Courtesy of Love Romances

Julie Fasano has dreamed of being a reporter for most of her life. When she lands a trial column to test her merit, she is thrilled. The topic is unique though she is to give advice to the single in the city by detailing her own quest for Mr. Right by kissing 100 men. Years ago, he grandmother had given her some sage advice, "a girl should kiss a hundred men before she marries," and Julie took it to heart.

Hunter Matthews is a private investigator, whose like is one of hard facts and concrete evidence. He likes his life planned and predictable, right down to the most minute of details. He also places great importance on honesty and integrity. When he unintentionally costs Julie her job, she comes to him demanding he hire her to make it up to her. So he hires her on as his temporary secretary while his is on her honeymoon. But where Julie is concerned, he has more on his mind then just business.

Hunter is hired to try to find the "Mystery Kisser" the entire city is raving about, for the client's fear over who it is. This provides quite a problem though; since one of the conditions of Julie's test column is that she remains anonymous. At first she isn't overly worried, but as she and Hunter grow closer, she begins to worry about what he would do if he found out about her "other life." The closer he gets to cracking the case, the more Julie is torn over whether to reveal herself to him or to keep her secret. What will he do when he finds out the "Mystery Kisser" is Julie herself? Will he think less of her for not being completely honest with him? Or will he understand her reasons and love her all the more for them?

This was an extremely cute story, and very amusing. Julie has had a crush on Hunter since she was a young child and those feelings grew up as she did. She is known for being impulsive which is such an extreme contradiction to Hunter, who has to plan every thing ahead of time. These differences cause many moments throughout the story that add a great hilarity and comedy of errors to several of the cases Hunter is working on. They make a good balance for each other though, one that adds to the lives of both.

Ms. Greene provides just the right blend of love, romance, humor, and even a slight bit of suspense to keep the reader interested and turning the pages. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments as well, and one shares Hunter's relief at the solution of the investigation he was most worried about. First You Kiss 100 Men... was this reviewer's introduction to the world of Ms. Greene, but it won't be the last. Sweet and charming is the name of the game with this book and well worth the time to read it. Check it out today.

Julie Fasano wants to be a reporter. She's trying to prove herself to the paper by writing a column about...kissing. The Mystery Kisser is garnering quite a following, but having detective Hunter Matthews literally following clues trying to find her identity isn't what she had in mind--especially since he's her boss and the number one kisser on her list. Julie wasn't cut out to lead a double-life, but she could very easily be cut out for Hunter--if she can ever convince him the only man she wants to be kissing is him!

A wonderful, heartwarming frolic. Carolyn Greene tells a delightful tale of love...and kissing!

Percival G. Lowe's account of militart life in the pre-CivilWar west is a must read for the military historian, anyone interestedin American frontier history, or anyone who just likes a good read. Lowe's account is most enlightening because it is written from the enlisted troops point of view. Most histories of the day were written by the officers who were better educated and often said little about the enlisted life on the frontier. Lowe's memoir starts with his induction and training in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and his 3 month trip west to his first post. Just the story regarding his travels to his first duty station include canal boats, river boats, mule trains and just plain old foot slogging marches across a raw expanse only recently opened to settlers from the east and Europe. His writting about his troops escort duty on the early Santa Fe trail is also quite informative. The book is written in the style of the 19th century and is a colorful as well as interesting reading. Well worth the price and time involved.

Percival Lowe was a gentleman, even if he was not an officer, and he was also a good soldier and a great frontiersman. If you want to know what it was like to be a Dragoon on the frontier this is the book. If you are interested in the history of the US Cavalry you need to read this book.

First off being a native Californian and also having been in Oregon quite a bit, the author tends to take the stereotyping a bit too far. Not all Oregonians are anti-anyone else, nor are they all New Agists. To an extent, the stereotyping detracts from the book and the plot which is actually very good. Maybe with future novels the author can avoid this. The book is very funny especially toward the end which wasn't expected. The author even made puns out of the title...once was enough. For the most part the book is intelligent and a fun read, but there were so many characters to keep track of that at certain points I would forget the relationship between the different residents of the town. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this mystery for the most part. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

I read all the later ones before I found a copy of this...and it was the best of the lot. Maybe a little unbelievable in spots but so enjoyable that you don't care.

