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!

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

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.

Dark Horse is the story of a young girl who is orphaned when her entire tribe is killed by a rival tribe that is led by an evil mage. She rescues and is rescued by a Hunnuli, a giant protector-horse, and is adopted by another tribe. When she learns that she, too is a mage (though a good one) she risks losing her life and her love because of the gifts she was born with...

I am disappointed that after only five books that this series has come to an early and undeserved demise.

By Mary Gunderson

If you're a history buff and into food, this book's a "gotta have."

This Journal is not simply a cookbook. It's a chance to learn more about the people these explorers encountered, how they dealt with hardships, get to take a look at their provisioning and read actual quotes from Lewis and Clark, themselves.

Perhaps Gunderson's chapter titles tell the most about her careful research:

Jefferson's Vision, Washington, D.C.
Lewis Receives Instructions and Buys Provisions
Anticipation and Preparation, Down the Ohio to Camp Dubois
High Spirits, Up the Missouri
Buffalo! Diplomacy with the Yankton and Teton Sioux
Sacagawea, Charbonneau and Jean Baptiste Join the Expedition
Another Beginning, the Upper Missouri & Great Falls
The Journey Hangs in the Balance, Over the Mountains
Wild Roots, Elk and a Whale, Ft. Clatsop & the Pacific Coast
Down the Yellowstone - The Nez Perce Help Again

Return to St. Louis & The Long Welcome

The book is detailed account of their careful preparations, tools necessary, foods hunted, foods gathered and foods they traded for. A partial list of Philadelphia provisions spread the course from 32 tins, or 193 pounds of portable soup, assorted fish hooks, kettles, a corn mill, hatchets, a whetstone, gun powder and castile soap.

Thomas Jefferson, widely known for his food and agricultural expertise, not only wanted detailed maps and topographical reports about the Louisiana Purchase, he asked that the explorers extend every courtesy to people they met but to record how they grew crops, fishes and hunted. He asked them to observe their "food and domestic accommodations."

"As they made their way west, the pair and their trailmates sampled everything from Indian corn and buffalo tongues to camas roots and dried salmon," noted an author and filmmaker, Dayton Duncan. There is a good deal of information on Portable Soup or Pocket Soup, the fine at of making Hoe Cakes, building a special fire to cook a bear, making hominy with corn, lime and wood ashes and the making
of William Clark's Birthday Fruit Salad. Other crafts of the trail included Spoonbread, dishes like Roasted Buffalo, Turnip and Berry Ragout also Pemikan made with Juneberries and buffalo berries. Other hearty meals were Hazelnut Cornmeal Pancakes, Roasted Parsnips with Pine Nuts and Fort Clatsop Salmon Chowder with fennel and sourdough biscuits.

Named the Official Cookbook for the National Council of Lewis & Clark Bicentennial, the author states, "History is as close as a bite of buffalo jerky or a taste of hominy." This attractive, well-indexed book with deckle-edged pages, helpful maps and pleasing sketches, contains over 80 authentic recipes faithfully tested and re-created for today's kitchens. Gunderson includes a generous bibliography, suggested further reading suggestions and a handy, educational website list. In her Mail-Order Sources section, she lists mail order sources for preparing her updated recipes...

While reading the cookbook cover to cover (I couln't put it down!),I found a recipe for New Potatoes with Hazelnuts and Fennel. The simplicity and possibility of good taste in that dish compelled me off to the kitchen, on a holiday, to test it. It bailed out my 4th of July menu!