This story follows Captain Mary. She is already Captain of her ship, Fury, when the story began. I watched her have affairs, not all of them men, and witnessed her try to keep those she cared for safe from harm. She was hard when she needed to be and though tired of death, did not hesitate at killing when she had to. She killed not only when her life was in danger, but also to show her strength, such as keelhauling a crewmate when he stole booty from the others.

I was very pleased with the ending as well, which I will keep mute about. All-in-all, I will highly recommend this book to everyone. This is not a mushy romance book. Neither male nor female audience was targeted. It is one that I believe both sexes will enjoy thoroughly!

year: 1721
setting: Caribbean

Simonds leads readers on a realistic journey through the Caribbean with a female buccaneer commanding the brigantine "Fury." Inspired by the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who were tried for piracy in the early 1700s, Mary's fictional tale presents an uncensored perspective of the lives of pirates.

We are introduced to Mary's dilemma, which navigated her into this dangerous existence. The situation was one of choice. Rather than allow her intended, Darius Manchester, to rape her before their wedding, she'd see him dead. To escape the law, she fled her father's South Carolina rice plantation. Time marched on. Now, rather than the hunting knife she used to kill Darius, a sword is her preferred weapon. Her education is not from a governess and selected text, but from "Silver Tooth," a pirate Captain she married.

The life she lives centers on commanding the pirates dedicated to serving her, for the right price. They sail the Guadeloupe passage in search of ships crossing their path. There is a tax to be paid and Mary will risk her and her men's lives to haul in the rewards.

There are those who penetrate Mary's protected heart and for a time they will love her. A prisoner aboard his Majesty's ship Le Chat d' Soleil, Doctor Alphonse Coulances is accused of being a traitor. This man she is drawn to. There is also her first mate and partner, Petronius. He should be Captain, but because of the times an African would not be respected. Then there's Elaine, a female prisoner who introduces Mary to a different type of love.

Athough Mary is not governed by her natural society's rules and regulations, there are laws among the pirates that must be followed by sailor and Captain. Failure to abide by them can lead to keel hauling and other painful deaths. Mary is also dependent on a Mr. Trimmer to manage her business affairs in a British Colony in St. John's Antigua.

Her life is filled with the rage of battle, the act of taking by force and just beyond the horizon lies someone determined to gain revenge. And in the middle of it all, she deals with a certain responsibility she has neglected.

CAPTAIN MARY, BUCCANEER is as real as they come in terms of historical perspective. Simonds presents detailed description of her characters from their hair to their belt buckles. You feel as if you are aboard her brigantine and watching your every step. You sway with the waves rocking the ship, see the blood and guts staining the time-worn planks. This isn't Hollywood's action hero keeping you entertained for 1 ½ hours. This is as close to a pirate's life that you will dare to explore.

4 sabers out of 4
--Denise Fleischer- GWN Book Reviewer

This is a zinger of a book! I read it in a couple of days plus one midnight to 3 a.m. stint, because I became so interested that I didn't want to pause. Captain Mary is a complex, believable character; true to her own personal code of honor, yet torn as well as triumphant over the difficulties of the bloody times in which she lived.

The power of the sea and its mystery are well portrayed as is the uncertainty of charts and actions of men and their governments.

The writer has brought history to life with all the sound, fury, blood and guts of the age she is representing. The action sings with the slash of the sword and the shouts of the boarding pirates; yet Mary, the buccaneer, is a woman shown in tender moments, foolish decisions, terrible consequences and bitter victory. No trite formulas spoil the reader' s suspense or anticipate the poinancy of Mary's joys and sorrows.

This book is as unpredictable and astonishing as history itself.

As a newly certified teacher I have accumulated quite a few books on education. This book is a must have for any teacher...experienced or new. It is divided up into many sections which makes referencing easy. It includes any and all information you need to make lesson planning cohesive and reliable. From onomatopeia to vowel sounds, I highly recommend this book. It is worth every penny!!!

As an elementary ed student (I student teach next semester) this book is everything that I have been looking for to help me be a better reading/language arts teacher. I love this book! I liked it so much I took it to school and shared it with my fellow elementary ed students and instructor, and they ALL bought the book too! This is a must-have for any elementary teacher. You won't be sorry.

