This was the first book I have ever read from Ms. Michaels. Unfortunately If I don't love book at first read, than I never read another from same author. I'm not proud of this but that's the way I am. I don't know how this was given five stars from even one reader. I realize not everyone's taste is the same but.. There was a certain section in the book that completely turned me off.. A scene at the airport where Emily was going to go away for a couple of months... She hugged her friends, cried, walked a few steps, came back and hugged them again telling them how much she loved them. She acted as if she was never coming back. Get real! I also think she gave herself too much importance as if everyone was supposed to be in awe of her owning fitness centers. "I'm Emily, of Emily's Fitness Centers..." So what. Then she talks to the ghost of her dead husband. Too wierd for me. I'll stick to Sandra Brown, my favorite.

I have been a fan of Fern Michaels from WAY back, when she was doing romance novels. This book was fantastic! Emily might have felt bad for what happened to her rotten husband, but I didn't! I felt that he got exactly what he deserved. This book showed how easily it can be for a woman to lose herself in her husbands world and lose sight of herself. When they walk away, you are left with "what do I do now" and "who am I" kind of thing. This book showed how one woman put herself and her life back together again, one step at a time. Once you meet Emily, you won't soon forget her!

I am a HUGE Fern Michaels fan, but I must say that Dear Emily is my favorite of Fern's books. This book gives so much hope, and is such a wonderful story. If you have ever battled with your weight, love life, or self esteem, this book is for you. It changed my life. THANK YOU FERN!

Although this book has a reasonable plot line and reasonably well developed characters, it truly needs some editing. The book really drags in places and the misspellings and puncuation mistakes can really irritate after a while. For the price, the book should be more professionally done.

The dialogue of Emily's Gold is one of the main things that makes it fun to read. It is a quick paced suspense novel, with witty characters that bring the story to life. It takes place along the Corpus Christi, Texas water front, with lots of sailing jargon and interesting facts. The story itself keeps you on the edge of your seat, with continous twist and turns, it never slows down. It is a fast read at 180 pages and I recommend it to all who like quick moving mystery/suspense!

Emily's Gold hooks you with curiosity right off the bat. Quickly pulling you into a plot that twist and turns at every avenue. Taking place in the sailing community of Corpus Christi, Texas, the scene is a refreshing change. The characters seem so real, you'll swear you know them and the dialogue has just enough humor to release your tension. A very fast read, with gripping suspense that makes it hard to put down. I think you will find the writer's approach delightful and appreciate his quick moving style. If you enjoy fast action, mystery and suspense, dashed with a little romance, don't miss Emily's Gold!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book aloud to my daughters. It's about a little girl born with a really big voice who after struggling to fit in finds her niche in the world. What is a problem to one person often can be a solution to another. And that's the message I got from this book. Emily's loud voice, while annoying her family to the point that they fear her ability to fit into the world, eventually ends up helping others (from the round kitchen cook who needed help calling the servants, to a sea captain who needed help shouting commands to his crew, to a lighthouse whose light was broken and needed someone to warn ships of the rocks). And the artwork is exceptional - wonderfully rich in color! Give this fun book a read!

Bought this book for my granddaughter who loves to sail. She got right into it. Kids seem to identify with imperfections... so she gets an enormous kick out of Emily's loud voice. And I like the crazy ending...as does she. Life doesn't have to be logical... just fun! I also like being able to explain the nautical terms to her. This is a super book for 4 and 5 year olds.

Loud Emily is an original folk tale with quirky characters and plot, and a surprise ending. We cheer when Loud Emily finds her place among noisy downstairs servants and the boisterous crew of a sailing ship. But we rejoice even more when she comes to be appreciated by her stuffy parents. This is a light-hearted adventure about a girl who goes to sea. It is also a comforting story about finding your own place when you are "different."

I'm perhaps too much of a dummy for this book, but even I realized that the '98 edition seems somewhat outdated in the networking game. Still, it did help reinforce some concepts.

I won't be able to give up on our networking consultant just yet.

This book is perfect for both novice and experienced user alike! It's content is "Right on Target" for small companies getting into this important area! I found it extreemly informative!

