The Dream Thief, by Shana Abe'

The Dream Thief

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Author:

Shana Abe'

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Hardcover released

October 2006

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Mass market edition released

September 2007

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Published by:

Bantam Dell

A Division of Random House, Inc.

New York, New York, USA

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ISBN: 978-0-553-58805-7

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Mass market paperback price:

$6.99 USD

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Though this book is niched as plain 'fiction' by Random House and Bantam Dell, it is a fantasty book with strong romantic leanings. In short, it's one of the new genre blends that are sweeping the markets.

. Out of curiosity, I bought and read (since Random House apparently declines to take part in my book reviews by simply ignoring my emails and letters) The Smoke Thief. This book, The Dream Thief is a sequel to it. I bought and read this one with the intention of bringing it to the attention of those who enjoy the romance genre as well as the fantasy genre -- Shana Abe' brings to us a wonderful voice as well as an intense imagination. It's a pity she limits herself to the narrow world of romances (yep, at times her stories lean darn near porn!) by this blend, yet I believe she's making a solid place for herself in a niche, with specific, steady fans.

.

The Smoke Thief and The Dream Thief are tales of humans and dragons, magical and basic interaction gone dramatic. We're taken into a world of the rich and poor, jewels and high flight with the inevitable velvet darkness to set it off. It's a heady blend of style and power.

.

If you love both romance and magical fantasy, this author is for you. Dragon flags with dark jewels for this one... the voice alone warrants this, if the genre blend does not.

. -- The Fireside Reader

Demon's Kiss, by Eve Silver

Demon's Kiss

.

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Author: Eve Silver

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Released in mass market paperback October 2007

.

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Published by:

Forever

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Hachette Book Group

237 Park Avenue

New York, New York 10017

www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

.

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ISBN-10: 0-446-61892

ISBN-13: 978-0-446-61892-2

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Paperback price:

$6.99 USD

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The genre marked on this book is "paranormal romance". I shudder as I write this, as I would describe it as more like 'fantasy alternated with consenting adult porn'.

.

Having dipped into the mixed-genre books that seem to be sweeping the market recently, I have to say that in comparison to the truly skilled authors, Eve Silver has fallen flat on her face on this one. I'm saddened by this, as she has the ability, I think, to do much better. What she needs is an honest editor!

. Ms. Silver alternates pornographic (mostly graphic) scenes with her magical scenes. There is no blending, no integration of anything. It's up (pardon my expression), down (again, pardon me), and gone in a puff of smoke all too soon -- all too personally. Delicate filaments of light magic cannot heal this alleged story from the chopping and patching that had to have been done to bring it to this state.

. Another problem is that while Ms. Silver definately skipped on research, she also skipped on polishing her style. Everything is in italics, which bugged me, and words are used incorrectly in various places, mostly 'hybrid'. A visit to Dictionary.com would have let her see that making up a word would have made a lot more sense. She seems to talk down to the reader with such careless inattention to detail, which I abhor.

. As an honest reader, I can't offer any flags for this book. I would have to call it unedited, and therefore unfinished.

. Best of luck in the future, Ms. Silver. You have the right idea. Now apply a little honest sweat -- and change the sheets while you're at it.

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Our thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this book. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

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... Comments? Questions? -- The Fireside Reader

Stone Cold, by David Baldacci

Title:

.

Stone Cold

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Author:

.

David Baldacci

.

(New York Times bestselling author

of The Collectors and Simple Genius.)

. ADVANCE REVIEW

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Novel to be released as hardcover November 6, 2007

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ISBN number:

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ISBN-10: 0-446-57739-1

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ISBN-13: 978-0-446-57739-7

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Published by: Grand Central Publishing

Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

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Price:

.

$26.99 USD / $31.25 CAN

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The blurb on the back of this advance copy says that the author "returns with STONE COLD -- an unforgetable novel of revenge, conspiracy, and murder" ... which I find to be a gross understatement. This novel is a highly developed work, its plot woven and rewoven into a tight tale of political and personal power struggles.

.

The charactors are larger than life, the stressors intense -- you'll be on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. If this book makes it to movie, it'll be a wild ride for any enthusiast of tight packed action and intrigue (providing that the movie makers don't massacre the whole thing as they have done so many others in the past, that is). As it is, with the reader providing all the props, cast, and details, it's a fireball of a trip I'm glad to have taken. .

This is absolutely one of the best-researched and carefully written books I've ever picked up. Mr. Baldacci is gifted -- and has a strong voice that he uses to take us to ever-increasing levels of tension. Speaking of a book with meat on the bones ... this is it! Even I, who avoid reading political thrillers in general due to the dusty-dry source material, found it to be a top of the line item.

