JO

This book captured my heart as soon as I started reading. Jo Clancy's use of personal examples to define lessons learned through love added to the book's appeal. What love is:lessons from the heart takes readers through a range of emotions: joy, sadness, fear, anger, and empathy. One minute I was laughing, the next I was moved to tears. This book is artfully drafted and a fast read. The worksheets provided at the end of each chapter are wonderful! I used them to review lessons learned through love in my own life. This book helped me remember to focus on what is really important in life: the people and animals that have touched my heart. I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys Chicken soup for the soul books. What love is: lessons from the heart is formatted similarly and is unique because instead of relying on others' stories the author fearlessly discloses her own experiences in order to assist others interested in learning how to love.

Although written for primary care providers, Rosenfeld presents women's health issues with clear explanations of medical terms that most women will be able to understand. Dividing the lifetime into stages, she addresses traditional medical issues systemically (Cardiovascular disease, Respiratory disease etc.) Not meant to be exhaustive, some topics are superficially dealt with. Although psychological and social issues specific to women's health are well addressed, this is a traditional medical text and has little emphasis on alternative approaches such as herbal, bimolecular, aromatherapy, or other alternative therapies. A useful text for sensitivity training for primary care providers as well as for the woman who wants to understand what her doctor might not take time to explain.

My family is having lots of fun learning the forms in this book. Easy to understand and any child who can read and write can do it. This book helped me interest my children in writing, and sometimes I find them doing it on their own now!

This book is a quiet, simple way to talk about death with children without scaring them. The little girl has already dealt with major traumas in her life-- her mother walked out on their family, her hamster died-- and so when her great-aunt dies, she is prepared to experience a new aspect of grieving. She sees her father and her older relatives wracked with grief and she reaches out with new understanding. As a class read-aloud, it offers lots of children access with the side story of her hamster's death, allowing a discussion of grief and love and support to emerge easily. The absence of the mother in the story also allows other kinds of grieving and separation to be acknowledged.

I first read AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE when it was reissued by Zebra in 1993, and while for some indefinable reason I liked it less than the two other books of the Company of Rogues series that had been published up to that point--AN UNWILLING BRIDE and CHRISTMAS ANGEL--still thought it was a good book and hung on to my copy.

Nicholas and Eleanor are a wonderful hero and heroine, and I think that their actions are perfectly understandable. Agreeing to a marriage of convenience with the brother of the man who'd been tricked into ruining her was really the lesser of two evils for Eleanor (on page 33 she made a very convincing rationale for her decision). She did put up with her husband having a mistress, but so did many women of her class in Regency England. At least in her case her husband was only involved with another woman as part of a secret political mission, and took no pleasure in the affair (being the plaything of the depraved Therese Bellaire was no bed of roses!) To do Nicholas further credit, he agreed to undertake the mission before he met Eleanor, and he did everything in his power to prevent her from being hurt.

Like most women, I've read hundreds of romance novels. I will always remember Nicholas Delaney as one of the top five heros ever created. He's that intriging.

Once I started reading this book I could not put it down. I have not read one like it before - the heroine is raped and then marries the brother who carries on an affair with his mistress for over 6 months of their marriage (for his country ofcourse). Who would have thought I would have found this book - one that I could not put down? I sure didn't. But it turned out to be an incredible story. I am glad I was not thrown off by the 3 stars average on Amazon.

The book is fast reading and to the point. This is not the kind of diet everyone can handle, but it worked wonders for my husband and me. We are in our 50's and I have struggled with my weight most of my life. I expected minimal results but was pleasantly surprised that I lost 11 lbs. the first two-week fast and 14 lbs. the second with the recommended three weeks in between fasts. There was no yo-yo effect afterwards. We are just entering our third fast and look forward to utilizing this method to achieve and maintain our ideal weight.

Not having solid food for two weeks at a time is a major deal to many people. But think about how much time during the day is taken up in planning, purchasing, preparing, eating and cleaning up after meals. Fasting is almost a vacation to a busy person. Also, the savings in food more than makes up for the cost of the supplement. I'm familiar with other liquid diet programs that have comparable if not higher costs associated with them. To skeptics, I would have to say "Don't knock it until you've tried it."

