We are foster/adopt parents and this book was really helpful. It was the first book I read in our venture to foster troubled children. I have in fact read this book twice. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels they need guidance with severely troubled children and their lack of attachment.

This book focuses on the journey of a child from the birth home through adoption. Hughes explores the reactions of the child, child welfare system, foster parents/foster siblings and eventually the adoption decision. It is one of the best books that takes a hard look at what a childs journey can be and interfaces all of the agencies and therapists that children encounter through placement. It is a very real look at a child that is hurt and damaged because "professionals" do not understand or support children and the people that care for them through that same journey. Hughes does a very good job at providing guidance and options for children within the system.

Having been raising children with attatchment issues for more than 17 years, I was totally thrilled to find this book. It gave true insight to what one deals with when they choose to raise a child with attachment disorder an describes the child's perspective as well. I have bought 2 copies for myself, so I can loan one out (which I have several times) and I have helped others to order the book so they could learn and help heal these children as well. THANK YOU Dr. Hughes for your good work and commitment to these children with such hurting souls.

Having recently been detained on a flight from the East to West Coast, I started reading Past Recall and the 3 1/2 hour delay was transparent to me as this compelling story had me transfixed and transported to another place and another time.

As it happens, I know the area of southern France in which the events of the modern-day heroine and her mysterious colleague travel in pursuit of the truth behind the persecution and genocide of a little-known religous sect known as the Cathars. Nita Hughes brings the place alive and makes me want to return and retrace the path of the heroine.

The historical details and elements of suspense are wonderfully balanced and make for an entertaining and educational literary journey coupled with hints of the many charms of the area in wine, cuisine and accommodations. Past Recall would make a terrific play in the style of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia or an HBO miniseries.

It's a fast read, especially since the plot builds to a crescendo and then leaves you wanting more. If your cup of tea is mystery, spritualism, travel, romance and suspense, this is the book for you!

"Past Recall is a compelling and thought provoking story. Set in Southern France, it blends 13th Century secrets of the Cathar religion with a modern day conspiracy. The insight and passion of the author Nita Hughes is palpable and adds significantly to the felicity of the reader. This enthralling novel is a must to read and I would rate it up there with The DaVinci Code."

Nita Hughes' debut novel is a fascinating journey to discover an ancient connection between love and wisdom. It incorporates two stories that are interwoven between the 13th Century and modern day France. We learn about the mystery and magic of the Cathars, an enlightened group of people who were massacred during the Inquisition. We discover that their cultural extinction was justified by those in power because they were said to control a treasure that could transform the world. In the story, this treasure is meant to be rediscovered in today's troubled world, but the same dark forces that tried to extinguish the light in the past are still present on our planet. Their desire to own the secrets create a tale of danger, romance, and spiritual wisdom that keeps the reader spellbound.

I wish they had a 4.5 rating because in my opinion this book was exactly that. It took me all of one day to read; this page turner! During the first chapter my thoughts were that this book was simplistic and for young adults. As I continued to read I realized that many questions about life choices were revealed.

Charis, a senior in college, has many decisions to make-do I pledge the sorority that my great-grandmother founded; do I go to law school as expected; do I move to New York or Washington as my friends wish; do I forgive and see this triflin' man that broke my heart again, do I squeal on my sosority sisters. It was almost too much for one person to bear. Life choices, how do we choose? Am I making the correct decision?

Ms. Hughes was able to draw the reader into Charis' world and make this reader reflect back to my college days, my pledge process and the after affects. I found myself asking "why did I pledge?" "What were my motivations, expectations?" This book also touched on some of the class issues within the AA community. Also, the portrayal of the secondary characters, parents, relatives, friends and other students, was great.

I recommend this book to current college students, college-bound students and us ole' school folks who have been there. Good work Ms. Hughes!

I was a little skeptical about reading another book about the sorority experience, because in the past, the books I read didn't appear to target an audience beyond 18-24 years of age. So I was pleasantly surprised that Walking The Line by Althea Hughes was an engrossing and compelling page turner which I finished in one sitting and it was a really good story. Hughes provides a realistic and accurate portrayal of the sorority experience but more importantly it could have been about any experience. After close examination of the main character, Charisma(aka Charis) Alexander she is literally walking a very fine line between following her dreams and pleasing herself or following the steps of others and pleasing them.

