The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane Review

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(More customer reviews)When I began working on a documentary about the WRight Brothers, this book was recommended to me by a descendant of the Wright Family as the best short version of the Wright Brothers story. I heartily agree. Great pictures accompany a text that manages to tell the whole story without ever getting bogged down. Good for kids and adults who are curious to know the whole story.

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The Journal of Scott Pendleton Collins: A World War II Soldier, Normandy, France, 1944 (My Name is America: A Dear America Book) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is about a 17 year old boy in the middle of WWII. Hefinds himself in one of the worst battles in the war. He must fightin the now famouse D-day battle. He lands one the baech and must fight through the watter. All the while watching people infront beside and behind him be killed or wounded. This book is a reminder of how bad war rally is. The horror this boy must face to make it through. This book has great deatail, but not too much of it. I am a 12 year old boy and am reading this book for the third time, still finding things i had missed or forgotten before. I really loved this book. I recommend it for readers of all ages. A trully Amazing book.

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Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story Review

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(More customer reviews)If anyone could be said to have lived a charmed life, it would be Gerald and Sara Murphy. They were wealthy, artistic and talented, with three beautiful, loving children and a circle of friends who became famous and accomplished in their own right. They gave wonderful parties that are still remembered a half-century later, were generous to those in need, and best of all, Gerald and Sara loved each other deeply, with an affection that grew as they lived their lives to the inevitable, bitter end.

Anyone who has read into the lives of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso and the other expatirot residents of Paris in the 1920s will recognize Gerald and Sara, perhaps unfavorably as hanger-ons who supplied the money the others lived on. That unfair assessment is turned on its head in Amanda Vaill's dual biography of the couple.
The Murphys were more than a bank account who gave parties; celebrity bottom feeders more interested in status than in accomplishments. They were something of an oddity. Both were from wealthy families, yet both wanted more than the family life they craved. Gerald had an eye for art, music and decorating; it was amazing to learn he was first to boost many artists who later became famous; "Grandchildren," he said as he showed them a copy of "Meet the Beatles." "Pay attention. These young men are going to be very, very important."
From their village in the Antibes, which was a backwater when they discovered it, they befriended people like Hemingway and Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Archibald Macleish, Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett as well, while Gerald became famous in his own right for his finely detailed studies of mechanical devices: a watch, a machine, of a boat deck and smokestacks.
But if there's anything experience teaches us, it's that no one really leads a charmed life. It's all filled with day-to-day worries, irritations, tragedies and, with luck, some glory. But Gerald and Sara came close -- the 20s were their time -- and it's a fine thing to finish a biography of someone and find that you like them even more than before.