I actually read the German version of this book first, which is exactly the same. I actually tried this diet when it first came out in Germany in '99 after I had seen several pple loose quite a bit of weight on it. I stuck to it for 2wks. It was hard not to eat the first day or two, but with the help of the home-made veggie broth I got through it. I never cheated once. The drink is not nasty nor is it very tasty or filling....once again, the veggie broth always saved my day. I drank almost a gallon of water per day. To my disappointment I did not loose more then 10lbs within those two weeks, other than the 30-40lbs I had seen in the other pple, and swore myself, never to go on a liquid fast again if that was the result...my body just works different from others. BUT after I got off it, I was not hungry anymore and I had this urge for fruits and healthy stuff all of a sudden. So I actually started loosing after I got off it and thinking back, must have lost another 15lbs in the weeks following. Unfortunately, I gotta say, that if you don't stick to a healthy/sensible diet, the weight will eventually come back....very slowly, but double. However, after endless trials with stupid weightloss pills and powders, I'm finally as fat as I was as a child and have come to the conclusion....Markert is a good thing. I will start it again next week.

This diet is absolutely phenomenal. It works exceptionally well, and I saw excellent results with it. All told, I lost 20 pounds with the diet, and the key point here is that I did not gain any of the weight back whatsoever. Even when I went back to my usually .... and very non-low carb diet. I give it 4 stars because I never did make it to the 2 week mark, it was just too hard for me, so I ended up doing this diet for 5 - up to 8 days at a time which is how I lost the sum total of 20 lbs. I must also mention that I am hypoglycemic, meaning my blood sugar drops fairly low, and this diet does cause your blood sugar to drop. This diet is not for the faint of heart and it can be very difficult. But if you are in a pinch, it is a great way to lose some extra pounds in a hurry!

This surprising and original first novel seems destined to become a horror classic. In New York City in the year 2009, 150 dogs arrive, walking upright, speaking English and clad in 19th century Prussian formal wear. It turns out that the "Monster Dogs" were created by an insane German named Augustus Rank, whose mad vision it was to create a race of super-soldiers. In 1882 he was forced to flee to Canada, where he and his successors perfected their creations. But ultimately the dogs rebelled and now they are ready to enter the world.

Ms Bakis greatest achievement is to make this whole scenario seem totally plausible and she creates a set of characters who earn our affection and eventually our pity, as the dogs begin to descend into insanity. If ultimately she seems a little less sure-handed when the time comes to wield her creations and conclude the story, we are prepared to forgive her because the set up has been so provocative. Like all the best monster fiction, the creatures serve to illuminate the question of what it means to be human.

GRADE: B+

I came away from Lives of the Monster Dogs most wistful. Sometime in the near future, according to author Kristen Bakis, the great Monster Dogs would leave thier north Canada village, and bring thier Victorian elegance, thier Frankenstein bodies, thier doomed lives to Gotham*s refuge of New York City. The story line is alternated largely between the sad German Sheppard Ludwig, and a young (human) woman who becomes thier intermediary for most of the outside world. Much is made (too much?)of the life of thier mad creator and *father* August Rank, he learns, he experiments, he kills his half-brother. (Though it is never stated so in the book, I wonder if the young woman is descended from the brother*s posthumous child.) We are given the remote town Rank and his Dogs flee to, the opera written of its rebellion and destruction; in New York the Monster Dogs hold a parade in the snow, build a fairybook castle. And all the while the Dogs are slowly going mad and dying (with the odd exception of a female Samoyed). There exists no fully driving storyline, much of the book exists in retrospective, in describing its portrait of an ultimately doomed society; the beauty is that this techinique is so effective. Ludwig tries, in increasing desparation, to convey his loneliness, his fears to his human friend. I come away wishing the Monster Dogs were real, that such wonders could really invade our simian world. At best, there is only a dark, beautiful glimpse.

I'm a huge dog lover and found this story of walking, talking, intelligent dogs very interesting. There is a sad undertone to the whole story and an underlying thread of darkness , cruelty and the grotesque (the cow, the cow!). Very original and imaginative. The only small complaint I have, and it is because of the way the story is being told (in journal entries and by several different points of view) I'm unable to become connected to any one character or know any of them on an intimate level.

My only complaint? I do wish it hadn't ended with so many questions left unanswered.

I somehow managed to finish this book. I found the characters dull, the plot boring. There was no chemistry between Kate & Donovan. Too much detail about blowing up builidings. It was the romance I was interested in, not how they do their jobs. I was very disappointed with this book and will not buy anything from this author again.

I've read the book and I've read the reviews by Sandra Creelman and Jo Manning. Each lady made wonderful points in their reviews. However, I have to side with Ms. Manning.

