This book had potential to be a fun, if campy, adventure. Too bad the characters, plot, and dialogue got in the way.

Almost from the start, the hero, Ryan, jumps to conclusions about the heroine. Considering that he sleeps with a prostitute in the first chapter, he has no right to be judgmental or jealous.

For her part, Kitty is smarter and more capable than most "feisty" heroines. However, there must have been something in the water, because before long, she starts jumping to conclusions, too.

The plot hinges on too many coincidencs and used too many cliches. The dialogue is stilted, and peppered with distracting dialogue tags such as "snarled" and "sniffed."

I gave this book a D-

Ditto Mrs Giggles. I liked the book, more or less. I don't know that I would recommend it but I wouldn't try to talk someone out of buying it either.

This is the final leg of an exciting journey with the hellraising Delaney brothers! I think this was by far my favorite of the three, which is hard to say because I really liked the first one, "To Love A Stranger". This had all the action and fire I had hoped for in Ryan Delaney, the youngest and the 'rogue' of the three brothers. His match Kathryn, or Kitty as she is nicknamed has become one of my favorite heroines! She is fiesty and fouthmouthed and doesn't take no lip or (excuse the language) crap from anyone, inlcuding Ryan! Or Rogue Ryan as he is called in town...

Ryan is sent on an errand from his dead father's best friend in Arizona to find his long-lost daughter Kathryn Lowry. No one has any idea where she went, she has disapeared without a trace for more than 6 years! Ryan decides to go since his brothers have all settled down and have families. He is bored with the women in Dry Gulch, Montana (his hometown) and embarks on the journey south. He accidentally runs into a notorious bankrobbing gang in Tombstone, Arizona and gets caught up in the fray, soon his finds himself one of the crew! Boy will his brothers kill him when they find out! But what he does discover is a small boy that doesn't look much like a boy, but a woman in boy's clothing in the gang called Kit.

Kit has no time for men or handsome, heartstopping ones named Ryan Delaney. No one had discovered her ruse and she prays they never do. She is only along for the ride until she can save enough money to leave them. Suddenly her world is turned upside down when her protector is shot down in a robbery and Ryan joins the gang. Will he see through her clothing? Does she want him to? Kit is so confused, she has never felt anything for a man before. But when Ryan discovers her for who she is, she is turning tail!

An exciting adventure through the deserts and old west towns! Kit becomes Kitty and Ryan soon realizes that Kitty is also someone else he has been looking for...but how in the world did she becomes an outlaw? What would her father say? I loved the action and fire in this story and thought Kitty was perfect for the loud and obnoxious Ryan! Ryan gets himself into a bad scrape that the brothers must band together to get him out of. We get to meet up with Pierce and Chad from the first two books, "To Love A Stranger" and "To Tame A Renegade". A great trilogy that are definate keepers! Keep up the fantastic work Ms Mason!

Tracy Talley~@

Background: The stylistic heritage of the Perry Mason mysteries is the American pulp magazines of the 1920s. In the early Mason mysteries, Perry - a good-looking, broad-shouldered, two-fisted, man of action - is constantly stiff-arming sultry beauties on his way to an explosive encounter that precipitates the book's climactic action sequence. In the opening chapters of these stories, Gardner subjects the reader to assertive passages that Mason is a crusader for justice, a man so action-oriented he is constitutionally incapable of sitting in his office and waiting for a case to come to him or to develop on its own once it has - he has to be out on the street, in the midst of the action, making things happen, always on the offensive, never standing pat or accepting being put on the defensive. These narrative passages - naïve, embarrassingly crude "character" development - pop up throughout the early books, stopping the narrative dead in its tracks, and putting on full display a non-writer's worst characteristic: telling the reader a character's traits instead of showing them through action, dialogue, and use of other of the writer's tools.

Rating "Ground Rules": These flaws, and others so staggeringly obvious that enumerating them is akin to using cannons to take out a flea, occur throughout the Gardner books, and can easily be used (with justification) to trash his work. But for this reader they are a "given", part of the literary terrain, and are not relevant to my assessment of the Gardner books. In other words, my assessments of the Perry Mason mysteries turn a blind eye to Erle Stanley Gardner's wooden, style-less writing, inept descriptive passages, unrealistic dialogue, and weak characterizations. As I've just noted, as examples of literary style all of Gardner's books, including the Perry Mason series, are all pretty bad. Nonetheless, the Mason stories are a lot of fun, offering intriguing puzzles, nifty legal gymnastics, courtroom pyrotechnics, and lots of action and close calls for Perry and crew. Basically, you have to turn off the literary sensibilities and enjoy the "guilty" pleasure of a fun read of bad writing. So, my 1-5 star ratings (A, B, C, D, and F) are relative to other books in the Gardner canon, not to other mysteries, and certainly not to literature or general fiction.