Charis is forced to make many decisions through her coming of age process...one of the most crucial decisions at the moment is whether or not she will jeopardize her 4.0 GPA by pledging her senior year of college. If it were left to Charis she would postpone pledging any sorority forever...afterall what's the big deal? Well, to Charis mother it's a very big deal. Afterall, the women in Charis family are all Rho Kappa Delta sorors with a family legacy and history that "pressures" all female relatives to become RKD sister. Kyra , president of RKD, knows of Charis' family legacy and coerces Charis into pledging. What ensues is a rollercoaster pledging experience with a cast of characters who will have you LOL, shaking your head, screaming out loud and wanting to give a few folks a breakdown.

On a serious note, Hughes writing/message does more than entertain. Hughes provides a three-dimensional view of Charis so that we see her making decisions regarding her future career, her trifling boyfriend, negotiating peace among her divorced parents and really coming to self-realization about who is Charis. Also the secondary characters represented duality. Kyra and Briana are polar opposites, as were Randall and Sean, and Charis's parents William and Anna. But Charis seem to always be in the middle of all of these relationships. In the end, Charis' realizes that she must follow her own moral code, she must follow her heart and create her own path through life.

Walking the Line is far more than initiation, pledging and hazing it's about growing up and making your own decisions. Thanks Ms. Hughes for a wonderful and insightful debut novel.
I look forward to more creatively crafted and refreshing storylines from you in the future.

Walking The Line by Althea Christina Hughes was truly a wonderful book to read. When I saw the book, the title alone caught my attention. I was totally impressed by Ms. Hughes' story line of college life and sororities. It actually brought back memories of my long forgotten college days.

What I enjoyed most about the book is how easily you could identify with the characters and their quest for belonging. Reading this book brought smiles, laughs, vindication, and finally tears.

Ms. Hughes' novel portrays a typical college senior who has waited until her senior year to pledge her mother's sorority with little, if any, enthusiasm. Her family are dedicated Rho Kappa Delta Sorors, with a family legacy and tradition that insist all female members become RKD sorors.

Charisma, who prefers being called Charis, is a 4.0 senior pondering with the decision, after graduation, to either go to law school and become a lawyer like her father, or become a playwright, which is

what she truly wants to do. Kyra, president of the sorority, who hates Charis and knows of her family's legacy, coerces her into pledging the Rho Kappa Delta. She's manipulative, conniving, controlling and Charis' worse nightmare. Kyra is also the person Charis' former boyfriend was secretly seeing while being with her, which hurt Charis very much. Randall, Charis' former boyfriend, is a playa, who does not realize he's being played also, until it's too late.

The story revolves around walking the line which is pledging and hazing. Although hazing has become illegal, RDK feels it's still necessary to truly weed out those who are not strong and true RKD material. So they secretly continue to haze.

The novel is about Charis' struggle along with others, walking the line and the hazing they must endure. She also has to struggle with her parents' issues which includes her father, a successful attorney, who leaves his law practice to open a bookstore which causes a separation with Charis' mother, who enjoys the elite lifestyle, but has a secret of her own.

Charis' classmates are a unique cast of characters that will make you laugh, say what, shake your head, and cheer on. Sean, studying to become a doctor of natural medicine, admires and loves Charis, and will patiently wait for her to reciprocate those same feelings. Briana, Charis' roommate, who plans to become a world class journalist, makes it her business to collect the "dirt" on everyone on campus and even goes to the point of keeping files. LaTasha, who takes hazing to the max, has among other things, shoplifting issues. Angela just wants to belong and become a RKD. Desiree, Angela's roommate, is a wannabe RKD and soon makes waves when she is not invited to walk the line. Terrene, also a wannabe RKD and not invited, has socializing issues causing people to dislike her, which is her way of getting the attention she longs for. The finale will make you truly understand the turmoil of belonging and being a part of an elite sorority with devastating results.

Overall, Walking The Line is a mixture of college life and the coming of age to being true to self. Ms. Hughes' novel is one you will truly enjoy. I highly recommend it and give it a RAW rating of 5.

