If God's words are the "meat and potatoes" of life - then Nancy's books (more specifically 'The Fingerprints of God') are the icing on the cake! It would be very easy to devour her books in a single sitting, but I try to slowly savor each heartfelt chapter. Nancy's words touch my soul to the very core, she writes the thoughts I so often have inside. By the end of the book, you will probably feel like you've made a new friend. This book could be used as a daily devotional, but I dare you to sit down and just read one chapter!! When you feel as though God has maybe deserted you, pick up this book and feel renewed that just as He has heard Nancy, He will hear you too.

Have you ever doubted whether God really intervenes in the day to day activities of our lives? I know I have. When I read God's Handprints in the Unexpected my faith soared--I laughed, cried, and rejoiced that some have eyes to see God's handprints in daily life. This book will encourage and strengthen your faith. Easy to read--use as a devotional--or sit down with a cup of coffee and get ready to meet a new friend in author, Nancy Hoag. Great gift!!!

When you read this book it is easy to imagine yourself sitting in a loveseat with legs curled underneath, listening to a good friend tell you about her life. Laughing or crying, you reach for the tissue box a few times. You notice someone else's presence in that cozy room. He whispers, "Come to me, you who are weary and I will give you rest." You snuggle down into the loveseat. Your soul resonates with Nancy's stories. They are different, yet so much like your own. You think, "Ah, that is what God was doing then. I didn't see it until now." In Nancy Hoag's book, "The Fingerprints of God: Seeing His Hand in the Unexpected" you will read another woman's story of trials, courage, repentance, hope, kindness and grace. And, between the lines you will see and rejoice in God's fingerprints -- all over your life.

If you like gymnastics you'll love this book! It tells about the lives of the seven gymnasts on the 1996 gold medal winning U.S. Olympic gymnastics team, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Kerri Strug, Dominque Dawes, Jaycie Phelps, Amanda Borden, and Amy Chow. There are pictures of each girl from their very young life to the 1996 Olympics.

This book is a MUST for all gymnastics fans. It tells you all you need to know about these seven awesome gymnasts that changed history by winning the first Olympic gold medal for the womens gymnastics team. It has lots of pictures, and also fan mail address to write to them!!!!

They took our hearts in Atlanta, now read a more detailed selection on these seven remarkable gymnasts. In this book, the author talks about each gymnast of the womens gymnastics team in each of the chapters, which she then goes into more specfic details about what the gymnast has done before the Olympic Games, what changes have occured after winning their first ever gold, and what the future holds for these seven young women.

"Childhood Leukemia" by Nancy Keene is a tremendous guide for anyone dealing with a child with leukemia, whether they be newly diagnosed, in the middle of treatment or completely finished with treatment. It provides easy to understand definitions and explanations of the medical terms. She goes beyond the provision of definitions though and allows those who have been there to share their knowledge with the reader. This should be the first book that a family picks up after their child is diagnosed with leukemia. It would also be a good resource for medical personnel, providing a glimpse of the experience from a parent's viewpoint.

In 1993, my son Brian was dx with ALL. He went throught treatment until Dec. 1996. In 1997 he relapsed. Since then, I have joined an online support group and had many questions. Nancy's book was recommended to me. This book has explainations on what leukemia is, how the blood works in the body, and things to expect from your child as a cancer patient. It is a book that is written in a style that is very understandable, especially to the newly diagnosed parents. You don't have to be a doctor to be able to understand the information.

I don't know how I functioned with the care of my leukemic daughter before I bought this book! I have asked the doctors office questions about the same drugs over and over. This book lets me refer to any chemo drug and see its common and rare side-effects, how its given, generic names, everything I need to know!

The book is sprinkled throughout with quotes from real people like me going through the same thing. Their experiences and coping methods have been a lifeline. They remind me that I'm not alone!

The author delivers medical information in simple terms that are easy to comprehend.

Advice is given on how to deal with the financial aspects and support groups and so much more.

This book will be within arms reach for a long time!

