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Deanna A. (Sierra-Blue) - , - Reviews

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100 Malicious Little Mysteries
Review Date: 2/6/2013


This book is great for those moments when you don't have a lot of time for reading a novel. These one hundred little short stories were great. Some of them you have to pay close attention to or you will miss what happened and won't understand the story. Other stories the out comes are quite chilling. Enjoy!


Bianca: A Novel of Venice (Elegant, Robert S. Venetian Chronicles, Bk. 1.)
Review Date: 7/3/2014


I enjoyed this novel about Bianca and her life. But from some of the things I have read online about Bianca I would say that this author has exercised his rights to artistic license with this novel. The story is very interesting and for me it has left a void that is in search of fulfillment with the true facts of what happened to Bianca, her first and second husbands and the tragedy that this novel makes her life out to be. These people lived in hard and trying times, through political intrigue and life threatening illnesses like malaria and the black death which swept many countries, devastating their populations. They truly lived very hard lives and this book shows us a glimpse into just a few of those lives.


Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun: An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska
Review Date: 7/15/2014
Helpful Score: 1


I loved reading this Athabaskan Legend and especially appreciated Velma Wallis letting me know at the end of the book which parts of the story she either added or subtracted from her writing. I believe that she did a wonderful job in putting this oral legend on paper so that those that choose to know of these legends but are not a member of this culture can pick up this book and get a sense of the way life use to be! I greatly enjoyed my reading experience.


The Blind Contessa's New Machine
The Blind Contessa's New Machine
Author: Carey Wallace
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 15
Review Date: 12/2/2014
Helpful Score: 1


I really enjoyed reading this book however I had expected to read about the actual development of the typewriter and that is not what this book is about. All of a sudden the typewriter is just there. Instead this book is about the love between two people that are not free to love one another due to first the marriage of one and then the marriage of the other. The typewriter is used by the contessa to send messages to her love/inventor. The fact that the contessa went blind and continued to "try" and send Turri notes, of which he must have seen a reason that she needed something to help her in her writing endeavors and so the typewriter was born.


The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon
Author: The Hand of Mormon
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 44
Review Date: 8/3/2010


It is really too bad that some people can not recognize a good thing, even when they are staring right at it. This book as it says on the front cover is "Another Testament of Jesus Christ." It is not to be used instead of the Bible, but is to be read along with the Bible. This book is just as "important" to me as my King James version of The Holy Bible. For those of you that seem to need DNA proof and apparently missed National Geographics program on DNA, how would you explain their ability to medically trace us all back to a common ancestor in Africa? The Native Americans did not just sprout up from nowhere. They came from somewhere. Science is ever changing as new things are realized and our technology advances. Do not ever think that what we know to be true today because of faith can not be proved to be true someday in the future by science!


The Burgermeister's Daughter: Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town
Review Date: 1/29/2015


When I picked up this book to read I was not very sure as to what I was getting myself in for. The timing of my reading of this book is just incredible. The kinship that I feel for Anna (burgermeister's daughter) at this point in my life undoubtedly is due the similarity between her life and mine. While her alienation from her father can be partially blamed on her own actions if you believe the version that this book portrays her in, it is also her father's fault for the way he treated her once he kicked her out and tried sabotaging any type of help she was given by friends as well as relatives and then chaining her to a table leg for 6 months in the home she had been kicked out of! I am not sure that I would feel the same about this book if I was not now also experiencing the recent death of my father who alienated himself as well as 6 of my siblings from one other sibling and myself. Now we are as well going through the legal system to resolve his estate in which he left no Will. Luckily in my case the state of death has laws for just this type of case! In a time when men pretty much ruled and in the case of Anna her father was among those that ruled, she fought for her rights until her dying day at which time her second husband continued for at least 2 more years. I am not sure whether I would have had the stamina that she did to fight through the courts for decades against both her father and then her siblings! What a strong woman! If a strong female example is needed in your life Anna is certainly a good one for she never gave up once she believed she had been wronged!


The Captain's Wife : A Novel
The Captain's Wife : A Novel
Author: Douglas Kelley
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 4
Review Date: 12/31/2010


This book for me was truly exciting to read just knowing that the story is based on some real events in history. It is very amazing just what a person can do when called upon in the face of adversity. It is also inspiring to know that if one needs to rise up to the challenge in front of them, they can, even if one is young and inexperienced as Mary was. I enjoyed this book for what it was and realized there are many untold stories out there that will never be told, at least this one is not among them any more.