I really enjoy Ms. Nesbit's written works. It is quite a shame that she can't write anymore. Although I liked this one a lot, I was a little disappointed by it because it lacked the charming fairy tale sort of feel that many of her children's books have. However, the story was quite wonderful, and I particularly loved the realistic scene of the children that the reader is given. I highly recommend this book to Edith Nesbit's fans, as well as people that enjoy a touch of mystery, mixed with a child's view of life.

I like the Railway Children a lot,especially how the author told the story. I liked Bobbie because there is something different about her,she was helpful and sweet at the same time. I am wondering where the dog James went? Other than that, the story was great!

I remember in The Railway Children that Bobbie, Peter and Phylls had a dog named James. I was wondering, what ever happened to James? In the book Phyllis is the best person to me because she is accident prone. In the story the kids lives change a lot from the city to the country. They make new friends on the railway.It was a great book. I still wonder..."What happened to James...."

Like The Hours, the recent prize-winning novel that both evoked and described author Virginia Wolff, this novel Wintering not only includes poet Sylva Plath as a character, it evokes her poetic voice and spirit. I admired the skillful way Kate Moses wove in bits of images that reflect the style of Plath's poetry and journals. While the story is written very much from Plath's point of view, the overall picture of her life it paints also honors many of the threads that Plath's husband Ted Hughes ran through his Birthday Letters poems. Interestingly enough, the novel accommodates both those who believe Plath was a victim and those who believe she was heroic.

This is likely to join The Hours as one of my all-time favorite novels. Initially I found the "jumping around" of the chapter settings in Wintering to be a bit off-putting, but I quickly settled down to be fully engaged by the quality of the writing and the intensity of the story. By the last page of Wintering, the outcome is inevitable and the emotional experience is full and complete, as it was in Plath's own version of Ariel and in The Hours as well as Wolff's Mrs. Dalloway.

'Wintering' covers the last months of the poet Sylvia Plath as she struggles to find her footing after the painful betrayals of people she trusted. While Plath's story is both famous and dramatic, it is also the story of every woman who has ever been married or mothered small children. Author Kate Moses understands this and it is in the small, seemingly mundane details of Plath's daily life as a mother that she really comes alive.

Kate Moses has given us a beautifully rendered novel that will become one of the special and beloved books that women pass hand to hand - to friends, sisters, and mothers. I know that I plan to give a copy to each of the most important women in my life.

Highly recommended.

Katie Allison Granju
Author of 'Attachment Parenting' (Pocket Books/1999)

Most readers who come to this book will already be familiar with the basic story of poet Sylvia Plath, her doomed marriage to author Ted Hughes, and her suicide at age thirty. In "Wintering," one of the Ariel poems, written in the four months before her death in February, 1963, Plath depicts the "real and bloody sacrifice" of this marriage, according to author Kate Moses, "not bodies piled in a mountain pass but her life...the truths fanning out a page at a time."

Kate Moses recreates the heart, soul, and psyche of Sylvia Plath in her extraordinary debut novel, Wintering. In preparation for this novel, Moses read virtually every piece of Plath's writing, and most, if not all, of the resource material about Plath. So completely has she distilled this material and incorporated it into the book that the reader feels as if s/he is actually entering the mind of Plath, a Plath who is speaking and reminiscing, conjuring up events, aching, dreaming, and hoping. Astonishingly, Moses achieves this without ever deviating from a third person narrative and without ever speaking as Plath herself.

Organizing the novel around the poems which make up the Ariel collection, all written in the last four months of Plath's life, Moses creates a fictional narrative using as chapter titles the names of poems from Ariel, each chapter including some of the imagery from these poems and the subject matter from Plath's life which parallels them. Moses does this naturally, without calling attention to this specific image in that poem, or this event at such and such a point in Plath's life, simply letting the narrative unfold in parallel with the essence and imagery of the poems, a process which feels, remarkably, as if it's unfolding of its own accord. The poems which serve as the impetus to each chapter live on after forty years, continuing to speak to the reader across time and space, and Moses wisely keeps her own narrative in the present tense, suiting her style to that of Plath's poetry. Like the poems, the chapters sieze on images and events in random order, making Moses's achievement in creating a real and memorable narrative out of the creative chaos truly daunting.

