Death Takes a Honeymoon (Carnegie Kincaid, Book 4)

Book Description

TO SURVIVE THE WEDDING OF THE SEASON…
Wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid can feel the heat when she reunites with an old flame in the wealthy resort community of Sun Valley–but handsome smoke jumper Jack Packard is about to marry Carnegie’s
former best friend, now a famous TV actress. With a star-studded ceremony to pull off, a noncommittal boyfriend back in Seattle, and a supercilious Frenchman barking orders, Carnegie has no time for carnal urges. Especially once murder joins the party.

YOU’VE GOT TO TAKE THE PLUNGE.
The victim was a local hero who leapt from planes to fight fire. But was his impromptu skydive a smoke screen for something sinister? With her florist going AWOL, her bride going ballistically Hollywood, and her curiosity running wild, Carnegie may be in over her head: Someone in Sun Valley is a killer–and it’s up to Carnegie to grill the guests and unmask the villain…or watch her glitzy job go up in flames.

Customer Reviews:

Unique, likeable characters and good plotting.......2007-02-22

I really enjoy this "cozy" murder mystery series, with amateur sleuth/wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid. Deborah Donnelly's story lines are always entertaining and liberally sprinkled with humor at the expense of Carnegie's Bridezilla du Jour.

This particular story was a bit convoluted, with a number of new characters dumped on the reader simultaneously. Even at the end of the story, I felt like I needed a scorecard to keep up. All the same, Donnelly does a fairly good job of distinguishing even the most minor of characters.

A good, but not overwhelming plot, coupled with a look into Carnegie's past, makes for a solid book. I must say, though, the cliffhanger ending is a bit over-the-top. If Aaron's truly gone, then I say good riddance. I wasn't too thrilled with him anyway.

The End Left Me Mystified.......2006-05-02

This is the fourth book I've read by Ms. Donnelly. I wasn't "on the edge of my seat" with her first book but I rarely judge a writer or a "series" by just one read unless, of course, the first book is exceptionally difficult to get through. Her approach to "leading" the reader into thinking she is onto the killer by process of elimination immediately makes one realize it's someone other than who she names. I guess that's a "given". I think I also would have enjoyed each of her books a little more had she not always been so "hard" on herself regarding her looks and/or her body. This particular book's plot was put together much better than those I'd read prior to this. The "guilty party" was a pleasant surprise for me this time as I am usually pretty good at determining the culprit before reaching the conclusion of the book. Without giving away too much detail to the end of this story, I have to say the actual finale left me looking for pages to follow with additional explanation as to what actually happened beyond a specific event but found nothing. I was very disappointed at the close of this fourth in her series that, up to the last page, I felt was her best so far. Because of this, I believe I'll pass on her latest "You May Now Kill The Bride". The ending to "Death Takes A Honeymoon" finished much too abruptly for me. There's something to leaving the reader wanting for more but this one ended before the whole story was told. Or so it would seem.

Fourth in a great series.......2006-03-09

Don't know why I enjoy wedding planner mysteries so much but I do and Donnelly gives you a lot to enjoy. Carnegi Kincaid can plan perfect weddings but murder always throughs a wrench in the works. Good characters, interesting plot. Fun to read.

First of all, let me say I disliked the ending.......2005-09-16

But you'll have to read the book to get to it. And it's an aspect of the ending that isn't all that relevant to the actual mystery, which was well-plotted and hard to guess. No, it's related to the romantic life of our heroine-detective, Carnegie. Carnegie is a wedding planner, who thinks she's going to attend the wedding of an old friend (now a movie star) but when she arrives in Idaho, finds her mother has volunteered her to help out. The official wedding planner is very high profile and not very present, so you can imagine how much falls on Carnegie's capable shoulders. In addition to the wedding, Carnegie arrives shortly after the death of a cousin (not someone she's close to) who was a fire jumper (fireman who parachutes into forest fires). His death is suspicious, and she starts to poke around to see what she can find out. She's also trying to get back a necklace belonging to another old friend -- and the last person who had the necklace was the firefighter who died. Then there's Carnegie's own romantic life -- her boyfriend refuses to come with her to the wedding -- they've been having some problems ever since she accidentally used the M word in front of him. He's commitment phobic.

