Tabitha's the daughter of a *very* conservative minister in North Dakota in 1899, when anthropologists are just beginning to show up looking for dinosaur skeletons. Her father's convinced these skeletons have been planted there by the devil, and forbid's Tabitha from even trying to learn more about them, let alone join an excavation team. So Tabitha dresses up as a boy, claiming to be a twin brother called Tom, and sneaks out to be on a team, with the help of an older woman friend, Abby.

When I first opened this book, I was a little skeptical, it seemed like it was going to be easy reading, and I was very frightened at the prospect of a romantic element finding it's way in there, which would cause all sorts of problems for Tabbie (since she's dressed up as a guy and all). But while it was kind of an easy read, it was very enjoyable. I could hardly put this book down Christmas morning as it's very engaging and you always want to find out how Tabitha gets herself out of each difficult situation she gets herself into (and, thankfully, they're realistic situations, and they aren't portrayed as being all her fault just because she's a ditzy girl who has no place in science, as she eventually proves she's more capable than many of the men on the expedition).

The only thing that keeps this from getting 5 stars is the end. I'm not going to give details, obviously, but several characters make complete turn arounds in the last few pages that aren't explained.

I fell for the "Stephen King" plug about the author(I'm a huge Stephen King Addict), and thought I would take a chance. The writting is excellent and enthralling. I would recommend author and this book to any fan of the Horror/Macabe Gere.

Tsar's Woman is an interesting book, in that its method of reveling the character of Peter the Great is done through the stories of the people closest to him. Hill attempts to give the reader an unbiased account of Peter through these tales. I truly enjoyed reading about the happenings of this time in Russia. The book also gave me a greater understanding on the diplomatic relationships that took place in all of Europe during the early 1700's. However, this book is not written in a very captivating style. While not boring, it was still hard to pick up and read. Part of this was do to the careless way in which Hill would keep on switching between the first and last name of the same person. This made understanding the story particularly hard to read. I found myself constantly going back to figure out which character she was referring to. Hill, though, did do an excellent job though of weaving the story together. She addressed all known facts and rumors that surrounded Tsar Peter and presented them in such a way that allows the reader to make up his or her own mind on what had happened, rather than forcing a view onto the public. For this, I greatly enjoyed the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand What happened in Russia during Peter the Great's reign, however, he or she must be prepared for some confusion.