This not really a novel about Plath, so much as it is a novel in which Plath reveals herself, something she does to even greater effect in her poetry. Because of this, I would strongly urge the reader to find a copy of Plath's Ariel to read in concert with Moses's Wintering. Images from the poems take on added significance when they are repeated and expanded in Moses's narrative; likewise, events from the narrative shed light on some of the intense but sometimes unfocused feeling in the poems. When one knows about the lives of Plath and Ted Hughes and can see the significance in their lives of the repeating images of bees, apples, the moon, food, the earth, and life cycles, their symbolic importance in both the poems and narrative grows, and the reader gains new insights. This is a remarkable novel based on the life and poetry of Sylvia Plath, one which will undoubtedly bring new readers and new appreciation to Plath on the fortieth anniversary of her death at age thirty. Mary Whipple

I first found out about this novel when I was assigned it for my book report. I kept glancing back at the front cover to match it with the part of the book I was at. (I found out about this place while doing reseach for the book report.) I was a bit confused in the beginning about "Guardian" and the other things Olwen (The Keeper, and the main character of the story) was talking about. In the middle/end everything started to make sence, and that's when I really stared to get into the book and could not put it down. I thought that it was exhilarating at times. I hope to read more of Monica Hughes books soon. I think I would suggest this to anyone who enjoys a good book and anyone that can read!(by the way I'm in grade six but this book is suitable for younger/older readers aswell) I would write more but i do not want to give away the story, so please, read "The Keeper Of The Isis Light" !

This is one of the BEST books I ever read. It's about a girl named Olwen who has been stranded on a planet far from the earth when her parents died. Her only companions are Guardian, a humanoid robot, Hobbit, her pet "dog", and the small creatures of the planet. Olwen has never come into contact with another human for at least 10 years, and when the space shuttle lands on her planet, conflicts arise. In one of the new settlers to the planet, Olwen finds love and companionship. This is a really heart wrenching book that you won't be able to put down. You'll finish it in one sitting--I know I did.

A must-read for any teen or pre-teen, especially those struggling with the age-old problem of appearances in society and what their peers think of them! Olwen, having grown up on Isis under the protection of Guardian for 16 Earth years, has no reason to see herself as "different" until the Earth settlers arrive. Still under Guardian's protection, she does see herself as beautiful; her beauty is functional and has helped her survive. What ensues in the story is mind-opening and riveting for anyone who has dealt with discrimination, being ostracized for being "different," or being rejected by a loved one for something you can't change. I wish I'd read this as a teen! Hughes has touched on an issue that is a common and enduring problem.

A NEW ATTITUDE is warm-hearted and funny with a bizarre beginning!

Marilee Abernathy's minister husband deserts her for a floozy, and her adolescent son goes with him. Depressed, she plans an unbelievably inept attempt at suicide. When the fake-wood ceiling beam that she's slung her thin drapery cord over crashes to the floor, her gorgeous next-door neighbor comes to her rescue. Marilee quickly recognizes that suicide is not the answer. Instead, she decides to be strong for her son and show the people of Chickpea, South Carolina that she's made of stronger stuff and launches forth with a new attitude.
An attitude that helps her file for divorce, find a job in a funeral parlor in her small town of Chickpea, South Carolina, seek custody of her son, take in a pregnant teen, and find love with the bad-boy-next-door she longed for in high school.

Sam Brewer, who rushed to Marilee's rescue, recognizes her as the girl he had a high school crush on. Sam, a reformed bad boy, has sold his business and moved home to take care of his elderly mother. Although Sam has enough problems of his own - his mischievous, matchmaking mother and a clinging ex-wife, he can't stop himself from being drawn into Marilee's problems.

The romance between Sam and Marilee is there, but A NEW ATTITUDE is more about strong women finding personal empowerment. Charlotte Hughes blends macabre humor with real life issues like divorce, teenage pregnancy, divorce, and child custody to create an entertaining, funny story.