In the past few years there has been a world wide knitting explosion, with particular interest in socks -- as those of us trying to get ahold of some of the popular and out-of-stock yarns well know. Folk Socks: The History and Techniques of Handknitted Footwear, by Nancy Bush is without a doubt the book I would grab and clutch to my chest if I had to choose one sock book for the following reasons: (1) Bush does a more than adequate job of researching the history of knitting with emphasis on the evolution of footwear, (2) the photographs are all in gorgeous color, and (3) her instructions for knitting socks are excellent. She includes a basic sock with the option of trying several variations of heels and toes, and includes modern adaptions of traditional Old Worldy socks for the more adventurous. Plain color, multicolors, stripes, fingering weight, sport weight, etc. -- you are given a choice.

The only criticism I have of the book is that a few of the patterns don't designate whether they are for a man or woman. If you are new to sock knitting, stick with the patterns that tell you the wearers' gender, and then try the "mystery" socks.

Bush's "Folk Socks", and her second book "Estonian Socks" are instant classics and destined to become premier collectors items.

This book is really three books in one: A History of Socks, How to Knit a Sock, and Great Sock Patterns. I could knit (sort of) before this book, and I had made socks before but, truly, this book changed my life. I do Living History as a volunteer, and I use information from the history section all the time when I am talking to visitors to the event or museum. The How-To section was very clear and helped me to enhance my technical skills with respect to stockings, and knitting in general. The best part are the patterns. I focused on lace patterns, but all the patterns are beautiful, some more challenging than others. All skill levels are represented. One of the patterns I made because I thought it was very close to the kinds of stockings that would have been worn in the 1600's, and I sure was looking for something to keep my feet warm when I was doing Living History! And, indeed, I came to find out later, that pattern was almost exactly the pattern of stockings that came out of a bog burial, on the woman's feet, from early 1600's in northern England. So I started making these stockings for other Living History people. Then I started making changes to the designs and creating my own stockings. When I lost my job, I even kept food on the table for myself and my child for awhile (I don't recommend that path, however). So I have gone on to research other period stockings, and design them if there is no extant pattern. Of course, I have worn my "historical" stockings as much in modern times as I do in past times because they are comfortable and they keep my feet warm! The book is really a treasure.

After 25 years of knitting sweaters, this is the book that finally convinced me to try socks. The "basic sock pattern" is very clear and easy to follow, and provides several alternative ways to make heels and toes. The section on the history of socks describes the evolution of socks in different parts of the world. All of the other sock patterns in the book are based on socks found in museums and represent different cultures. This is a fabulous book for the knitter who is interested in traditional crafts from other cultures. I'm very happy I found this little book. Turning my first heel was the most exciting thing I've learned in knitting for years!

I think it was a great book for me and class.It was fun to read and we didn't want to stop when we had to stop reading.we couldn't put down the book.

I liked this book because it was funny,sad,easy to read,and I couldn't put the book down for a second. The most exiting
piece was when the grandmother choked the drunk father.

I thought the book Playing Solitaire was a very good book, because the main character Ellie is finding refuge with her Grandpa in Drasco, Texas. Ellie is staying with her Grandpa because she is trying to escape her alcoholic father who cut off three of fingers on her left hand. Ellie starts to get worried when her father calls her one night after dinner and after her mental grandma tells her that he has benn there to visit her. Ellie doesn't tell her Grandpa because that would ruin her plan. Will Ellie shoot her father if he does come? Will her dad even come back?

Cynthia Baxter decides to spice up her life, so she buys a copy of Raunch magazine's fantasy issue and surprises her fiance with handcuffs and a fantasy. Unfortunately, her fiance--soon to be her ex-fiance--gets a call and rushes out, forgetting her. That's how Jake Wheeler comes to find her naked, handcuffed to her bedposts. Jake needs help...a sexy little account is just what the FBI needs. And Cyn? Well, she might be just what Jake himself needs.

Nancy Warren's Blaze Romance, Live a Little, will occasionally have you laughing more than a little as she spins a hot tale of love.

Cynthia Baxter buys a copy of Raunch magazine in hopes of spicing up her personal life. After reading an article, the accountant persuades her staid fiancé Walter Plinkney to handcuff her to her bed. However, Walter, a doctor, accepts an emergency call. In his haste to help his patient, Walter leaves Cyn (as she puns herself) locked to the bedpost.

