Rating: 
Summary: Simply a Super Book
Review: It's hard for me to say this, but I was having some trouble with my boyfriend as I read this and after reading the love scene between the two girls in the book, I could almost see myself with a girlfriend. This book has it all, love, tragedy, heartache and heartbreak. Add a presidential campaign by a lying cheating candidate and you really have a good book. Even the very sad ending was sort of uplifting. This is just a divine book and I can't believe it wasn't written by a woman, or better yet, a pair of women.
Rating:
Summary: What a Gosh Darned Good Story!
Review: My favorite all time book is THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans. Books like that only come around once in a blue moon. Well, I'm pleased to say that the blue moon has arrived again and it's shining brighter than ever. Like with Mr. Evans' masterpiece, I will read and reread TANGERINE DREAM again and again, probably on into my dottering old age. These are the kind of stories that make you cry, touch your heart, inspire you and live in your dreams.
TANGERINE DREAM is about betrayal, love, death and sacrifice. It starts out with a fast pace, like a thriller, and one might think that's the kind of book the authors intended when they began, but then they got all gooey, the book changed direction and one could almost believe that a woman took over the helm. I simply can't believe my good fortune in finding another novel like this. I loved it and I'll keep on loving it for a long time to come.
Rating: 
Summary: Sexual Secrets of a Political/Business Dynasty Revealed
Review: On the surface, the Sterling family is a model for all to aspire to . . . in keeping with the meaning of their name. Three brothers are leading successful, meaningful lives. Dr. Sanford Sterling is a caring psychiatrist. His brother, Senator Stacy Sterling, is a leading candidate for president. Stacy's wife, Gayle, is a well-regarded on-air newsperson in California. They have delightful twin daughters, Dylan and Taylor. The other brother, Simon, runs the family business which includes luxury hotels. Then tragedy rips the facade away from the family's respectability to reveal shocking sexual secrets. In the aftermath of the tragedy, each member of the family finds himself or herself shaken to the core . . . and fighting for survival. Some succeed while others do not. Their story unfolds against the drama of a presidential campaign, new-found love and tempests at sea. The strength of Tangerine Dream is that the book's action is very fast. If you don't like one aspect of the story, you'll soon be on to another. The story line is very visual, and I could imagine each scene clearly in my mind. For those who are interested in love stories, Tangerine Dream provides a beautiful, touching look at how women may find love with one another. I found the backdrop of sexual misbehavior by the Sterlings to be overdone. If there had been less of this aspect to the story, I would have rated the book higher. As a result, those who like a good titillating look at the perversions of the rich and powerful may rate the book higher than I did. Although the action at sea was very exciting and interesting, I must admit that I don't know enough about sailing to really understand what was going on. If you know sailing, you will probably be very impressed by the graphic details. My enjoyment of novels mostly relates to how sympathetic I feel towards the characters and how interesting I find their circumstances. In Tangerine Dream, I felt sympathy to those who were bereaved (as anyone would). Without that bereavement, I don't think I would have found the characters to be particularly sympathetic or interesting. As a result, I found myself detached from much of what happened in the book. As I finished, I found myself thinking about the need to set a good example for my children. I hope I will succeed in accomplishing that important role for them.