When her minister husband deserts her for a floozy, and her adolescent son goes with him, staid Marilee Abernathy is so depressed, she tries to take her own life. Don't let that rather shocking idea dissuade you from reading this wonderful book, though. Marilee clearly is not deadly serious about killing herself, because she uses thin drapery cord slung over a weak, fake-wood ceiling beam in an extremely unsuccessful attempt to hang herself.

When her sexy neighbor, Sam Brewer, rushes over in response to Marilee's screams, she is so humiliated at his witnessing the scene of her failed suicide, it sparks a determination in her to launch back into life. Many funny and touching situations ensue with the advent of Marilee's New Attitude: she finds a job in a funeral parlor in her small town of Chickpea, South Carolina, seeks custody of her son, takes in a pregnant teen, and, best of all, finds love with gorgeous Sam, the bad-boy-next-door she longed for in high school, who has matured into a warm, caring man.

If you love romances set in a small town with a raft of engaging, colorful characters, you will really enjoy this comedy by a truly talented author.

THIS WAS THE FIRST BOOK BY CHRLOTTE HUGHES THAT I READ, BUT IT DEFINATELY WON'T BE THE LAST! I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE WHO WNJOYS A TOUCHING ROMANCE WITH PLENTY OF HUMOR AS WELL!

In spite of the editorial errors in the book (blame IBM Press) and the rather pointless pedantic goings-on in these reviews about the use of the word "quality", this is a most worthwhile manual. Hargis presents her strategy of ensuring that technical documents reflect accuracy, clarity, completeness, concreteness, organization, retrievability, style, task orientation and visual effectiveness. She devotes a chapter to each concept and offers relevant examples to show aspiring tech writers how to apply the concepts to their own work. This is not just a grammar book; it is a well thought out set of tactics that help generate a worthwhile technical document. I'd like to see future editions of this expand into the area of data gathering and instructional system design. Nevertheless, the concepts Hargis describes here are worthwhile, as is this book.

This is a self-explanatory book for people that have to write information (mostly technical) for others: books, manuals, online info, papers, etc. It has even comments for presentations.

It includes advice when you expect international audience (for example, information in the Web), readers that are non-native speakers of English, color-blind people, etc.

It covers lists, tables, charts, colors, figures, and so on. The book works only with before-and-after examples. But it also has first-, second- and third-revision examples.

About the typos, forgive whoever did them, and take advantage of the excellent contents of the book. I highly recommend it.

What a great book! Ms. Hargis has developed a manual that provides readily-accessible and practical information regarding the technical writing process. I actually read (yes, read) this book from cover to cover. Hargis practices what she preaches, by designing a tech writing book with the actual tech writing skills she prescribes. I use this book almost as often as my dictionary and my Microsoft Manual of Style.

One of the most impressive aspects of this book is the vast amount of tech writing examples that can be incorporated into actual documentation. Instead of merely telling the writer what steps to take, Hargis actually SHOWS the writer what to do. How refreshing to read a handbook that actually illustrates tech writing techniques.

The book also provides a multitude of checklists that show the writer the logical progression of the documentation.

A definite must for your stack of books next to your computer.

I don't understand the people who have said they thought this book was slow. I savored every word and didn't want the book to end. Mapson's prose sparkles, and her observations about life, love, and family are witty and funny and oh so true. I also loved the world of the Wilder sisters. The New Mexico setting was wonderfully drawn, and even though I know nothing about horses, I felt a part of that world and understood the feelings of the people in it. This is a wonderful book, the kind I would heartily recommend to my own sisters and daughters. I can't wait to read Ms. Mapson's other books.

As a male reader, I always come away from reading one of Jo-Ann Mapson's books better understanding how women think and feel about love, relationships and....men. In The Wilder Sisters, I particularly enjoyed the family dynamics of Rose and Lily's parents, who operate a horse ranch in Floralee, New Mexico. While there is no actual town of Floralee on the map, I found clues that made me believe we were in Taos--Michael's Restaurant, Sage Bakery, etc. Mapson's strength in painting locales and developing characters is strong and convincing. She doesn't shy away from examining human imperfections, but she doesn't male-bash, either. Austin, the alcoholic vet Rose has a crush on, comes across as a complex, sympathetic character. So does Rose's father, Chance, but I have to say my favorite character was Shep Hallford, the ranch wrangler. In this respect, Mapson's writing belongs right up there with Larry McMurtry--if he wore a skirt.