Absolutely necessary for anyone who teches reading and phonics to children of any age. This book will give a list of words that contain any phonic combination in the English Language. I highly suggest every teacher own this book. Give them as gifts to new teachers joining your school. Nothing will be appreciated more by any teacher.

I put off starting Jaqueline Deval's "Publicize Your Book" as long as I could, and much to my surprise, this is the first instructional/How-to book I have read cover to cover.

The style is straightforward and easy to read. Not too long and not too short, with just the right amount of asides for me to understand the details and apply them to my genre. I am a first time author of a gift book, and found Deval's guide covered book publicity as well as the parts of publishing relevant to publicity. Just what I needed.

After many months of trying to understand both the industry in general and my publisher in particular, I wish this book came out a year ago.

Michael Duranko, Bootism: a shoe religion

I recently published a novel (No Outward Sign, Writers Club Press) and have read literally a dozen books on marketing and book promotion. This is the most definitive treatment of the topic and the only one that gives such a complete view from the insider's perspective. My copy is littered with underlines, check-marks, and stars and soon will be dog-eared from use as a reference. Kudos to Jacqueline! She has done me and other writers a great favor. Ideas I got from her book will translate into substantial sales for mine. It's no surprise that Publishers Weekly recently called PUBLICIZE YOUR BOOK! "easily the most incisive and expert guide to book publicity ever."

Book writers tend to come in three categories: (1) the unpublished who lament about how difficult it is to get published, (2) the newly published (and midlist authors) who lament about how little publishers do to promote their books, and (3) the wildly successful who lament about their taxes. This book is just the ticket for writers who are in or about to enter Category 2. It explains the realities of how publishers allocate their publicity resources and how to make the most of what they give you. It also gives you realistic guidance on how to get publicity for your own book ranging from hiring a publicist, arranging for events personally, and media training. It covers everything from the little leagues such as getting a story into the local weekly (easy) to the big leagues such as getting on Oprah (really hard). This is a genuinely solid book written by an industry professional who achieved miracles when she was promoting her own book. With a little luck, and a lot of work and planning, you just might become one of those authors who disgusts everyone else at writers' conferences by complaining about their taxes.

I've knitted for years. But I found this book really useful for the following reasons:

1. The sweater "sampler" is a fun project to learn decreases, increases, the effect of types of ribbings on shape, how to do edgings and more--all in one handy reference project. When it's finished, it looks like a fish that mated with a windsock but that makes it fun to mystify your friends. Hang it proudly where people can see and exclaim over it.

2. You can knit any sweater you like--cardigan, pullover, raglan, using a percentage system that Jackie Fee explains (based on the original by Eliz. Zimmermann.)

3. You can knit anything in any yarn in any gauge and size you want. So this is a great thing for designers and those who spin their own yarns.

I can't think of anyone who knits who wouldn't benefit from this book. It should be a "must" in your knitting library. I hoarded my copy and was really glad to see this back in print because now I can share it with my friends who want to learn.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I avoided getting this book for a while because I really do not wear the boxy style sweaters shown in this book. Even when I leafed through the book, I did not see a sweater I wanted to sit down and invest the time to make.
I have to say that I'm really glad I took the time to read the reviews for this book. The fact is, this book is not meant to be a book of patterns to follow, it is a book that teaches you the skills to make whatever darn sweater your heart desires. The point is to learn to make a seamless sweater embellished as you please, in the shape you desire.
As is mentioned in most of the reviews, there is a sampler to be done which is well worth the time, for countless reasons. You'll learn various techniques you can apply both to your own designs or to other patterns you find.
The book is well written and time tested.

I'm a new knitter and had made a few sweaters in patterns from various sources - this book (almost) makes we want to throw every other book and magazine away. The sweater I made with Fee's instructions (and I admit - shamefaced - that I didn't do the sampler first) came out with a finished look and a great fit, which can't be said of my previous attempts (though they're wearable and I love them). Best of all, I acquired more skills and insight with this one sweater than I did in all my previous knitting. I will continue to peruse other books and mags, but just for ideas for variations to apply to Fee's basic instructions.
:-) But first I'm going to do the sampler!!

NOTE TO PUBLISHERS: Can you see we're all annoyed when you don't make books available in spiral-bound format?? Sure, we seem to buy them anyway ... but you're not doing yourselves any favor by forcing craftspeople to struggle with books that don't open flat. Ditto for cookbooks. (A spiral-bound format for this book was supposedly published, but just try to find one!)