This was a very nice little mystery -- well plotted, engaging, likeable characters, picturesque setting very aptly described. But the ending...

Well, you'll have to read it for yourself and see what you think.

Well, maybe 3 ½ -.......2005-08-02

I loved the first book in this series Veiled Threats, as well as the second, Died to Match. Somehow I missed number three (which lack I will immediately address) so I was pleased and delighted to find this one - the fourth in the series. Unfortunately, I don't think it matched the very high quality established by the author in the first two books. The writing, however, is still crisp and clear, as always.

I did like the shift of location-it's always fun when a series can move away from its home base, even just for one book. It's obvious that Ms. Donnelly knows Idaho as well as she does the Seattle area, and she excels at putting the reader into the geography. Also, meeting friends from a few years back adds to Carnegie Kinkaid's persona, helping us to understand how and why she became what she is today. The history of the area adds greatly to the story. It is almost casually sprinkled in here and there, and is never boring.

It's fun to learn about new businesses-who'd have thought that wedding planners needed to know so much about apparently everything? Thank goodness, Carnegie does, and is easily able to step into the breach when the previously-engaged planner goes temporarily AWOL from the very celebrity wedding of one of Carnegie's friends. Although she'd been invited to the wedding, Carnegie really hadn't planned to attend, until a distress call from another friend prompted her to go back home to Idaho for the event.

Summers in the west are rife with forest fires, and Ms. Donnelly has obviously studied the situation with great care, as her descriptions of the smoke jumpers and fire fighting ring very true. It's a tension-filled life, to be sure, and this book is a terrific tribute to those brave folks who embrace it with gusto.

Although I did enjoy this book, I kept getting the notion that it was almost two stories that had to be compressed into one, leaving out an awful lot of the author's ordinary attention to detail. We do get to see more of Carnegie's Mom-and kudos to the author for making this older woman attractive, smart and sexy! Some of the other regulars Boris and Aaron (Carnegie's on-again/off-again lover) are already known to us, but still we get more little tid-bits of their past. There are so many new folks in this book, however, about whom we might like to know more, and they get short shrift.

The ending is appalling. I felt so cheated, which is the major reason why I could only give the book 3-well, maybe 3 ½-- stars. Of course, once I've read book three, I might better understand why the author did this. Or maybe not. One thing is for sure-it won't keep me from reading more of this author!

Wedding Planner Series: Veiled Threats, Died to Match, May the Best Man Die, Death Takes a Honeymoon, You May Now Kill the Bride, Bride and Doom (Set of 6 Mystery Novels)

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Wedding Planner Series: Veiled Threats, Died to Match, May the Best Man Die, Death Takes a Honeymoon, You May Now Kill the Bride, Bride and Doom (Set of 6 Mystery Novels)
Deborah Donnelly
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Planning | Weddings | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000PHLPG6

Customer Reviews:

Moonlight Madness.......2000-09-27

"The Four Moons of Darkover" are part of a series of anthologies that deal with specific themes; in this case, the all-influential moons of Darkover. I personally enjoyed this anthology because it features some really good amateur work (which was encouraged by the late great Zimmer Bradley, who included the mechanics of joining in the backs of her anthologies---the world of literature is certainly lesser for her passing), and I believe that some of the authors are now pros. I had wanted to try my hand at it but I'll leave it to those who are much better at it. Every Darkover fan knows that the moons have got a lot to say about what happens on Darkover and especially to the gifted ones, who possess laran. In some stories it's literally moonlight madness, and all laran-gifted creatures beware, especially of the light of all four moons! Under that kind of light, ANYTHING is possible. I gave the book 4 stars, because of course, not all the stories are great, but over all, it's worth having for the entertainment value. Some explanations of legends mentioned in other Darkover books are also well written. I happen to have this book because I bought it quite some years ago, and if you can get a hold of it, sit back and prepare to be entertained.

