An Acquaintance with Darkness

Rating:
Summary: Excellent content, Very easy reading, Historically correct!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. The story was easy to follow, but very interesting. I enjoyed the detail put into the historical facts and character descriptions very much. It was nice to have the author describe in detail at the end where the actual fact ended and where the fiction began. You really understood why Emily was confused and felt for the country at the loss of the President. I would highly recommend this book for everyone from middle school age thru adult!

Rating:
Summary: The name goes with the whole story.
Review: An Acquaintance with Darkness is one of Rinaldi's finest works yet. I got it off Amazon.com about a few months ago, and it has joined my collection of "my fav books", which includes more Rinaldi books. Rinaldi describes the scenes like you are actually there in Emily's time.

Rating:
Summary: This book will keep you on the edge of your seat!
Review: If you love mystery, then An Acquaintance with Darkness is the perfect book for you. This book not only puts you on the edge of your seat, but it also teaches you a little history lesson without the boring facts. I loved this book cause the author was soooo good at making history, in this case Lincoln's asassination, fun and interesting to read about by using fiction. I also liked the way the book had a little bit of everything, romance, mystery, horror, and anything else you could possibly think of. This book did have its slow molasses parts, but all in all I give Ann Rinaldi an A++! I hope she continues to write.

Rating:
Summary: This is a VERY good book!
Review: I have read many of Ann Rinaldi's books and I think they are wonderful! She puts so much detail into them, it is unbelievable! Forteen-year-old Emily lives in Washington D.C. during the Civil War. Her mother has died and she is going to live with the Surratt's. But the son, Johnny, has been accused of being in on the assasination of the president. Her uncle takes her to live with him because the Surratt's house is under suspicion, which is against her mother's wishes. She had always hated Uncle Valentine for what reason, Emily does not know. But she has no choice. Then she finds out that her uncle may be in on body snatching! He uses the bodies for research. Can Emily confront her uncle or does she have to bear the guilt of going against her mother's wishes?

Rating:
Summary: Overall great book!
Review: Ann Rinaldi has written a great book involving two interesting plots. The first sixty pages or so are a little slow, but keep reading!! It gets a lot better!!! After accommplishing those first pages I was hooked for the rest of the book! This was the first book by Ann Rinaldi that I have read before and can't wait to read another!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I really liked this book! It is a Classic "Rinaldi". I really like Ann Rinaldi style of writing and it is filled with all sorts of excitement. One thing that was a bit different than most of her books is that is was sort of "dark". It is not a real "happy" book to read although it is very good.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: This book, is so amazing. You feel as if you were right there with Emily, feeling her grief, seeing what she saw, hearing what she heard. It was great. This is the first book I've read by Ann Rinaldi, and I'm making a promise to read all of her material. She's a wonderful author! A definite page turner. Keeps you wondering.

Rating:
Summary: It deserves a lot more than 5 stars!
Review: It was a great story. It felt as if you were Emily and your mother had died and you were orphaned. You also felt the craziness that everyone was feeling after Lincon was assainated. You felt scared of what her Uncle Valentine was doing. You also felt for her best friend who had trouble (I won't say what to give it away!) It was one of those books you never wanted to end. I reccomend this book highly!

Rating:
Summary: My Gosh!
Review: My gosh! This was fantastic. I mean, for goodness sakes, tears were welling up in my eyes with frustration at the end. However, as I was scanning other reviews, some people did not even realize how hippocritical they were being in their opinions of the book. Some readers were complaining how rotten it was because the characters irritated them, acted irrationally, or said angry things that they didn't understand. This, dear frustrated reader, is what makes this book one of the greats. It wasn't being awful literature, it was bringing buried emotions out of you. That is a writer's purpose, the reason why they spend hours banging out these words. If something makes you angry, frustrated, depressed, sorrowful, or anything else, it is a treasure. These readers didn't like it because the book brought out an emotion that didn't make them feel like they were walking on sunshine. If you look at it like this, you'll find you like more books than you think you do.

Rating:
Summary: An energetic and exciting book that I'd recomend to anyone!
Review: Throughout the book it is awesome how Anne Rinaldi has tied history to fiction. Oboiusly she has spent a lot of time researching to come up with such a clever, well thought out book! It was fabulous!