I've never read a book by this author and I was pretty disappointed. The story was rushed, all the conflicts were solved easily, and the characters were boring.

I really loved this story very much. I thought that this story moved along very well and was totally romantic from the beginning and right to the end. The setting in England and Scotland were beautiful. I feel if you like Scottish Lairds and equally strong English Roses, you will love this story. That is all I can say. It is a must read.

In 1771, over the objections of his father who disowns him, Hugh MacCalome joins the English military in an attempt to save the family estate from the English seizing it as they have done with other Scottish properties. After fighting for the English in the swamps of the Americas for four years, Hugh MacCalome returns to his Loch Haven Highland home. When he arrives, Hugh realizes his sacrifice was for nothing since his family has been deported to hell and his lands forfeited. To regain what is rightfully his, he turns to General (R) George Burroughs, the Duke of Hawkeskill, whose life he saved.

A desperate Lady Caroline Burroughs is expected to marry Sir Gervaise Wilmount, a friend of her uncle, who acts more like a Drury Lane actress. If she fails to do what he says, he will see that she is committed. She runs off to her grandfather, George in an effort to avoid this disgusting marriage. George sees an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by having Hugh wed Caroline, which they do. They settle in Loch Haven but someone wants to kill Caroline and only Hugh, who loves his English wife can save her life.

Joan Overfield, renowned for her sensual Regencies, delivers an action packed Georgian romance that will electrify fans of the sub-genre. The lead protagonists are a remarkably entertaining pair, who generate the full focus of the reader on them. The support cast helps move the story line forward. Ms. Overfield shows that she can scribe a beautiful historical romance outside the regency world.

Harriet Klausner

As a longtime Didion fan I was mildly disappointed with this text. It's cumbersome, swishy, and sloppy. It hints at phrases, and the sort of language she eventually uses later in her writing, but this early novel is exactly that...early. It shows promise, and is not entirely without wit, but it's weak and cumbersome plot, it's overwrought prose, and it's harlequin voice were a disappointment given her profound later works.

This novel is early Didion, wonderfully lyrical and dark, passionate without sentimentality, and beyond conclusions. It is homage to James Jones, to William Faulkner, perhaps a little to John Steinbeck, but mostly to a California now almost vanished. That California is mostly the settlers' California, but it is also a California felt and known aboriginally. She writes, as always, poignantly about things dying away: but the heirs live on and the Californian sun and hills, rivers and floods, carry on- the part of eternity we can know a little of. I liked this book very much, but the reader should be warned it is not a light read and not written as completely in Joan Didion's famously sharp style as her later works.

...but Run River is her finest novel. "Democracy" is excellent, but it is more a tour de force than a novel. Didion was only in her twenties when she wrote Run River, and it is a winner--stylish but never mannered (something you can't say about her subsequent novels), subdued, witty, assured, and filled with Valley (as in the Sacramento Valley) characters with whom Didion was rather obsessively in love. It is a pity that she seems more interested these days in writing about Washington insiders for N.Y.C./L.A. insiders. Everett McClellan, my favorite character in the book, would not have been able to sustain an interest in such figures as Henry Hyde and Kenneth Starr. That Didion can--even if only for the purpose of eviscerating them--is an indication of how far she has strayed from her literary roots. Ah, but what roots they were. Run River is an extraordinary achievement.

This book really does make Hildegard come to life, by presenting her in the context of her times and her beliefs. But there are lots of weird little historical mistakes that suddenly snap the reader out of 12th century Germany, making it hard to stay with the story line. For example: A monk says he thinks the nuns should just stick with their rosaries--but rosaries didn't exist then. The margravine is desribed as wearing a dress with lace at the sleeves, but lacemaking was still several centuries in the future. Bernard of Clairvaux is described as having a beard, but monks were clean-shaven--it was the friars of the next century that wore beards. And several characters supposedly wear velvet, but it hadn't been invented yet. I really wish the author had taken the time to research a little better, since Hildegard was (and is) such an appealing character. Historical novels that aren't true to their period are as annoying to read as stories with geographical or technological errors. Putting the archbishop in velvet is like putting Rome in France or giving President Lincoln a telephone--kinda makes it hard to believe the story after that.