Fair to good........2000-08-11

This book is a collection of stories written by "The Friends of Darkover", which is to say, mostly fans of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series, set on the world of Darkover, and edited by Ms. Bradley herself. It's one of several such collections, and like most of them, it's hit-and-miss. Some of the stories weren't all that impressive; in fact, I didn't care ofr any of the first three. But some of them were interesting, if none of them actually come to mind as being memorable for positive reasons.

There was one story written by Ms. Bradley herself, "Man of Impulse", which further developed a character mentioned elsewhere in the canonical Darkover books, and apparently popular with readers: Dyan Ardais. So if you are determined to read everything ever written by Bradley, you need to read this story, even if you don't care for the fan fiction.

And there was a story, quite a good story in fact, which Ms. Bradley put in this book in spite of the fact that it was not written for Darkover; it was intended for her "Sword and Sorceress" series, but for reasons unclear to this reader, she felt it fit better here. The story is "Ashes To Ashes", by Patricia B. Cirone, and it seemed to me that it would have fit much better in its target anthology, rather than this one. But it was a good story in any case, so I'm glad it was published SOMEWHERE, regardless.

Book Description

This extraordinary trilogy depicts a future gender war that crosses the boundaries of software, wetware, time, and reality itself in its imaginative leaps and bounds. Only love holds the future together in this tale of star-crossed teens whose transformations defy description or imagination.To read this trilogy is to behold a strange new world, one unlike any other.

Customer Reviews:

A Place Where Nobody Dares To Go.......2002-03-17

I have read only the first and last of Mr. Calder's magnum opus. I ache to possess the rest. I look up from his pages as though through a deep mist; my heart palpitates, my scalp twitches, & I wonder at this lackluster earth. Seriously, sometimes I need a nightcap of Rimbaud just so I can get grounded enough to sleep, to dream... His writing is the worst kind of drug, the best kind of drug: it is morbid addiction (unto death), flesh of the gods. To read him once is to read him always.

Teenage Mutant Robot Vampires.......2001-03-14

The title for this review is a four word summary provided by a classmate in a seminar this evening. It nicely encapsulates the problems many of us had with Calder's effort.

The first book is the strongest of the three, spending most of its time focussed on a rather twisted story of young lovers on the run. The second book is the weakest of the three, spending way too much time on the central theme of the eroticising of sexual torture and death and working through a mind-numbing series of permutations and combinations of same. The third book tries to tie together the various shreds and bits of plot scattered among the bits and pieces of dead girls and boys from the first two books and, ultimately, fails. The conclusion of the trilogy ends up being a series of explanations for the events in the books, some more or less absurd than others. The ending, after all of the suffering portrayed in the trilogy, is trite and unsatisfying.

Calder's plotting is a weak point, but his writing style is interesting. If the journey is the reward, the telling of the story in the Dead trilogy is at least a partial reward. He covers much trodden ground (Naked Lunch, Videodrome, Blade Runner, American Psycho) in some new and interesting ways. His vocabulary left me scrambling to look words up.

In the end, the absurd plotting and overly long presentation made "Dead Girls, Dead Boys, Dead Things" a disappointment.

Much ado about nothing, sadly.......2001-02-18

Wipe the cyber-eroto-quantum gick from the face of this self-importantly bizarre trilogy of books and you're left with a story so contrived and goofy that even Alfred Bester would have turned up his eyes at it. Noisy nonsense about a plague of vampire girls who're infecting the world, told through the eyes of a British refugee who's grown enamored of one of these lethal ladies.

Eventually the plotting and the sub-fanfic ludicrousness of the whole affair gets the better of it and leaves it smouldering in a wreckheap of tarted-up wordplay. The plotting is bewildering enough and yet at the same time contrived enough to be sufficiently appealing to those who think William Gibson was a pansy -- this guy makes Gibson look downright tame, sure, but is that kind of goal really worth aiming for? Jive highbrow gibberings about idea-viruses and other such things don't make the story any more credible.

It's probably possible to contort yourself into a position where this sort of cold, unpleasant junk represents a major statement of some kind, but those whose hip credentials don't depend on it shouldn't bother.

