This book was positively captivating. It was a beautifully written coming-of-age story that is destined to remain on my bookshelf (and in my heart) for all time. The love between Lorna and Jens was that of the simplest and purest nature, which is so rare to find in this day and age when everything is so complicated. I truly felt for Jens and Lorna and openly cried more than once. Thankfully, I was all smiles by the end...enough said, as I wouldn't want to give it away for those who have not had the pleasure. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

P.S. Also try Lavyrle Spencer's "The Gamble" and "Years"

November of the Heart was the first romance novel I ever read. It touched my heart so! I'd had this image of "those type of books" that kept me away from them. You know, hot descriptive sex and exotic locales. This was nothing like that.

Two very different people meet and love has its way with them. There were a couple of places in this book where I literally started sobbing, overcome with emotion.

I have since read everything LaVyrle Spencer has written, but this one holds a special place in my heart.

One of LaVyrle Spencer's best books. Lorna and Jens are so well developed that you can almost touch them and truly feel their pain. I never wanted this book to end. If you liked the "poor boy meets rich girl in hopeless relationship" themes in the movies "Dirty Dancing" and "Titanic," then you're sure to love this book as much as I did. This one's on my keeper shelf.

A fascinating true story of how A 3 1/2 year old child was brutally abused and ultimatly murdered by his adopted mother, Lois Jurgens. You Will learn how her husband, family and friends were very aware of the abuse and did absolutly nothing to help this poor child. You will also read how the justice system and adoption agency failed to save Dennis. And the painful events for the natural mother, Jerry Sherwood and her family to get justice for her dead son. Very well written book that goes into the background of Lois and Harold Jurgens and how this evil women was able to adopt a total of 6 children (all which ran away and was removed from her home due to abuse). The book also gives a compelling account of the trial and finally the conviction of murder for Lois Jurgens, who almost for 22 years got away with it.

As a parent myself, I will never forget what happened to little Dennis Jurgens.

Karen, OHIO

I have lived in White Bear all of my life. My parents grew up there. We all attended classes in the "new" high school that is talked about. My aunt was in that school's first graduating class in 1965. I say this because, horrifying as the Dennis Jurgens case may be, it is not hard to see how it happened. Even today, it is a small community where most everybody knows everybody else. My family often attended holidays at the Zerwas home, and even today they find it hard to speak ill of Lois. This book does a wonderful job of telling what so many people have been trying to keep quiet for so many years. This is a story that needs to be told in order to make sure that it never happens to another child. Siegel does an excellent job of projecting the difficulty of following up a 20 year old crime that nobody would admit was committed. This is a powerful story that will make you look at child abuse in a whole new way.

A stellar performance on the part of Barry Siegel and Peter Borland. The detail, history, and character development are exquisitely attended and because of that the writer's talent has created a smooth and clear and compelling flow of the story, when it could have been quite muddled. I am a voracious reader and prefer nonfiction to fiction. This is one of the best. Thanks, Mr. Siegel. More. More. Do it again!

With the Adirondack setting, Woodswoman II, by Anne Labastille, captures a way of life most people will never know about. The way Anne talks about her life as a woodswoman pulls the reader into her world and life. There are also many good details. While building her second house, Anne faces many difficulties including temporary blindness when she gets cement dust in her eyes, and dropping a large spruce on her leg, injuring herself so she cannot walk for two months. As she chooses her dog, the decision becomes the reader's and the excitement is on them. Around Anne her beautiful world is disappearing to acid rain and people. As the reader progresses through this story he or she will find the true meaning of the woods. The setting and unusual way of writing brings this book together to make a fabulous story of Anne's life. Her unique way of writing shows who she is. She talks about smaller details in great detail, talking about the general one a small mystery. When Anne was building her house, she talks about when her boat flipped when carrying supplies to her cabin. She also talks about her feelings a lot in her autobiography. She explains how she likes her doctor more then why she was temporarily blind when she gets some cement dust in her eyes. Another reason I give this book five stars is the way she decries her surroundings and her land. When Anne is on a walk she Comes upon a cliff and transfer you there in to the fog and wet green moss. She plants a photograph in the reader's mind so that the reader can find every thing in Anne's cabin. As you see there are reasons to like this book. There is one and only one reason why I would not recommend this book is that it skips from one topic to another for example, she talks about building her house, she suddenly starts the next chapter talking about acid rain and polluting. This also happened when she got hurt and talked that in the middle of a chapter about her house. This reason is not bad enough to make this book a book I would not recommend. This book is a wonderful Adironacks story about a young woman and her dogs.