"The Case of the Counterfeit Eye": D+

A generally weak entry in the Perry Mason series, not even close to such Gardner classics as "The Stuttering Bishop", "The Lame Canary", "The Substitute Face", or "The Perjured Parrot", to name entries that were published in successive years after 1935, when "The Case of the Counterfeit Eye" first came out, and when Gardner's fertile imagination was approaching its quirky peak.

This somewhat "forced" and very artificial mystery has an other-worldly, disconnected air, more removed than most mysteries from the real world - like a mystery gimmick that Gardner dreamed up and simply didn't want to pass up turning into a novel-length story. "The Counterfeit Eye" is his unsatisfying attempt to put the gimmick into story form. Unsatisfying, because it still feels like a gimmick imposed on the situation and characters, forcing them to behave in ways that satisfy the needs of the gimmick, but not the readers' need for a coherent story in which the characters display a modicum of rational behavior, and the police do not exhibit the blinkered stupidity so characteristic of the drawing room mysteries that were so antithetical to the more "realistic" roots of the pulp mysteries that are the Perry Mason series' progenitors.

In "The Counterfeit Eye" the basic situation that precipitates the murder and its mystery relies on a tangle of coincidences and are unlikely enough on their own, but surpass any possibility of suspended-disbelief when they coincide the way the author forces them to on the fateful night of the murder. And - the most irritating aspect of this story - resolution of the daunting case against Perry's client is achieved by trotting out the most far-fetched coincidence that Gardner has ever had the temerity to use.

All in all a far-fetched, disappointing early effort by Gardner in the midst of one of his most creative periods.

This is the 6th Perry Mason mystery written in 1935. It might not be so good as a mystery, but it contains several impressive scenes such as Mason's grandstand play at the court, the sad romance of the client with the counterfeit eye, and the "infiltration operation" of Mason and Drake to the hotel guarded by the police.

And it is also notable that Hamilton Burger, the District Attoney of Los Angeles County, Mason's arch-enemy, first appears on the scene. In this book, Burger is described as a respectable opponent who wants to be faithful to his duty. In later books, he gradually becomes an one-track minded, stubborn enemy who wants to get Mason by all means.

Erle Stanley Gardner is a wonderful author. He has created a case that splendered me, and freiends. I've read the book 6 times in two months because I can't get enough of it. It is one of the best in the "Perry Mason" series if you ask me. I couldn't think of a better gift for any mystery fan. It has everything; Mystery, thrills, espionage, comedy and romance

This book is intriguing if you're one of those star-wars hogging sci-fi nerds, which i am not. If you're normal like me, you will not believe or imagine a single passage in this novel. It is high-tech to the extreme, and not likely to happen in the next couple centuries. Boring plot. Woman gets involved in a dangerous skeem, woman tries to get out, woman tries to save the world from digital crisis, woman is a sexy blonde, you could almost guess the rest of the story. My suggestion is, go for slightly less imaginary and more contemporrary works. you got your stephen kings, your romantic charles dickens, your seductive anne rice's. This is a waste of time.

Mason leads her cyberpunk reader into the arena of sci-fi comics. It's not possible for humans to grasp the feelings and desires of these robot characters but it's still a lot of fun to try. She challenges your imagination to follow her character's avatars, cones, cubes and three headed chimeras as they flit in and out of cyberspace. But hard questions are run up the flagpole. Can bodiless people exist in this virtual world of telespace? Can a soul exist in a nonorganic body? Should robots be discarded like machines when a new model arrives? Can our culture continue to absorb the changes computer power is unleashing? Is our reality but an extension of the bits composing telespace? Even the questions of what consciousness might consist of and whether it is really an advantage to being born as flesh and blood. She makes no attempt to answer these questions but even considering them makes this book a very creative endeavor. You could certainly invest your time on a much less entertaining story. Also it is short and sweet.

Cyberweb is a pretty nifty cyberpunk novel...lots of interesting ideas...I liked it...there's a sequal to it too, but I can't remember its title...

The violent themes in this book are a bit rough for the 3-4 year olds. When looking for early readers, I would try to make it age appropriate and not trying to keep true to the greek mythology.

