Unfortunately, this book is just not quite what I expected.

The excellent action photo of D&H lightning-stripe Alco's passing under the Starrucca Viaduct on the front cover had my expectations high, but it is deceiving. Too many of the photos are stills shot in yard limits as 3/4 view roster shots.

The printing reproduction of this all-color book is excellent, but not enouch artsy action shots or accompanying text to make it a "must have".

Sorry.

For a Delawarean interested in the Civil War, this is a fascinating book.

Written by Capt. Seville, who served in the regiment, this book presents a first person account of the 1st Regiment Delaware Volunteers as they participated in some of the great battles in the East such as Fredricksburg, Anteitam, Gettysburg and others. The book relies heavily on regimantal after battle reports, some of which are printed in their entirety.

The prose is sparse and the story is sparingly told. Nevertheless, this account of the service of one of the best regiments of the Civil War (which suffered tremendous casualties opposite the Bloody Lane at Anteitam and helped repel Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg) is fascinating.

Okay, give this four stars if you are from Delaware or a Delaware junkie.

This book gives an average telling of the story of the Kalmar Nyckel, the ship that brought the first Sweedes to Delaware, and Peter Minuet, the man who captained the effort of the Sweedish Crown to establish a colony in the New World.

I imagine that documents on a subject from the early 1600's are hard to come by. That may explain why the book has gaps and is thin in some places. Still, this is probably the most thorough treatment one is apt to find on the subject.

Being a proud Delawarean, I enjoyed this book.

Having just finished Over The Edge, I can't believe the same author wrote The Web. This book lacks the intensity and drive I've come to expect from Kellerman. I could not get into it and on page 40 or so still nothing of interest had happened. I kept skipping pages, hoping I would get to the "real" story soon, but I didn't. If you are a diehard Kellerman fan, by all means read this book, but don't expect to find the interesting relationship between Milo and Alex or any of the usual psychological intrigue because it's just not there.

This is an extremely quiet, moody book that builds interesting characters in an interesting setting, but doesn't allow much to happen to them. It was my first Kellerman book, and despite my 2-star review, it won't be my last. Ideally, I'd have given it 2.5 stars. It's better than two, but not up to three.

Don't read this book for the mystery. The story deals with an extremely shocking crime, but somehow, the answer to, "Who done it?" is a big, "Who cares?" I think the problem is that the shocking mystery has an extremely pedestrian solution, producing an imbalance between the murder and its solution. That imbalance-which you can sense coming 100 pages in advance--pulls most of the tension out of the plot.

Far more interesting are the book's sub-themes. Kellerman-presumably because of his psychological training-is an astute observer of the dysfunctional manners in which people often interact. And this book is full of dysfunctional relationships, ranging from an embattled couple to an oddly disengaged father/daughter relationship. All of this plays eventually into the finale, but I found watching these people in action to be much more interesting than wondering about what secrets they were hiding.

One note, though, struck badly-not falsely, but irritatingly, in a way I fear might be characteristic of the series. Kellerman's psychologist-detective, Alex, is always addressing other characters by their first names, as in: "I don't think I can do that, Bill," or "Why do you ask, Jo?" That type of first-name engagement helps the reader keep abreast of who's speaking, and it rings true for the psychologist character, but it feels very aggressive. It's as though Alex, by the false intimacy of calling everyone by their first names, is always trying to provoke them. Or maybe he's continuously "shrinking" them. Whatever the reason, after a while I wanted someone to stand up to Alex and make him stop doing it. Since he's otherwise one of the nicer-guy heroes in the detective genre, it's a particularly irritating habit.

This is not Kellerman's grand mastrpiece he was aiming for, but still a decent and enjoyable read! The premise is really original and could have been developed better, but hey cut him some slack! Some reviews out and out blasted him!

Somebody that has never tried writing a novel does not know the difficulty in doing such. People that just read for the pleasure of reading is fine, but the creative process is quite a grind!! So I allow a little lee-way when writing a review. It's not as easy as it looks by a long shot!!

Having said that, Kellerman hits and misses with this one. His characterization is first-rate, but the novel drags a little at times. The action is good and the ending comes fast and furious; our senses are almost overloaded with all the info thrown at us.

Kellerman may have been experiencing a tight deadline opr any number of things, but still worth the price of admission. I don't think Jon could write a truly "bad book" if he tried.

To the skeptics, try writing a novel. Better yet, try to get one published!

I was disappointed in this book. On top of weaknesses pointed out by other reviewers..., the book's Political Correctness got predictable and boring. The heroine blames Whites for the massacre of an Indian tribe, but nothing is said about the massacres American Indians performed on each other. The heroine has a black friend and a Jewish friend and a grandfather "Pappy" and Mom and Dad who are simplistic caricatures. Her dog Max is almost interesting but mostly he just has to be walked at times convenient for seeing The Ghost. All in all: no edge, just bland.