Dead Girls Dead Boys Dead Things.......2001-01-09

"Dead Girls Dead Boys Dead Things" is a profound book for those with the patience, vocabulary and literary mastership to undertake it. It is not for the weak of heart; it has both graphic sexual and violent content, however they are presented in an artful (if not at all times tasteful) way. Although the plot may be difficult to follow if you're not devoted to the story, it is well worth it if you have the patience to overcome the somewhat obscure vocabulary used in the book; however, I feel that Calder's lyrical form of narration and description, founded upon his obscure but far-reaching vocabulary are one of the book's most endearing qualities. Anyone who wants a good challange, who enjoys sci-fi or who likes books which take unexpected twists and turns, finally concluding in an unforseen ending will enjoy this book immensly.

Calder's techno-poetry is lyrical, haunting and masterful.......2000-08-11

Richard Calder's DEAD GIRLS breaks new ground in a once-innovative literary movement that has unfortunately become stagnant in recent years. All of you cyberpunk fans are familiar with William Gibson's NEUROMANCER, and although we all owe the inventor of cyberspace a debt of gratitude, it is obvious that Gibson's brilliant novel spawned a slew of imitators seeking to capitalize on the popularity of hard-edged futuristic prose. Calder is different. This is not prose at all, this is high-voltage poetry; this is rampant, blood thumping word art. I couldn't stop reading. Don't bother trying to dissect the proposed technology in DEAD GIRLS, or waste energy researching the occasional windy vocabulary word, just absorb the ambience. Grant Calder his post/retro-apocalyptic-adolescent-vampire premise. Somehow he makes it work. Just be happy he let you tag along for the ride.

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Dead Girls, Dead Boys, Dead Things
Richard Calder
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTC708

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Bisquick Books

Betty Cocker Bisquick II Cookbook

Bisquick easy recipes

Great collection of recipes

Betty Crocker Bisquick II Cookbook

Betty Crocker Bisquick II Cookbook: Easy, Delicious Dinners, Desserts, Breakfasts and More (Betty Crocker Books)
Betty Crocker
Manufacturer: Betty Crocker
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Quick & Easy | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook

Betty Crocker Bisquick Impossibly Easy Pies: Pies that Magically Bake Their Own Crust

Betty Crocker One-Dish Meals: Casseroles, Skillet Meals, Stir-Fries and More for Easy, Everyday Dinners (Betty Crocker Books)

Betty Crocker More Slow Cooker Recipes ( Hardcover-Spiral Edition)

Betty Crocker's Quick & Easy Cookbook

ASIN: 0764543393

Book Description

The follow-up to the bestselling Betty Crockers Bisquick Cookbook-with easy all-new recipes for everyday cooking and baking

Bisquick is a staple in more than half of Americas kitchens, and home cooks are hungry for ways to use it in everything from easy entrées to everyday baking. Building on the tremendous success of Betty Crockers first Bisquick cookbook, this welcome sequel features 140 completely new recipes that are easy to prepare and taste great. This new set of delectable dishes focuses on time saving and convenience-from recipes that have no more than eight ingredients to prep times that are 15 minutes or less. Most of the recipes can be prepared and baked in 45 minutes or less-from start to finish. Classic pot pie, deep-dish quiche, oven fried chicken . . . there are favorites for the whole family that can be made anytime, even on weeknights!

Tips with every recipe include helpful information like do-ahead options and substitutions, complete nutrition information, food exchanges, and more. Eighty color photographs tempt the tastebuds and beautifully showcase finished dishes. Cooking with Americas favorite baking mix-and Americas Most Trusted Kitchens-has never been easier.

Customer Reviews:

Bisquick Books.......2007-03-26

Bought books 1 & 2. Great recipes. Easy to follow. Great pixs.

Betty Cocker Bisquick II Cookbook.......2007-02-14

I loved the book, as I have baked with Bisquick for years. It also is a very big plus for my cookbook collection. I have the original Bisquick Cookbook and this one is a plus.
Thank You

Bisquick easy recipes.......2007-01-10

I have a very demanding job and this book helps make my life easier with the great and easy recipes.

Great collection of recipes.......2007-01-09

You can find recipes for any meal or occasion. They're easy to make and taste great.