The Burning Point is a comtemporary romance, not a novel on the state of society. It is a love story between two people who shared a secret, divorced, then found their way back together again. Does it happen in real life? I'm sure it does at times. Spousal abuse is a difficult subject to deal with in any form. If I had picked this book up as an autobiography or biography, I probably would have thought the main character Kate was nuts for going back into her situation. But this is not a true story, I know when I picked up a comtemporary romance, the main idea is for the hero and heroine to live happy ever after.

I'm not going to review the story, its been done by every other reviewer. I am going to put my two cents on this aspect of the story. I really think the book would have been better if the past has been told first. I had a hard time seeing Donovan as the man he is now, being the abuser he was when he was younger. It just didn't jive for me. Also, Kate's father was a control freak who couldn't accept aspects of his family life. He sounds just as much as an abuser as Donovan--maybe not physical, but as an emotional abuser.

Some will like this book, many will not. Read it at your own discretion but don't turn it down just because of the subject matter.

I love everything that Mary Jo Putney Writes. As she says in her Author's Note, domestic violence is wrong, wrong. wrong. It's the story and the way Kate and Donovan face themselves and their problems that make this a great story and a wonderful read! I could not put this book down! Learning about the demolition business was exciting also. There is great chemistry and passion in this story not to mention SPARKS.

I TRIED to read the "King's Peace. But I just can't abide poorly written first person narratives. (I'm not a big fan of First Person narratives to begin with), but poorly written ones are worse. Also, there is a large Dedication which takes up prime 'real estate' at the front of the book, followed by another narration about he main character 'looking back on her life.' For me, I just hate, hate, hate, knowing what will happen in advance. And this writing nearly ruined it for me.

As I progressed through the book, I found the dialog to be stilted and unrealistic, especially the internal dialog. This book was just NOT my cup of tea.

The "King's Peace" by Jo Walton has all the makings of a wonderful epic series that should definitely stand the test of time. Very loosely based on the Arthurian legend, this novel nonetheless does deal with similar issues: honour; courage; compromising with one's erstwhile enemies in order to realise the greater dream of a kingdom united and peace; living with the personal choices that one makes, and not allowing these choices to cripple you. Jo Walton's style of writing is a little dry and matter of fact, and lacks a little the lyricism that made Mary Stewart's Merlin series so memorable. However, her style of writing closely mirrors her heroine's speech patterns and manner, so that this restrained and plain narrative style really works and adds to the ambiance of the novel. And this brings me what I consider as Jo Walton's greatest contribution to the science ficiton world: her heroine, Sulien ap Gwien. I don't think I've come across quite so strong and courageous and likable a heroine in ever so long, and I'm ecstatic. There have been strong female warrior characters before, but none quite like Sulien. I also liked the manner in which Sulien's growth as a person, mirrors that of the kind of compromises that King Urdo makes in order to realise his dream of uniting his feuding and much besieged kingdom -- Sulien grows from a woman who wants to avenge herself on all Jarnish for the wrongs done to her and her family, to realising that not all Jarnish are evil and that some kind of compromise will have to be worked out with the Jarnish so that her world will have peace. And (I'm probably alone in this) I also liked that Jo Walton has abstained from providing Sulien with any kind of romantic interlude, and that indications are that she won't. Quite often science fantasy writers provide their heroines with a romance subplot, and this doesn't always work, and often detracts from the story at hand. I'm not sure if a romance subplot would detract or not, it depends on how Jo Walton handles it, but I really liked that there were no such distraction in the "King's Peace."

This is a really great work of fiction, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next Sulien ap Gwien novel.

The King's Peace is an absorbing book, full of action and battles and treachery, which nonetheless reads almost quietly. This is because it is at heart about a rather philosophical subject: the creation of a nation. In this case, a nation is seen as a people united in "Peace", obeying a "Law".

The book is fairly obviously based in some sense on the Matter of Britain: the story of King Arthur. But it seems a mistake to make too much of this source material. It is not intended as a strict retelling of the Arthurian tales, nor even as a fantastical retelling of a version of the real history of Arthur, or of other kings of his time. It is a fantasy set in a world shaped much like our world, in a time corresponding pretty closely to the 7th Century after Christ, and specifically set on an island resembling Great Britain. But while for some characters a corresponding character can be found in the Arthurian tales, not all the characters can be easily mapped to the legendary characters, nor do the available mappings fit perfectly, nor do all the incidents in the book correspond to incidents from the legends. And the world of the book is neither our world, nor a fantasy world corresponding to traditional versions of the Arthurian tales. This novel needs to be judged on its own virtues: the Arthurian echoes are certainly there, and perhaps they are unavoidable in a novel by a contemporary Welshwoman dealing with the subject matter of making a nation of the people of Great Britain, but they are echoes of inspirational material, not any sort of strict template.

