Open and Shut Review

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(More customer reviews)in town. Rosenfeldt worked in marketing for Tri-Star pictures before trying his hand at screenplays, and this, his first novel. He has a smooth, confident style and a hero steeped in courtroom shenanigans. Like Coben's hero, Myron Bolitar, Andy Carpenter is a sports nut and a smartass, but a loveable one. Like Koontz's heroes, Andy is hung up on his Golden Retriever, Tara, and much of the charm and humor of the character comes out in his frequent references to her.
Carpenter's first story (I say first, because the book cries out for a sequel or two or thirteen) involves an appeal in a case of capital murder. His case is tangled in his past with his beloved father, and his feeling that there is more than meets the eye to his dad's request for him to defend a man that he, himself, had convicted. Tangled with the defense of his client, Willie Miller, is Andy's own broken marriage and his attempt at reconciliation after he's already fallen in love with someone new.
The plot to prove Willie's innocence is less than original, and a little shallow, but the witty repartee and diarization style of writing adopted by Rosenfeldt is charming and breezy. Many small humorous passages will make you laugh, even though the scene is serious. Carpenter's explanation to Miller of why he will probably still lose the trial..."suppose Dinky University's football team goes down to Florida State and loses ....but the game doesn't count because FSU's water boy wasn't eligible....Dinky is still Dinky". Carpenter's rants against DNA, his soliloquy to the Yankees and his betting contests with his father, courtroom antics such as the stunt with Kevin's cousin -- all are irreverent and totally New Jersey in their origin and humor.
It's not a great novel, but it ranks as a great and entertaining first effort, and Rosenfeldt will have a terrific career if there are more like this to come!
Read it, enjoy,laugh!

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The 86th Degree Review

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(More customer reviews)Barbara Harken writes with fervor in "The 86th Degree." She relates the story of Amber Helm. Her novel combines a story of romance, rejection, self acceptance, and emotional healing.
Amber, young and idealistic, has intentionally chosen teaching as a profession to enable her to positively influence students. She is a high school teacher in Chicago's inner city. Amber has been instrumental in securing a grant for the school to sponsor a special class to encourage young journalism students. Ethan Michaels will be teaching the five week class.
Amber is conflicted as she learns that Ethan will be leading the class and that she has been assigned to welcome him to the school as a department host. Three years earlier Amber had walked out on Ethan after a brief summer romance and had not seen or heard from him since.
As Amber relives some deep rooted emotional experiences of her childhood, her mother's illness, and the demands of her wealthy father she finds herself on an emotional roller coaster.
Amber is faced with stark reality of the emotional crisis that one of her students, Jocelyn is going through. She begins to cultivate friendship with her and soon discovers that there is an abusive relationship in the home. Her own deep seated anger and emotional scars cause Amber to make unwise decisions that have serious ramifications on her career.
Harken introduces the reader to the foundational issues of child abuse, verbal, and physical, and of the paradigm shift in philosophical, psychological, and legal implications being faced in our society today.
Conflict, resolution, and more conflict keep the reader glued to the pages of this important novel which creates a social awareness and critique of the problem of abusive relationships and the importance of the availability of emotional caregivers, and interventions.
Barbara Harken writes convincingly with a strong plot, crisp dialog, and believable characters. She has used her own experience in the classroom to create a timely, engrossing, poignant story of hurt and healing.


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Amber Helm begins her third year of teaching full of excitement, glad to be back in the comfort zone of the classroom.At the beginning teacher inservice, she discovers that for several weeks, a former lover from college will be the "Artist in Residence," the man she walked out on three years ago.Set back by the inevitable confrontation, she resolves to treat him as an adult, a resolve not likely to happen.Just as Amber thinks life is under control, in walks Jocelyn Quint, angry sophomore and abused child.When Amber reaches out to Jocelyn, she is falsely accused of assault on Jocelyn's mother and suspended.The ripples of her own relationship with a toxic mother surface, and she must do more than get her job back.She must learn to love herself, and then be open to a love that waits for her.

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PhD: Phantasy Degree Vol. 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)Harry Potter and Slayers were two factors that probably went into this Korean manga. Creator Hee-Joon Son came up with a strange world where the realm of demons crosses over with the human one. But before most young demons can, they have to go to school!
It starts out with Sang, a young energetic redhead who really seems teamed to enter into Hades, the school for up and coming demon teens. Her personal mission, for reasons to be explained later on, is to gain access to the school and locate a special ring. The ring itself is currently in the possession of Notra, a scantily-clad succubus who is supposedly engaged to the actual prince of Hell, and was given the ring as an engagement present.
In order to get in the school, Sang runs into a group of kids playing hookie. It's Dev the demon, Mordicus the vampire, Pannus the mummy, and Lukan the werewolf. Sang asks for Mordicus to bite her, and she "temporarily" gets vampire fangs to make herself look like a student at the demon school. However, some humans from a religious guild come looking for the ring too, and slash off a few of the students to get it. But, the seemingly vanquished monsters come back to life, only more powerful(sorta like Saiyans). Sang and the others team up to stop them from gaining the ring and having the gates of Hell at their command.
Phantasy Degree(or just PHD)is developing into a great action fantasy so far. It's got great comedy mixed in with action that the typical Yu Yu Hakusho fan would like.

