The Book Worm's Library

About the Book: How does an intelligent woman find herself mired in a web of deception, abuse, and danger? In Depth of Deceit, author Betty Briggs pulls her readers into the life of Stephanie Saunders, a lovely young attorney with a big heart, keen mind, and a trust in others that nearly proves disastrous. Her handsome and wealthy boyfriend strikes her as perfect, but is he too good to be true? Her boss hovers around her like a protector and friend, but is he? Stephanie’s work focuses on defending the indigent, and one client earns her trust and friendship, but why is he showing up at the oddest places? It seems that she can trust only the horses she trains and loves, magnificent beasts who remind her of life’s purposes and meaning. In a dramatic turn of events, Stephanie must make a decision that will affect her life forever. While fans of the author’s earlier novels will be thrilled to discover a familiar character, this novel stands alone in plot and dramatic impact. Book Review:  ★★★★★★ This is a book, and an author that I first encountered through an offer to receive her book — and I must admit that…

About the Book: “Dexter Morgan has been under considerable pressure. It’s just not easy being an ethical serial killer – especially while trying to avoid the unshakable suspicions of the dangerous Sergeant Doakes (who believes Dexter is a homicidal maniac … which, of course, he is). In an attempt to throw Doakes off his trail, Dexter has had to slip deep into his foolproof disguise. While not working as a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami Police Department, he now spends nearly all his time with his cheerful girlfriend, Rita, and her two children, sipping light beer and slowly becoming the world’s first serial couch potato. But how long can Dexter play Kick the Can instead of Slice the Slasher? How long before his Dark Passenger forces him to drop the charade and let his inner monster run free?” In trying times, opportunity knocks. A particularly nasty psychopath is cutting a trail through Miami – a man whose twisted technique leaves even Dexter speechless. As Dexter’s dark appetite is revived, his sister, Deborah (a newly minted, tough-as-nails Miami detective), is drawn headlong into the case. It quickly becomes clear that it will take a monster to catch a monster – but…

About the Book: An orphan raised in Valparaiso, Chile, by a Victorian spinster and her rigid brother, vivacious young Eliza Sommers follows her lover to California during the Gold Rush of 1849. Entering a rough-and-tumble world of new arrivals driven mad by gold fever, Eliza moves in a society of single men and prostitutes with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi’en. California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence to the young Chilean, and her search for her elusive lover gradually turns into another kind of journey. By the time she finally hears news of him, Eliza must decide who her true love really is. Book Review:  ★★★★★★ This was a fun, and entertaining book to read, one written by a talented, and expressive author. The story revolves around Eliza Sommers, an adopted orphan that is raised by a family of means, and social standing. As this story develops, Eliza finds herself confronted with a choice between two lives. Abandoned by her lover, she follows after, and learns that there are other ways of living outside of the one in which she was raised. Much of this story is…

About the Book: “Now the Edgar Award-winning author returns with his most accomplished and resonant novel so far—an atmospheric drama set in rural Mississippi. In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas “32″ Jones were boyhood pals. Their worlds were as different as night and day: Larry, the child of lower-middle-class white parents, and Silas, the son of a poor, single black mother. Yet for a few months the boys stepped outside of their circumstances and shared a special bond. But then tragedy struck: Larry took a girl on a date to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and Larry never confessed, but all eyes rested on him as the culprit. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. His friendship with Larry was broken, and then Silas left town. More than twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed again. And now the two men who once called each other friend are forced to…

About the Book: From the age of three, Norman Ollestad was thrust into the world of surfing and competitive downhill skiing by the intense, charismatic father he both idolized and resented. While his friends were riding bikes, playing ball, and going to birthday parties, young Norman was whisked away in pursuit of wild and demanding adventures. Yet it were these exhilarating tests of skill that prepared “Boy Wonder,” as his father called him, to become a fearless champion–and ultimately saved his life. Flying to a ski championship ceremony in February 1979, the chartered Cessna carrying Norman, his father, his father’s girlfriend, and the pilot crashed into the San Gabriel Mountains and was suspended at 8,200 feet, engulfed in a blizzard. “Dad and I were a team, and he was Superman,” Ollestad writes. But now Norman’s father was dead, and the devastated eleven-year-old had to descend the treacherous, icy mountain alone. Set amid the spontaneous, uninhibited surf culture of Malibu and Mexico in the late 1970s, this riveting memoir, written in crisp Hemingwayesque prose, recalls Ollestad’s childhood and the magnetic man whose determination and love infuriated and inspired him–and also taught him to overcome the indomitable. As it illuminates the complicated…

