I purchased this book for a 13 year old writer and was very disappointed. While the book may be useful for writers several years younger than her, much of what was covered in its pages is taught in late grade school and early middle school classrooms. Chapters that do hold potential--such as the one on revising--still fall short of what they could provide (particularly if your writer already revises and has others review his or her work). If you are at the point of trying to find guides and writing resources for a budding young writer, the child is probably already beyond most of what this book has to offer. If you are looking for an introduction to the very basics of dilogue, points of view, rising action, and character, this book is probably a good buy.

Marion Dane Bauer's book has been a tremendous help in my understanding good writing, and improving my own writing. Even after publishing three picture books and a novel for middle grade writers, I still like to reread her specific techniques and instructions on writing craft skills. If you are interested in any aspect of writing, you would certainly benefit from the information presented in this easy-to-use guide for authors.

Marion Dane Bauer's advice about fiction writing is orgainized in a way that's entertaining and easy to follow. Some of the points were a little painful at first, since I'd been doing just the wrong thing, but now that I've "seen the light" I like my own writing better.

The book is directed at young writers, with examples from children's books, but it's helpful for anyone, writing any kind of fiction.

This introduction to the apostle Paul and his letters is a good book to begin a study of the Pauline epistles. Soards focuses his evaluation of Paul in the context of Paul's eschatological beliefs. Soards' organization is excellent, and he writes in an easy to follow style. Some of his discussions can get a little difficult to follow, especially his discussion of Paul's theology. Overall, a good book for the New Testament beginner.

This book offers the serious student of the life of St. Paul an in-depth look at the how's and why's of the epistles, which ones are known to have been written personally by him and which ones were not. The general culture and lifestyles of the communities at the time of St. Paul are also discussed as well as several alternative theories of his travels, text of several epistles, and most importantly, scholarly discussion of Christology, Ecclesiology and Jewish Law. Although the spiritual discussions can get bogged down somewhat in their discussions, I found Soards to err on the side of too much data rather than too little. This is a very good source document for the spirituality of St. Paul and the style of his teachings

I am quite fond of Msrion Zimmer Bradley's world of Darkover, and have read almost all of the books set in it, even including the "Friends of Darkover" fan fiction anthologies edited by Ms. Bradley. It is, however, noticeable that the quality of the writing improved markedly as the series progressed (in real time; the stories were not written chronologically, so many of the earlier-written stories were set later in the history of Darkover). Ms. Bradley learned a great deal about the craft of writing as she matured, and as she wrote. This book is not one of her earliest books, but it isn't one of her latest, either, and so, not surprisingly, the quality of the writing is middling by her standards, which is fairly good by general standards.

One thing that bothered me about the story (which was, in general, a fairly gripping mystery story) was that the love interest, which was central to the plot, was a typical Harlequin-style love interest -- two people, who have absolutely NO reason for falling in love: nothing in common, have barely spoken a civil word to one another, and have very strong taboos AGAINST falling in love, suddenly fall madly in love. Why? Just because. After all, love is irrational, and needs no justification.

Frankly, that is hooey, no matter how popular the notion is, and I find it jarring when as intelligent a woman as Ms. Bradley was falls back on it. I'll chalk it up to immaturity; she generally treats the subject somewhat better in later books, although I have the definite impression that by the time she wrote this book, she OUGHT to have been old enough to know better.

This is my second Darkover novel, and it's very different from the first one I read ('The Shattered Chain'), but much more gripping--I had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep at 2am (I recommend waiting to start this til the weekend!).

This is the mysterious story of an orphaned boy, raised in a Terran orphanage on Darkover, and shipped off to his Terran grandparents when he's 13. Yet, he can't forget Darkover, and makes his way back to what he feels is his home planet--though he doesn't really feel that he fits in anywhere.

He wears a mysterious jewel, that he secretly hope will unlock his hazy past, reveal his heritage--and maybe even establish him as the long lost heir to a kingdom. Turns out he isn't far from the truth, and as the adventure unfolds the mysteries become increasingly complex.

This novel focuses on the Comyn, the noble caste with psi powers, and their fascinating world. Darkover's rich heritage and hidden powers are revealed in a gripping tale of intrigue, politics, and betrayals.

I am now completely hooked on Darkover and its tales!

The Fifth Son is a novel about a son who grows close to his father over a long period of time. I thought that it was a good book because it was told from a couple points of view. This is what also made it a tough read. The story is told through a jewish boy who wants to get close to his father. The father remains distant, but he writes these letters to his son, which to me makes the book confusing because the point of view tends to switch between the father and the son. Each wanting to grow close to one another but not knowing how to express themself in the right way. The story also gets confusing because the setting always switches back to Europe during WWII in this Jewish ghetto of which the jewish boys' father is the president of a Jewish council. Over all it was a pretty good book and I would recomend it.