. If you like tales of spies, international intrigue, human nature and heroes found in the edges of society, check out this admirable work of David Baldacci's. It'll take you to places you never thought could exist and have you doing things you'd never dreamed of doing in ways you wouldn't have believed possible.

.

Red, white, and blue -- a classic American flag for Stone Cold. No white flags or white feathers for this one. The action is too hot, the story and charactors far too vivid, the battleground all too close, to be flagged with anything else.

... .

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review David Baldacci's newest novel. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

... .

Comments? Questions? . -- The Fireside Reader

When Ghosts Speak: Understanding the World of Earthbound Spirits, by Mary Ann Winkowski

Title:

. When Ghosts Speak: Understanding the World of Earthbound Spirits

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Author:

. Mary Ann Winkowski (The consultant to CBS's Ghost Whisperer.)

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Foreword by James Van Praagh, spiritual medium and author of Talking to Heaven.

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ADVANCE REVIEW

Novel to be released as hardcover October 22, 2007

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ISBN numbers: ISBN-10: 0-446-58118-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-44658118-9

. Published by:

Grand Central Publishing Hachette Book Group USA 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169 http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

. Price:

. $24.99 USD / $31.99 CAN

.

.

Just in time for that time of year when ghosts and goblins lurk in every shadow, and the crash landing of a falling leaf can send chills down your spine, comes this interesting book by the consultant to CBS's Ghost Whisperer. Mary Ann Winkowski, a devout Catholic, happily married mom, and seer of the spirits of the dead offers us a tantalizing view "beyond the veil".

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Using a gift apparently passed down through her Italian ancestors, she talks to those who have crossed over the line between life and death, and yet have not left the earthly plane. Some of the stories she tells will have you laughing for hours afterwards -- and others of her tales will make your skin crawl and have you peeking around at flitting shadows, screaming when the cat brushes up against your unsuspecting shins! Mary Ann offers the earthbound spirits a pathway (the legendary white light, which she claims to be able to make on demand) to eternity.

.

She even claims to have 'seen', in a round about way, evidence of guardian spirits who have gone beyond the light yet have offered support and care to those recently dead. Angels? Departed beloveds who carried the love into eternity? Perhaps.

.

From the time we're concieved, we travel toward death. Death, however, often seems to sneak up on us like a theif in the night, taking away all of the things we'd planned in our disbelief that time is limited for all of us. For some, death is a release, a balm. Either way, it is the last, ultimate mystery, one we cannot answer until we, as individuals in most cases, experience it.

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Where do we go, when life departs us? What do we do? Do we lurk at the funeral home to see what the still-living have to say to us? Do we look into that bright white light and go on without a backward glance into whatever dreams may lie waiting for us in the last great unknown?

.

Mary Ann Winkowski attempts to answer some of these questions -- and others -- while opening up windows and doors of the imagination with total abandon. Her stories of coming across truly evil spirits, things that scared even a woman accustomed to routinely speaking with the dead, will definately make you wonder about the truths of the struggle between good and evil. Humanity is still humanity, according to her, even when the frail shell of flesh is fallen by the wayside.

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Having seen a few inexplicable things in my lifetime, I'll hold judgment on whether this is a fiction or nonfiction book. Judge for yourself; my opinion is only one, one which has no proof either way of what comes after the moment death arrives with its cold fingers to separate us from all we've been aware of for a lifetime, be it short or long.

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Any book that makes a person think is a positive. Ghostly soft flags to Mrs. Winkowski, flying on a shivery breeze ... to keep us on our fleshy toes!

...

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this interesting book by Mary Ann Winkowski. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

... Comments? Questions?

.

-- The Fireside Reader

ADVANCE REVIEW. The Poet's Corner: The One and Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family, Compiled by John Lithgow

Title:

The Poet's Corner: The One and Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family

.

Compiled by

John Lithgow

.

ADVANCE REVIEW

.

Poetry collection/book to be released as

hardcover November 15th, 2007

.

ISBN-13: 978-0-446-58002-1 ISBN-10: 0-446-58002-3

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Published by:

WARNER BOOKS

Hachette Book Group USA 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

www.hachettebookgroupusa.com . NOTE:

Includes a bonus CD featuring readings by John Lithgow and friends.

.

Price:

$24.99 USD / $31.99 CAN

. _________________________

.

Anyone who loves the classics will love this collection, as will those who enjoy readings of poetry in a family context. It is a fine collection, and it includes old favorites along with a few lesser-known pieces by poets of great talent.

.