With her bladder neared bursting, Cynthia manages to get the attention of her new neighbor, FBI agent Jake Wheeler. He rescues her, but, based on fist impressions, he believes Cynthia is into kinky sex. Jake is undercover and convinces Cynthia to help him on his case. She agrees hoping for a little excitement to break up the ennui, but neither she nor the Fed expected to fall in love with one another.

Nancy Warren has written an amusing yet torrid romance due to the efforts of the ingenuous Cynthia to live up to the homonym of her nickname Cyn. Though she tries to display the image of a sophisticated sexpot, the heroic hunk knows she is not winning any academy awards for her performance. Yet, he also realizes that somehow this innocent makes his libido attain stratospheric levels. Category fans will LIVE A LITTLE when they read this fun tale.

Harriet Klausner

Accountant Cynthia Baxter would like to learn to live a little. Her six year engagement to a doctor more concerned with patients than his personal relationships drives her to desperate measures. She purchases the September issue of Raunch Magazine, which categorizes its fantasies into Boudoir Beginners, Intimate Intermediates, and Erotically Advanced. She'd even highlighted her favorite fantasies. But Walter leaves her naked and handcuffed to the bed while he leaves to deliver a baby. Hours later, a neighbor finally comes to the rescue. But meeting FBI agent Jake Wheeler under such conditions does not fulfill her fantasy.

At first, Jake Wheeler assumes Cynthia's prone position resulted from a working girl's day gone bad. Her trash looks juxtapose an oddly innocent expression in her eyes, driving his libido over the edge, even if he has sworn off wild women with revolving bedroom doors. However, when he realizes that Cynthia's an accountant, Jake convinces her to volunteer to help him crack a drug smuggling operation by accepting a new job with his quarry. Cynthia leaps at the opportunity for change and excitement. She transforms herself into Cyn the Bold and prepares to plunge into the world of black ops, spies and danger. Even as Jake suspects that the sophisticated sex-pot routine is fake, it's too late to withdraw from a very dangerous situation-both undercover and under the covers.

Now this is what a Blaze should be! Sexy, daring, and bold with a dash of levity, LIVE A LITTLE! lives up to my highest expectations. The heroine doesn't waste time protesting her innocence, the hero doesn't struggle over needless issues, and the plot never slows. Indeed, the dangerous plot echoes the dangerous eroticism of a handcuff fantasy, resulting in a terrific read. Pleasing, tempting and erotic, LIVE A LITTLE! comes very highly recommended.

I found this book hard to grade, but easy to read. Stories are the best way for people to learn, and this book has six interesting ones (about Josiah Wedgwood, H.J. Heinz, Marshall Field, Estee Lauder, Howard Schultz, and Michael Dell) describing entrepreneurs pulling themselves up by their bootstraps to create major brands. As a book of engaging business stories, this is a five star book. In terms of the insight you will get from these stories compared to the potential insight you should get, this is a three-star book. I compromised the two to come up with my grading.

If you want to learn about today's brand-building challenges, other books handle that subject much better. If you want to learn about how the Wedgwood, H.J. Heinz, Marshall Field, Estee Lauder, Starbucks, and Dell businesses got started, this is your book. The material is handled much like historical fiction (except the facts are meticulously gathered and documented), and you will find the going easy and pleasant.

If you like Horatio Alger stories, you will find those here as well. I suspect that exhausted entrepreneurs on long plane trips where their computer batteries have run out will find this book helpful in recharging their personal batteries. As Winston Churchill once said, "Never give up." That's the key lesson here. Through trial and error, these entrepreneurs kept trying until they found formulas that worked.

The choice of examples is a little flawed. Five are consumer branding examples and only one is a business example (Dell). Of the consumer branding examples, you will find that most are about selling to the higher income people. That gets a little repetitive.

The explanation of the examples is also incomplete. Considering that this is a business book, there is relatively little financial information other than annual sales and occasional asset turnover ratios. Qualitative example are helpful, but they are more helpful with more pinning down. For example, when you see the profit margins that Wedgwood had, that explains a lot about why the company could afford such lavish promotions. Without similar information on Heinz, you wonder why he was so successful in making sales but went bankrupt. Presumably, he had low margins.

