The Marriage Game: A Novel

Book Description

In a dazzling celebration of the power of friendship and love, acclaimed bestselling author Fern Michaels brings her trademark wit and warmth to an action-packed story featuring a group of diverse women who bond Survivor-style under the most unlikely of circumstances...and find romance along the way.

When Samantha Rainford -- newly wed to Douglas Cosmo Rainford III -- returns home from her honeymoon to find divorce papers waiting, she's shocked and heartbroken. Then she discovers that she's not the first to be abandoned -- she's one of four (or maybe more) ex-Mrs. Rainfords -- and decides it's time to put into practice that old truism: Don't get mad, get even.

With the help of her longtime girlfriend Slick, a glamorous fashion model, Sam gathers together a highly unlikely team: Mrs. Kayla Rainford, an architect who moonlights as an exotic dancer; Mrs. Zoe Rainford, a plumber; and Mrs. Olivia Rainford, a former cheerleader and cartoon artist. Sam and Slick flunked out of FBI training school, but they still learned a few things there -- like how to plan a mission. And the fivesome is determined to do whatever it takes to bring down Douglas Rainford III.

Whatever it takes means attending a top-secret private special-ops training camp in the North Carolina mountains, where Sam meets fiercely disciplined ex-CIA operative Kollar Havapopulas. Six feet three and handsome as a Greek god, "Pappy" is the best at what he does -- transforming civilians into highly skilled fighting teams. What he's less adept at, however, is telling a woman how he feels, and before long he discovers he's developing some very warm feelings for Samantha Rainford -- an attraction that seems fated to be a total disaster. Two personalities as strong as Sam and Pappy are sure to strike sparks, but will the fire that burns between them consume everything in its way?

Customer Reviews:

As Always another Great One.........2007-09-07

I did not want to put this book down. As always - I was captured from the first page. Great Job!

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!!!.......2007-08-12

Wow, Glad to see I am not the only one who thought this was the most ridiculous book they've wasted their time to read. What woman, much less five, would go willingly to a 'secret location' and commit a year of their lives with a man who breaks into their house (well, Sam's house) in the middle of the night? That's only the first completely implausible plot here. I bought this book and read it because one of my friends loves Fern Michaels. I'm not sure why. This book was stupid, stupid, stupid!!! I'm gonna donate this to my local library as soon as possible so none of my friends even see this deplorable book in my stack of books read or to read.

Very entertaining!.......2007-07-19

I just finished The Marriage Game and totally enjoyed this fun-filled group of women, all the while keeping in mind this was pure fiction and great laugh-out-loud entertainment! I will continue to read Fern Michaels future books!

Oh My God!.......2007-07-17

This was, without a doubt, the most inane, pathetic book I have ever attempted to read. In what I realize, now, was a joke, a friend gave it to me to read while recovering from surgery. Needless to say, I could not finish it. Who reads this trash?

Zero Stars?.......2007-07-05

This book suffers from an unbelievable storyline - How do a CPA and a washed-up supermodel wind up at the FBI academy? - and the plot goes downhill from there. It also suffers from poor editing which leads to major contradictions in consecutive pages. This is the first Fern Michaels book I have read...and the last.

Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name: A Novel

Average customer rating:

Short, to the point, not a lot of substance
Boring
Very powerful novel
Vendela Vida's clean, spartan prose makes every word count
A Wonderful Talent Not Yet Fulfilled

Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name: A Novel
Vendela Vida
Manufacturer: Ecco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0060828374
Release Date: 2007-01-02

Book Description

On the day of her father's funeral, twenty-eight-year-old Clarissa Iverton discovers that he wasn't her biological father after all. Her mother disappeared fourteen years earlier, and now Clarissa is alone and adrift. The one person she feels she can trust, her fiancé, Pankaj, has just revealed a terrible and life-changing secret to her. In the cycle of a day, all the truths in Clarissa's world become myths and rumors, and she is catapulted out of the life she knew.

