Book Description
When local football coach and hero Tim Duffy is accused of improper behavior, lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles investigates, following a trail of obsession and murder that may lead to her own doorstep.
Customer Reviews:
Beware the Rosemary!.......2007-09-23
Loved the book, excited to have a trilogy started, decide to try one of the recipes. Made the Lemon Rosemary cookies and 2T of Rosemary is waaaaaaaaaay too much. My husband will eat anything and he won't eat another of these!
Read on Fools.......2007-07-06
Actually before I read this book I was thinking of buying the entire work of Susan just to have around for a rainy day. Until this one, the books have been kind of comfort food. But this novel set my teeth on edge. China Bayles knew there were painful issues between Brian and Jake and yet she made absolutely no effort to get him to share with her. His father is gone most of the time. This is no way to raise a child. China Bayles is just another George Bush from Texas.
Bleeding Hearts.......2007-01-09
This is the first mystery I've read by Susan Wittig Albert.I like Pecan Springs and the welcome we readers get from the comfy,relaxing,humorous,subtle style, leading us into suspense over goodies to eat while sipping tea.I don't think you have to have been raised in,or now live in a town to enjoy this book and perhaps her other ones.Just as gardeners may enjoy this as much as non-gardeners. I appreciate the fact that we have time to get to know the characters in a non-fast paced manner.I'll certainly read more books by the author.
She always pleases.......2006-11-18
I enjoy reading Albert's books, but especially this series. It is so much better written, I think, than the Victorian series. Also, I want to grow and use herbs after I read her stories. Apartment living curtails that considerably. Her information is so good and so well written. One always learns something new. Her books are well worth the time.
ANOTHER WINNER .......2006-11-02
LIKE ALL OF MS.ALBERT'S HERBACIOUS MYSTERIES, A DELIGHTFUL CONTINUATION OF THE SERIES. IN ADDITION TO THE COMPELLING MYSTERY AT THE HEART OF THE BOOK, THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF THE SERIES CHARACTERS CONTINUE TO FASCINATE
AND ADD TIO THE RICHNESS OF THE NOVEL.
i HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.
Book Description
A page-turning novel of assassins and double-crossing from the master of modern mystery, Ian Rankin.
Michael Weston is a gun for hire. He's paid well to do his job and ask no questions. But after successfully assassinating a TV reporter, the cops are quickly on his tail. How did they know how to find him? And who is his anonymous employer? Why did he or she want the reporter dead in the first place? Was he set up to be caught and thrown in jail?
The answers may lie with Hoffer, a private detective who has been hunting him for years--ever since Michael dispatched a bullet and accidentally hit an innocent young American girl. Her grieving father has kept Hoffer on retainer and on a mission to bring Weston to justice no matter what the cost. Could Hoffer have finally trapped him?
The only way Michael can stay ahead of the police is to find his mysterious employer and figure out who has been playing him like a puppet on strings--or he may find himself on the other end of the rifle.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Story. Lackluster Characters. Ultimately Disappointing........2007-08-06
It took me a long time to finish this book. When I thought about reading it, I found I thought the story was interesting and I wanted to know what would happen, but it just took effort to want to read it. I couldn't figure out why.
That was until about halfway through the book and I realized I didn't like any of the characters and couldn't care less about what happened to them. That's what was holding me back.
Bel was whiny, passive aggressive and naive to the point of my just wanting her killed off. Overall, I got the impression that Rankin could never make up his mind who she was supposed to be.
Weston, the infamous D-Man, was a milquetoast. Without a sniper rifle, he came across as bumbling and weak. The great assissin barely knew how to use a pistol. That wasn't so bad. It could have been endearing under the right circumstances. But added to the fact that he was incapable of standing up to Bel and that she basically led him around by his nose, he was character I couldn't believe in. I would say that he was "whipped" if he hadn't been so apathetic about their relationship. He was pretty much apatehtic about everything. Even his interest in finding out who set him up came across as forced for the sake of the plot.
Finally, there was Leo Hoffer, who took being the obnoxious New Yorker/American to new heights. Rankin's depiction of Hoffer as such was so over the top it seemed like parody. All of the Americans, except possibly Clancy, were caricatures. Hoffer had some "cute" quirks, but overall he was yet another character I felt should be killed off. And given his lack of use in the latter half of a novel, and looking back on it, contrived use in the earlier half, he probably could have been left out of the novel altogether.
The ending, both that regarding the "big conspiracy" and who hired the D-Man, were anti-clamatic, contrived, somewhat illogical, and utterly disappointing. Not so much the resolution of the "conspiracy". That was a "who cares" moment. It was the answer to who hired Weston and why that was so disappointing.
