We live in a fast paced world that speeds up all the time. One feels that they can't quite catch up. But most people handle the changes and sometimes enjoy the action. This book is an absorbing tale that readers can relate to, while losing themselves in the characters and exciting plot. It points to the future while accomodating the present. As always, human desires and the quest for love are competing with the pressures and fears of the day.
Reading this book is enjoyment and time well spent.

I was surprised that this was K. T. Morgan's first book - it is a compelling read! All the more so, because it could happen - this is not just some fantasy. I think too, that it gives one reason to take time and appreciate our life styles and families. Was left a little hanging, though - hope that there is a sequel!

I don't normally give reviews, but this one I had to share. I finished eVille last night, and the dreams I had afterwards showed what a powerful effect this book has. It was like one of those really good movies that you just can't get out of your head. If you only buy one book this year, make sure it's this one! As for me, I want the next book! When will it be available?

I tend to be a cynic when it comes to mediums and connecting spiritually with the dead. However, Mary Ann Morgan's book, Living in the Moment, has made me question my cynicism. Ms. Morgan's book is one of peace, understanding, and unconditional love. It teaches you to open your heart and mind and to share it with others. I appreciate that Ms. Morgan took the time out of her busy schedule to pass on her words to others. A great buy for you and a great gift for those you love. I am now a believer!

I just barely got this book,have not finished it, but just had to comment on what I've read so far. It inspires me to think about my actions and the meanings behind them, and makes me want to be a better person in every aspect of my life - one step at a time. I hope more people read this book and come to terms with their inner spirits and hopes and dreams, it would sure make this crazy world a better place for all of us. Ok, now to go back and finish reading!

There's a place within each of us that once awakened never sleeps again. "Living in the Moment" awakens that place within me.

These are polymer clay crafts that anyone can do. They look professional. Each one is unique with excellent detailed instructions. The pictures give step by step close ups. You'll look like a pro. Added bonus are the sources listed in the back of the book for some hard to find materials (ie glass water globes for crafts) that you can buy online. You can't go wrong with this book.

im 12 and I LOVE making things from polymer clay. this book has instructions that are very easy to follow, but the projects end up looking like they took forever. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in polymer clay.

p.s. you should probobly have a pasta machine, it is very important.

This book is great! I teach polymer clay classes to children and they can't get enough of the activities we have used from this wonderful guide! The directions are easily understood. Pictures grab the attention. Highly recommend adding this to any book collection.

Morgan and Me had a great impact on me as a child. I would suggest that anyone pass this book along to their child. It was responsible for igniting my love for horses and consequently for the name of my youngest child! :) Enjoy!

I loved this book as a child for the story as well as the beautiful illustrations. I treated the book well and some years later now share it with my daughter who loves it as much as I did.

"Morgan and Me" is the story of a young princess who lives in the Land of Later. She's a dreamer, but mostly she's a procrastinator, always putting off her duties until later.

One day she gets lost in the woods and finds a unicorn with his horn stuck in a tree branch. Morgan, the unicorn, asks if she'll help him break free. The princess, however, would rather go play than help Morgan this minute. But she promises to return later.

Once she grows bored of playing, the princess returns and cuts the branch away for Morgan. Together they roam the meadow, Morgan having since forgiven the princess for her belated rescue. However, the princess doesn't watch her step while they are playing and falls into a pond. From the safety of a lily pad, she calls for Morgan to help her. Morgan replies he will--eventually.

The princess realizes her mistake earlier and heartfully apologizes to Morgan. Convinced, Morgan rescues the princess from the pond. And ever since, they've been best friends.

I would recommend this book to young children, but I'm sure most adults will enjoy it just as much. Robin James is the talented illustrator of "Morgan and Me" and many other Stephen Cosgrove books. I highly recommend you read all of Cosgrove's books if you liked this one.

Author Jennifer Reif, has not descended from a long line of Witches, nor been trained in any particular branch of the Craft, just book-taught like many in the Craft today. None-the-less, she has put together an awesome treasury of rituals and spells simple enough for every level of magickal practitioner, but complicated enough that I would recommend this for more experienced practitioners.

