"You're fire horses, twice over. Conceived and born under the sign. You're the end of the world, you two."

Fire Horses is a contemporary novel written in a poetic literary voice dealing with the hard grit of British life as experienced through Joe Noone. It's about consequences and how Joe has to travel a world that doesn't always make sense whilst his past and future rage against him.

"All the sublime magic of youth had been knocked out of me; I was still wandering, but all the wonder had gone."

Joe doesn't walk a track that commercial demographics would predict walking into Burtons and spending money. He walks off the beaten track. Sometimes invisible, sometimes walking into traps that destroy those around him. He embraces the drinking culture and is wired chemically for sex, yet is a hopeless romantic.

"Hours were lost, the sky darkened, alcohol began to coat my brain and eat away at all the layers of sophistication, culture and self-consciousness."

Blur's, Modern Life is Rubbish, sums up this book well. Yet despite this, or because of this, there is hope and redemption threaded throughout the book. Mark Piggott shows us the rubbish, but embraces it and produces art and a life for Joe that has beauty once Mark has shown you how to look.

Mark Piggott obviously loves his characters. At one point Jo muses, "Only be a passenger if the driver has something to live for," and it could be said the same for Jo as a character in Mark's novel, "Only be the protagonist if Mark gives me something to live for." I can almost see Mark pitching the job to fictional Jo, "It will be bad, real bad. But you'll get to have lots of sex and I'll dangle the carrot of love before you. The money will be shit though."

As in life, where humour is born out of misery and gives reason, Mark's book is full of fun one liners. At one point Jo says, “It came as a relief when I reached my 34th birthday because then I knew for sure I wasn't Jesus."

As a debut novel it shines, both in the quality of the writing and the insights into mankind and modern history.

Now that's not bad.

Shiny stuff from rubbish - go buy it and see for yourself.

THE LADY OF ROSES is a true love story of the medieval ancestors of both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill. What makes the book even more fascinating this love story is based on actual facts. It centers around 15th-century England, on the brink of civil war. In the middle of this political turmoil, Isobel Ingoldesthorpe, a Lancastrian, and John Neville, a Yorkist fall in love and against all odds, marry.

King Henry is mentally and physically ill. Queen Marguerite is left to rule, but the Yorkist are unsettled under her leadership.John Neville’s brother is the Earl of Warwick is rich, powerful, and mistrusts the French queen. Warwick unseats Henry with Yorkist Edward of March.

Not too long after Edward takes the crown, he marries Elizabeth Woodville in secret, against Warwick’s wishes. Woodville demands land and titles for her relatives. She proves more vicious than the previous queen and war breaks out again.

Throughout, John and Isobel strive for peace. This isn’t possible as the War of the Roses rages around them. Sandra Worth threads together the most bittersweet love story since Romeo and Juliet. Her love for this time period shines through with her carefully sketched characters.

Be sure to stay tuned to the next installment, The King’s Daughter, a novel on the life of Elizabeth of York, mother of Henry VIII. After reading LADY OF THR ROSES, you won’t want to miss it.

In the meantime, don't miss the ROSE OF YORK TRILOGY: LOVE & WAR, CROWN OF DESTINY, and FALL FROM GRACE.

Note: A copy of this will be raffled off at http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/

Summary: Bo Peabody tells, in amusing vignettes, the story of how he became an entrepreneur and the lessons he learned along the way.

Review: One of those slim little books that's good for inspiration if you're a youngster working on starting your own business. If I get a copy, I'll be putting it on my "pick-me-up" bookshelf.

N: The chapter headings themselves contain great advice - here they are: Lucky or smart? Entrepreneurs are born, not made. Entrepreneurs are B-Students, Managers are A-Students. Great is the enemy of good. Start-ups attract sociopaths. Practice blind faith. Learn to love the word "no." Prepare to be powerless. The best defense is a gracious offense. Don't believe your own press. In fact, don't read. Always be selling your stock. Know what you don't know.

Q, xii: I was smart enough to realize I was getting lucky. (what Bo Peabody says when people ask him if it was luck or smarts that made him successful)

Q, 4: Lucky things happen to entrepreneurs who start fundamentally innovative, morally compelling, and philosophically positive companies.

Q, 5: In other words, the best way to ensure that lucky things happen is to make sure that a lot of things happen.