This is the second novel I've read by Rankin. Witch Hunt being the first. It's my second disappointment. I'm not sure I'll be picking up another by this author.
turning it around.......2007-03-26
Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus series are great detective stories; the BBC made a TV series out of them. In this book Rankin goes the other way, this time the killer is the likable character and the detective tracking him down is unlikable: The bad guy is a good guy, and the good guy is a bad guy. And it comes off well as the plot is interesting, with twists, near misses and mysteries. The pace stays steady, altogether a very good read. If you liked the Rebus series you'll like this variation on the detective v. bad guy theme. Rankin is a very good writer in this genre, showing some versatility here.
No heroes here . . ........2007-02-28
Michael Weston -- if that's really his name -- is a craftsman at his job, which is killing people. Only once did he shoot the wrong person (a young girl) and that was a regrettable accident, but it's come back to haunt him. His current commission involves taking out a London journalist on the steps of her hotel, which he accomplishes, but the police are there suspiciously fast. Who sicced them on him? As he begins trying to track back to his employer for his own protection, he runs afoul of what appears to be a cult group with access to too much money and connections to the American spook underground. And then there's the publicity-hungry private detective who's been tracking him for years. The plot is nicely complicated and its resolution is based on a real occurrence. The characters are well drawn and the author maintains a frenetic pace that would make a good film.
Early Rankin showing promise.......2006-12-05
This is the first American release for an early novel by British writer Ian Rankin, author of the award-winning "John Rebus" series of mysteries. Michael West is an assassin and when he is double crossed after murdering a journalist, he must go on the run with assistance from the daughter of an arms dealer to find out who set him up. He is chased by a drug-addled American private eye who will stop at nothing to take him down. Ranking throws in the kitchen sink on this one: cops, crooks, spies and cults all take part in the narrative with plenty of shoot 'em up action along the way. The ending is a little contrived, but the story works for the most part, and shows how talented a writer Rankin was even at this early stage.
Who set up the hitman?.......2006-11-29
Reviewed by Stephanie Rollins for Reader Views (10/2006)
Ian Rankin is the Edgar Award winning author of "A Question of Blood." Ian Rankin's "Bleeding Hearts" is a long, but well-written story. It takes place in many cities, including London and the United States. It is about a hit man of many different names. On a routine hit, the police immediately start tracking him. Who ratted on him? It could only be the middleman or the person who hired him.
He travels to London to figure it all out. He takes Bel, the young daughter of his gun maker. Yet, the gun maker is known for being protective of Bel. The hit man describes Bel. "Bel's got short fair hair, eyes slightly slanted like a cat's, and a long straight nose. Her face looks like it's been polished." I cannot help but to think that the gun maker was completely stupid to let his naïve and pretty daughter go with this rogue. Will their partnership lead to sex? Even worse, will it lead to a relationship?
"Bleeding Hearts" has a lot of dry, intelligent humor. To get through airport security with a knife the gunman asks them, "Since when did you get fat terrorists?" Some of the humor is a little bit politically incorrect. To explain the hit man's skill as a locksmith he explains, "I'm not the world's greatest locksmith, but any housing-project teenager could have been into the place in seconds."
Readers wanting a quick, easy-to-read book will not enjoy "Bleeding Hearts." It has 374 pages of tremendous depth Rankin uses a lot of descriptive words to paint the pictures of the surroundings and the characters. The humor and the dialogue are dry and understated. It has tremendous detail.
There is no doubt that Ian Rankin is a brilliant author. He is a Picasso of words. I believe his audience is limited to avid readers who are not necessarily looking for a mindless read. There is nothing superficial about "Bleeding Hearts." It is like a hybrid of "Law and Order," and "CSI," on steroids.
Book Description
Poison pens can draw blood. And that's exactly why TV presenter Rebecca Jones hires private eye Kit O'Malley to investigate the threats against her. But the trouble with being tenacious, tough, and too smart for her own good is that everybody else wants her on their team.
As if trying to keep Rebecca alive and on the air wasn't enough, Kit is beset by a clutch of other people's catastrophes that require her very particular skills to resolve. And since Kit is the gumshoe who can't say no, before she knows it, she is up to her eyes in the worst that Australia's criminal minds can throw her way.
Money laundering, sordid sexual shenanigans, abduction, political sleaze, and murder among Melbourne's movers and shakers threaten to swamp Kit as she picks her way through the morass of double-dealing, treachery, and outright greed. As if that's not enough, the beautiful and sexy Alex Casenove sweeps back into her life, reminding Kit that love is almost as deadly as hate and that murder never happens at a convenient time.
The sequel to the highly acclaimed debut Blood Guilt, Bleeding Hearts is a tightly plotted romp through the dark underbelly of Australia's most cultured city, vibrantly demonstrating that even the heartless bleed.
