The "Best Places" guides are not the most exhaustive guides to the destinations they describe, but they are very efficient because they focus on the attractions, restaurants, lodgings, and other useful information that the locally-based editors consider to be the best. I got this guide for a quickly-organized getaway to the Peninsula and was very happy with the restaurants and lodgings that we found through the book. There are also descriptions of a variety of activities, including museums, fishing, scenic drives, beaches, some shopping, and some hikes, although serious hikers will probably want a more complete guide to the trails. (We used Erik Molvar's Best Easy Day Hikes Olympics.)

This book might appeal to someone who knows little of Berengaria. I think the author's style is better suited to non ficton than fiction. The author "tells" but doesn't "show" the drama and action a novelist should. The author has a wonderful subject and story to tell. She didn't take full advantage of her material. Because of inaccurate statements the author tells as "facts", I lost interest. I am sorry I wasted my money.

The author Bard (aptly named!) has crafted an ingenious combination of historic fact and valid conjecture into a novel that tells the story of an important and practically forgotten Basque woman. Thanks to Bard's efforts, Berengaria has escaped being a figure lost in history, and has risen out of the mists of obsolescence into the light of historic fiction.

Berengaria deserves this study. Her husband, Richard the Lionhearted, is certainly well known. Yet virtually nothing is known about his wife, nor the country she came from. How many of us can say they feel well-informed about Navarre and/or the Basques? And of those of you that have raised your hand, how many of you can say you know anything about Berengaria? If your hand isn't still up, buy and read this book. Even if your hand is up, do the same.

Well done, bard Bard! What's next? I can't wait!

I can only honestly judge a book once I've finished it. And this one is a winner. There are no unfinished storylines nor unresolved issues in this story. Bard did her research well, and managed to bring history alive. The author was apt at weaving a particularly intriguing story among a myriad of historical facts. Most important of all, the writing is clean, her words very well chosen. For me, the topper was the sense of humor in the writing.Example:"Fortunately the city looked calm. No arrows were flying over the walls." Hmmm, READ THIS BOOK YOU'LL LOVE IT!

This slim volume contains nothing than cannot be found elsewhere, although the size and focus make the book a quick, practical reference guide. Organized in two main parts, "Guidelines for Good Writing" and "Eleven Ways to Improve Your Style," the content seems to be directed at students and is likely most useful for writers who edit their own work. The "Eleven Ways to Improve Your Style" cover fundamental standards of grammar and style, and Bard wisely provides examples for every rule she includes. Sometimes, in an attempt to make the guidelines simple and easy to digest, her explanations become wordy and indirect, as in her discussion of punctuating restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.

Given that the strengths of this book are it's brevity and easy-to-use organization, it would make a satisfactory desk reference; however, I suspect that most writers and editors already have a favorite style book, probably one that is more comprehensive. A student who has writing assignments to complete and has nothing else at hand would find the book useful.