Betty Crocker Bisquick II Cookbook.......2006-11-04

These bisquick books are great for kids to learn to cook. The directions are simple, the ingredients needed are simple, and kids do love to cook. I highly recommend using Bisquick Books to help kids learn to navigate the kitchen and pitch in with the family cooking.

2 Book Set; Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook, Betty Crocker Bisquick Ii Cookbook: Easy, Delicious Dinners, Desserts, Breakfasts and More

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2 Book Set; Betty Crocker's Bisquick Cookbook, Betty Crocker Bisquick Ii Cookbook: Easy, Delicious Dinners, Desserts, Breakfasts and More
Betty Crocker
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WOTONI

Product Description

2 book set

Product Description

This tiny, affectionate dog craves lots of love and attention, and its long, thick coat requires daily grooming. Shih Tzu owners will find all the information they need in this volume to keep a happy, healthy dog. Books in the Complete Pet Owner's Manuals series present basic information about pets for new or soon-to-be owners. Advice and instruction covers feeding, housing, health care, training, grooming, protection against hazards, and more. Texts emphasize pet care basics and are easy for all readers to understand, but most titles in this series also present facts that even experienced pet owners and breeders will find new and useful. All books in this series are filled with high quality full-color photos and instructive line drawings. Length averages between 64 and 104 pages. Paperback / 96 Pages / 6 1/2 x 7 7/8 / 2000

Customer Reviews:

Good, but it "bites" at you?.......2005-04-25

I am in the process of purchasing a Shih Tzu puppy, and for that reason, this book WAS helpful. It was helpful in a generic sense about the pros and cons of puppies vs. adult dogs, purchasing from a responsible breeder, the expense associated with a puppy, etc., all of which I've seen in other general dog guides. The book outlines roughly the history and orgin of the Shih Tzu, but I found it a bit sparse and was dissapointed. However, there was a very good section on very basic dog training that is sensitive to the Shih Tzu breed. The photos and drawings in the book were a very good bonus. The one thing that I recoiled from was the almost harsh, scolding nature of the author as to who is qualified to add a Shih Tzu to their home, almost using scare tactics and extreme scenarios to frighten people away from the breed. While it is a valuable point that has it's place in any dog breed book, I found it was a bit much. I appreciated the clearly designed chapters and the sections on housetraining and health maintainence.

Pet stores get puppies from "good breeders"? PuhLEEZ!.......2004-03-04

No matter what the rest of the information in this book is like, the mere statement that "Well-run pet shops generally obtain their puppies from good breeders (page 9)" earns the book one star only because there's no way to give it a minus-10 rating. NO good breeder will sell a puppy to a pet store. Pet stores obtain their puppies from puppy mills; now that a lot of people know how appalling the puppy mills are, pet stores will tell people pups come from "local breeders" which just means a LOCAL puppy mill. I could not understand why the author would write such a thing until I read his bio. He works for a manufacturer of pet products. Never, never, never buy a dog or a cat from a pet store unless you enjoy supporting a traffic in animal cruelty.

A waste of money.......2003-04-22

I truly hate to give a book a bad review, because I know the work that goes into one, but this book truly .... It could pretty much be about any breed of dog, it has such a paucity of information about the shih tzu. I bought it because I had just adopted a shih tzu and wanted any help or tips I could get about the breed, and I learned nothing. Please don't waste your money on this book.

Shsi Tuz Complete Owner's Manual - Little money well spent.......2000-11-28

I am a first-time owner of a Shih Tzu puppie. I found this book extremely informative - from choosing your puppy, to crate training, to feeding, to what to expect from your puppy when you first take it home. It also details the breeding process and whether or not breeding is for you. The book is well worth the price.