This second installment of the 'Woodswoman' trilogy is a step up in maturity for Dr. LaBastille. "Woodswoman" (one), dealt largely with the purchase of land and the building of a dream cabin on a remote lake. This books becomes more real, as Dr. LaBastille begins to have to worry about trespassing intruders, acid rain and the real threat that the government can pose in this unique environment. Determined not to let these new problems destroy her outlook or her life, Dr. LaBastille begins to build a second cabin - further into the wilderness. Encompassing both the new thrill of building a more isloated respite along with some freinds, brings another insight into Anne LaBastille's life ten years later. Numerous elderly Adirondack guides become great friends, sharing their own stories of the wilderness. A new romance evolves and the author has to deal with the reality of having to deal with both worlds. This book speaks not only of the wilderness, but the grand people that make and keep it unique. Of course, Dr. LaBastille's dogs are always given star treatment and her love of these animals is heartfelt. More refined and a little less naive, this second 'woodswoman' book will break and warm your heart at the same time.

Woodswoman II is the continuing biography of author Anne LaBastille, who found peace and solitude in the log cabin she built for herself at Black Bear Lake, in the Adirondack Park of upstate New York. This is the engaging, compelling, sometimes inspiring story of how Anne decided to retreat a half-mile father into the wilderness behind her main cabin and build a second, tiny cabin (fashioned after the one in Thoreau's "Walden") in which she could write and contemplate. Woodswoman II focuses on her renewed bond with nature, her companionship with two German shepherd dogs; and her sustained and sustaining relationship with a man fully as independent as herself. Highly recommended reading for anyone who has ever contemplating leaving the stress of urban life behind for the contemplative isolation of the wilderness.

Well, first off, I liked the story of his life. I found it very interesting and entralling. I don't believe all of it (for example, the evil sorcerer and the giant skeleton..) but it was entertaining none-the-less.

I did not, however, like the attitude that if you don't follow these laws of his, you will be tormented by spirits and caused great illness or even.. death!

I will list his "Natural Laws" here. There is ten of these. So I guess it would be "Bobby Lake-Thom's Ten Commandments", and if you don't follow these, you will be tormented and caused undue pain and illness! Oooo! Scary.

1. The worst "sin", according to Bobby, is not murder, but sex with animals. Apparently that's where most of our diseases come from. Chicken pox (sex with chickens?), measels (sex with.. weasels?) and small pox (sex with.. smalls?). I'm not saying sex with animals is a good thing, by all means no, it's gross, but I don't think anyone is going to be tormented by spirits if they do (not matter how much I wish it to be true).

2. It is an offense to harm, torment or experiement on any living thing without due cause or compensation. This is where more diseases come from, apparently.

3. Women on their mensus should not cook, share or eat certain foods (he neglects to say exactly which ones), especially meat from wild, four legged animals. Women on their menus can't participate in ceremonies, or go onto cemetaries or other sacred land. Apparently, women on the rag are just supposed to sit in a hut and eat dirt or something. Because that's how The Creator wants it, according to Moses.. I mean, Bobby.. Apparently, the great creator has given women a universal ritual that they should use while on their mensus.. yes, a universal ritual that was only known/practiced by a few Native American Tribes.. makes sense..

4. And for you men out there, you better not hunt or fish while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or.. sex? Alcohol and drugs I can understand, but why is sex such an offensive thing to the spirits? It's natural, last time I checked.

5. Regarding sex, drugs and alchohol, nobody is supposed to be active in ceremonies, including birth or death ceremonies, while under their un-Creatorly influence. Apparently, if you have had sex or done drugs or had a beer, you should clean yourself physically and spiritually.

6. I'm just going to quote from the book for this one: "It is an offense for human beings to have sexual intercourse with eachother during the last two weeks of a womans pregnancy, during childbirth, and for one full moon after childbirth. Such an act can be injurous and contaminating to the mother and baby. Women's blood, afterbirth, dead cells and "negative" discharge can have a negative and unhealthy effect on the male's energy, spirit and body; For this reason men did not traditionally participate in childbirth ceremonies and activity." Ok, during birth and a month after childbirth is common sense. Bobby continually has a lot of rules regarding women, and how unclean and negative sexuality and the natural body functions of women are. Men didn't participate in birthing ceremonies because men don't give birth, and it was traditionally the role of other women to help.