The photographs and maps in the book are a plus, and I enjoyed them very much. The book was printed on such high quality paper (similar to that used for diplomas) that the images are on the same paper as the text. This permits the book to have many more illustrations than similar-sized business books.

The point about earning trust in the book is easily explained. At the time when these entrepreneurs were getting started, their largest competitors usually provided poor quality products, sometimes had inappropriate brand images, often failed to offer decent guarantees, and typically acted in self-serving ways. Earning trust isn't too hard if others are scoundrels or incompetent. Above all, these entrepreneurs stood for decent human values, and got that point across in one-to-one situations. I'm not sure that point comes out clearly enough, even though it is certainly present in each example.

Those who think the Internet age is unique will find the comparisons to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England and the transportation improvements in the United States to be valuable contrasts. But each age brings its unique changes. Entrepreneurs should seek to grasp those changes, but also see what others have missed. I think that the Starbucks concept could have been successfully innovated in the late 1950s. It's just that no one did it then.

After you finish enjoying these stories, I suggest that you think about the values that your organization stands for. Are those values presented and delivered in ways that make your organization more trustworthy than any other? How else do you have to be superior in order to establish a burnished brand image?

Be serious about giving people the best you can possibly provide!

This highly readable business book profiles six successful entrepreneurs from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Each profile (Josiah Wedgwood, Henry Heinz, Marshall Field, Estee Lauder, Howard Schultz, and Michael Dell) details the milieu of the era and offers insight into the environmental business factors that each of these business builders faced.

It is this holistic approach to the subject of each profile that makes the stories so compelling. Using her command of history, Ms. Koehn outlines the period view of each of the products (pickles to perfume) and vividly draws the reader into the strategy of each of these entrepreneurs' approach to the market and building their brand. It is the power of these stories that gives the brand message such import. All of these people had a great number of competitors in their market niche but their focussed approach to the brand associated with their goods or services is what set them apart.

Ms. Koehn uses some excellent demographic and financial information (indexed to today's dollars) that provide the backdrop for the scale of the success each of these entrepreneurs' achieved. This provides just enough quantitative information to provide texture without clouding the real story in statistics.

As an executive in the software business today, I found a great deal of comfort in the fact that the challenges I face in today's competitive marketplace are not new. In fact, with great courage and resolve, they have been solved again and again in differing but similar ways over centuries.

Brand New is a brilliantly written book about entrepreneurs, brands, consumers, business history, and socioeconomic change. The book explores these subjects through the examples of six entrepreneurs-Josiah Wedgwood, H. J. Heinz, Marshall Field, Estée Lauder, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Michael Dell-and the brands and companies they created during times of economic and social change: Wedgwood during the Industrial Revolution, Heinz and Field during the Transportation and Communication Revolution of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Lauder, Schultz, and Dell in our time.

Koehn is a perceptive historian and biographer as well as an astute analyst of brand creation, entrepreneurship, and organization-building. She explains how the entrepreneurs in her book were able to understand the economic and social change of their times and anticipate and respond to demand-side shifts. This understanding, she argues convincingly, enabled these entrepreneurs to bring to market products that consumers needed and wanted and to create meaningful, lasting connections with consumers through their brands. Koehn also focuses on the importance of these entrepreneurs as organization builders who understood that their success depended on developing organizational capabilities that supported their products and brands. Her book is very well-researched throughout, and uses primary archival documents extensively in the historical chapters on Josiah Wedgwood, H. J. Heinz, and Marshall Field. Koehn also brings her entrepreneurs and the stories of how each built his or her company and brand to life with her talent as a biographer and historian.

The book's emphasis on drawing lessons from both past and present offers many valuable insights for those interested in coming to a better understanding of brand creation, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial management, and organization-building. Koehn's emphasis on the demand side of the economy and on entrepreneurs and companies making connections with consumers through the brand distinguishes her book as an important work of business scholarship on brands and entrepreneurship. A lively, interesting, and engaging read, Brand New is also valuable reading for anyone interested in business, economic, or social history or biography of business leaders. I highly recommend it!