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The Whale Road Review

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(More customer reviews)I don't read a lot of viking books these days. Not because I don't like the genre or the era or the ethos though, but because I find so few that do justice to the time and place they aim to depict. More, I'm partial to the literary approach that aims to recapture and evoke the saga tradition in which the original viking stories came down to us (suggesting the voice and tone of the old Icelandic sagas) and that is a rarity in most modern saga novels (though it can still be found, in varying degrees in such viking classics as Eric Brighteyes and Styrbiorn the Strong and, of course, in the Golden Warrior -- or, for an even more recent and solidly successful effort in this direction, Saga: A Novel Of Medieval Iceland).
Nevertheless I recently found myself reading THE WHALE ROAD and was pleasantly surprised to find it tightly paced and rich in its accurate evocation of the viking world (as it might really have been), despite its fairly modern style and voice. The author is apparently an enthusiastic viking reenactor and has spent a deal of time in this milieu, giving a real freshness and sense of reality to the details of the life he describes. Robert Low has vividly recreated a not-so-loveable gang of Norse seafaring mercenaries, and how life might have been for these rogues and cutthroats on the whale road, in this the first of his Oathsworn trilogy.
Though the story is somewhat singleminded in its focus on these hard men and their often violent fellowship, built mainly around thieving and killing (of both enemies and victims), and though it never digs too deeply into a wide range of human motivations beyond the relatively uncomplicated ones of greed, honor and lust, it is well paced, with a bit of mystery tossed in as the Oathsworn crew sets out to find a fabled treasure hidden in eastern lands (think The Nibelungenlied: Prose Translation (Penguin Classics) or Volsunga Saga: The Story of the Volsungs and the Nibelungs).
Following the historical record (and Low has done his research admirably) Einar the Black, leader of these blackguards, takes his bloodthirsty crew into the lands that would one day become Russia, after retrieving Orm the son of one of his critical supporters, to uncover a mythic treasure hoard and a sword of allegedly mystical powers.
Though I'm always alert for historical inaccuracies (having researched and written an historical novel about the Norse myself some years back), I was pleasantly surprised to find this a near perfect rendering of what we currently know about the peoples and ways of life in this era and place in history. The portrayal of the still coalescing Swedish and Russian worlds, especially, seemed right both on the details and the overall feel of it. This isn't quite the sort of novel I'm drawn to because I prefer a broader and deeper exploration of character but it's fast-paced, vivid and remarkably entertaining. Though the characters aren't deep they're sharply drawn, testimony to Low's apparent use of real people he has known in his reenactment group as models for the warriors in this novel.
I actually came to this one in an odd fashion, having stumbled across an interview with the author on-line in which he told his interlocutor that he was reading but not enjoying the novel of the Norse I'd written! Stung, I whipped off a brief e-mail to him, to let him know I'd read that and regretted his reaction to my own viking novel. (I guess I wanted him to feel a little guilty though that probably wasn't fair of me -- I should have left it alone!)
To my surprise, he responded, taking me to task for having previously denigrated his novel (this one) in an amazon discussion group. I was surprised because I hadn't read this book and didn't think I would have panned it unread. After we went back and forth a few times, it turned out I had actually been responding to someone's recommendation to read it with a dismissive remark that its modern (non-saga like) voice held no appeal to me! But the guilty feeling was now mine and it seemed like the only right thing left to do was to get hold of THE WHALE ROAD and give it the read I had refused to do previously.
It would have been awful if I hadn't liked it, of course (probably wouldn't have posted anything here in that case!), but, in fact, I found I did. So much so, in fact, that I actually read it in a single day. It's still not my ideal kind of book but then few books are -- for any of us. But this one is well written, fast-paced, adventurous, historically accurate and, generally, a fun read. That's a pretty strong recommendation for any writer and any book.
SWM
author of The King of Vinland's Saga

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Dreaming Anastasia: A Novel of Love, Magic, and the Power of Dreams Review

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(More customer reviews)I didn't really know what to expect from this book. I'm drawn to books about the Romanovs, so I thought I'd like this story.
Unfortunately, this is a badly edited book that uses the currently popular YA theme of the very-old-but-smokin'-hot man lusting after a teenage girl. The plot had promise, but the characters were so one-dimensional that they all but killed my interest in the story.
I liked the inclusion of the Baba Yaga element, but that sort of fell flat for me, too. For a much better novel that incorporates this folk tale, try Orson Scott Card's Enchantment.
After reading this book, I'm left with a fairly sour taste in my mouth. But at least I know that Ethan's eyes are blue. How could I forget that fact, after Anne mentions it more than 30 times?

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The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea Review

