I really enjoyed this book. It's well-written in general, and has a terrific background in the American "A" hunter-jumper circuit. The author clearly knows her horses, because the details are unusually accurate, which makes it a pleasure to read if you're a horse lover. (Her other novel, Ride a Dark Horse, is similarly excellent.)

The romance is fun and pleasantly steamy, and the characters stay pretty smart throughout - there are no painfully stupid moments to read through. There are occasional plot conveniences (in particular Ty would've been very well known on the circuit) but none too jarring.

I especially liked the scene with the car keys.

I stumbled across this book while shopping, and I'm just sorry Laura Moore doesn't have more books in print. I enjoyed "Ride a Dark Horse", but I liked this one even more. If you haven't already read it, you should give it a try. I think you'll like it. I just can't wait for Laura's next book to come out...

This author's first novel,Ride A Dark Horse was very good, but this book is my favorite, it leaves me looking forward to this new author's next book. The story was well paced and kept my interest very high. I was sorry that it ended...not many books do that. I am giving it a hostess gifts this holiday season.

I have read Gifts of the Soul more than once and have loaned it on several occasions. The author's writing style is easy to read, passionate and genuine. Being new to A Course in Miracles, Gifts of the Soul helped me to better undertand what the Course is saying.

Gifts of the Soul helped me to gently become aware of my fears (the barriers getting in the way of what I loved to do and who I am), and has inspired me to move beyond them. Laura Hyde writes in a very heartfelt and empowering manner, just as she does when she presents (I've heard her speak on A Course in Miracles and she's excellent!). Once you read Gifts of the Soul, you'll want to share it with those you care about and believe in. I believe we are meant to live an extraordinary life and Laura Hyde's book blazes the trail for doing just that!

Since purchasing Gifts of the Soul, I have read it 3 times and shared it with several friends (most of the book is highlighted, too!). I found this book to be written from the heart and with much genuineness. The author shares some of her own personal experiences on discovering her life's purpose which makes it very real and practical. I heard about this book through Concepts Magazine and recommend this book to anyone who is looking to experience more abundance, joy and a heart centered approach in their life.

The beautiful illustrations - simple yet exquisite, worthy of framing. I first framed some of the pictures and presented them as gifts to some young deaf children with self esteem problems, but it was when I taught hearing adults and did the same thing that I really saw the great impact her illustrations had. It then became a "work of art"

I found this book in our school library and was stunned by the artwork. I work in a school where the deaf children are mainstreamed into the school. Sign language books are always checked out! This is a big hit with the young students. I give the author an A+ for an excellent book!

As an artist, I loved the illustrations. I have always loved to draw hands, and these drawings are beautiful. I am also interested with the beauty and knowledge that signing combines, and this book conveys both wonderfully.

My young daughter and I found this book to be thoroughly entertaining. We read and sang and laughed and loved it.
"I Had a Rooster" is a wonderful combination of engaging story, colorful artwork, and sing-along songs.
My daughter was particularly impressed with the artwork which she dutifully attempted to duplicate.
Altogether, a fine book for children. Bravo!

Young readers and singers will take delight in this original version of a traditional folk song. The story begins with a crowing rooster, and the pages and animals pile up, one at a time, until all the animals are bellowing in a big, old tree. The pages are creatively stepped to enable the story to progress without leaving any animals behind. Each page is shorter than the previous one to allow all the words to appear throughout the story. The illustrations are vivid, playful and amusing. Children will surely enjoy the bright colors and rhythms, while adults will appreciate the hard work involved with such a rich multi-media experience. The book also contains the music and lyrics to the tune as well as an audio CD featuring Pete Seeger singing the title song. Pete Seeger's foreword and the helpful biographies at the end make this multi-generational experience definitely worthwhile. 2001, Viking, .... Ages 3 to 8. Reviewer: Catherine Campbell Wright

What a clever and imaginative book Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Pete Seeger have created! The illustrations are vibrant and utterly appealing to young children. The music is outstanding and the combination of words, pictures and music make this book so attractive to the little ones. It will be a favorite for a long time to come. I can see myself giving this book as a gift over and over again. It is definitely a "keeper"! Kids will love it.

Very high class space opera. :-)
A few things stretched my boundaries of believability, like the idea that a hugely expensive interstellar ship would be put in the hands of some clearly psychopathic creche children. That part was like Anne McCaffrey's "The Ship that Sang" gone horribly wrong. But it was pretty clear from the beginning that these creche children were crazy as loons. I just couldn't see that happening.

There were a few science things here and there, but it was mostly an excellent story, with an interesting alien.

