Kakaku：209 saved$2.09
Cinebook, LTD
Usually ships in 24 hours 『1573... Margot became the Queen of Navarre against her will. Neglected and cheated on by an unfaithful husband. Spied on by her mother. Manipulated by her two brothers, Alencon and Anjou (both of whom dream of succeeding the King of France,) Margot exists but is not truly living. Yet love finds the young Queen. Comte de la Mole is the French ambassador at the royal court of Elisabeth I. That love will lead her heart to conspire against her third brother, the King of France who is afflicted by an unshakeable illness. Will the wizard Ruggieri be able to protect her?』
IPhone 3G used's review (A Wonderful Novel) 『A superb novel, one of my favourite book I have ever read. Jean Plaidy is able to convert history into an interesting book which people can get absorbed in without a problem. Its an easy book to read with treachery, murder and romance. It has a wide range of vocabulary and I have learnt many new words from reading this book. I recommmend this book for anyone over 14 years old.』
Kakaku：284 saved$2.84
Star Publish
In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. IPhone 3G used's review (taking the forks in your life) 『Rebeccasreads recommends ROAD QUEENS as a fun&insightful adventure which will give reading groups a ton to talk about.
Come meet Diana, Mary Anne, Suzy&Lily as they get on with their lives after death, divorce&firing forces them to change. Soon they're kicking up their heels, releasing the emergency brake&heading out for wider horizons.
Along the way they meet up at an RV park&beome friends as they roam down the coast of California to Mexico.
Although this multi-layered story is in need of editing, ROAD QUEENS is touching, memorable&hilarious!』
(A great read!!) 『I think this book was one of the best books I've ever read.It was a book you don't want to put down! The characters seemed so real. They made me want to jump in a motorhome and hit the open road! If I was a movie producer, I would seriously consider making this a hit movie.This book kept my intrest through-out every page,and I would recomend it to anyone.』
(Sell your house and hit the open road!!!) 『Catherine MacDonald Star Publish ISBN: 1-932993-30-4 Contemporary Reviewed by Barb Radmore
The world of RVing is a unique and fascinating world of its own. There is a segment of the population that gives up permanent roots, buys a traveling home and hits the roads. The Road Queen is the story of four women who do just that.
Diana is a recent widow traveling in the large fancy RV her husband had bought just before he died. She meets Mary Ann, the Las Vegas waitress who is driving "The Love Machine," an older RV her husband gave her after she found him in bed with another woman. The third woman of The Road Queens is Suzy who is running away from her past. Later in the book the fourth woman of the group joins them. Lily is not sure she ever wants to return to her couch potato of a husband.
The Road Queens chronicles the women's journey, a journey not only from place to place but one of personal growth and development. Each woman has her own secret and private demons that haunt her from the past that each must put to rest to be able to succeed in the future. As the four very different women become friends they learn to accept themselves as women and as people.
Author Catherine MacDonald is also known as the RV Lady, the host of a TV and radio talk show about the RV lifestyle. A former teacher, she and her husband now own an RV sales, parts and service center. She is able to vividly introduce the reader into the everyday life of the people who travel from place to place in their own homes. By the end of the book the reader is likely to want to put a for sale sign on his house, buy a deluxe home on wheel and join the fun.
The Road Queens by Catherine MacDonald is available at Amazon 』 『Have you ever wanted to run away from your life? Has the open road ever tickled your sense of adventure? Meet four women who abandon their lives and take to the highways.
In Road Queens, four unforgettable women meet on the highways of life. Diana, Mary Anne, Suzy, and Lily are running away from their pasts and struggling to pick up the pieces of their crumbling lives. This novel is a vivid portrait of four very different women and the friendship that forms.
The women decide to call themselves the Road Queens because they are united by their past, honesty, understanding and acceptance. Their friendship deepens as they travel, and the women share the reasons they are on the road. Road Queens illuminates the emotional links that join women while husbands, children, lovers, and careers come and go. The women discover that nothing lasts like true friendship.
