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In a setting that blends East Asian aesthetics with fantasy elements Jiro arrives at Eine University to study oohnica a form of collective meditation-based power that small four-person teams called aghita use to create uglu—a durable quasi-magical material that underpins the world’s technology from clockwork to ships to lighting. Jiro’s older brother Ichiro is already a practitioner of oohnica and Jiro hopes to follow him into an aghita of his own. After his aptitude test Jiro is placed into an aghita led by the fierce quick-tempered Agatha; the other members are the quiet enigmatic Marie and the sharp-tongued Tahoma. The four soon nicknamed “Agatha’s Army” begin training together and navigating the ordinary dramas of university life. But strange disruptions to oohnica itself start appearing across the world: aghitas losing rapport unstable experiments and unexplained transformations all preceding a sudden military strike on Eine’s harbor by a mysterious “Black Fleet.” In the chaos Marie collapses from an unexplained illness and she’s revealed to be carrying a secret connected to her identity as a koekchuch (a historically persecuted gender identity from her Western homeland) putting her at risk from outside political interests. As tensions rise between the Federation of the Eastern Archipelago and the Sunset Empire in the West Jiro’s aghita is pulled into a wider crisis. Valentin a refined but guarded student from a broken aghita temporarily joins them and the group finds itself entangled in international intrigue as they travel by ship toward Shawmut the Federation’s capital where they make an amazing discovery: the City a 2000-year-old floating sphere built from “eternal uglu” that should have decayed centuries ago but hasn’t.
As this narrative goes on personal entanglements—jealousy an unspoken triangle involving both Tahoma and Valentin and Jiro’s own growing feelings—complicate the mission as much as the external danger does. Overall Marchenko’s series-starter is an ambitious slow-burning fantasy that trades familiar dragons-and-swords tropes for something rarer: a lived-in academic magic system a genuinely strange central mystery and a cast of young adults whose friendships rivalries and half-formed romances feel as consequential as the looming geopolitical crisis that surrounds them. Marchenko builds his archipelago world with real patience—oohnica’s rules the aghita social structure and the slow creep of the Calamity’s return all unfold through classroom lectures and offhand dialogue rather than awkward exposition dumps—and the discovery of the ancient self-repairing City is a genuinely eerie set piece that justifies the book’s more portentous chapters. The pacing sags in the middle stretch due to shipboard politics and prison-cell bickering and although the author introduces a few emotional beats with some care he doesn’t always resolve them as skillfully. The novel’s cliffhanger however lands with real weight. This novel is recommended for readers who have patience for slow-burn worldbuilding and are hungry for a narrative that treats found-family drama and speculative anthropology as seriously as plot exposition.
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The author begins her story in France in 1983 when she and her partner David were in their 20s dreaming about the kind of work they’d like to do once they got back home to Arizona: a free-form job with no 9-to-5 grind and no bosses. Later that year they incorporated their company Venture Up offering climbing and caving trips in Arizona and mountaineering trips in the Alps the Himalayas and Mexico—just the kind of adventure travel they’d always loved. In those early years they took whatever jobs presented themselves from climbing a church’s bell tower to arranging backdrops for a fashion shoot. But gradually an unexpected type of trip became more popular: corporate retreat outings in which business teams would hire Venture Up to curate interactive adventures that would double as bonding experiences. Before long news outlets noticed the company and corporate bookings increased: “The lifestyle flowed naturally” Lengyel writes. “Cash flow wasn’t always consistent so we adapted aligning the business with the life we wanted to live.” As she reminds readers the company had nobody to impress and no loans to repay: “We shaped work to fit life not the reverse.” In a series of short chapters Lengyel effectively relates some of her many experiences with Venture Up from finding a whale skull on the beach at the Sea of Cortez to Venture Up’s crew working through an overnight storm to rig a ropes course near Arizona’s Superstition Mountains: “Something settled that morning. Not announced. Not celebrated. Simply understood” she writes of the latter concluding “Perseverance often looks quieter.” Throughout the book she does a smooth job of both telling her stories and teasing out the lessons that they underscore. For instance after one of their clients from the 1990s hires them again in 2020 Lengyel reflects “Some relationships circle back through the same terrain.” Overall she paints a colorful attractive picture of a company evolving “one detour at a time.”
