SWEET MORNINGS: 125 Sweet and Savory Breakfast and Brunch Recipes by Patty Pinner

PUBLISHER: Agate Midway, 3/2016
GENRE: Cookbooks/Baking
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

FROM PUBLISHER: Sweet Mornings collects more than 100 sweet and savory options for breakfast and brunch. From donuts to crumb cakes to sweet rolls, these are the kind of treats that evoke feelings of warmth and comfort like only good, old-fashioned breakfast food can.

Author Patty Pinner has been collecting breakfast recipes for as long as she can remember. She comes from a long line of breakfast bakers, and many of the recipes in this book have been passed down from the "Greats"—great-grannies and -aunties—as well as cousins and other influential women in Pinner's life. To pore through these recipes, and then to bake them at home, evokes in Pinner memories of the many women who created them. Pinner includes charming, often comical stories about her life and family throughout the cookbook.

With generations-old recipes that range from the familiar (Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes) to the fun (Pineapple Upside Down Biscuits), Sweet Mornings is a reliable, well-tested addition to any kitchen. These recipes are ideal for slow weekend mornings and afternoons when you want to lure family and friends to the table with the intoxicating aroma of a homemade sweet treat baking in the oven.

THINGS I'VE MADE

LEMON-CORNMEAL MUFFINS

These taste good and are very dense. No hand mixer required, just a mixing bowl and whisk. You can't really taste the cornmeal and there's only the slightest bit of grittiness from it. I omitted the blueberries. I used water in the glaze in place of lemon juice. I made half the recipe and got seven. Though these have good flavor, I don't know if I'll make them again because of their density.

MISS ROSE'S BACON QUICHE

This was very easy to make but it did have a few extra steps, including cooking the bacon. I left out the mushrooms and used a little less bacon than called for. I used a premade store-bought pie crust instead of making my own like the recipe called for. This was too much mixture for a standard 9"/1 qt. pie pan so I used one that was almost 10". This was very good, made with eggs, milk, onion, bacon, and lots of cheese, but I think I'll use precooked sausage next time instead of bacon and make just half.

CHOCOLATE SWIRL COFFEE CAKE

This is terrible, borderline unedible, and an epic fail. Dry, crumbly, and bitter bitter bitter from way too much unsweetened cocoa powder that wasn't mixed with enough sugar  layered between the batter. I really wanted to use less but stuck to following the recipe.

The full recipe is to be made in a 9" square baking dish and uses a staggering mixture of 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (that amount I suspect was a typo) and just three tablespoons of sugar in the swirl layer. I made half the batter and swirl mixture and baked it in an 8" x 1 1/2" round pan. The recipe didn't state to stick a knife down into the batter and swirl it around to mix the chocolate layer in but I did it anyway. I've never heard of a 'swirl' cake that omitted that step. I made a chocolate glaze for it and that didn't help at all.

MORNING APPLE CRISP

Very good. I left the cinnamon out of the topping and put it in the apple mixture instead. In the filling I used white sugar in place of brown sugar. I'm very familiar with baking apple crisps and I knew I wouldn't want brown sugar in the mixture. This topping has too much brown sugar in it and the rolled (old fashioned) oats are very large and the mixture just sort of fell apart though it tasted good. In fact, the whole recipe uses way too much brown sugar.

The apples took a lot longer to bake than specified (35-45 minutes) in the recipe. I did use a slightly shorter baking dish so the apples weren't spread out as much. Raw apples, like raw potatoes, take quite awhile to cook. After 40 minutes the topping browned as much as I wanted but the apples were still hard. I covered the top of the baking dish loosely with foil and let it bake for an additional 35 minutes. I used a 2.5qt/11"x7" dish.

BLACKBERRY BUCKLE

This is very good. A buckle is cake batter that you top with fruit, fresh, frozen, or canned. The batter cooks up around the fruit, covering most of it. The recipe said to use a 9" square dish (which is usually 2" deep) but this was so much mixture. I smartly used a 10"x2.5" 7c. capacity dish, and it was perfect.

I used slightly more than 2c. frozen berries, and it was a little too much. They weren't as sweet as they should have been so I sprinkled close to 1/4c. white sugar on top, which gave the cooked cake a nice sweet top. Mine took 47 minutes to bake and the recipe stated to bake it 30-35 minutes. I didn't make the crumb topping. I felt it was very unnecessary. This was very easy to make and I'd make it again. I also doubled the salt in the batter for a total of 1/4t. and it was perfect.

PUFFED CHERRY PANCAKE CASSEROLE

This is very good but it's nothing like a pancake. It's made with eggs, sugar, butter, flour, milk, and flavorings. It bakes up into a thick slab of firm custard and the cherries rise to the top.

I made half the recipe in a 1.5qt baking dish and baked it 25 minutes. It's 1" thick. I added a little almond extract to the mixture because of the cherries and used just a few dashes of cinnamon. It needed more salt so I added a little extra but that wasn't enough. I think four tablespoons of butter was too much because it was squirting and running out of every crack so I'll use half that amount next time.

I'm very happy with this and I'll make it again. I already make a similar version. You could use fresh or frozen raspberries or blueberries in place of cherries, or chopped canned peaches.

