excellent people.

I believe this book is great. It has all the important documents and things you might need for research or just for reading. I liked the facts about each President, the introduction, and how each inaugural address was included. My favorite section had to be about the Electoral College because Urban and Ragsdale explained it very well, regardless of your prior political knowledge.

I really think more people should read PurePolitics: The Foundations of Our Nation. If you don't think it sounds that great in my description, that is because you just haven't read it yet!

This book is a must read for all political pros. It is well organized and captures the key documents every American should know. As a political scientist, I use this readily available book as a reference when I am involved in any substantial political debate.
I highly recommend this book!

The Foundations of Our Nation illustrates how words in documents and verbal speech can affect society today and for generations to come. Reading the historic documents, speeches, quotes and trivia one can realize the complexity of the decisions that our leaders have had to make. Since Sept. 11th, our country has had to rediscover from whence we have come from. This book is a great resource guide that shows us how our leaders of the past made difficult decisions. This compilation of great works from our democracy which includes famous speeches, founding documents, trivia, and quotations from American leaders inspireed me to become further educated in the arena of politics and to get involved with my community.

This novel both intrigued and concerned me as I enjoyed the science fiction aspects but was ever aware that the political implications are reality-based. Dana Barbour's character development is excellent, and he does an excellent job of integrating the plot with current sociopolitical issues. The Question is challenging intellectually but definitely read-worthy! If you wonder about implications of current political events, read Dana Barbour's The Question...it's in his book!

THE QUESTION HOLDS MY ATTENTION AS IT SEEMS MORE FUTURE REALITY THAN FICTION.IT IS HUMAN NATURE TO DENY OUR PROBLEMS AND DISASTERS SUCH THAT IMPENDING CONTROL OF OUR FATE MAY RELY ON OUR ABILITY TO FORESEE A SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT THAT IS NOT INDEED BENEVOLENT. IN A MODERN FAST PACED LIFESTYLE, IF WE LET OTHERS MAKE OUR DECISIONS WE GIVE UP MANY OPTIONS TO CONTROL OUR FUTURE FATE. THIS BOOK SHOULD SOUND AN ALARM TO ANY FREE THINKING AWARE READER.

This book combines a engrossing science fiction plot with it's mind challenging and thought provoking philosophical discourse. In this age of apathy and cynicism this is a book by someone who dares to give a damn, and that is refreshing.

No simple answers here but persistent readers will come away with their minds expanded.

As a frequent reader and long-time fan of good science fiction, I really enjoyed this book! Similar in style to early Asimov, the writing can seem a little too technical at times. However, the story is a good solid science fiction set in a very plausible future. It seems society has finally achieved it's long desired utopia and this book shows it's ultimate blueprint!

Our unlikely hero, a young man named Jamie, is a somewhat typical disenfranchised individual of the working class and truly someone that I can relate to. It is his inquisitive mind that leads him from the working class to a position among the ruling elite. It is also his natural curiosity that leads to the greatest threat which civilization has ever known....

That threat is, "The Question!"

I have listened to JC since 1986. He and the Breakfast Club were always my favorite morning show. Everytime he would get fired from one station or another I would get ticked off and swear never to listen again....but I always returned when he would magically reappear. The books explains the firings and confirms some of the stories I had heard of the firings. I now have a strong dislike by those mentioned in the book that transgressed against JC. Go beyond the arrogance and read it, then try to listen to those two rednecks (with out a strong dislike) that were a source of a lot of JC's outbursts.

As always, J.C. tells it like it is!

J.C. Corcoran first went on St. Louis radio in 1984 at a well-known St. Louis rock station. He immediately took over the town with his prank phone calls and other radio high-jinks. Most damaging to him was his insistence on calling a spade a spade, even if the spade was radio titan Bob Hyland. Through the years, his detractors took aim at him by way of lawsuits, name-calling and complete lies. This book is J.C.'s attempt to set the record straight, and the result is riveting.

J.C. never ducks the questions raised by his controversial actions and even apologizes for his behavior when necessary. However, most of the goofiness that made J.C. a St. Louis household name can be summed up by the words a judge used to dismiss a lawsuit filed against him - "broadcast journalism at its best." He may have offended, but he also made us laugh.