Customer Reviews:
Another great book from Cameron.......2007-10-07
Lindy Cameron is emerging as one of the most enjoyable mystery writers in the genre. Her characters are well developed and funny, while her plots are intricate. Though you may have suspicions about "who done it," they won't be confirmed until the end of the book and then you'll probably be wrong. In the meantime you'll have quite a romp with Kit O'Malley and her collection of friends.
In Bleeding Hearts, Kit is surrounded by more mysteries than she almost knows how to deal with. Political scandal, embezzlement, black mail, murder, sleazy politicians, unfulfilled sexual fantasies and romantic matchmaking are just some of the issues that Kit has to wade through to try to solve the various cases. What begins to creep her out though is that somehow these cases might be connected. What keeps her going is the blossoming relationship with Alex that keeps Kit as unsteady on her feet as the people who keep whacking her on the head.
Cameron writes mysteries that are serious in their creation, but spiked with tremendous amounts of humor and wit. Kit has to be one of the clumsiest and, at times, tuned out detectives around. Part of her distraction has to be attributed to the friends she surrounds herself with. Del and Brigit are a solid couple and Kit's best friends. They try to watch out for her when she'll let them and the reader has to develop an appreciation for the stability Del represents when it comes to Kit and her partner. Brigit provides much of the comic relief as she dances, sings and karate chops her way through the situations. Lillian, Kit's zany mother, floats in and out not really understanding anything that is going on in her daughter's life, but loving her nonetheless. Hector, the computer guru, seems to think he's living in a bad 1950's style crime story and Erin is the crusading newspaper reporter who knows the dirt on everyone. Rounding out her life is the beautiful Alex, who turns Kit to mush with just a look, and Thistle, the attack commando cat that speaks a language Kit actually seems to understand.
Bleeding Hearts is a series of engrossing mysteries told with a light tone and plenty of unexpected one-liners. The crimes will challenge your intellect while Kit and her friends keep you chuckling. This is a terrific and entertaining book to read.
Hooray for Kit!.......2007-10-05
Lindy Cameron is a freelance book editor and avid golfer who lives outside of Melbourne, Australia on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula on the southern tip. Lindy writes the newsletter entitled STILETTO for the Sisters in Crime Australia. BLEEDING HEARTS is the follow-up to her first novel, BLOOD GUILT.
TV personality Rebecca Jones hires Kit O'Malley to investigate threats made to her in the way of nasty little packages that are being delivered. Kit is just at the beginning of her relationship with the beautiful and sexy lawyer, Alex Casenove, who has been keeping her distance. It turns out that local politicians have also been receiving threats, and no one knows who may be next. As Kit picks her way through the maze of deception, she discovers an underworld of political sleaze that culminates in abduction; sexual behavior by some high ranking officials that is sordid and evil; and finally, murder:
"Kit rested her chin in her hands and stared at the note. Finally, when even Alex or Hector were about to cut into her deliberation, she said, 'What I'd like to know is, where have all the clever psychopaths gone? In fiction, you know, they're ALWAYS geniuses, with the kind of astonishing intellect that meant they were destined to be great and good, or mad and bad. Nothing in between, no half-measures. They're either a brain surgeon or they EAT brains.'"
BLEEDING HEARTS is a smashing follow-up to BLOOD GUILT. Lindy Cameron weaves plots that are to die for in the world of murder mystery writers. Her books are like onions that the reader has to peel back, layer-by-layer, to find the heart of the mystery. Cameron continues with her hilarious and touching cast of characters, including her sprite of a mother, who can be clueless or trendy; her lady love, Alex Casenove, who is at times elusive but comes through for Kit; her ex-partner on the force Jon Marek; and many others.
The Kit O'Malley mysteries introduce people who are great mates; help each other through thick and thin; and are there for Kit as she takes on an incredible amount of deceit. It's a wonderful read that can't be put down once started. Hooray for Kit!
Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer
Customer Reviews:
Gregor Demarkian for Valentine's Day........2000-10-21
bleeding heart - a person who is considered excessively sympathetic toward those who claim to be underprivileged or exploited
- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY
Almost everyone on Cavanaugh Street seems to be getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day. Bennis' brother Christopher drops in for a visit, and begins a relationship with Lida, and even Hannah Krekorian has a new boyfriend...a once-popular figure in the 'recovery' movement whose wife died under mysterious circumstances.
Should be read after NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, which introduces Christopher and his gambling problem. By this point in the series, Chris has been to "Camp Boredom" (which was run by Hannah's boyfriend) and has his life straightened out.
Haddam takes on the 'recovery' movement in this volume. As Chris and Bennis put it in NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING:
C: I don't think I'm crazy because I've got Daddy's genes, and I don't think I'm crazy because Daddy warped my mind, either. I think I'm crazy because I'm a jerk.