LEMON-COCONUT BREAD

This was terrible. Dry, dense, flavor's not good, and was a waste of ingredients. Most sweet quick breads are moist but this one is truly drier like yeast batter bread. I made half in a 1qt. loaf pan and baked it for 38 minutes. I was only able to eat two pieces of this before it went into the trash.

PEACH COBBLER

This recipe calls for fresh or canned peaches so I used three 15oz. cans of peach chunks and some of their juice. I used a 10"x2.5", 7c. capacity round baking dish and it was barely deep enough. I added cinnamon to the peaches and left the nutmeg out of the topping. The topping is a very very sweet, thin eggless batter that gets poured evenly over the peaches. I added a little vanilla extract to it. It needed a little more salt but other than that, it's very good. I'm happy with how this turned out. 

MY THOUGHTS: Of the eight things I baked there are only four that I'd make again. None of the cakes turned out so I'd never bake another cake from this book. There's also a mistake in the brownie muffin recipe. It calls for 'semisweet cocoa powder' when there's no such thing. There aren't many photos in this book either.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

THE COOKIES & CUPS COOKBOOK: 125+ sweet & savory recipes reminding you to Always Eat Dessert First by Shelly Jaronsky

PUBLISHER: Gallery Books, 4/2016
GENRE: Cookbooks/Baking
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

FROM PUBLISHER: Wildly popular Cookies & Cups blogger Shelly Jaronsky’s eagerly anticipated cookbook features all-new, mouth-watering, delectable sweet treats 100% guaranteed to make you want to eat dessert first.

Now you can bring Shelly’s signature style into your own kitchen with more than 125 no-fail recipes, including some reader-approved favorites and a special bonus section dedicated to the quick and savory side of cooking. Authored in the witty, intimate style of the blog that draws more than three million monthly page views and a social following of more than seven hundred thousand fans, The Cookies & Cups Cookbook is the go-to source for all things flavorful, accessible, and irresistibly tasty.

THINGS I'VE MADE

COOKIES AND CREAM COOKIES

I made half the recipe and got 28 cookies. I omitted the chopped Oreo's and white chocolate chips. I added chopped lightly toasted slivered almonds and 1/4c. mini semisweet chocolate chips. My dough balls didn't spread much at all during baking and were very thick. When they came out of the oven I flattened them with the back of a measuring cup. I flattened the rest of the dough balls before baking. These are bland-tasting, not sweet enough, and I'd never make them again. Dense too.

EPIC CHOCOLATE PUDDING PIE

This pie couldn't have been easier to make. You bring ingredients to a boil on the stove, pour into prebaked pie shell and refrigerate for hours. I used a store-bought Keebler® shortbread pie crust and thawed frozen whipped topping instead of homemade whipped cream (I don't like it). I made half the recipe. The pie is a little bitter and not quite sweet enough. I think it would still be bitter with less chocolate so next time I make it I'm going to use bittersweet chocolate in place of unsweetened to see if that helps.

CRISPY CHEWY OATMEAL COOKIES

These turned out great but needed a little more salt. I used unsalted butter when the recipe called for salted so I needed to add a little more salt than the recipe called for. I did but not enough. I omitted the coconut and white chocolate chips and added mini semisweet chocolate chips and finely chopped lightly toasted pecans. I'd definitely make these again. I made half and got 24 cookies. My first batch, pictured, were overbaked by about one minute and they got harder as they sat in a sealed container.

TACO PASTA

This was pretty good and required just one deep skillet to cook the pasta in then the meat mixture. It uses ground beef, taco mix, chili powder, cumin, corn, crushed tomatoes, salsa, shredded cheese.

I made half the recipe but used even less pasta than called for. I used about 1 1/2 c. dry (5oz) instead of 8oz. I omitted the black beans. The salsa almost ruined this as the flavors didn't mesh with the other seasonings. I'll definitely make this again, minus the salsa.

TEXAS SHEET CAKE

I made half of this chocolate cake in a 9"x1.5" round pan*. The cake is made with equal parts butter and shortening, melted. It uses a small amount of unsweetened cocoa powder. It's dense and very good. I added extra salt because I used unsalted butter, not salted like the recipe states. I made my own vanilla frosting for this, not the chocolate one in the recipe.

*An 8"x2" round or square pan holds the same amount.

CATAGORIES: So You Think You Can Bake?, Eat Cake For Breakfast, Cookies, Brownies and Bars, Cake, Frosting, Pie, Party Snacks, Pizza and Pasta, Salads and Sammies, Family Favorites

MY THOUGHTS: I'm pretty disappointed in this book. I've made five things and there are only about six more I'd actually make and there's no telling how they'd turn out.

Of the things I've made only two were what I'd call really great, the sheet cake and oatmeal cookies. The great thing about the oatmeal cookies is that you can add whatever you want to the batter if you'd like, like chocolate chips, chopped dried fruit or nuts.

There's an attractive color photo for each and every recipe, which is very nice, and I love the cover. There's maybe eight recipes that have silly childish sprinkles or cereal decorating the top or stirred into the batter, which is very unappealing to me as an adult.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

HOLIDAY COOKIES: Prize-Winning Family Recipes from the Chicago Tribune for Cookies, Bars, Brownies and More by Chicago Tribune Staff

PUBLISHER: Agate Surrey, 10/2014
GENRE: Cookbooks/Baking/Cookies
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: C

FROM PUBLISHER: For nearly three decades, the Chicago Tribune has run its annual Holiday Cookie Contest, asking readers to submit recipes that are both unique and meaningful to them. Each recipe is accompanied by a brief description or story explaining why the cookie is special to the reader and their family. The Chicago Tribune's award-winning food writers and editors carefully consider these essays, select the finalists, and then publish winning recipes.