She finds her birth certificate, which leads her from New York to Helsinki, and then north of the Arctic Circle, to mystical Lapland, where she believes she'll meet her real father. There, under the northern lights of a sunless winter, Clarissa comes to know the Sami, the indigenous population, and seeks out a local priest, the one man who may hold the key to her origins. Along her travels she meets an elderly Sami healer named Anna Kristine, who has her own secrets, and a handsome young reindeer herder named Henrik, who accompanies Clarissa to a hotel made of ice. There she is confronted with the truth about her mother's past and finally must make a decision about how—and where—to live the rest of her life.

Joan Didion said of Vendela Vida's last book: "And Now You Can Go is so fast, so mesmerizing to read, and so accomplished that it's hard to think of it as a first novel, which it is. Vendela Vida has promise to spare." With Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name, Vida more than lives up to that promise as she gives us a remarkable protagonist who is both fierce and funny, and an unforgettable literary thriller that questions whether we can ever truly know where we've come from—and if it is possible to escape our pasts.

Customer Reviews:

Short, to the point, not a lot of substance.......2007-06-12

the reviews for this were so grand, I had to read it for myself. I agree that there is not a wasted word or phrase in this story. Every word does count. But there isn't much there. Girl's mom leaves. Girl tries to find her mom. Girl discovers things about herself. It's your basic trying to find yourself novel, with one main character, and lots of other minor characters, with no real substance into any of the others. A good short read, it took me only a few hours to get through it, but now I'm ready for something with more meat. this book is kind of like a short resting point before you jump into something bigger.

Boring.......2007-05-21

Did not care for this novel, sorry I bought it. The best thing about it is it's title.

Protagonist Clarissa comes across as not especially bright.

Very powerful novel.......2007-05-02

Many readers have admired Vendela's spare prose. Unlike most other readers, I was at first put off by what seemed to me like the hard, awkward prose of a non-native speaker. Nonetheless, I was quickly drawn into what I ultimately found to be a compelling and even haunting novel. I did not like the main character who I found to be at times gratuitously cruel. I did not like many of the characters. However, Vendela draws you into a world of difficult, hard events in which her characters make hard, surprising choices that achieve for them a kind of redemption and which made me question the easy, accepted choices we make in our lives. I only gave this book a 4 instead of a 5 because ultimately I was not won over by Vendela's prose although the story and even the characters were for me compelling. I could not put the book down once started and I know I will never forget it.

Vendela Vida's clean, spartan prose makes every word count .......2007-03-24

I read an excellent review of Vendela Vida's latest novel in People Magazine and decided straight away to give it try. I was not disappointed. I fairly blitzed through this book - others here mention going cover-to-cover in one sitting. It took me two, but it's the type of work that encourages you to read 'just one more chapter' before putting the book down. And, in fact, you never do put it down. Though only 226 clean (almost spartan, in fact) pages, you won't feel cheated. Vida makes every single word count. You never have to amble through overstuffed, toss-away passages.

In the process, I learned quite a bit about Lapland and its people. Vida did some excellent first-hand info-gathering there. Her legwork really manifests itself in a knowledgeable fashion. The map - courtesy of Paul J. Pugliese - provides clarity and is a touchstone for readers throughout the text. I highly recommend this book.

A Wonderful Talent Not Yet Fulfilled.......2007-03-10

Vendela Vida has a way with words, a veritable gift, and she bestows this sometimes snappily ironic, sometimes woe-is-me sardonic, gift upon Clarissa Iverton, the young narrator of Vida's beautifully written--but oh so consciously written--novel Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name. The book is spare, deliberate, cold. Clarissa is supposed to be (I think) impulsive, lost, and not-to-be-blamed-for-being cold. As the story unfolds there are hints that Clarissa might be able to achieve some balance between unwavering froideur and emotional dynamism. And as the story opens, and Clarissa feeds us her back-story, the odd and unexamined behavior of family and friends keeps us just enough off-balance that it's easy to read just for plot. We can accept Clarissa's genetically endowed, inalienable right to constitutional coldness because, on that point, the plot is persuasive--an egoistically sadistic, abandoning mom; an overly attentive boyfriend who has consistently lied to Clarissa about her true origins; a dad who dies without revealing that he's not her biological dad. Betrayed by every person she ought to be able to trust, Clarissa makes a credible victim. Plot-wise, that is. We automatically hand her our sympathy; it shouldn't take very much to keep it.

