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The Strategy Builder: How to Create and Communicate More Effective Strategies
Duncan Angwin and Stephen Cummings
Book
A visual and interactive guide to building and communicating strategies that actually work YOUR...
Merissa (12051 KP) rated Imminence (Connected #2) in Books
Nov 9, 2017
Imminence (Connected #2) by Kat Stiles
Imminence is the second book in the Connected series, and being as I loved book one, I couldn't wait to read this one. As it had been a while since I read book one, I took the opportunity to re-read that one, and can I just say that even knowing how it ended this time, I still fell in love with the characters and situations just as much! HOWEVER, this review is about the second book, not the first.
Imminence starts where Connected finished. Basically, Em puts the phone down on her dad - the one she had thought was dead for years - and tries to understand just what is going on. Also, whilst dealing with the adrenaline drop from the attack. Not easy for anyone, let alone a sixteen-year-old! The gorgeous Tommy is on hand though, to help her cope. And yes, this is one of those times that I felt like a complete cougar, lusting after a (much) younger man!! I blame Kat Stiles though - if she hadn't made him so scrummy, I wouldn't be needing counselling right now! ;)
Suffice it to say, this story is packed full of action and melting moments, plus you get to see Em's dad and why he did what he did. I loved that part, when it all became clear. If an author can make you relate to the 'big bad' then she is definitely doing it right. Lauren was a star in this book, and the repartee she has going on with Demetri had me laughing out loud.
Excellently written, with a fantastic storyline, and amazing characters, Imminence is a wonderful addition to the Connected series. Fair warning though, it does end on a cliffhanger that had me shouting out! Absolutely loved it, and definitely recommended by me.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Imminence starts where Connected finished. Basically, Em puts the phone down on her dad - the one she had thought was dead for years - and tries to understand just what is going on. Also, whilst dealing with the adrenaline drop from the attack. Not easy for anyone, let alone a sixteen-year-old! The gorgeous Tommy is on hand though, to help her cope. And yes, this is one of those times that I felt like a complete cougar, lusting after a (much) younger man!! I blame Kat Stiles though - if she hadn't made him so scrummy, I wouldn't be needing counselling right now! ;)
Suffice it to say, this story is packed full of action and melting moments, plus you get to see Em's dad and why he did what he did. I loved that part, when it all became clear. If an author can make you relate to the 'big bad' then she is definitely doing it right. Lauren was a star in this book, and the repartee she has going on with Demetri had me laughing out loud.
Excellently written, with a fantastic storyline, and amazing characters, Imminence is a wonderful addition to the Connected series. Fair warning though, it does end on a cliffhanger that had me shouting out! Absolutely loved it, and definitely recommended by me.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
KerysJayne Draganova (21 KP) rated Angelfall (Penryn & the End of Days #1) in Books
Jan 13, 2018 (Updated Jan 13, 2018)
Storyline (3 more)
Characters
Alot of action
Dark take on Angels
It truly astounds me that the author had to self publish this book...considering some of the rubbish that actually gets picked up by publishing companies.
I love love loved Ee's take on Angels. I'm not really a fan of paranormal books with angels usually, as generally they involve squeaky clean, day-saving, nicey nice angels....*yawn*! Same old every time. So Ee's end of the world bringing, dark, gritty angels were a breath of fresh air.
Ee has created some incredible characters in this book, Penryn is an absolute bad ass. I love that she's trained in martial arts and not afraid to put up a fight. She's ready to protect her family at all costs, whether that means fighting humans gone mad, or crazy, sword wielding, angels with super strength.
The dynamic between Penryn and Raffe is perfect. I love how Penryn saves Raffes ass so many times throughout the book, and he returns the favour. There's no love at first sight between the two. Rather their partnership starts as one of survival, and a building of trust that brings about a whole load of tension between the two. Their story gets you right in the feels.
Also Penryn's crazy Mother is freaking Amazing!!!! I can't wait to see where Ee goes with this character.
The only thing I felt let this book down was the world building/ back story, I didn't really get a proper feel for what kind of state the the world was in, and there wasn't really an explanation as to how the angels brought on the apocalypse.
Also, I will say parts of the book can be very Dark/ graphic. This book is listed as a YA but may be better for older YAs and even NAs.
Overall, this is an awesome post-apocalyptic story, and I definitely recommend it.
I love love loved Ee's take on Angels. I'm not really a fan of paranormal books with angels usually, as generally they involve squeaky clean, day-saving, nicey nice angels....*yawn*! Same old every time. So Ee's end of the world bringing, dark, gritty angels were a breath of fresh air.
Ee has created some incredible characters in this book, Penryn is an absolute bad ass. I love that she's trained in martial arts and not afraid to put up a fight. She's ready to protect her family at all costs, whether that means fighting humans gone mad, or crazy, sword wielding, angels with super strength.
