ReviewsByJeannineVE

Robin Roberts eloquent words do seem to come from the heart. In this book she tells with pride of her father, a former Tuskegee Airman and her mother, a strong woman who after raising her children then forged a career, as well as her siblings. Ms Roberts' success did not come overnight. She worked from the bottom up, and in her book she stresses to younger readers that success cannot be achieved overnight. One can't start as head of a company. One must learn as she/he steps up the rungs of a ladder. Robin Roberts tells us, it's okay to dream big, but focus small. Also, focus on the solution not the problem. Mostly, focus on family. If you are a parent, don't try to be your child's friend, but be a parent. Sometimes on one's path, the person needs to venture off the chosen path to see if there is something beyond that appeals more than the original journey, and at times, change is good. Most important live life, don't stand on the sidelines and watch it go by.

FROM THE HEART by Robin Roberts is a book one can read quickly, but don't. It contains a wealth of good information that one ought to consider, so slow down and really think about what you are reading. FROM THE HEART, SEVEN RULES TO LIVE BY is for young adults to senior citizens. The book may confirm your beliefs or suggest to others that life is good, your path clear, you need only find it, and each has her/his own way. Make the most of what you have, don't give up and forge ahead.

Jeannine D. Van Eperen, Reviewer, gottawritenetwork

Jeannine Van EperenAward-winning author of:Memory and DesireComing in August: Willow Springvisit my website to see all my books

http://www.jeanninevaneperen/

Axel O'Grady and Nate Greenleaf are kids on the street at a time near the turn of the 20th century. Both are orphans in a world that gives little care for homeless children. Not yet twelve years of age, both boys have managed to survive by selling newspapers and living in a cardboard crate that they rented by cleaning the floors of a furniture store. An older boy wants the street corner that the boys have been using to sell their newspapers, and a fight ensues that sends Nate to the hospital and leaves Axel, bruised and alone. Unable to work for a few days, Axel is not able to buy food. In desperation, he swipes a loaf of bread, knowing he'll get caught but he has to have something to eat after going hungry for three days. He intends to pay for the bread when able to find some work again. Before he has a chance to do so, he is arrested for stealing and sent to jail. A judge tells Axel about the orphan trains and that he won't put Axel in jail if he reports to a children's home and leaves on the orphan train in a few days. Having no choice, Axel agrees. He manages to find his partner, Nate, before he goes and promises him he will return as soon as he can. Nate had lost the sight in one eye during the pummeling he had received from the large, older boy. Axel reminds Nate that they are partners and his leaving doesn't change that. He tries with all of his might to keep his promise to his friend even though he must go hundreds of miles away. After all, a promise to a partner is a promise.

Fran Shaff makes the world of the Turn on the 20th Century come alive. A PARTNER'S PROMISE is a masterpiece, not only for young adults, but for everyone. Once started, I could not put the book down. The story is authentic. Orphan trains are part of our nation's history as are the horrible conditions for some orphan children in the 1880s through the Great Depression. I can't praise Ms Shaff's work highly enough. A Partner's Promise is a gem. Read it!

Jeannine D. Van Eperen, Reviewer, gottawritenetwork
© July 7, 2007

Jade Nethercott is startled when she hears a voice say, "It was murder. Murder most foul." More startled yet when a ghost appears who tells her he was murdered by Lord Bannatyne and asks her to leave her Yorkshire home and travel to London to unmask the scoundrel who did him in, and who he believes is his beloved's brother. The deceased Sir Mitchell, though he never saw who stabbed him in the back, is certain the man is Gideon Bannatyne and worries about Lady Persis, Gideon's sister. Sir Mitchell promises Jade that if she can bring Bannatyne to justice, he will try to bring her father's spirit to her. Jade's father had recently died and Jade would do almost anything to see him one more time and to prove that her father's theory that ghosts can contact the living is true. She knows its true because she sees Sir Mitchell, but no one else sees him. When Jade meets the handsome so-called rake, Lord Bannatyne, she asks him to help her gain entrance into the demimonde. He agrees as Jade is a comely woman and his one aim is to bed her. Jade, of course, wants only to prove her father's theory correct and help right a wrong, if, indeed, Bannatyne is guilty. But is seems others are out to kill Lord Bannatyne and soon Jade begins to believe he can't possibly have killed Sir Mitchell. What is a girl to do and who is she to believe?