B: I don't think that kind of attitude is going to get us anywhere.
C: I think it's going to get us a hell of a lot farther than the attitude I've been taking, which is that I just can't help myself, no explanations necessary.
Average customer rating:
- poems from my bleeding heart.
- Confessional prose - poetry to contemplate....
- voice of the future
- A New Byron For A New Century
- A great deal of potential is revealed here
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Poems From My Bleeding Heart
David Rehak
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Binding: Paperback
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Perfectly Said: when words become art
ASIN: 1413705588 |
Book Description
In this unabashedly daring and impressive collection, David Rehak displays his mastery of different forms and styles, offering us poems reminiscent of Charles Bukowski and Allen Ginsberg on the one hand, and others that remind one of Charles Baudelaire or Arthur Rimbaud. His poetry is as accessible, controversial, and exciting as his fiction, covering themes and subjects like romantic love and sex, death, social issues, spirituality, and everything in between, full of the author's own thoughts, ideas, fantasies, and personal life.
Customer Reviews:
poems from my bleeding heart. .......2007-02-12
This books is great. Im so happy that i ordered it, i have read it a few times and i just love. great book.
Confessional prose - poetry to contemplate...........2005-04-09
David Rehak's novels are compelling, sometimes shocking, and always written in his own distinct voice. His work is often daring, skating along the edges of familiar literary concepts. This book of confessional prose poetry comes from the same place in Rehak's psyche. Nothing is too sacred or profane to be an object of his Muse. Whether rhyme, free verse, or prosaic processes, his poems run the gamut from sweet to solemn, erotic to irreverent, laced with generous doses of humor.
"On the Death of a Friend" was one of my favorites because of its offset rhyming words and the sound of it when read aloud:
Death has coiled you round him too soon
In arms as dark as the hours of the moon,
In his soft, oblivious,
cozy cocoon,
Just to prove that flesh is never impervious.
"Deceitful Age" is another favorite because of the different spin and varying poetic styles Rehak uses to make his point:
In this deceitful age,
Even liars elude shame;
And where is the public outrage
When the wrongdoer escapes blame?
Political leaders, you are failed saviors!
Political analysts, you are gloom-and-doom prophets!
Citizens, you are gullible victims!
And the world keeps spinning on its axis,
And Time keeps on ticking in the brain of its clock.
"A Noble Savage" is this poet's contemplation on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley:
O noble savage
Of a twisted science!
You remind us of dangers
Like genetic engineering;
When man tampers with nature,
He pays an unaffordable price!
Rehak's thoughts are often morbid as he contemplates his death or the death of others. Sometimes he finds a disconcerting humor in the misbegotten misfits of a hypocritical society. And every so often lovers of poetic metaphor will be delighted, as in this excerpt from "At the Beaches of Normandy":
as soon as we hit soil, the bullets hit us,
we were like wasps in the winter
of this furious flurry of fire.
Or in this excerpt from "Autumn Rain":
And branches fearfully waved
Their every red-clad hand
Under teary-eyed clouds
And the pounding fist of thunder.
David Rehak takes readers on a whirlwind tour of his world in Poems From My Bleeding Heart. These are sometimes ribald and rollicking messages of bleeding pleading or poignant observations of hope and despair. It's David Rehak, as he is and how he thinks, as man and poet.
voice of the future.......2005-03-04
Rehak is the best Czech poet since nobel laureate Jaroslav Seifert. A real poet of the people! He has a few strong opinions and some of the content shocked me in more ways than one, but this fellow really has a superlative understanding of human nature and a magnificently witty and lucid style of expression. I was greatly impressed and perfectly delighted by page after page after page of this book.
A New Byron For A New Century.......2004-10-23
David Rehak (b. 1980?) is a Czech-Canadian author who's talent is in early bloom like Mary Shelley, Arthur Rimbaud or our own Jiri Wolker before him. Such literary and artistic cases and rare but not unheard-of. Apparently his mother went through very difficult delivery and he was born dead for some minutes but miraculously revived. As a little boy he must have grew up hard in corruption and oppression of the Communist regime which no doubting shaped his views on freedom and censorship in adult life.The regime was giving his parents problems so they escaped to Canada. In Canada his family's fortunes improved. There he lived most his life. Now recently he is back in Europe after his university courses are interrupted due to failing health. I see him as pitiable figure, broken by nervous disorder and years of drug-use and debauchery -- probobly convalescing in some hospital or prison.
Now let me tell you about this book.....!