Good Eating's Holiday Cookies is a comprehensive collection of the best holiday cookies as curated from nearly three decades worth of reader submissions. These delicious recipes represent an eclectic mix of traditional and modern recipes from diverse cultural background and skill levels, such as Tropical Nuevo Latino Cookies, Dorie's Dark and Stormies, and Grandma Grump's Peanut Butter Drizzles.

Complete with full-color photography and helpful baking tips, this gorgeous compilation brings the warmth and expertise of a cross-generational baking community home for the holidays. From cookie classics to twists on old standards, Good Eating's Holiday Cookies provides the home baker with a plethora of possibilities for any holiday party.

THINGS I'VE MADE

JOAN'S LITTLE JOYS

I'm not impressed with these cookies at all. This baked cookie looks nothing like the one in the book. Based on the appearance of these cookies while they were baking, the way they were getting very brown around the edges before the minimum baking time was up, I realized the dough was exactly like a Linzer cookie, which is basically like a shortbread cookie; no egg, baking soda, or baking powder in the dough. The photo of the finished cookie in the book shows a very pale cookie that's decorated with a green-tinted glaze. That's why I decided to make it- because it looked nothing like a Linzer cookie. This type of cookie softens up soon after baking and makes for a terrible sandwich cookie. They taste good, though. But because of how quickly the cookie gets soft, I'd never make these again.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES WITH DRIED CHERRIES

This is a good-flavored sweet cookie that has ground oats in the dough. They're a little dry. I omitted the white chocolate and added lightly toasted chopped slivered almonds, almond extract, and cherries to half the dough. To the other half I added mini semisweet chocolate chips and finely chopped almonds.

I used a 1T. cookie scoop/1 1/2" diameter and got 36 dough balls. My cookies didn't spread out like the ones in the photo did.

MY THOUGHTS: This is an attractive book, inside and out, but I'm very disappointed in it. I only like one of the two recipes I tried and there's only about three more recipes I'd try.


I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

FROZEN IN FEAR: A True Story of Surviving the Shadows of Death by Jane Carson-Sandler

PUBLISHER: True Directions, 6/2014
GENRE: Nonfiction/Memoir/True Crime
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: A

FROM PUBLISHER: Jane Carson-Sandler, a native of Northern New Jersey, entered the US Air Force Nurse Corps in 1969 and retired in 1999 after serving 30 years of active and reserve duty. Seven years after entering the military, she was raped in her own home while her three year old son was lying beside her. Thirty eight years have passed. This notorious rapist and serial killer, known as the East Area Rapist (EAR), has raped 50 women and has murdered twelve people including men and women in California. He still has not been caught. With raw emotion, Jane's story entails how she survived not only this trauma, but some other bruising encounters with death such as her battle with alcohol and other serious health issues. Through the Grace and love of God, Jane went from being a victim to a survivor. She describes her God inspired journey in making this transition in hopes of helping and inspiring others.

MY THOUGHTS: This book is very condensed yet very informative about Jane's life. She survived a prolific California serial rapist in October 1976 (50 known victims) who went on to become a serial killer (The Original Night Stalker/ONS) of at least 10 people.

Jane's had a very interesting life. She's the daughter of a sometimes violent alcoholic electrician father and a mother who's a nurse. She became a nurse herself and has lived throughout the U.S. and Europe and now resides in South Carolina with her third husband.

I really wish she had expanded on her experience with talking to prison inmates about being a rape survivor. I'd love to know what they had to say about her story, especially since some of them are rapists themselves.

She's been a recovering alcoholic since 2003. I take issue with her comment, "God removed my addiction". An addiction doesn't get 'removed' by anything or anyone.

Jane's known as victim #5 in this case. You can see her interviewed on The Original Night Stalker episode of I.D.'s Dark Minds, season 2, episode 1.

Thank you to Jason for sending this to me.

MISTRESS OF MELLYN by Victoria Holt

PUBLISHER: Doubleday, 1960
GENRE: Fiction/Gothic Romantic Suspense
SETTING: England, 19th Century
PSEUDONMYS: link
MY GRADE: B-

FROM PUBLISHER: From the moment Martha Leigh first glimpsed the cold, brooding manse high on the fog-shrouded Cornish cliffs, she felt a chill of apprehension.

Then she met her employer, the arrogant master of Mellyn, and his spoiled, headstrong daughter, Alvean, and knew why the three governesses before her had left the eerie mansion.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Martha began to be aware of an atmosphere of menace. There had been whispers of past horrors, warnings of violence yet to come--and now there were strange accidents. It was madness to stay on.

But Connan TreMellyn's dark charm had over-powered Martha's natural caution. Against her will she felt irresistibly drawn to the handsome, enigmatic master of Mellyn.

Now, even as she found herself being pulled deeper and deeper into a frightening web of unseen terror, she knew she could not, would not leave...