From the coast of California to the beaches of Mexico, Road Queens is a multi-layered story inspired by the author’s conversations with women who currently live on the road.』
Kakaku：599 saved$5.99
Simon Spotlight Entertainment
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Quite the Paige-turner!) 『One of the best Charmed collection books I've ever read. There were several unsuspected plot twists, quite the coup for any reader bored with clear, follow-through endings. After finishing, it was interesting to reflect that the title has a double meaning... This Charming book focuses on Paige, and even if she's not your favorite sister, you'll find yourself twisting and turning along with Paige, and come away with a new admiration for her strength of character as The Charmed Ones take on a curse of fairy tale proportions.』
(Prince Charming surely awaits) 『The Queen's curse is an alright book. it was a little slow but the novel flowed well. The use of magic was good and Piper's witt is hilarious. All in all if your a Charmed fan then read it.』
(Your Majesty Indeed) 『Emma Harrison has done a great job in this book. Unlike some of her fellow Charmed writers, she does not hold back on the magical mojo, and instead piles every page of the book with it. This effect, though brutal on screen, is perfect on paper. There is nothing quite like reading through a 200+ page book, but even of you are a fan of it, there is still that little element of boredom. Harrison tries her best to eradicate most of that boredom, noticeably throughout the book, by slamming on the action and magic hard and fast. The end was magnificent, and though the plot was not perfect, the effort put into the book was.』
(nice story) 『paige is having romantic woes, wondering if she will ever meet mr. right and how will she hide her powers. out of nowhere she meets colin, who is just too perfect. after a few dates he asks her to marry him and is interrupted by none other than his fiance.
of course paige is majorlly ticked off. but colin explains that he is from tarsina, which is in another dimension and that if he does not marry a pure magical being by his birthday, all of the mortals of his kingdom will die.
of course good hearted paige agrees to at least see the kingdom and bring leo and her sisters along for the ride. there they find a fairytale of a kingdom, with bad guys in some of the most unlikliest of places.
the story is well written, it takes you back to childhood where every little girls dream was to meet prince charming. it starts out a little slow and will almost make you not read the rest. but hang in there.』
(Different plot from most other charmed books... but awesome!!) 『Emma Harrison's best work to date. I enjoyed this book, no doubt about it. It is a story about how Paige finally meets her Prince Charming, (or so she THINKS), she gets the impression of what a flawless person Colin is, but never expected to be proposed to on just the 4th date!! This book is like a supernatural romantic fairy tale story, with the requisite curses and hexes placed on some innocent people, based one on person's nonsensical beliefs, with some "unfair" dilemmas on these people. But what differentiates it from a regular fairy tale is the fact that the charmed Ones were involved!!! You know the usual discussions, bickering, brainstorming, flipping-of-the-Book-Of-Shadows and vanquishing spells. The only difference is that there were no big, grotesque demons to vanquish and no potions to throw at them (those loyalists, Sinjin and his guards don't count).
In my opinion, I don't think this book was impeccable, by any means, as most of Emma's stories tend to an itsy-bit long-winded and draggy, but nevertheless, her writing style packs and amazing load of suspense, unexpected twists and turns in the story and slapstick humor. My main complaint about the book is that it ends with a quick, efficient and impromptu spell, by the Charmed ones, which seems pretty obvious, in most impossible situations. And in some situatuons, like the transferring of powers to Corrine from her Grandma seemed obvious too. Also, what about the other loyalists? I know they were imprisoned in the dungeon, but that's it?! It needs more details about what happened to them. Other than that, two thumbs up to Emma for writing this fabulous Charmed novel!!
』 『While trouble brews, a ring is placed --
But evil may have hidden its face.
A perfect prince and love's true tale...
Show the secrets; we must not fail!
Paige has finally met her Prince Charming. Funny, smart, sweet, and beyond good-looking, Colin is fantastic. By the time he's gotten her phone number, Paige is completely smitten. And he isn't evil, which is definitely a plus. In fact, he seems pretty much perfect. After just a few dates, Colin asks Paige to marry him -- and she accepts. The last thing she expects to find out is that not only is Colin really a prince -- of a magical kingdom no less -- but he's already engaged!
So what else is Prince Perfect hiding? Apparently that there are major dark forces gathering to overtake his kingdom, Tarsina, thereby upsetting the balance of good and evil in the world. The only way Colin can save his realm is to marry a magical being by his twenty-fifth birthday. Which is next week. Enter Paige -- and exit Corrine, Colin'srealtrue love. When Leo confirms all this with the Elders, the Charmed Ones kick into high gear. It's off to Tarsina, but will there be a royal wedding...or a royal disaster?』
Kakaku：895 saved$8.95
Oni Press
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Still Solid) 『If you like your spy fiction full of fleshed-out characters, tight plotting, political intrigue, and a healthy dose of realism, then you should be reading Greg Rucka's Queen&Country series. Now, Queen&Country: Declassified, a spin-off that focuses on the early years of supporting players from the main series, returns with its sights on a young Tom Wallace. But is it up to Rucka's usual high standard?