Wiesel writes with the voice of a poet in this complex novel. It is told from the point of view of a Jewish young man who is trying desperately to understand his father, a Holocaust survivor. The young man, who is never named, wants to know everything he can about his father's experiences, and he slowly begins to gain information through his father's friends and through the letters he discovers, written by his father to his son Ariel. The book begins in a sequence that is confusing in the manner of a poem; it eventually becomes clearer as the themes of the book are developed. The young man is going to visit Germany to meet up with his father's past and somehow come to terms with it. He struggles with hate and forgiveness, and ultimately meets up with his father's past, and his own obsession, in a confrontation that tests his courage and helps him approach some sort of peace.

I must say that even though the writing was not of the best quality at times, I found the plot interesting and Frederica a sympathetic character. There is something about this series that I like very much. Even though each of the sisters has a flaw (Anabelle can be quite annoying), each is very sympathetic and the reader can readily enter into the lives of the sister. I loved Frederica because I could relate to her shyness and insecurity. I guess all of us wish we could find a wicked duke who could see through to our inner beauty.

This is one of the best of the six sisters series. Believable characters, deft storytelling and a charming hero and heroine make this book as well as Diana the Huntress the very best in the six sisters series. Poor lonely Frederica, the youngest of the six famous Armitage sisters (famous for their beauty and legendary for their successful marriages)believes herself to be no beauty at all and have absolutely no charm whatsoever. She decides never to marry as she finds her brothers-in-law to be a trifle overwhelming and prefers to stick her nose into books and her head in the clouds. Frederica runs away from school to find peace and solitude on her own, but her isolated tranquility is shattered when she catches the eye of the Duke of Pembury also known as the Wicked Duke. Don't waste your money on the other sisters' stories.

The content of this book was interesting, but the thing that really stood out for me was the number of grammatical errors, particularly in subject-verb agreement and apostrophe use. In some cases, the errors were so egregious that I had to read the sentence two or three times to figure out what the authors meant. Everybody makes mistakes, but in the publishing world, that's what editors are for! I hope some of these mistakes are caught before the paperback printing.

Complaint aside, I did find the book rather interesting. I learned a fair amount about feminine figures in myth, history, and literature, although a majority of the figures covered are pretty well-known to most people. I also learned a bit about myself, via the warrior-type quiz at the back of the book.

The final thing I would like to note about this book is that the title is a bit of a misnomer. The authors spend almost as much time discussing male warrior archetypes as they do female archetypes. I understand that this is necessary in order to create a precedent on which to build the female archetypes, but then why is the warrior-type quiz and the chaper explaining how to interpret your results written towards both men and women? If the authors expect men to benefit from this study as well as women, then maybe they should change the title to reflect this.

This book is fantastic. Not only does it give a in-depth history of Women Warriors, it also takes the historical characters and relates them to present day women. The personality quizes in the back tie it all together helping you to realize which warrior personality you have and how that fits in to your daily life.

But for the most part, these are enjoyable, reasonably well-written stories. It seemed to me that they got better as the book went along; one of the earlier stories, "A Dance For Darkover", by Diana Perry and Vera Nazarian, was the one true clunker in the lot, one of the worst stories to show up in any of these "Friends of Darkover" anthologies. I can't imagine what Ms. Bradley was thinking when she included it. The characters were two dimensional and behaved in ways that simply made no sense; their actions seemed noticeably forced in order to get the plot where the authors wanted it, rather than flowing naturally from their established personalities. But given that Ms. Bradley DID include it, I must conclude that she saw something in it she liked; there's no accounting for taste.

Some of the other early stories were also a tad weak, but only a tad. And just about everything in the last half of the book was excellent; on balance, I recommend this book highly. We even get a story about Magda Lorne, (one of my favorite canonical Darkovan characters) even if it is a fairly short one that breaks little new ground.

"Leroni of Darkover" is another of Marion Zimmer-Bradley's anthologies edited by herself and written by new writers. It's already out of print, as it was collected in 1991. I wrote a review for another anthology, "The Four Moons of Darkover" but apparently, it doesn't seem to help buyers all that much as I was afraid to give away too much. Instead, indeed it was too little. In this collection, Zimmer-Bradley makes it a point to say that the collection does not include a single feminist tirade, (at that time, a lot of people were getting into issues that got way out of hand, and put too much meaning into things that were meant to be enjoyed). "Leroni of Darkover" is much better and more entertaining than most of the other collections because the contributors have gotten pretty good at their craft. For instance, Dorothy Heydt's story "Avarra's Children" is another short story that involves Marguerida Elhalyn, the Keeper and Donald Stewart, her Terran paxman (who by the way gets sworn to her in "The Four Moons" anthology). They're kind of like the Mulder and Scully of Darkover, and get into the most interesting situations. I looked forward to their continuing adventures (well, when they were still having them, that is). "The Speaking Touch" by Margaret Carter is also okay, mainly because it deals with characters introduced in "World Wreckers," the first Darkover novel I ever read. As for the rest...Did anyone ever miss Andrew Carr when he disappeared? How did Varzil Ridenow find his path to become "the Good?" Are Darkovans great dancers? What does baking bread have to do with laran? There are 20 (yes, TWENTY) stories in this collection, and most of them quite enjoyable. If you can get a copy, it is well worth it, especially for a Darkover fan. Although where you can find a copy is another story...

