If any book better documents the increasingly halachic turn of the liberal Jewish movements in Norht America, I would be hard pressed to find one. The editors, who also have written articles in the text, do an excellant job of providing, perhaps for the first time in a few decades, a guide to daily Jewish religious practice from a liberal, or more accurately, Reconstructionist, point of view. They include solid use of classical Jewish sources and a good basic bibliography with each section.

They discuss all the most important basic subjects, such as daily prayer, the rituals of laying on tallis, kippah and tefillin, daily Torah study, the Jewish dietary laws, use of the Ritual bath and the celebration of Shabbat. Equally critically, they talk about the psychology involved in these ritual observances, and their benefits from a spiritual point of view.
For anyone new to Jewish religious practice, this book is the place to start.

However, as with many books of this type, there is no effort made to show how the various practices so effectively described, fit into a more complete whole. While the authors and editors make repeated references to Jewish mysticism here and there, there is no even brief description of what it is, or how Jewish ritual serves as the foundation for Jewish mysticism. In addition, the authors stress psycological/spiritual benefits to Jewish practice, when there are those among us who have experienced many practical gains as well.

In order to find the connection between these practices and Judaism and its mysticism as a totality, the reader should combine reading the above work, with this writer's own critical description of Jewish mysticism, or Kabbalah, entitled "Jewish History and Divine Providence: Theodicy and the Oddyssey," available for purchase here on Amazon. This work, the only progressive, critical discussion of Jewish mysticism in English, unifies "The Rituals and Practices of a Jewish Life" with their most potent rationale, and in history as well.

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Rabbis Kerry Olitzky and Daniel Judson, The Rituals & Practices Of Jewish Life: A Handbook For Personal Spiritual Renewal is a straightforward and practical instructional guide to the origin, manner, and modern-day practice of ten areas of Jewish ritual: Upon Rising and Going to Bed; Covering the Head; Blessings throughout the Day; Daily Prayer; Tefillin; Tallit and Tallit Katan; Talmud Torah; The Continuum of Kashrut; Mikvah; and Entering Shabbot. Enhanced with an informative foreword by Vanessa L. Ochs, and illustrations by Joel Moskowitz, The Rituals & Practices Of Jewish Life is a useful and "user friendly", easy-to-follow, step-by-step, guidebook which is most especially recommended for readers who may have little to no understanding of the proper ritual performance and what it means, yet who want to incorporate more of the Jewish traditions into their daily lives.

Ok the book is now 'old' in that it was published in 1995, but you are not going to find anything better on the business of the 'information highway' (I know that term irritates people, but the point is that this book is about more than the just Internet, it is about the world the net is embedded within).

The book is about the business war over communication and transmission, that will effect everybody who uses the Internet or other 'new media', the massive mergers and collaborations which effect us all. It discusses High Definition TV, the video on demand problem, the fight over the phone business, stock market frenzy over 'information stock', the problems when so much money can be made by so few people, what happens to the 'middle class' etc. It is a call for us to think about the future based upon a fairly detailed consideration of what is happening now

some quotes:

"design and use of new technology necessarily entails contests over political power"

"companies.. are continuing to invest feverishly against the evidence of most market research and historical experience"

"one of the Digital Revolution's central laws is that the more uncertain one is about exactly how to profit from digital technology, the more lyrical one becomes in describing it"

"As the rate of new wealth creation fueled by digital technology rises, the number of people required to produce it is decreasing"

There are few books on the so called 'information revolution', which anyone interested in the subject will get something out of. This is a book for business, investors, academic analysts, politicians, and nearly everyone else.