Cassandra's Sister
Cassandra's Sister
Author: Veronica Bennett
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 3/2/2020


This book was very different from what I generally like to read. I have never read any of Jane Austen's books but it was rather nice to get a sense of the times that she and her sister grew up in.


The Centurion's Wife (Acts of Faith, Bk 1)
The Centurion's Wife (Acts of Faith, Bk 1)
Author: Davis Bunn, Janette Oke
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 9
Review Date: 9/2/2011
Helpful Score: 1


The Centurion's Wife is the first book that I have read by either of these two authors. It will not be the last! The story made me feel good. It was uplifting to the spirit. There was danger, intrigue, as well as finally faith and love. I can not hardly wait to get my hands on the other two books in this series!!! I only hope they are as good.


The Children's Blizzard
The Children's Blizzard
Author: David Laskin
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 126
Review Date: 7/15/2014
Helpful Score: 1


This book chronicles the many stories that came out of the January 1888 Blizzard that in time has become known as the Children's Blizzard due to the many numerous children that died from the extremely frigid weather that swooped down from the north on an unsuspecting population due to the very warm conditions that preceded it. This is an extremely powerful book on the brutal conditions that one can find themselves in when the weather goes from deceptively mild to absolutely inhospitable for most life forms! This book will allow you to see just how important the weather forecasts are to our very lives. I don't think I will ever take the forecast for granted after reading this book. Thank god that our technology has advanced to the point where we generally get many hours if not several days warning of expected bad weather.


Dmitri
Dmitri
Author: Jamey Cohen
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 2/19/2020


I read this book in the early 80's and have never forgotten it. It was very interesting and definitely different than anything I had read up to that time. Without giving anything away the story does manage to take place in 2 different times and places. I am not an avid reader and I don't like to read books twice in most cases, but this is one book that I would certainly read again. This book is also the reason that one of my sons middle name is Dimitri.


Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor
Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor
Author: Margaret Ball
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 17
Review Date: 6/6/2010
Helpful Score: 1


I fully loved this story. But the best part of this story were the last few chapters where the author keeps you on the edge of your seat with the way the story unfolds. I am going to have a hard time letting go of this book.


The Edge of the World (First Americans, Bk 7)
The Edge of the World (First Americans, Bk 7)
Author: William Sarabande
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 14
Review Date: 10/22/2013


I collected all the books in this series and once I had them all I read them in order from the first to the last and loved every minute of it.


The Empress of Farewells: The Story of Charlotte, Empress of Mexico
Review Date: 2/24/2012


I just finished reading The Empress Of Farewells, and I loved it. I had heard of Maximilian her husband, but had never heard of Charlotte. She was born into Royalty with all the trappings of Royalty. While her story starts out like a fairytale, which is at least 2/3 of the book, maybe more, it ends as a nightmare that one never wakes up from. I absolutely feel for this woman.


Follow the River
Follow the River
Author: James Alexander Thom
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 145
Review Date: 2/24/2014


I read this book years ago, long before there was a movie about this true life experience that one very brave yet scared and determined woman decided to embark on in order to get home where she felt her life was instead of the life she was forced into living by her captors.
While I enjoyed the movie it was not as good as the book, which is the way it usually seems to be.


Follow the River
Follow the River
Author: James Alexander Thom
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.7/5 Stars.
 12
Review Date: 10/18/2010


This is a wonderful story of a woman's strength and determination. For me the first chapter was very hard emotionally to get past but it is a very worth while book to read. James Alexander Thom is one of my favorite authors. He does a truly nice job of writting these true stories for us to enjoy.


From Sea to Shining Sea
From Sea to Shining Sea
Author: James Alexander Thom
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 34
Review Date: 8/22/2009
Helpful Score: 1


I read this book years ago, and loved it. Ann Rogers Clark and her family helped to form this country. this book for me was very informative. My interest had to do with being able to read about these people that were ancestors of my family. Ann Rogers Clark was a cousin to the branch of my family that I came from. My maiden name still being Rogers. I have since read several others that James Alexander Thom wrote, and so far I have enjoyed them all.


Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy (Studies in the History of Sexuality)
Review Date: 11/21/2009


I read this book for a history class on european women during renaissance till now. The story was written from court records and is a true story. It was different from what I usually read, but it was interesting as to what went on in those times.


Kringle
Kringle
Author: Tony Abbott
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 9
Review Date: 11/18/2014


This is a new story about the beginnings of Kringle and the journey that takes place once a year.


The Last Giant of Beringia
The Last Giant of Beringia
Author: Dan O'Neill
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 7/11/2014


I enjoyed this book a great deal and learned a lot of history about a scientist that came to know the area that is called Beringia and also made many fascinating finds within this area.


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