I have always enjoyed Victoria magazine, and have several of their books. Again they've made one that is beautifully done AND has practical tips and how tos. There are even some recipes to make simple toners, bath oils and other such beauty items.

It's a great gift book for someone who hasn't quite learned to slow down and take care of herself. And if that someone is you... It's so much better! :-)

The book is broken down into the seasonal needs of the skin. With tips and secrets to keep your skin looking its beautiful best with the different weather conditions. Not only that, but there are some very nice ideals in making your bathroom more "you" friendly, even if it's not as big as your bedroom... Enjoy!

Beilder takes a whirlwind review of the world of Chaucer criticism. In his introduction, Beidler shows the reader the many levels of thought that are still occuring about Chaucer to this very day.

If you liked Cheryl Bolen's first installment in her Brides of Bath series set in Regency England, you'll like this one. The heroine, Glee Pembroke, is the spirited younger sister of Felicity, the heroine of Cheryl's January release, THE BRIDE WORE BLUE. As usual, Cheryl gives her readers a realistic stroll through the Regency period and an indomitable heroine to root for--one who is not above sacrificing her dignity for the man she loves. Glee has her sights set on Gregory Blankenship, one of Bath's most sought-after bachelors. Readers of THE BRIDE WORE BLUE will remember Blanks as the best friend of Glee's brother George who is content to squander his money on gambling and loose women. Blanks has no desire to change his ways until his father dies, leaving him control of a sizeable fortune. There's just one catch. Blanks has to marry by his 25th birthday or lose it all. Glee tricks him into wedding her by the deadline stipulated in his father's will, but getting Blanks to the altar is nothing compared to the difficult task ahead--winning his heart. In WITH HIS RING, the reader sees the sensitive side of Blanks, a man who, despite earlier misgivings, finds himself strongly attracted to his beautiful wife, but who fears the consequences should they actually fall in love. WITH HIS RING has plenty of sensuality, a villain to make your skin crawl, and a voluptuous rival for Glee. Even if you're not a Regency fan, check this book out.

this was a great guide.it helped me in the collest looking game

I enjoyed this book tremendously. "The Yard" provides a very succinct description of how Bath Iron Works builds Arleigh Burke-class destroyers for the U.S. Navy. The details are interesting, but not overly technical. Sanders does a fine job of guiding the reader through the process of building a ship from start to finish, without letting the story drag. The reader learns a lot not only about ships, but also about the roles and contributions of the many different skilled workers involved, and the constant tension between management and labor.

"The Yard" really reads more like a human-interest story rather than a technical manual. The author's voice sounds a LOT like Tom Clancy, especially as we get to know the people who work on the "deckplates" of this shipyard.

A fast, fun, worthwhile read for military buffs and management students alike! Awarded four stars for the half-dozen or so blatantly obvious errors in syntax that the editors should have picked up, as well as for the author's ever-so-slight "spin" that detracted from, rather than added to the story.

Hard hats off to Michael Sanders for a magnificent book! He has presented a thoroughly researched and extremely well written account of life inside Bath Iron Works. In the space of only 236 pages, he manages to portray just how difficult and dangerous an occupation shipbuilding is.(I know; I currently work at Bath Iron Works and spent several months on the USS Donald Cook.) I found the book to contain just the right combination of the basics of ship design and construction, and a wonderful human interest story. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

This book details the building and fitting out of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer, the Donald Cook, at Bath Iron Works, Maine. From the initial design, cutting and bending plate, assembling the modules, installation, launch, crew training and trials, the whole process is described through the stories of the men and woman who build and work on the Destroyers. A number of photographs and illustrations help the reader to understand the various processes involved, although the book is mostly text. Sanders has an easy writing style that lets him relate complex details in an easily understandable way. When you put this book down, you will have a greater understanding of not only warship construction, but why people do difficult, dangerous work for less than they might make elsewhere. You will also learn a bit about piloting, how to launch a large ship, and the lore of commissioning ceremonies, and even the training of a ship's crew.

I really enjoyed this book a lot, and recommend it to those interested in modern warships and their construction.

Researchers constantly find that reading to children is valuable in a variety of ways, not least of which are instilling a love of reading and improved reading skills. With better parent-child bonding from reading, your child will also be more emotionally secure and able to relate better to others. Intellectual performance will expand as well. Spending time together watching television fails as a substitute.