Novices need to develop some basic skills and knowledge before tackling some of these spells. Still, anyone with an interest in honoring deities in their many cultural guises, through ritual or spellwork, should add this truly inspired compilation to their magickal libraries.

There is a brief history of Witchcraft & Wicca in the beginning and very brief background on the author herself. The rest is devoted entirely to wonderfully diverse magickal workings. They are subdivided into groupings, such as rituals for: Strength and Power --To Athena, Warrior Goddess for inner strength and power, The Veil of Isis to awaken confidence and determination; Honorable Endings and Farewells -- Banshee Macha to end malicious gossip, To the Ancient Crone for the passing of a pet; For Prosperity and Success -- Enchantment of Sri Lakshmi for prosperity; and a Multifarious Miscellany -- including, Spiral of the Delphic Oracle to obtain the answer to a question, and the Rite of the Non-ritual for joy in the moment. I am just touching the surface of what's included in this text.

It is my goal someday to perform Reif's, knock your socks off larger group ritual, Song of the Sacred Grove, a beautiful rite invoking and honoring the magic of Celtic trees. The rituals can be one day, or more in length...the Sri Lakshmi ritual is a 3-day working.

All rituals have a level of complexity that will engage and absorb practitioner(s). Along with the body of each rite, Reif provides a supply list, altar setup instructions, ritual timing and other instructions. Words are rhythmic and truly inspired. Reif has been studying and working with nature and ancient cultures since 1983. It shows through in this work. I pray that this is not the last we hear from her.

Jennifer Reif draws on the strengths of many pantheons to create a well-rounded selection of spells and rites for personal growth, improvement, and fulfillment. The rituals are conveniently organized, explained in detail, and powerful. There is a ritual for almost every conceivable need. I will be returning to it again and again.

Just got through reading this new spell book. It's very goddess oriented, which I love. That is--most of the spells require invocation of a deity. At first, I wasn't sure I was going to like it, as I am not really into Wicca. The title is a bit misleading: Morgan Le Fay's book of Spells and Wiccan Rituals. I thought it was going to be Arthurian Wicca or something. But wow, although the Wicca stuff is there for those who want it, what the author has put together is a blend of different spells/visualizations/workings based on various dieties and energies--all very empowering--all very user friendly.

The spells themselves are tailored to practical real life situations. The supplies needed and processes required are also practical and easily attainable. No arcane toe of dog required here, just beautiful words and evocative images!

One more thing, I don't usually rave about introductions but
I've not read as succinct and informative an intro on the history of Wicca in I don't know when.

For what you get. The price is more than right. Don't overlook this delightful little book. Here's to pleasant and magickal surprises!

This book is awesome. A great combination of elements of a romance, a thriller and the mystical. It's great to read about women's power traditions being honored, as well as those of the america's indigenous peoples, without being preachy. The love scenes with Inca and Roan sizzle, and Lindsay writes convincingly about healing, telepathy, teleportation and other fascinating subjects. Great to see a couple of immortals making an appearance as well. Keep up the good work, Lindsay, you're helping to raise our consciousness.

Inca has been one of my favorite characters from past Morgans Mercenaries. She has always been so mysterious and powerful. I was hoping as we got to know her, she wouldn't lose that mystique. ALL'S WELL! Inca and Roan both walked a fine line between power and emotion. They were a fantastically well matched pair. The only way to describe these two is, PASSIONATE, STRONG, AND DETERMINED!

The mission to destroy drug labs in the amazon basin was definitely only a mild diversion. Even the bad blood between the Colonel leading the mission and Inca (their guide), barely caused a ripple. The focus is firmly on Inca and Roan just as it should be. This story is more 'mystical' than the previous Morgans Mercenaries. Some people may not enjoy that as much but it was perfect for a story about Inca. TERRIFIC!