But accepting the character's status as entitled victim is not the same thing as feeling transported by a tale that examines human suffering, human hatred--there are some terrible people here--and human carelessness. This novel settles for the depiction of Clarissa's cramped consciousness, suggesting that the cramping is the result of other people's lies and failures; it does not aim to carry us beyond the trap. A gut-level curiosity compels Clarissa to find her biological father, but the struggle over whether or not to forgive anyone-- her dead step dad, her misguided boyfriend, even herself--never even arises in the morally closed landscape of Vida's tale. With slightly more editorial care, Vida could have nailed an unreliable narration--she could have made Clarissa an obviously self-serving fabulist--but, as it stands now, the young woman seems sardonic and vain, modestly smug and pleased over her fine prose, but never emotionally dynamic, troubling, or vulnerable enough to demand the reader's ongoing engagement. Geography is what makes her story pop open. If Clarissa hadn't gone someplace as intriguing as Lapland, I never would have followed.

By hermetically sealing Clarissa's story inside her single consciousness, much of the potentially fabulous material provided by that trip to Finnish Lapland remains unrealized, unexamined. A sizeable polyglot population appears within the pages of this very short novel--and there's lots of travel--but because Clarissa never ventures outside her own self-centered head, we're stuck inside it too. The Other lies forever outside our mutual range. I'm fully aware that this may be exactly the plight that Vida is trying to convey through her tale--that a trauma at the source of a person's origins may prove to be so damaging that such a person might never regain sufficient trust to crawl out of her own brain again. She may become unattractive, vain, self-centered, and boring no matter what happens in her life. And, yes, when she does sit down to tell her story, maybe all she can spin is a perfectly modulated, prettified tale with a soupcon of hipster-ish ennui thrown in. Maybe that's credible, but Vendela Vida's obvious talent could accomplish much greater things. A wonderfully written, ultimately disappointing venture.

Average customer rating:

If you don't have anything else to read...
Extraordinary!
Slow and unbelievable
Hush Little Baby, Don't You Cry ...
Trying to See it From another Prespective....

Coast Road: A Novel
Barbara Delinsky
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0684845768

Amazon.com

In the famed romantic tradition that only Barbara Delinsky can deliver, you'll meet emotion-packed characters who make you forget whatever it was you were doing before you picked up Coast Road. In this story, workaholic Jack McGill is brought to his knees when he learns that his ex-wife Rachel is in a coma after a car accident. When he rushes to her side to be a dutiful father to his children, he is met with abrasive verbal abuse not only from his children, but also from Rachel's best friends.

By the time the doctors tell him they don't know how long Rachel will be in the coma, Jack has reacquainted himself with his children, and fond memories have surfaced of his ex-wife and her creative artistic talent. Through Rachel's best friend, Katherine, Jack learns about a secret Rachel had hidden from him during the days they were married. The secret, revealed through artwork, is one of the many factors that thrust Jack into "introspection mode." He reevaluates his life, digging deep into his heart's desires, and decides to quit his job and stay at Rachel's side, even if she never wakes up.

Coast Road deals with some very difficult subjects, such as miscarriage, divorce, traveling husbands, breast cancer, and the ramifications of living in a coma. However, once you get past the research exposition and the bantering, you'll laugh and cry (a lot) at what this once-separated family goes through. Delinsky paints vivid pictures of Rachel, who remains in a coma for about 99 percent of the book, but you'll see that it sometimes takes a life-threatening accident to rekindle the fires of love. --Candy Paape

Book Description

Coast Road. Where life's greatest gifts come to us by accident.

Barbara Delinsky has always had a gift for creating tales of extraordinary emotional power and depth. Now this New York Times bestselling author of Three Wishes surpasses herself once again in a novel that takes readers on a journey as richly textured, colorful, and poignant as the northern California landscape in which the book is set.

Rachel Keats and Jack McGill were artists, deeply in love when they married, until the rush of life took its toll. After ten years of marriage, they divorced and went their separate ways. Jack stayed in San Francisco. Rachel moved with their two young daughters to Big Sur.

