A teenage girl expires her first love. When she injures him by accident she tries to help solve the problem by joining the ball team that he coaches. The young man is very popular and has many female admirers. Does he care about her at all? I found this to be a nice novel about a girl who not only learn about love but also grows and learns about life. I Recommend this book for a girl who is around 14-16 years of age.

She Shook Him Up- Bad!

When Kara Selwyn inherited half of the Sundowner, a shabby watering hole on the Gulf of Florida she planned to sell it- fast. Until her new partner, rough hew Nick Fleming, put his foot down. Kara wasn't threatened by the rumors of his dark and dangerous past- she'd have her way. But with Nick's rugged charm, she wouldn'd mind if he had his way with her.

Nick was sure Kara was bent on turning his simple life upside down. First, she'd wanted to scrap his beloved bar. Next , she'd ripped the place apart with her artsy renovation ideas. Now, Nick found himself falling for this fiesty fireball. The problem was... they could only get along in bed.

A very well written book. The dialog is very snappy between Sweet Amity and the Captain. There is a little sex and it is handled very tastefully. I liked this book so much the cover is falling off!

John Harper's "Tent Pegs and 2nd Lieutenants" is an easy read. His style gives the reader a good feeling for what went on during the early 1950's when the U.S. Marines were tackling the North Koreans in hand to hand combat. Mr. Harper has a knack for giving the reader a good feeling for the very thorny situations some of the squads found themselves in as they battled to take and hold strategic bits of land from the North Koreans. One gets a good feeling for the characters involved and the conditions they experienced. I enjoyed a re-read as much as I did the first time I picked it up.

Nile Harper wrote the book in the late 60's on what works in effective urban churches. He has done it again. He presents the stories of 28 congregations who have moved beyond in-turned care of parishioners and whining about lack of resources and denominational disinvestment, to develop extensive ministries of charity, social service and social justice. Through these case presentations he illustrates the 15 "vital signs" of effective urban congregations. The central keys have been high-energy culturally- appropriate worship, bold visions, commitment of leadership to stay for the long-term, engaging the existing assets of leaders and neighbors, and community building with an entrepreneurial spirit and willingmess to take risks and form creative partnerships. The framework of the book makes learnings very accessible. Each chapter, on a specific congregation, ends with a concise bulleted listing of learnings. In his closing comments Harper presents a somewhat helpful typology differentiating between charity, service and justice. This typology fails to directly address the long-standing debate between conflict/issue mobilization community organizing and consensus-oriented community developing modes of intervention, seemingly combining these strategies under the category of "justice." The choice of cases presented leans heavily toward large churches which began small, with less inclusion of those which have remained small but effective. But these deficits do not impede the usefulness of the resource. Harper ends with a good set of questions for group study, which a congregation might use along with other resources to plan its own path.

Great book, easy story to get into, easy to read (in fact it was over too quick!) Good plot twists. This story takes place in a small town that is described so good it makes it very easy to picture. There are parts that made me laugh out loud while it's actually a mystery/drama combination kind of story.

Belva Plain is one of those authors who I still insist upon reading. But now, after finishing After the Fire, I may very well pass on reading her books in the future. Known for her blockbuster hit, Evergreen and the continuation of this family saga, some years ago Plain ventured into more contemporary subjects. I for one sure whish she hadn't especially after reading this book and others like Homecoming and Fortune's Hand among other titles. Concentrating on issues like spousal abuse, blackmail, family issues, adultery and child abuse, I still long to read a book like Evergreen or even one like her more recent Legacy of Secrets which was her last good book.

The theme of After the Fire is once again rich girl marries poor doctor man and whle their lives shoulde picture perfect, they're not. And in one moment the husband is in a postion not only to divorce his wife but also to sue for custody of their children. The remaninder of the book is predictable but all the while I wondered why the woman didn't pursue his allegations and clear her name.

I'm sorry I can't wholeheartedly recommend this book even as a beach read and am still longing for another great read from Belva.

Belva Plain is one of those authors who I still insist uon reading. But now, after finishing After the Fire, I may very well pass on reading her books in the future. Known for her blockbuster hit Evergreen and the continuation of this family saga, some years ago Plain ventured into more contemporary subjects. I for one sure wish she hadn't especially after reading this book and Homecoming and Fortune's Hand among other titles. Concentrating on today's issues liek spousal abuse, black mail, family issues, adultery and child abuse, I still long to read a book like Evergreen or even her more recent Legacy of Secrets which was her last good book.

The theme of After the Fire is once again rich girl marries poor doctor man and while their lives should be picture perfect, they're not. And in one moment the husband is in a position not only to divorce hsi wife but also sue her for custody of their children. The remainder of the book is predictable but all the whiel I wondered why the woman didn't pursue his allegations.

I'm sorry I can't recommend this book, even as a beach read and am still longing for another great read from Belva.