To help other parents apply this advice, as a parent of four I consulted an expert, our youngest child, and asked her to share with me her favorite books that were read to her as a young child. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish was her pick as the best of the books by Dr. Seuss.

One of the appeals of this book is that it is relatively easy to learn to read, yet has much more variety than most other early readers. So your child will feel like she or he has accomplished a lot with reading this book, which is correct.

The title gives the key to why this book works well as an early reader. One word is changed at a time, with a clear illustration next to it. Most children will read the illustrations like a rebus and later associate the words with the sounds of the name for the pictures. At some point, they begin reading from the words. Very nice!

Here's another sequence: "black fish blue fish old fish new fish."

Then, when he moves on, he uses simple rhymes: "This one has a little star. This one has a little car."

Next, he progresses to substituting "some" for "fish" and adding a single verb to make a sentence as in "Some are read . . . . Some are old."

So almost any child can soon begin to read along with few errors in the first 2 or 3 pages. Whenever the child can go no more, you can just keep going. With repetition, more of the book becomes memorized and the process continues.

There is another reward for you and your child: The book also previews many of the wonderful characters and rhyming schemes that appear in other Dr. Seuss books. As a result, it will be easier to get started reading those books. You will feel like you are seeing an old friend again.

You can also use each rhyme to take off on your own speculations. Our daughter used to love to come up with alternative rhymes that fit the pictures.

Books like this one make it great fun to be either a parent or a child. In some cases, this book will be there for you in both roles over 20 to 40 years!

Overcome your mistaken beliefs about how children can start to learn to read by seeing your child start naturally by associating the words with the pictures as you read this wonderful book to him or her!

The copy I had as a child wore out when I was in college (A friend borrowed it to memorize and perform as an acting class assignment.) I have part of the book memorized myself just from having my Mom read it to me 37 years ago. Having just aquired a 5-year old nephew I had of course to buy him several of my favorite Dr. Seuss books and this was one of them. I may have to buy my own copy though. In fact, I may buy two because I am extremely tempted to frame my favorite piece, "Look what we found in the dark in the park. We will take it home. We will name it Clark."

I have no clue whatsoever how young a child can safely be shown the wonderful but really wierd illustrations of Dr. Seuss. I'm still scared of Flying Monkeys but never had a problem with Dr. Seuss at all.

This book was almost not published. The publisher did not think this book would sell because it was so simple. What a genious Dr. Seuss turned out to be because of it's simplicity. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is a true children's classic because children never become tired of the book. They will actually wear it out from use. Older children will smile when they see the book years later and make comments along the lines "I loved this".

Like all of Dr. Suess' books, it is both colorfull and whimsical. The book teaches children to read by using nonsensical animals and ryhmes. A child can read one little section and not become bored or lost because the book is not connected with a story. That is the beauty of this book. It is a childrens book written for children and their thinking. No heavy messages here, just plain fun. The colors catch the eye, the rhymes catch the ears, and the shear silliness cathes the imagination. It is truly a wonderfull gift to give a parent of younger children. Highley recommended.

I'm a big fan of Don and Audrey Wood (THE NAPPING HOUSE is one of my all-time favorite children's books; I love PIGGIES, too). I'm lukewarm on this one, however. Admittedly, the illustrations are extraordinary. One bathtub scene has the King and his Knight sitting in steamy tub filled with miniature ships and sailors battling through soapsuds and waves. Another scene has the King fishing in the tub with his Duke. The Duke sits hunched over in a mass of cattails and lily pads, furrowing his brow and trying to bait his hook. Trout leap from the tub, ducks and frogs hide in the rushes, and turtles crawl along the tub's edge. You could spend hours looking at the illustrations; you'll notice all sorts of funny details if you do. I've read this book a million times with my toddler, and I only noticed today that the castle-shaped cake in the food scene (where the King feasts in the tub with his Queen) is topped with a miniature bathtub with King Bidgood in it. Unfortunately, the text is rather weak. It's a simple story. A young page announces that King Bidgood won't get out of the bathtub. Various court officials try to get him out, none successfully. Finally, the entire court ends up in the tub at a Masquerade Ball which gets so crazy that the page pulls the plug. This gets the King out of the tub. The problem is the text is a repetitive quasi-poem thing (which the book jacket describes as a "lyric text"), and some of the lines don't really work. What does it mean, for example, to cry out "with a trout, trout, trout"? That's not to say that the text is horrible. It's not. It's quite okay, in fact. But when the illustrations are really extraordinary, a quite okay text feels like a real let-down.