The Pumpkin Giant is a book that has been around for years but is hard to find. When I first found it after weeks of searching there was only one copy of the book in all of the Kent County Library system. It is about a far away kingodm terroized by the pumpkin giant who eats fat liitle boys and girls. The farmer and his chubby son save the community and the chubby little boy meets up with the king's chubby little daughter and they all live happily ever after. The pumpkin giant slayer becomes the king's grounds keeper and his wife who made pies out of the pumpkin giant's head becomes the head cook. The kingdom is no longer terrorized and all is joy. Very cute story!

This is a wonderful book from my childhood- preserved with my Halloween decorations and brought out to share with my own children once a year. The story is charming- a kingdom, a castle, poor farmers, and a truly revolting Giant make this a delightful Halloween story to read aloud. Reminiscent of some of the milder Roald Dahl stories, it has elements of quasi-historical facts ( well, it COULD'VE happened like that) and just a touch of chilling evil. For ages 4 and up, the only possible objection being that the Giant likes to eat "fat little boys", certainly not any worse than anything Disney puts out year after year!

Graham Greene's masterpiece, the Quiet American provides and interesting perspective upon Vietnam during the decline of the French presence in Indochina. The characters are well presented and the plot in which they exist is dynamic and easily holds one's attention throughout the book's short length. The Quiet American is an exiting, tumultuous, and provocative look into the turmoil and chaos that was Vietam

I do believe that this book gives us a quiet real idea of what it was like at this time.Beeing half french and half vietnamese and living in London might be helpful to enjoy this book but if you want to know more about "SEA" read it.

The Italians, as one of the most-mocked military forces of the Second World War, rarely get the depth of treatment that their erstwhile German allies receive. This book focuses on discussing the war in North Africa from the Italian perspective, using Italian sources liberally throughout. Greene and Massignani give a good impression of the state of mind of the Italian soldiery in North Africa. Recommended.

This is the most information packed book I have ever seen on the desert war (and its from an IT perspective which makes it even more valuable). Its just a 272 page paperback but its full of pictures and maps and facts..facts..facts. It has pictures of many rare Italian equipments and covers the general trend of gun and tank development in the desert. Its just packed with details like atrocities and friendly fire incidents in the desert. Also covers battle actions with OOB and action reports. The english translation of the book is excellent. Also of note is the bibliography which gives a one sentence synopsis of about 40 other desert war publications! I wish Alessandro Massignani would put out a large format book with pictures like this! I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone who is interested in the North Africa theatre from 7/40 to 11/42.

The "Three Entertainments" are exactly that, entertainments. They would be very suitable as movie scripts and to some extents are written as such. They are not Greene's best stuff, for the most part that came later. But they do exhibit most of the characteristics of his later, greater, works. Unheroic heroes, seedy surroundings, real villains. His characters have depth and insight into the human situation. The difference in these works is that the heroes pursue their goal relentlessly, the women are unquestionably attractive and intelligent, and the endings are mostly happy.

In his later works things become more ambiguous, more mature, more real. He does this without loosing the clarity, the sharpness of the dialogue, or the strength of his characters. He does not defocus the image but rather makes it even sharper so that we see more facets to the characters and the situations. Still these three works are highly enjoyable and a good introduction to Greeneland.

Graham Greene divided his fiction into 2 categories, "serious" novels and "mere" entertainments. This distinction has always puzzled his admirers, however, since the novels are quite entertaining and the entertainments are always clever and sophisticated. This collection is a wonderful introduction to Greene's entertainments--short tales of murder, betrayal, love, intrigue and adventure. In short, stories of the human condition. As always, his writing is witty, energetic, colorful and cinematic.

I reserve five stars for classics so four here is no slight. This is a very, very good book. I have been a fan of Graham Greene from the first time I read The Comedians for a graduate course on Haiti. Greene's keen eye for the absurdity of expatriate angst and their detached observations of the host nation and its people, be it Haiti (The Comedians), Paraguay/Argentina (The Honorary Consul), or Vietnam (The Quiet American) were nothing short of brilliant. In short Greene "got it" and thankfully for the reader of her book, Ms Llewellyn Smith does too! It is apparent from the very start that you are in the hands of an extremely confident (read clear) writer who has done her homework.