Wow! what a thought-provoking and brilliant and entertaining collection of poems is this by a troubled, sensitive, wise young personality torn between his base sensual impulses and his noble spiritual aspirations. It is a man who loves love, loves God, loves Good, but is burdened by overpowering temptations and knows too much about all forms of human evil, the occult, social corruption and sexual perversion, death and decay. It is like Baudelaire come back from the dead. It is like Ginsberg bitching about about life around him. It is Buk recounting his love-affairs or Eminem busting dysfunctional rhymes or rants. By writing such brutally honest and intimate and private poems, Rehak is really taking his clothes off in front of bunch of strangers and laying his heart bare. These poems are so colorful and powerful..... so phenomenal. Some of them are breath-taking. All of them are easy to understand without they being simplistic. It's a good mix of prose-poems and metrical verse. The poetic language and expression is those of a master who wish to convey interesting and witty and controversial ideas and incidents but is at same time self-conscious about being well-understood. This is the poetry book for people who hate poetry. They will easily understand each phrase. This book should also be in every contemporary poetry-lover's library. POEMS FROM MY BLEEDING HEART is a landmark work that will rank along with other fine controversial poetic masterpieces like Ginsberg's HOWL or Baudelaire's THE FLOWERS OF EVIL. It will live. Why? Because it is THAT great and it is THAT accessible. I hope in my heart his talent will get the kind of reading audience it deserves. Thank you for your time.
A great deal of potential is revealed here.......2004-06-13
Dave had sent me some of his poems to read before I read the entire collection. His favorites were not my favorites. But after giving the book a much deserved slow read, I found many pieces of high and promising quality.
I'm a little older than Dave, twenty some years. So the youthful charms have long passed, as have the days of idealistic romance. I have settled into a quiet fire of true and deep love. So when I read some of Dave's wild fire poems, I don't click. That's not to say they're not well done.
However, when Dave hits on a subject of more mature love and intimacy, he hits a homerun. Some truly beautiful imagery and insights. His Ginsberg influence in obvious at times, but always in his own style and words. So they work and are not imitations.
His more political pieces are also quite relevant and insightful. He's very good at giving one liners that have either an afterglow or an extended shelf life of intellectual value.
Why didn't I give the book five stars? Like all poets, there are some pieces not up to par with the rest. But that's ok. I'd be happy for only a few excellent pieces, Dave's gives us many.
Customer Reviews:
"troublesome" troubles tale.......2005-07-09
In all fairness, it is my firt introduction to Ms. Shirver's work, and I do plan on reading her other novels.
As an avid researcher of the Northern Irish novel and Irish studies, I read many books on the topic, and this one is one of the most troubling....
The plot itself is obscure, the characters aimless (although I'm sure this is intended to be part of the "mystery" of the novel). Still, rather disappointing, especially in regard to the female protagonist.
First, the obsession with food and body image is distracting-- is this a novel about a woman's battle with an eating disorder (among other issues she has), or is it a novel about how characters try to survive in the midst of a nation struggling to begin anew? The attempt at making a "connection" between Estrin's obsession with fasting and the heroic sacrifice on the part of the hunger strikers, for instance, borders on the absurd.
Another question is why IS Estrin in the North of Ireland? She yearns for a rootlessness in her travels, yet, more and more, she reveals a growing dislike for her recent home and her neighbors--a dislike she does not seem to have for other places she has lived. One is not certain if this is Ms. Shriver's simply protraying a character--or Ms. Shriver's own sentiments about the country.
Perhaps one may assume that Estrin, at least somewhat, represents Ms. Shriver herself, who did live in Belfast for some time (if one reads about the author, there are correlations: for example, both women are "slight"; both have a proclivity for eating fish, etc,).
If this is, indeed, semi auto-biographical, and if we are to sympathize with Estrin, then the tone of the novel is rather condescending, if not antipathetic toward the on-going war in the North and the sacrifices people have made....regardless of where one's sympathies lie.
The writing itself is excellent, and this review is not a judgment of that! Perhaps this reader is misinterpreting Ms. Shriver's agenda, but the novel creates an aura of bewilderment; it can be insulting at times, with a tinge of disrespect for a country and a people torn by years of violence and inequity.
Gothic Ann Tyler.......2005-03-23
I thought this was going to be a "chick's" book, but was delightfully surprised. I loved the dialogue and the author's wonderful use of metaphor. The analyses of the "Troubles" from both inside and outside was honest and believable. Her characters are tragic, but not pathetic; authentic and flawed. Their fate is very much of their own making. The novel reminded me of French cinema, trenche de vivre, with no formulas, no real ending.
1990 meets 1690........1997-08-20
Late 20th-century narcissism encounters late 17th-century sectarianism in Northern Ireland. The 17th century wins (it generally does in Ireland) but not before we have been taken on a grand tour of the 'Troubles'--as they stood circa 1988--and of some fascinating and meticulously-imagined human psyches.