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The year is 1990. Twelve-year-old Jaanika Kask’s flight lands in Estonia where her parents’ families hail from. Her dad had planned a trip to see his relatives but sadly died before he could go. Now Jaanika and her mom are visiting the grandfather and the half-brother that her dad never knew. Jaanika doesn’t immediately hit it off with her 14-year-old cousin Mihkel who’s a touch standoffish. She learns about the unfamiliar culture of a land that has only recently held democratic elections (for the first time since World War II). She harbors a fantasy of bonding with Grandpa Jaan which seems like a possibility when she her mother and Mihkel stay with him for a few days. Then a startling photograph Jaanika finds gives rise to questions about secrets lingering in her grandfather’s murky past. “Who was Grandpa before he was Grandpa?” she wonders. And how will she cope with whatever she may unearth? Tamberg’s young hero shines. Jaanika doesn’t instantly recognize the differences between Mihkel and herself—it may be months before he gets a new pair of jeans which she can buy anytime. But she never patronizes her cousin and it’s a delight to follow their relationship as it evolves. The backstory of her dad’s family is equally engaging (in 1944 her paternal grandmother escaped Estonia on a small boat while pregnant with Jaanika’s father). The author’s concise prose helps to maintain the narrative’s tension as Jaanika makes worrisome discoveries that force her to make some hard decisions. The book’s resounding takeaway: Just because you know a piece of history doesn’t mean you know the whole story.
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At first Frieda is appalled when Beanie the spider asks to be friends. After all spiders make webs to catch flies like her! Frieda harshly declines Beanie’s invitation suspicious of his true motives. Undeterred Beanie patiently challenges her assumptions. He is a peaceful spider he explains and a vegetarian at that. Although insects occasionally get caught in his web he always sets them free. Still Frieda remains skeptical until Beanie reveals that he really uses his web to collect dewdrops for watering his garden. As Beanie shows off his many plants Frieda finally lets herself relax thoroughly impressed by Beanie’s eight multitasking legs all watering tilling and snipping fruits and vegetables. Soon Frieda is joining Beanie and his other peaceful animal friends including raccoons rabbits squirrels and birds for a joyful lunch. With its cozy watercolor illustrations and easy-to-follow premise this short picture book offers a lesson about questioning biases and allowing others to express who they are. Although Frieda’s change of heart may seem sudden the simplicity also makes the message accessible for young readers. The story encourages children to approach the unfamiliar with kindness and openness instead of assumptions and it teaches them that an unexpected friendship may be waiting just beyond a first impression.
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The author chronicles the adventurous life of Sophia Lawrence who falls into a spontaneous marriage with Edward Lawrence a wealthy Boston attorney in 1985. Though handsome and descended from a long line of British aristocrats Edward is “boorish” even while introducing her to all the affluent perks of his illustrious pedigree: dual New England homes a yacht society soirees and “an enviable position in society.” But after a restless decade of serving as Edward’s glorified “adornment” and tolerating his insolence and extramarital dalliances Sophia abandons the marriage and flees across the Atlantic Ocean by sailboat. After nearly a month she and her crew arrive in Ireland only to receive the tragic news that Edward had perished in an automobile accident back home. She returns to America to fight a hostile battle with Henry Edward’s twin brother over the dead man’s estate. She then travels to London where she’s swept off her feet by Prince Abdullah bin Abbas of Arabia who adorns her with lavish gifts and a proposal. An opulent life follows for the newly crowned Princess Sophia but the culture shock of the Arabian desert makes her fully aware of how reckless her impulsive decisions really are. The author embellishes each of her characters with creatively drawn personalities and authentically regal qualities that will entice readers particularly romance fans into following their glamorous exploits. The frothy melodrama comes packed with plenty of sizzling seductions (“Her eyes followed his chest downward taking in his well-muscled torso his lean abs and the cut of his V down to the proof of his desire for her”) and unexpected plot twists. Despite the frenetic busyness of the novel Bouzaid retains a firm control over all the action keeping her protagonist scrupulously in character throughout. This is an auspicious debut for an author who displays a clear talent for romantic intrigue complex characterizations and turbulent emotional turmoil.