Road Warriors: Dreams and Nightmares Along the Information Highway by Daniel Burstein and David Kline, Plume/Penguin Book, $13.95. 1996 ISBN 0-452-27105-3 by Marcus Goncalves - goncalves@process.com "Road Warriors: Dreams and Nightmares Along the Information Highway" by Daniel Burstein and David Kline is one of those books so embracing in its effort to describe a vivid, human-natured narrative of the road warrior personalities and strategies driving the digital technology revolution of our times that it almost challenges you to "pray" before you continue reading it. The book, has a bitter-sweet taste, funny but also sad, exciting but depressing, it gives us a leap of faith in the twenty-first century society but also portraits the leviathan of cultural clashes. It's almost magic, in the sense that it drags you onto an envision of the dominating forces shaping our future, the battle between net profit and net human identity, the gripping reality of where the information technology is taking us by condition... not opinion. Burstein and Kline's book elaborates on nothing new, but provides an entire new insight of facts, as the arguments presented are results of social-technocrats tragedies and casualties, elicited by incisive and informative headlines on Wired magazine, Hotwired and other Web-zines, not mentioning major news media. It debates on the "usability" of computer technology, which included video games and the human imagination as well as the PC versus the TV trend. It wonders over the dreams and nightmares of every road warrior, active or passive. It even discusses about Bill Gates and Microsoft's strategy, and the works of the government's proper role in light of the free market forces. Road Warriors is talking about a current reality, where most of the battles are still taking place, some not even started yet. The formed and severed alliances it describes are still in the process. The warriors of the information highway and the rest of us are optimistically heralding a new world order in the wake of the Information Age. For some, it may be another opportunity to grab the American dream, but it could also very well be a paradigm predicting a new, dangerous global conflict were disconcerting inefficient government policy, professional careers and family values will crash and burn, in Web time, through the effect of wires and chips. The rivalry of the Information Age warriors is replaced by the clash of civilizations. Just like Phoenix, the re-emerging information technologies on the Internet, the Web, Cybercash and I-phones, to name few, are reshaping new trends, new opportunities, new business, and consequently, a new cast of citizens, a new civilization: a Cyber one, that is. This does not mean that these events are always convincing. Here and there, as Burstein and Kline examine recent events, in light of the coming of the so called Digital Age, one suspects that they are interpreting the facts to suit the theory. Their book has plenty detailed examples of the advent of the Digital Age, including the social dimensions often excluded by technocrats. That's why so many love magazines like Wired, and so many hate it. For instance, will computers replace televisions in the living room, where the family will be gathered, as discussed in chapter eight, Smart TV, or a PC in Drag? The burgeoning increase of personal computers, usage of online networks and multimedia applications suggests that. Indeed Americans are spending more and more time in front of a computer. That much is true, but the theory has trouble with other features of the "infowar," like the deep transformation it will indicate in American social life, which realistically, as Burstein and Kline indicates, it will not happen in the foreseeable future. The idea hardly seems to matter to technocrats and road warriors, whatever their own faults (is it technology's fault?), which really were victims "of profound changes in the structure and internal life of Americans," as brilliantly discussed on the book, not merely a great ideal of Yankee ingenuity, entrepreneurial capitalism, and economic progress, as described by Burstein and Kline. For instance, the Silicon Graphics' former chairman, Jim Clark, statement that "computers and consumer electronics are going to be shared technologies," would have been very different if he had not found a new "Zion for his mass-market dream: the Internet." What exactly Jim Clark might have done differently so he wouldn't be so wrong on his assessment? Thus the Internet may be housing some 30 million users, the cable TV viewers amount to about 150 million in 63 million homes. Still, Burstein and Kline's grand concept of a PC in drag versus smart TV explains a good deal about the battle of giants like Tele-Communications, Inc., Microsoft, NTT (the giant Japanese telecommunication company) and their impact in the world these days, which would be difficult to explain without it. Stripped to its essence, paraphrasing Professor Donna L. Hoffman's words, of Vanderbilt University, the book's argument is this: The Information Age will tremendously affect society, in particular the American society. The book is dazzling in its scope of placing this global revolution in the historic context and grasp of the intricacies of contemporary global politics and consequent transformations following the Industrial Revolution. Readers not already familiar with issues driving the unprecedented promises of the Information Age might feel a bit overwhelmed with the conclusions the authors come to: America's society is growing more and more dysfunctional, in a process that is alienating families and individuals by canning the American people dreams onto digital fetishes serving the interests of few. As the authors write on Chapter 11, The Global Challenge, "the prosaic reality is that policy makers in every country, including United States, are continuing to make national decisions about the flow of global information based on their own interests." Past the after shock of a crude reality taking place at the myriad of the present Information Age, riding on the so called Information Super Highway, Road Warriors is a "must read" for everyone involved in this process, business and academic communities alike. It is also a call for society's conscience and active participation on this digital revolution. It is an alert of the danger and somewhat unavoidable fragmentation and decentralization of society in face of the clashes resulted of the "future shock" so well diagnosed by Alvin and Heidi Toffler back in the 70's. If we don't take Bustein & Kline very seriously, the clash of our civilization may start at our home.

the only concern with this novel is that the female characters tend to be somewhat two dimensional (subtle character nuance is lost here). The male characters for the most part are more well rounded, and tend to possess a myriad number of layers. The descriptions of homes and environments are rather well done. One can actually "see" the architecture and the world in which the characters live within. Though truth be known, one could easily read a Wharton or Dunne novel and receive far greater detail all around. A pleasant Summer read though.