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(More customer reviews)"The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong" is actually four different works written by one woman, a circumspect, scrupulous, unfortunate 18th Century Korean aristocrat. The memoirs are, successively, a family injunction, a memorial, a biography, and a historiography. At the center of the collection sits Hong Hyegyong and her husband, Crown Prince Sado. "The Memoirs" span the reigns of Yongjo, Chongjo, and Sunjo, and the careers of Lady Hyegyong's father, Hong Ponghan, and her older brothers.
Lady Hong Hyegyong was the wife of Crown Prince Sado, who in 1762, was ordered by his father, King Yongjo, to step into a rice chest, which was susequently bound and covered in sod. Crown Prince Sado had been punished by his father for a series of heinous murders caused by Sado's mental illness. Lady Hyegyong and her family, including her son, the future King Chongjo, then became the focal point of factional quarrels at court, each side using the execution of the Crown Prince, to its own political advantage.
Lady Hyegyong, in the first three memoirs, strives to defend her father and brothers against chages of treason and complicity in Sado's execution. The last memoir is a defense of her husband. All four are addressed to her grandson, King Sunjo, to restore the honor of her family.
Although Lady Hyegyong nor Haboush could ascertain the specific cause of Crown Prince Sado's illness, and Lady Hyegyong's anecdotal evidence is hardly scientific, I would like to offer ''hwabyong'', or, in Korean, ''fire disease'' or ''anger disease''. ''Hwabyong'', as offered by Alford in "Think No Evil: Korean Values In The Age Of Globalization" (see review), is ''...a unique Korean folk syndrome...'' characterized by ''...anxiety, panic,...and the suppression of anger...'' (p. 77). Korean fire disease's ''...symptoms reflect[s] the constraints of the culture: not just on the expression of of emotion, but the lack of opportunity...to change...''(p. 79). Only Crown Prince Sado,and the evidence offered in "The Memoir of 1805", can affirm this conjecture.
The last work, "The Memoir of 1805", is a brilliant psychological portrait of Crown Prince Sado. It is a revealing exercise in historical writing, and also reveals the mind of an extraordinary woman trying to understand some of the most harrowing personal tragedies any spouse or daughter might face.
"The Memoirs" can be compared to Lady Murasaki Shikibu's "The Tale of Genji", "Hamlet", and the lives of the Roman Emperors. One major failing of Haboush's''Introduction'' is, that she does not place the incidents in a broader historical and international context. But she does manage to argue against abridging and collecting each work into a longer historical novel. A broader focus would further aid in understanding Lady Hyegyong's dedication in defense of her brothers and father.
This is not only a valuable history, but it is also another demonstration of the narrative powers of Asian women authors operating in a patriarchical, almost misogynistic, culture.

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Lady Hyegyong's memoirs, which recount the chilling murder of her husband by his father, is one of the best known and most popular classics of Korean literature. From 1795 until 1805 Lady Hyegyong composed this masterpiece, which depicts a court life whose drama and pathos is of Shakespearean proportions. Presented in its social, cultural, and historical contexts, this first complete English translation opens a door into a world teeming with conflicting passions, political intrigue, and the daily preoccupations of a deeply intelligent and articulate woman.JaHyun Kim Haboush's accurate, fluid translation captures the intimate and expressive voice of this consummate storyteller. The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong is a unique exploration of Korean selfhood and of how the genre of autobiography fared in premodern times.

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Captains and the Kings: The Story of an American Dynasty Review

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(More customer reviews)There are two sides to this book, one is typical of the romantic pulp fiction style of the 70's, this is first the life story of Joseph Armagh, a destitute orphan who emigrated from Ireland because of the famine. His bitter experiences in childhood leave him cold hearted and in pursuit of money at all costs, and he achieves incredible wealth and power in America. His goal at any price is to make his son president of the United States. There was a made for TV mini series based on this story.

The other more interesting part of this book though is about the control of wealth and real power in the world in the hands of a few. Taylor Caldwell has written an add on to the story that is a warning that the "controllers" are not fiction and were more powerful than ever. In the Captains and the Kings some historical events described are the US civil war, the presidencies of Lincoln, labor struggles, the making of Teddy Roosevelt, and immigration. Was the civil war after all just an event arranged & set up mainly by rich European bankers for profit? Are all wars always set up by a handful of distant people for profit? This book really makes you wonder

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Mr. Darcy's Diary: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)The aspect of this novel by Amanda Grange which pleases me most is that she has been successful in turning Fitzwilliam Darcy into a flesh and blood man. Since Pride and Prejudice is essentially written from Elizabeth Bennet's point of view, at times I want an explanation of what Darcy is thinking. This book managed to do that for me. Even knowing that these words, thoughts and ideas do not come from Jane Austen, I am still completely satisfied with thinking "my" Mr. Darcy would have been like this. He was arrogant, he did believe in his own self-importance, he did interfere in Bingley's life. But, he also learned from Elizabeth and Bingley and the situations he found himself in that he could change. He didn't need to stay so stiff and formal. He could actually learn to tease and be teased and the world as he knew it would still remain on its axis.
I found this book to be slow going at first. I really didn't think I was going to be able to accept this Darcy as the same one who lives in my imagination. But a strange thing happened as I continued to read. I began to really like this man. Amanda Grange had made him a true, real, loveable person for me. As most of the other reviewers have said, I also am a huge fan of the Jane Austen books. Ms Grange does not try to be Jane Austen. She tries to be herself, giving us her version of how she thinks Fitzwilliam Darcy might have responded to his situations. I applaud her effort and recommend this book as a worthwhile read.
This is just a little extra information in case you get confused (as I did). This book came out in Britain in 2005 in hardcover and was titled DARCY'S DIARY. It has a full head portrait of Darcy on the cover, quite interesting but maybe just a little too feminine for "my" Darcy. The paperback was published in 2007 and is titled MR. DARCY'S DIARY. I, of course, was not careful and managed to buy them both. The paperback has only a partial portrait, probably because the publisher discovered that each of us has our own mental picture of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Both books are identical in every way except as I have stated. Now, my advice is to just read and enjoy one copy or the other.