This book was one of the best investments I made after renting my first apartment. The recipes and materials are presented in a witty yet extremely practical way. This book goes over the basics that most cookbooks don't- the stuff you should have learned from your mom but were too busy and now too independent to ask for help. The list and menus help you not to starve. I highly recommend this cookbook.

This is a great book for both beginners and experts, due to the variety of the dishes and their simplicity. It is a great companion to Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room, which offers tips and recipes for entertaining. These are two basic cookbooks that everyone should have, and would make excellent housewarming gifts. An extra treat would be the addition of the authors' chocolate cookbook: Chocolate on the Brain, which matches the other two books for ease of preparation, the wit of the text, and the guarantee that every recipe will turn out delicious.

This book is excellent! Not only does it have easy to follow instructions, the recipes actually taste GREAT! This cookbook has helped me survive my college years without starving! I still refer to it frequently when I need to fix a good, quick meal. I highly recommend it, especially to beginners in the kitchen! You won't be disappointed!

Nancy Mehl's Graven Images is really two parallel stories, A murder mystery and a love story. The tales are equally compelling and masterfully crafted, complimenting each other throughout the book.
Cally Jo McAllister, police sketch artist, is haunted by the cloudy childhood memory of her mother's murder. It was her testimony that sealed the fate of the man accused of this heinous crime, and now a recurring nightmare has Cally questioning her own remembrance. Her struggle to discover the truth, leads Cally into harms way.
A dedicated police sergeant does his best to conceal his powerful feelings for Cally, and a handsome attorney openly pursues her heart while harboring a dark secret of his own.
This book is full of surprises and it defies your attempts to predict the outcome. It's a great read with vividly drawn characters and a fast pace. The subject matter is intense but very well handled by the author.
I would highly recommend this book to a wide audience ranging from young adult to seniors.

Nancy Mehl grabs the reader in the very first scene of Graven Images, when the state calls Cally Jo McAllister, an eight-year-old child, as a witness in the murder of her own mother. Cally, with the counsel of child psychologist Lily Sinclair, describes the man she saw next to her mother's bloody body. This man, Albert Boone, is the custodian of the church the family attends.

The next chapter takes us to Cally McAllister, the young adult and student, who is paying her own way through college. To do this, Cally uses her artistic talent to draw pictures of the perpetrators of violent crimes. She wants to help people who have suffered what she did. She is also somewhat shy, though she has a warm friendship with Police Sergeant Dan Christopher. Except for Cally's friendship with Lily Sinclair, the psychologist who helped her through her childhood trauma, Lily's husband Dell, and Dan, Cally has few friends. Her only family member is her father, Jack McAllister, with whom she shares a troubled relationship. Although he was once a successful businessman, he lives a bitter and reclusive life. The reader learns early in the novel that Jack's previous generosity and love of life died with his wife, and that he guards a terrible secret.

Cally's life begins to change. A kind woman is interested in her father and a nightmare that Cally hasn't had since childhood returns to her, but it is evolving. Cally is convinced that her subconscious is trying to tell her something she missed years ago about her mother's death. Cally turns to Lily, her oldest and dearest friend. Cally also meets a handsome young lawyer who falls head over heels in love with her, but the reader, unlike Cally, knows that Dan Christopher loves her, too.

Mehl moves her novel into high gear as Cally begins to unravel some of the secrets kept by the people closest to her. She finds that her father has kept her childhood home, the house where her mother was murdered, and she is convinced that she needs to return to these familiar rooms to figure out what the dream is trying to tell her.

Mehl draws her readers into a web of conflicting and entwined motives with break-neck speed. It's a good thing Graven Images isn't a long book, or I wouldn't have made it to work one day. The end is satisfying and ultimately tender and warm-hearted. I'll be looking for Nancy Mehl's next book.

When a kid's mom is murdered and the kid is involved in the trial it is not a "nice" thing. Mehl took a grisly subject and made it "nice" so that any one could pick up "Graven Images" and read this fictional murder mystery. Young adults will be comfortable reading this book as well as adults because it is "nice." Good job.