WHATEVER- if you like smart fiction a la donna tart et al, this is a Must-Read. Mr. Magida- GIVE US MORE!

Although I prided myself on being leftwing, I thought I understood everything there was to know about Abbie Hoffman. The final tribute by his brother is sympathetic without covering or making excuses for less than stellar behavior with various drugs.

Intially starting out as a clean cut middle class psychologist, Abbie Hoffman gradually morphed into one of the most recognizable revolutionaries in America during the 1960's and 1970's. This noteriety also placed him on the FBI's most wanted list, in court following the 1968 Democratic National Convention and eventually undeground in Mexico to evade a drug bust.

Although he was certainly eccentric (a string of marriages and divorces)and a proponent of free love, he also came across as an average guy who worried about his kids, liked sports and remembered his roots. In turn, his family stuck by him even when it was not easy to be related to Abbie.

I was also struck by how depressed Abbie felt when younger generations did not want to take on the system so vigorously. For somebody who prided himself on being hip and with it,realizing that young adults of the 1980s did not share his same moral righteousness must have been worse than fear of aprehension by the FBI and/or CIA.

It is this state that Hoffman spent his final years. Although he still organized, it was apparent the 60's were long over. Nonetheless, he was optimistic that Michael Dukakis would become president in 1988.

Although this dream did not become realized, it is interesting to theorize what kind of reaction he would have had to Clinton's election.

Even if this book is intended to be a personal tribute to another family member, it convinced me more than ever that, if the world is more democratic and open minded since the 1960's,Abbie Hoffman, (among others) deserves the credit for this victory.I do not remember Hoffman's death,but am certain that he will remain deeply missed by many of those who did.

I was compelled to visit the Emmaus Public Library by my renewed enthusiam for STEAL THIS MOVIE! in its video form, which I viewed last Saturday. Their collection didn't contain the biography upon which the film was based (AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY), but it did feature this 1994 biography of Abbie Hoffman by his brother Jack.

Last summer, I had seen a special sneak preview of STEAL THIS MOVIE! at the County Theater in Doylestown, PA (at which the film's director gave a short talk). I loved the film, and I was horrified when it received such little fanfare from reviewers and so little time in the multiplexes.

The video confirmed my enthusiasm: it's a great film which captures the hopes and chaos of the 1960's in America, as well as the struggles of one manic-depressive to keep those in power accountable to the American Public.

Jack Hoffman's biography of his brother Abbie fills in a huge quantity of details which the film ignored. It's the old tale of the blind men and the elephant: each man speaks the truth, but one needs the data of each individual in order to perceive the full picture. One needs the film AND this biography to begin to understand the complex person who was Abbie Hoffman.

I believe Abbie Hoffman was a hero, but he also was human. RUN RUN RUN reveals the importance of family in Hoffman's life and in his career as an anti-war activist (and then activist for various environmental causes). The film completely ignores Hoffman's first wife and two children with her, as well as Hoffman's close links with his younger brother and sister.

As I have read about Hoffman and watched his film biography, I have been struck by the idiocy of his harrassment by the American government, particularly the FBI. What a waste of taxpayer's dollars!

Readers wishing to better understand the history of America in the 1960's through the melancholy tale of one person who sought to change the System through satire and media activism would do well to read Jack Hoffman's thoroughly honest, engrossing, and empathetic portrait of his brother, of a family, and of an era.

This collection enriches a growing body of scholarship that focuses on the roles played (or sometimes not played) by subaltern peoples (i.e. peasants, workers...)in the making of modern Latin America. Focusing on Mexico, this volume contains spirited debates on peasant nationalism and, as its title suggests, on the conspicuous and inconspicuous power of US capital and policy during the Porfiriato (1876-1911)and the opening scenes of the Revolution (1911-?). Its main problem lies not in content or structure, but in delivery. Needless jargon permeates this volume, and, unfortunately, shuts out a great many readers.

