Boys Books

The author's style takes you there with vivid descriptions, entertaining dialogue, and funny anecdotes. The South comes alive with this fascinating novel!

A wonderful story well told. I could not put it down. Gives a very interesting and valuable insight to life in the South in the mid 1900s.

I read the entire book on a one-day trip from west to east coast. Never have I read a novel that held my attention like this one, while teaching me more than I have ever known about the Black and White subcultures of Mississippi in the last century. You can't help but learn as the book sweeps you along from one authentic experience to another. You live it and come away with a profound understanding of conditions and actions within and between the Black and White sides. The main character, at the beginning an eleven year old White boy, lives these things, as the author no doubt did. The book is well worth reading if for the love story alone. You will want to keep this one in your personal library. A cracking good read - don't let it pass!

A riveting page-turning novel that every American, black,white,and other, should read. This book will place you deep in both the white and black subcultures of rural south Mississippi at mid-twentieth century, one of the most turbulent periods of the nation's history. A gripping new perspective on the social revolution in the United States and the Viet Nam War, and how the two linked to profoundly mark white and black youth of this place and time. The main character depicts a segment of American society that has, until this book was published, been unrecognized as a real victem of the time. Triumph and tragedy, race and violence, promise and betrayal, love and heartbreak - this book will educate you. Read it! You'll be glad you did.

Having not grown up in the USA culture, racism has always been perplexing to me.
This deeply personal and insightful novel is not only educational and entertaining,
but grips the heart and soul of one who reads it. As the author "lives" the story,
one is brought to a better understanding of the dynamics of our race-conflicted country.
A Must-Read!

Window Boy is almost an excellent book. 12-year-old Sam Davis is the window boy, a brilliant but misunderstood genius with cerebral palsy, who spends his time parked in his wheelchair in front of his window, watching other kids play basketball. The book realistically highlights the difficulties of cerebral palsy, from the constant annoyance of being ignored or talked over to a very moving scene when Sam is left alone in the apartment and almost attacked by a rat. But everything that happens to Sam only almost happens to him. He is only almost denied an education. He is only almost abandoned in an institution. His mother only almost dumps him. His good luck always bails him out, his extraordinary good luck and great brain. His nurse/nanny gets a job at the institution so she can continue to look after him. He wins a national essay contest worth $1000 - at least $6000 in today's money. His mother reforms her ways.

Nonetheless, White does present fresh and vivid material in Window Boy. How Sam is hampered by his cerebral palsy is very clearly drawn. Miss Perkins, his caretaker, lived through the bombing in London during World War II, and her character is beautifully rendered. Best of all his Miss Perkins' contribution to Sam's intellectual life, her reading to him out of the life of Winston Churchill. Sam internalizes Churchill's words, and Churchill's voice speaks to him during the action throughout the story. The pleasure of reading Churchill's phrases gives Window Boy a unique dimension that will be enjoyed by the more sensitive reader.

Reviewed by Neha Kashmiri (age 13) for Reader Views (7/08)

To me, "Window Boy" was a sad, but strangely uplifting, novel in hectic times. Sam Davis is a twelve-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. His father has abandoned him; his mother is too absorbed with her new boyfriend to notice Sam most of the time. In all this, his three beams of light are his prim, if talkative nurse, Miss Perkins, the imaginary voice of Winston "Winnie" Churchill, and the basketball court almost in his backyard.

Sam gets the chance to go to school with the other children. At first it is a disaster but Winnie tells Sam to keep a stiff upper lip. Soon, as his teacher starts to understand him, Sam writes an essay on his hero, Winston Churchill, for a contest. On his twentieth and last day of school, he gets out the words to tell the captain of the basketball team to appoint Micky Kostov, a Russian boy no one likes, as point guard. Then he is taken to an institution by his mother who is leaving to Europe to marry her boyfriend.

Sam starts to slowly fade away when the news reporter comes to take his picture and write an article about him. The essay he had written long ago had won him the contest and $1,000. Finally, his mother, betrayed and deceived by the man she was about to marry, comes back and saves him. Later Sam goes on to become a basketball coach to the team he helped become tournament champs.

No words I could say or write could convey the impact of the book on me. As a librarian's assistant, I had read to special-need children and this book made me feel incredible guilt and anger at myself for the revulsion I felt at the sight of some of them. "Window Boy" by Andrea White is meant for kids and teenagers, but I think adults could benefit just as greatly from it. I give a high, high recommendation to someone looking for a break from action/horror/fantasy.