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The Russian Concubine Review

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(More customer reviews)Kate Furnivall has captured the Russian soul, the Chinese soul, the English soul and my own soul. I was torn between wanting to read it slowly so it would never end and wanting to finish it because of too much suspense. The characters are unforgettable. The history is researched and fascinating. Kate's own mother was a White Russian refugee in China so no wonder she had such an advantage in getting everything so authentic. One has to read this with reverence for the Chinese people. This is the first time I have ever really understood the motivations of the Chinese Communists.
I have never read a novel in which so much suffering could be intertwined with so much love, courage and joy. It wasn't only the suffering and joys of the main character, Lydia, but of all the characters which made it a joy to read. They were all complex characters and therefore came alive and believable at the skillful hands of this wonderful novelist.
Whether it is the opium trade or Sun Yet San or Chiang Kai Shek, Ms. Furnival gets it all just right.
Please let this be a best seller and let there be a sequel. I can't say goodbye to Chang and Lydia and Albert and the rest of them.
Here is a warning, but not a spoiler: It is full of surprises.

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A sweeping novel set in war-torn 1928 China, with a star-crossed love story at its center. In a city full of thieves and Communists, danger and death, spirited young Lydia Ivanova has lived a hard life. Always looking over her shoulder, the sixteen-year-old must steal to feed herself and her mother, Valentina, who numbered among the Russian elite until Bolsheviks murdered most of them, including her husband. As exiles, Lydia and Valentina have learned to survive in a foreign land. Often, Lydia steals away to meet with the handsome young freedom fighter Chang An Lo. But they face danger: Chiang Kai Shek's troops are headed toward Junchow to kill Reds like Chang, who has in his possession the jewels of a tsarina, meant as a gift for the despot's wife. The young pair's all-consuming love can only bring shame and peril upon them, from both sides. Those in power will do anything to quell it. But Lydia and Chang are powerless to end it.