The only problem with it that I could see (aside from common editorial issues -- everyday/every day, E.E. Cummings/e. e. cummings -- since the copy I reviewed is, one should note, an advance copy and as yet is uncorrected), is that of language. Middle English isn't something every family member will be able to decipher, unfortunately. This fact was brought home to me in a very literal way when I read a scattering of poems to my own family. I was, in some cases, reduced to translation. As much as I love Robert Burns, not too many people in today's world will be able to understand what a "cranreuch cauld" is, for example: "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft agley..." (or 'the best-laid plans of mice and men go oft astray').

.

One should note, as I have said before, that the copy I've seen is not the final version. There can -- and probably will -- be changes to the book before its release.

.

This book is coming out in hardback 'with a bonus CD featuring readings by John Lithgow and friends' that I would dearly love to hear someday. Poetry, read aloud, has a power beyond belief, which does explain why kings of legend had a powerful fear of bards. Poetry can heal, or it can destroy. Poetry is memorable music sung in one's ear that does not fade much with time.

.

Post-editor application, I would, even as a non-habitual reader of classic poems, highly recommend this book for family collections. A green-for-go flag for this one!

.

The offerings vary from the fun of Edward Lear (The Owl and the Pussy Cat) to Dylan Thomas (Do not go gentle into that good night), and far, far more. It is a collection of the best of the best, and is put to the reader by a person who loves poetry and has since his childhood. Someone who speaks the language, one might say. I could think of no one better suited to introduce quality works of poetic art to a family context.

.

Mr. Lithgow has commented, throughout the book, about the poets and their lives. He speaks in a comfortable, natural way, his literary voice as soothing as his stage projection can be. He brings us the masters of poetry in a context that any family would feel instantly familiar with, and even comforted, in readings either personal or aloud.

.

Special thanks to Hachette Book Group for the chance to review this collection compiled by John Lithgow. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website.

.

-- The Fireside Reader

Back soon! New reviews upcoming.

More new books (advance copies) have arrived! I'm expecting several more, but these are in the mind-mill already. Upcoming reviews:

• Stone Cold, by David Baldacci
• The Poet's Corner: The One and Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family, compiled by John Lithgow.

Please bear with me. I will be back soon ...with new items.

-- The Fireside Reader

Temporary hold.

I'll be back online soon. My connection to the internet is, for the time being, tenuous.

The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold (ADVANCE REVIEW)

Title:

. The Almost Moon

.

Author:

. Alice Sebold (bestselling author of The Lovely Bones)

.

ADVANCE REVIEW

. Novel to be released as hardcover in October, 2007

.

ISBN number:

. 0-316-67746-9 / 978-0-316-67746-2

.

Published by:

. Little, Brown and Company

. Hachette Book Group USA

237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10169

http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/

.

Price:

. $24.99 USD / $31.99 CAN

.

In this novel, Sebold departs from The Lovely Bones and offers some gruesome skeletons in the closet of her protagonist. From the first line, this is a story which pulls one in close and yet shoves one away in repulsion, to love and hate her main charactor for her actions, Helen Knightly, as she herself loves and hates. Written in an undeniably powerful voice, something to be expected from this bestselling author, the story is still yet of content many readers may sheer away from immediately. It is a dark novel, a story which takes the reader to realms within where the skin crawls as if skittery spiders had been released en masse.

.

Sebold has chosen mental illness as the basis for this novel. I will not give away the whole story, nor even yet the ending, but I will say that the ending was not quite a resolution. The old Biblical quote about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children "unto the 12th generation" comes to mind after reading this book, as do various psycho-babble items about it always being Mom's fault that we are who and what we are.

.

Deeper and deeper the story goes, where it stops... well.

.

As a voracious reader of widely varied genres, I am always expecting (except in experimental items) to see at least some attempt made to resolve the conflicts thus presented in the printed medium. In this novel, I have seen no such thing. However, I don't see where Ms. Sebold could have taken the story otherwise: the ending is, while incomplete in my eyes, predictable. I am saddened by this. I had expected something very different of this author.

.

When I approached the ending and read it through, I automatically turned the page looking for the rest ... and there was nothing else. Just an ending of sorts, the reader left dangling madly on the end of a steely hook held by the hands of an angler who has great skill and style.

.

The only other problems I came across were identifications of outside charactors that turned out to be children of the protagonist and, in turn, grandchildren. The relationships were vague at best during the whole story, leading me to turn back and forth in the pages, looking for answers. It interrupted the flow of the tale. That can be altered easily.

.

NOTE: The copy I read was an advance copy, and an UNCORRECTED PROOF, not yet for sale. Changes to the novel are possible before its release in October.

.