This is the story of the marriage of Hyacinth and Gerald. Hyacinth is a romantic, naïve, young artist who believes in true love and in the integrity of Gerald; her new husband fresh out of medical school. Gerald has big plans for the future and a need for the society that Hyacinth's family can provide. Hyacinth's needs are those of any wide-eyed young girl who has lived in the shadow of a beautiful mother. She needs only the true love that she doesn't believe she truly deserves.

The reader enters Hyacinth's world, feels her trust in the man she loves, and lives her heartbreak as the marriage slowly dissolves, taking her children with it in an ugly divorce based on blackmail. We follow Hyacinth as she finds the courage to make her way alone, while grieving for her children and for the comfort and warmth of the home she had made with them. Her intense love for Gerald turns to hate and to a fierce determination to get her children back. In After the Fire, Belva Plain skillfully weaves the tendrils of suspense in a story filled with joy, betrayal, sadness, and ultimate victory!

This is the 6th Lisa Scottoline book I have read and except for some loose ends and sometimes the language, I think it is the best one I have read. Bennie Rosato is a very good lawyer, she is contacted by Alice Connolly who claims to be her twin. Alice is in jail for a murder she says she did not do. Bennie takes the case and then begins to uncover a conspiracy between the cops involved an attorney and even the judge. A retired cop, named Lou, is very helpful. I hope he is used again. The case goes to trial, you don't know until the last if Connolly is guilty or not or is she is a twin to Rosato or not.And after the trail, what happenes to Connolly. It all has a very good twist to the ending, at least one I did not expect. The action moves better than some of her other books and I enjoyed it very much. Would love to write the ending as it is very shocking but you will have to read the book.

Don't miss this book if you enjoy a good, fast-paced read with a legal bent to it. The review from Kirkus Associates does a much better job of describing the book than I can, so I'll leave that to them. Had never read any of Lisa Scottoline's novels before, but after finishing MISTAKEN IDENTITY, I immediately ordered her previous novel, ROUGH JUSTICE.

Ms. Scottoline's characters are real, and it doesn't take long to realize that she writes from personal experience and observation. She has been described as the " female John Grisham," but that description doesn't do her justice. Like Grisham, her past legal experience has paid off with her ability to create some very believable characters.

Lisa also has an interesting Web site at http://www.scottoline.com. and it's worth the visit to learn a bit more about the author. You'l' find a message board and online reviews there as well. That's where I found out that MISTAKEN IDENTY has evidently been optioned for development into a television series.

Looking forward to reading all of her previous novels.

"Mistaken Identity" is Lisa Scottoline's sixth and best book yet. This former Edgar Award winner gets better with every novel. "Mistaken Identity" and "Rough Justice", her previous novel, bring back previous heroines -- Bennie Rosato, Mary DiNunzio, and Judy Carrier. It is most enjoyable to see the character of each of these three lawyers continue to develop.

In "Mistaken Identity", Lisa makes excellent use of her legal background to depict courtroom scenes as only a lawyer could. The plot itself is unique in that Bennie finds herself defending a prisoner, Alice Connolly, who claims to be Bennie's twin. Although the book is almost 500 pages, it is an extremely fast read. As in all of her novels, the suspense is non-stop, from beginning to end.

In her "Acknowledgements", Lisa reveals that she did not discover until she was in her thirties that she had a half-sister. So, the book has a special meaning for her. She has meticulously researched the subject of twins and provides the reader with five references for additional information.

Lisa has a marvelous website . Months ago, readers were given an opportunity to edit the first chapter of "Mistaken Identity". This additional dimension to Lisa's creativity further bonds the reader to an outstanding author.

Travelling in China is not easy, to say the least. While my 3-week visit to China was an unforgettable experience, it was laden with all kinds of frustrations. This book makes things a bit easier on the traveler. Its accuracy is good, even though this edition is getting a bit dated -- due to this the information containted in the book was occasionally incorrect. But never fear -- a new edition should be out any day now.

One of the people that I was travelling with brought his copy of the Let's Go guide, and we felt that the books complemented each other nicely. However, I felt that the Lonely Planet guide was more detailed and just better overall. The advice is useful and usually fairly precise. However, I did not appreciate how opinionated and cynical the book was when presenting the history of the regions and the description of landmarks. When travelling in a country as different from the western world as China, it is important to keep an open mind -- something that this book has definitely not done.

I should note that the book was missing some much-wanted precision. Sometimes if a landmark was pinpointed on the map, the precise address for it was not given in the text. Some landmarks that appeared on the map were not even mentioned in the text.

All in all, this is a fairly good and useful book -- I would not describe it as spectacular. I am looking forward to seeing whether the new edition will be a significant improvement over this one.

This book is a must-have, must-buy if you are planning a trip to China. If you don't speak Chinese, the book is terrific. It contains all of the commonly used phrases for every situation that you could possibly encounter in China. In addition, it has extraordinarily detailed directions on how to travel within the country. Almost every tourist you will meet has a Lonely Planet in hand.

