If you like a colorful cast of characters this book sure fits the bill! I haven't stumbled across anything this fun to read in years! The excitement of the boomtown days of Colorado is brought to life in a way I haven't seen since Louis L'Amour and the story is absolutely captivating. I highly recommend this novel as an experience in the wild days of the Old West--it will take you there!

V.T. Murdock III beat up his spouse before leaving her to die. Somehow, Lynn recovered and fled knowing the next time she could be dead. Lynn opens up an underground railroad for abused women while using a magical golden needle to stitch quilts that bring comfort to troubled people.

Lynn's world shatters when Grant Major arrives looking for his runaway sister Betts. He confronts Lynn, demanding she give him his sibling to take home because Betts is under a doctor's care and has pulled this vanishing stunt in the past. He fears for her safety. Inadvertently, Grant has brought Murdock back into the picture, as he and V.T. may become business partners. Now Grant has to protect more than just his sibling this time, as he and Lynn begin to fall in love perhaps with her healing quilts giving the duo an edge.

SILVER THREADS, GOLDEN NEEDLES is a warm magical romance that centers on two themes: everyone needs loves and hugs, and the impact of spousal abuse. The story line is cleverly conceived so that the reader can feel the pain and fear of the victims while also observing the uplifting romance between the lead characters. What keeps the plot from becoming maudlin is Grant, a compassionate person who goes the extra meter to take care of people he cherishes. Paula McKinley must have used a golden word processor to write this winner.

Harriet Klausner

I have been programming in COBOL for less than a year and have worked through several other COBOL books. This one has better explanations and tips than the others. It has been especially helpful in making sense out of some of the 'old code' that I have to maintain. The type of code they write about is waht I see in production every day. It is well worth the cover price. The one drawback is that there is no disk with sample code or a free complier.

Does anyone understand (and like) kids as much as the team at Blue's Clues? They consistently come up with creative, fun complements to this great television show for the preschool set. This coloring and activity book arrives with four crayons, four watercolors and a paintbrush, and features coloring, a maze, puzzles, pattern matching, and drawing -- all of which lead to a party (with snacks!) for Blue and her friends: Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, Paprika, Fifi and Freddy Felt, Shovel & Pail, Slippery Soap, Tickety Tock, Gingerbread Boy and Baby Bear. Each page is blank on the reverse so you can either tear out the page before painting or use the reverse to draw.

Crayons are non-toxic and paints are washable. Another winner from a solid team.

There isn't a whole lot that can be said about this book. There's less than twenty pages. Each "section" of the book is divided into different locations (park, baseball field, beach, etc.). At each scene the Peanuts gang is involved in various activities. There are a few sentences to compliment the action. However, this is a word book and outside of the Peanuts characters, just about every object is labeled; from balloon to water fountain to scoreboard to ocean to hot dogs and cactus. The book is a simple, but it is a Peanuts book and therefore can be more successful at helping youngsters learning new words than other word books.

It has been said that one knows a hoosier because they are thepeople who dribble a basketball around the Indy 500 while looking formushrooms! If you are not from Indiana, I'll give you a secret, basketball is sacred, especially High School Basketball. Mr. Knight's book captures the "Golden Age" when basketball ruled and tv was non-existant. Anyone who has watched the movie "Hoosiers" must read this book. It is so well written, you can hear the sound of basketball shoes on hardwood. Personally the author is a story teller at heart, the soul of a Bard with the passion of a true Hoosier.

Having achieved vast success with the original Golden Turkeys - itself a sequel to the Fifty Worst Films of All Time - this was the third instalment in the bad film saga. Though not quite as good as the first Turkeys, the Medveds had discovered a rich vein and this book delivers much mirth. Two-headed monster movies, bad lyrics, inane dialogue and bad special effects still have a special place in my heart.

Here is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer novel where Buffy herself is never even mentioned because her parents have not even been born at this point. In Christopher Golden's "Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All In A Row," the "Pretty Maids" are the Slayers in waiting, those young girls who have been identified by the Watchers Council as potential Slayer and trained so that when the time comes they can handle the responsibility. Hitler's Germany is about to invade France and for once in her un-dead life Drusilla has something in mind for her birthday: The necklace of the Brisings, known also as Freyja's Strand. Spike has promised her the trinket, which is supposedly in the possession of an ice-demon named Skyrmir, who is too powerful for the vampires to overcome. But Skymir is willing to make a deal: if the vampires can find out the names of all the Slayers in waiting and kill them, Dru will get her happy birthday gift.

The Slayer in this novel is Sophie Carstensen, a native of Denmark, who is forced to flee her country when her Watcher, Yanna, is also a seer. However, with the outbreak of war on the continent, all of the Vampires in Britain head for the battlefield where the pickings will be easy, and the Council orders the Chosen One to follow them, even though the bullets that cannot kill the vampires can certainly kill the Slayer. Meanwhile, Spike and Dru are starting to knock off the pretty maids one by one. When the Council sends the Slayer after the two vampires while the demon Skymir attacks the very stronghold of the Watchers with his horde, Golden's narrative arrives at a most fateful confrontation. I had a little bit of trouble getting into the book, but once the situation was laid out for me I was hooked and the conclusion is as good as anything you will find in any other Buffy novel.

Readers have to remember that the Spike they encounter within these downloaded pages is the Spike of the old days, paired up with Drusilla, and not the character's current persona on the television series. His characterization is much stronger in the second half of the book than the first, but it is Drusilla that is really fleshed out in this book. Golden provides an insane sort of logic to her wild visions and ramblings much more so than the television series has ever had time to develop. Sophie the Vampire Slayer is not Buffy to be sure, but she is certainly a Slayer appropriate to time and place with a very unique relationship with her Watcher. Plus she uses the family broadsword to cut off the heads of the vamps when she dusts them. There is even a reference or two to the Giles family's association with the Council for those who like to see the past tied up neatly with the present. I am one of those readers who think that the very best Buffy stories are penned by Golden and Nancy Holder writing in tandem, but each has proven capable of hitting the mark without the other. "Pretty Maids All In A Row," like the recent "Lost Slayer" serial novels, certainly proves Golden can go it alone.

Final warning: do not expect this story to neatly mesh with the mythology of Spike and Dru's background as revealed on this year's cross-over episodes. Once you understand that, go ahead and download this e-book in the comfort of your own lair.

My five year old twin girls love this doll and outfits! The clothing is very bright and flashy! My girls play dress-up with them for hours!