Don't you love finding a book that draws you back to re-read it almost immediately? Besides the second read, I've gone back, this month, to the "Afterward" of WINDOW BOY a third time! Like our hero, Sam Davis, I want to learn more and more about the unique strength and humanity of Winston Churchill. So, I'll definitely tune in to the new PBS three part series "Chasing Churchill: Searching for My Grandfather."
I had to laugh seeing that the author, like me, also wanted to follow the fictional characters a few more years, and see them again. Sam and Miss Perkins speak with such recognizable voices (like old friends) when we fast forward and hear them reflect. Almost inspite of myself, I had to love gabby, fussy, old (50 is old through 6th grade eyes!) Miss Perkins and her uplifting love: her vital, relentless devotion to a disabled boy who was, perhaps, less obviously able to "earn" it than most of us. Also heartening, this personal portrait shows how far inclusion for handicapped children has come in forty years, especially in the public schools.

Andrea White has inspired this adult (who has no obvious disability) and will inspire any number of my youthful clients. For, WINDOW BOY is now a much enjoyed addition to our waiting room.

Thank you, Ms. White.

Mark Leifeste, Child Psychiatrist, Boulder, CO.

I read Window Boy over the weekend and LOVED it. Sad and uplifting. The depiction of Sam, locked in a body with an active mind, so misunderstood broke my heart. Add to that a self-absorbed mother and it was almost too much. But the nanny and the comparison to Churchill's heartbreaking childhood brought hope to the story, as did the evolution of the teacher's feelings for Sam. And I liked that Sam is an extreme version of all of us - wishing at least someone would really know us and not just see us. This book was an ispiration to me - a reminder to persevere, to be kind and to look beneath the surface. It will inspire children - especially those for whom school and life are not a cakewalk. I've ordered five for some youngsters in my life.

'Window Boy' is a fantastic introduction into the life of my Great-Grandfather, Sir Winston Churchill. It completely encapsulates the principals of 'NEVER SURRENDER!' and 'DETERMINATION!' that he lived by. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. 'Window Boy' is a must read for any person of any age, especially a Churchill fan.

I thought it was really funny and great. I love it so much. I even bought it for my class

If you're looking for a book your kids will love, this is it. Actually all three Stinky Boys books will be like a magnet. That's great if you hope your kids will read. My ten year old needs to hear about powerful girls and the boys and girls in this book are all strong and audacious kids. I think the authors are kid geniuses. I hope there is more to come.

This book was such fun, we read it together, and when we finished, we read it again. We could not get enough of it!

A MUST BUY

My six year old couldn't wait to share what he heard in this book with all his friends!He says everyone should hear it read. I enjoy reading it to him each night, and hearing about it the next day. Everyone should have a copy!

...all of my son's time, that is! My almost 7 year old son has been reading for a few years but never on his own... until now. He woke up early on a weekend morning and literally devoured this book from cover to cover and absoutely loved it. When he came in at 10:00am (yippee,, this was a first!) to wake me, we read it again together. I concur--- the Stinky Boys Club series is a must-read for all kids, stinky or otherwise, especially those with a great sense of humor.

I met Dick when he was eighteen years old just completing the darker years of his life, which dominate his autobiography. Being a qualified electronics expert - at least I thought I was until I met him - I was impressed then confounded by this child's (comparatively) uncanny grasp of broadcast electronics. He was also unusually literate, in my critical opinion, which was equally surprising - I was then as now unimpressed by the overall achievement level of the American educational system. I had taught, briefly, at DeVry, an electronics technical school in Chicago, and had dealt with students who had failed the FCC "first ticket" exams after two years of schooling with that goal in mind. Even though I had such a ticket, I was still impressed by an eighteen-year-old who had managed to get one without a formal course of study.

He was obviously a young man with what nowadays in social science circles would be called issues, but he also had obvious worth beyond the average. I sensed that his past might have included problems such as those he details in his book - after all, I was an orphan from the age of sixteen myself, and met a few unsympathetic people along the way to adulthood who wanted to build their ego at the expense of mine.

I give thanks to whatever instinct has led me, for the most part, to be helpful to others when I can. Those instincts have never been easier to obey or better rewarded than when I did what I could to ease Dick's survival and career forty years ago.

If you are interested in electronics, education, kids, governmental bureaucracy, recent American history, or just aggregate humanity - you should read this book. You will be better qualified to understand and relate to your fellow men, an eminently worthy goal.