Six years later, an alarming middle-of-the-night phone call demands that Jack put aside his own busy life and career as a leading architect to rush to his ex-wife's hospital bed. While she lies lifeless, Jack maintains a bedside vigil and finds himself getting to know Rachel better than he ever did -- through their daughters, her friends, and, even more revealingly, through her art. Meanwhile, the beauty and grace of the redwood canyon where she has made their home also work their own special alchemy upon Jack. He begins to see Rachel, his daughters, and the story of his marriage with new eyes.

Coast Road celebrates those things in life that matter most -- the kinship of neighbors, the companionship of friends, and the irreplaceable time spent with children and family. In this masterful new novel, Barbara Delinsky depicts with exquisite accuracy the ties that bind each of us to those people and places we hold most dear.

Download Description

Six years ago, Architect Jack McGill picked his career over his family, but now a car accident has left his ex-wife, Rachel, clinging to life. Rushing to her bedside, Jack learns about a woman he never really knew--and sees the story of his marriage with new eyes.

Customer Reviews:

If you don't have anything else to read..........2006-08-15

I happened to read this book because it was at the beach house we rented for vacation last week. The description made the book seem interesting, but it was very one-dimensional & the characters were so stereotyped that they are not believable.

For Rachel to have loved (still love) Jack so much, she found it very easy to suddenly pack up & leave him. Also, the writer should have thought out a better way to communicate for Rachel - Katherine seemed very harsh & abrasive. I also found it hard to believe that Rachel was such a loner in the city, but quite the joiner since moving to Big Sur. Nothing really flowed together right to make the story believable.

If you don't have anything else to read, give it a try, but don't buy it.

Extraordinary!.......2005-11-23

Delinsky has a way of making normal/ordinary life occurances extraordinary! She has "painted" her characters so well that I could relate to them as if I had known them all my life. The issues the characters face are common. But their reactions are not! Emotional, passionate, and redemptive... a great read!

Slow and unbelievable.......2005-03-16

Although I don't read romance, I gave this a try at the advice of friends. While there is a plot with some merit, the characters are all caricatures - one person, one personality trait. One daughter is sweet; one is rebellious. Rachel is beautiful; Jack is selfish. Even the grandmothers are one-dimensional; one is a frump, one is a shallow socialite.

Their actions are not believable. Rachel couldn't find a single friend or anything to do in the city, but in the middle of nowhere she's the center of the whole community? She loved her husband so much but she couldn't even tell him about his own child? Jack is so clueless about teenagers that he couldn't see trouble in his daughter's plans to spend the night with a bunch of kids he didn't know? Katherine is so "open" that she needs to rudely lecture Jack the first ten times they meet? And he takes it - obviously feeling that he deserves this rude behavior?This is a male-bashing female fantasy in which the evil man needs to be redeemed by becoming, essentially, female. The fact that so many reviews are positive about this book makes me think that a lot of women think people should act this way, or do in real life. Come on, sisters! Men are different than women. Let's look for some more dimensional characters in our entertainment.

Hush Little Baby, Don't You Cry ... .......2005-03-11

COAST ROAD being the 6th novel I'd read of BD's work, I had begun to notice that her fiction creates a state of mind similar to what one of my readers (a US Marine) described about my work, "I was reading and reading, and all of a sudden I realized I had forgotten I was reading and felt I was just thinking my own thoughts."

Delinsky's fiction is so naturally and seamlessly real that I had, with COAST ROAD, decided to quit trying to pick out what works about her writing techniques, and to allow myself to just "be there," ironically slipping into a peaceful dream-like luxury similar to that of resting in a coma along with Rachael, receiving rather than responding, while her family and friends shower her with the balming presence of every variety of perfect love.

Almost as cathartic as the regeneration of the soul-link between Jack and Rachael was the beautiful, believable transformation of 15-year-old Samantha from a highly annoying super brat into a sensitive, appealingly gutsy young woman. What I admire most about this novel, though, is that it is told from a man's point-of-view, exposing simply and gently how tremendous emotional growth could occur in even the most Macho Male.

Even shored up by 5 previous Delinsky novels, I was concerned that a story about a woman in a coma would have to be sad and depressing, possibly even boring at times. This book was anything but. Sensitive, yes, sad but redeeming, and intensely engrossing in a way of deep, pensive satisfaction. It's another landmark winner of a book.