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On the morning of Willow Barnes’ 16th birthday she awakens to a world steeped in corruption theft and murder. None of this is new however. Years ago “AI had ruined everything” and “a coup from the inside had rotted their government to the core.” Relentlessly bullied at school annoyed by her kind-of brother Gus and missing her mother who died one year prior “complicated snarky sad odd” Willow yearns for family safety and support. Not even her father a brilliant scientist who threw himself into his work after his wife’s death shows any interest in her (he’d “practically vaporized”)—that is until he sends Willow an urgent message to meet him ASAP. He gives Willow a mysterious and secure folio said to contain grave truths that must be destroyed at all costs. These truths catapult Willow into a thrilling adventure she could never have imagined. She travels to Harmony Hollow and its blue skies tall grass and a seemingly endless mountain range make Willow finally feel like all’s well. She encounters magical flying gargoyles an abundance of friends and even a boy who just might like her. Climate change doesn’t threaten the idyllic scene and AI is blissfully absent. But deep within Willow is a magic that threatens to derail all she knows—including this newfound world of wonder. Willow must forge a path forward that would make her mother proud. Gracely’s spellbinding coming-of-age tale plays well against an intricately imagined backdrop of fantastical landscapes. Each character is more complex than the next and the various creatures add interest. Gracely’s expertly executed plot keeps the pages turning. Willow is a clever relatable lead especially for any off-beat teen that feels a similar pull toward something greater; she remains charming and likable even beneath a scrim of wry cynicism.
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Jimmy Burnside is a junior at Appalachian State University in Boone North Carolina in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains at the start of Beaver’s tale. Jimmy is an avid basketball player but he’s only 6 feet tall. Appalachian is a Division I school where an enthusiastic player like Jimmy (“He couldn’t dunk a basketball but he could grab the rim and that wasn’t bad for a six-foot white kid”) can’t join the team even as a walk-on. Jimmy has a normal college life. When he returns home for summer break he reconnects with his friends Charles Andrews a 6-foot-6-inch basketball player who attends Elon College on a Division II scholarship and Eddie Thomas a solid guard in high school who goes to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At 5 feet 7 inches “Eddie wasn’t recruited by anyone” to play college basketball. The three are looking forward to playing ball on their home courts for one last summer before college ends and life takes them in different directions. But shortly after Jimmy settles into his usual routine back home he starts experiencing something so strange as to be medically unusual: He begins growing. He passes 6 feet 2 inches then 6 feet 4 inches—all in the span of weeks while maintaining a healthy weight. His family doctor is baffled; Jimmy stopped growing in the eighth grade. Jimmy has always been a gifted player. With his skills now having progressed with his height (He tops out at well over 7 feet) his vague ideas about enrolling in law school take a back seat to a burgeoning basketball career. The author’s vibrant modern-day fable is in many ways the basketball version of Daniel Keyes’ short story “Flowers for Algernon.” Beaver tells his tale with a straightforward prose that’s smooth (“In North Carolina you can shake a tree and a dozen 5’7” guards who are good ball handlers and passers will fall out”) if occasionally flat. And he deftly handles his talented protagonist (“As pure a shooter as anyone playing high school basketball in the state of North Carolina his senior year”) and the story’s fifth-act plot twists. This very readable book is a must for hoops fans.
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Jamie is an American in Montreal just after Christmas in 1971. He’s eyeing a poster for an upcoming wrestling match when he’s offered admission in exchange for helping to set up. Soon he begins refereeing and wrestling mentored by a guy named Frenchie. Their plan is to head west to participate in the Calgary Stampede competition. The wrestling is harsh the learning curve is steep and the pay is low but Jamie is avoiding the Vietnam War which Frenchie and others in his orbit can understand. Traveling from place to place they sometimes sleep in the van (“Stretched out under comforters and sleeping bags stinking of motor oil feet pressed against a spare tire”). Jamie has left behind a girl named Irene in America and thinks she’s forgotten him. Now his eye is on Donna a pretty ticket agent but she figures he has a girlfriend back home. As Frenchie throws Jamie into increasingly difficult situations including a battle royale Jamie literally rolls with the punches and survives (mostly) unscathed (“The handful of fans scrambled out of the way as I crashed into their seats landing in one of them”). Longing for home but caught up in his fast-paced new career Jamie holds his own but worries about the future. LeGrande’s road-trip novel is also an engaging coming-of-age tale that starts with a bang and doesn’t skimp on the action. Wrestling fans will particularly enjoy the protagonist’s journey as he learns all the moves and ekes out a living driving from place to place. Jamie’s backstory is revealed slowly in brief flashbacks which could have been expanded to give the novel more texture. Still the detailed descriptions of the fights the gonzo personalities of the characters and the bruising descriptions of the physical and emotional tolls of the sport all make for a compelling narrative.