Ray Dowell

This is a story of severe trials that took place in an earlier time and era, specifically the sixties. The author was classified as a "troubled" boy, rejected by his parents and placed in the juvenile system. At that time, it was not a pleasant experience; some of the facilities were run by sadistic pedophiles that terrorized the boys into being their sexual objects. Some of the abusers were men of the cloth, but given the recent revelations of the actions of many Catholic priests, that news is not surprising. What does surprise me is that the scandal has apparently not yet involved priests and ministers of other denominations. For the "men of god" who sexually abused the author were probably not Catholic.
Richard Johnson is an incredibly bright person, showing genius in both engineering and music. It was those qualities that were a major factor that allowed him to succeed in life despite the enormous odds. The other factor was the few people that he encountered that gave him a chance and showed him kindness. He speaks with great fondness of those people and rightly so. They went so far out of their way and against his reputation to let him do things. Those people are mentioned and should be commended.
The book is also a look back to a time in America that was quite different from the modern age. Johnson describes how the police would beat him whenever they thought they could get away with it. That attitude among the police was not isolated to the eastern Massachusetts area. My friends and relatives described being beaten at the hands of the local police for minor offences, but only when the police felt that there was no risk. Generally this meant that the one being beaten didn't have a respectable parent or other protector who would mount a fierce objection.
Young men were also thrown into a system that was really more a form of incarceration rather than assistance. They had little to no rights, judges could do what they wanted and any attempt at rehabilitation was a consequence of the initiative of individual people.
Fortunately, Johnson survived all of this, becoming successful and having the courage to write about it. He is to be commended for that, many people would have been content to simply be successful.

Read about a real survivor, not that phony stuff on TV. This book is about a boy who had such a childhood that any run-of-the-mill lawyer could get him off even if he nuked the universe. First his parents kicked him out of the house as soon as he became a teenager. Then he was sent to a work-farm where he worked as an indentured servant (read slave). Next, after he accidentally burns down a barn, the state of Massachusetts incarcerates him as an arsonist in the worst possible juvenile detention center where boys were being raped by the guards (masters) nightly. Surviving this, Johnson is sentenced to a reform school where, because of his horrible past, he thinks he really had a good time.

Johnson goes into great detail about the day-to-day activities at the reform school, the very first one in the United States. A true survivor, Johnson is paroled home after completing his sentence, only to return to the reformatory because his mother told his parole officer that he "stole" (now I'm not kidding here) some ice cream from her refrigerator.

You would think that a teenager's life couldn't get any worse that that, but it does! Eventually, after much trial and tribulation, Johnson moves to another institutional foster home in Boston where he starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was a long hard pull crawling through. He even had a science fair project taken away because the government thought it violated national security. Undaunted, Johnson completes another project in about two weeks.

Anyway, the book has a nice ending. It's well written and a pleasure to read. Johnson is an expert stylist and his chapters are short with each headed by a picture. There are several remarkable poems and, at several places Johnson reflects upon an important metaphorical gateway, writing prose which reads like poetry.

One of Johnson's mentors, a chaplain at the reform school, writes the afterword of this book. This is also well written and quite uplifting.

Celebrity autobiographies rarely reveal any surprises. I once discovered that my next door neighbor was an (illegal) arms dealer who lived a fascinating life. Ordinary people who often aren't so ordinary are much more interesting. This book proves it.

I was raised in a fully functional family. To read about anyone who didn't have the same luxury always grabs my attention because it's so unfamiliar to me. I never got in trouble (boring life), so I'm always interested in how I should do it in the next life.

This is a fascinating story of a young boy going through the wringer of the Massachusetts juvenile "correctional" system and coming out the other end as an amazingly versatile adult. I won't tell you the ending, but just say that, if your kid is harder to handle than you'd like, have faith. You may have the makings of a Nobel prize winner on your hands.

This book is an amazing account of a child who survived the Massachusetts juvenile justice system in the fifties. Johnson writes about his early life, starting at about two years of age, he brings us through a foster-home-farm where young boys are forced to do farm-work to earn their keep, and some, including the author, are raped and abused. Johnson then recounts his encounter with the Massachusetts juvenile court system and the Youth Service Board in Roslindale. He recounts torture and rape at that institution where boys were warehoused without a trial until there was an opening at a juvenile penal institution. Later on, Johnson goes to the Lyman School for Boys, which was the nation's first reform school. The school was closed in the seventies.

Johnson tells about his stay at the Lyman School and goes into quite complete detail about the day-to-day activities at the school. Johnson thinks this institution was really quite good by comparison to other places he had been. Johnson then goes to another foster home, Charles Hayden Goodwill Inn, in Boston. While attending school in Roslindale, Johnson stumbles onto some missile secrets while preparing for the Science Fair. A federal judge took his Science Fair project away (no, he was not making a nuclear missile) when his high school teacher got him an audience with a military contractor. With only a couple weeks left, Johnson makes another project and wins well enough so that he gets to show his project in the state Science Fair and he gets another slap on the face.

Anyway, the book continues with Johnson encountering various challenges, which he faces and handles with true grit, an honest-to-goodness survivor. The book ends after Johnson enters the radio and television industry, gets a union job, and meets his first true love.