My mother owned a first edition of this sweet book and as a child I was enchanted. The pictures in the book let you see the now queen and princess as little girls, playing and horse riding and being royal. I treasured the book and named my oldest daughter Elizabeth because of the glitter I saw with the little girls. My mother gave the book to me when I was a teenager and I had kept it for 40 years. I loaned the book to a friend and it was lost. I am now 55 and only lost it 5 years ago. I am very anxious to own another one. I think all ages of girls would love to read this book of another life that few of us can ever know.

If you love the Royal family then you'll be amazed by this book. I loved reading about the queen and her sister, Margret's, childhood. Its a wonderful book with funny parts as well as sometimes when you feel sorry for the girls. It tells of the future queen saying if she was Queen she wouldn't let people work horses on sundays, because they deserve a day off too, or something close to that.

This was a rather interesting book about a pair of sisters (Gillian and Amanda Davenpot) who were raised rather isolated from society and even each other by strict Puritan parents. Because of a smallpox epidemic in London and fear that the girls would be corrupted by the army in Yorkshire, the two Davenport sisters are given a short reprieve from their cloistered life. They are sent to distant relatives, Sir John and Lady Harrington. It happens to be Christmastime and though Jilly and Amanda's parents don't celebrate it, they do not realize the Harrington's do! Lady Harrington welcomes the sisters with open arms, giving them a holiday full of liveliness and spirit! She assists in making them fashionable by updating their dull clothes and buys them new gowns! Of course during this holiday in the country, there are plenty of young people and love is in the air.

This book contains a great deal of conversation much like Barbara Cartland's style of writing. You had to read closely to understand the story fully. I disliked that the sisters were raised with such cruelty and felt they "forgave" their parents much too quickly in the end, but I guess those times were different and parents used drastic, corporal punishments to control their children.

I loved the explanation of Regency Christmas rituals and celebrations many of which survive until today. Some of these celebrations were mentioned in other novels but I never understood fully before. If you read a lot of Regency novels, this is a great way to learn all about the traditions. This is a quick reading novel with just enough tension to make it interesting. Marion Chesney books are often full of surprises and she styles each book differently.

I read this book many years ago and I still came on Amazon[.com] to look for it because I loved it so much! The synopsis actually doesn't do it justice. The Davenport sisters, by a little luck, are spendign Christmas with their matchmaking aunt. The girls are the daughters of Puritans who never really have big, fancy Christamses, so everything that there aunt does, who firmly belives in big fancy Christmases, is so knew to them. Its a lot of fun because of that, Chesney conveys this feeling of being a little kid again and being so amazed at Christmas. Plus the heroes are incredubly dashing, of course each girl gets her own. Gillian, the main chracter, is one of those fun, spirited heroines you like but shes awkward around men. The end of the book is really interesting and all in all I loved it, which isnt much of a surprise cuz I love anything Marion Chesney does! :)

Beautiful poor Frederica. She had been cast to the side in the shadow of her gorgeous blonde sister. What to do? A marriage of convience for Frederica? We'll see about that. With her spirit and liveliness she can prove that love conquers all. She is a model for all woman-kind (or man-kind). Her trials and tribulations make even a hard-core romance reader like me feel sympathy for her plight. This is a definite yes, in the "books to be read department". I would suggest that you read it alone and get comfy, it is a very enthralling novel.

MY DEAR DUCHESS

Book Review for Amazon.com.
Tuesday, November 20, 2001
by Mozella R. Sunshine
Contact me at my new email address: mozellasunshine@mediaone.net

I will be looking for more books by Marion Chesney.

In spite of the frightening, escalating heinous, mercenary obstacles hurdled in the newly weds' path, it was a romance novel, after all. Therefore, I was able to endure the pain, confusion and suffering of the young bride who had known virtually nothing but heart aches and slights all her life. MY DEAR DUCHESS, is a gripping tale I couldn't put down. Upon completing it, I felt renewed strength in life, fate and admiration for real women and men who aren't afraid to stare evil point-blank in the face and triumph over it with love, truth and the determination to do the right things regardless of how others think and conventionally behave in the upper societal strata.

The second striking feature of the book was the British version of the English language! Give me a break! Would somebody please send a few million Websters to the British Isles, so souls like myself can curl up and read without having to consult various references to understand what the author is really saying!

(Truth is, I enjoyed every word of the book. I love looking up facts, words and learning new things. That's why I have shelves and boxes full of references and the reference librarians phone number handy. The above paragraph is actually, just a tease to emphasize the difference, diverseness, and richness our mother tongue and the intriguing manner that its' employed in MY DEAR DUCHESS. The syntax and vocabulary of this narrative is an adventure worth the reading even if you're not into the romance genre. Furthermore, I absolutely adore and at times try to imitate the British: "the people that civilized the world." Thanks Brits and Ms. Chesney.)