About the Book: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is set in the early days of the second world war, before Benito Mussolini invaded Greece. Dr Iannis practices medicine on the island of Cephalonia, accompanied by his daughter, Pelagia, to whom he imparts much of his healing art. Even when the Italians do invade, life isn’t so bad–at first anyway. The officer in command of the Italian garrison is the cultured Captain Antonio Corelli, who responds to a Nazi greeting of “Heil Hitler” with his own “Heil Puccini”, and whose most precious possession is his mandolin. It isn’t long before Corelli and Pelagia are involved in a heated affair–despite her engagement to a young fisherman, Mandras, who has gone off to join Greek partisans. Love is complicated enough in wartime, even when the lovers are on the same side. And for Corelli and Pelagia, it becomes increasingly difficult to negotiate the minefield of allegiances, both personal and political, as all around them atrocities mount, former friends become enemies and the ugliness of war infects everyone it touches. British author Louis de Bernières is well known for his forays into magical realism in such novels as The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts, Señor…

About the Book: In the tradition of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, here is a thrilling historical novel of friendship and revenge, plague and hope, love and war, set in the golden age of 14th-century Barcelona. Arnau Estanyol arrives in Barcelona and joins the powerful guild of stone-workers building the magnificent cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar, while his adoptive brother Joan studies to become a priest. As Arnau prospers, he secretly falls in love with a forbidden woman. When he is betrayed and hauled before the Inquisitor, he finds himself face-to-face with his own brother. Will he lose his life just as his beloved cathedral is finally completed, or will his brother spare him? Book Review:  ★★★★★★ WOW!  What a read.  I was a little hesitant to start this book because I made the mistake of looking at some of the recommendations on Goodreads, before starting.  The recommendations there were not the best, and in a six hundred page book — I just hate to get into it, and not like the story.  Or worse yet, find that the writing is so bad, it is painful to continue.  Boy, am I glad I started it anyway.  This…

About the Book: He squared off against Caesar and was friends with young Brutus. He advised the legendary Pompey on his somewhat botched transition from military hero to politician. He lambasted Mark Antony and was master of the smear campaign, as feared for his wit as he was for exposing his opponents’ sexual peccadilloes. Brilliant, voluble, cranky, a genius of political manipulation but also a true patriot and idealist, Cicero was Rome’s most feared politician, one of the greatest lawyers and statesmen of all times. Machiavelli, Queen Elizabeth, John Adams and Winston Churchill all studied his example. No man has loomed larger in the political history of mankind. In this dynamic and engaging biography, Anthony Everitt plunges us into the fascinating, scandal-ridden world of ancient Rome in its most glorious heyday. Accessible to us through his legendary speeches but also through an unrivaled collection of unguarded letters to his close friend Atticus, Cicero comes to life in these pages as a witty and cunning political operator. Cicero leapt onto the public stage at twenty-six, came of age during Spartacus’ famous revolt of the gladiators and presided over Roman law and politics for almost half a century. He foiled the legendary…

Loyalty is a complex concept, which is interpreted across the world in different perspectives. It is closely linked to many other concepts, such as friendship, love, and family, among others. Digging deeper, it can be argued that most of the time, these concepts exist because of loyalty. Without it, strong relationships cannot be built. Because of the weight of its impact, many students flock around the idea of writing a loyalty essay. Other than its emotional impacts, loyalty remains to be relevant in other aspects. It could be used to write an essay on customer loyalty, or perhaps in literature, such as a Beowulf loyalty essay and loyalty in the Odyssey essay. If you’re looking for more reasons to write an essay on loyalty, or simply just looking for a loyalty definition essay, read on. How i can write process essay? Definition, Benefits, and Essays on Loyalty By dictionary definition, “loyalty” is regarded as; “Feelings of devoted attachment and affection.” Based on this, loyalty is closely equated to devotion and affection. It’s one of the best qualities human beings possess, and the interesting part about this concept is that it manifests in animals as well – horses, dogs, elephants, they…

About the Book: The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or “alienist.” On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan’s infamous brothels. The newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox move, enlists the two men in the murder investigation, counting on the reserved Kreizler’s intellect and Moore’s knowledge of New York’s vast criminal underworld. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. Laboring in secret (for alienists, and the emerging discipline of psychology, are viewed by the public with skepticism at best), the unlikely team embarks on what is a revolutionary effort in criminology– amassing a psychological profile of the man they’re looking for based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who has killed before. and will kill again before the hunt is over. Fast-paced…