Average customer rating:

Shih Tzus: a Complete Owner's Manual

Manufacturer: BARRONS (GBS)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GWIC8Y

Book Description

In Miller's Collecting Science and Technology, the latest addition to this authoritative collecting series, expert advice on scientific instruments and technology is presented in an accessible way. Scientific instruments have long held a fascination for collectors and while some of the earliest instruments may be out of reach for all but the top collectors there is still an excellent range of interesting and affordable items available. For clarity and ease of reference the book is organized by type of object, starting with the more traditional, such as sundials, astronomical and surveying instruments and globes, through to domestic and office equipment such as cameras, weights and measures, musical boxes and gramophones. Special features appear throughout, and every item illustrated is given a price range. Expert advice on what to look for and what to avoid is given. Identifying reproductions and fakes is covered, as well as professional tips on how to display and care for your collection. With the emphasis on modern technology, Miller's Collecting Science and Technology is the essential guide for anyone interested in this intriguing area of collecting. + Uniques book covering all types of popular scientific and technological instruments + The latest in the acclaimed Miller's Collecting series + Full-colour photographs of over 350 items representative of those found at auctions, antiques shops and fairs.

Book Description

Under the Sun features the architectural traditions of desert living around the world, from ancient adobe structures to innovative homes. Beginning with the age-old desert architecture of North African, Spanish, and Native American cultures, the book profiles ecologically sound homes in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Northern Mexico.

Customer Reviews:

Informative & Beautiful.......2002-02-03

I was searching for a book on desert homes and architecture styles. This book is broken into several chapters on homes around the world living under desert regions. Thoughout the books there are dazzling and breath taking photos along with informative background on every country and building construction for the desert home. I was pacticularly interested in the great USA (Arizona, New Mexico & California) because I am planning to build a home in a desert region. I needed a reference to help me understand and view a desert style of living and this book has helped. You'll find some interior decorating, color schemes, landscaping and several ideas of bringing the dry outdoors into your unique home.
I love looking at this impressive book, it sits on my coffee table for all to enjoy.

My southwest decorating bible.......2000-08-19

"Under the Sun" has become my southwest decorating bible. I bought the book when I was looking for decorating and architectural ideas for a desert home I was building. The book explores and exposes all the of varied and amazing orgins and styles of desert and southwestern design. The photos are stunning and intriguing and the text is rich with information and sources. I have since used the book for paint and decorating tips in several homes. This is one book in my library that has become a favorite loner, and has ultimately become my best gift book -- mostly to assure it will return to my shelf.

Book Description

Dale Gottlieb's Story Rugs draw from a broad range of history, literature, and multicultural folklore to relate human triumphs over injustice and oppression. With transcendent colors and playfully bold compositions, the rugs celebrate human courage and conviction in the face of such tragedies as civil-rights abuses, the Holocaust, and racial discrimination. With an unswerving faith in human potential, Gottlieb gives exquisite form to these tales of freedom with skill, sensitivity, and at times, humor.

Trained as a painter, in the early 1990s Gottlieb embarked on a remarkable partnership that offered her a new medium as well as a vehicle with which to share the stories that inspire her. She creates her Story Rugs with the help of expert carpet weavers working in Nepal. The products of their cross-cultural collaboration are hand-knotted and hand-dyed wool rugs that communicate messages of diversity, compassion, and acceptance.

As shown in abundant color plates and profiled in an essay by Lisa Van Doren, Gottlieb's Story Rugs not only delight with their colorful, exuberant designs but also present an opportunity for community dialogue and cultural healing.

Book Description

Before becoming one of the most well-known members of the Black Power movement, Alice Faye Williams was not unlike any other poor, African American girl growing up in the impoverished South. But when her family moved to New York during the radical sixties, she became intoxicated by the promise of social change. By the time she turned twenty-one, Alice had a new name -- Afeni Shakur, derived from the Yoruba term for "lover of people" -- and a new vision for the future. The rest is history.

In 1969, Afeni was arrested along with other members of the Black Panther party on 189 felony charges that included 30 counts of conspiracy. Though she was eventually acquitted of the charges, Afeni spent eleven months in jail before being released. Once on bail, she became pregnant with a son: Tupac Amaru Shakur, a rap megastar until his tragic death in 1996.

In this searing work, renowned actress and Afeni's trusted friend Jasmine Guy reveals the evolution of a woman through a series of intimate conversations on themes such as love, death, race, drugs, politics, music, and of course her son. Filled with startling revelations and heartbreaking truths, Afeni's memoir is a powerful testament to the human spirit and the perseverance of the African American people.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting read.......2007-08-12

This book was quite interesting yet at some points confusing because I could not tell who was talking; was it Jasmine Guy or Afeni. Nonetheless, I found it interesting and enjoyed how this woman went to her lowest state yet manage to come out on top.