I have read three All Aboard Reading books dealing with classical mythology illustrated by the cut paper artwork of Susan Swan, and from an artistic standpoint this is clearly the best of the bunch. Some of Swan's three-dimensional efforts are simply outstanding. "The Flying Horse: The Story of Pegasus" is told by Jane B. Mason, who adapts this myth from Hesiod, does neglect to provide the names of the hero (Bellerophon) and the monster (Chimaera). However, this is a Level 1 (Preschool-Grade 1) book and there are students who are much older who are not going to be able to get their tongues around those ancient names, so these omissions are perfectly understandable. Young students will read all about a wonderful flying horse that helped a hero slay a horrible monster, which is seen in Swan's most beautiful illustration in the book.

Similarly, Mason ends the story of Pegasus on a happy note, explaining how the flying horse is a part of the stars in the night sky. Besides, it is in Homer's "Iliad" and not in Hesiod that we hear the sad story of how Bellerophon tried to ride Pegasus up to Olympus to take his place with the immortal gods. Pegasus threw his rider who died miserably, while Pegasus had the important task of bring Zeus his thunderbolts when needed. But before young readers learn the grim details of the hero and his valiant flying steed pictured in this book, they can look forward to several Level 2 books dealing with myths illustrated by Swan dealing with Medusa and the Minotaur.

In "The Flying Horse: The Story of Pegasus," Jane B. Mason retells a classic story from Greek mythology to beginning readers. Her simple prose is accompanied by Susan Swan's spectacular illustrations.

The story focuses on Pegasus, the legendary winged horse. The goddess Athena guides Pegasus to join forces with a young prince in order to defeat a monster that has been terrifying the land. Mason thoughtfully provides pronunciation helps for the mythological names.

Swan's illustrations really make this book special. Her artwork appears to consist of cut paper collages. These collages are rich in color, texture, and detail. Elegant Greek temple columns, the feathers of Pegasus' wings, the shaggy many of the monster, the rough gray stones around the monster's cave--all these details are rendered with spectacular skill by Swan.

My only complaint about the book is the fact that both prince and monster go unnamed (for the record, the prince is Bellerophon, and the monster is the Chimera--I looked the names up to double-check them). But that's a minor complaint. The beauty and excitement of this book make "The Flying Horse" a worthy addition to the classroom or family library.

I can not really recommend this book. It is not a bad book, a bit thin, and a bit pricy. It has a few small highlights, But most of the time I found myself flipping through the pages. And in a book with such little pages, it stinks to have to flip.

Section 1 is about an individual named Maria going through divination. I just could not get into it, and I skipped paragraph after paragraph trying to get the gist of it, and just could not.

Most of what Mr. Mason has written about has been written better elsewhere. For example The Altar of my Soul by Marta Moreno Vega, and Cuban Santeria by Baba Raul Canizares. <-- Ibae!! I found the book to be a bit tedious, in the writing style. There was a story where an Elder Priestess is having an argument with an Italero over a derecho owed to her. You read how this individual uses the religion only as a way of financial growth, and to boost her Ego, instead of her true love and respect for the religion. Although this is true in many instances, I can not find the reason that led the author to write about it.

To be honest half the book is Glossary, and Notes. This is good for the people who have little knowledge of Orishas worship, but a bit of a waist of space and money for the Orisha community who has all this information imbedded into their being.

If you are beginning in Lukumi, or looking for research into the religion then you might like this book. If you are already established into the religion, skip this book you will not be missing much.

This book needs more practical information. The author is a first rate scholar and if scholarship is what you desire this is the book for you. But if you need plain easy to read info in great amounts,read another book.

In"Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion," Michael Mason takes the reader on a fascinating journey through his own exploration of Santería, beginning as an observer, then becoming initiated into the priesthood of Santería, and finally initiating others into the priesthood. Mason's main argument is that Santería, like any religious practice, is performative, and is thus best understood by incorporating some of this performativity into his written analysis. Using each chapter to focus on a key ceremony within Santería (including a client's divination session; an acquaintance's reception of the guerreros, or warrior deities; and a neophyte's initiation into the priesthood of Santería), Mason emphasizes the body as an important site for ritual learning and individual transformation through the practice of Santería.

Mason is steeped in the philosophical writings of hermeneutical phenomenology, and is able to apply the ideas of Mauss, Bourdieu, Marcus, and Jackson to the praxis of Santería in informative and useful ways. Although many books have been written about Santería, most have been written by practitioners who are not scholars, and none has been able to make this analytical connection so successfully. Mason, a folklorist and curator, also highlights the importance of material culture. Certain rituals of Santería have been adumbrated in some detail by previous authors (J. Mason, L. Cabrera), but none has presented as thorough and compelling a picture of the asiento as Mason. And most important, Mason is himself a priest and practitioner of Santería, with more than ten years "in the religion." This makes his perspective invaluable, and provides the strongest component in this tripartite approach to understanding Santería. Because of his first-hand knowledge of this religious tradition and his first-rate academic and practical training, Mason is able to synthesize his socioreligious experiences in a way that few others can.