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Cultural “erasure” silences or disappears marginalized communities writes Jaeger a scholar at the University of Maryland and a lifelong disabled person and activist for disability rights. “At this moment” he writes groups are “seeking to limit the gains made in recent years by women BIPOC communities members of the LGBTQIA+ community members of the Jewish faith and disabled people.” Disinformation may be entirely invented or achieved by removing context. He provides chilling statistics on censorship and includes examples of self-censorship and neutrality claims. He presents these elements of information control as integrated cogs in a “governing through gaslighting” agenda. The author warns that control of information radically endangers freedom of expression erasure excludes the marginalized and more starkly they risk the very existence of our civil rights-based democracy. His primary focus is American public libraries “an excellent barometer of the health of democracy and human rights in a country.” Behind this repression he argues are far-right fears of social change visible via media. President Trump gets plenty of attention but several chapters examine the ways that censorship and disinformation have functioned throughout history (in regard to women’s suffrage vaccination immigration and more). Final chapters suggest strategies for librarians and their allies. He urgently appeals to other educational and cultural heritage institutions to see their common ground and work with libraries. A mass of material presented with passionate sincerity this indictment extensively documents what Jaeger sees as an appalling danger. “This will be a very long struggle” he writes. “In the words of Mary Oliver ‘Pay attention this is our endless and proper work.’”
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In this straightforward nonfiction title Subramanian offers a detailed guide to menstruation and stresses the importance of teen readers’ being informed—from learning the vocabulary to talk about their experiences to knowing how to care for themselves throughout their cycles—and able to advocate for themselves (and others). What sets this book apart from similar guides is the exploration of how menstruation intersects with identity: In chapters focused on topics including culture gender neurodiversity disability and body size Subramanian encourages readers to consider how their identities shape their experience of menstruation. Refreshingly the author models gender-inclusive language using the term menstruators and asserting that “all menstruators are not women and not all women are menstruators.” They draw on experts as well as their own experience as a queer nonbinary Indian American menstruator to address social issues that relate to menstruation like period poverty capitalism reproductive rights and environmentalism. The book contains plentiful guidance on topics like choosing the right menstrual products and navigating healthcare. Subramanian’s conversational tone makes the subjects—the breadth of which could otherwise be overwhelming particularly given the lack of graphic design and minimal stock art spot illustrations—feel approachable. Occasional exercises offer readers opportunities to reflect and interact with the content. The combination of well-researched information and practical advice for young menstruators makes this a welcome addition to the literature.
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Scout a 110-pound Golden Retriever is king of his domain. He patrols the family house: monitoring the squirrels outside inspecting the backyard supervising the mail truck. Then Rex joins the family. Rex is a fearless 7-pound Himalayan kitten who claims Scout’s territory as his own and won’t back down. Although they ignore each other on the couch both animals assert their dominance otherwise. Rex jumps up on the forbidden kitchen counter. Scout blocks the stairs. They do not fight nor do they retreat standing nose-to-nose. Then a booming thunderstorm gives them something scary to face down together. After that night Scout and Rex make room for each other and share their guardianship of the house. Datta and Datta narrate in straightforward non-rhyming prose presented in large blocky text on the facing pages of Vineyard’s distinctive digital illustrations. These images are bright and diverting with Cubist leanings and provide a jaunty contrast to Rex and Scout’s Cold War standoff. The impressively rendered thunderstorm scene in particular is a mini masterpiece. Scout and Rex exude personality and the lesson they learn—that being fearless doesn’t require dominance of those around you—will serve young readers well.