A few tweaky things, like a colony filled with cloned chemists who couldn't get any base stock for food production out of an oil refinery. The refinery wasn't explained either, nor the source of the oil on this nearly lifeless icebound planet.

There was an odd bit about the colonists needing to hold back on terraforming, raising the planet's temperature. If the alien is 5 kilometers down, living on undersea lavaflows and vents that raise water temp to 200 degrees C, how is it going to be harmed by raising the surface temperature?

In a small colony of clones trying to eck out a living on a freezing moon in a distant star system, Mandy, a loner in a very clique-based society, pilots undersea waldoes to explore the world. The syntellect Ur-Carli that helps the colony leads her one day to a frozen room with the corpse of the colony's first leader, Carli, along with a telescope, console, and more. The syntellect also informs her that the ship carrying the crèche-born is still in orbit, not gone as everyone thought, and spying on them. But life went on as usual otherwise... until a massive cave-in smashes important systems, disrupts the colony, and kills her sister.

Strange discrepancies start to pop up, like one of Manda's waldos losing contact but still responding to signals, and when she takes proof of the crèche-born's presence to her elder siblings, two on the governing council, they summarily erase it, explaining that their presence has been known but covered up in hopes they would leave. Next thing she knows she's packing and off to check on that unresponsive waldo, and at the drill site she gets a minute of contact ' and a glimpse of native life! ' before all is black again. Now she and Jim, a sonar specialist she rapidly becomes close to, suspect outside interference, and have an alien to bring home.

Now she wants to take a trip down for herself, in an old underwater vessel. From a pariah she becomes a hero, inspiring hope in the wake of tragedy. After some emotional upheavel she finally decides to take Jim along, and under the ice they find that the crèche-born's control is much greater and more dangerous than they ever believed. Manda has to get back to warn the others, but even if that is possible, will it be in time?

It does take a while to get moving; the first hundred pages are mostly angsty exposition and exploration of such an odd culture. In many ways it reselmbles a society based entirely on a high-school social culture, full of cliques, grudges, "coup" (owed favors, particularly political) that forms the basis of a barter system and family power, ever-shifting loyalties, and petty jealousies. As a 'single' in a world where everyone was a twin (or more), Manda is very excluded, and perhaps Mixon spends too much time showing us just how much. But the emotional troubles are very real, painful even to read, and with real depth, especially after the cave-in and death brings her a little closer to her family. Though often at odds, they are all painted sympathetically, not an easy task. Family loyalty is a recurring theme, even if the families are all clones of each other. Family may not be the strongest bond, but it is the most permanent. Hrm. I didn't get quite enough sense of how old everyone was, not until near the end.

Once the story does pick up, it takes off and never lets up. Throughout the explorations and ruminations is a strong undercurrent of confusion, distress, and haste, never settling into idleness. The feelings for Jim aren't as throughly explored, just because everyone's distracted by too much going on in the meantime. All of the people seem credible, each with their own faults and distictions and hearts. Even the schizophrentic crèche-born. Many things just plain don't make sense for a while, but all is slowly revealed, settling down to a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend.

Ostensibly this is a sequel to Proxies, but I'd have never known if I hadn't looked it up. I certainly didn't need to read it to understand everything here. Maybe that was why it started slow. This could possibly be mined for a sequel, years down the line (dealing with renewed contact from Earth, and the alien?), but enough loose ends were wrapped up or introduced near the end to make sure it would be nothing related to the book at hand. I for one look forward to any effort in this direction.

Burning the Ice starts slowly, but hang in there for this is one of those rare novels like Dune that is deep, true to it's heart, and worth savoring. The characters, world environment, political situation, and plot are delivered with excellent pacing, depth and richness of detail, and total integrity.

Brimstone is an early find in extra-solar system space exploration settled by a group of clones fleeing from an early and controversial expedition from earth. It is a cold, harsh moon of a jovian-like planet habitable only for the desperate.

Manda is a singleton clone ostracized in this society where everyone else thrives in pairs/triplets/etc. Her creative drive, ascerbic nature, and absolute unwillingness to quit drive a novel rich in detail and perfect in pace. The first contact is brilliantly conceived, the human interaction and dialogue rich and consistent, and you will find yourself wondering if this just might be a glimpse into the future.

This may be the best hard SF novel of the year.

I found this book to explain many of the wonderful (and not so wonderful) thoughts and feelings that I, as a straight woman, have had in dealing with my close friend, who is a gay man. I had felt alone, and that perhaps our relationship was not "normal"-how relieved to find out that it is!