When I was in 5th grade, I read King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, and got to hear the tape with it. It was so good, my brother and I would read it constantly. We would even walk to school singing the song (at the top of our lungs, of course!). A great children's book, all in all, with beautiful illustrations. The absurdity of fishing in a tub, going to war in a tub, eating lunch, and even having a royal ball in a bathtub will have you laughing in no time. Get it for the kids in you life, but I bet some adults will like it too!

She did it again with this book. A cute story with good illistrations. The only thing I didn't like was that the book was a little dark. I usually like bright vibrant colors. My children enjoy the book and ask me to read it often.

I really didn't expect to like this book since Freyja was not very likeable in previous books. Plus authors often don't present the story of the sisters in a family series too well. Don't know why that is. However, we are dealing with Mary Balogh here, so.......

Even though it took me awhile to warm up to Freyja, I loved Joshua right of the bat. Their arguments were great although I feel there was too much fist throwing by Free. Once, to prove she was a Bewcastle, would have been plenty. Well, the one toward the end of the book was satisfying. But beating up on the hero more than once was too much.

All in all, I enjoyed the book a lot. Now, I want to read the stories of the other 3 Bewcastles. Even though Wulfric reminds me a lot of Jo Beverly's Rothgar, I'm sure he'll be my favorite. I love a good brooding, emignatic hero.

I did like the fact that the three "Slightly...." books were published one month after another. At no loss of quality. Ms. Balogh is truly at the top of her field.

We last saw Lady Freyja Bedwyn in Ms. Balogh's captivating gem A Summer To Remember and she is now the central protagonist in the conclusive episode to the Slightly series. A haughty and spirited character, Freyja is seen retreating to Bath to avoid the christening of the son of ex-flame Viscount Ravensburg who spurned her for icy maiden Lauren Edgeworth. A brief sojourn turns into an adventure as she meets Joseph Moore, Marquess of Hallsmere in her inn bedroom as he hides in the cupboard to escape a bunch of wedding schemers. A misunderstanding ensues when Freyja chances upon Joseph with a screaming lady on his way to visit his grandmother at Pulteney Street. She denounces him as a libertine in front of the ton at the Pump Room.

You would never expect this two to turn up allies in a scheme to thwart a marriage-foisting ploy concocted by Joseph's aunt. They recklessly engage themselves to each other and Freyja's protective brother Bewcastle arrives to prevent further mischief. Freyja and Joseph feel growing attachments as understanding develops; Freyja's insecurity with love after her devastating rejection and Joseph's hidden secret in shouldering his cousin's disgrace.

Slightly Scandalous wraps up the Bedwyn series beautifully and is a renewed testament to Balogh's ease and fluidity in her character sculpting. The sparks fly between the oddball couple. It brims with emotions as Joseph takes responsibility of his mentally-challenged cousin Prudence and makes us laud when they outsmart Joseph's aunt. This Regency Series is consistently entertaining and this ending is no exception - even when it is slightly inferior to her masterpiece A Summer To Remember.

Ms. Balogh accomplishes what a talented few can... three wonderful books in a series, with each and every one standing firmly on its own merits as exceptionally entertaining romances!

I won't give a synopsis of the plot, since other reviewers have done so in detail, but I will just say that, I love Joshua, the hero in this book! He is a strong character, quite capable of handling the conflicts that arise throughout the book, but it's his witty repartee and wonderful sense of humor with which he views life and his "fiancee" that captured my attention, kept me grinning with each passing page, and made me fall in love.

And I must give Ms. Balogh an A+ for managing to turn around my opinion of the oh-so-serious tomboy sister-of-a-Duke, known as "Free" to her family. Joshua's ability to "take her down a peg or two" is so well written, you just have to laugh! She becomes the perfect balance to the fun-loving Marquess and their initial encounters, which ultimately lead to a full-blown relationship that's very real indeed, were an absolute joy to read!

I highly recommend this series: Just in case, for those who don't already know... the order is Slightly Married, Slightly Wicked and Slightly Scandalous... so far. Can't wait for Wulf's tale!