This is a book about success. It is well written and once you start it, you won't want to put it down. I like the fact that Johnson wastes little time in developing a story so you can read the book in a single sitting. Each chapter, except the last, begins with a picture that hints of the chapter content. I don't think this was an oversight. The last chapter doesn't have a picture because it hasn't ended yet. I think this book is excellent in all ways.

Braddock McGee a scientist and Devon Steinbrook a salesman accidently create a teenage solid aura of Braddock named Adrian after an accidental explosion, that by the way mysteriously caused no damage to the house. After realizing that the human body can't shrink down to microscopic size but an aura body can, they send Adrian in a Drill ship into the sky that turns and then drills into the Earth's crust, and at a certain point turns Adrian into a microscopic boy that's left to explore microscopic worlds.

The tiny planets and worlds make up a galaxy that are caught up in a civil war among the east and the west and are wanting to seperate. The galaxy is actually an atom named after the king Adam and the split will actually cause an atomic explosion for the upper world (our world) and will completely aniliate the Adam (atom) galaxy!

Diabolis, the villian, has created a Moon Probe (think Death Star without the lazers) that will physically seperate the micro planets one by one. And Adrian must stop him.

Adrian meets up Rhesus Turnbuckle and Seth Biggs and together the threesome travel from planet to planet trying to stop the evil Diabolis! On the planet of puppets, tiny, miniscule, scraunty alians hover behind makeshift giant robots, controling their every move, sort of like how the wizard of Oz was all show and no go, same principle here. Another planet they encounter a Reozzy, a small wrinkled animal that waddles through open fields hoping that larger pretators will attack it, when the pretators do attack the Reozzy grows, trapping the predators claws into its now tight skin and it gobbles the predator whole. I personally like the waterway system Adrian travels through on another planet, and the track bike he rides kind of like a roller coaster on still another planet!

Adrian loses Rhesus and Seth halfway through the story and makes new friends as well such as Suca, and also a special young lady, need I say more?

After rescuing Seth, who's oversized hat keeps falling into his eyes, they move on to fight Diabolis and save the universe! This is probably my favorite book of the Adventures With Boys series, and well worth having! Five stars!! ;)

The villian in this book is Diabolis (Die-a-ball-iss) and is somewhat not there, a lot like Voldemort. He can come and go and is extremely evil! He is causing a civil war among the east and west galaxy and is separating the planets one by one with a Moon Probe (a greatly enhanced Death Star from Star Wars). Over all a very enjoyable book!

Oh how I wish Adrian were real! How I'd love to get to know him personally! I bet he'd be a lot of fun to hang out with. *Sigh* I guess I'll just settle for reading the book!

This book should be titled Adventures With The Boy. It features only one young lad this time around instead of the usual three or four. In this adventure we meet Adrian, half boy half hologram (that can shrink). He travels to fantastic new worlds and meets new creatures like the Reozzy, among many, many others! This is one for the books!

This book is not quite as good as the first two but is still very good! They shrink down and discover microscopic planets that are in civil war that if the galaxy is split will blow up from atomic bomb atom! Not as funny as book two but somewhat better than book one, sort of.

Although this book is described as being for the 4-8 year-old group, it seemed to me more like a 7-9 year-old book.

I was attracted to the book by realizing that the various animal-related stories that Alexander McCall Smith includes in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books were among my favorite parts of those books. It occurred to me that the Akimbo books might have such stories in them.

Well, not quite . . . but the series is full of Akimbo learning about wild animals, the threats to animals from people, and deals with the problems through Akimbo's brave deeds. Children like to see themselves playing important roles in the world, and Akimbo and the Lions is very good for appealing to that desire.

Akimbo's father works as a ranger at a game preserve in Africa where some near-by farmers have been losing cattle to lions. Akimbo's father is asked to do something and goes to trap the lion. The results end up differently than expected and Akimbo learns a lot about the challenges of balancing domestic and wild animals in the same areas. The story is a heart-warming one that both boys and girls will enjoy.

The book is nicely illustrated which adds to the realism of the story.

Purchased these books for my grandsons and was told that they really enjoyed them.

This book was a fun book to read. I liked it a lot. I think it was my favorite book that I've read so far in my life. I am going to buy my own copy.

This book is McCall Smith's second book in the "Akimbo" series and like virtually all his books, it is masterfully done. In this book, Akimbo goes on a trip with his father, the new Head Gamekeeper of the wildlife preserve. They have gone to check out reports that a lion is eating cattle. The loss of cattle is akin to the loss of pure gold in Akimbo's part of Africa. Thus, such a lion must be handled.