LOST IN SHADOW is an okay book, though not really my cup of tea. Jocelyn Kelley's characters are well-drawn, even the minor ones, and there are moments of humor in the story. I find it hard to believe that Jade can change from a chaste well-brought up country lady to a wanton woman in just a week's time, no matter how smitten she may be by a man's charms, but perhaps it is possible. Perhaps the 1810 people were not so different from those today, and a woman could easily succumb to a promise of love. If you are a fan of Regency romances, I'm sure you'll enjoy Jocelyn Kelley's Lost in Shadow.

Jeannine D. Van Eperen, Reviewer, gottawritenetwork
© July 7, 2007

Bryson Coventry, a detective with Denver homicide, is a flawed individual. Not only does he have one blue eye and one green, he lets himself become involved with Tianca Holland, a beautiful bi-sexual who may or may not have killed her female lover, Angela. However, when three other bodies are found in close proximity to Angela's body, it appears less likely that Tianca had anything to do with Angela's murder.

Haley Wilde is just out of law school and brand new at a large, prestigious legal firm. On her first day there, September 5, she finds out that a woman who had befriended her when she worked as an intern the year before has been missing since April. When she hears that two bodies have been discovered and the women had been missing since April, Haley is certain that her friend was probably murdered, too. She begins to search for clues at the legal firm that might lead to her friend's killer. She contacts Bryson and feeds him information. Jack Degan's business is securing women for men to kill, and then cleaning up after their male killers. Degan makes good money but begins to wonder if his profession is worth everything he has to put up with, when things start to go sour. Degan begins to yearn for his Malibu ocean home, and begins to think of taking Gretchen, a prostitute he met and has grown fond of, with him as soon as his next job is finished. Bryson Coventry and his female sidekick, Shalifa, work diligently, trying to find a solution as bodies keep turning up. Tianca also keeps turning up the heat in her relationship with the handsome detective as he tries to unravel the mysterious killings.

FATAL LAWS is quite the page-turner. Action comes fast and furious and one is left guessing until the very end…but don't read the end first and spoil things. This is a very gritty detective novel and not for the squeamish, but if you have the stomach for it, FATAL LAWS is a "can’t put down book." What I liked about the book is that the characters, though very busy, do have time to take potty breaks, eat and get some sleep. One criticism I have is that the author often uses "me and so-and-so" instead of "so-and-so and I". This use of grammar is acceptable for speaking with friends or from someone with little education, but I think most educated, high-power lawyers would use correct grammar when talking to the police. (I could be wrong). Jim Michael Hansen has written a fast-paced mystery with a surprise ending. The characters are well-drawn characters, some with fatal flaws. I think that FATAL LAWS is geared more for the male reader than female; however, I have friends that like gritty, edgy, gory stories, and enjoy reading about the seamy side of life. Go for it, you might find you are one of them.

Jeannine Van Eperen, Reviewer, GottaWriteNetwork
Jeannine Van EperenAward-winning author of:Memory and DesireComing in August: Willow Springvisit my website to see all my bookshttp://www.jeanninevaneperen/

Lydia Goetz is a cancer survivor. She is married and has a young stepson. Lydia also owns and runs A Good Yarn, a knitting shop on Blossom Street. Lydia rents the small apartment above the store to Collette Blake, a young widow of a year who sold the home she shared with her husband, and quit the job that she held for over seven years. Hers was a good marriage to a policeman, and the only problem in her marriage was that she and her husband weren't blessed with a child. Her husband died, not in the line of police duty, but fell while repairing a leak on their roof after they had quarreled about taking fertility tests. She feels guilt, thinking that perhaps the quarrel caused her husband to be careless. She had begged him to have a professional take care of the roof, but in his anger, he tackled the job.

Alix Townsend, a diamond in the rough, works at the bakery café across from A Good Yarn. She is engaged to marry a young clergyman, and her mother-in-law and a friend are taking over plans for Alix's wedding. Alix doesn't want to cause waves, but the woman's plans are driving her up-the-wall. She and Jordan, her fiancé, wanted a small wedding, and no-one is listening to Alix's or Jordan's suggestions and the small wedding has ballooned to more than two hundred people with a country club reception. Add to this mix, Lydia's sister, Margaret, who works part-time in A Good Yarn.

These women are taking a knitting class, led by Lydia, making a prayer shawl. Margaret's daughter is a victim of a car-jacking and nearly loses her life. Margaret is dead set on revenge for her daughter's assailant, and Lydia must cope with that as well as her mother's illness and nursing home issues. Collette has other problems, too. After working for Christian for over five years having a strict boss-worker relationship, she and Christian give in to carnal desires after an office Christmas Party. Collette, after years of thinking she was unfertile, finds she is pregnant. She also had learned some disheartening facts about her boss, Christian, that had made her leave her job and home and seek employment elsewhere, and vow never to see Christian again.