I'm a small business owner and I had pretty much given up on understanding networking until someone recommended this book. In a nutshell, if you're not a PC expert but you're smart and you need to set up a network for your office, buy this book. You probably won't do all the work yourself, nor should you, but this book helped me understand the key decisions and what to outsource.

While this is a very well organized collection of FORMS forcompletion by the reader, I was disappointed to find that this bookoffers no advice or suggestions. I would suggest as an alternative, "Everything Your Heirs Need to Know" by Davis Magee and John Ventura, also available at Amazon.com. This contains basically the same forms, plus - it has addditional information regarding many of the topics. END

What a Godsend. Being a widow myself with a husband with no will. I didn't want my loved ones to have to deal with what I did. This was what I needed. I couldn't find any information that wasn't covered in this book. If you worry about what your loved ones might have to go through, or if you want your parent or loved one to have their wishes met. This workbook does it. What a relief.

After using this "journal" or "inventory" for my aging parents, I completed a copy with my family's information. I found it to be very comprehensive and easy to use. It covers financial topics, as you would expect, but also covers information that could easily be overlooked such as detailed funeral decisions, care of pets, hidden valuables in the residence....even who has sets of keys to the house. If you are looking for a way to document all the important information your family would need in the event of your or a loved ones death, this is just the publication.

I just reread it in a collection of Nobel Prize winning authors--their acceptance speeches etc., and this story and "As I Lay Dying" were chosen as examples of his work. This story!!! It's such a mundane little macabre "gotcha" story, over-anthologized for high school students (along with other tired stories like "The Most Dangerous Game"). Faulkner is such an incredible writer--I'm reading Fury in the Dust right now, and his sentences--the Nobel Prize committee described them as being "as powerful as Atlantic rollers". What was he thinking when he wrote "A Rose for Emily"? Obviously not much. Read anything else by him, you'll have a better time.

This is one of those books that are force on you at school. The basic story is of a Southern belle driven mad by isolation and her ties to the past. If this is your first reading of something representative of Faulkner this is the best example, as it is short and the story is intriguing. You can enjoy reading it for what it is and not have to analyze the thing to death. Even if you do not particularly cotton to Faulkner's style or subject matter, this book will transcend both. In 1982 they made this story into a movie with John Houseman and Anjelica Huston.

this book is about a very good short story on the changes of the south during a very representative period!

I'm usually the first person to suggest that romance heroines carry a grudge, and the last to say that it is time to let one go, but this girl was the exception. Her petty, childish temper tantrum got real old, real fast, and turned what was otherwise a delightful, funny book into a whine-fest. His infraction was small, and her revenge was better suited to a seven-year-old child than a functioning adult. Nathan was interesting, but the roamnce peaked too soon, and the whining went on for too long for this book to be a keeper. Pass this one by.

Miss Cassidy Rose McAllister is thoroughly tired of being painted with the same brush as her sister. After all, just because Lila is a madam in the town's whorehouse doesn't mean Cass is a woman of loose morals. So when, after a fracas, Lila is given the choice of a jail cell or exile, Cass formulates a plan that will help them start a new life. The plan is a sound one in her mind, but she never counted on the sparks that would fly when they joined up with a group of straight-laced church-goers on a wagon train headed West. She also never counted on feeling the stirrings of desire for the preacher with angelic good looks and mischievous eyes either. Did she have more in common with her sister and the crew of soiled doves thatn she thought? Or could this be true love?

Nathan Stone was a big believer in second chances. Why else would fate have saved him from a hangman's noose and into the assumed identity of the preacher who was supposed to be leading this groups of religious folks across the country? Determined to make good on his new life, Nathan gets into the role of spiritual leader with zeal. But then the beautiful Cassidy McAllister and her troup of "ladies" join the train, and Nathan is tempted by the lovely woman's seeming innocence and seductive charm. Why couldn't he believe Cass, obviously a lady of questionable virtue, have the same second chance he himself sought? Furthermore, why couldn't they start a new life together?

But soon Nathan's past threatens to rear it's ugly head. How can their tender love survive the web of lies and misunderstandings?

