The book I am reviewing in this post is Cherub: Class A by Robert Muchamore which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. This book is the second book in the first series of cherub. Cherub is a fictitious spy organisation that recruits children as spies and this book is a thriller for young people and I have to admit isn't as violent as Guardian Angel although the main theme which is about smashing cocaine dealing networks is probably not for young children. This book kicks off with James the lead character doing a qualifying mission which if he passes he will become a spy. A rottweiller attacks him and his partner on the mission and they think they have failed the mission miserably but they are told if they walk the 10 miles back to base they will pass. James then has to go undercover and infiltrate the drug dealing racquet. It involves befriending the dealers son and trying to get a job as a drugs courier. The dealer specializes in deliveries to rich peoples doorsteps within the hour. Interestingly he won't let his children work as couriers or dealers. He is extremely wealthy because he started dealing in cocaine as the market was taking off. Anyway the spies working for cherub pose as a family and the parents are karate instructors which works out well because the people they are befriending are into boxing and have a boxing club from which they recruit people mostly children. James is attacked by some skinheads whilst working as a courier and they take his money which is from the drugs. Also the skinheads try to rob the dealer because he wants a career change. This book isn't as good as guardian angel but is good and of course there is a happy ending. If you are interested in teen fiction you might be interested to know I have done a post on guardian angel and also ashes by Ilsa Bick at http://oldscratbag.com

The book I read to research this post was Haircutting for Dummies by J Elaine Spears which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. A professional hair dresser will think nothing of buying a pair of professional scissors for several hundred dollars. If you buy a basic pair they should stay sharp for several months and you should only use them to cut hair. A hair dresser will pay to get a professional pair sharpened but a basic pair is disposable and should be thrown away when blunt. Stylists also use styling scissors which have a diagonal blade and generally cost more than standard scissors. You need a comb with wide teeth and one with close teeth. Long hair in particular requires a widely spaced comb to untangle the hair. Ideally you should get a brush made of boar hair which closes the cuticles as you brush the hair making it shine. These are expensive so many people use nylon ones which aren't always made of nylon but are called that. You need a stiff brush called a porcupine although it's not made from that. You may need a set of electric clippers and now there are some good ones that don't require oil. You need a spray bottle because ideally you should wash hair prior to cutting but the spray bottle can mist the hair and do the same job also misting the hair will help hold a new style. The easiest hairstyles are probably the crew cut, the flat top which requires an afro comb and the mop which only requires half the hair to be layered. Short hair is generally easier to cut than long hair. When you cut hair you will usually hold it in between your fingers to get it straight but you can also do it with the comb if it's short. The piece of hair at the front that makes up the fringe is called a bang. I may get more books on haircutting as it is quite an interesting subject.

The book I am reviewing in this post is Hot Blooded by Lisa Jackson which is a very good thriller which I bought from kindle. It's a standalone thriller set in New Orleans which does provide some steaminess to the story. The story kicks off with an exciting but shocking scene where the baddie Father John murders a prostitute. He commits quite a few murders in the book which he blames on a radio talk show host called Doctor Sam. He is also obsessed with anything religious especially the poem Paradise Lost which is about Adam & Eve being cast out of the Garden of Paradise. He stalks Doctor Sam and it's quite chilling how he knows her personal details like address and phone number but she has no idea who he is. He also keeps phoning her radio show which sends the audience figures spiralling. Sam hasn't been doing the show for very long and she got the house she lives in cheap because the previous lady owner was murdered and we later find out she was having an affair with 2 brothers which has a bearing on why Father John is behaving the way he is. Sam has befriended the previous occupants parents and knows quite a lot about the case which results in Ty starting a relationship with her although he is only interested in writing a book about Annie the previous occupant. It conveys the powerlessness of being stalked really well. In the front of the book Lisa says she named the bad guy John after a close friend of hers. Finally there is a happy ending.