It is true that there are no equivalents of this book within China and the people that I have met there think that the book is very thorough. In general, most people in China do not get to travel a great deal so there are not a lot of travel books in China. I would recommend all Lonely Planet books for travel throughout Asia.

the reviewer from ottowa, ontario canada was way off. this book is the swiss army knife of practical knowledge concerning how to survive, get around, and even have a great time in the massively complex and ever-changing world that is china. granted, the book has a cheeky, irreverant air to it, but believe me when i say this humor came as a great psychological boost at times. i know, i travelled extensively in china for 1 year and also lived in shanghai. i went there speaking no chinese at all and managed to learn to speak passably well by the time i had to leave.

let's be realistic; it is impossible to fit all of china into 1 book. shanghai alone could fill a book this size, but what lonely planet sacrifices in up-to-the-minute nightlife coverage in major cities (this purpose is served far better by english city mags) and historical information (not to mention pretty pictures) it more than makes up for with it's sheer volume of practical information from all over china. how to get to, tour, eat, sleep, and even attempt to get off the beaten track (becoming really hard in china) at any location in this massive country.

i sincerely believe it would take a lifetime for a single individual to compile this much information.

this book isn't perfect, some info is out-of-date, but if you're going to china, it is indispensible.

After being totally delighted by "Back When We Were Grownups" and "A Patchwork Planet", I eagerly ordered "Breathing Lessons" expecting it to be even better since it won the Pulitzer prize. I loved the first two books because the characters were so wonderfully human. By no means perfect, they managed to be lovable despite their flaws. Their daydreams and moods and perceptions were very recognizable to me. I also thought that the situations they found themselves in, though perhaps a bit on the quirky side, were quite realistic. I found the characters in "Breathing Lessons" annoying and unappealing for the most part and the plotline farfetched. I don't know how two people who got along as poorly as Maggie and Ira could possibly stay married for 28 years. They belong in "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" more than in a novel by Anne Tyler. Their lives come off as dreary, depressing and pointless. I kind of liked Maggie but I found myself wondering about her contact with reality. I thought Ira was meanspirited and moody for the most part, and his treatment of his son Jesse was horrifying. I think Maggie and Ira are lucky Jesse is only an unmotivated slacker and not a mass murderer considering the emotional and verbal abuse Ira dishes out to him. My other complaint about this book is that none of the action really rang true. I mean how many people manage to crash their car twice in one day by mistaking the gas peddle for the brake and not have their driver's license revoked? Why is Maggie estranged from Fiona and Leroy in the first place? How many people would be willing or able to perform at a funeral without any prior notice or practice? Just to mention three of the many unlikely situations in this book. I'm glad that "Breathing Lessons" was not my first experience with Anne Tyler because I'm afraid it would also have been my last.

Many reviews refer to Maggies as a hopeless but well intentioned character. I found her actions at times bordering on cruelty particularly in her treatment of Fiona. Fiona, teenaged and pregnant, living away from her mother and incredibly vulnerable was manipulate and plain lied to by Maggie - and what for? So Maggie could become a grandmother and have a sense of self - worth and so also she could feel that her son was somehow noble and sweet - injecting herself into her son's and her daughter-in-law's lives. The saddest thing ever in the book was Jesse's failure to make the cradle - the supposed promise that he would - Maggie's lies about Jesse's intentions was the clincher for Fiona in making her decision to continue the pregnancy. Maggie cannot accept that her son is a loser who sends child support payments many months late and her attempt to encourage Fiona back to him when she has gotten on with her life is cruel in the extreme - not to mention for the little girl. We discover when disaster strikes that Jesse has been seeing another girl anyway - thanks to Ira's outbursts. How can Maggie possibly justify the fact that her son never visits or seems to wish to play in any role in his daughter's life. All the characters in this book made me cringe and the only one I felt any sympathy for was Fiona - as for Maggie - she just needed a few good hard slaps (not that I condone violence!!).

As I was reading others' reactions to this novel, I found that many complained about Maggie's annoying character and how her scatterbrainedness seemed to detract from the story. Although I have to agree that this character enraged me at points in the story, I would also like to inform these critics that IF AN AUTHOR CAN CHARACTERIZE A PERSON IN THE STORY SO WELL THAT A READER IS REPULSED BY HER, SHE CERTAINLY DESERVES RECOGNITION, and this is the conclusion I have come to in my process of assessing this novel for my English class. Yes, it went slow; yes, the characters were sometimes aggravating. But Tyler's books are some of the most skillfully written which I have ever had the experience of reading. She reinforces the sacred institution that marriage is, gives us a model in Ira's patience, and shows us how important a person at whom you can, as Serena told Maggie, steal a glance when others are bothering you and you can't complain out loud. Rather than complaining because this book isn't the shallow, exciting "story" that typical readers expect, let's praise Anne Tyler for her skill.