During the 18th century, the original bluestockings were members of a literary circle where a few of the women unfashionably wore blue socks instead of black. The term had some derogatory implications in what was a man's world, suggesting the subject was intelligent and literate, but homely. A SPIRITED BLUESTOCKING is a Regency romance that borders on the gothic. Its approach is light-hearted and it does deliver the ghost it promises on its cover. It puts an intellectual heroine in a haunted house, but poorly justifies a ghost being in the story.

The Dennings, a gentle-born family with scholarly leanings, have traveled the world researching regional entomology and horticulture. With both of their parents dead, Elinore and Henry return to England for a respite from their international pursuits. Elinore, tired of the constant moving around, hopes to make the stay permanent. When a solicitor extends an offer for the Dennings' dilapidated estate, Seagate, she declines for "her lord and master," knowing her reclusive brother keeps so busy with his studies he pays little attention to such details.

Working as an intelligence agent for the British government, Lucien Wendon, Marquess of Seabrook, offers to buy Seagate in person, because it is a good observation point for a case he working on. When Elinore stubbornly refuses to give Seagate up, Lucien tries to scare her out of the crumbling manor with stories of its haunting, unaware that it really is haunted.

Since this reviewer is predisposed to enjoying a good ghost story, it is appreciated that Author Joan Overfield let this 1992 novel's spooky components "hang." There is no effort to explain what natural occurrences caused them. Seagate is haunted, but the ghost's relevance to the main story is negligible. Its one pivotal scene has no bearing on the outcome, making the ghost's inclusion frivolous and keeping the protagonist from actively defending herself. It's like having the characters in drawing room mystery watch a spaceship land and then never mentioning outer space again.

The characters sometimes bordered on inconsistency. Elinore is described as being headstrong and "bossy" in the beginning, yet quickly demurs when someone puts her in her place. Seeing some rebelliousness might have been compelling. Henry is supposed to be reclusive and obsessed with his work, although what makes him so malleable when Lucien plays a Henry Higgins is poorly exploited.

Overfield's narration has one irritating trait. Almost every single line of dialogue was attributed to a character, regardless of how many were in the scene. Occasionally, one speaker would be identified twice in the same paragraph. Readers can be trusted to understand who is speaking by character actions or when they're referring to each other by name.

A SPIRITED BLUESTOCKING serves as an adequate Regency romance. If the ghost component was more intrinsic to plotline, it would have been much more satisfying--regardless of whether it was included for laughs or thrills.

Andrea Cunningham has been ordered by her doctor to take two weeks to rest and relax. Andrea lives in Phoenix and is vice president of an advertisement agency. Her work is her life, but she needs a break. Andrea agrees to the two weeks and books a room at Prescott's Hamilton House Hotel.

Brandon Hamilton grew up in Prescott by left to work in New York City. Brandon's work was also his life until he showed all the warning signs of an early heart attack. Brandon left New York and returned to Prescott to renovate and run Hamilton House.

Brandon is immediately drawn to Andrea. Both never thought about settling down to marriage and babies. Brandon has his priorities in order once he realizes how deep his feelings are for Andrea. Andrea, however, has a hard time putting anything other than her career first.

After a week, both characters have conversations with themselves about how much they love each other to the point that it gets ridiculous. Andrea's reasons for denying her love for Brandon are hard to accept considering she suddenly changes her mind after suddenly remembering memories from her childhood. I hope the next book in the series is better.

Jennifer Mackane's life revolves around her little boy Joey. And though Joey adamantly demands she find a "groom guy", Jennifer is as determined not to remarry for reasons of her own. But when Jack MacAllister, a friend of a friend, passes through town, she finds herself bending her own rule not to get involved with any man for the rest of her life. The "essence of femininity" she was so sure she had deliberately shut down, opens up to this man who makes it clear that there is more to their chemistry than blind attraction. He wants to discover what it is and has no qualms about confronting her about it.