The most disturbing section of the book discusses a physical assault against J.C. by the intern of J.C.'s most aggressive competitors. (These competitors had previously stooped so low as to spread vicious rumours that J.C.'s child was a mongoloid.) What a relief to learn that J.C.'s ensuing lawsuit ended with a large jury award and the offending intern being reduced to tears on the witness stand.

J.C. gives us a honest account of his headline-filled days in St. Louis that are still going strong. After reading, one feels compelled to shout at the competition the question asked by J.C. himself - "Instead of taking cheap shots, why don't you give it your best shot and I'll give it my best shot and we'll see what happens? Or is that what you're afraid of?" It's because they know they'd lose.

I could not put down this book. JC really captured what has happened in his radio career in St. Louis. From his early days at KSHE to KLOU, you feel like you are at those meetings or you followed along to surprise Mike Bush by reporting from his basement. A must read for anyone interested in St. Louis radio. Believe me, JC leaves no stone unturned. Great, fun book.

While this was a book I really enjoyed, I was amazed to see how much my boyfriend enjoyed it, and how it has improved our lovelife!!

This is a work of literature I have long awaited. I do a lot of reading, but I cannot interest my husband in the books I read. I left Return To Paradise on a table next to my husband's chair in the family room. When he picked it up and started to look through it, he became quite enthused. The story appeals to a man, but the underlying message is about treating a woman special. Our relationship is now better than ever! Thank you very much Bruce Bream.

This is a really amusing book. I didn't get to the really funny part until the I was about a third of the way through my second read. My enlightment by self-discovery was the best part of Return to Paradise. Bruce Bream is a very interesting writer. Bruce reminded me a little of Kilgore Trout and Trout Fishing in America with a little Jubal Hershaw throw in for good measure. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to think a little, and laugh a little more...
Well Done Bruce Bream!!

A unique leading character that continually comes up with suprising ideas and presents them in an inspirational way. A great book to keep on hand if you're feeling down, it will pick you back up.

Any book that commands, and demands, my full attention deserves the best of my critiques, and this is why I give the "Riddle Maker" a two-thumbs-up Five Star rating!
If you're bored with the never ending routine of your daily life, then this is definitely the book for you. From the very onset of the first paragraph, my daily chores got put on hold, the telephone answering machine was driven into overtime, and my husband suddenly learned how to cook for himself. But it got even worse, when at 3:30 in the morning, I woke out of a sound sleep and just couldn't wait another minute to find out whodunit?! So I did the only logical thing one can do while reading this book. I grabbed the flashlight, donned the glasses, and raced to the end in all the glory of my 'jammies' and my favorite comforter! And, what a finish it was!...
I always know when I've read a good book because I find myself getting really ticked-off at the author for ending it. And that's exactly what I experienced with the "Riddle Maker."
So if you want a much needed break in that dull, boring household routine, do yourself a favor by reading the first paragraph of this magical book. I guarantee you, life will take on that much needed sudden change! And you'll enjoy every single moment of it.

k.t. Frankovich

...Riddle Maker proved to be more than just a pleasant surprise for me!

The very first paragraph plunges the reader into a vividly described scene on par with any good Hammer-horror movie, followed by an introduction to the first character who is graphically murdered by the end of the first chapter. This book is not for the feint-hearted or those easily offended by 'adult content', albeit minimal and in context with the killer's 'modus operandi'.

Unlike the classic style of who-dunnits, Riddle Maker does not lead the reader on a merry dance to the final chapter before the killer is revealed, along with the motive and means, all neatly tied up in a bow and smugly leaving the reader to feel an idiot because of being so out in left field. For the 'veteran reader' of this genre, that may be a disappointment. For a novice, like myself, it was the very thing which appealed to me, because this lead me to wanting to read on to discover how the killer's pursuers would figure it out, and if they would thwart his intended 'Grand Finale'.

Fairall, the author, is unapologetic concerning the relative lack of complexity of the plot, and the manageable number of characters (manageable for those of us who lose interest after running out of fingers to count on for who is who!)

All in all, Riddle Maker is an ideal 'level entry' book for this genre, and an excellent start for Fairall's first novel...

This was an amazing book, quick & witty, impossible to put down! I can't wait for her next book.

I don't know who this Author is but when a friend let me borrow a copy of hers I couldn't put it down! I had to have a copy of Riddle Maker for myself! I can't wait to read more from this Author.