It's 1997, and Hong Kong, days from transitioning to Chinese control, has become a hotbed of cloak-and-dagger operatives and wary private citizens. So when a British politico turns up (literally) dead in the water, SIS sends a surprisingly baby-faced Wallace to investigate.
The draw of Declassified is also its biggest weakness: The Queen&Country universe ebbs and flows with Tara Chace, and when she's missing, the series seems lacking. It's not that Crocker or Wallace are characters unworthy of the spotlight; it's that they're the kinds of characters who always get it.
That said, Declassified comes out ahead in the little moments, the realism and the character beats that Rucka has made the Q&C trademark. Why is it more fun to watch Wallace position himself among the shifting political players in Hong Kong than it is to watch him break someone's nose? Why is Paul Crocker more memorable ignoring his daughter in lieu of an important phone call than he is storming the halls of Vauxhall Cross? Rucka clearly understands that real tension comes from the characters' reactions to the events around them, not from the events themselves.
Wallace, the atypically gentle and fatherly figure of the first six Q&C trades, is first depicted as a soldier zombified by the wartime atrocities he's seen. It's a jarring but ultimately brilliant move by Rucka, as it allows Wallace a smooth transition to the comparatively easy work of a Minder; now we know why he's so friggin' content with what seems like the crappiest job on the planet. But really, we learn all we need to know about Wallace when he tells Crocker, "I would rather be the one doing the work than be the one watching the ones who do the work."
Semi-frequent Rucka collaborator Rick Burchett is a natural choice for the art chores. He renders simple, stark figures -- the female lead could easily be mistaken for the Lois Lane of the Fleischer Superman shorts -- against photorealistic backgrounds, as has become a Q&C standard. He gives Wallace a look somewhere between Bruce Wayne and Sean Connery circa-007, which makes it all the more amazing that Wallace comes out of the story un-sexed.
While it lacks the prescient political bite of most Q&C tales, there are still hidden agendas at play beneath hidden agendas here, and you won't understand them all until the final panel. The second volume of Declassified won't disappoint those seeking their espionage fix.』
(Don't start here) 『In my opinion, Queen&Country is probably the best comic being published now and since it started a few years ago. This is Greg Rucka's baby, and it's head&shoulders above any of his other work in comics. However, this volume is probably the worst of any of the books yet collected. A lot of that has to do with the sub-standard artwork which, while not completely incompetent, is just plain boring to look at. The story is a nice glimpse of Tom Wallace's beginnings as a Minder, and the setting during the Hong Kong transfer back to Chinese sovereignty had potential, but left a little to be desired. In any case, this is worthwhile for the Q&C diehard, but otherwise go with one of the other stellar books.』 『Tom Wallace was the confident and poised Head of Section in the first six volumes of the critically acclaimed Queen&Country series, but that wasn't always the case. Declassified looks back at his first days as an agent as he's sent to Hong Kong to investigate the murder of a British National. But with the handover of the island to mainland China just days away, can Wallace solve the mystery without causing an international incident?』
Kakaku：260 saved$2.60
Pocket
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (It's OK - Rainy Day Read) 『Just finished this first book in Buckley's series. I liked the time period and the character of Ursula. But, the writing is very basic and the plot lines and dialogue became very redundant. Maybe it's my fault, but I just couldn't keep track of the group of characters that were suspects - who they were and how they related to the victim.
To sum up, there just wasn't 326 pages worth of content. The 2 and 3 star ratings for the other books in the series really ring true. I probably won't be continuing with the series. 』
(Weak on plot) 『Good historical scene-setting and characters. Sticks pretty close to the famous Amy Robsart affair. Way too much romance and gothic touches. Main weakness is the plot, which wanders and drags with quite a lot of repetitiveness. I really enjoyed the sensual quality of the background - visual, auditory, olfactory. It came alive. I will try one more of this series.』
("Once more I saw the spoor of treason, how it prowled from one victim to another.") 『
A recent widow with a small child to support, Ursula Blanchard is fortunate to catch the attention of Sir William Cecil, Secretary of State to the new queen, Elizabeth, only eighteen months on the throne. Cecil finds a position for Ursula as one of Elizabeth's Ladies of the Presence Chamber, assuring a monthly income, although the young widow remains in dire financial straights. The court is currently rife with rumors of a romance between Sir Robert Dudley and Elizabeth, not the least of which is the matter of Dudley's wife, Amy, who is ill and isolated at their estate at Cumnor. When gossip insinuates a threat to Amy's life, so that Robert will be free to marry the Queen, Elizabeth and Dudley enjoin Ursula to go to Amy and assure her of their concern for their safety. Ursula agrees to the task, leaving behind a gentleman seeking to win her favor, Matthew de la Roche.