Mason represents a rare combination: a scholar-practitioner who is as respected in his profession as he is in his religion. I would compare Mason's work favorably to Karen Brown's Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn (1991). Mason's work is greatly influenced by theorist Michael Jackson, and can also be favorably compared to some of Jackson's essays on the nature of ethnographic inquiry. Certainly, Mason has been influenced by the great Cuban ethnographers Lydia Cabrera and Fernando Ortíz in the scope and detail of his writing, but neither Cabrera nor Ortíz focused their efforts on sociological analysis. Mason's work picks up where Cabrera, Ortíz, and others left off, connecting the litany of ritual detail with intricate webs of meaning, theorizing about the subjectivity of individual experience.

The book will be of considerable interest to scholars and others who are interested in the practice and process of Santería. Folklorists, anthropologists, religious practitioners, performance theorists, scholars of religion, scholars of the Caribbean, and serious students of ethnography will be gratified by the style and substance Mason brings to his subject. General readers who are interested in Santería and other Caribbean religious practices will also be drawn to the book's accessible and engaging approach to the experience of Santería. In short, buy this book!

I am now reading this book ,I am almost at the end and I don't feel like finishing it. Kate character is unlikeble from the start and it makes it very hard for me to feel connected.
This is the first book that I read of Connie Mason and I hope that the next one will be much better.

I did enjoy this book and it did keep me interested but, although I really wanted to bond with Kate, she was such a witch that it was difficult to. I really felt sorry for poor Robin and wondered what he possibly loved about her. She treated him [badly] and lets face it, There isn't a man on earth that would put up with prudish [girl] who constantly ridiculed him. This girl constantly pushes her luck and it isn't until the end that she acts the saint. The only chemistry between the two was the sex and, as hot as it was, believe it or not, it actually not old. It also gives you very little info concerning the crimes of the characters but, in fairness, I did not realize that this book was a sequel.

I COULD NOT PUT THE BOOK DOWN IT WAS A GREAT BOOK AND I LOVED READING IT AS I ALSO ENJOYED READING THE THIRD BOOK IN THE SERIES THE NAME WAS BRAVE LAND BRAVE LOVE AND I GIVE THESE BOOKS A 5 STAR RATING AND MRS CONNIE IS A GREAT AUTHOR AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED.

I am truly amazed at the high reviews for Connie Mason's works. I tried reading 2 of her novels (this one and A TOUCH SO WICKED). Her writing is so bad I don't know where to begin. Her characters are cardboard cutouts, having absolutely no depth. Her love scenes are so alike that I really think she must have written one love scene and cut and pasted it to several other areas in this novel and others, only changing the names.

I'll never pick up another Mason novel, but I just want to warn other seasoned romance novel readers that reading anything by her is a complete waste of time.

Sierra Alden is desperate to find her long-lost brother and sister seperated from her when an Indian attack left her parents murdered and her wandering alone on the Colorado prairie. So 18 years later when she is fresh from finishing school and living with her adopted parents in California she overhears a tale of two white 'savages' who were adopted and grew up in a Cheyenne tribe and were now living in 'polite society' in Denver. Sierra is determined to locate them after all these years and tries to devise a way to get to Denver.

Ramsey Hunter is just the kind of man Sierra should steer clear of. He is brooding and harsh. He owns a seedy establishment in town and consorts with 'those women'. No one seems to know where he came from or why he is so rich. Nor does anyone care. Ram meets Sierra in an unfortunate way and they both loathe each other immediately. Soon afterwards Ramsey gets an urgent telegram for him to proceed to Denver ASAP. Overhearing this, Sierra decides to hitch a ride with him, but he forbids it. Little does he know he can;t stop the stubborn and spoiled rich girl who always gets her way.

As always Connie Mason takes us on an unforgettable journey through the mountains packed full of adventure and intrigue. Ram is hiding a very mysterious and dark past and Sierra is dying to find out what it is, but will she want him as much when she does? Will her heart change when faced with the horrible truth of Ram's past and future? Will she go running back to her fiance after she finds out?
I was happy with the final book in this series and was happy to meet up with the characters and places from the other two books, "Tears Like Rain" and "Wind Rider". Although, I wished there had been more closeness between the long-lost siblings like there was between Abby and Ryder(brother and sister from the previous two books)but in all it was a definate keeper and I am always thrilled to pick up a new Mason book, they're always sure to please...