Q, 5: ...the entrepreneur has two tasks: 1. Create an environment where smart people will gather. and 2. Be smart enough to stay out of the way and let luck happen.

P, 15-18: Good managers are A students. A students know one thing and know it very well and want to do things perfectly all the time. Good entrepreneurs are B students. B students aren't good at any one thing, but they can do many things with some degree of competence.

Q, 19: Greatness is exactly the wrong thing for entrepreneurs to strive for. I tell my colleagues: "Never let great be the enemy of good." A good decision made quickly is far better than a great decision made slowly.

Q, 20: Start-ups are like extreme-skiing runs. The person who wins is the one who screws up the least and doesn't die. Success in a start-up is being around tomorrow, a lot of days in a row.

Q, 21: If you survive, you will succeed. (Talking about startups)

Q, 22: Ordinary people don't agree to work for start-ups. They go get ordinary jobs. So, as an entrepreneur, you'd better like odd people, because that's who is going to agree to work with you.

N, 31-32: Bo tells the story of how he "rejects his rejection" from Williams College and works with the admissions department to prepare himself to go to that school the next year. Good advice for someone who wants to do anything.

Q, 32: Train yourself not to shut down when you hear the word "no." That is in fact just the time to really start fighting. No human being likes to say "no" to another human being. When he does, he is at his weakest moment. Take that opportunity, and start selling.

Q, 50: Good VCs know that the key ingredient in a start-up's growth is not how big the company actually will be but how big the entrepreneur thinks it can be.

While browsing through Amazon the title of this book

Caught my attention and I searched within for a peak.

Somehow it drew my deeper interests. So I ordered the book out of curiosity.

This story brought me to wonderful warm tears. It reminded me of the wonder of motherhood and the mysteries within. I was amazed that a man could write in such depth to touch gently the within of a woman. It was fantastic! I became attached to the baby telling the story as if it were my own and within my own womb. I felt once again the warmth of motherhood and the feelings which pregnancy brings

upon a mother and her bonding with the child growing inside. I laughed at the humor and was awed at the depth I was drawn to perceive. The author's ability to comprehend is dramatic and his perceptions right on. One of the most interesting books I have read in the last four years. Gets a AAAAAA rating from me!

The illustrations are child-like perceptions that of themselves also depicted a story. Mr. Vincents' use of art he created is heartfelt.

I recommend this book to all women and especially to

all carrying a blessing. I believe this book could easily

be used as a tutor for teenage children for sharing how and why children are conceived and arrive into this world. In a true and comforting way of sharing the answers all children one day ask of their parents.

This also could be used for New Mommies by PRO LIFE BELIEVERS to aid them in keeping their baby. This book is ABSOLUTLEY PRO LIFE!

I admit, I have now read it at least four times through and still find warm tears and joy arrive each time. Wow!

I also have purchased and read Mr. Vincent's book Hray-Mah Jesus is Coming! My curiosity once more...This writing brought me to realize the Simplicity of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and I was a Christian before reading it, and feel now I am still a Christian but with new bright knowledge and perspective in what Jesus taught and shared to all humans. His book drew me to deeply read the Bible in desire of thirst for the truth, and I was amazed how the author enticed me to go read my own bible and read for myself the things Jesus left for each of us to easily discover. This was a great learning. I am looking forward to reading his other books. Clearly, this is Christianity as it was really meant to be: Simple and direct...and based only on Jesus Christ of Nazareth as our Lord Savior. Amen!

Cate McCormack at age forty-six is a successful author. Her book is being made into a film by Wyatt Productions. She's been invited by Jack Wyatt to meet the director of the movie in Venice. Having had a string of bad relationships, she's about given up on love completely when she meets Andrei Siwek.

Thanks to some fancy manipulating from her lifelong friend and personal assistant, Caroline Harrison, Cate won't be going alone on her trip. Andrei, who is fourteen years her junior, will be attending as her bodyguard. It's a job he takes seriously.

As their relationship evolves, both have their own personal demons to contend with, not to mention the media barking at their heals. In this beautiful love story, the reader will wonder up until the last pages whether or not these two will overcome the obstacles in their path and find happiness with each other.

K. T. Casha understands the sweet vanity of the forty-something woman in this novel about self-discovery and love.

Note: A copy of this book will be raffled off at http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/