Ms. McKenna has at last granted her readers of the Morgan's Mercenaries stories the intriguing Inca's story! If you've followed the stories of Morgan Trayhern's warrior men and women of Perseus, you will be familiar with Inca, the Jaguar Goddess of the Jaguar Clan of the Amazon jungle. Inca has made an appearance in many of these stories, both as a warrior woman and healer.

Morgan Trayhern must send one of his mercenaries to Brazil to help the local military find their way through the jungle to take out the compound of a major drug lord. The only person who can lead these men safely through the jungle is Inca, and she is being actively sought by the commander of these men, Colonel Marcellino, to be shot on sight for what he believes was the murder of his eldest son. Trayhern enlists the help of Roan Storm Walker, a lone Native American warrior, who is the only person he knows who can work as a liaison between the guide Inca and Colonel Marcellino to get the job done.

Thus begins a treacherous journey for Roan Storm Walker and Inca. This is a very exciting story with non-stop action. Inca is a proud and skillful warrior, but she is also an innocent and beautiful woman. She has a lot to teach Roan Storm Walker, but a lot to learn about the feelings that can grow between a man and a woman. I loved the development of love between these two very special people.

I also discovered quite an education in this book on the plight of the rain forest and its native people from the greed and destruction wrought by drug lords, loggers and miners, and on the beliefs of the people of Peru in their Jaguar Clan of healers and medicine men and women. This was a fascinating story on many levels and I highly recommend this book.

I did tons of research before our cruise in April 2003, mostly on the Internet. About 75% of the info in this book can be found elsewhere, but not in one place--and that's what makes this purchase worthwhile.

I looked at lots of Caribbean travel books and was disappointed to find little to no valuable information on DCL's ports of call. It hardly seemed worth buying a big fat book on the Caribbean islands when only a handful of pages actually covered the ones I'd be visiting. This book, on the other hand, has several pages dedicated to each of DCL's ports of call and excellent descriptions of excursions and on-your-own adventures.

Especially useful are sample menus for the DCL restaurants, details of spa services, packing tips, stateroom plans, and misc "magical" hints to make a DCL cruise memorable.

I discovered some inaccuracies while on the cruise, but nothing that ruined my vacation. Changes in schedules, activities, menus, prices, etc. are inevitable. Fortunately the authors keep their web site up to date with revisions.

Two things I love about this book besides the content in general: one, the authors aren't snobbish or know-it-alls; they're "real" people. I don't worry that they're being paid by someone to say positive things, and they seem to be very honest with their reviews. Two, it's a compact book that's easy to take along anywhere--and believe me, you'll want to.

Don't re-invent the wheel! Get this book, and if it doesn't answer all your questions, THEN check out some of the few excellent web sites dedicated to DCL info.

We rec'd this book only days before we left on our cruise. Despite doing extensive research on the web for months prior, within minutes of receiving the Passporter I learned new and useful information. The book was a joy to have onboard as we used it throughout the day to determine dining choices and entertainment possibilities. Most importantly the index and/or maps provided instant clarification to questions about specific locations on the ship. The book is written in an easy to follow format and in such a way that makes you think of Jennifer and Dave as old friends just giving advice. Great Book.

This info is all on the web, IF you are willing to comb websites, download hundreds of pages and comb through the message boards for hours, days, weeks..... Finally, you do not have to do that, thanks to Jennifer, Dave and Mickey and their crew of writers. Nicely written, well organized with everything you need to know about cruising the Magic or Wonder.

I've never read a better, more concise explanation of a beginning-to-beginning performance evaluation and management system. In fact, I surprised myself by getting a little wrapped up in the storyline of the fictional case study being used to illustrate the steps in the process.

"Page-turner" isn't a term usually applied to management books, but this one almost deserves it. The actual "story" itself is sometimes almost painful as fiction -- I really wish the authors had consulted a dialogue editor -- but the story acts as a thread to connect the key elements and illustrate some of the issues faced when building performance management systems.