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Hell at the Breech: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)In his highly praised short story collection, POACHERS, Alabama native Tom Franklin mined a neglected topic --- the modern South --- for narrative gold. He created vivid, visceral stories of present-day losers and rabble-rousers, and presented them as both regular frustrated humans and red-dirt legends.
Although his follow-up novel, HELL AT THE BREECH, is set more than 100 years in the past, Franklin's sensibility for gritty Southern realism remains in tact and in fact has become one of his defining traits as a regional author. Much like its predecessor, HELL AT THE BREECH refuses to romanticize the South, its inhabitants, or the violence they perpetrate, yet Franklin holds up his male characters as examples and exemplars of various strains of Southern masculinity, examining the morality of bloodshed in all its muscular complexity.
So many things work so well in this novel about a real-life gang war in rural Alabama that it's difficult to know which to praise first or foremost. Franklin's grasp of history is strong and confident; he ably recreates not just the language and the customs of turn-of-the-century Alabama, but also its lost landscape, a terrain that seems foreign at the turn of this century: "The woods were high all around, so green it felt almost cloudy, thrashers noisy in the bracken and sparrows flitting overhead, the ground slashed like paintbrush work with the shadow of pine needles."
Evoked in patient, sculpted sentences, the rough, unforgiving woods --- especially the impenetrable Bear Thicket that separates the city of Oak Grove from the uncivilized agrarian community of Mitcham Beat --- lend the story a sense of menace and mystery, and suggest an ever-changing world that seems impossibly vast. Introducing one of his main characters, a teenager named Mack Burke, Franklin writes that "the earth redefined itself around him, same as it had the day before and the day before that and as far back as his memory went, as if this dawn were no different than any other."
That dawn, however, is different for Mack: it's the first sunlight he sees after becoming a murderer, having accidentally shot a store owner named Arch Bedsole during a botched robbery. Arch was a prominent storeowner in Mitcham Beat, and his murder is locally assumed to be the work of city people trying to exert political power over the poor country farmers. In reaction, a group of Mitcham Beat farmers organize a gang called Hell-at-the-Breech to overthrow the city businessmen who hold liens on every crop in the area. Leading Hell-at-the-Breech is Quincy "Tooch" Bedsole, Arch's cousin and a deeply devious man who takes over Arch's store and indentures Mack to work as a stock boy.
As the Hell-at-the-Breech gang lash out at the farmers who won't join up and the city people who oppose them, Sheriff Billy Waite --- pushing 70 and nearing retirement --- tries to investigate, but finds only farmers too scared or too angry to take the law's side. Because he doesn't take immediate action, the townspeople see him as ineffectual, and because he drinks openly, they see him as a washed-up sot. But for Franklin, Waite's hesitation is a form of levelheaded mercy that few people in the novel possess or even recognize.
Waite's steady lawfulness and Tooch's manipulative lawlessness provide enough friction to ignite the forest between them, but for Franklin they represent nothing as simple as good and evil or right and wrong. HELL AT THE BREECH possesses a more complex morality: Franklin implies that hostility can be a useful tool but becomes evil when it is thoughtless and pointless, when men commit violence for its own sake. Both sides are depicted as righteous in their causes --- the Hell-at-the-Breech gang justified in its own push for independence, the city people merely protecting themselves from a threat --- but their violent actions are morally unpardonable. So many lives are lost, so many homes burned, so many farms destroyed, but nothing is won.
With HELL AT THE BREECH, Franklin lives up to the promise of POACHERS and establishes himself as an imaginative, intelligent, and important Southern writer. More importantly, he looks history dead in the eye and reveals how the Old South became the New South.
--- Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner

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A Passion Most Pure (Daughters of Boston, Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)This was a wonderfully rich historical romance that kept me guessing until the last few pages about who will win Faith's heart. I love those kinds of books! I couldn't stop reading because I had to find out how everything turns out.
The characters are very strong Christians with strong faith. They have a mighty impact on the people around them like Collin, with his anger at God, and Mitch, with his stagnant relationship with the Almighty he grew up with.
This is a more sensual book than typical CBA historical romances, and I loved that aspect of it. It made the characters' struggles so much more realistic and relatable.
The characters are so well drawn that I felt strongly for each of them. In fact, I hated Charity so much, I kept reading and hoping she'd die or get maimed or something in the next chapter!
If a reader is looking for sweet, perfect characters who never sin, who never give in to physical temptation, then this isn't the book for you. Faith, who is strong in her relationship with God, nevertheless sins by responding to her sister's suitor's physical overtures. I could relate to this, because who hasn't been drawn to the bad boy even though we KNOW we shouldn't? Faith is very real as a character--in her Christlike behavior and in her sinfulness.
The novel's theme of futile chasing after the wind--pursuing things that have no eternal value--is very deftly woven into the story, and resonated with me quite a bit.
I think this would be a fabulous novel for any teenage girl to read. The sensuality is not graphic, and the struggles of the main characters are things any single woman could relate to. There's a great deal of realism and yet encouragement in the characters' actions and choices.
I highly recommend this novel. Fans of Deeanne Gist will probably enjoy this one.


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Refusing to settle for anything less than a romantic relationship that pleases God, Faith O'Connor steels her heart against her desire for the roguish Collin McGuire. But when Collin tries to win her sister Charity's hand, Faith isn't sure she can handle the jealousy she feels. To further complicate matters, Faith finds herself the object of Collin's affections, even as he is courting her sister. The Great War is raging overseas, and a smaller war is brewing in the O'Connor household.Full of passion, romance, rivalry, and betrayal, A Passion Most Pure will captivate readers from the first page. Book 1 of the Daughters of Boston series.