Ms Shriver is blessedly free of illusions about Ireland and its conflicts--as well she might be, after living ten years in Belfast. She looks with a cold eye on all the various factions and their addiction to self-destructive mayhem; and casts the same withering glance on the inner lives of her principals--rootless souls lost in a place where rootedness excuses absolutely anything
Painfully wonderful.......1997-08-07
One of the best books ever written about the little "explosions" in life. The prose flows, the characters are well developed and each description of the inner emotional life of the characters just ring true. One of those books where I read it and said, "THAT is how I felt but could never describe!" Definitely worth reading especially if you are interested in Northern Ireland and the political situation there. Still worth reading even if you aren't interested in Ireland at all
Book Description
A botanist hires Rachel O'Connor to landscape her exquisite estate. But when the woman is murdered, Rachel must rake through clues to find the culprit.
Customer Reviews:
Absorbing!.......2001-08-09
If you like gardening, this book is a must have! It kept me engrossed from cover to cover, as if I was one of Rachel's close gardening friends, working on her projects, sharing a romantic secret over tea, or holding my breath as she gets into very dangerous situations. Rachel is maturing, as are her business and personal relationships. I can't wait until the next book. Give it a try, I think you'll enjoy her friendship.
Good, but not as good as the first two.......2001-06-23
In the third installment of the Gardening Mystery series, Rachel O'Connor accepts a job over in Portland that will be sure to guarantee her growing reputation as a landscaping company owner. Eloise Johnston, an elderly botanist with a huge estate needing much attention, hires Rachel to take on the job of renovating the gardens attached to her home. Once on the premises, Rachel meets Eloise's assistant, April, who has had her share of juvenile troubles but has become very dear to Eloise as a caregiver. Once Rachel and Eloise sign the contract for a whopping $180,000, Rachel is certain her company's future is set. Unfortunately, death rears its ugly head... Again...
Eloise is found dead, possibly murdered, by Rachel and April in Eloise's beloved garden. The police arrive, and in hours, April has become the prime suspect. Fearing that the murder will be permanently tied to Rain Country Landscaping, Rachel does her best to help find the killer and support April's innocence.
Another good one by Mary Freeman. My only complaint is that the book was slightly sluggish in the beginning, but once things started moving, it was very enjoyable.
Rachel is greener than ever!.......2000-12-16
In the third book of the "Gardening mysteries" series, Rachel O'Connor gets the biggest contract of her literary life yet. A rich widow offers her a contract to restore the gardens of her family home to their old glory before she donates the property to a nature conservancy group. Her sons greatly oppose it but, when the woman is found dead floating in the creek that runs through the gardens surrounding the estate, Rachel is more determined than ever to make the old widow's dream come true. She won't run short of quite a number of inconveniences, including having to face a serious problem related to her own mother's health, an unscrupulus cop and a deadly stalker.
I found this book to be the one in the series that will appeal most to gardening fans. The descriptions of lush gardens, greens and rare species of plants is quite detailed. One can actually imagine being right there, in front of an idyllic creek, contemplating exotic plants and... having the feeling of being watched all the time by some macabre mind!
This mystery deals with crimes both in the past and in the present, and there are all sorts of crimes, not only actual killings; but deception and mistrust as well. A necessary book in a series that promises to amuse us for quite some time.
Cute cosy.......2000-09-28
Rachel O'Connor and her family have lived in Blossom for generations. The O'Connor brood owns and harvests an orchard farm with few exceptions. Rachel is one of those family members who chose not to work on the farm. Instead she starts her own company Rain County Landscape. Famed botanist Eloise Jackson has noted Rachel's quality work. The elderly scientist wants Rachel to restore her gardens, and then the local conservatory will take over the upkeep.
Upon meeting Eloise, Rachel likes the senior citizen and feels much tenderness towards her woebegone assistant April. Eloise demands Rachel sign a contract and closes the agreement with a $180,000 check. That same night April and Rachel find Eloise dead near a raging creek. The local police arrest April, but Rachel believes she is innocent. Aware of the danger she places herself in, Rachel begins sleuthing to identify a killer.
BLEEDING HEART is a crowd pleasing garden mystery that fans of cozies and amateur sleuth tales in general will welcome. The protagonist is a good role model. She brims with independence and confidence, yet she is not always sure she is doing the right thing. Readers are privy to her inner thoughts and feelings about her family, boyfriend, and friends and that provide depth to the story as the secondary cast feel like next door neighbors. Mary Freeman hooks her audience from the beginning and keeps them interested in her story line until the climax in this wonderful entry to an entertaining series.
Harriet Klausner
Average customer rating:
- surprise!
- beautiful, angry, and painful
- Beautiful Insanity
- A necessary book for anyone who's ever been heartbroken.
- Wonderfully neurotic!