Having read several of the more scholarly treatises on Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, I'm finding it a breath of fresh air to experience her as a living being. The book is beautifully written and is not afraid to present Hildegard as all too human, dealing with the concerns and fears that must have accompanied her extraordinary visionary gifts. Although Hildegard would never have called herself a "feminist", since she embraced the precepts and beliefs of Catholicism, including the superiority of an all-powerful male God, she held women in high regard and challenged many of the assumptions of that time about women the value of women in the eyes of God. It is difficult to imagine that the Catholic church never officially granted sainthood to Hildegard; however, she is considered a saint in Germany - and I agree!

The life, the country, the contemporaries, and the political times of Hildegard come alive in this book. She was more than a religious woman who could write music - she had a great deal of courage and determination which even today would make her an outstanding feminist. Read it while listening to her music and find your dreams taking yyou to another world.

This book was brought to my attention by a parent of a young child with significant special needs. As the Early Childhood Coordinator responsible for making recommendations to parents, I was eager to acquire this book. I read it with many mis-givings. Yes, there are some accuracies regarding our current programming options for serving these young children. However, in my set of circumstances, this book led to a family rejecting all services for a very needy young lady. This book must be read in context with others. A balanced view needs to be presented.

Goodman's detailed observations of "early intervention" projects and her thoughtful and historically-informed analysis suggest powerfully that the current policy of trying to accelerate "delayed" children in order to keep up with their non-disabled peers, in fact prevents them from learning and exploring at their own pace. She painstakingly documents the way in which unrealistic expectations and demands lead to a situation in which almost continual prompting, directing, "cheating" on behalf of children, and even straightfoward physical manipulation are used to get children to "go through the motions" of a "normal" schedule, regardless of their incomprehension or lack of interest in it. A subtle, restrained book which quietly demolishes educational orthodoxy on this topic.

The book contends that the current process of force feeding specific developemental goals into children who are already having a hard time meshing into our fast paced society, may do more harm than good. I agree with the general theory that true learning can only be acquired through individual discovery, trail and error, rather than repeated drilling and very little if any chance for exploration. My only question is WHERE does this scenario exist for our handicapped children???

If you're bound and determined to continue with Vinge's tales of Tiamat, the Hegemony and the Water of Life by reading Summer Queen, you'll need this little ditty to understand how Gundhalinu became a sibyl and re-discovered the singularity drive.

My low rating isn't from lack of quality, but because--in my opinion--the contents of this book belong in Summer Queen.

Having read this one and Summer Queen, I can only presume that World's End comes from editorial cuttings of Summer Queen: most of the action in this novel is concurrent with the beginning of Summer Queen. Further, you get snippets of "cross-pollination" between the two novels: adding depth to World's End and detracting from Summer Queen. If you hadn't read World's end before Summer Queen, you'd know there was a lot missing in certain scenes; Worlds End fills in the gaps.

On its own, World's end clearly assumes you know a thing or two about the world introduced to us in Snow Queen: the Hegemony and Gundhalinu's people, especially their sense of pride and honor. Told in the narrative from Gundhalinu's POV, Vinge does a fine job of echoing BZ's state of mind.

For the same reason, however, readers will need to re-read the last section of the book (several times!!!) when BZ finds his brothers because his near-psychotic reaction to the sibyl virus is almost too well presented.

Let me start by saying that if you ever want to read this book, you'd better have read Vinge's award winning epic "The Snow Queen" first (and if you haven't read that yet, you don't know what you're missing). There are a lot of references to the previous novel, so if you don't have that background, you'll likely have no idea what the premise of "World's End" is.

"World's End," taking place directly after the events in "The Snow Queen," is a journal-style, first-person narrative chronicling the exploits of BZ Gundhalinu as he treks into the horrifically inhospitable planet of World's End, and his descent into insanity as he is infected with the sybil virus. And such wonderfully wrought insanity it is! If there's one thing that Vinge is perfectly adept at, it's characterization. You really get the feeling that Gundhalinu's brain is slowly being turned inside-out. If you were locked behind four walls with this guy, you'd find yourself slinking to the opposite side of the room, all the time keeping him in your line of sight. The inside of his head is just that creepy.