The authors' thesis is that executives and managers spend too much time tracking too many performance indicators, often focusing time on unimportant measures or indicators outside their scope of control. Front-line employees and supervisors are uncertain what they're being measured against, and feel they are powerless to influence quality or efficiency.

The performance scorecards approach can be initiated at any management level. Through a series of data collection and staff meetings, goals, objectives, indicators, and responsibilities can be agreed upon. Each manager, project, and even many employees can have "scorecards" that interlock with everyone else's in the organization, reflecting the interdependencies required for organizational success.

There are six key steps in performance scorecards: Collect, Create, Cultivate, Cascade, Connect, and Confirm.

There are strong team-building aspects to this model. Not only does it stress interdependence, it also fosters decentralization of responsibility, authority, and accountability. Further, it encourages openness about results and how they are expressed and communicated.

The process does depend on a quantitative as well as qualitative expression of indicators and results. This may scare off some service organizations. However, the team-based, consensus approach to determining a way to translate the qualitative to the quantitative minimizes the friction and suspicions of "unfairness" in the process.

The process allows no wiggle room for the employee who says that a particular objective or outcome is not measurable. If it's not measurable, then it shouldn't be an objective, according to the authors.

The authors are consultants, and they stress the importance of a trained facilitator as part of the process. The investment is well worth the outcomes in employee morale as well as productivity and success in fulfilling a mission and being able to demonstrate it. The book contains numerous illustrations, figures, and a few tools to help the narrative explanation of the process.

Outstanding summarizes this book very well! Richard and Mark have a very common sense yet powerful approach in helping organizations link their strategies, processes and people together. This book is very easy to read and difficult to put down. They explain their methodology through the use of an example in which an organization implements the scorecards, walking the reader through each of the six steps in scorecard development. I wish business leaders would read and implement this type of a system, forcing them to look closer at their processes and people and how they tie together to impact business performance. Highly recommend this to anyone for use in business, but could even be applied very well to one's personal life. Thanks guys!!

The various perspectives of the scorecard allow you to apply measurement to the critical areas of your business performance. We curently use the scorecard in our business and the application of it forces you to ask probing questions and to measure the right things. Richard and Mark, both of whom have helped us design our scorecard, are experts in this area. Their book avoids the all-too-prevalent techno-jargon and leads the reader on an everyday experience we can all identify with. I don't remember the last time I read and learned a measurement tool that actually left me feeling entertained! A great read!

This is a book of Database Modeling Strategy. It compares Object Role Modeling (ORM, >FORML), Universal Modeling Language (UML) and the more popular Entity Relationship Modeling (ER) and then shows a blended strategy appointing strengths and areas of usefullness for all three.

Fair to be sure, but fairly Academic Language. That is, this is as much a book for establishing a justification of ORM and a strategy for it's use as a basic manual. Definately, not for the Novice Data Modeler even though ORM is well suited for the Novice.

For the experienced I give it 5 Stars, but as the only published manual for ORM I give it 3 stars. If you are an Accomplished Data Modeler this is for you.

If you are a novice you may profit more by starting with the Documents that you can download for free with the VisioModeler Download. Start with the "FORML" (Formal Object Role Modeling Language) Document. Also be sure to visit the ORM site and download the answers to the odd excercise questions.

After having used ER modeling with extreme frustration, I finally decided to investigate something new. This is the bible for ORM, and ORM is just so far superior to ER for conceptual modeling, which I now realize is critical.

Conceptual modeling means modeling your data in a way that makes sense to everyone, from the business experts (who know nothing about databases) to the coders and DBA's. And ORM provides a logical, intuitive way to do this.

Once you've got a conceptual model, it's pretty straightforward to get an ER model, from which you can develop the logical databased design. In fact, MS Visio (forget which version) does this for you.

The reason ER fails is that it cannot model data in a stable way. It still has a place, but ORM is so much more powerful, scalable, and stable.

And not only will you learn about ORM (he has great exercises to help practice), but you will learn a lot about data in general.