MY THOUGHTS: This story was interesting enough but the plot was very slow moving the entire way through and fairly tame. There have been a few suspicious happenings at Connan's home lately; mysterious letters, falling boulders, ect. I never once guessed who the culprit was. I don't like that the tiny bit of action this story had took place during the last thirteen pages. I didn't get a gothic feel from this story either, not once.

Every single character was underdeveloped and I didn't feel as if I'd gotten to know any of them. With Connan I'm not seeing any 'charm', dark or otherwise. He wasn't around all that much. I don't understand where his attraction and 'love' for Martha came from at all. They're hardly ever together and all of a sudden he wants to marry her. I don't know why he didn't just marry Lady Linda Treslyn since they were involved with each other.

FORCED ENTRY ADULT DVD WITH TRAILER

STUDIO: Boojum Productions/Variety Films, 1973
RUN TIME: 83 minutes
DVD RELEASE: After Hours Cinema, 2007
UPC: 612385423192
RATING: XXX
PURCHASE: link, link
CD-ROM: link
MY GRADE: B

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Forced Entry is a 1973 pornographic film written and directed by Shaun Costello under the pseudonym Helmuth Richler. It stars Harry Reems as an unnamed and psychotic Vietnam War veteran who sexually assaults and kills random women who stop at the filling station where he works as an attendant. Called "one of the most disturbing and unpleasant porn features ever made" the film utilizes actual footage of the war, predominantly in the rape and murder sequences.

SPOILER SUMMARY: Harry's working at a gas station. He pumps gas for a woman (Jutta David, from Germany) and when she pays him in cash, he tells her he's always getting robbed and needs her to pay with a credit card. He lies and tells her that her name and address didn't show up too good on the copy so he asks her for both, writes the info down then follows her home. He's hanging around inside her apartment building, then goes out on the fire escape and spies through her window. He's got a gun stuffed in the waistband of his jeans and is holding a knife. Jutta's in the bedroom with a man (Shaun Costello). He's naked on the bed, she's naked except for underwear. She blows Shaun, then he fucks her missionary position for a long time. She gets on top and rides him for a short time then she lifts up off him and he jerks off until he cums.

Later on, Jutta's dressed, sitting on the sofa reading something. Harry unlocks the front door with his knife. He creeps up behind her, puts his hand over her mouth and threatens to 'cut her guts out' if she makes a sound. She asks him what he wants and he says, "Lady, I want you to take my prick out of my pants and suck my cock. You hear that? You hear that? You're gonna suck my cock!" She kneels in front of him and blows him. While that's going on he's having flashbacks of Vietnam (and real footage is used). He finishes himself off and wipes his dick and cum across her mouth. He tells her he didn't enjoy it at all. He slowly drags his knife across her throat, leaving a thin red line/cut and it kills her. It looks incredibly fake. He kisses her lips.

Harry's standing outside (work?) when a woman (Laura Cannon) stops in her car and asks for directions. He gives them to her and follows her on foot. She arrives at the house and he's watching her from the woods across the street and having more Vietnam flashbacks. He goes inside, up the stairs and watches her as she showers. She sees him, screams, he pushes her into the bedroom and tosses her onto the bed. He strips down and forces her to blow him while holding a gun to her head. He says to her, "You know what I'm gonna do to you once you get it up there nice and good, honey? I'm gonna stick it up your asshole, that's what I'm gonna do. You're gonna like that, aren't ya?" He lays on the bed, she's to his right laying beside him, leaning up and over him, blowing him. She gets on all fours and he rapes her anally. He repeatedly asks her if her ass is bleeding yet and says he's going to show her 'a lot of bleeding'. He pulls out and cums on her ass, visualizing dead children in Vietnam. He tells her he didn't like it and that she got his 'prick all full of shit' (not true). She rolls over on the bed until she's onto the floor. He slices her left shoulder with his knife, then stabs her through the belly button. He kisses her then lays her back on the hardwood floor.

A brunette girl, either Nina Fawcett or Ruby Runhouse, is hitchhiking. A blond driving a van pulls over and they chat. They both walk over and sit down on something. They talk about doing drugs, the blond tells her she does live sex shows for $200 a week and tries to get the other girl interested in doing them and her. They drive to the gas station where Harry works. Harry tells them they'll have to pay with a credit card and lies to get them to give their address. Like with the others, he follows them. They're at home smoking a joint on a sofa or something. He's spying through the window. They take their shirts off and go into the bedroom and get naked. One eats the other out. He comes into the room and they're not really scared because they're high. The blond tells him he's the guy from the gas station. He's getting very angry because they aren't scared and he's continuing to have flashbacks of the horrors of Vietnam and the two women he's killed recently. He keeps telling them to 'stay away' from him. He blows his brains out.

MY THOUGHTS: I've been wanting to see this for over ten years and was excited when I finally got the chance. After watching it I realized it wasn't as rough/violent as it sounded, either, in my opinion. The 'rape' and manhandling of women in R-rated films is far rougher than what's in his film. I see this more as a mainstream film with explicit sex as opposed to a xxx porn with a plot. I'm not ashamed to say I like this.

There's not too much dialogue in this and Harry has most of it. The scene at the end with the two women, they're beyond annoying and they sort of ruined the ending for me. From what I've read they weren't really actors and it seems to me they were ad-libbing most of their dialogue. They couldn't have done a worse job had they tried.

Here's a good review for it, here too.

Harry died from pancreatic cancer in March 2013.