Trying to See it From another Prespective...........2004-07-15

In this story, Jack McGill, who has choosen his career over his family numerous times gets a wake up call when he discovers that his ex-wife Rachel is in a coma after a car accident. Jack never stopped loving Rachel, and for the first time in his life he puts his career on hold and goes to Rachels bedside, and to his two daughters. He discovers both his daughter and his wife are not the people he always thought them to be and that he somehow "missed the forest for the trees". With verbal abuse as well as a lot of guidance from Rachel's new friends, and his own daughters, Jack begins to reevaluate his life.

Coast Road touches on many different topics, such as miscarriage, divorce, traveling husbands, breast cancer, as well as what it is like for those around a coma patient, but don't let that deter you. This is a well written rewarding read.

Average customer rating:

Two Thumbs Up! and a related story

Coming of age in the Great North Woods

Read THE BIRD ARTIST instead.

A great, fun tale of friendship

The Northern Lights: A Novel
Howard Norman
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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The Bird Artist: A Novel

The Haunting of L.

The Museum Guard: A Novel

In Fond Remembrance of Me: A Memoir of Myth and Uncommon Friendship in the Arctic

LOVE AND COUNTRY

ASIN: 0312283377

Book Description

This novel is a reissue of Howard Normans riveting first novel, a National Book Award nominee. In the frozen wilderness of northern Manitoba, 14-year-old Noah Krainik lives with his mother and cousin. When tragedy strikes, Noah must go on alone, discovering a new life in bustling Toronto, and the way to manhood. Original and entertaining, The Northern Lights is a vivid and memorable account of a boys coming of age.

Customer Reviews:

Two Thumbs Up! and a related story.......2005-06-15

A good read! Along the way are some little philosophical gems that really won me over to this book. Seeing how the good people of this remote Canadian community look at life is a heart-warming experience.

I just want to add the following, as quite possibly there is a very young boy who may have read this story also. And my encounter with him may make you laugh.

As I heading out from work at 5:45!!! I met two children in the stairwell. One was a 3- or 4-year old girl with blond pigtails wearing a pink dress. The other was 6- or 7-year old boy with white blond hair, wearing round wire-rim glasses. The boy lost no time in striking up a conversation.
"Do you know my Dad?" he asked.
"Hmmm, I probably do," I replied, having no idea to whom these children belonged.
"Wow, you have a lot of bags!"
"Yes, I'm the original bag-lady."
"What's in that one?" he said, pointing to my black lap-top shoulder bag. I happen to have a good-quality lap-top bag, but not a lap-top to go in it. Such is life!
"There's a lot of junk in here," I replied, opening it and looking inside. "Mostly bills that need to be paid."
"What's in this bag?" He pointed to the plastic grocery bag.
"This is my lunch bag. I carry my lunch in it. Right now it was my raincoat in it."
"What about this one?"
"Well, the most important thing in this one are my glasses as I am quite blind without them. And my wallet."
"What else is in the black bag?" referring to the lap-top bag again.
"The most important thing in this bag is the book I'm reading at lunchtime. It's called "The Northern Lights". It's a very good book."
"I've read that book," he wasted no time in telling me.
"Have you seen the Northern Lights," I asked him.
"Oh, several times."
Meanwhile all through this the little girl was hanging on the stair-rail singing "Humpty Dumpty" which by degrees got louder and louder.
"Don't mind her," the boy said, "She's obsessed with Humpty Dumpty."
I said goodbye and laughed inside all the way home.

Obsessed? Do 6- year olds nowadays, really use this word?

Coming of age in the Great North Woods.......2003-04-25

I picked up this novel in part to see if Norman's wonderfully written novel The Museum Guard was a fluke. I can say emphatically that it was not. The Northern Lights is Norman's first novel, but his prose reads like a veteran writer's. Rich with the details, personal habits, quirks, and eccentricities that make up real people, Lights is basically a coming of age story set in 1950s and 1960s northern Canada. As with The Museum Guard, Norman's characters are driven by strange tragedy. In The Museum Guard, the main character's parents are killed in a Zeppelin accident; in the Northern Lights, Noah's best friend Pelly is killed when his unicycle breaks through the ice. This sets in motion a series of events that forces Noah to adjust to the loss of his friend, and come to grips with his wandering father and lonely mother, who is obsessed with the story of Noah's ark to the point of illness. Unlike with the animals on the ark, Norman shows us that sometimes people have no companion, and must survive alone, even when surrounded by people who love them. The Cree Indians are richly drawn, and provide a touchstone--a remembrance of Pelly--when Noah moves to Toronto and befriends a family of Cree. Told in shifting chronology, the story draws the reader back and forth from action to reaction to an ending that will leave you ready for another Norman novel.