BACK ON BLOSSOM STREET by Debbie Macomber is a rather slow-moving story, but isn't that rather nice in this fast-paced world? I think so. By slow-paced, I don't mean that the reader will want to put the book down for long periods, quite the opposite. This is a story in which the characters become your friends. The reader comes to understand each of them and what makes them tick, and will want to keep turning pages wondering what will happen. Will Alix go through with her wedding plans though she is certain her in-laws will never accept her? Can Collette come to terms with her pregnancy and will she let Christian know he is to become a father? Or will what she learns about him drive her further away? Can Margaret help her daughter to recover her trauma and also get back to being her old self and not one just bent-on-revenge? These are some of the questions answered, while Lydia seems to be the catalyst around which all these people and problems revolve, though she has a couple to work through as well. Author Debbie Macomber has written two other books in this series previous to this: The Shop on Blossom Street and A Good Yarn. I haven’t read them, but after reading BACK ON BLOSSOM STREET you can bet I will.

(c) Jeannine D. Van Eperen, Reviewer, GottaWriteNetwork
August 17, 2007

Law student Kayla Beck receives a phone call that changes her life. Her instinct is to ignore the call, but how can she? She's told she is the only person who can save a woman who is captive in a boxcar. The man who disguises his voice makes certain that Kayla knows that if she doesn't follow his orders the woman will be killed by him. Feeling she has no choice and being told by the caller that she must not involve the police, she follows his orders. During a rainy night in Denver she travels alone to the railway yard to help free a woman she doesn't know. Kayla, also, learns another woman she knows from Denver University Law School has been killed and found by the police. Kayla has no way of knowing if this death is related to the woman in the boxcar, and also she has no knowledge of why the man has asked her to become involved. But she allows herself to be drawn into the quagmire and does not phone the police. A surveillance tape near the site of a crime shows an old mustang like Kayla's car that brings Dectective Bryson Coventry to Kayla's door. Bryson is assigned to the case involving the woman from Kayla's college. Lance Lundeen, a photographer known as "Tarzan," has a studio in a converted warehouse near the railroad yard. Kayla learns about Tarzan and believes he may be her caller or that he may lead her to the man responsible for torturing and killing women and stakes out his home, without telling Coventry of her plans and her stakeouts. Tarzan is, in fact, playing a game of his own with women's lives along with his lover, Del Rae Paris, and the man is even more dangerous than Kayla believes him to be. Bryson Coventry, meanwhile, is trying to piece together several murders, not knowing that Kayla may have the missing piece. He and his partner plod through police procedures, but Bryson seems to miss the most important piece of the puzzle. Maybe that's because he is easily distracted by beautiful females who throw themselves at him, and he is not one to say no. He leads an interesting life addicted not only to lovely women but coffee and donuts.

I purposely tried not to tell too much of the plot, so that if you decide to pick up this book, you'll see the story for the first time when you read it. It is a multi-layered story with a lot going on. I must tell you, though, I feel cheated. In his last book, Jim Michael Hansen leads one to believe that Bryson has found a woman to love, no matter if the love should have been or not, Tianica. But in this next book, she is not even mentioned. In most stories of this kind there is at least a mention that the spouse or lover was murdered, died of natural causes or a divorce happened, but in this sequel there is nothing. Bryson Coventry just goes on his merry way having sex with women, even those who are part of an ongoing investigation. He should be able to curb his desires for a while, no matter how beautiful the woman is. Sex and perversion are a big part of Hansen's stories, but in my opinion, the detective should be able to use some restraint. In fact, in Fatal Laws, he managed to do so. To meet a woman, speak to her for five minutes, have sex, and then for him to believe he is in love doesn't speak well for his maturity and this happens more than once in Deadly Laws. The plot is convoluted with a lot going on. The most down-to-earth person in the book is Bryson's partner, Shalifa.

For all of its flaws though, DEADLY LAWS is a page-turner. Jim Michael Hansen has a definite style to his writing that makes one keep reading. If you are looking for a fast-paced, coarse, detective mystery, ala C.S.I , DEADLY LAWS or any Jim Michael Hansen book will fill the bill.
(c) Jeannine Van Eperen, Reviewer, Gotta Write NetworkSept. 1, 2007