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Sixty-six-year-old Alice Standfield is worried about the recent behavior of her petulant 16-year-old granddaughter Irene Standfield. Ever since the London blitz killed Irene’s parents Alice has cared for her and her two older brothers Martin and Leo welcoming them into Elm House the Standfield family home. In April 1947 Alice watches Irene as she dashes out the door for the third time this week refusing to tell her grandmother where she is going. So Alice decides to follow her surreptitiously. Grabbing the binoculars she uses for bird watching Alice soon discovers that Irene has a boyfriend who lives in Weymouth’s Nissen-hut resettlement camp used to house Polish refugees. Late at night there’s a knock onAlice’s door. Standing there is Krystian Rodak Irene’s 18-year-old boyfriend rain-drenched and frantic. The police have just arrested his father retired Polish Major Teodor Rodak for murdering one of the Polish refugees. Krystian and his younger sister Ania are now left alone. As minors they will be deported to Poland if it is discovered that they are on their own. Alice insists that the two teenagers come to live with her in Elm House until everything can be sorted out. When Alice visits Rodak in jail the next day she believes he’s innocent and is determined to help find the real murderer. And so begins a complicated and historically interesting mystery that with the help of the Polish Government in Exile takes Alice and her eldest grandson Leo to Poland and Czechoslovakia to learn who might be setting Teodor up for the fall. McClain’s narrative composed in the gently paced prose of a traditional cozy (including the requisite copious amounts of comforting tea) weaves a complex web consisting of social bigotry against the immigrant Polish population intercontinental espionage and political complications that prevent the British from involvement in an issue that might cause conflict with the Soviets. Plus there is a bit of not-quite hair-raising adventure and a tender romance that adds heart to the riddle at the book’s heart.
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All About Eve (1950) belonged to Bette Davis who played aging Broadway great Margo Channing but what about Eve? That was Anne Baxter (1923-1985) who may have been an Oscar winner for The Razor’s Edge (1946) but she never achieved Davis-like stature. Bailey who has written widely on Hollywood’s golden age seeks to give Baxter her due seeing in her life “a captivating story of heartbreak and triumph just waiting to be fully told.” Baxter was born in La Porte Indiana with the double advantages of beauty and privilege—triple advantages if one includes being the granddaughter of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. She made her first movie at 17 and in Bailey’s telling had all the acting work she wanted going forward. The principal “heartbreak” of which Bailey writes concerned a dud marriage that found Baxter spending almost four years in the Australian Outback after which she apparently picked up her acting career where she’d left it. To gather insights about her subject Bailey turned to Baxter’s bestselling 1976 memoir Intermission and consulted Baxter’s daughters and surviving colleagues. While everything here is of interest it’s pushing it to call Baxter’s story “a deeply profound life story that carries resonance far beyond [her] years in the limelight” as the author has it. Bailey’s acceptance of her subject’s self-advertised indomitability seems to preclude any consideration that Baxter may have been masking professional anxieties. Did she worry that aging would mean fewer jobs (see Margo Channing above)? Did she feel that making appearances on TV’s The Love Boat was a step back? Bailey’s reluctance to inquire gives this authorized book a sanitized feel although this makes Baxter no less worthy a biographical subject.
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Following a miscarriage and the accidental death of her husband Earl Honneywell in 1939 Iris Gilda Bakken returns to Waziya Minnesota. Soon after she’s hired as a nurse at the offices of Drs. Gallagher & Swenson and marries Harrison Elmer Lawrence who converts Sherm’s Shaves barbershop into his private dental office. After just a month of newlywed life Harrison is summoned to report for military service. Initially ministering to the minor wounds of soldiers he’s gradually exposed to hazardous frontline action when he joins the aviation engineer corps to support the military operations that will culminate in D-Day. After witnessing horrific deaths and the hellish aftermath of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp Harrison can no longer write to Iris who begins to assume that he’s permanently MIA. The novel’s opening chapter is powerful: As Iris fortifies herself with a stale sandwich for the long bus ride home she grabs extra paper napkins from a rest stop cafe to stanch her miscarriage blood which continues to flow. The narrative impact is greatly diminished and the pace slackens as the focus shifts to Harrison before alternating between him and Iris. The novel becomes a page-turner again only after Harrison is drafted and departs from Waziya for the European front where his anxiety about whether or not he’ll survive the war and reunite with Iris becomes the novel’s propelling narrative drive. The two narratives recall parallel lines that never meet; the novel would benefit from continuous focus on either Iris or Harrison in one seamless storyline. Such focus could stimulate a reading experience where parallel narrative trajectories due south or otherwise might converge more powerfully.