Akimbo begs his father to take him on the trip. With some trepidation, his father agrees. The team of Gamekeepers and Akimbo travel to the farm which has reported the problem. No one actually has seen the lion, but they believe by the sounds and the results that it is surely a lion. The Gamekeepers set a trap, using a goat as bait. The trap is supposed to work by capturing the lion when he goes to get the goat.

The trap is set up, and Akimbo and his father get set to wait out the night and see what happens. As luck would have it, the lion does show up on that night. The trap is sprung, and Akimbo's father goes to check the trap. As soon as his father leaves the hiding place, Akimbo notices, he has forgotten his rifle. His father approaches the trap, and is dismayed to find, the lion is not in the trap. The lion is standing outside the trap, and starts to close in on Akimbo's father.

Akimbo has never shot a rifle before, but he has observed his father use it. He picks up the gun. He aims, and his father tells him, "Shoot into the air." Akimbo does so twice. The lion leaves quickly. Then they go to find out why the trap di not work, and find that it is sprung. Inside is a very small baby lion cub. The rest of the book discusses Akimbo's relationship with the lion cub, and the eventual release of the lion into the wild.

Once again, McCall Smith has created a wonder of a book. It is highly recommended as a children's story. It provides a look at a very different society and world than the American world. In addition, it shows the respect of the people for the animals. All parents with young children should find this book a great addition to their children's reading library.

It was one of the most passionate books I ever read. It made me cry. The pictures were wonderful. The book had very good descriptions. People who like animals, stories that take place in Africa, and love will like this book.

Shirley Hughes's books are incredible, and this one is our favorite. I have read this book to all 3 of my daughters and they all love it. They are now 19, 15, and 4. I grew up in England and have lived in the US for the last 35 years and Shirley Hughes's books bring back the feeling of being in England so well. Little ones can listen for hours to her stories!

When my son was born 13 years ago the hospital gave him this book. His first book. His favorite book until recently ( I think he is to cool to admit it now). It is evene in perfect condition. Hard to do with a toddler, young reader and now teenager. He still keeps it on his bookshelf and he tells his friends it was his first book.

Alfie Gets in Frist is about a boy who gets in first. He gets lonely and starts to cry. His sister was hungry and thirsty so she was crying to. I think it's funny, but it's not supposed to be. Here's why I think it's funny: it has this page and it's a funny page. It shows him cyring up a storm. I think it's funny because he has more tears than a regular cry.
I think people who like sort of funny books should read this. Also, people who like short books with some challenging words should read it.

I have a hard time believing such a wonderful book for two year olds is out of print. Both my children love the story of this little boy whose brazen independance places him in a scary situation. They truely could relate to his delimma and the feelings it caused. They really loved the ending. It reinforced that independance may get you into scary situations but with it you can also get out of them and feel proud of your accomplishment.

This is one of my favorite Alfie Books. It is also the first in the series. It's about a toddler named Alfie who keeps running ahead of his mother and baby sister as they return from their shopping. Alfie wants to get home first. Eventually, he gets into the flat first--only to shut the door and lock himself in. Various neighbors come over to help, until there is a crowd in front of the door. The situation is rendered wonderfully in "split-screen" fashion, with the adults and the exterior of the flat on the left-hand page and Alfie and the interior of the flat on the right-hand page. Thus we see the adults standing outside and becoming increasingly alarmed, while Alfie calms himself down, brings a chair over, climbs up on it, and opens the door. Then everyone comes in for tea. It's really a sweet story. It's also a cautionary tale for those toddlers who, like mine, tend to shut doors they ought not to. Alfie's predicament made quite an impression on my son!

In my opinion, I think that this is a really great book. I started reading it... but I couldn't stop! It kind of sucked me in starting by my eyes, then my nose got burried in it, soon it was like I was in the book!! "Danger Boy's"more than just a page turner to me and if you haven't read it yet then you're misssing out! I don't mean just the first one. It's about time travel in 2019 whith a boy named Eli and a dino; Clyne, don't forget a girl from I don't when, Thea. Anyways, it's a pretty great book.

I liked the time traveling, and also the fact a lot of history was covered in the book! It's a good way to have fun reading AND learning at the same time!!

This book is absolutely great! It captured my attention and I was so excited that I demanded my Mom go online and buy # 2 in the series because the library didn't have it. I usually like to read only science books, but this is one fiction book I really enjoyed. I want everyone in America to read it so they will be able to talk about the book with me! The only flaw I found was that the book was so interesting I read it too fast and the fun was over too soon. This would make a great movie!

My nine year-old son rates this as his favorite book. Mark Williams does a fantastic job of discussing time travel as seen through the eyes of a boy. Eli, the "danger boy", reacts to things as a kid his age would, not as the typical adult protagonist. The idea of a dinosaur doing time travel as a part of a homework assignment was one that my son enjoyed very much.