"World's End" is very short, and one reviewer stated that it seems like editorial clippings from the next novel in Vinge's cycle, "The Summer Queen" -- which may or may not be true. I'll tell you this -- I read "The Summer Queen" before I had any knowledge that "World's End" even existed, and I wish I hadn't. All the important happenings in "World's End" were covered in brief in "The Summer Queen;" all the surprises and plot twists were ruined for me. But "World's End" was an enjoyable read regardless. Anything by Joan D. Vinge is.

World's End is a wonderful book that adds depth to the character BZ and I loved the way BZ descended into madness. It reminded me of the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." This book was not as complex or descriptive as the Summer Queen or the Snow Queen, but I could clearly see this desolate world. I enjoyed the Summer Queen more after reading World's End. When I first read the Summer Queen I had no idea what had happened to BZ on World's End, so some parts in the Summer Queen confused me.

I thought this book is well worth reading and adds more to the Summer Queen.

This book tells the story of two people whose careers took totally different paths - one to success and one to near complete failure. The author of this book, Edward De Leo, worked with Al as a mentor very early on in Pacino's acting career, and probably helped him a great deal, but once Al became successful, De Leo was little more than a nuisance to him, hitting him up for movie parts and money over the years. The story of Edward De Leo's life is really pretty pitiful and the introduction of little bits of information about Pacino, although somewhat interesting at times, fail to disguise this book as anything other than one more attempt by a man who perhaps feels entitled to a piece of Al's success, to exploit it. Kudos to Pacino, who, by all accounts, treated this "old friend" with kindness and generosity. For Pacino fans, there are some interesting tidbits...

I think that this book is very good and well written i had a good time reading it and i think that if you want to read a tale of two actors read this book i highly recommend it. Edward De Leo should write more books i look forward to seeing your next book.Thanks and Good Luck

THE WORDS WRITTEN IN THIS BOOK ARE THE WORDS OF AN INSANE OLD WOMAN. THIS IS WHAT I CALL A POOR ME BOOK THAT IN NO WAY TELLS THE TRUTH. THE BOOK WAS WRITTEN FOR ATTENTION AND NOTHING ELSE.
THE BOOK IS A COMICAL RELIEF TO THE PEOPLE WHO REALLY KNOW DORIS. I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU ONLY BUY THIS BOOK FOR A BIT OF HUMOR AND NOTHING ELSE.

This is a fascinating account of a vanished place and attitudes that explores the use of photography to tell a story and create a point of view. This is both a honest unvarnished look at a hard life and an exploration of the manner in which pictures make their own reality. The structure of the book is excellent and the narrow focus on an isolated part of New Mexico expands to shed light on the entire country,

This was the most interesting book I've read in years. As a photographer with a minor interest in history of the Western US, I found this book to be an intriguing mix. Initially I was uncertain that a book written by a photographer (from a photographer's point of view) could really go beyond simple observations, but Joan Myers does a great job in doing just that. Though the title of the book and much of the subject matter refers to a woman who grew up in the 1930s & 1940s - it is a history of a way of life gone from most of the country, it is about Russell Lee, a photographer in the 1940s, it is about the modern West, and it is about Joan Myers herself. The great thing about this book is that with great photographs from the early 1900s to 1940s mixed with the author's own wonderful modern photographs (which give the feeling that not much has changed in the Pie Town area since the 1940s) mixed with a text which reads much like a journal- the book becomes a history lesson even for people who aren't fans of reading history. It should also appeal to fans of early 20th C. photography because it gives insight to photographs well beyond the typical "this is what was happening then" caption.

Only until matters are cleared up by Olivia de Havilland--and assuming she will ever finish her autobiography--will we hear her side of the de Havilland story. Joan's "No Bed of Roses" was dismissed by one of her ex-husbands with the comment, "It should have been called 'No Shred of Truth'." And certainly Higham's book contains all kinds of errors, including a jumbled paragraph that attempts to describe the plot of "Hold Back the Dawn" and gets cast and plot mixed up with another film. Nor is he always tactful when characterizing either sister, playing one in an unfavorable light and then reversing his viewpoint with an equally damaging portrait of the other. Finally, it's hard to know just what to believe. Interestingly, Brendan Fraser has bought the screen rights to this novel--lots of luck, Brendan.