This is the best technical/developer/software engineering book I have ever read.

This book is a masterpiece. ORM as a concept is so powerful. I have been doing Software Design for about 6 years now, and I always felt that there was a conceptual gap between writing use cases and doing software analysis and design from them. It needed an experienced designer in order to make a jump from use cases to analysis & design. (Even then the business facts would be missed out or simply be wrong, that would show up as bugs later on). I was on the lookout for "something" that helps me in real "industrial strength" software. ORM's fact oriention is a real supplement (and enhancement) to object orientation.

I am a businessman. I read and review business books. I don't read much fiction; so much of it seems a waste of time. A friend suggested this book, so I reluctantly agreed to take Recompense my next trip instead of a business book.

I started reading the book in the airport while waiting for my flight. I almost missed my plane! I did not engage in conversation with my seat-mate on the trip. I wanted to read this book. When I finished my business in Washington, D.C, I took the Metro to go to my hotel and missed my stop-had to go back. I finally gave up reading at 2:30 a.m. because my eyelids wouldn't stay open. I finished the book on the plane on the way home.

Hammock grabbed my attention from the beginning and wouldn't let go. If you like television shows like Law & Order, you'll love this book. But you'll never see this story on Law & Order; there's just too much in it. Too much detail. Too many twists and turns. A television production could not do this story justice, but the printed word sure does!

I was drawn by the flashbacks that tie each character to the heartbeat of the story in a unique way. The subplots are interwoven beautifully and only rarely was I able to guess what was coming next. The detail is incredible, making me wonder if the author actually lived this story. And, if so, which character was she? The accuracy tells me that the author definitely did her research. The use language was entirely appropriate, the descriptions vivid. Forgive me if I sound like I'm gushing, but I really got wrapped up in this book.

I won't spend time in this review telling you about the tale. It's too intricate. Suffice to say it's a very human mystery, love story, and adventure all rolled into one volume.

Now let me tell you the amazing part of this situation. The author is a graduate student in professional writing at Maryland's Towson University. This treasure is her first book! I'd wager she's earning top grades in that graduate program. I'm ready for her next book already. I'll be watching, hoping it comes soon.

A prediction: after you read Recompense, you will want to give the book to someone else to read. Your enthusiasm will inspire another person to join me as a fan of Joyce Hammock.

Now I must force myself to go back to my business books. What a delightful break!

Eddie Collins started out in life with everything stacked against him, thanks to his biological mother and father. Just when he thought everything was going to work out and he really began to feel hope for a positive future, his world crumbled, thanks to his foster father, Elliot Bowers.

Eddie never really liked Bowers, he didn't quite know why. Not until that faithful day he discovered the real Bowers, the one that had been hidden just barely beneath the surface of the uniform of one of Baltimore's finest. That's when Eddie's life changed forever.

Elliot Bowers ran his life and the lives of those around him in a way that served his egotistical and manipulative wants and desires. He managed to do this while, to all outward appearances, he was a highly respected and decorated member of the police force, a loving family man, and a protector of the community.

Into this web of lies, deception, murder, rape, drugs, and all manner of intrigue steps Detective Cal Hopkins. Hopkins and his partner, Otis Younger, are homicide detectives on loan to the overloaded rape department. The story unwinds with many twists and turns that keep the reader thirstily starting another chapter even though other responsibilities may be waiting.

This well-written, totally engrossing novel is the first by author Joyce Morgan Hammock. Even beyond the elements of a very suspenseful novel, which in itself is recommendation enough, we find the thought provoking issues presented by the age-old struggle of good and evil, innocence versus perversion, and the downward spiral of a man based upon a growing series of wrong choices.

This book is superb! I only purchased the book because of my respect for Suzanne McDougal's recommendations. However, this turned out to be one of the best books I have read. It seemed like I didn't want to put down the book. I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I normally would not have read a book on this subject matter. However, I am extremely glad that I did. I do hope that Joyce Hammock continues to write in such an interesting style. She kept me mesmerized.