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The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack (Burton & Swinburne in) Review

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(More customer reviews)Mark Hodder, please write more, ASAP!
Okay, moving on. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack is currently my absolute favorite book of the year and is going to be a tough one to unseat. This mystery steampunk action/adventure alternate history story is tight. Hodder's writing style is crisp and even and easily navigated. Other than a few sections where I bogged down in the science-y alt. history stuff, I blew threw this like it was air. Burton and Swinburne feel authentic as characters and every surrounding aspect is put together in such a way that nothing seems totally out of place even if it obviously is.
What's even more impressive is how Hodder takes a cadre of authentic Victorian personas and blends them so well together, even if they never/rarely met in real life. I learned a lot about the characters both their real selves and alternate fictional selves, as well as the era since we see the diverging paths as one thing after another is affected by the decisions of others. Because decisions matter in this book so it's not just pulp fiction. There is a point to it, but I'll leave that for you to find out as you read. But other than there being a point, the book is all grand fun. Burton is swarthy enough to appeal to action/adventure types while also being a human being. And Swinburne, whom I now poetically seem to have developed a crush on, is a nice balancing character. He needs to live unlike Burton who seems to not need to live as much as he is throughout the book.
As far as plot goes, I could barely believe how well the loose ends were tied up in the end. Even some of the smaller details in the plotting and characterisation come to be important for the climax which is at times utterly surprising. As a standalone title, The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack is outstanding. I can only hope it serves as a platform for more Burton and Swinburne in the future. A Must Read book for any steampunk or alternate history reader.

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The Templar Cross Review

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(More customer reviews)In this excellent sequel to The Sword of the Templars, Paul Christopher weaves past and present into a seamless whole. West Point professor John Holliday finds that he can't let his military skills go into retirement. When Holliday's only surviving relative and niece is kidnapped on an archaeological dig, the retired Army Ranger and her fiance are determined to find her. And people end up dying all around them. The chase takes this intrepid duo from North America to Europe to Africa and they travel in the rough on a buckboard of a desert vehicle, as well as in style - the Orient Express. Christopher's sense of pacing, exciting plots, and character development are exceptional.
Paul Christopher is well worth the read. You won't regret picking up this book. It makes the sky miles go by very quickly!

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From the USA Today Bestselling author of The Sword of the Templars and The Aztec Heresy Some secrets are too great to bear... Retired Army Ranger Lt. Col. John Holliday has reluctantly settled into his teaching position at West Point when young Israeli archaeologist Rafi Wanounou comes to him with desperate news. Holliday's niece-and Rafi's fiancé-Peggy has been kidnapped. Holliday sets out with Rafi to find the only family he has left. But their search for Peggy will lead them to a trail of clues that spans across the globe, and into the heart of a conspiracy involving an ancient Egyptian legend and the darkest secrets of the Order of Templar Knights. Secrets that, once known, cannot be survived...

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Forever: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)Pete Hamill is a legend of New York, and FOREVER feels very much like his magnum opus. It's a wonderfully well thought-out and well researched history of New York City as told through the eyes of one fictional character.
Cormac O'Connor, a young 18th Century Irishman, through an accident in the street and a colision with a mystical destiny finds himself travelling to make a new life in America in the 1740s. Here, he becomes embroiled in a quest for justice, power and vengeance against the man who drove him from Ireland. After an encounter with a powerful shaman, Cormac finds himself granted a power that can be the greatest blessing or the darkest curse...immortality. the only condition is that he never leave Manhattan Island.
The following 250 years trace Cormac as he witnesses and becomes part of the development of NYC. Watching him through the slave revolt, the War of Independence, the War of 1812, the great New York fire, the nineteenth century boomtimes and the tragic events of September 11th, we see Cormac experience life's great emotions, love, loss, success and failure.
Combining a beautiful telling of Celtic mythology with a rich and vibrant civic history, Pete Hamill has created two truly remarkable characters...one is Cormac o'Connor and the other is the City of New York.
Read FOREVER and be glad that you did. It is certainly worth it.