I was intrigued by the concept of this book. This leans more toward an "ensemble cast" type story, as the lovely secondary characters, who are well-drawn, totally overshadow the story between Cass and Nathan. The time the hero and heroine do spend together is mostly spent fighting. I wanted to see more actually happening with them, by themselves. Ms. Carmichael has a quick wit and capacity to catch a reader's interest with great personalities. The story, while still a worthwhile read, would be stronger if more time was spent on Nathan and Cass working together to solve their conflict.

Take a man on the run from the law, a wagon filled with 'ladies of the night,' several more filled with a small-town congregation set on journeying to Oregon, mix it all with the author's highly entertaining storytelling and one has the makings of a fun and entertaining spell of reading.

Nathan Stone, a man wanted for a crime he didn't commit, cheats fate and the noose and goes on the run, appropriating the identity of a preacher who'd had the misfortune of being attacked by Indians. Nathan becomes Rev. Homer Pernell, takes on the responsibility of guiding the god-fearing folk to Oregon, and figures life is good. Until Lila McAllister and her 'girls' join the wagon train as part of a deal cut with the sheriff of Webster, Kansas, whose advances Lila had previously rebuffed. He won't press trumped-up charges against Lila if she and her band of brothel beauties clear out for good. In with the group is Cass, Lila's younger sister and an innocent despite her 'home life.'

On the trail to Oregon, 'Rev.Pernell' begins to have some devilish thoughts about the young Ms. McAllister, which she reciprocates after time. But just when things were looking up for the Rev. and Cass, Fate steps in again. Only this time the results aren't nearly as fortunate. What ensues is a series of events that forces the young couple to do some serious soul-searching as they come to grips with circumstances, learning what's really important in life and, for Cass, learning the art of forgiveness.

I loved this book. I laughed, a lump formed in my throat a couple of times and I seriously contemplated taking a vacation day so I could finish the book. Like Ms. Carmichael's previous releases (FINDING MR. RIGHT and A GHOST FOR MAGGIE), JEZEBEL'S SISTER is an entertaining, satisfying romance that I highly recommend.

The newly-married Mrs. Pollifax is in the process of fixing up her new home in the country when Bishop appears on her doorstep and offers her another assignment for the CIA. Cyrus is out of town and Mrs. P. must give an immediate answer, so an hour later she is on her way to Hong Kong. Her mission is to contact Sheng Ti, whom she met in an earlier book and find out what is going on at Feng Imports where Sheng Ti is working for an agent named Detwiler. Detwiler's reports to the CIA have proved to be false, so he is suspected of being a counterspy and giving evidence to the enemy. Mrs. Pollifax meets some other interesting characters, including a psychic, and another old friend who is a reformed cat burglar while in pursuit of the truth about Feng Imports. She is captured and suffers from some unnecessarily harsh treatment, probably the reason this is not most people's favorite book of the series.

(Review of the audiotape, no longer available (?) )

Two books after going on safari, Mrs. Pollifax is now married to Cyrus, the gentleman she met on that safari. Marriage, however, doesn't slow her down, as she's sent to Hong Kong to meet up with someone she knew from the previous outing (which unfortunately I have not yet read). Enroute she meets a psychic on the plane, something that disheartened me: not only am I extremely skeptical of psychics, but it's very easy for the writer to use the psychic to effectively perform magic and circumvent plot holes through mysticla means. Not surprisingly, this psychic's ability waxes and wanes according to the author's needs, in one instance finding someone's body in a particular hut in Hong Kong, while, when Mrs. Pollifax is in danger, can only indicate a broad area where she might be - of course, since the book would be over if they could find her!

Other than that, it's another good read, with typically vivid characters both in the text and brought to life by Rosenblat's superb narrative skills. Mildly recommended.

I remember distinctly that my grandmother did not care for this episode in the Pollifax adventures. "Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha" was a little too violent and disturbing for her. I, on the other hand, love it! Thrilling, exciting, never a dull moment. Not for the squeamish!

I can't believe I spent hard earned money on this mind-numbing drivel. The authors have little sense of continutity, endlessly engage in fringe-driven hyperbole, and generally have ignored the needs of the average, non-academic reader. I got more value out of the Pet Rock I bought back in the '70's.

This book has been a great help to me and my family.

I'm a grad student and I found that Bringing The Light Into A New Day very informative. This book should be read by everyone researching the Black family.