Same review here.

HER LADYSHIP'S COMPANION by Evangeline Collins

PUBLISHER: Berkley Sensation, 5/2009
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England and Scotland, 1816
AUTHOR SITE: link
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: In the Scottish countryside of Selkirk, Lady Isabella Stirling resides at Bowhill Park, serving penance for a sin that nearly ruined her family. For five years she has been condemned to a loveless marriage and confined to the estate where she does little more than tend her rose garden. With her husband absent for months at a time and few visitors, Bella lives a lonely existence, denying the passions that burn within her very soul.

Then her cousin comes for a visit and makes an outrageous suggestion: what Bella needs is a lover. A hired lover. Despite her need, Bella says no. But soon Mr. Gideon Rosedale arrives-and he is at her service for two weeks. Indulging in what she intends to be a harmless flirtation, Bella is overcome by Gideon’s intoxicating presence. And when she at last permits him to satisfy her desires, she discovers she’s done the unthinkable-she’s fallen in love.

MY THOUGHTS: The story takes place in England and Scotland in 1816 and spans about ten months. The heroine is Isabella ‘Bella’ Stirling. She’s 24 and has been married to Lord Stirling, 34, for almost five years. He’s impotent and they have no relationship of any kind with each other and he’s rarely at home. He’s both physically and verbally abusive toward her. Bella is 5’8″ and has pale blond and violet eyes. She’s terribly unhappy. Her parents are dead and she’s got two brothers and two sisters who have never come to visit her.

The hero is Gideon Rosedale. He’s twenty-seven, 6’1″ and has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He’s a prostitute and has been for ten years. His mother was one and he doesn’t know who his father is. He was raised up in a brothel. Bella’s cousin, Esmé, hires him to ‘service’ Bella for two weeks. That’s how the hero and heroine meet.

Bella is so lonely and isolated. I think she became a bit obsessed with Gideon, especially after their original two week stay was over. She was so starved or affection that once she warmed up to him, she was not emotionally prepared to let him go. To me, she showed signs of being mentally unbalanced and seemed a bit immature. She also seems hypersexual. That combined with her overall emotional state made me wonder if she was mentally ill. I feel she was a bit of a weak character, pretty passive with things that had nothing to do with Gideon.

Gideon seemed a little bland to me. I’d have liked to have known a bit more about his upbringing. I don’t think his character was developed quite enough. Bella’s surely wasn’t. We weren’t told a thing about her past; childhood, upbringing, nothing. I want to know why her siblings never came to visit her.

The sex scenes were very explicit but ordinary and there were plenty of them. I was a bit surprised by one scene near the end involving something the hero did to the heroine.

Overall, there wasn’t much going on in this story but sex. No real plot at all except toward the end when Bella’s husband pays her a visit. Though the heroine is married to another, she and Gideon have their happily-ever-after.

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

THE SECRET LIVES OF ADULT STARS DOCUMENTARY DVD

STUDIO: Xenon Pictures, Inc.
RELEASED: 2004/84 minutes
RATING: R
PURCHASE: link
MY GRADE: B

FROM DVD: Thirty porn stars discuss, in their own words, life in the Adult film industry. Topics such as the toll on personal relationships, physical demands, the risks of AIDS transmission, drug use and social stigmas are addressed in disturbingly candid interviews. From new starlets to legends, male and female, this is what it's like to be an Adult Star.

You'll meet Nina Hartley, a former nurse who is a frequent speaker at many events supporting free speach and sex education, and a co-star in the film Boogie Nights; I.S. Levine, editor for Flynt Publications and co-author of the book Coming Attractions, he has written numerous articles for Details and Rolling Stone and is an on-camera consultant for E! Entertainment's Hollywood Profiles; Julia Ann, Juli Ashton, Shayla La Veaux, Brittany Andrews, Anna Malle, Kylie Ireland, Felecia, Sasha Monet, Randy West, Tony Tedeschi, Asia Carrera, Bud Lee, Caressa Savage, Chloe, Jill Kelly, Steven Hatcher, Mike Raven, Nicole Sheridan, Bella Starr, Steven St. Croix, Devon Wolf and Melanie Stone.

Here at last are the real stories of the real people wo reisk their reputations, their health- even their lives- to create America's sexual fantasies. The lives of Adult Stars are secret no more.

MY THOUGHTS: This was a decent documentary but could have been so much better. This is rated R so no penis shots or closeups of vagina's. The interviews were conducted on-set with each actor chatting about various things. I'd have preferred it if they'd been interviewed in a different setting like you'd see on biography-type shows instead of outdoors and indoors while they're killing time between scenes.

Only a couple people talked briefly about how they got into the business and that was disappointing to me. I wanted to know what lead each and every one of them to this line of work but learned nothing about it, really.

I didn't care for Brittany Andrews and found her to be a bit arrogant and foul-mouthed, like some would expect someone in her line of work to act and speak. She said male actors who have trouble maintaining an erection are 'losers' and said she felt bad for the men who had to have sex with 'ugly girls'. She seems to think she's hot shit but I don't find her face, or attitude, to be attractive at all. She said that 'fluffers' don't exist in the porn industry, you know, girls who try to keep the guys erect between takes. Total myth.