I love this author, especially anything in the Keeping Days series, including the many prequels/sequels. This heroine in this book, Becca Standish Robinson, does have a link to those books - I believe its supposed to be the same Standish family from the books set in Ocean Grove NJ.
This book was good, but didn't measure up to her other works. Some aspects of the book were just odd: take the grandfather, Pappy, who is supposed to be the beloved grandfather. To be blunt, Pappy is a control freak who dictates what the family does. He hides the grandmother's illness until its too late for any family member to return home; be buys a house that the family moves into without consulting the family; etc. Pappy keeps making important decisions and taking control of situations, until the mother and father are reduced to little more than additional children in the family. No one ever objects! Pappy's treatment of other family members -- and the family members passive acceptance of it -- left a bad taste in my mouth.

I really enjoyed this book. I disagree strongly with the opinions in the published editorial review--I'm glad I read the book despite the editorial review's somewhat defensive negativity, because had I skipped it, I would have missed a very good read.

The story is very different from your typical young adult book--it is set in 1999/2000, with the heroine moving from Europe to rural New Jersey after the death of her grandmother. As she makes new friends and adapts to her new home, she learns to come to peace with herself, her family history and the death of loved ones. Along the way, she discovers that she can see the ghost of a Native American ancestor, and ultimately is able to help him find the peace that has eluded him over the years. I found the book to be interesting and somewhat thought provoking, with a very real view of family relationships. Enjoy!

This book is horrible. First it focuses on incorporating in Delaware, and gives you most of the necessary forms for that state as well as basic forms 40 other states (no explanation why 9 states were excluded). These forms and instructions are all downloadable from the states' Web sites anyway, so this book is pretty much useless.

The book also promotes the author's company, which charges very high fees for simple incorporating services.

If you need sample bylaws, etc, get them from "Small Business Kit for Dummies," which has much, much more useful information and many other forms you can use. Don't waste your money on this book like I did.

This book indeed concentrates on Delaware, but does offer incorporation procedures and fees for every state in the USA (as far as I could see, anyway). It's entirely adequate, if extremely lacking in the sort of explanatory babble that one might desire from such a book.

If you want to learn more about incorporation and what it means, look elsewhere. If you want a bare-bones incorporation guide that does cover the ground, is up-to-date and points to a company well-known for pioneering low-cost self-help incorporations, then this is a good book, and your money will have not been spent in vain.

The book is very informative and helpful, and gives the reader a good background on what is required to create a corporation. The weakness of the book is that it focuses on creating a corporation in the State of Delaware. And does not warn the reader of this until they begin reading the book. All the forms and information provided relate to creating a corporation in Delaware. If that is the objective of the reader, then this is a very useful book. If one is planning on creating a corporation in another state then this book may not be very useful.

Dark Shade is about a girl named Maggie Gilmour and how she fells into a hole that goes back in time when there was Indian tribes.It was summer when this all happen.Maggie was 16, in school she takes American literature program that will prepare her to study veterinary medicine, like her dad. In class with her is Kip, a childhood companion,who is now a silent presence, ever since a fire that left him scarred physically and emotionally. She follows Kip into the forest near their western Pennsylvania home.Kip fell into a hole Maggie thought Kip lost her. Maggie falls into the same hole Kip falls in and she notices that every thing is differant from the place she was before she fell into the hole.It is a dark forest and there is lots of trees. Maggie founds out she has falling into time. She sees indians tribes and Kip. he does not want to leave the tribe, but Maggie does want to leave and go back home.Maggie finds she must save a Scots soldier of the War and find a way to free her friend Kip from the Lenape Indians, so they cound go home. At first Kip wants to stay, but every thing started getting rough, like war between the Indians and the French. They get away and they never forget that day they fall in time.

The combination of its story about time travel to the French and Indian War and the Indian adoption of a white teen is what led me to read "Dark Shade." Overall, I was a little disappointed in the book, mainly because I didn't like how tentative the main character, Maggie, was about her time travelling adventures. I think it would have been a more intriguing story if Maggie had been allowed to more fully explore the 18th century world she stumbled in upon. Instead she only makes hestitant steps into it. Maggie's tentative reaction is probably a realistic one, but, since time travel stories are pure fantasy anyway, her reaction is not a particularly interesting one. Also I thought the sudden appearance of romantic feelings between two characters, who barely interact with each other throughout the book, came across as tacked on and contrived.

However, "Dark Shade" does have one great strength- the author's wonderfully detailed description of the primeval forest that once stretched across Pennsylvannia. Thanks to Ms. Curry's description, the reader can almost see, smell, and feel that dark, ancient, and never-ending forest. Also the author reminds the reader that people in the 18th century weren't so big on bathing so that their aroma must have been rather pungent.

Having brought along two guide books on several weekend trips throughout New Jersey this summer, I found "New Jersey Day Trips" by Barbara Hudgins to be a much more comprehensive guide to the Garden State's main attractions and hidden treasures than "Away for the Weekend."

This book is full of many statements concerning acts of the law. If one wishes to read about such things, this is the book for you. If you are not interested in things such as courts, judges and gavels I suggest that you buy another book, not this one.The author uses too many complex words and ends up losing the reader in a sea of nonsense arguements. In the future, I suggest the author include more short stories and funny "law" anecdotes in order to make the book a bit more fun to read.

I found this title to be somewhat disappointing as it is largely yet another general directory of plants with only basic information supplied.