Stitches in Time

Rating:
Summary: Good Premise, Unlikable Characters
Review: Barbara Michaels has churned out another page-turner in her genre of romantic suspense. As always, the heroine is young, plucky, a bit naive but willing to learn. The plot device here is a haunted quilt.

Michaels is an accomplished writer whose characters are well-fleshed out, whose plots are timely, whose dialogue rings true. Some readers prefer her archaeology novels written under another name, but I like her Michaels novels better.

"Stitches in Time" is a great rainy-day, read-on-the-couch book and if it's your introduction to the author, it will lure you into getting more of her books.

Rating:
Summary: romantic suspense
Review: Barbara Michaels has churned out another page-turner in her genre of romantic suspense. As always, the heroine is young, plucky, a bit naive but willing to learn. The plot device here is a haunted quilt.

Michaels is an accomplished writer whose characters are well-fleshed out, whose plots are timely, whose dialogue rings true. Some readers prefer her archaeology novels written under another name, but I like her Michaels novels better.

"Stitches in Time" is a great rainy-day, read-on-the-couch book and if it's your introduction to the author, it will lure you into getting more of her books.

Rating:
Summary: This Has to Be The Dumbest Book I Have Read Yet!
Review: I did not think that this book made any sense-and it was the first of Barbara Michaels I have read.

What happened to the plot? She really dropped it, and the story just barely held my interest at all. It was one of those books that the synopsis made it sound more interesting than it actually was; in other words misleading to me.

If you're looking for a book that is entertaining and interesting with a lot of character, don't go for this one!

Rating:
Summary: A thorougly enjoyable thriller of a supernatural variety!
Review: I don't normally read this type of mystery/thriller. I usually go for the Tom Clancy type (and I am a woman) or mysteries revolving around detectives/cops. I read the backface of the book and decided to go for it. I wasn't disappointed. My mother is an avid quilter, and yes, women put a lot of thought, pride, and emotion into the things they make whether it is a quilt, clothing, art, or for that matter books. This book had a great premise, pretty good character development, and considering the story, the people within the story had a good sense of humor. I always enjoy humor within a mystery, and this one definitely made me giggle at times when reading it late at night. Luckily my husband sleeps through everything! I plan on reading more of Ms. Michaels' works in the future and hope they turn out to be as enjoyable as this book was. Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

Rating:
Summary: I survived!
Review: I love books, any genre, most authors, but I'm sorry to say that this book was quite a challenge. It seemed to have promise in the beginning, but that's where it ended. I didn't care about any of the characters, including Rachel, the so-called heroine of the story. She goes to work for a shop that specializes in vintage clothing and happens to be there when some quilts arrive abandoned on the porch. This could have been written to be creepy, mysterious, lots of different directions, but it went nowhere. The author tried to weave a romance into the story, but that fell flat too. What I really found annoying was the fact that Rachel was acting strangely on Christmas day, they caught her putting glass shards in the cranberries, and immediately the old grumpy guy knew it was the supernatural at work. Now how was he so lucky to guess it right away? I'd have called the cops and had her hauled away for attempted murder. Anyway, I forced myself to finish this as a test of endurance and I did it! No, the ending was no better than the beginning or middle. Sorry, Barbara Michaels, I usually can find something positive to say about a book, but not this one.

Rating:
Summary: Stitches in Time
Review: I thought the book was comfusing and at times boring. The summary of it sounded very exuberant and interesting because i love mysteries. But when i started (1rst chapter) it was so hard to get into it. It then got better later, and became interesting but it wasn't a very good book to keep (UNDER LOCK AND KEY!)But dont take my opinion because you really have to expearance it yourself. For the reason also may be the fact iam 14.

Rating:
Summary: I Really Liked This Book!
Review: I, for one, really liked this book. This was my first Barbara Michaels book, and I enjoyed it so much, I started reading all of Barbara Michael's books. This book is about Rachel, and it has psychic scary stuff in it. I really enjoy books (and movies) where the scary stuff isn't blood and guts psycho killer stuff. I like the characters, I love the fact that in all her books, she always has a bunch of cats and dogs, and I always feel so comfortable, I could be sitting at the kitchen table with these people, having a conversation and helping to figure out what is going on! And I love that the people in the story do regular things--let the dogs out, keep the cats from going into the shop, opening a can for food, these are regular people, just like me!

I was so intrigued that Pat, the "grumpy old guy" had a similar experience and it had affected him so strongly that he recognized instantly that Rachel was "shadowed", that I went out and did some searching and found the book that deals with him--Amie Come Home.

If you are looking for a pleasurable escape, I recommend this book. I've loaned out my copy 3 times, and 3 times I've ended up going and buying it again because the person that borrowed it from me loved it and asked if they could just keep it.

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Watch your back!
Review: Since I love Barbara Michaels, and the similar characters of AMMIE, COME HOME , SHATTERED SILK and now STITCHES IN TIME i picked this up quite readily when i learned that it had Ruth & Pat MacDougal, Kara (Karen) & Mark Brinckley, Tony & Cheryl Cardoza, and that horrible little dog, Alexander in it. This was an awesome story, through and through. It had elements of the supernatural, romance, and danger, in that order. I wouldn't reccomend this to any masculine men. God forbid one of the main parts be a quilt (gasp!) that has carried a hatred so strong that it still exists after many centuries and lays a curse on Rachel so that she tries to kill her best friends' husband. And it even has a few kisses (GASP!!). It was obviously written by a woman for a woman, which is what makes it so GOOD!!!! Try it, you'll love it!

Rating:
Summary: Good Premise, Unlikable Characters
Review: Was Barbara Michaels feeling ticked off while she churned out this one? I can't believe how nasty Kara (Karen from Shattered Silk) turned out. She's just plain rhymes-with-rich in this book; such behavior is NOT the same thing as being assertive, Ms. Michaels. The heroine (Rachel? Was that her name?) is a total nonentity, as others have mentioned....until the end, when suddenly she had all the answers. (Where'd she get them?) The hero (can't remember his name and don't care) was utterly unappealing. People seemed to do a lot of slapping and snapping at each other. I got fed up. But I did think it was a clever premise, so I flipped pages just to get the story and let the characters go on bickering without me.