This first book in a wonderful series brings a fresh and fun look at relativity as we join 12 year old Eli in a time travel adventure sure to engross young readers, and their parents as well!
Eli travels backward through time and history via inventions of his scientist Father who is pressed to use his son thusly by ruthless people he had worked for. That his Mother is missing in space/time adds more tension and drama.
Eli endears us with his pluck and quick mind as he narrates his adventures.
Williams makes the complex plot plausible and always easy for us to willingly accept. He adds charming companions for Eli, who sometimes share in the narrative. There is a friendly and bright dinosaur from another planet, and Thea, from ancient Alexandria, who has been accused of being a witch!
This wonderful book is must reading for kids 8-13. My Grandson can't wait for more from this author--Danger Boy is a terrific series!!!

Love Potion by Joann Ross is the first story by this author that I had read and I was pleasantly surprised. Superbly written, it is the sensual tale of Roxi Dupree, a witch with a commitment problem and a three date rule and Sloan Hawthorne, a Southern bad boy who put the sex in sexual. Roxi is the type of heroine that I like - full of sass, intelligence and humor. Sloan is a wonderful hero and Roxi's equal, strong and determined to have this witch for his own. This story was enough to put me on the hunt for more of her books.

Midnight Plane to Georgia by E.C. Sheedy was another surprise as I was not familiar with this author. Tracy Mae Allson has "yessed" herself into a rut. This people-pleaser just can't say no and she's finally had enough. Grabbing the opportunity to help her uncle get a B&B together on the other side of the country, she's all set to put her life in order. Workaholic Colson Jones doesn't have time for a personal life, just drive-by sex between jobs, but he's made an exception for Tracy. And when he falls in love can he get Tracy to revert to her "yessing" ways? Great story.

Fall from Grace by Jill Shalvis is, in my opinion, the best story in this anthology. Janie Mills flees from a past that could get her killed. Changing her name, she finds a new life in Grace, Georgia as the town librarian. One night she's attacked by the town's leading citizen and fights back, only to discover that the man she's leveled with a library book isn't the one she was running from. Ryan Peterson is a P.I. with a headache, a wildcat on his hands and a missing client. The last thing he needs is a growing attraction to the mysterious Janie. Can he get her to trust him before somebody kills her? This story is a must read.

Love Potion # 9 by Joann Ross

Roxi Dupree is a witch. She lives in Savannah where she owns a store called Hex Appeal. Sloan Hawthorne is a movie director living in California. They are both friends with Emma and Gabriel Broussard but have never met. Roxi has been having intense erotic dreams lately starring a very handsome mystery man. Sloan has been thinking and dreaming of Roxi after seeing her in a picture that Emma sent him. Sloan has decided that he needs to meet Roxi, so with Emma's help he is coming to Savannah to meet his dream woman.

Roxi is everything Sloane dreamed of and more but she is putting restrictions on their relationship right off the bat. Sloan intends to show Roxi that the magic between them is uncontrollable.

I needed a breather after reading Love Potion # 9. I assumed it would be sexy and romantic but I didn't know that Sloan was going to blow my mind with his mastery in the bedroom! Roxi is responsive and extremely passionate with Sloan. Her reasoning for being so adamant about not committing to him at first was a little weak though. Love Potion # 9 is intense, erotic and romantic.

Midnight Plane To Georgia by E.C. Sheedy

Tracy Allson is going to Parasol, Georgia, to help her uncle Tommy start a bed and breakfast. She is headed out on the red-eye.

Colson Jones is taking the same red-eye flight to Atlanta. Waiting in the airport for the plane he and Tracy gazes lock and the sparks fly! Once on board they make the connection again and the next thing Colson knows he is headed to Parasol with Tracy.

Once there, Tracy and Colson decide to take things further, but will their plan to be lovers for a short time be foiled if they start falling for each other?

Midnight Plane To Georgia is a sweet and sexy story. Although Tracy tries, Colson proves very hard to resist with his oozing charm and sex appeal. I probably would have caved a lot sooner! I admired Tracy's need to protect her heart and I loved Colson's persistence. Midnight Plane To Georgia is a fun and sexy story.

Fall From Grace by Jill Shalvis

Janie Mills is struggling to get away from the stranger holding her down. Janie thought she killed him but she hadn't and now he is demanding to know who she is.

Ryan Patrick was in the library trying to find his missing client when he was attacked by the librarian. They are both trying to discover the other's identity. Things get dangerous quickly because someone is after Janie, so Ryan stays by her side to protect her. Throughout the night Janie and Ryan become close and Ryan moves from protector to lover but when the dust settles, will they go their separate ways?