Tupac's Foundation.......2006-09-16

This book really helps you to understand the multiple layers that engulfed the late Tupac Shakur. Jasmine Guy gave Afeni (Tupac's mother) a platform to freely and naturally tell her story to the world. A must read for anyone that is having trouble understanding the personal dilemmas of one of the greatest rappers of all time. I only wish Tupac would have lived long enough to find the peace that Afeni has finally discovered.
Thanks Jasmine Guy for spreading your artistic wings!

THE book on Afeni Shakur remains to be written........2006-09-02

I expected more of a biography. This is more like reading a conversation between two friends (Guy talks about Shakur keeping her company while she packs up to move, what SHE is thinking, etc.), which is fine in itself, but much of it is written as if the reader already knows the backstory. It is well-written for what it is, but simply not what I was looking for. A proper biography of Shakur remains to be written.

Guy is a terrific writer (hopefully there will be more from her in the future), and the book is a fast read. For someone truly interested in the subject, this is where you must go. Don't go here for discussion of Tupac, there is a bit, but he is relegated to the sidelines. There are some surprises, including the frank admission that Afeni was addicted to crack while pregnant with a child she eventually aborted, a decision she considers the worst of her life (the abortion, that is).

Fascinating!.......2006-08-02

I'll admit that what initially drew me to this book was having been so affected by 'Pac's music in my life and also being such a huge fan of Jasmine Guy's as well. That is, like I said, what DREW me to the book. What kept me reading however, what would not let me put this book down, was experiencing the unexpectedly fascinating legacy of a woman whose name the title beholds.

The cover and design of this book itself lend forshadowing of what is between the pages. Sleek. Majestic. Classic. Simple and unassuming. Quietly enthralling.

To read Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary is to feel invited in on an intimate conversation between two friends, two women with layers and layers of depth and life experience. It's like gathering at the feet of a storyteller with wisdom and a history that you've heard about and find yourself enthralled the more you hear. I read it in a day and a half without intending to do so. But it flowed so well that I couldn't put it down. I'm convinced now, more than ever, that genius begets genious. Here's to--not necessarily learning more about 'Pac--but instead learning and growing to love his dignified and inspiring roots.

Thank you, Afeni and Jasmine, for sharing this journey with us.

A wonderful story, wrong title.......2005-07-29

Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary, by Jasmine Guy is a wonderful story. This intimate portrait is filled with moments of Shakur's life with intimate details that sparks interest, leaving you searching for more books about this revolutionary's life. However, Guy is quite the unreliable narrator often seen through many literary pieces.
Guy does a wonderful job relaying the message Shakur is willing to give. This is a story, not meant to relay a truthful, accurate, or even honest message. "Evolution" was meant to offer events as Shakur remembers them. Many such events happened more than 30 years ago. Therefore, it is unreasonable to expect a flawless, unbiased story. However, the title implies an intimate look at the life of Afeni Shakur, not her son Tupac, and certainly not Jasmine Guy.
Throughout the book, Guy offers many personal notes, observations, and anecdotes pulled from her own life, leaving the reader wanting more about Shakur. Anything that Guy wanted to offer about her self should have been saved for her own biography. At times it was difficult to distinguish between what Shakur was saying and what Guy was saying, because most of the book was in quotes. Some how, Guy should have separated her thoughts from Shakur's.
The significance of Afeni Shakur is so important that a more scholarly book would be more favorable. There are not enough books written about the Black Panther Party, or Afeni Shakur as it is. If one were going to write one, something more researched and in-depth should be published first.
However, Guy scores points for even writing such a book, because the story of Shakur is valid and needed. Too many people associate Afeni Shakur with Tupac Shakur. Only a reader with a limited view would even expect to read about Tupac in this book when Afeni Shakur had a life and was a legitimate fixture in the history of Black Americans long before Tupac was ever the superstar that he became. If the book had been title "Afeni Shakur: How My Life has Been Affected," it would better reflect its content. "Evolution" was a good but awkward read.

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