I believe I'd hand Ms. Sebold a red pen and a couple of flags: red for resale hopes (every business person, of which writers are by default in selling rights to their creations, knows that resale is where the real money is), black for the dark dabblings in mental illness without resolution.

.

Yes, I would read more of Ms. Sebold's work. I know she is capable of terrific work. This one item simply isn't complete, as I have seen it.

.

Special hanks to the Hachette Book Group for a chance to review Alice Sebold's newest work in advance of its official release. For information on other books offered or about to be offered by HBGUSA, please visit their website. .

Comments? Questions?

.

-- The Fireside Reader

Born Fighting:How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, by James Webb

Title:

Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America

Author: James Webb

ISBN number: 0-7679-1689-1

Classification: History - United States - General

Website: www.broadwaybooks.com

Price: US $14.95/$21.00 CAN

In this book, Mr. Webb explains that more than 27 million Americans today can trace their lineage to Scots-Irish ancestors. He talks in depth about all of the experiences the migrating peoples encountered, what it made of them, and where it has brought the country to today. This is a little-known ethnic group (almost unaddressed in specific history, comparatively to others). It has taken part in making the U.S. what it is today on social, cultural, and political grounds from the beginning and through to the present. Some of my ancestors were Cherokee, yes. Others, German and English. But also were they Scots-Irish, of the McIntosh clan heritage. I can hear it in the words common to the locale. I can see it in the determination to succeed instead of merely moving on. It's on almost every face -- of the old bloodlines still remaining -- as clear to see as mistletoe in winter. Tenacious. My father's father died on St. Patrick's day, many years ago. Dad was a young man, and this happened some twenty years before I was born. In the old pictures of Papaw John, the rippling black hair that's so much like my own father's shows the link. The solid features, the sturdy bones that bear more muscled weight than it appears, the square hands so like my own. I don't look like them a lot in other ways, but the bones and the hands are there. The determination that can carry a warrior across incredible battlefields in strange lands, and back home again with only a few scars ... I don't know if I have that, but I hope I do. I do know that many facets of my heritage bring forth the warrior's way, and that when the battle anger swells, something must give. It's something one must be responsibl for the consequences of, every single time. The warrior's way is as Gaelic as it is Cherokee. I was fascinated that Mr. Webb points out in his book the traits of "acute individualism, dislike of aristocracy, and military tradition", and this I can swear to this as being quite real. It's almost instinctive, and highly developed. St. Patrick may have (allegedly) run all the serpents out of Ireland, but when the Scots-Irish came to the United States, the gnurling twists and knot-work of Gaelic history intertwined with a dozen other heritages, only to become stronger. Neither life nor death can change that, nor can they take the occasional lilt of Gael tongue from the hills-drawl. Go on! Wear green if you feel the urge. It's the color of growth and misty mornings, the smell of a healthy, clean horse, and of a decent wind always at your back. It's a strong color, one to be proud of knowing "up close and personal". And in the meantime, pick up a copy of James Webb's Born Fighting. Whatever your heritage, this book is worth the read.

-- The Fireside Reader

Welcome, Reader!

This blog page will be solely reserved for reviewing books. Those of you who are linked to my * closed to friends-only * (other) blog page are asked to keep its location and any information related to that to yourselves, please. I love my small privacy with genuine friends there.

I will post a couple of older reviews here, just to start things off. However, the next posting will be a review of Alice Sebold's The Almost Moon. Let us hope that she finds such success in this next work as in her first big hit, The Lovely Bones.

Later, there will be more, if the fates hold true.

* Cat & Mouse,

by James Patterson

* Stone Cold,

by David Baldacci

* Wild Fire,

by Nelson DeMille

* The Terror,

by Dan Simmons

* The Poets' Corner:

The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family,

Compiled by John Lithgow

I hope you enjoy your reading, and I hope I can offer an honest opinion that you will generally agree with in regards to the material reviewed here. It is my intent to raise awareness of the world of books, a medium that is largely neglected in the United States. It's a sad fact that a large number of our best writers find greater success in other countries than they do in their own.

However, I call 'em as I see 'em. If it's a BOO, it's a BOO. If it's a decent, entertaining read, etc., that's what I'll say about 'em. Books vary, and every good writer can have a bad go-'round. We live and learn, and so we grow. Within as well as without. It's a part of life, and it's a part of being a writer. Honesty is the only way. Not merely a policy.

NOTE: Comments are welcome -- within reason and decency. I will not remove anything tolerable, yet I will maintian that all comments must be viewable by the average family audience. Mild is fine, but extremely foul items will be removed without remorse. Be ye warned!

-- The Fireside Reader