Something interesting that I'd not heard of is something called a FIP, which stands for fake internal pump. So some of the 'money shots' are faked....I guess. No one said that exactly but it lead me to believe that's what they were talking about. I can't find any info on it so if you know more about it let me know!

Asia Carrera said that some of the small-breasted women who do stripping too don't earn as much as the large-breasted women and that's why some end up getting breast implants. So I guess you gotta spend money to make money! Asia doesn't strip, I think she said she's too 'chicken' for that (go figure!) but got implants anyway....and talked about how nice they were. They do look pretty natural because they hang like real ones and aren't round and melon-like like most implants are. Jill Kelly was massaging one of hers.

Nina Hartley jokingly put her hand on some man's crotch and said that some would consider that to be rude but she thought the opposite! She was a nurses before she got into porn but unfortunately she never mentioned it.

There's a filmography for each of the actors in the bonus features and a short 2-6 minute interview with the director and producer that wasn't that good.

Overall, this was alright but not as good as I'd hoped. The description from the DVD makes it sound a bit more interesting that it is.

This came from my personal collection. Same review here. (site NSFW)

BOUND BY THE HEART by Marsha Canham

PUBLISHER: Avon, 10/1984
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: Caribbean & Barbados, 1811/12
BODICE RIPPER? Yes, very mild
PURCHASE: link
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: D

FROM PUBLISHER: Rescued from the stormy waters of the Caribbean, Summer Cambridge, daughter of the British governor of Barbados faced a new threat aboard the American ship Chimera. Captain Morgan Wade, the notorious buccaneer, brazenly ordered the young beauty to his cabin to be held for his own pleasure!

Summer fought him with the ferocity of a wildcat, but held by his insistent passion, she was swept by waves of desire she had never known, and was powerless to resist him.

Even as she returned to Barbados and the marriage that had been arranged for her, she still trembled with memories of those days and nights of forbidden passions, and of the man whose love would forever hold her heart captive.

MY THOUGHTS: I'm reviewing the out of print paperback from 1984, not the rewritten e-book, which has the rape scene removed.

Summer is blond with gray-green eyes. Her age was never given so I'll assume she's in her early twenties. She's a typical, slightly boring heroine. Not very feisty like I prefer, especially in these older books.

The American hero, Morgan, is thirty-four years old and has long black hair and blue eyes. He buys cargo and guns legally then sells them to the French, then transports them to America. In typical bodice ripper fashion, he rapes Summer aboard his ship once or twice (page 35 of print book) and makes no apologies for it. That's pretty much where his abuse of her ends.

I liked her terrible husband Bennett Winfield. He lost interest in her right after they married. He suspected her of harboring feelings for Morgan and a secret, and forbade her ever seeing him again and threatened to ruin her and her family if she did. He's shown violence towards her too. I like him much more than I do Morgan.

The story spans about a little over a year, beginning in June 1811. This just wasn't a good story at all. It fits my criteria of a mild bodice ripper; it had the typical arrogant hero, rape, a decent amount of time apart from each other (over a year), and evil secondary characters and lots of action involving ships.

Morgan's slightly younger half brother, Stuart Roarke was just pointless in this story.

I liked the first 119 pages when Summer and her ten year old brother Michael were on Morgan's ship then island, Bounty Key, but once she returned home about a third of the way into the story, boring throughout the rest of the novel. The last fifty pages or so was nothing but one ship fighting against another and I truly forced myself to finish the book. It majority was so uninteresting to me. I really feel like this historical romance turned into purely historical fiction. The only good thing I can say about this is that I love the cover.

WHERE PASSION LEADS by Lisa Klepyas

PUBLISHER: Onyx, 1987 (her first novel)
SETTING: England/France, 1816
HEROINE: Rosalie Belleau, 20
HERO: Randall Berkeley, 28
VIRGIN HEROINE: Yes
BODICE RIPPER? No
RAPE? Yes, once by hero
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: Beautiful young Rosalie Belleau was swept up into an aristocratic world of luxury, license and intricate intrigue when the most notorious and handsome rake in London, Lord Randall Berkeley; abducted her in the belief that she was any man’s for the taking. Before he realized his mistake, he had branded her with his desire-and lost his heart to this girl so unlike any he had ever known. Both Rosalie, waking to womanhood, and Sir Randall, learning the power of lose, were in the dark about each other–until the flames of passion lit their way through a labyrinth of danger… to the dazzling heights of ecstasy….

SPOILER SUMMARY:

HEROINE: She's 20 year old Rosalie Belleau, born in 1796 in France. She's got long dark hair and blue eyes. She's an only child. Rosalie is personal maid to Lady Winthrop and companion to her daughter Elaine.

HERO: He's 28 year old Randall Berkeley but goes by 'Rand'. He's got "deep amber hair" and "unfashionably dark skin", hazel eyes. Has one brother named Colin. He's two years younger than Rand.

The book opens with Rosalie asking her mother Amille about her father. Amille said her father had been a confectioner who had died when Rosalie was one month old. Amille wanted to change the subject. Amille asked Rosalie what she wanted out of marriage. Rosalie wanted contentment. She said she wanted to live and had a suspicion that she'll end up a spinster.

Rand and his grandfather were discussing the family business, Berkeley Shipping. Rand said he'd take care of the problem that they were having with the business and would travel to France to take care of it. His grandfather told him that he didn't like that he was the first born, making him heir to his grandfathers fortune, since Rand's parents were dead. He then told Rand he didn't think he was deserving of the fortune and that he trusted his brother Colin more.