Nora Blackbird's parents left the US for a sunny, tax evaders resort leaving Nora's sister Emma with the art collection and her other sister Libby with the furniture collection. All Nora gets is the property that has been in her family for generations - and a two million dollar tax bill. For the first time in her life, Nora, a former socialite, is forced to *gasp* work. Rory, an old friend of the family who owns a Philadelphia newspaper takes pity on her and hires her as a society page columnist. This is not quite as much fun as it could have been because Kitty, the reigning queen of the society column, believes that Nora is trying to take over her job and gives her all of the bad assignments - like the opening of the monster truck dealership on land that Nora was forced to sell. I mean, its bad enough that Nora sold land that had been in her family for generations, but she sold it to the son of a rumored New Jersey crime boss who sells trucks! To top off her day, Nora discovers the body of her employer and family friend at a party that evening. Nora quickly realizes that the police are out of their depth when it comes to dealing with high society and tries her best to help them out. However, she keeps getting distracted by her flaky sisters and their problems, a slimy art dealer, and the bone-melting come ons she can barely resist from Abruzzo, the suspected crime boss...

First of all, in case the synopsis didn't tip you off, this book is not for the hard-core mystery lover. It is kind of a cross between a romance and a mystery novel and fits quite neatly into the "mystery cozy" genre. This is a fun, fast read for those who enjoy their mysteries filled with comments about clothes, food, romance, socialites, art and weird families. Nancy Martin has a nice, smooth writing style and the plot unfolds nicely. I also loved her characters. I mean, where else do you find a reclusive billionaire who collects erotic art, a brother-in-law who dresses up in full Confederate regalia for formal occasions, two flaky, funny sisters, a baby-faced detective who is a lot sharper than he seems, and hosts of other entertaining characters. Sound like fun? This book definitely is!

Set in the upper echelons of Pennsylvania society, and written in the first person, the story follows Nora Blackbird as she searches for the killer of her millionaire boss and family friend. Recently penniless (her parents move to a resort that caters to tax evaders, leaving her with the family estate and a two million dollar tax bill), Nora must find her sisters, who disappear, complete her job as a society page columnist, and resist the charms of a mobster's gorgeous son.

Although I found the motive for the murder far-fetched, and some of the other key characters a little underdeveloped, the character of Nora is refreshingly real and relatable. The plot moves along at a good pace, and ending wraps up the story quite well. A pleasure to read, and I look forward to the next books (this is the first in the "Blackbird Sisters Mystery Series").

Hoorah for Nancy Martin! Nora Blackbird is by far one of the most interesting new characters I have had the pleasure of encountering in a long time. Nora is the main character in Nancy Martin's HOW TO MURDER A MILLIONAIRE, a new 'Blackbird Sisters' murder mystery series. In MILLIONAIRE, we meet Nora Martin and her 2 sisters, Libby and Emma, are a trio of Philadelphia society sisters who've fallen a bit since their mother and father fled the country to avoid the IRS. The sisters are left to uphold the family name as well as the curse of the Blackbird women: all of their husbands seem to die, giving them the nickname "The Blackbird Widows." Nora, the narrarator of MILLIONAIRE, inherits the Blackbird farm from her parents, and a $2 million tax bill. She sells a couple of the 500 family acres to hunky businessman Michael "The Mick" Abruzzo. With that not being enough to make a dent in the tax bill, she swallows her pride & takes a job as society reporter for the Philadelphia Intelligencer. It helps that the owner, Rory Penderghast, is an old family friend. But it doesn't help Nora's career or her family's reputation when she finds Rory dead at her very first society party assignment. Throw in a witchy, social-climbing boss, sister Libby's crazy husband Ralph, an ecclectic cast of supporting players, and Michael's persistent courting of Nora and you have the recipe for an outstanding, funny and smart mystery novel.

Nancy Martin's debut is a smart, sexy and fun read. Thanks to Nora, we get to dress up in the chicest clothes, hear the hottest gossip, and attend all the best parties. I look forward to the next installment in the series due out in June. Highly recommended!