My only suggestion would be to include the group of gay men that AREN'T as mature as those in the book. I frequently have problems with my friend for his apparently immature behavior that I have witnessed among him and his other gay friends--I would like to understand better the immature, party-all-the-time behavior of this sect of gay men.

I got this book on a whim one day and couldn't help thumbing through it. Needless to say, I was still sitting in the same place an hour later, giggling and nodding as I turned each page.

The best part about this book is that it lends legitimacy to this relationship I have that's a HUGE part of my life. And if you have a gay man/straight woman relationship in your life, you know that it's not always the most respected relationship in the eyes of the general public. This book will give you confidence and your relationship will be the better for it.

The authors are dead-on in almost everything they say. And even though my best friend disagrees with me about how great this book is, I think he's just in denial!

It's about time.

Finally someone has addressed this subject which has bothered many straight women I have spoken to for years. What is it that attracts straight women to gay men? As the book points out, we get to know the femine side of men, which they all have, but straight men won't always show. I think the authors told the story with good taste and assured us that we are enjoying a "normal" relationship with our gay friends. Brova & Brovo to them for addressing this sensitive subject.

Miss Ruocco writes as if she is reporting on the demise of sex, and yet manages to turn the subject upside-down and make it more interesting than usual. In her capable hands this book becomes a catalog of taboo secrets and fantasies. Compelling stuff.

Like any great bathroom book, you can start at any point in the book and read as much as time allows. It could turn into a few hours though. Then, spend another hour looking at yourself naked in the mirror.

Ruocco is obsessed with her rear end, to the point of mania. Quite a scatological book -- at least the first third. Recommeded for those interested in the 21st century wave of avant-pop, avant-porn, post-pos-post-modernist writing. Ruocco is the new Kathy Acker.

This is an adorable story about two "Goodparents" agonizing over what to get their son for a present. They make guesses based on hints from their son. My three year old loves to squeal "no!" every time the guess is incorrect. I like reading it to her because it's very easy to become animated while doing so.

I like this book so very much, with its warm and beautiful message of love. Specially in these hard times. The story and the illustrations are simply wonderful.

Great book about what really matters. Time, affection, guidance,etc are the real values that can't be replaced by all the toys and trinkets in the world!
Should be required reading for parents!

It got me thinking about how fortunate we are to have our loved ones. This book is about the death of a dad. It is about learning to cope with things you can't change.The main character, Becca, dealt with the emotions she was feeling well. Going to live with her mom isn't easy, especially when she feels that her mom, Rachel, doesn't love her or want to care for her....

This was one of my favorite books as a kid. Laura Stevenson's writing is clear and fresh, and the story is easy to follow, though it is not a simple one. When Rebecca's father dies, she must move from sunny, idyllic California to bitter Vermont to live with Rachel, the mother she doesn't know. How Becca adjusts to her new life and friends, and how she and Rachel learn to live together and, ultimately, love each other, is an interesting, heart-warming story that should keep a parent reading long after their child has turned the last page with a satisfied sigh.

This book is the best. It tells of a girl ,when after the death of her father,tries to get along in vermont with her mother who she never met berfore.As she progresses in riding her horse she also progresses in her relationship with her mother and new class mates.She also begins to befriend a mesterious boy with a tough guy reputation.

I bought this book based on a recommendation I read here at Amazon. I am so glad I did. It gives great advice on what kinds of scissors to use (I bought an inexpensive pair as part of a hair cutting kit at a beauty supply house). It also talks about other supplies and various diversionary tactics to keep your child still while you cut his/her hair. Compared to several other books I saw in the stores, the instructions are extrememly clear and no-nonsense. Perfect for a parent with no hair cutting experience.

There are step by step instructions for three haircuts for boys and three for girls, plus guidelines for babies of either sex. The girls cuts may not be contemporary enough for some people, but are the basic single length and layered cuts. Plus there are instructions for French braids.

The boys' cuts are the wedge (bowl cut), a short layered cut, and a buzz cut using clippers. I've been doing the wedge cut on my son (now 28 mos) for about 6 months. The instructions are clear and the results speak for themselves. Everyone asks where I get his hair cut! I highly recommend this book. The cost of the book and some decent shears would be dwarfed by what I would have spend on cuts at a barber shop or salon.

I originally checked this book out from our local library and found it so helpful that I plan to buy it for my own collection. After winging it for many years I finally have a guide that helps me give my son and daughter great haircuts ... for FREE! A great book!

I have used this book to cut my daughter's hair, my son's hair, my husband's hair, my hair, and several friends' children's hair. The drawings are great, the instructions are clear, and the author even tells you exactly what kind of scissors and comb to buy!