Fall From Grace is a fun, suspenseful story with action, drama and sex filling up the pages. Ryan and Janie make a great team. Ryan is sexy and in control and Janie is vulnerable but strong. There are some surprises, hot passion and thrilling getaway's in Fall From Grace. It's a great story!

Bad Boys Southern Style offers a variety of terrific stories. Love Potion # 9 smolders with passion, Midnight Plane To Georgia is romantic and tender and Fall From Grace is action packed and hot. You can't go wrong with this anthology!


Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

"Love Potion #9" by JoAnn Ross. Hollywood comes to Savannah to film the Morganna the witch movie. The flick brings Sloan the Hollywood hunk to the Georgia city where he meets Hex Appeal shop owner Roxi. Neither needs witchcraft to be attracted to one another, but a love spell could not hurt.

"Midnight Plane to Georgia" by E.C. Sheedy. Tracy leaves Seattle for a short stay in Parasol, Georgia to start over as her life is in a computer art graphics rut especially with her inability to say no to friends and family. She plans to be "no no Nanette", but writer Colson boards the same plane and knows what he wants, which is Tracey saying "yes yes" like Sally in Harry meets Sally.

"Fall from Grace" by Jill Shalvis. When the lights went out in Georgia, librarian Janie realizes that Clayton is lunging towards her. She grabs the Concise Oxford English dictionary in a way she never would have dreamed of slamming it on his head. When the lights return to the town of Grace, Janie realizes that someone else is on the library floor. She knocked out P.I. Ryan with one blow. When he recovers he realizes that he now has two cases to work with, winning the courageous heart of the battling librarian being the more important one.

Though geographically Bad Boys Georgia style is more accurate, the latest anthology is a delightful collection that readers of the series like this reviewer will enjoy. Each of the couples makes wonderful matches as the guys work overtime to prove their love, loyalty and longing for the women they love.

Harriet Klausner

Bad Boys Southern Style takes you down south for those men and women that you love to read about.

JoAnn Ross blends a delightful tale of a magical connection and a searing passion. Roxi Dupree owner of Hex Appeal has agreed to help big time filmmaker Sloan Hawthorne as a favor to her best friend Emma Broussard. Roxi and Sloan have connected in dreams long before their first face-to-face meeting. Their chemistry is explosive but Sloan has his work cut out for him with Roxi's three dates rule.

Midnight Plane To Georgia by E. C. Sheedy has Tracy Allson always going the extra mile for others but always gets taken advantage of. She decides going to help her uncle in Georgia will help her redirect her life. But she hadn't planned on the roadblock called Colson Jones. Colson has some time to kill between meetings and somehow is helping fellow traveler Tracy repair her uncles B & B. They both learn valuable lessons from each other along the way find a love worth keeping.

Jill Shalvis has a tantalizing tale in Fall From Grace. Janie Mills has reinvented her life in small town Grace, Georgia. She figures working at the library is a safe quiet place to hide from her brother Billy's crimes. When a murder occurs her plans go up in smoke. Janie mistakenly attacks PI Ryan Patrick late one night at work. Ryan was there to track down the person who is blackmailing his client. They are thrown together after the murder and both want to solve the crime. There is something about Janie that strikes a cord in Ryan's heart. He will move heaven and earth to keep her safe. Their relationship starts out under dire circumstances but they realize their feelings are something special.

Bad Boys Southern Style is filled with the passion and sultriness of a warm southern night. Each story makes you feel like you are part of that world and you want to stay for a long while. This is an anthology to read this summer