What a refreshing, beautiful book. The essays within are full of powerful and rich personality, which serves to give a full sensory perception of the places of which they write. There is an abandon and adventurous spirit that blows through the pages and inspires the reader not just to travel, but to really experience the places one goes, even close to home.

This book was perfectly conceived and executed. These 24 smart stories by 12 smart women cover the whole tonal range -- funny, poignant, gut-wrenching, beautiful, thoughtful, irreverant, wonderfully sappy... And the publishing concept itself was brilliant, a clever way to crack a difficult market: strength in numbers, taking power into their own hands...in retrospect it seems so obvious, but I'm sure that two years ago these women had little idea how brilliant they were being... I'm 50 years old now, and anyone who has reached my stage of geezerhood knows the value of having even one good solid friend. I attended a salon event these women put on in San Francisco recently, and I mentioned to one of them just how great I thought it would be to have twelve friends as tight as they seem to be. Her response: "Well, now you do!" And that is the feeling that one comes away with after reading their book: Twelve new friends.

"Stories Of World Travel" by the Wild Writing Women is the best and most entertaining travel book that I have read. Each chapter is a stand-alone story of an exotic adventure written by experienced authors and travelers. The "Spirits of Scotland" story by Cathleen Miller had a most surprising twist on a honeymoon adventure. I recommend the book highly.

I actually used Jacquelyn's prior book, Smokenders, but I assume this one is even better. I was hopelessly addicted to 1 pack a day and had no luck quitting despite many serious attempts. After failing with both gum and hynosis, I discovered this book and it worked! My failures left me thinking that I might not have the will to *ever* beat smoking. Amazingly, and I still can't explain exactly what happened, after reading half the book and doing the exercises, I believed I could quit smoking, and did! Since then I have purchased the book for people in my life who express a desire to stop smoking. One of the things I liked most about the book is it never instructed me to put down the cigarettes. In fact, I read half the book with cigarette in hand until something clicked upstairs and I could let them go.

This book works...!

I love this book; it was the catalyst to my quit. It's written for smokers - it never preaches - just gently takes you down the path to achieving the goal of being a non-smoker. You have to "work the program", but it's fun - and, if you do all the exercises etc. - you will feel you finally have power over your smoking. She gives you the tools to see you though too. I've bought several copies of this book to give away to smokers who might be considering quitting - this book will help make up anybodys mind if they are afraid of quitting.

Hey it's easy to quit smoking-I know-I've done it a hundred times. Such was my life untill I read Roger's book 20 years ago and have been habit free since. It is by far the very best book on the subject that I have ever read and I've read a bunch. I've just re-read recently and the info is timlessly effective in 2001. I keep several copies on hand to give to all my smoke-struggling friends.

"That summer the fence that stretched through our town seemed bigger. We lived in a yellow house on one side of it. White people lived on the other. And Mama said, "Don't climb over that fence when you play." She said it wasn't safe..." Soon our narrator, Clover, sees a little white girl, Annie, hanging on the fence and staring into their yard, day after day. She was always alone. Finally, one day Clover gets close enough to the fence to talk to the little girl. They exchange names, and smiles, and pretty soon the two are sitting together on top of the fence. "My mama says I shouldn't go on the other side," I said. "My mama says the same thing. But she never said nothing about sitting on it." "Neither did mine," I said. That summer me and Annie sat on that fence and watched the whole wide world around us..." Jacqueline Woodson's eloquent and understated prose captures the feel of the old South in the 1950's, before integration, and is both poignant and uplifting. E B Lewis's elegant watercolors complement the text with expressive heartwarming and lifelike illustrations in soft summer tones. Together, word and art paint an engaging portrait of times gone by with a gentle message that won't be lost on young readers. Perfect for youngsters 7-10, or as a read aloud for younger children, The Other Side is a sensitive and evocative story, told with great insight, wisdom, and truth. "Someday somebody's going to come along and knock this old fence down," Annie said. And I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "Someday."

I used this book last semester for both my seventh grade students, and my team of teachers. The teachers loved the story as well as the delicate illustrations. My seventh grade students listened patiently, seeming to wait for every breath of the story. We analyzed the story and the historical period. I love using picture books for middle school students, and I think this book makes an excellent addition to any bookshelf, old or young!