Rand went to the club to hang out with his friends before traveling to France the next day. While he was there, Rosalie and her mother Amille were at the theater. A candle on stage caught the curtains on fire, so everyone ran out of the place out into the street. Some man was chasing after Rosalie, grabbing at her and she scratched his face. He punched her and knocked her out cold. She fell and her face landed on Rand's foot. He'd just come out of the club with his friends. Rand picked her up and put her over his shoulder. The dock worker who'd been chasing Rosalie told Rand that she was his since he'd been chasing her so Rand paid the man for his 'trouble'. Rand took her home in his carriage.

She woke up in Rand's bed with a terrible headache and called out for her mother, since she was a bit disoriented. The first thing Rand said to her was, "So they're blue", talking about her eyes. She asked him how he came to be there and he told her she was accosted the night before and that it had been impossible for him to ignore her. She said she needed to leave. He told her to sit down so they could discuss what she owed him for rescuing her. She told him she owed him nothing and he said, the hell you don't!" She got up, dressed only in her chemise, and started to get dressed. Rand told her, "I wouldn't bother with that just yet." She continued to get dressed and he told her to put the garment down. She told him he wouldn't bed her and grabbed up his razor and threatened him with it. He grabbed her wrist and put the blade up to her throat, causing her to get nicked. He put a cloth up to her neck to get up the blood and she smacked him. He kissed her and dragged her over to the bed. He took his robe off, revealing his nakedness. He spread her arms wide and she said, "Don't do this to me. You could have anyone." She told him she was a virgin and he said he didn't believe her. She said it was true and he said, "Then it seems I'm called upon to find proof of your claim." Then he raped her and found that she was indeed a virgin; he saw the blood.

She knew she couldn't return to work since she didn't come home the night before and Rand knew it too. He didn't want her to have to become a prostitute so he told her she was going with him to France for a few weeks, until he could figure out what to do with her. She told him she didn't want to have to 'submit' to him for even one night and he said he wouldn't touch her. She said she didn't know what to do and he told her to decide whether or not she was going with him or not. She decided to go with him and wrote a letter to her mother, letting her know where she was going.

They arrived in France and shared adjoining rooms. They later went to the dressmakers to have clothing made for her. They spent two weeks avoiding each other and really only saw each other at dinner. He opened up a bit about himself. He told her his mother was French and she and his father had lived together in London while he and his brother Colin had been raised by servants in another household in England. When Rand was in his early teens, his father was suffering with gout and moved in with he and his brother. His father started drinking heavily because of gout pain. To amuse himself, he'd force Rand to drink too. Rand became an alcoholic. His mother knew about it but didn't do anything to stop it. She'd grown up wealthy in France. A few years later his mother died in labor with another mans child. His grandparents made him sober up and sent him away to school. A year later his father died. Rand told Rosalie that he wanted to sell the French estates that belonged to his mother.

Rand left the room then to go do something and Rosalie broke down and cried for him and his childhood. She berated herself and asked how she could cry for him after what he'd done to her. Later she told him he didn't have any respect for her and he said he did. She was remembering a dance they'd shared recently and she realized then that she was starting to care for him, her rapist. They then went to visit his friend George Brummell, who goes by the name "the Beau", again. He recognized the pin Rosalie was wearing on a ribbon around her neck. It had the letter B on it, which she was told by her mother stood for their last name, Belleau, and said the pin had been her fathers. Beau called in his servant who then told everyone that that was the same pin Beau, who is 18 years older than Rosalie, gave to a girlfriend, Lucy Doncaster many, many years before. On a previous visit, Beau and told Rosalie that she resembled Lucy and showed her a photo of her from a locket. He told them that Lucy disappeared one day way back then and a year later, was found dead in the river, where she'd drowned herself. Rosalie's mother Amille had been Lucy's governess then. So it looks like George 'the Beau' Brummell and Lucy Doncaster may be Rosalie's parents. Lucy must have given Rosalie to Amille to raise. That would mean that soon after Rosalie's birth, Lucy drowned herself.

Rosalie is very upset by this news, so they leave to go back to the hotel. The next day Rand went to see Beau. He told Beau that because of all the debt he left behind in England, he'd better never tell anyone that Rosalie may be his daughter because she may be thrown into debtors' prison. Days later, Rand was shown a newspaper article that said it's rumored that Rosalie is the daughter of Beau. Rand became jealous at the thought of men chasing after her when they find out she's the daughter of a famous man. He got the idea then to marry her, to protect her from Beau's debt. He went home and decided not to tell Rosalie about the article. He asked her to go to Paris with him for a week because he had business to discuss. He wanted to shield her from the rumor. She agreed to go with him.

One night after arriving in Paris, she and Rand were dancing together after dinner. She thought to herself that she was in love with him. They went back to their hotel room. Her luggage had been put into the ajoining room but she didn't want to leave Rand's room, so she asked him to unlace the back of her dress. He told her she'd better go but she didn't move. She said his name and he asked her if she knew what she was doing. She said yes, so they had sex. The next night at the opera house, a woman came up to Rand and Rosalie. She told Rosalie she must be the famous Miss Belleau, then told her she'd been written about in the paper. They went home. Rosalie was mad because Rand hadn't told her about the article in the paper. She said when they got back to London, she was going to find a job and ask her mother about Beau. Rand said he couldn't let her live alone in London, then asked her to marry him. She said she didn't want to marry him or be kept by him. She loves him, though she hasn't told him yet, and thinks that one day he'll lose interest in her. He said to her, "You'll marry me if I have to tempt, bully and seduce you into it." They had sex then got into an argument over her not wanting to marry him.