Read THE BIRD ARTIST instead........1999-05-10

I picked up THE NORTHERN LIGHTS after having read Norman's superb second novel, THE BIRD ARTIST, and was disappointed. Although reviews were strong for this book, and I believe it was a National Book Award finalist, it felt like an apprentice effort to me. The characters and situations were strange--as they often were in THE BIRD ARTIST--but not nearly as compelling. The plot was loose and slippery, and didn't cohere by the end of the novel. It felt like Norman was trying too hard to be obscure and poetic. This is a mediocre first novel, but does hint at the wonderful things to come. Now go read THE BIRD ARTIST.

A great, fun tale of friendship.......1999-01-27

This is a fantanstic book. Norman tells a story very well; his clean beautiful writing style evokes the northern remote wilderness settlements vividly. In this setting, two young boys become great friends, and their relationship grows as they do. This book reminded me of A Separate Peace, with a Canadian edge and tone. It compelled me to read The Bird Artist -- also terrific.

The Dollmage (Northern Lights Young Novels)

Average customer rating:

Honest Narration
Waste of an afternoon
Pride comes before destruction
Pride comes before destruction

The Dollmage (Northern Lights Young Novels)
Martine Leavitt
Manufacturer: Red Deer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Teens | Subjects | Books

Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Teens | Subjects | Books

General | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0889952337
Release Date: 2002-09-10

Book Description

The Dollmage Martine Leavitt

The Dollmage is the wise woman of Seekvalley. Her gift and power is to make the story of her village because she alone makes the, "doll," or miniature of her village. She also makes the "promise doll" for each child born in the village. The promise doll, a small totem worn around the neck, tells the promise of each individual's life.

As the Dollmage's powers weaken and age comes upon her, she knkows hse must choose a successor. On the day she predicts to be the birthday of her chosen one, two girls are born: Annakey and Renoa. One girl must learn the Dollmage's magic, but which one? At first it seems clear—Renoa will be the Dollmage....or will she?

As Annakey grows up, she discovers that she, too, has magic. When Annakey's valley is threatened by outside forces, she is the only one with a plan to save her people. How will she persuade the Dollmage and her people that she has the power to help?

Customer Reviews:

Honest Narration.......2007-04-14

This is a beautiful, thoughtful book, with a narrator who willingly shows us how her own mistakes have caused so many problems. I loved the descriptions and the perspective on the selfishness of human nature and how difficult and painful it can be to overcome it and how much we hurt others when we think only of ourselves. Beyond that, I liked the world that Leavitt creates, with the aspects of life made and cared for in miniature dolls.

Waste of an afternoon.......2006-07-19

The Dollmage is a dull, underdeveloped book. I was greatly disappointed after the reviews I had read. The characters were two-dimmensional and lacked believability. By telling the story from the Dollmage's point of view, Leavitt had an opportunity to use hindsight in her description of characters. However, the narrator and the characters bumble along in their own self-pity (the Dollmage) or in their all too frequently stated faults. In a good novel, the characters are three-dimensional and their actions can be mostly understood in regards to their character. Martine Leavitt rushes past the developement of her characters and therefore leaves the readers behind.

Pride comes before destruction.......2003-08-28

I found this book to be wonderful, an intricately woven tale of love, pride, hate, and broken promises. The characters were well-formed, and the narrator was very open with her faults.
The ending was perfect, a little rushed, but very well done.
I would recommend this book to at least teen girls, as there is content not suitible for younger readers.