I love the idea of using concrete in the home, for unusual uses i.e. table tops, counters. I have been looking for a good how-to book, and this book fills the bill. It is well written; nice, clear photography and very helpful step-by-step instructions on how to do it right. They are frank with mistakes they have made, but the projects they have completed make me think they got most of it right.

It is a great book even if you are just interested in seeing how versatile and beautiful concrete can be, written by an architect from San Francisco. Nice, buy it.

I love using concrete in the home, for unusual uses i.e. table tops, counters. I have been looking for a good how-to book, and this book fills the bill. It is well written; nice, clear photography and very helpful step-by-step instructions on how to do it right. They are frank with mistakes they have made, but the projects they have completed make me think they got most of it right.

I've been waiting for this book to be printed for a few months. Since the first time I saw a concrete countertop in home I was touring, I've wanted to learn more about how to make them. Unfortunately, no books on the subject existed until this one.

Fine Homebuilding had an article featuring the author that stopped short of being an all-inclusive 'How-To' on creating countertops from concrete. This book is all of that.

The book takes the reader through the process of creating a kitchen countertop step-by-step. It includes instructions for building the form, concrete composition (including a recipe), coloring, finishing, handling & installation and maintenance. The author includes numerous hints and tips gleaned from his experience that should help the first-time countertop maker avoid problems.

Other titles I've purchased from Taunton included great photos and illustrations. This book is no exception. It's packed with hundreds of full-color photographs of the process and of completed kitchens that will fuel your imagination.

My only disappointment is that the author didn't include more specific information and/or recipes that would allow a do-it-yourselfer (like me) to achieve some of the looks featured in the book. By adding various dyes and aggregates, a wide variety of looks can be created using concrete. I understand Mr. Cheng's need to protect some of his secrets but it will be difficult for me to experiment as I lack the time and resources to duplicate some of the examples shown.

Thank you to Taunton Press and Mr. Cheng for providing a great book. I can't wait to get started...

I read this book knowing nothing about the background (this is the 1st in an eleven book series) and found it an easy, enjoyable, different read. The scene is something I'm completely unfamiliar with (A yeshiva community) so it was interesting to read about the rituals, their importance, and the people's commitment to their beliefs. The crime and the mystery ranked right up there with other good mystery novels. The main characters, Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus are interesting, but not riveting. The character development seems a bit slow, although they are both likeable and interesting. Once I knew there would be several sequels, it seemed to make more sense---no rush in explaining these people, there will be time for that later. Their attraction to each other was obvious, and the mini-mystery-within-the-mystery is how will Rina reconcile her religious beliefs with her attraction to this guy? Fortunately for us, Kellerman does not stray from the crime and into a world of romance. An engaging read that most mystery lovers will enjoy.

I recently discovered Faye Kellerman's entertaining and informative series about Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus. I began by reading 'Ritual Bath' (the first in the series) on Rosh Hashanah. It was a perfect read for the holidays and by Yom Kippur I had completed five more Decker/Lazarus novels and was on to a seventh book. I like that the characters are intelligent and have good values but are presented as human beings-flaws and all.

This first book about a rape that occurs just outside the mikvah in a small orthodox community shows how the relationship between Peter and Rina begins to develop while cleverly solving the crime. It deals more with issues of religion than the rest of the series. I found this quite enlightening being a very secular jew living in a community that is becoming quite orthodox.

I don't want to give away any of the story as many reviewers do so I'll just advise you to read this book. However, I'm warning you that you will not be able to stop with just one of Faye Kellerman's books.

Police detective Peter Decker is called to an orthodox Jewish community to investigate the rape of one of the women who lives there. The call is made by the victim's friend, Rina Lazarus, whom Peter is attracted to immediately. Thus begins a wonderful mystery series which features a strictly religious orthodox Jewish woman, and a man who is indifferent to religion, but not to Rina. The tension between the two creates a wonderful dance of approach/avoidance and a question as to whether their beliefs or their feelings will reign supreme in their relationship. Decker becomes acquainted with Rina's two sons and does his best to protect her from any future sexual attacks by the predator who roams the yeshiva community. The rape occurred near the mikvah where the women go for spiritual purification. Throughout the book the reader is treated to a background of orthodox Jewish practices and receives a real education in this fascinating religion. The difficulties in the relationship between Rina and Peter are clearly defined, but the ending leaves room for further development in the other books of the series.