Mapson's sure hand reveals a story as wild and beautiful as the New Mexico range. She introduces us to the Wilder family, sprung from that land with toungues as sharp as cactus spines and hearts as tough and enduring as the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I loved this novel, and eagerly followed the trials of Rose and Lily, the down to earth daughters of patriarchs Mami and Pop Wilder. This is a marvelous story about love, sibling rivalry and the price one pays for happiness. Ultimately it is about the wanderer finding her way back to the homeland and finally discovering what was once thought to be lost. I highly recommend it.

Throughout his adult life, CS Lewis repeatedly asserted that George MacDonald was his 'master,' his mentor. Without MacDonald's works (and this one in particular), there may never have been a Lewis as we know him. Besides that, MacDonald has heavily influenced such other creators of fantasy as JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams, and GK Chesterton. Madeleine L'Engle calls MacDonald the 'Grandfather' of all who attempt to understand life through fantasy. Indeed, he is a grandfather of modern fantasy of sorts.

This particular novel had a profound impact on CS Lewis's conversion to Christianity. He claims that it 'baptized' his mind, and that it was this book which really got the ball rolling for Lewis's path back to his faith. Phantastes is about a young man named Anodos who finds himself in another world (called Fairy-land) one morning. As he wanders around Fairy-Land, he has a series of adventures and learns many valuable lessons. Along the way he meets many strange creatures, some terrifying and some beautiful.

As Lewis himself has pointed out, MacDonald's books are not incredibly well-written. His descriptions, however, are rich and enchanting, and the effect created by his vivid imagery is very powerful. The narrative is somewhat confused, consisting mainly of many adventures which scarcely seem interrelated. Most importantly, though, are the lessons young Anodos learns along the way, and this is the importance of the book.

MacDonald was a master of teaching valuable lessons through fantasy. Lewis, Tolkien, and others have since combined the ability to teach moral lessons through fantasy with powerful and compelling narrative, but MacDonald can truly be considered a pioneer of sorts. Light readers of Christian apology or fantasy will do better with CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, or GK Chesterton's works, which have more engaging storylines. Still, for anyone with a strong interest in Lewis or any of the others, this book is a must-read, as it is a work which has inspired many of the great Christian and fantasy authors of the twentieth-century.

After reading "Surprised by Joy" by C.S. Lewis and learning of his life changing experience with this book I decided to give it a try. I read the introduction, by Lewis, in which he states plainly that MacDonald's talent lies not in his writing style, but in his story telling ability. As I read through this novel, it became clear to me how true this statement is. I found the main difficulty in reading this book penetrating through the seemlingly average writing to the excellent imagery and story. MacDonald is a romantic author and those who like this style of writing will enjoy this book while Grisham and Clancy fans may find it slow and boring. If you thrive in a book filled with imagery and emotion, but not much action, this book would be an excellent choice.

The author was unknown to me when I first picked up this book. I had last delved into fantasy novels as a child, the most notable being the writings of Tolkien & CS Lewis. Phantastes was something on another level completely. Where it may lack the adventure, characterisation & humour of other books, it is a powerful psychological journey. While reading, I was "Anodos" and his experience in the Faerie Lands brought revelatory knowledge of my innermost self. I wept as I slept securely in the warm presence of the Beech & felt again the deep maternal love of my mother for her young child. I shuddered with the recognition of the infernal shadow that sped toward me in the Ogre's cottage knowing that the picture matched my own experience also, and I left that house running, carrying with me an overwhelming sense of despair. I also found that as the character Anodos found redemption and finally his release, that I too, have known this longing all my life. George MacDonald, the author was a man who travelled a hard road, constantly seeing those dear to him dying of the prevalent illnesses of the Victorian era. He lost his mother at a young age and the memory of her is felt through most of his work as are many of the influential & formative experiences of his life. He is a man motivated to use his perceptive writing to influnce people to be greater men & women and I thank him for it.