Pride comes before destruction.......2003-08-28

Anywhere But Here (Northern Lights Young Novels Series)

Average customer rating:

Anywhere But Here (Northern Lights Young Novels Series)
Adele Dueck
Manufacturer: Red Deer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0889951470
Release Date: 2002-08-06

Book Description

The prospect of a boring summer vacation turns to adventure when eleven-year-old Marjorie discovers stolen pesticides on her family's farm. It's a mystery that turns the summer on its ear and an experience that makes Marjorie see her home in a startling new light.

Best-in-books, 3 Complete Novels By A.j. Cronin:the Northern Light; the Green Years; Shannon's Way

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Best-in-books, 3 Complete Novels By A.j. Cronin:the Northern Light; the Green Years; Shannon's Way
Cronin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J4FKQ6

Big Russ and Me, Father and Son: Lessons of Life/A Northern Light (Reader's Digest Select Editions in Large Type, Volume 138: 2005)

Average customer rating:

Big Russ and Me, Father and Son: Lessons of Life/A Northern Light (Reader's Digest Select Editions in Large Type, Volume 138: 2005)
Tim Russert , and Jennifer Donnelly
Manufacturer: Reader's Digest Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000BR6222

Product Description

Two novels in one one. Set in Large type for easy reading

The Dragon's Tapestry (Northern Lights Young Novels)

Average customer rating:

1,2,3 altogether count with me.. 4,5,6 ...
EXCELLENT, tho for higher age group than they give here
A can't put down...want to read it again type book.

The Dragon's Tapestry (Northern Lights Young Novels)
Martine Bates
Manufacturer: Red Deer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0889950806

Customer Reviews:

1,2,3 altogether count with me.. 4,5,6 ..........2004-12-07

The scene is set with an "Oldwife" (healer and almost-priestess) attending the birth of a daughter to Srill, an unmarried mother in a small village of Ve. An Oldwife is present at the birth of every child, to divine destiny and record it in a personal tapestry, which is a passport to acceptance. Those without one, we are told, are considered 'soulless' and are outcasts from society.

When Srill dies immediately after giving birth to the child (Marwen), for whom the Oldwife has forseen a dire future, & Oldwife adopts Marwen, out of affection for her mother & raises Marwen to know of her gifts & magic, as apprentice.

Because the tapestry was so dire, it has been hidden from Marwen
and she has been ostracized by the villagers of Marmawell as soulless.
(I know! Names ?!)

In her desire to prove herself, Marwen makes some horrifying mistakes, forcing her to start on her adventures. As she travels she is faced with choices at every step, until eventually she must confront her destiny, and vanquish the dragon threatening the realm of Ve.

Essentially a story of self-discovery, and latterly a tender love story, The Dragon's Tapestry is decorated with some very fine creatures and well conceived worlds. One of the most fascinating creatures are the "wingwand's" who seem to be some sort of butterfly/dragonfly amalgam, and are used for travelling - flying, rather. They are exquisitely described, and fascinating to imagine.

I was very impressed with the thought, and detail put into this (single volume I thought, and now know it is a trilogy) tale. It is certainly a better realised plot & world than most small (the book is only 183odd pages, paperback) YA fantasy novels.

Eagerly anticipating the other books, where we should see more of the romance, and certainly more of strong minded Marwen.

kotori, Dec 2004 ojadis@yahoo.com

EXCELLENT, tho for higher age group than they give here.......1998-02-15

This was one of the best fantasy/fiction books that I've read. Definitely worth the time and money.

A can't put down...want to read it again type book........1998-02-03

Nay, not for Grades 2-3 rather for anyone who wants a good read, and loves magic. This writer doesn't cheat, Martine delivers the goods. Her ability to weave words into a spell, is her magic. Read it,don't fear the Taker.

Grampa's Alkali (Northern Lights Young Novels)

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Grampa's Alkali (Northern Lights Young Novels)
Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet
Manufacturer: Red Deer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0889950962
Release Date: 2002-09-10

Book Description

Maybe it's just bad luck, but ten-year-old James cannot seem to keep out from under his Grampa's feet. It's not just the color of his hair, which has gained him the nickname Alkali from the white crust that is the ruination of fertile soil. That's Alkali all right! But there is also an undeniable bond between James senior and junior, a bond which proves to be a lifeline when danger strikes.

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