This is not a top-notch travel book. The information was not in-depth or interesting. It seemed to be like a book one might get at a travel agency free (it even had advertisements). I would not recommend this book.

I am planning a trip and maybe even a move to Charleston this year. I went to the bookstore wanting to find some simple information on Charleston. This book made me fall in love with the city of Charleston. It has more information that the average restaurants, lodging, things to do. It highlights things you may find out from talking to a long time resident who loves their hometown. I can't wait to go. I highy recommend this almanac/friend/looking glass of a book.

This is the author's first novel, and it is very obvious. I think that he has potential as a writer, but he needs more practice before he attempts to publish another book. He failed in developing his characters, and there was no story line. Keep in mind that I am an avid reader. The book is about 130 pages, but it took me over a month to read it. Let me save you from the torture: A guy from Maine moves south, meets random people, smokes, and gets wasted. THE END. (I swear, there is no more detail to this book.)

It's short, fun and easy to read. The writer really puts us right alongside the characters. It brought me back to the carefree days of long ago.

This book has just been reprinted and is a detailed retelling of the life of a plantation owner's family. The author was the daughter of a SC Governor, owner of 13 plantations, and leader of his community. This diary kept by his daughter shows how she learned from his example, and was able to carry on the family plantation even after the devistation of the Civil War and the loss of so much. The day to day events are retold in enough detail to understand life of the times. There are lessons to be learned about coping with life that are as true today as they were then. Elizabeth comes alive as an interesting, thinking, caring woman determined to save the best of the culture and the education of the Carolina Low Country. Through her eyes you see the eventual degradation of the society from it's previous level of political and economic leadership in the United States to the genteel poor lucky enough to have resources in the land and water to sustain life. If you want to understand the real role of the south before the war and the effects of reconstruction on society today, then this book is a must read.

as needlessly wordy as my unchecked title. Ok, please dear God someone wrest the adjectives and adverbs from this woman!!! Not every noun needed to be preceded by an adjective and not every verb needed an adverb. Also, for once I would have liked her to use just the charaters name when they were described in the dialogue. Does Jeff really need to be called Raelynns devestatingly handsome specimen of maleness? We already know he's a devestatingly handsom man so why couldn't she just say his name? I'm no writer but even I think I could have done better than this book. I read the whole thing just out of habit and boredom but it took sooooo long and I kept putting it down in disgust and then picking it up again. If you want a good read try Julie Garwood or Vicki Lewis Thopson, two excellent authors!

I too am a Woodiwiss fan from way back. So Worthy My Love, and the Wolf and the Dove, were two of the books that sold me on her originally. Her descriptive writing style in the past has been lush and poetic. I also enjoyed The Flame and the Flower, but this book was just not worth the read. It's practically Heather and Brandon's story written with different characters and we completely miss what happened in Raelynn's and Jeff's early relationship. I was constantly feeling as though there was another book I had missed somewhere. The whole plot is so similar I began to wonder if Woodiwiss even bothered to put any effort into this book. 1. Man and Woman meet and suddenly find they must marry. 2. Something keeps Man and Woman from sharing the "marriage bed" and as a result "tension" mounts. 3. Woman is harrassed by a another man who lusts after her. 4. Man finds himself accused of murder. How many times must we tread this old, tired paths. I can't count how many times I kept skipping through portions of the book just to get it over with. Please Woodiwiss, give us a new, original love story to cherish, like you've been so able to do in the past.

I am so glad that I read the review by 'airgeadach' from Bangor, PA. I was beginning to think that maybe I was missing something but now I know that it wasn't just me who thought there must have been a previous book that wasn't mentioned anywhere. I'm only on page 74, but from the beginning I have wondered where the first part of this story is.

The story is okay, but nothing like Brandon and Heather's stories in the first two books.

Very disappointing.

Even though the Washington Post says that this book has everything under one cover, I found the Charleston section to be inadequate. If you need a Charleston guide, I would suggest looking elsewhere.

You can't call it a detective mystery because no detecting actually happens. You can't call it a mystery because the clues don't add up. You can't call it suspense thriller because the third act is all conjecture. You can't call it characher developement because, while some of the secondaries can grow, it ends before they do.
Nice light reading if you're not looking for any story.