Rand left the room then Rosalie got violently sick fromt he wine. She rang for a maid then passed out. The doctor was called in and Rand figured that the wine had been drugged with opium. He tried to find out who could have drugged it but came to the conclusion that it'd be impossible to figure it all because there were so many kitchen staff workers and servants. He knew that Beau had gossiped about Rosalie possibly being his daughter and that may have led to her being poisoned. He wrote to Mr. Bonchamps, inquiring about Beau's credit 'affairs'. He told the man to visit with each and every person Beau has done business with and tell them to cut off his credit. That night in the room with Rosalie, Rand saw someone unlock the door then go over to Rosalie. It was dark so Rand couldn't see who it was. Rand grabbed the man around the neck from behind and the man stabbed Rand then fled. The maid came into the room, 15 year old Mireille Germain, to tend to his wound. He told her to not mention the intruder to anyone. A few days later Rand was sitting by Rosalie's bedside while she was still unconcious. He told her she had broken him and asked her not to leave him here alone. Just then Rosalie woke up. He asked Mireille, the maid, to bring her some broth and water. Rand knew someone was out to get Rosalie, so they, along with the maid, left for his familys chateau. He told her she needed to recover in the country. He didn't tell her about the intruder.

One day, she found a drunk Rand sitting in front of a portrait of his mother. Thinking about his parents had upset him so he started drinking. He told her to get out. She told him he's not accountable for anything his parents had done. When she awoke the next day, the village bell was ringing. There was a fire in the village. Rand showed up and Rosalie begged him not to help with the fires but he went anyway. He told her to say at the house but later, he saw her helping out in the village. He asked her why she'd disobeyed him and she said, "Because I love you." Later that night in her bedroom, he told her that he loved her and asked her again to marry him. She said yes.

A letter arrived from her mother, Amille. She confirmed that Lucy and Beau were indeed her parents. Amille also told Rosalie that she should stay in Rand's care as long as possible but she didn't say why. At the same time her letter was delivered, Rand got a letter from his brother notifying him of their grandfathers death. They needed to go back to England within a few days. Rand wanted the maid Mireille and her older brother Guillaume to go with them. Guillaume had showed up there one day after Mireille told him she was going with Rand and Rosalie to the chateau. Rand allowed him to say and found work for him. Before leaving for England, Rosalie, Mireille and Guillaume went to the fair. Rosalie wanted to have her fortune read so there were heading to the where the Gypsy lady was. Guillaume made up a lie about having dropped the money purse and he asked his sister to go look for it. She went to look for it and Guillaume grabbed Rosalie's wrists and tied them, gagged her and tied her legs together. He told her that the world is not good to people like her. He gave her to the Gypsy woman and she left with her. Guillaume told Mireille what he'd done, told her that someone was offering a lot of money to kidnap Rosalie and that the two of them were going to be rich. Mireille had grown close to Rosalie and shocked at what her brother had done. She told him she never wanted to see him again and walked away from him. She left a note for Rand telling him her brother is the one who stabbed him in Paris and that he's sent Rosalie to London. Mireille wasn't heard from again.

Rand returned home to England and told his brother Colin what had happened. He got Colin to go around to various clubs to see if he could find out anyhing about Rosalie. When Rand was in a club, he met Rosalie's mother, Amille. They went back to her home to talk privately. She told him that Lucy had been deeply in love with Beau but he didn't love her. She was supposed to marry the Earl of Rotherham, but she didn't want to and that he was very obsessed with her. Lucy was pregnant with Rosalie and very depressed so she and her governess Amille traveled from England to France to say with Amille's family. Lucy never told her family she was pregnant. She gave birth to Rosalie in France, then drowned herself a few months later. Amille hadn't planned to raise Rosalie but ended up doing so. She made up the story about Rosalie's father and being widowed. She told him it was probably the Earl of Rotherham that was after Rosalie, not Beau.

Back in England, Rosalie was being held in a bedroom. The Earl of Rotherham came into the room. He told her that Lucy had been his and since Rosalie is her daughter, she now belonged to him. He told her she was a whore like her mother. She hit him in the throat and ran out of the room. As she was running toward the front door, Rand, out of the blue, showed up, since Amille told him the Earl probably had her. Rotherham was watching from the top of the stairs and he challanged Rand to a saber fight, which of course, Rand won.

Last chapter begins with them taking about it being their first day was husband and wife. Rand said she has men searching all over for Guillaume. Rosalie told him she wants her maid Mireille found. That's how the book ended.
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MY THOUGHTS: I thought this was a pretty good book and I never got bored with it. What I liked most about it was her 15 year old maid Mireille. Mireille is very guarded about her past. Her brother said once that their mother was a prostitute and that he and Mireille are half siblings. At the end of the book Mireille up and disappeared but guess what? She's got her own story in this books sequel, "Forever My Love". In the book she's 20 years old and uses the name Mira.