one of my favorites as a kid

I've reviewed Anthony a bunch of times before, & I always have such mixed reactions to his stuff. I adored him as a kid/teen/young adult, and Anthony is the reason why I love to read today, as an adult. It's a bond I share with my dad - he handed me my first "adult" book (Golem in the Gears, by Anthony, part of the same Xanth series) in the summer before I started my forth grade year, and I've never looked back.

I enjoyed this one a bit more than the last one in the series; it's not as filled with puns (he explains in the author note he wrote this one ahead of schedule so there was less time for his mailbox to fill up with puns from fans; I always think it must be so nice that his fans write half his story for him). Puns are a part of Xanth as yarn is to a knitter, but the puns do get a bit old sometimes. Ironically, I missed the puns in this one, so I think I like them more than I think I do.

There's the usual sexual commentary Anthony always seems to make - maidens about to get raped, and then laughing about it two seconds after it almost happens - it bothered me a lot in his last novel, but I read it this time more as he meant it - social commentary / a parody.

I am thrilled to see that Anthony has finally introduced a gay character, too - it's about time, and kudos Piers Anthony!

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free copy from netgalley in exchange for my honest review

I have tried so many times to like this seris - I love paranormal & witches & wizards & vampires & all that stuff. Try as I might, I can't get into this series. Though I did finish the book, I felt like I was forcing it instead of really enjoying it.

I sometimes have a really hard time writing a review of a memoir, because I feel like I'm critiquing the person's life, and not the book itself - isn't it one and the same? This one is no different.

I had a really, really hard time liking Flora Jessop, though naturally I felt sympathy for what she went through. But she's awfully big on martyrdom, the "poor me" syndrome (which I can't get, because I can't imagine what she went through), but she also constantly praises herself for how awesome she is, even when she's doing drugs and stripping. I understand that, too - lack of self confidence usually turns into a "look at me, look at how great I am!"

The big thing that really bugged me about the whole book, and made me doubt a lot of what Flora said, was the one line she devotes to quitting drugs - she basically just says "I decided to stop, so I did". I've never done drugs, never even smoked a cigarette, but I've never heard of anyone quitting drugs by just deciding to. You're telling me she never once looked back? She never once struggled with her addiction? I get that her drug abuse wasn't the story here - saving the kids from abuse is - but it really bugged me that she just casually mentions quitting drugs & never mentions it again. What else was she over simplifying?

She also makes out that she's the only person ever who tries to rescue the kids and she's the only one ever in the whole world who could possibly actually rescue a child - and that's just not true. She likes to paint CPS as the bad guys, but that's discrimination - claiming everyone who works there is a bad guy is as bad as any other discrimination/racism/etc. CPS is trying to work within the laws of our country - for better or for worse. I'm not saying that they are actually helping the kids - clearly, they aren't - but they are trying to follow the law, and that doesn't make someone working for CPS as evil, just someone who's trying to follow the law.

This is Spencer's second book, and you definitely have to read her first book to follow this one. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, and even her explanations of who characters were didn't really help me much.

Spencer seems to write her story without really sharing what she went through - she did this already in her first book - but the memoir comes across as detached because she's not sharing her memories and feelings so much as sharing dry facts as to what happened when she was a part of this crazy family.

It's a book worth reading, to be sure, if you are interested in polygamy, but it's not a book for someone who wants to read a casual memoir on any subject, and there are honestly a lot better books about polygamy out there (like Spencer's first book or Spencer's sister wife's book)

I picked up this book to read, along with a book of other WWII related books, for free at an auction in November. My reading has tapered off a bit, so I decided I wanted to read a book for me, and not a review book, as a "treat". My TBR pile is huge, as with everyone else's, but what the heck, right?

This book is another one of those books that you need to read somewhat slowly, in order to think about what you are reading. I've read a few books about Auschwitz, and I know this to be true (for me, personally) about all of them.

I can't say I LOVED this book, because how can one love a book about things so horrific? But one needs to read it, espcially the younger generations, for whom WWII was "ancient times".

I heard about this book recently somewhere? online, & immediately requested a copy from the library, Tudor crazy buff that I am. I've always been especially a little obsessed with poor Jane Boleyn - can you imagine, this poor woman, marrying into the crazy Boleyn family (no choice there, but to do what one was told), only to end up having a QUEEN as a sister in law, having to obey her every command, & then to lose your husband as a supposed traitor? Only to end up going on to serve, as lady in waiting, another three queens, only to end up losing your own life in the end? Truth is stranger than fiction, 9 times out of 10, & this book was no exception.

It's well written, very clear, & very through. Of course, there's a big chunk about Anne Boleyn, how could there not be? There is some speculation, & I wish that Fox went into more detail about the events that led Jane to her death - this was really what I was reading the book for, & there's really not much "meat on the bones" there, but of course, history doesn't leave us much details, either.