I like some of Charlotte Lamb's books, but unfortuntaly, like many of her books of the 70s and 80s, this one also features a hero that is cruel and sadistic to a women is really not so sympathetic herself. Sara is an artist who has an infatuation with her guardian of many years. Nick is a banker who sees her and wants her. But he gets the mistaken impression she's a swinger and although he desires her, has contempt for her. I was forced to sit through endless tirades of Nick blasting Sara's supposed personality which wasn't even true, and I was always thinking that he's such a hypocrite because it didn't stop him from taking what he could from women like the woman he thought Sara was! Even at the end, when he finally found out Sara's true nature and she called him on his hypocritical behavior, he didn't seem enough repentant to me. Here he's admitting there were other women after he met her, and he had been grousing about thinking she had other men. It was ridiculous. I can't really recommend this book, unless it sounds appealing to you.
Cyndi

THE GRUB-AND-STAKERS HOUSE A HAUNT contains a few unusual components that might attract a mystery reader looking for something "novel," including a ghost, Canadian setting, and cast of potentially amusing characters. Despite all of the good things it has going for it, it misses the main element any story of this genre needs: a sense of antagonism.

Feisty widow Zilla Trott is taken by surprise late one night when the ghost of Hiram Jellyby suddenly appears in her kitchen. He was a mule driver who was killed over 100 years before when thieves coveted the cargo of gold he was transporting. He wants vindication and won't leave the widow lady alone until his killer is brought up for public scrutiny. Seeking to have peace and quiet in her home again, she turns to her fellow members in the Lobelia Falls Grub-and-Stake Gardening and Roving Club for help because of their past experiences solving mysteries. Their research eventually uproots a present day plot.

Keeping in mind this was never intended to be a serious ghost story, the introduction of Hiram leads to a lot of good questions, such as why he chose Zilla and what prompted him to appear at the moment? Had he been wandering around before this and, if so, how long? None of these questions are answered. Part of the fun of ghosts is learning or speculating on their backgrounds.

This reviewer found the setting in the Canadian small town of Lobelia Falls a nice touch. When one thinks about it, American readers rarely run across stories taking place in their next-door neighbor's. Finding fiction set in England is much easier. Although it is far from exotic, the Canadian setting is refreshing and bless Avon Books for being open-minded enough to accept this trait.

The cast of characters defy some real-life logistics, but are potentially interesting. After thrusting the initial problem on Zilla, the story shifts primarily to Osbert and Dittany Monk, a young couple with a set of twin infants. Osbert makes his living writing westerns and has an aunt, Minerva Oakes, who is in the same occupation except she concentrates on Regency romances. Both surprisingly make a living in these genres despite the fact these categories have been some of the poorest selling in the industry for decades. Hiram makes "appearances" throughout the story, although sometimes he lacks the energy to pull together enough ectoplasm to create a full image.

Despite an eccentricity like Minerva's propensity to speak like Regency gentility, it is hard to keep an interest in any of these characters because they're poorly motivated. Nothing is personally "at stake," regardless of whether it's money, reputation or their lives. None of them are ever in the hot seat. There is no "lit fuse." They spend more time worrying about what they're going to have with their tea instead of facing challenges. It's much more engrossing to see a plot develop from the cause and effect of its crises points than to watch the characters have analytical discussions while they dine.

Now, granted, the intent of Author Alisa Craig/Charlotte MacLeod was to lend a humorous bend to a mystery, not provide an intense, nail-biting thriller. Conflict doesn't always have to be intense. This 1993 novel's comedy is far from original. For example, the sequence of events at the party Minerva attends is an idea that has been used before and offers no freshness in its presentation.

What is even more annoying are the footnotes that occur throughout this book. They're usually added when one of the characters briefly refers to one of their past adventures in the series. These are out-of-place marketing ploys.

The back cover of this edition quotes WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD as saying Craig/MacLeod is "The current mistress of the cosy nostra." If cozy is what the reader wants, then she will like THE GRUB-AND-STAKERS HOUSE A HAUNT. This reviewer prefers to see how the viewpoint characters react to conflicts in the story. This group neither personally risks anything nor confronts jeopardy.

I just picked this book up from the library and was a little disappointed. The better part of this book was a mystery, not a romance. The characters were not well developed and the only part I really liked was the very last scene, and even the romantic comments said in this scene were not believeable. Basically don't read this book if you actually want to read a romance.

Persis's musical achievements are overshadowed by her sister Loni's upcoming wedding. Her father is concerned about money, Loni is concerned with herself, and Persis's mother is concerned with appearances. As a result, Persis is constantly put down and mistreated. She begins to take control when a sleazy diamond and ruby brooch, one of Loni's wedding gifts, goes missing, and Persis becomes involved in a tangle of lies meant to get her sister out of trouble. In the end, the brooch is found, Loni finds some independence, and Persis receives recognition from her parents; and not only that, but she has come to understand them better. It sounds like a happy ending, and it should be, but it's not. The book is a fast and entertaining read, but it's shallow. The changes at the end are too tenuous and come too fast to mean anything; the reader cannot even pretend that they do, for that would entail caring about the characters, which is difficult when they are obviously Bad, or even when they are obviously Good, (i.e., Persis). The book is pervaded with an atmosphere of wish-fulfillment and self-centredness, which, while true to life, is not really likeable. There's no point in sympathizing with people who are already sympathizing with themselves enough for two. As a result the reader comes to the end only to seriously ask herself, "What was the point?"