The book I am reviewing in this post is Black Dawn by Rachel Caine which is an excellent vampire novel which I bought from kindle. This book is part of the morganville vampire series. I think this book would particularly appeal to teenage girls although it is quite violent and some might be put off by that. The story centres around a town in texas called morganville which is in the desert and is controlled by a vampire community. The early books in this series were written from the viewpoint of a vampire called Claire Danvers in the later books several viewpoints are used. In this story the daug the mortal enemies of the vampires have infiltrated morganville and there has been a massacre. This town was the last stronghold for many vampires and many have had to leave rather than fight the daug. The daug sing a kind of song much like sirens used to and this enables them to lure humans and vampires to their deaths where they can digest them in deep water. They are kind of watery blobs but they can take a human form. The humans and the vampires had a big battle with the daug and unfortunately were only able to rescue 3 vampires including the leader of the vampires, Amelie. Unknown to them although she is badly injured she is also the master daug and wants to kill vampires which she can do by touching them and draining them of their power. The vampires have a kind of uneasy relationship with the humans because although they live on their blood they minimize how many they kill but the daug seem intent on killing all of them which is why they side with the vampires. Interestingly Rachel used to be an insurance fraud investigator and has played music with John Williams the film composer. I think Black Dawn would make either a good film or tv series as there is plenty of action.

The book I read to research this post was Endometriosis for Dummies which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. This illness may be a few similiar illnesses and is basically that you have heavy periods and the bloody material breaks off travels around the body causing cramps in various places. If you have these kinds of symptoms it can be something like pre menstrual syndrome or even fibromyalgia. Incidently I have done a post on fibromyalgia at

http://daveroberts69.wordpress.com

Until fairly recently this illness wasn't taken seriously by even the medical professionals. Many people with this illness were assumed to be malingerers & many had to almost suffer in silence. It's not helped by the attitude in some societies that sex and periods are generally painful and you don't talk about it. At one time the only way to prove you had it was to be cut open in an operation on that part of the body and the surgeon might notice a build up of bloody material. Obviously it isn't a good idea to be cut open specifically to see if you have endometriosis as it can cause problems that generally outweigh the benefits. Nowadays they can use CT Scans & MRI Imaging although MRI which uses powerful magnets can't be used if you have anything like a pacemaker or even a pierced belly button or anything else that's metallic.An MRI is better than a CT Scan. In some cases sufferers get depression which then has to be treated with anti depressants this is partly caused by the emotional turmoil of the illness but also the person is also losing hormones and other nutrients when they have the heavy periods. Another issue is osteoporosis because women lose a lot of calcium anyway and in this illness it maybe speeded up. In some cases getting pregnant may help temporily because your periods are halted but whether that's a good idea is debatable. Your risk of getting certain types of cancer are increased slightly when you have this illness but interestingly your chances of getting cervical cancer are reduced. You might be interested to know I have also done a post on osteoporosis at the above address.

The book I read to research this post was Far from the Madding Crowds by Mark Cowan which is an excellent book which I downloaded for free from kindle. This book is about the soccer season and eventual promotion of Guisborough from Northern League Second Division. While that might sound a bit obscure it's a very witty and many of the things in the book apply to most non league clubs. One funny point is particularly when your side gets thrashed by the other team away the away teams local radio station spends a lot of time interviewing fans about the state of the home ground, what the pies are like and the weather which they blame on the home side. Guisborough is a fairly small town with a population of 20,000 in the north east not far from Middlesborough. This book looks at this brand of soccer in an affection way, you can tell he is a huge fan. There's a funny quip about if you visit Darlington's ground which is inappropriately large for a club their size, you could be forgiven for thinking it's Middlesborough's Riverside Stadium. There's also a funny about his dad who is of scottish descent dropped all his money in the excitement of Guisborough scoring and after he finished picking it all up had 20p more than he originally had. These kind of clubs are often lucky to get 50 spectators and if they make it through a round of the FA Vase and make £1,500 that's a lot of money to these clubs. I live in Birmingham and remember in the 80's and 90's when 2 local sides Telford United & Kidderminster Harriers did well in the FA Cup & Harriers beat Birmingham City among others. I think it's nice when people support their local non league side and a ticket is normally quite cheap especially compared to what the Premiereship Teams charge.

The novel I am reviewing in this post is Guardian Angel by Robert Muchamore which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a local bookstore. If you remember I reviewed a book called Ashes a while back and this book like that one is for teenagers. It's also at no. 1 on the UK book chart which is unusual for a book aimed at teenagers but I think is so good it should appeal to a wider audience especially parents. This book is part of the second cherub series and is second in the series. The first series contained 12 books. Cherub is an english spy organisation which employs teenagers because they can do espionage without attracting attention. In this book there are 3 newly trained who had to find 3 t shirts concealed on an island behind bullet proof glass which they thought they had to break although that was part of their commanding officers sense of humour. Anyway then we skip to the mission which features a teenage heir to a fortune whose parents have died and he stands to inherit everything. The only thing his wicked uncle has him kidnapped and is going to have him killed but that Ethan has a friend in cherub called Ryan who has saved his life several times in the past and is going to rescue him. This story is quite gritty and certainly not for younger readers. Anyway cherub wants the company wound up because it is involved in a lot of shady dealings. One problem then of course is that the company will fragment and the bad people will go to ground which is where the next novel will start.