7. "It is against the Great Creator's law and Natural laws for any human to rape, molest, sodomize or abuse another human being, or to commit incest. It is a violation for men to have sexual intercourse with women during menses because it is a form of molestation and disrespect: it is unhealthy, and robs a woman of her power and spirit needed to regenerate herself during this phase of her cycle."

8. Abortion is bad unless there is "just cause" for it. It's also against the "Law" to experiment on deceased people, including fetuses, or to desecrate the dead or sell people's body parts for profit. Ok, well, what about people who donate their body to science? And what is "just cause" for an abortion, anyway?

9. Don't steal or covet another person's material posessions or personal religious regalia, and for goodness sakes, don't kidnap family members. Apparently the creator hates that.

10. Don't hurt nature. Respect the earth.

Ok, well, while I agree with not doing a lot of these things, some of them, such as the "laws" regarding women, are kind of hard to live by. If I cook some food while I'm on my period, am I going to be tormented by vengeful spirits and die? I seriously don't think so. If The Creator hates such things, why are we allowed to do them? If these are "Natural Laws", why are they not engrained, naturally, into our minds at birth? And, apparently, they apply to everyone, whether they know it or not. He has 20 case studies in the book about people who didn't even know they were violating these natural laws either died or became very sick from it. For example, men who had sex with women on their mensus got prostate cancer. Or a woman who was molested became ill because the spirits were mad at her. What kind of spirits would torment a victim? If The Great Creator didn't want us to do certain things, then we wouldn't be able to do them. For example, I can't fly by flapping my arms, I don't know anyone who can, so a Natural Law would be, human beings can't fly by flapping their arms. We just can't.

So, overall, this is a good work of fiction (or seriously embellished fact), but I REALLY, honestly, and truely hope that nobody takes these laws seriously. Modern women these days just don't have the time to sit in a hut for 5 days a month.

I totally enjoyed reading this book. Bobby Lake-Thom gave us a wake up call to return to the old ways of our ancestors. He provided us with the knowledge of the Creator's Natural Laws, which some have forgotten or no longer choose to follow. He gives us examples of what might occur if one chooses to ignore the laws. And how a Native Healer can aid in returning a person into balance.
He shows us the path of the Native Healer is not an easy one. That it demands sacrifice and discipline. Those that are chosen by the Great Creator for this work will under go testing and trials to prepare themselves for their path in life.
Many today are seeking out the Red Road and Native American spirituality. This book will give you insite into these ways.

I bought this book because i thought it would have infrmation about shamanism. It does, kind of... But, not much as it wasn't written for that. It is written more in novel form than anything. If you like May Summer Rain's "Spirit Song" or Dan Millman's Peaceful Warrior books than you will probably like this one.

I was disappointed in this second book and enjoyed the first one (Woodswoman) much more. I had a hard time connecting emotionally with this book and did not feel the same sense of adventure as with the 1st book. I would definitely recommend Woodswoman, but you can skip this book.

I thought this book explained how Anne was feeling in a time of remorse. Being from the country area I too understand how Anne could want to retreat. It's horrifing to see the world of wilderness torn up by business. People walking around on your land, bugging you ever chance they get. Thinking for themselves, and not you and your privacy. It's a shame. I think Annes book explained how alot of us may feel inside. The joy of nature can sure bring out the best in us.

This second installment of the 'Woodswoman' trilogy is a step up in maturity for Dr. LaBastille. "Woodswoman" (one), dealt largely with the purchase of land and the building of a dream cabin on a remote lake. This books becomes more real, as Dr. LaBastille begins to have to worry about trespassing intruders, acid rain and the real threat that the government can pose in this unique environment. Determined not to let these new problems destroy her outlook or her life, Dr. LaBastille begins to build a second cabin - further into the wilderness. Encompassing both the new thrill of building a more isloated respite along with some freinds, brings another insight into Anne LaBastille's life ten years later. Numerous elderly Adirondack guides become great friends, sharing their own stories of the wilderness. A new romance evolves and the author has to deal with the reality of having to deal with both worlds. This book speaks not only of the wilderness, but the grand people that make and keep it unique. Of course, Dr. LaBastille's dogs are always given star treatment and her love of these animals is heartfelt. More refined and a little less naive, this second 'woodswoman' book will break and warm your heart at the same time