When reading through this book I was throughly impressed with the authour's talented description of the events that were taking place. The pictures protrayed a great image of actions of the girls. This book is for children who are just learning about how segragation used to be. Parents, this is a amazing book to read to your children, when teaaching them about old times. This book clearly gets the point across in an entertaining manner. I definately reccommend this to younger kids.

The book suggests 7-9th grade students and I tried it with my 10th grade remedial classes--english language learners and some special needs kids. Although I thought the sentences were solid and the vocabulary cues subtle but effective, after about a month my kids were bored with the Romeo and Juliet story. I tried the strategy of using my own story line, which the book explains and suggests, but they just never had the excitement of following a running story line through the week's warmups that I thought they would get. I think this is a super system but Keister's grade level recommendations are definitely not stretchable, and I would be even a little leery about using this with 9th graders. Overall an awesome strategy!

Before I found Jane Bell Kiester's books, I didn't have a clear path to follow when teaching writing. The Caught'Ya books solve the problem of teaching your students grammar and mechanics. Each day students are given a sentence that adds to a story line appropriate for their age group. Students become engaged in the learning process throughout the story and often can't wait to see what happens next. Students become intimately involved in the story as they become part of the story when the teacher inserts their name as a character in the story. Although Caught'Ya's are integral to the teaching of grammar and mechanics, the greatest bonus I found in using these wonderful sentences was the fact that students naturally and easily learn to paragraph appropriately. This is a difficult task to teach and for students to understand. Caught'Ya's solve this for teachers and students alike. If you can't purchase any other resource this year, you must purchase one of Jane Bell Kiester's Caught'Ya books! Your students will learn to write in a way that will improve all test scores! Do not hesitate! This is the perfect purchase.

i teach high school english, 10th grade honors, to be exact. our school has no real grammar program -- and it shows! i've struggled with what to do about grammar, because de-contextualized grammar doesn't work and in-context takes longer to work than i have with my kids. i see almost no improvement. i grant that my situation is particularly abominable, but the point is: i got this book this summer and i have been doing it and i talked two of my colleagues into doing it with me and right now i don't even know where my book is because my dept seems to be sharing it. i haven't been doing it long enough to be sure, but i think this is going to work. it feels like it. it feels good so far. i think some stuff has already started to stick. that's cool.

Buy this book and you will know all you need to know about pet bird. You will find your suitable bird and how to make it healthy, happy. This book also teach you how to tame and train your intelligent bird. I love this book very much but if you want to know bird breeding in detail and enjoy beautiful photo, you may disappointed. Lack of color photo make me reduce 1 star when I rated but if you don't care, this book is a good choice for you. In my view, it is best to read if you are beginner in pet bird.

This book has all you need to know about bird care and training. It is very informative and includes many intersesting little tidbits such as useful adresses, a directory of bird parks, and a bird care and training reference card in the front. If you're going to get a bird(or birds!), get this book!

Helpful and down-to-earth author. Finding a bird, housing, breeding, showing, and more! I think this will be a great reference for a beginer to intermediete.

I read a story from Josephine to my babies, Kier Royale and Mimosa, everynight for their bedtime story. Their rapt attention never waivers as I unravel the tales of a penthouse poodles escapades in the big city. To two glamour gals from Hollywood, Josephine represents the sophisticated chic that is New York society. Sweet Dreams.

what can you say about this book? jackie escaped from her novels of sex, seconals, and scandal twice, and the results were in my opinion, her best efforts: YARGO and EVERY NIGHT JOSEPHINE! this book was funny, easy to read, and reread, and just plain entertainment. ms susann never aspired to be a shakespeare or hemingway, and her delightful books should be appreciated for what they are. personally, i think its sad that her life was cut short, i would love to have seen my collection of her books growing every year as my stephen king collection currently does.

Many years ago, I came across "Every Night Josephine" by adult novelist Jacqueline Susann. While I considered myself a "cat person" I couldn't help but get caught up in the lives of this adorable French poodle and her author-owner. The way the author laid out the story and related the experiences of this pampered pet as she hobnobbed with showbiz celebrities was rich in detail and description. I could actually picture the little dog chowing down on Hershey Kisses in a New York City penthouse or upstaging her mistress during a television appearance. THE END.