Rating:
Summary: Tense and Tender Different Kind of Love Story
Review: Once again I have to declare my bias before I write a review here. Jack Stewart is a very good friend of mine and, of course, I'm married to Ken Douglas, so there is that itsy bitsy possibility that my review may be just a wee bit colored. Still if you click on my name above, you'll be taken to my about you page and you'll see that reviewing books is my hobby, so it only seems fair that I get to be the first person to review Ken and Jack's book, since I was the first person to read it. I hope you don't mind, but this is my favorite all time book. I like it better than anything Ken has done, better than anything Jack has done, better than just about anything I have ever read. I will admit at first, when they told me they were going to have the two female leads fall in love with each other, that I was worried. I mean, they're guys, macho sailor guys, what in the world could they ever know about the tender subject of female homosexuality. But they plowed through the first draft and I have to tell you when I read it, I wanted to shout, the sex between the two girls was so badly done and the prelude, largely ignored. I didn't have to tell them, they figured it out all by themselves. They rewrote, still not good enough. Tried again, failed. Then I loaned their manuscript to a couple of English girls who were cruising the Caribbean on a small sailboat and a couple days later they gave it back all marked up with red pencil marks and the loving sex scene between Haley and Taylor rewritten in long hand. Those girls inspired a whole new rewrite and I'll be gosh darned if these manly sailor guys didn't turn out a piece of work that will bring a tear to even the toughest of men. I've read the book several times and I still cry when Dylan dies, it is so tender, so sad. And the scenes between Haley and Taylor are so convincing, so real. And then there is Sandy, the brother with a heart. Gina, the girl with a tragic burden. Gayle, loyal mother, faithful wife. Stacy, lowlife, dirty, rotten husband who is running for president when he's not having sex with teenage prostitutes. And scheming newsman Nick Nesbitt, who in the end does the right thing. The story opens in New Zealand. Gayle Sterling and her daughter Dylan are on the ferry between the North and South Islands. They are sailors at heart and are watching a sailboat tacking and jibing. Ashore they rent a car to make the drive from Wellington to Auckland to catch a flight home to California, where they are going to join husband and father, Senator Stacy Sterling's presidential campaign. However they are hit by a drunk driver and spirited away to hospital. And so begins a chain of events that will tug at your heart, open your eyes to a different way of life and maybe teach you a little bit about freedom. Reviewed by Vesta Irene
Rating:
Summary: The Best Happiest and Saddest Book I've Ever Read!
Review: One can look at Tangerine Dream in a couple of ways. It's a coming of age story, not your typical one though, because it involves two Southern California girls, Haley and Taylor, who have an adventure in New Zealand and wind up falling in love with each other. During the course of their adventure, they decide that they want to buy a sailboat and sail away from the pressures their wealthy familys will put on them when they find out about their relationship, and the pressures will be plenty, because one of their fathers is a United States Senator and he's running for President.
And one can view Tangerine Dream as a Mainstream novel along the lines of 'The Notebook'. It certainly has it's tragic moments, like when Taylor's twin dies, which is guaranteed to elicit tears. And I can't forget the ending that had me weeping like there was no tomorrow. The story has a nice revenge type element to it as well, when the philandering senator gets his comeuppance. And surprisingly this is happy book, despite the tragedy that happens very near the end, despite the weeping, it still manages to make you feel good. I can't recommend this book highly enough, it's the best happiest and saddest book I've ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: Sooo boring!!!
Review: This is the worst written book that I have picked up in a long time... I am about 1 half way through, but I just don't think that I can take it anymore!!! Boring...predictable... yuck!
Rating:
Summary: Two Young Women Chase a Dream and Find Each Other
Review: When Taylor Sterling and Haley Harrison get news that Taylor's mother and twin sister Dylan have been in an auto accident in far away New Zealand, they leave California on the first flight arriving just in time for Taylor to say a sad and final goodbye to her sister. Taylor's mother has been severely injured and has to stay in the hospital to recover and her uncle Sanford, who arrived with them, plans on staying in New Zealand with her. Later Taylor's father arrives. He is a Senator from California and he's running for the presidency. He also has a closet full of secrets that nobody knows about, except that is Dylan, she knew, but she's dead now. However she kept a journal on her Mac PowerBook. In the wrong hands this journal can destroy a family, a canidate for the highest office in the free world and several others, but maybe it can just free some of them as well.
Sanford arranges for Haley and Taylor to spend time on a sailboat in the South Pacific, a trip Dylan, who was an avid sailor would have loved, but Haley and Taylor are novices and are soon in desperate trouble with a drug addicted couple at sea when they encounter both bad weather and engine failure. With nobody to rely on but themselves, they grow close and by the time their adventure is over, they are in love and they want to run away to sea, something their wealthy and powerful families are determined to prevent.
This book took me completely by surprised, especially the love scenes between the two girls. Then there was the part where they admit and accept who they are, touching to the core, but the sad part were Dylan died, her funeral and the tragic ending were more moving than I can say. This book is just divine.
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