Published in 1984, 'Sisters' tells the real life story of the feud between two sisters who both became oscar winning Hollywood stars. I found it all very interesting to read but was left feeling doubtful as to the accuracy of Mr Higham's information. The book centers mainly on the feud and doesn't go into any great depth about their work. Higham only met de Havilland once in 1965 and Joan Fontaine once in 1977 and on the whole he appears to prefer Joan. Having long been an admirer of de Havilland I was not to keen on the picture Higham painted of her as a quick tempered, overly romantic, egotist. At times it seems Higham is just embellishing to make the story seem more like a 'story' (eg when Olivia, Joan and their Mother scatter their fathers ashes; and as their mother tossed the ashes out 'a strong wind blew them into her face. It was Walter de Havilland's last gesture toward his hated wife') and there are many errors and inconsistencies (eg Higham makes the careless mistake in the opening chapter in saying that Fontaine won her oscar for 'Rebecca' which as any film historian should know is the film she should have won the oscar for but didn't, winning it the following year for 'Suspicion'; and on page 131 Higham describes the plot of one of de Havilland's films and manages to completely confuse it with the plot of a totally different film). I did find the chapter charting the de Havilland ancestry back to Norman times fascinating but all too brief. Still I don't know that whether what Higham writes is all true or not but still I shall wait for the publication of Miss de Havilland's autobiography before I believe too much of what is in this book.

I did enjoy this book, which tells you about the lifes of joan fontaine and olivia de havilland. No surprises here at all, the sisters couldn't get on and it was a matter of who would be the most awful towards the other one; still what is funny is that those women are extremely similar and yet couldn't stand one another when indeed they were quite a reflection of one another, physically and mentally.

I read the book for English class. I thought the stories were not scary at all. In fact, they were a major waste of time to read.

This book is not very scarey, in the usual sense of the word, but it does make you a bit wary of placing your hand in a dish washer or of letting people rent your house... I wouldn't mind turning into a tree sometimes though. It is an interesting book, but there are better ones for those really looking for a scare.

If you're approaching Joan Aiken stories as horror stories, you'll be disappointed. the beauty of her writing is that she takes the ordinary and gives it a fantasy twist. Totally worth it for the slightly twisted young adult reader.

Yes, it is an honest book and it does reveal the sad puny world of dancers. Moreover the life of Brady one of the biggest egoists I have read so far. Through out her book she exposes her constant envious and pretensious ways, and her other interest other than herself seemed to be her mother's other love, the man she steals and marries to, regardless her mother's suffering. She seems not to really care of anyone but herself, and even his husband seemed a sort of price for her. I did learn not to be like her. Very, very cold and stupid individual, hence a very mundane book.She does not in any part of the book give even a little insight into the real beauty and important of dance. Dance for her is a way to be proved better than others, sad very sad.Again the only help is to get away as far as possible from being like her.

I think non-dancers realize that dancers have to work very, very hard for their art. Brady's interesting and heartbreaking biography outlines the ugliness behind this beautiful art form.

George Ballanchine (sp?) controlled his own company, and indirectly other ballet companies by setting up impossible physical standards. Ballanchine liked dancers to be skeletally thin--so Brady and other dancers performed physical feats that would stagger a professional football player while at the same time being grossly malnourished. Ballanchine and other directors treated his dancers as machines, not human beings. Dancers were to "dance through" injuries, sometimes permanently crippling themselves.

The psychological torture was almost as bad and almost a parody of a patriarchal system. Mr. B wrote the gospel and all were to listen and not question the Holy Writ. And, naturally the patriarch manipulated the women comparing one to another, manipulating jealousy among the dancers and playing favorits.

Dancers for the New York City Ballet, living in an expesnsive city were paid pittances so that the Ballet could pay the superstars huge salaries and buy elaborate costumes.

Another reviewer castigated Joan Brady for her ego. In contrast I applaud her for her common sense in walking away from this insanity, struggling years later to learn how to dance again, and then realizing that she could walk away from madness again.

Joan let's you in on her privet life of being a dancer. From diets to injury care being a dancer isn't easy. The hard truth that your friend made the touring group and you didn't, crying in the dressing rooms. This beautiful autobioaphy let's you in on the secret life of a dancer.