She opens in Brighton, an area I know nothing about and by chapter's end, I will admit to the urge to wipe the grease from my imagined fish in chips on my pants leg - she can be that good. Each subsequent trip begins with a new set of expectations. In this way she cleverly avoids forcing the same Greene template on each country. She grasps that Greene himself grew and changed and it was entertaining to see Ms Llewellyn Smith grow as well.

My critiques are minor. She lingers a bit long on friends she made in Cuba but she captures the thin veneer of frivolity in present day Cuba wonderfully. I also found a few passages to have been curiously devoid of any of the more intimate (yes,sexual)observations that were so much a part of Greene's writing. Finally, this is well written, thorougly entertaining work by an author skilled enough to make Greene real to you whether you've read him or not. I look forward to my next travels with her!

Kudos to the author, she deserves a "Rory Peck" type award for putting her life in danger while gathering the materials for this book. She "walks the walk" (way out of the mainstream)exploring regions that Greene toured decades ago and paints vivid word pictures of the current political/social/economic situations of these distant lands. This is a most impressive work of hermeneutics; her interpretations are cross-referenced with Greene's works and cause us to realize that the old adage holds true; "the more things change; the more they remain the same". She skillfully dissects Greene's plots and enables us to "suck the marrow" out of them without having to read them. As a result of this book, I am adding Paraguay and Argentina to my "must visit" list. Anyone that ventures to Sierra Leone is following their Thanatos...

Word Clues is a book I am studying in English class. I think it is good because it really teaches about the vocabulary. It teaches roots, prefixes, and suffixes, as well as words that use them. There are about 15 words in each lesson, so it helps learn at a slow and steady pace.

I use this book everyday; it is a fabulous find, easy to use, has been in print for 40 some years, is organized in a way that you can look up Greek and Latin suffixes in English. (some books only use Greek alphabet for words, confounding those who did not study ancient Greek language) It is just the right size and can be used to self study and learn how to know what a new word might mean by recognizing the "code" in its prefixes and suffixes and root words.

Dr. Blake Remmington discovers he has a son the hard way. While treating a college friend's son for what he suspects is a hereditary allergic reaction to a bee sting, he comes to the conclusion that this boy is his son. Rather than deny it, Serena Dovesong confirms his claim and, surprisingly, encourages his attempts to bond with Nate. She claims their father-son relationship has nothing to do with their friendship or their relationship.

Blake and Serena have no idea where their relationship will go. Blake is afraid Serena and Nate don't need him in their life and Serena fears Blake will only view them as an obligation he must fulfill. Nate surprisingly prefers to keep his own counsel on the matter. What Blake and Serena learn, however, is that love and obligation go hand in hand. Blake's love for Serena and Nate propels him to want to care for and protect them even as the circumstances surrounding Nate's birth, as well as her own childhood, cause Serena to fear being beholden to the man she has loved for years.

Jennifer Greene has written a good story about a man whose feelings of being rootless are quelled when he falls in love with Serena and the incredibly bright child they've created together. Her writing is steady and the characters she's drawn are strong. Much of Blake's individual development stems from the integration of an overarching subplot. But that, in turn, also works in favor of the development of Blake's connection with the Dovesongs.

This is the third in a twelve book series about how Garrett Kincaid finds the seven sons, his son Larry had with six women over the span of 37 years, grandsons he only found out about after the death of his son.

Blake Remmington is the twin brother of Trent, whom we met in the first book of this series. Blake is a Pediatrician, who just after joining a practice in Whitehorn, sees Nate Dovesong who has an allergic reaction to a bee sting and realizes that this is his son, whom he knew nothing about.

This book is Blake trying to gain the love and respect not only from Nate, but from his mother Serena as well. It seems to him that he is doing all the wrong things, because he didn't have a positive dad role model, he just seems at a loss to know what to do right. But with the help of Serena and even Nate himself he seems to come into his own.

This is a very good book, just like the other two, I'm really looking forward to the next nine books. For good reading check out this series.