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Bleeding Hearts: Love Poems for the Nervous and Highly Strung
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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Love Poems
| Poetry
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Similar Items:
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Love Letters: An Anthology of Passion
ASIN: 0312191685 |
Book Description
Bleeding Hearts presents a selection of truly neurotic and tortured love poetry-poems for the mean times, for the broken hearts, for the trampled hopes and for the rare and fragile outbreaks of nervous optimism. This is the Woody Allen School of Love: tragic, fun and surprisingly sexy.At last, a book for anyone who has binged on the saccharine songs of Love, anyone who has ever waited by the phone, and anyone who plans to somehow survive the angst, agony, and ecstasy of modern love.Poets included: Anna Akhmatova, Yehuda Amichai, A.R. Ammons, Maya Angelou, James Berry, Nina Cassian, C.P. Cavafy, Wendy Cope, Noel Coward, ee.cummings, Carol Ann Duffy, Robert Creeley, Paul Eluard, Tess Gallagher, Robert Graves, Sophie Hannah, Adrian Henri, June Jordan, D. H. Lawrence, Liz Lochhead, Roger McGough, Pablso Neruda, Dorothy Parker, Brian Patten, Octavio Paz, Alice Walker.
Customer Reviews:
surprise!.......2002-02-18
got in touch with my ex-girlfriend and she derisively threw this little gem at me: "trying to pass yourself off as an english poet, are you?" i replied "no!" because i wasn't, even though it looked like i was.
you see, dear reader, she had done a search on google for my name a while back (she still cares!) and this poetry book anthology came up, with one of my very old poems under a very old title (the poem is actually called "layla's poem" now). i never thought i had ever gotten anything published. hell, i haven't even written poetry in years (after i figured out that nobody really gave a flying rats backside about my rants, entertaining as they were)!
be that as it may, it's a good poem, in my stable of good to mediocre poems, so i give michelle lovric lots of credit for knowing how to pick em. at least she didn't put one of my stinkers in there. props michelle!
just one more thing: the book apparently lists me as an english poet, but i'm not an english poet. i am a floridian poet who once lived in london and got kicked out for working as an illegal alien. in the grand scheme of things, there's not alot of difference, i suppose.
now, i'm off to try and get a complimentary copy of this book (still can't afford to buy poetry) so i can impress my friends, chicks, and influence other people! yay dale carnegie! yay poetry!
beautiful, angry, and painful.......2002-02-01
This is an awesome collection of poetry. If you've had enough of cheesy, happy-ending love poems, this book is for you. Some of these poems are so raw they are painful. The poems in this book span the emotions of anger, jealousy, longing, bitterness, desire, and a little bit of love and forgiveness. Another thing I love about this book is that the poems are taken from a wide variety of poets of many different nationalities. I found many of the poems unique, new, and fresh to my eyes (and heart). If you've been searching for a way to express the raw feelings of a broken heart or intense longing, check out this book!
Beautiful Insanity.......2002-01-27
This book is perfect for captivating all the foolishness and heartache associated with falling in and out of love. With poetry and quotes by Noel Coward, Pablo Neruda, Robert Frost, and other well known writers, this book is a must have. Perfect Valentines gift for anyone between the ages of 18-35 who are dealing with a heartbreak or appreciate dark humor. ...
A necessary book for anyone who's ever been heartbroken........1999-01-31
This book is the ultimate collection of poems for those who have either been heartbroken or are bitter _because_ they've never had the chance.
The poetry is all something to which many can relate, which adds to the whole experience of reading it since on almost every other page, you find something you at one point felt and didn't know how to express.
Here, a little taste for everyone to adore and egg on to get a book that should be manatory for living, the editor includes a poem called "After Years of Listening, a Stone Comes To Life" by James Tipton, and in there, there is the best line I think I have ever heard in my entire life: "I will no longer apologize for loving you."
That line right there is grounds to buy this book, and at the price it is offered on here, it makes me compelled to return my copy and buy it from here.
:)
Wonderfully neurotic!.......1999-01-26
Finally a collection of love poems for those of us not gifted (or plagued) with perfect love lives. This book does not paint love in a bad light altogether. It is a realistic and humorous view of love from the pens of those not afflicted with soppily sweet and cloying views of love. Huzzah!
Average customer rating:
- Touching and engrossing...
- Gay Coming-of-Age Thriller
- A Travesty
- Enthralling
- Amazing story
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Bleeding Hearts
Josh Aterovis
Manufacturer: Renaissance Alliance Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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Gay
| Fiction
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| Gay & Lesbian
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ASIN: 1930928688 |
Book Description
When Killian's new friend Seth is brutally murdered and he is seriously injured in the process the police think it's just a random mugging. Killian thinks there may have been a darker motive and, with Seth's father, sets out to uncover the truth behind the possible hate crime. Before his investigation is over he will uncover hatred and corruption in small town America.