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The Raven Prince Review

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(More customer reviews)Wow! I am blown away by this debut novel. I simply could not put it down until I had read every steamy page.
Edward is a broody discontented earl that at heart is just lonely. He's not your typical hero. He is scarred, has a big nose, thin lips and is described as unattractive. He does have a gorgeous body, though. His scars run beneath the skin as well and he carries some real emotional baggage. He reacts by lashing out and throwing fits of temper thus scaring off his previous secretaries.
Anna has fallen on hard times and shows up for the position of secretary while Edward is away. Upon his return, Anna has firmly settled into her role and Edward is enchanted by her tantalizing mouth. She is plain, but he cannot stop thinking of her mouth. He has no one else to replace her so what's an earl to do when faced with temptation? He keeps her in his employ, much to his future...ahem...discomfort.
What follows is page after page of sexual tension that Ms. Hoyt cleverly builds to a climax that is so hot even I, who am pretty jaded, was left breathless. The love scenes are exquisitely and graphically written, however, not in a clinical way. For those who love hero-jealousy and emotional angst, there's a bit of that as well. As they fall in love I felt they were meant for each other.
The story moves quickly-too quickly as I didn't want it to end-and I never felt it bogged down at any point. I highly recommend this book. I wouldn't have changed a single thing.

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There comes a time in a womanrsquo;s life when she must do the unthinkable - and find employment. For the widowed Anna Wren, that means taking a job as female secretary for the Earl of Swartingham. Secretaries are always male - never female - as Anna well knows but the real downfall of her career is the realisation that she is falling in love with Edward de Raaf - the Earl. But when she realises that he is going to visit a brothel in London to take care of his 'manly' desires, Anna sees red - and decides to take advantage of the opportunity to also take care of her 'womanly' desires - with the Earl as her unknowing lover. But the Earl has another reason for going to London. He is formalising his betrothal and trying (with little success) to forget about a secretary that has no right being female. Unhandsome, he knows that no woman wants him. Except for the mysterious lady with whom he spent two unforgettable nights at Aphroditersquo;s Grotto, the most scandalous brothel in London. But when Annarsquo;s plan is revealed, a bit of blackmail is thrown into the mix, a proposal is rejected and even the Earl himself will be unprepared for the intrigues that ensnare them.

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The Unquiet Bones: The First Chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, Surgeon (Hugh De Singleton 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)The first chronicle of surgeon Hugh de Singleton takes place in the 14th century at the time of the Black Death. Much of the population of Bampton has been decimated by the plague, but a corpse discovered in the castle cesspit reveals that murder is also afoot. Master Hugh determines that the remains cannot belong to the still missing Sir Robert, as assumed, and an investigation begins.
The story is narrated with humor and warmth by the unassuming Hugh de Singleton, who is determined to find the real killer in a time when expediency is often more important than true justice.
The book contains facinating insights into medieval surgery and medieval English. Starr's book is a delightful read, and I am looking forward to the next installment in the series. This book is available now in the UK and here on Amazon.com.

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A young woman's remains are found in the castle, and a surgeon is challenged to dissect the mystery and uncover the truth.

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Darkest Child: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)Remember the 70's television comedy called Good Times? It seemed good things rarely happened to the Evans family and you frequently found yourself wishing for something great to happen that would whisk them out of their unfortunate existence. Well, The Darkest Child is like the literary equivalent of Good Times, except this story takes place in a house on Penyon Road, somewhere in the state of Georgia during the late 50's. And this time the sorrows and afflictions experienced by the family comes at the hand of the mother, Rosie, a woman who inflicted so much abuse on her ten kids that you cannot keep up.
The story is narrated by Tangy Mae, a fifteen year-old woman/child that the mother labels as ugly. The mother sleeps with men, chain smokes, drinks, cries, yells, and does all kinds of unusual and disturbing things that make the reader feel sorry for the kids and wonder about their eventual outcome.
The Darkest Child's strength lies in its commanding writing voice and vivid descriptions. Some of the painful scenes make you physically react, as if you're being abused instead of the children.
The worst thing about the book is there are far too many characters; you may not feel attached to each of them or remember which one is which, but the story is still compelling enough to keep you drawn to the characters' dilemma. In addition it would have been great if the mother's behavior was explained so the reader could know her motivations behind her horrendous actions.
This book is highly recommended because of its originality, excellent writing, and unpredictability, and because, as far as I know, there aren't too many books that can be compared to The Darkest Child. It is an engaging and dark read that won't be soon forgotten.

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