I found this story be very hard to get into. Pickart makes a lot of references to characters whom I suspect are in another series. She also spends a good amount of time implementing them into the story. They tended to predominate the story at times and I would rather have learned more about Jack and Jennifer instead. As it was, I found both characters hard to sympathize with. Jack is constantly second-guessing Jennifer and her motivations for starting their relationship though he initially railroaded her into it. He has a hard time believing that he was capable of even that. He puts a dark spin on what she says to him when it comes to words he associates with commitment. In addition to this, rather than redeem himself based on his own judgement, Jack falls back on the judgement of the secondary characters. Jennifer, the more admirable of the two characters, tells herself she is strong after the devastation of her first marriage but compromises this by allowing herself to be railroaded by Jack in the first place. Pickart manages to write an average story here and sets it in a picturesque location but I felt her characterizations and development could have been a lot stronger and understandable if she had devoted a little more time to it.

The Archdiocese of Sao Paulo was incredible courageous to put together this book during that period. I recognize that the book was a short report from more than 20 years of records, and more than 10,000 documents from the Brazilian military courts, but at least give us an idea of the horrors of the turture and the violations of human rigths that took place in Brazil during 1964 o 1979.

Basic information. clearly worded. A bit dry, but no more so than most technical manuals. The authors are obviously knowledgable in this specialty. Recomended for begining practitioners and those without a CD background.

When teenage Megan & her stepbrother Peter spend a couple of weeks helping with a relative's apple harvest, readers get an interesting tour of a working orchard. They befriend a couple of Latino migrant worker teens and learn about their lives. Everyone they meet is good-hearted and likable, except the shadowy villains and the school bully. When sabotage and suspicious accidents begin, the teenagers cooperate to save the orchard. Refreshingly, they don't ignore adult help, as most fictional children do. Some plot devices stretch credulity. The kids bring school assignments with them and also enroll in a local school. They learn to work hard in the orchard, but usually arrive late, leave early, or skip work, acting more like city children of privilege than real workers or helpers in a harvest rush. Since this series is designed as Christian fiction, I wondered how much proselytizing would be pushed into the plot. Attending church and referring to God's help were included as a natural part of life for this Protestant Christian family. Once, Peter expounds too long in explaining how his faith makes him a moral person. Not until the end is the message too intrusive -- and offensive -- , when the author implies that the Hispanic Catholic kids did not know that Jesus cared about them until the white Protestant kids "witness" to them. This reveals the heroes as saintly do-gooders rather than true brothers & sisters of the human race, and mars the general messaage of cross-cultural peacemaking throughout the story.

Factually, Guillemin is fairly correct. Unfortunately, he does not begin with the same religious presuppositions as Joan, which leads him to discount too much of Joan's life. For example, he is forced to by-pass discussion of her secret foreknowledge because it is uncomfortable for him. If you have the choice, read Marina Warner's "Joan of Arc: the Image of Female Heroism" before this one - it's far better.

This is a book about a cat assigned to teach Gwyneth, a young skeptic of a girl, that she is in fact a "witch". The story is amusing, as the cat does magical things which the girl then tries to explain scientifically. The most important part of the book was the girl's steady realization that she could see the good part that is in all people, and that if she had magical powers, that she must use them to bring that good part into clearer focus.

I am reading this book at the same time that I am reading Elizabeth Berg's book on writing: "Escaping into the Open". Both books deal with the process of going from beginning writing, to publishing. Berg speaks from her own experience. Bolker uses an anthology approach, gathering articles from several sources, and grouping them according to theme. Which is effective. However, if you've read any books on writing, some of the articles you'll find here will be too familiar, e.g. Natalie Goldberg's article. On the other hand, the B.F. Skinner article looks very promising. I was hoping for a book with greater insight, rather than a forum of what I've already read.

This book is helpful in identifying pieces, and learning some early history, but of course the prices are very outdated. The photography isn't of the best quality, and in some cases, unprofessional looking for a book, but still interesting and helpful. There were some inconsistencies in the text and errors with Pottery names, but I think it's worth owning if you are a yellow ware collector.