LOVE POTION #9 by JoAnn Ross--Roxi Dupree, the owner of Hex Appeal in the heart of historic Savannah, reluctantly agrees to give Hollywood filmmaker Sloan Hawthorne a little history lesson about the main character in his latest movie. The two immediately realize that they have shared the same intimate dream and their relationship needs no magic or witchcraft to force an attraction. Roxi is fiercely independent and is reluctant to share herself with Sloan. Sloan finds himself bewitched by Roxi and wants much more of her than her standard three date rule will allow. Convincing her that his feelings for her are very real may require more patience and effort than putting together a blockbuster hit.*******
MIDNIGHT PLANE TO GEORGIA by E. C. Sheedy--Tracy Allson decides that helping her uncle run his B&B in Georgia will give her the break she needs before setting out on a fresh career path. Little does she know that she will end up hooking up with the gorgeous guy she locks eyes with across the crowded airport. When she arrives at the B&B, her uncle is gone, leaving the house in her hands, which also places Colson Jones in her care, seeing how a change in his travel plans has given him several free days and he decides to stay at the B&B. After the two work on sprucing up the dilapidated house, spending every moment - waking and otherwise - together, they effortlessly strike up an affair hotter than the Georgia sun. When Colson has to leave to continue on his business trip, he finds it's not business as usual trying to convince Tracy to take a chance on a future with him.*******
FALL FROM GRACE by Jill Shalvis--Janie Mills starts a new life as a librarian in Grace, Georgia, after witnessing her brother murder her cousin over a bad drug deal one year ago. When PI Ryan Patrick shows up at the library at closing time, sneaking up behind her, the frightened Janie attacks him with a dictionary, fearful for her life. When the two stop scuffling, they hear a gunshot and find one of the town's most beloved men lying dead on the floor. After all of this excitement, Janie's apartment is found to have been ransacked, causing Ryan to take Janie to his island home. These two are immediately on the fast track to spontaneous combustion, completely helpless in their attraction for each other. Despite one surprise after another involving some of the most esteemed members of Grace, Ryan is hopeful that Janie will agree to begin her life anew one more time, this time with him being a permanent part of it.*******
This is a wonderfully fun anthology. Being a huge fan of the south, I especially enjoyed the Georgia settings. I highly recommend including these bad boys in your beach bag - you won't be disappointed in this fun summer read!

Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (11/08)

"The Barefoot Shoeshine Boy" is an amazing story of wonderment! As Al Rivera delves into his life and explains in such a matter of fact way for us, he didn't know. A small child who endures such vile treatment and has never experienced anything else but that treatment doesn't know what should be, thus living and making his own fun is a world that should not be. I know the following is a trivial comparison but to those of us who have not gone through the issues Al has, something similar will come to mind. My sister once told me her 2-year-old didn't like her McDonald's Happy Meal burger with mustard on it so she did the special order thing every time. Being a mom of four, quite honestly I didn't have but one response to that crap. How in the world would a toddler know there was even a choice other that what they were given. Life is way too short to make an issue each time you roll through the drive-thru.

A higher being was holding close the soul of Al Rivera as he was growing. He raised himself up into an honorable, successful man who learned many positive lessons from a life that began as something far from pleasant. Al's great outlook on life is something each of us should inhale. After each chapter you will be given the lesson Al highlights during the previous chapter. My favorite is: "Lesson 10 Sometimes bad experiences bring out the best in us. Whenever you get into a situation, either from an accident like I had or from some kind of illegal activity, always try to turn it into a positive experience that affects not only you but also others around you. In doing so, you might end up making one of the happiest memories of your life." I am in awe of the fact that he could make a lesson out of the events that happen and honestly come away from each negative situation with something positive.

I drew courage in my own life during my reading of "The Barefoot Shoeshine Boy" by Al Rivera and wish that no child would ever have to endure such treatment. As each reader closes the book and wipes their eyes dry, please pass the book on to continue this life-changing read.

It's important to show pride in one's work, and since Al Rivera insists that I be given credit as his ghostwriter, I want to take this opportunity to let readers know that his story is the genuine article! He told me these stories straight from his heart, and I was able to capture his honesty, joy, and candor on the pages of this book. Al Rivera was not the only boy who suffered from parental abuse and extreme poverty, but what makes his story unique was his daily determination to find food and shoeshine customers FUN. He didn't whine, cry, complain, or daydream. He cheerfully went about surviving in a real world. This book is a page-turner, and it will touch your heart, as it did mine. I have written it in easy English, so people of all ages, backgrounds, and educational levels can read it, enjoy it, and learn from the life lessons it imparts.

You know, my Dad is the author of this book. I've heard these stories told since I was old enough to understand. But it wasn't until they were written down that they carried any weight. There is tenderness, and history, and a level of intimacy.

A friend gave me this book and I am so glad that he did. This book changed my life. I too grew up in a foster home and never knew what it felt like to belong. I always wondered what was the purpose of my screwed up life, but through his story Al showed me that it doesn't have to be screwed up- life can be great it's just a matter of perspective.

When I was reading his story it was like he was writing about me. Growing up poor and on welfare, having people you love die of drug overdoses or reject you. And I thought- he made it through. He got through it and so can I. The lessons at the end of each chapter really opened my eyes and I was like -wow, that makes sense.

I am giving this book to everyone I can think of because it had such a positive impact on me and I want to share that with everyone I meet. It really helped me put my own situation into perspective and gave me the push that I needed to move forward in my own life. Al if you ever read this I want to say thank you. I hope that one day I when I make it in my own life I will have the chance to meet you and shake your hand and tell you in person what a difference you sharing your story has made in my life.

I just finished this book and it is one of the best I have read in a long time. The things that this man experienced as a little child is just amazing. It's not full of fluff or tear- jerker moments; it's just real and raw. A great book and I highly recommend it.