Bleeding Hearts takes a different approach to the traditional mystery. Blending gay romance, mystery and suspense with a powerful coming of age story, Josh Aterovis has created characters and a story that readers everywhere will love.
Customer Reviews:
Touching and engrossing..........2005-12-29
...though you do have to suspend your disbelief a little. Characters do have a habit of suddenly discovering they are gay, and they do have a habit of falling for each other left and right, but if you have an ounce of Romance in you, you will find the book as hard to put down as I did.
Gay Coming-of-Age Thriller.......2004-07-08
The hero of this novel, Killian, discovers he is gay when a new boy comes to his school. He makes friends only to lose his friend when he is stabbed to death. Killian is convinced it's a planned murder, the police think it's a mugging gone wrong. In short order, Killian is outed, leaves home, moves in with his friend's dad, and eventually, after many troubles, discovers who the killer is - truly, the last person you expected.
It's a first novel, so not perfect. But I found it hard to put down, and despite the occasional unconvincing sections, it was a fun read, with an exciting denouement. I enjoyed it enough to buy the sequel. One thing I especially like about all this writer's works is that he doesn't "cheat" by writing graphic scenes of intercourse, but instead shows the warmth and love and affection of gay relationships.
Aterovis's thriller is as good as any by Michael Craft, Lev Raphael, or Mark Zubro. Not as good or as gritty as Joseph Hansen, but then they aren't either! Major complaint: hero weeps too much
Still, he does go through a lot . . . .
Nigel
A Travesty.......2004-02-15
I cannot believe how many good reviews this novel got. Granted, it's Aterovis's first, but that doesn't make it any less terrible. Thomas Harris penned a book that will go down in history on his second attempt. "Bleeding Hearts" is amateurish at best, pathetic at worst. The book revolves around Killian Travers Kendall, a boy of 16 who, in a matter of days, not weeks, but DAYS, discovers he's gay, goes through boyfriends like Kleenex, has several of his friends murdered, and cries nearly enough to dehydrate himself. The writing is all over the page, loose. I felt as if I was trying to read a pageful of worms wriggling all over the page. I have read nearly 300 mysteries and thrillers, including Fred Hunter, Michael Craft, Lev Raphael, Mark Richard Zubro, Krandall Kraus, and several other men and women who write "gay mysteries", so I like to believe that I know what I'm talking about when I write a review on one. Josh Aterovis should seriously consider going into a different profession. Do yourself a favor, if you want a nice gay mystery, read Richard Stevenson or Fred Hunter, or Mark Richard Zubro. Leave Killian with his black Beetle Bug and Asher.
Enthralling.......2003-10-02
READ THIS BOOK! Mr. Aterovis has managed to put together memorable characters and an excellent who-done-it. That along with his gifted storytelling, make this an enjoyable read and one you will find hard to put down.
Amazing story.......2003-10-02
This story is amazing in the way that Killian comes out... a real coming-of-age story that affected myself and anyone I asked to read the book. The murder mystery ties it all together, forcing the reader to confront his or her own feelings towards coming out and homophobia.
Average customer rating:
- One of the best books about broken hearts
- Intense picture of the way a woman feels
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The Bleeding Heart
Marilyn French
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Contemporary
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| Literature & Fiction
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Similar Items:
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A Season in Hell: A Memoir
ASIN: 0345288963
Release Date: 1981-02-12 |
Book Description
By the author of the groundbreaking feminist novel THE WOMEN'S ROOM, THE BLEEDING HEART is a compelling novel about the devastating power of marriage -- and the unexpected power of love. A love story for and about adults, it speaks to the hearts and minds of women and men everywhere.
Dolores and Victor are both both successful, both Americans living alone in England. They meet and fall instantly in love, only to discover they agree on nothing. From the start they know they have only one year together. Their affair is sometimes bitter, always passionate, and, in the end, an extraordinary revelation for them both.
"A monumental achievement." -- Cosmopolitan
Customer Reviews:
One of the best books about broken hearts.......2000-07-25
I first read this book many years ago when my first serious relationship ended. I would definitely say that I saw myself a lot in the characters. This book talks a lot about the different roles of men and women in a love affair, and how the woman somehow always ends up doing more of the work. I think some people might say this is outdated, but there are some truths in this novel. But despite her cynicism, the female protagonist still embarks in this love affair and falls deeply in love with this man. This book is at turns didatic, romantic, and sad, and very enjoyable to read. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who just got out of a relationship as I think that's the best time to read it.
Intense picture of the way a woman feels.......1998-03-23
I read the book after a long hesitation, but sometimes as I was reading it, I was gasping, since some of the things I was reading could have been my thoughts. But there was also a part I didn't like because it was too black and white. But I think women should read this book to understand the relation between men and women better.
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