Tracy Talley~@

The best thing about this book was the fact that Sierra was the one persuing Ramsay. It was refreshing to have the heroine know what she wanted and go after it. Ram knew what he wanted too, but was trapped in circumstances beyond his control. Both characters were very engaging. My only disappointment was in Sierra's reunion with her siblings. After all the years and all the hardships to reach them, not much of a relationship was developed between them.

Connie Mason can always be counted on for an enjoyable read. KCS

I had the overwhelming sense that I had read these stories before, and that they were better the first time. Mason covers a lot of old ground here, and while a few of the stories offer new perspectives, many of them feel like retreads.

The best thing about Zigzagging over her other short story collections is it's more recent: Mason's reliance on up-to-the-minute references make her stories dated (though still excellent).

If you've never read Mason's other collections, give them a look first.

i enjoyed these stories as they were based in an area not too far from where i grew up in Southeast Missouri. i could recognize the type of characters and it made for great, light reading. It made me want to read more work by the author.

"Zigzagging Down A Wild Trail", by Bobbie Ann Mason is a great collection of short stories. She has a very unique and clever way of seeing what is presented to all of us, but is only viewed by some, and recorded by even fewer. Her stories are not about fantastically unusual events. Her characters are generally people that many will know some version of, and yet when she finishes rendering their personalities they feel as though they are new.

There are 11 stories in the collection, and the titles range from, "Tobrah, Thunder Snow, and Charger". "Tobrah", resides at one end of this range of tales, with a daughter traveling to make arrangements for her father who deserted her, only to find that with his final leaving in death he has also left her a half-sister that is younger by decades. Other than her name the child is largely a mystery, and some clues that develop are less than comforting. This story like many that are in the book are left with unfinished issues, the outcome is for the reader to decide. Many of these tales are brought to a conclusion very abruptly, a style that I usually finally annoying. This was not the case with this writer's work, and it may be because the stories themselves are so rich that even left incomplete, the writer has given her audience all they need.

Well-known events like The Gulf War are also modified so that it is the husband who has stayed behind while his wife has gone off to war. Superficially the story appears to contain much of the cliché male thinking one would expect, but pay attention to the detail, and the story is unique and very well done. The character and title of one story, "Charger", is at times humorous, and at others sad as his and his girlfriend's future are all too predictable. The characters of Charger, who is desirous of readjusting his brain via the use of his girlfriend's aunt's Prozac, is someone you will not forget easily. And his girlfriend who wears skintight snakeskin pants, "Like a pair of Boa Constrictors", and defines happiness as having lipstick on, may be the most interesting characters in the book.

Whatever your interests there is a high probability that Bobbie Ann Mason will provide several stories for you to enjoy.

I regret buying this book, since it promised to cover different topics, providing lots of different meals ideas, and it is mostly theoretical and has almost no recipes. If you need theory buy this book, but common sense, obvious theory. If you want ideas for your babies meals look for something else.

As a new mom this book is good for basics but light on details. I found
myself having to buy other books once my son was ready for solids.
I also felt the information jumped around a lot; it would have been nice to have it organized more month to month rather than topic to topic.
Not a bad choice but don't expect to be your only book on food.
Good luck!

This is a good book and has only one chapter that interests me (The one on making homemade baby food). The other chapters contain info on breastfeeding, formula feeding, etc. This information is redundant because I purchased two books (What to Expect When You're Expecting, and What To Expect The First Year) that included most of the same info.

In an effort to be *objective,* Mason's account bends to the negative side. The author's voice was a little too impersonal and left me without much insight into who Maharishi actually is. However, the book includes some interesting quotes from hard to find sources. If this isn't what you're looking for you may want to read "Beyond Gurus" instead.

Well I bought this book used for three dollars and it was worth every penny.In the very beginning inside the cover it states that Paul Mason has practiced TM for over twenty years yet throughout the book he seems negative about his own Guru.Perhaps he is being truthful(the reason I gave three stars) but he does not mention the benefits of TM for himself REALLY so is he trapped in a mere habit of doing TM everyday? Also he fails to mention that capitalistic Westerners are running the TM movement for the elderly Guru and with or without his permission are ripping people off for ungodly sums of money for mere words. It costs $2,500.00 to learn TM and $3000.00 to learn to hop around in the lotus position for the Sidhi techniques.He goes farther to disprove and discredit TM than a lot of anti-TM authors....thanks Paul for telling people what a line of BS TM really is. :) Save your money and look elsewhere....

There are many TM books written by those in the TM movement that are biased with all kinds of claims, from unbelievable health benefits to flying! This book is a very balanced account of Transcendental Meditation.