Amy Dudley is indeed pitiful, distraught at the loss of her husband's affections and suffering from what her physician has diagnosed as a terminal illness. Sympathetic to the young woman's plight, Ursula wins Amy's trust, reexamining Dudley and the Queen's motives for sending her on the mission. Certainly, strange comings and goings on the estate warrant suspicion as court rumors infiltrate even Cumnor. Unfortunately, Ursula cannot prevent the inevitable. When Amy suffers an "accident" that takes her life, it is impossible to determine the cause and Ursula reevaluates her position as servant or pawn to the Queen. Her own man killed while on a journey to deliver a vital message, Ursula sets out to find his murderers, at the same time stumbling upon a plot to challenge Elizabeth's throne.
Elizabeth's reign draws gossip by its very nature, as suitors and sycophants gather, currying royal favor and jockeying for power. Anyone close to the Queen is a target for malicious scheming and Dudley is no exception, a threat to others who would have the Queen's favor. With the best of intentions, the honorable Ursula is caught in a conundrum not of her making, doing the Queen's bidding yet unable to protect Amy Dudley from her fate. Her own future in jeopardy, Ursula is at the core of the scandal caused by Amy's death, faced with decisions that will not only determine her future happiness but influence the direction of the country. Luan Gaines/2006. 』
(3.5 stars - a bit slow at times) 『Ursula is a strong, independent woman, but not unrealistically so for her background or position. The mystery is okay, but the characters and depiction of the period kept me involved. Although it dragged a bit at times, Buckley paints a wonderful picture of the life and intrigues of court life. I would read another.』
(First in an Intriguing Elizabethan Mystery series) 『The first in a series of mysteries by British author Fiona Buckley, set in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. If you loved the movie ELIZABETH, you'll love this series. Ursula Blanchard, a recently widowed woman, must leave her young daughter in the care of a servant and make her own way in the world as a lady in waiting to young Queen Elizabeth I. At court she finds herself encountering intrigue at every turn and is soon offered an opportunity to serve the Queen and earn some extra funds which she can use to support her young daughter. Rumors abound that nobleman Robin Dudley is having an affair with the Queen, and that he is poisoning his wife to free him from his marriage. Ursula must go to his home to protect Dudley's name, and through him the Queen's. But once Ursula arrives, she begins to have doubts, especially after the warnings she receives. Is there something to the rumors? And if so, is Dudley the one behind them, or is there something even more dangerous and sinister afoot?
If you know your Tudor history, you're going to love this series. It's full of people, places and customs of the period, very well researched. Even the central mystery of the plot is based on fact, like all of Fiona Buckley's books. There's a subtlety to the plot, and a great deal of political and religious intrigue mixed in. It's quite rich and pleasantly complex.
What I most enjoyed was the detailed account of the daily life of a gentlewoman. There seem to be a lot of books about daily life of the working class and peasants, many more on the life of the nobles. What you don't often see are the middle class, which is what makes Ursula Blanchard such an interesting heroine. She is caught between the two classes, at the mercy of the nobles and trapped in their plots and games, yet high enough that she can be a player (or pawn) in those same games.
This is a great start to a very intriguing series.』
『
Loyal Servant. Devoted Friend. Perfect target.
Rumor has linked Queen Elizabeth I to her Master of Horse, Robin Dudley. And what rumors, at that: but for his ailing wife, Amy, Dudley would wed her majesty, the gossipmongers are whispering. To quell idle tongues, Elizabeth dispatches Ursula Blanchard to tend to the sick woman's needs. But not even Ursula can prevent the "accident" that takes Amy's life. Did she fall or was she pushed? Was Ursula a pawn of Dudley and the Queen?
Suddenly Ursula finds herself at the center of the scandal, trying to protect Elizabeth as she loses her heart to a Frenchman who may be flirting with sedition against her Queen. She can trust no one, neither her lover nor her monarch, as she sets out to find the truth in a glittering court that conceasls a wellspring of blood and lies.』
大満足！北国のホタテ・いくら・ボタンエビがぎっしり！