This book is a collection of essays written in the mid-1980's by a group of dedicated scholars who spend countless hours interviewing participants in the Mexican Revolution and reviewing archives. It focuses on the Revolution from a grassroots basis, and I think that the work of some of these authors has been responsible for the shift of emphasis from a national sort of scenario to the that which is based on the concept of the "patria chica", which was the actual operating model in the perceptions of the majority of participants.

Among the giants of Revolution scholarship who participated in the development of this book is Friedrich Katz, whose mammoth work, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa is, for all effects and purposes, the definitive work on the subject, EXCEPT that within THIS work, one can see right away that his very contemporaries who were working almost side by side with him at the time of his own research reached some different conclusions and covered some very important material that he both overlooked and failed to see the importance of. This statement particularly applies to the essay by Maria Teresa Koreck, "Space and Revolution in Northeastern Chihuahua", which defines the concept of the "patria chica" and very conclusively proves, in my opinion, that this was the motivating force in the revolutionary soldiers and cadres themselves. One can see from this essay that the troops of Villa, who were descended from Apache fighters and a generation before the arrival of the militarized colonists in the mid-19th century, from a rather 'indianized' population, saw him as something like a great Indian war chief - sort of a Geronimo for the "patria chica".

Another essay that very much caught my attention was that of Ruben Osorio, entitled "Villismo: Nationalism and Popular Mobilization in Northern Mexico", which I think influenced Katz quite a bit, as Osorio and Katz collaborated a lot. In this essay, the roots of the Revolution in Mexico are made quite clear, and the long buildup of hostilities between the militarized villagers who had fought the Apache wars and the oligarchic families such as the Terrazas are made clear, with a number of regional conflicts that predated the Revolution brought into focus. Osorio states that, for all effects and purposes, the Revolution began with the rebellion in Tomochic, and it didn't end until the surrender of Villa in 1920. It was, then, a series of regional and sometimes isolated conflicts lasting some 30 years, with the common thread being the defense of the 'patria chica' from the encroachment of hacendados and latifundistas.

Organizers like Flores Magon and Madero entered almost as interlopers in conflicts that had been ongoing, and were not about to subside with their exit from the scene. Leaders like Villa really didn't need any ideology to lead these fighters. It was enough that they were seen as the natural leaders for tribal societies.

Another important aspect that one sees, particularly in the essay of Koreck, was the importance of the Ojinaga region, where cattle were sold in Presidio, Texas and arms were purchased from the German Jewish merchant John Klienmann (mentioned in John Reed's "Insurgent Mexico") in defiance of the frequent embargoes against Villa that were set in place by the US government. On a day to day basis, this type of activity is what actually kept alive the movements of Madero and later Villa, and it would behoove historians to amplify studies along these lines. This whole setup was organized before the first shots were fired in 1910 by Madero, Abram Gonzales, Toribio Ortega, and even Villa himself: these gentlemen concluded some business arrangements with the local ranchers, most likely under aegis of the bank, for the financing of the Revolution, there on US soil in Presidio, Marfa, and Shafter. Ortega probably made most of the arrangements, as far as the finer details, while the revolutionary organizers in Ojinaga, the Sanchez family, Jose de la Cruz Sanchez and Idelfonso Sanchez, carried out the ongoing business at later dates thoughout the course of the conflict, selling cattle in Presidio and paying Kleinmann for mountains of 30-30 and Mauser ammunition that was passed into Ojinaga with the complicity of US customs officials.

What I see as a real shame is that Koreck, who was probably the most astute scholar of Villa ever, has not published more material. Supposedly she has a huge collection of archives in Argentina that she gathered over the course of years of dedicated study, but she is yet to publish a major volume. If she did, people would soon forget about Katz, who spent 30 years himself collecting and organizing material, but then published a work full of inaccuracies and misconceptions derived from, apparently, his haste to assemble the volume.

This book is an excellent book to establish a broad fundamental understanding of surgery, but detailed enough to use as reference. Every medical student who plans to pursue a career in a surgical field should read this book prior to graduation from medical school.