The story itself is told by Sulien ap Gwien, a woman warrior, daughter of the King of a small part of the island of Tir Tanagiri. (Her home is geographically cognate to Southern Wales, just as Tir Tanagiri is cognate to Great Britain, but never mind that.) The story opens with her brutal rape by six invading "Jarnsmen", and the murder of her brother. She escapes to find that her home has been raided and burned. Traveling to Caer Tanaga, the capital, to request help from Urdo, the young High King, she stumbles upon a skirmish between some more Jarnsmen and some defenders of the land. After proving her skill in this chance-met battle, she meets the King, and is immediately enchanted by his leadership skills and charisma. Thus she enlists as an armiger for the King, eventually arising to command of the King's own "ala" (roughly speaking, a regiment of cavalry). The rest of the story follows the ensuing couple of decades, as after many years of war the invading Jarnsmen and Isarnagans are subdued, as political unity is urged on the many different small kingdoms of Tir Tanagiri, and as a rule of law is enforced. Throughout Sulien's story is involving: the book is always interesting to read. It's a bit slack structurally, somewhat episodic, often skipping years in a sentence, and featuring two climaxes, indeed, structured so that the two halves tell rather different stories. This is a minor quibble, though. It certainly calls for a sequel (and one is planned), but the conclusion to this book is satisfying. The main character, Sulien, as well as the King, Urdo, Urdo's wife Elenn, and a few more, are well-portrayed, though some of the large cast of minor characters do blur together somewhat. The prose is clear, couched in a rather simple, declarative, fashion that seems appropriate for the narrative of a woman whose main interests are war and horses.

Of significant interest is the subtly different world of the book. The book is a fantasy, and gods and magic are real. There are healing charms, and fertility spells, and apparently effective evocations of the gods. There are several different religions, including a close analog to Christianity (with neat differences: e.g. the main symbol is a pebble, symbolic of the "White God" having been stoned to death instead of crucified), and also including a land worship that is tied close to the families of the local kings. The magic system is purposely limited in scale, so that it is plausible that the overall feel of this world and its technology is similar to general conceptions of 7th Century Britain. I found this very effective in giving the world a sense of being real, and plausible, and consistent, while also making the world definitely fantastical.

A very satisfying first novel.

Beth and Lucien must make the best of a difficult situation when Lucien's father, a duke, force them to wed. Beth unwittingly makes matters worse when, not realizing that her fiance is as trapped as she is, she brags about having had numerous (fictional) affairs to try to get him to break their engagement. Lucien, very much a man of his time, spends much of the book trying to figure out how to keep his improperly raised wife "in line," and even after discovering the truth about Beth's virginity still has lingering doubts about her virtue.

Three cheers to Beverley for taking such a somber-sounding plot and turning it into a wonderful exploration of character and gender issues, while never losing the main focus of the story: the romance. These two characters are more than a match for each other, and I love that they didn't just get married and have all their problems disappear after great sex. In fact, there isn't much sex in this book at all, but there is plenty of tension, sexual and otherwise.

And yes, there is an incident of domestic violence that occurs after our complex hero has just bared his soul. I personally think that he should have grovelled a deal more, despite Beth's insistence that he not do so, which is why this book gets 4 rather than 5 stars.

Okay, the slap was a little too much, but it doesn't change the fact that this is still a very good story. What's more is that the love that develops between the characters is actually believable. As far as the slap goes, it was unneccesary to push the plot forward. However, this is a fast and highly entertaining read. I would recommend that you read it and form your own opinion.

If you are a stickler, as I am, for a well-written, well- plotted historical romance, you won't want to miss this re-issue of one of Jo Beverley's best stories. The heroine, Beth, is a "modern" 19th century woman who speaks plainly and enjoys her career as a teacher. The hero, Lucien, is the son of a Duke and a traditionalist who believes that the best wives are seen but not heard. The two come together through the machinations of Lucien's father, and the sparks begin to fly! The dialogue between these two is not only very witty and clever, but it is also very believable. There are a number of secondary characters in the book that are finely-drawn, and the plot contains a surprising suspenseful twist that keeps the reader intrigued. In short, if you have high standards and are tired of some of the "pap" that passes for romantic fiction nowadays, you will love "An Unwilling Bride." I can't wait for the re-issue of more of Ms. Beverley's older books.