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As a semi-autobiographical author shooting for broad appeal with a highly personalized account of their own life Amman walks a tightrope as readers rejoin Leda at 19 attending college and searching for happiness: “In high school I had been a big (petite) fish in a small pond but at the University of Milano I was just a dim petite fish in a pond full of Evil Centis. Did he have sharp teeth?” The aforementioned “Evil Centi” refers to the protagonist’s long and tortuous relationship with a young man named Claudio Centi who occupies substantial real estate inside Leda’s head. So does another fellow named Sergio for whom Leda harbors an incendiary attraction. Beset by uncertainty Leda decides to employ the scientific method to understand happiness “diligently noting both positive and negative results” which leads to a list of 23 rules to live by. These axioms include “One trauma will not define the rest of your life unless you let it” and “Whatever your parents pass down to you is a start. What you do with it though...that’s up to you”; not at all bad bits of advice for anyone just starting out their adult lives in an increasingly chaotic and often unfathomable world. Leda’s engaging first-person narration is immediate and direct: “I could hear the sound of my melting heart—or was it my underwear?” (it’s funny too). At this point in Amman’s ongoing series reengaging with Leda’s travails feels like checking in with an old friend. For readers just meeting them for the first time this entry will likely prove compelling enough to elicit curiosity about what’s gone on before. The events recounted here transpire around the late 1990s and the text includes heavy e-mail exchanges between Leda and their on-again-off-again paramours and crushes—so there’s nostalgic appeal as well for readers who lived through the post-grunge era and like Leda enjoyed rocking out to The Offspring.
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Bishop (vice president of product development at The Center for Leadership Studies) and Goldsmith (an executive coach and prolific leadership author) here combined their experience to provide a guide to individualized leadership coaching that focuses on adaptability. The authors themselves adapt the well-known Situational Leadership Model into a Situational Coaching Model. In Part 1 they explain how this particular style of coaching differs from other types while observing that “Regardless of the specialty the goal of a coach is the same: to influence another person’s behavior and performance for the better.” In Part 2 Bishop and Goldsmith outline the four steps of the Situational Coaching Model (identify assess match and manage) while emphasizing the idea that by focusing on individual goals and issues coaches can more efficiently help their clients achieve success. In the final part the authors discuss the ways in which their coaching model allows coaches to pivot in their approaches to fit the unique needs of those they coach. Interviews with and advice from other successful coaches (think CEOs of leadership companies advisers and executive leadership experts) are incorporated throughout the text. Bullet-pointed summaries conclude each chapter to condense the relevant information into concise digestible chunks; the chapters are frequently broken up with headings subheadings and various motivational and explanatory quotes to maximize the book’s readability. The frequent use of coaching terminology and leadership buzzwords (“That grounding function helps the coachee show up with intention inside the system”) may intimidate readers with little previous knowledge of the topic but for those who have at least some broad familiarity with coaching the authors’ straightforward language and engaging visuals expertly break down potentially complicated concepts. The result is an energetic and articulate step-by-step playbook detailing the ins and outs of a unique coaching model.
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A year ago vampire Sophronia Vega changed the world with a dating app. A vampire-human dating app to be specific. After a century of coexistence and potentially dangerous intimacy humans and vampires who want to hook up can now take a simple test and use her app Stokr to find out immediately whether “safe direct feeding” is possible between them. Unfortunately just as she’s ready to celebrate its success the app unexpectedly starts failing and puts all its users in danger. With years of painstakingly perfect plans destroyed in an instant Sophronia frantically starts trying to figure out what happened with the help of human Casey Amato the universally adored manager of the tech team that programmed Stokr—who just so happens to smell like “heaven in a glass” from a vampire’s perspective. Though Sophronia is technically Casey’s boss and they quickly come to realize the issues with Stokr go much deeper than either could have imagined even their intense investigation isn’t enough to keep them from thinking about each other—but until they fix the app there’s no way for them to act on their attraction. Vasti is new to the vampire world but not to HEAs; she’s well known for her witty historical romances. Fans of her earlier work will find much to like about this first book in her Corporate Bloodsuckers duology as clever banter fun side characters and steamy scenes work just as well in vampire-led boardrooms as in Regency ballrooms. Though the story is technically a slow burn it has strong insta-love vibes which won’t work for all readers. But Vasti’s sexy take on vampire-human attraction and the interesting complex plot—especially a cliffhanger setup for the next book—will keep readers turning pages.