I was slightly disappointed by the fact that this book is considerably thinner than the previous edition -- we're losing something here. I found the Liver chapter a bit vague sometimes (e.g. on the precise indications for resection and/or transplantation for liver cancer). However, the Sabiston Textbook of Surgery, while somewhat less majestic, is still king -- some chapters, like Soft Tissue Sarcomas and Vascular Trauma (written by none less than Murray F. Brennan and Kenneth L. Mattox respectively) are outstanding. The chapters on Management of Acute Trauma, Critical Care, Acute Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage, Surgery of Morbid Obesity, Cerebrovascular Disease and Gynecology, to name just a few, also deserve much praise. This tome is a must for all medical students and surgical interns/residents.

Six months after his father has died from cancer, Pierce Williams finds
himself in a deep state of depression. The book follows the main
character through a journey from his college, where everything seems dismal
and empty, to a small town on the east coast of Florida to find his best
friend, Jennifer, and the only person he thinks can "cure" him.
Touching on themes such as the existential pain of thinking too much, love,
and the politics of everyday life, Pierce's journey takes him through the
struggles and boredom of college life, as he attempts to discover his
place in the world.

Or, as the main character says in the book's beginning:

"This story is about her and me, and for this reason the book has
special importance; although this story is also about other things: human
psychology, the impossibility of love, (no metaphysics), the problem of
existence, but mostly it's about her and me, and my love for her."

This novel is extordinary. The extravigent story of a young man going through his college years suffering from the loss of his father trying to reach out and find comfort in Jennifer and himself.
At times this book made me laugh out loud, and other times drew tears from what he, and everyone has once lost. This book helped me through the hard times in my life, and inspired me to help less forcunate people. Now I know how someone feels,when they say a book changed their life.
I expecially enjoyed his refrences to the Chinese philosiphers. And a quote I will never forget "Thus an excessive love for anything will cost you dear in the end."

John Daniel is an evangelical Protestant who places much of the content of his book within the context of Protestant "bible prophecy". I am Orthodox Christian, so I do not share all of his eschatological views, but in terms of actual facts, as opposed to interpretation, there is a wealth of information here. In Volume I, Daniel shows that Freemasonry is the common denominator in all common conspiracy theories (Communists, International bankers, Multinational corporations, European aristocracy, Jews, Jesuits, the Illuminati). Drawing heavily upon the work of Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, he proceeds to show that the rivalry between the Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar developed into rivalry between the Grand Lodge Masonry of England and the Grand Orient and Scottish Rite Masonries of France. He shows how this rivalry figured in the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the revolutions of the 1800's, Marxism, the Russian Revolution, World Wars I and II, the establishment of the League of Nations and the United Nations, and more. This volume is also valuable because it discredits anti-semitic conspiracy theory. While acknowledging the involvment of many Jews in subversive movements (for example, 82% of the Bolshevik government was staffed by Jews), he shows that the most prominent of these Jews were Masons, and were acting as Masons, not as Jews. In fact, he says Masonry is inherently antisemitic, and that Masonry conspired to both undermine Orthodox Judaism through Reform Judaism and to promote Jews in their ranks, so that if Masonic conspiracies were revealed, the Jews, and not the Masons, would be assigned blame. In Volume II, Daniel attempts to show the continuity between Masonry and the ancient pagan religions. While I agree with his thesis, his layout needs to be more chronological and systematic, and he needs to back up his assertions with more varied sources. In Volume III, he examines the domination of the world economy through central banking and control ! of gold. This will be familiar territory to students of Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, and other libertarian sources, and I think they do a better job of actually explaining the economics, but in tying the quest for economic hegemony with Masonic membership, Daniel's analysis is unique. In the same volume, Daniel also briefly discusses the assassinations of JFK and Pope John Paul I, as well as the "real" reason for the Vietnam War, and an explantion of what happened to the Nazis after the end of World War II. In Volumes I and III, Daniel assigns the blame for the rock-drug counterculture to sub-Masonic lodges such as the Order of the Golden Dawn. These volumes should serve as a springboard to further research, although many of the books Daniel references are out of print.