The book I am reviewing in this post is Hold Tight by Harlan Coben which is an excellent thriller which I bought from a car boot sale. The book is about 2 parents and the father is a doctor and their son has just lost a close friend and they want to keep an eye on him. They do this by putting spy software on his computer. At the beginning of the book it says that the software technology used in the book is actual and having quite a lot of knowledge on that subject I can vouch for it. There's 2 main types of software one is screen capture which captures the whole screen and the other type is a key logger which captures the key presses. Incidently another use for a key logger is if you are teaching typing and need to see what someone has typed. Anyway they decide not to tell their son and the version they use appears to be the screen capture type. Their son appears to be getting strange messages telling him not to say anything. This is connected to the fact that someone stole some prescription pads from his father and he is being put under pressure to steal more. Also the people he is dealing don't take no for an answer and are rather sadistic. Also on the night their son's friend died he phoned him but they had fallen so he never answered the phone and he feels guilty because it was suicide. His parents discover that he's being going to the Jaguar Club where the kids have been taking and stealing pills like valium to make them high and replacing them with black market copies which often only contain aspirin or something similiar. His father gets beaten up when he goes to the club to investigate and when the police it just seems to compound the trouble he's in. It does have a happy ending though.

You might be interested to know I have done a post on candle making at http://claireabella29.com

The book I read to research this post was The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin which is a very good book which I bought from kindle. A lot of the information in this book applies to selling anything not just craft products. A lot of people use a website called etsy to market craft products and I have done a post called How to start an etsy business at http://melissaball86.com

Many people who get into the business of selling craft products start off by making something they enjoy making and they end up with a surplus of the item after having given all their friends and family freebies. A good idea is selling the items at fairs possibility with either a small discount or free gift to attract interest. Often it's a good opportunity to bring a friend who is maybe also interested in the same craft. Bear in mind when choosing someone this person is your representative at your stall and above all must be friendly and polite. Many craft people have a blog which probably won't have a shopping cart but will convey your passion about your product. Some people set up a shop on ebay, a basic shop represents particularly good value. Some do a podcast to promote their product podcastalley and itunes are the most popular podcast syndicators. Some want a hosted podcast site and libsyn is quite good although they do charge for the service. If a site hosts your podcasts for free they will probably tag some adverts onto your podcast to make an income. If you set up a limited liability company it has advantages like limiting how liable you are for any company debts. Finally you should have a product brand for your product and any podcasts or blogs etc should incorporate this name, also register the name to prevent anybody else using it.

The book I read to research this post was Arthritis for Dummies by Sarah Brewer et al which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. You might be interested in a couple of related posts in fibromyalgia and osteoporosis at http://daveroberts69.wordpress.com

There are quite a lot of different forms of arthritis the most common being osteoarthritis and rheumatic arthritis. Some quite obscure diseases like lyme disease which was only discovered in 1977 also exist. Believe it or not dinosaurs 200 million years ago sometimes suffered with arthritis. Cartilage cracking with age, the joints becoming swollen with a little too much liquid and the bones in the joints becoming worn is the form arthritis normally takes. If you suffer with arthritis at the very least the supplements you should be taking are glucosamine, a multi vitamin tablet and omega 3. Glucosamine in particular is a wonder supplement and helps  slow aging of the joint and also a fair percentage said it helped alleviate the pain. Aspirin and ibuprofen will help alleviate inflammation of the joint in addition to killing pain. If you have pain in the joints for more than 2 weeks you should see a doctor and get it diagnosed. A lot of patients turn to alternative therapies in particular acupuncture, homeopathy, massage, aromatherapy and the alexander technique. If you use massage, sports massage and swedish massage are recommended although any gentle type of massage will do. If you try aromatherapy try lavendar which has a normalising effect and treats most things. In extreme cases surgery is used and this can mean replacing the joint with an artificial one or draining some fluid from the joint or even grafting cartilage from one place to another. In some cases in Britain you can have an operation abroad and the NHS pays for it. Another alternative is having the operation done in the private sector and again the NHS pays for it.