To say that this book was disappointing would be an understatement. The only story that was the slightest bit interesting was 'The Treasure Hunt' by Mary Balogh. It is about a young woman, Lady Constance Manning, who realizes too late that she has engaged herself to the younger brother when she is actually in love with the older one. Even that story was somewhat unsatisfying as, in the end, we are left wondering if the younger brother sacrifices his own love so that Connie may be happy or if he is also happy to break the engagement. However, the story itself is very sensitive and touching in the usual Balogh style. I hope she writes a sequel for the younger brother, Sidney. But the other stories are so boring that it is a chore to turn the pages. My recommendation: wait until all short stories by Mary Balogh get published in one volume.

I didn't like TRUE WEST. But there's nothing wrong with it that could be blamed on this particular production of the play. The actors are good considering the flimsy material that they have to work with. The music is used sparingly, but is very effective at setting the scene. I just couldn't get over the shallow development of the characters and a script that was constantly attempting to be deeper than it was.

The story has one location. Two brothers sit in their mother's house, yelling and screaming at each other until the parental unit herself appears near the end of the play. I like the idea behind the story, which is to put two people in a confined area and see what happens to them. Unfortunately, most of what we learn about these two is quite dull. One brother is a moderately successful screenwriter while the other makes his living as a petty burglar. I had hoped that we wouldn't get soppy scenes of each brother revealing that he secretly envied the other's lifestyle, but that's exactly what we get here. The successful brother is the one without good people skills and the streetwise brother really wants to make it big, but doesn't have the proper school learning to do so. You've probably seen this sort of thing played out in films, television and theatre thousands of times before; I know I have. The problem here is that there is virtually nothing else going on in the script to distract from the banality of the characters.

The humor comes across as being forced -- very forced -- especially in the second half. The play is billed as a tragicomedy, but the transition from the funny scenes to the dramatic is shockingly jarring. You can almost hear the goofy, "Hey, this is funny!" music in the background every time a supposedly lighthearted moment comes up. It's possibly attempting to be a black comedy, but I just can't really see it that way. People who moan and whine and complain constantly could very well be hilarious, but I just wasn't amused by them. The comedy didn't flow naturally from the drama, and the drama just hung limply by itself out in No Man's Land.

If you already know that you like the play, then you will probably enjoy this particular staging of it. The various sound effects and music are used in moderation, and are very efficient at placing the audience right inside that house. The script does have one or two nice lines about the falseness of the Hollywood lifestyle and the boundary between the life that we see in pop culture compared to the reality that we drive through every day. They aren't the most original observations that you'll ever hear, but the wording of them and the acting of the principals really make those short sequences work. It's a pity that the rest of the script wasn't as sharp as these moments, because they really had me longing to hear more.

At one point near the end, the hardened brother (who is attempting to write a screenplay, just like his sibling) asks, "What do you call it when something's been said a thousand times before?" The answer that he receives is, of course, "a cliché". And unfortunately that sums up almost this entire production. Other dramas that have utilized these rather basic elements haven't made the mistake of not including anything else. But TRUE WEST is just one big cliché.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman stands out as a feminist. She is known for her short stories, but is also wrote a novel, Herland, and a couple articles on women in society during the late 1800's. Her short stories are not all based on feminism, but rather life lessons. Her novel is creative but unrealistic. Her articles, "women and Economics" and "The Man Made World" are very repetitive. She expresses the same views with every point she is trying to make: the point being that men dominate almost every aspect of life, politics, marriage, money, society, and family life.
Her fiction is enjoyable reading. It not only could appeal to women but also men, because it does not focus only on feminist views. She expresses ideas on life that men and women share. There is always a clear image of what is going on in the story.
Her articles are very bitter, and her arguments are based on the same idea, that men rule and it is unfair to think that women are incapable of what men do. She talks mostly of what women don't do, and nothing of what women are able to do. Reading one section of both of her articles put together is like reading the whole thing. Young women today may find it hard to relate to her views, because things have changed drastically from 1890 to today.
As a feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman was outspoken and strong with her one view. If there is an interest in Gilman, read her novel or short stories. They are much more interesting then her repetitive feminist articles.

I am not a prude! I love erotica, fantasy, and sex. However, this collection is nothing more than a compilation of stories written by men pretending to be women. The stories depict women (and girls) saying no and meaning "yes." I know they are supposed to be fantasies, but I was not at all turned on by this book. I recommend that you spend your money elsewhere and save your eyes the boredom of teenage quality stories.

This was the dumbest book I have read in a long time. It claims to be the final journey of Jane Eyre, HA! A great deal of the book recalls the sexual exploits of a women, Miranda, on her trip to Martinique and continues with Jane's awful sex life with Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester later dies, leaving Jane still a virgin and Jane doesn't even know it! Jane goes to Martinique also and fulfills her fantasies with Mr. Rochester's black son. Jane was never this stupid. If you like Jane or classic literature don't read this book.

We purchased this book in preparation for a family snorkeling trip to the Bahamas Out Islands. We don't scuba dive, so we were specifically looking for snorkeling information. Since this book includes "Snorkeling" in its title, we assumed there would be some specific snorkeling info included.

We were very disappointed as the entire book is devoted to dive-sites. Including "snorkeling" in the book title is, we feel, false advertising. I'm not sure the word snorkeling is ever used any where inside the book aside from the title page.

Even for dive information, the book falls short. For instance, there are no maps or directions to indicate approximately where the dive sites are located or how to get to them.

I would not recommend this book. There must be other more informative, more comprehensive books on the subject. I wish I had remembered to return the book to Amazon.com within the alloted time period. For our purposes, it was a waste of money.