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No one knows his real name or exactly what he looks like. He’s been fleecing women for years and he’s too smart to be caught. Despite a robust “r/WeWillFindYou” Reddit thread tracing the shadowy man’s many crimes no one can clearly identify him—so they call him “Mr. Disappear.” No one knows him that is except Alex Miller who worked a few cons with him several years ago in Los Angeles but now drives for Uber in the Denver area to pay her bills. A former news editor Liz Cunningham is struggling to find fulfillment as a stay-at-home mother to her baby Emma so she pours through Reddit threads dreaming of cracking a true-crime case and starting a podcast. When Alex and Liz move from talking on Reddit to meeting in real life (as they are conveniently located in the same town!) they uncover the man’s latest identity “Rhys” and his latest mark: Quinn Anderson a lonely resident manager at the Heritage Hills retirement home also in Denver! Quinn is grieving her father and their complicated relationship as her stepmother schemes to steal her inheritance—an inheritance Rhys is urging her to fight for so they can move in together and start a business. Liz and Alex confront Quinn with proof that Rhys has played this con before but when the police refuse to act without clear proof of fraud Alex Liz and Quinn decide it’s high time Rhys pays for the damage he’s caused—not realizing he long ago crossed the line into murder. Trench offers a trio of damaged redeemable women working against a system that makes it hard to hold this man accountable while also offering the occasional chapter in his voice. Writing both a true crime-esque romp and a commentary on true crime Trench packs impressive complexity into her characters their backgrounds and their friendship as well as the Colorado setting.
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Created by Congress in 1870 the Department of Justice has on occasion been a force for the good writes Maddow MS NOW host and author (Drift 2012 etc.). More often she adds it has been abused to protect the interests of corporations corrupt politicians and self-serving presidents. In her fiery retelling of the DOJ’s checkered history there are few untainted heroes. In the 1860s Amos T. Akerman President Grant’s attorney general courageously prosecuted murdering Klansmen in York County South Carolina. A century later John Doar the assistant attorney general in charge of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division was fighting a newly emboldened KKK in Alabama. Actively undermined by FBI Director Edgar J. Hoover he nonetheless secured convictions of the killers of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo. But in Maddow’s gallery of attorneys general the scoundrels and “narrow-minded and partisan hacks” predominate: Richard Olney who cozied up to railroad magnates and jailed labor organizer Eugene V. Debs; Harry Daugherty who under Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge used the office to line his own pockets; Ed Meese “Ronald Reagan’s loyal and faithful parrot”; and most consequentially William Barr who under President Trump “levered the power and the prestige of the Department of Justice to save the president’s bacon.” The author’s style is delightfully caustic even Twainian as when she characterizes the DOJ under Daugherty as a “a ten-story bribe department store” and designates a DOJ recommendation that Trump be publicly cleared of election interference a “Cover Your Ass memo.” Written with a novelist’s skill for revelatory detail and a historian’s sharp eye for continuities the book both infuriates and inspires. The moral indignation seething through Maddow’s account culminates in her conclusion in which she calls on Congress to beef up the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General and reminds us of the department’s long-forgotten purpose: “to fight for everyone in America to have the protections of the U.S. Constitution including against their own government.”
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Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for a riveting article that gave visual context to Jeff Bezos’ wealth Chalabi proves a dab hand both at getting frank admissions from her interviewees about money and using surveys and statistics to put their individual experiences into broader economic contexts. She’s frank about her own situation too as she weaves in reports on her own finances (including the ways she divvied up much of the awesome publisher’s advance she got for this project) and records emotionally fraught years struggling to care for her Iraqi parents in the wake of her father’s heart attack and her mother’s stroke. If those latter passages lose the plot and even sometimes drag her observations elsewhere offer consistently fascinating insights into seemingly diverse topics from telling correlations between privatized health care and falling life expectancies in the U.S. to the pervasiveness of “money dysmorphia.” In fact all of her subjects she writes admitted to financial insecurity despite occupying household income brackets ranging from virtually nothing to multimillions. The charts and tables she strew freely through her chapters (including one in which she switches to an all graphic format) are likewise engrossing lit by imaginative designs and graphic elements that ingeniously reflect and enhance the import of the data they record. The author does at last find aid and solace for her personal travails in a large circle of relatives. She closes with references to the pervasive culture of anxiety that capitalism creates. “Capitalism is a profoundly individualizing force that nurtures fear” she writes. “It teaches us that we cannot support one another or be supported when we need to be. But of course that’s exactly what we do and what we have to do.”
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