In this 3-volume set, Daniel attempts to show that Freemasonry is the skeletal structure through which all "modern" conspiracies and subversive movements have evolved. This includes everything from the Mafia to Communism to British rock music to drug-dealing, money-laundering offshore banks. The facts he presents in his argument come like a tidal wave. While he appears occasionally to reach too far in his interpretation, for every time I found myself thinking, "Whoa, wait a minute" there were ten times where I was thinking, "That makes sense". The connection of his thesis and many of his points to the apocalyptic books of the Bible was of utmost importance to me. The underlying statement that Satan, or rather Lucifer (as the Freemasons prefer him to be called), is the Great Architect of Freemasonry, is the clinching point of his work.

This is an accurate,clear and very well documented Biography
that is worth for everyone who is interested in the composer and accessible to the uninitiated.
The requirement for brevity compelled the author to
fly rather fast over Prokofiev childood. The best and most amazing source for this period is the composer own autobiography
Prokofiev by Prokofiev now unavailable. I suggest to read both if you can find Prokofiev own autobiography used or in a public library.
The early years are very essential and enlightening even if not from a strict musicologist point of view.
The photos in this book are very beautiful and well coupled with the text. In some cases they speak alone.For example the very expressing '46 photo with other soviet composers included Shostakovich is worth the price of the book for an almost fanatic Prokofiev(&Shostakovich) lover.
Personally I would have prefered a less fastened and concise
overlook. Such a life deserves a narration that leaves you breathless. This is not achieved by Jaffé biography.
He gives well structured information but he doesn't pretend to offer good literature . I would have both, but maybe I ask too
much and the alternatives aren't better written,for what I know(they 're only less concise and more aproximative). Probably only the massive Dorigné Biography (available only in french) can stand up.
So I strongly suggest this book.

This is another solid entry in Phaidon's 20th Century Composers series -- heavy-stock paper and great photos (including one of his first performance of "Peter and the Wolf" for a group of children) add to Jaffe's text. Jaffe offers the best answer I've found (searching through several books) to the question of why Prokofiev returned to Russia at the height of Stalin's terror. Apparently it was a combination of homesickness, vanity, political naivete, and aesthetic theory. The Soviet regime promised Prokofiev an exceptional privileged status, which appealed to his vanity -- he was overshadowed by Stravinsky in the West, where he never felt he was properly appreciated. And the turn to "social realism," forced on Soviet artists by Stalin, coincided with Prokofiev's voluntary turn away from modernism toward simplicity, melody, and populist narratives. I enjoy both the early and late Prokofiev, but I can see the point of those who claim that his later works are more accomplished. While his music is not on the cutting edge, and thus he was never a critics' darling, Prokofiev's music is marvelous.

This is the best single book available at the moment for anyone who wants to know more about one of the greatest early 20th century composers!

I really enjoyed reading Silver Bells because I love a good Christmas romance story and this was definitely a good Christmas romance story. Jillian was hoping to spend Christmas with her Fiance Harrison at her friends cabin, she arrived at the cabin first and while she was waiting for Harrison to arrive she is frightened when a man she does not know opens the door and walks in, his name is Matt and he claims the same friends promised him use of the cabin for Christmas and when they call the friends to verify their rights to use the cabin they realize that the friends goofed up but can't do anything about it as a big blizzard is on the way. The blizzard hits and Matt and Jillian are stranded together in the cabin for days, she at first talks about her fiance as though he is absolutlely perfect in every way but slowly begins to realize that she and Matt are attracted to each other and they fall in love, even if neither one of them realizes it at the time. When Jillian does get back to her apartment in the city you at first feel sorry for her fiance Harrison until he shows his true colors, that he is not perfect at all but a mean controlling bully who would be a complete dictator as a husband and too wrapped up in himself and his job to really care for Jillian the way she needs and then you root even more for Matt who you know would treat her right! I Highly recommend this book!

Silver Bells written by a romance book writer named Val Daniels was a pretty good Christmas romance book it was very charming and a pleasure to read, it is about a young lady named Jillian Kemp who has planned the perfect Christmas vacation with her fiance in a cabin in the woods after her friend Karen lends her the cabin but soon learns that even the best of plans can hit a snag because her friend Karen does not know that her husband Jim has promised use of the cabin to his friend Matt Carson so when Jillian gets to the cabin she is soon shocked when Matt who she has never met shows up at the cabin and they soon wind up getting snowed in and it's a good thing that her original plans fell apart because as it turns out her fiance isn't really such a nice guy. This is really a cute little romance book and I'm glad I read it.