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A young, spunky, fearless girl named Sang is searching for the Demon School Hades. She runs into a group of misfit monsters who are ditching classes from the same school. She succeeds in convincing them to take her to the school. Only monsters are allowed at the school so she allows the vampire, Mordicus, to bite her and she becomes a vampire. At the school, Sang meets a girl monster, Notra, who is wearing a ring. Sang also has rings of her own but she wants Notra's ring too but we don't know why. The ring is an engagement ring that has been given to Notra by the chief commander of hell, Baal's son. We also learn of the Mahgae, best described perhaps as "lower-earth", a place where students typically go when they are not in class. The Mahgae also leads to a place called the Redlands. At sunset, the doors to the Mahgae open because nighttime is when the monsters come out to do their work. There are fights between the different cliques of monsters at the school. However, they all come together to fight a mysterious duo that descend upon the school. The duo, a man, Henduh Kyung, and a woman, with very strong powers invade the school in order to seal the door to the school's Mahgae.Henduh Kyung is also in pursuit of the same mysterious ring. Henduh Kyung and the woman fight the monsters, killing some, injuring others. At the end of Vol. 1, Fatal is seemingly kills the woman, but instead she transforms into a more powerful being and she announces that she intends to honor her league, the Medusa Guild.

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PhD: Phantasy Degree vol 3 Review

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(More customer reviews)Volume 1 and especially volume 2 are far more interesting, but this is the beginning of the new arc. So i expect it to be a bit boring but it's still enjoyable.
Meet about 4-5 new characters, new situation, new clues to the powers of the rings and so on. So it does advance the story but it's not as entertaining without the demons.

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In volume 3, the story branches off into another adventure with Sang. However, it begins with Lance sealing the doors to the Mahgae of Hades, the sixth one. We also find out the power of the rings. Depending on the wearer, the rings can have the power to change the gender of the wearer. In Sang's case, when she takes off her rings, she becomes a man, muscular and powerful. When she puts her rings back on she becomes a girl again. Sang requests something from Lance; not to mention her to someone known as President Hyup. In return, she gives them Notra's ring. However, Sang reveals to Notra that she is not part of the Madosa Guild, despite what it looks like, but instead that she intends to stop the Madosa Guild. In the aftermath of all the fighting, Notra, Dev, and Katana bury the dead, which include Chris, Hammer, Mordicus, Tyrannus, and Lukan. Notra recalls a place (perhaps a type of upper-earth), that her mother told her about where many other monsters are. They all leave for that place since the doors to their Mahgae are now closed. Sang begins another adventure and meets a girl, Chun-Lang in the woods.They don't really care for each other but they are both trying to find their way out of the woods. Sang sees a ring on Chun-Lang's finger and is very interested in it. They also run into a fighter named Hwee-Young who tries to fight Chun-Lang because he sees she has a sword. Instead, Chun-Lang runs away from Hwee-Young and comes upon a house, just outside of the woods. Inside the house, a warlock, Alcan, is cooking up a spell in a pot. Alcan also turns out to be a member of the Madosa Guild. Chun-Lang unknowingly ruins his spell and this results in a huge monster, Gigantes, growing from out of the pot. Chun-Lang and Alcan escape into the woods and run into Hwee-Young and Sang. The story ends with a fight between Alcan and Hwee-Young, and Gigantes running into the woods calling Chun-Lang, mommy, because she was the first thing he set his eyes upon being created.

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By Degrees Review

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(More customer reviews)There haven't been many books in this genre that I have really, really enjoyed, one being Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels, and another is this book. I can honestly say that I really got into these well written characters and they completely captured me from the first chapter. I am a stickler for the technical aspects of writing and will be turned off by poor editing and poor writing skills. The characters in the volume are well constructed and completely beliveable. I look for romance in a romance novel and I was not disappointed in this book. The romance is palpable and empathetic. It was so easy to fall in love with the protagonists. If a writer cannot capture my attention from the first paragraph then I will struggle to get involved with the characters and the writing style. I give high marks to JB McDonald for a well written and well developed story. I highly recommend this book and the writer. I look forward to the next work from this writer.

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Orphaned at eleven and bounced around the foster system, Tim learned young that the only thing he could control in life was himself. It was a lesson he took seriously, and it's the only thing that keeps him safe from more heartbreak. He wants to keep his world well-ordered, but he can't seem to keep his friend Conner neatly pigeon-holed. Conner doesn't understand this desire to control things, but he doesn't need to. He loves everything about his control-freak friend, from Tim's black hair and blue eyes to the way he quirks just one eyebrow. Con has loved all these things for years, and now he's learned that it's a short step from loving to falling in love.With Con's arrival, everything starts unraveling in Tim's life. He finds himself questioning his sexual orientation, wrangling with emotions dragged up from his past, and fending off questions from Con's well-meaning family. Drowning in a world out of his control, his one hope is to let go and trust that love will save him. But after so many years of burying his feelings, he's not sure it's possible.

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