The dynamic between Penryn and Raffe is perfect. I love how Penryn saves Raffes ass so many times throughout the book, and he returns the favour. There's no love at first sight between the two. Rather their partnership starts as one of survival, and a building of trust that brings about a whole load of tension between the two. Their story gets you right in the feels.
Also Penryn's crazy Mother is freaking Amazing!!!! I can't wait to see where Ee goes with this character.
The only thing I felt let this book down was the world building/ back story, I didn't really get a proper feel for what kind of state the the world was in, and there wasn't really an explanation as to how the angels brought on the apocalypse.
Also, I will say parts of the book can be very Dark/ graphic. This book is listed as a YA but may be better for older YAs and even NAs.
Overall, this is an awesome post-apocalyptic story, and I definitely recommend it.
Merissa (12051 KP) rated Under the Boardwalk (The Landmarks Series #1) in Books
Aug 16, 2017
Under the Boardwalk (Landmarks #1) by Felice Stevens
Under the Boardwalk is the latest book by Felice Stevens, an author that I have long admired. It's starts with last summer, as our two main characters first lay eyes on each other and want more. The timing isn't right though, so a year goes by. Now we are at this summer.
Alexi is an American, with Russian ancestry. He works for his father at the local custard stand, and dreams of travelling the world. Cam is the busker that Alexi dreams about. He has travelled the world, and found that there was no place like home (sorry, couldn't resist!). These two finally connect, and BOOM!!! We're off.
I love Felice Stevens' way of writing. She wraps you up, and immerses you in the story. This is one of her 'sweeter' books, I would say, although there is some low-level angst in here. One thing I will always be grateful for, is the explanation given to Cam about what the difference is between ice-cream and custard. As someone who grew up in England, custard is a hot, sweet, liquid that goes on top of treacle tart, or jam roly-poly. Not in a cone! I was thankful when the explanation was given as I then understood what everyone was eating! ?
I don't think there were any editing or grammatical errors, but if there were, I missed them as I was so engrossed with the story. I love the epilogue, and love these two together. I am seriously hoping for more in this series, and also hope that we get to see a cameo from these two, just so I can find out if they're still okay.
Absolutely recommended by me, just be warned that you may lose time when you start reading this book!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Alexi is an American, with Russian ancestry. He works for his father at the local custard stand, and dreams of travelling the world. Cam is the busker that Alexi dreams about. He has travelled the world, and found that there was no place like home (sorry, couldn't resist!). These two finally connect, and BOOM!!! We're off.
I love Felice Stevens' way of writing. She wraps you up, and immerses you in the story. This is one of her 'sweeter' books, I would say, although there is some low-level angst in here. One thing I will always be grateful for, is the explanation given to Cam about what the difference is between ice-cream and custard. As someone who grew up in England, custard is a hot, sweet, liquid that goes on top of treacle tart, or jam roly-poly. Not in a cone! I was thankful when the explanation was given as I then understood what everyone was eating! ?
I don't think there were any editing or grammatical errors, but if there were, I missed them as I was so engrossed with the story. I love the epilogue, and love these two together. I am seriously hoping for more in this series, and also hope that we get to see a cameo from these two, just so I can find out if they're still okay.
Absolutely recommended by me, just be warned that you may lose time when you start reading this book!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Ablaze in Books
Feb 15, 2019
Actually the back cover is wrong and he never makes an offer of money for dinner with her.
As with most other books of the 80's, there are a lot of "endearments", which drive me crazy for some reason. Maybe because there’s one in every sentence the "hero" utters in the beginning? I don't know, I just get tired of hearing, "little one", "darling", and let us not forget in this book, "Heller mine"! Ugh, how awful that one is!! Not to mention all the comments about her voice going squeaky. *rolls eyes* The typical overbearing, bulldozing male is once again used in this book. Why he can't just let Heller tell things in her own time is beyond me, instead he has a private investigator (or the like) pry into her business to find out.
Some other things I didn't like about the book:
1. There was too much going on in it; mother's health, a fire, the Witness Protection Program, misunderstandings (which are usually the main or only thing in a romance book). Just pick one and stick with that, don't go over-the-top.
2. Heller was worried about endangering Conrad's life but not Simeon's, I found that wrong. Some convoluted thinking there.
3. Why-oh-why did the author decide to name Heller's best friend Doodie?
Even with all that I still found myself enjoying it more and more as I progressed through the book. Both Con and Heller became more likeable and Heller started showing more spunk. I do have to say that everything tied itself up rather nicely in the end and their relationship was rather sweet and instead of not being together until the end, they actually had a relationship during the book. And the after-party was highly entertaining, too. :)
If you can get through the first 50 or so pages it's actually rather rewarding! I ended up enjoying it way more than I thought I would. :)
As with most other books of the 80's, there are a lot of "endearments", which drive me crazy for some reason. Maybe because there’s one in every sentence the "hero" utters in the beginning? I don't know, I just get tired of hearing, "little one", "darling", and let us not forget in this book, "Heller mine"! Ugh, how awful that one is!! Not to mention all the comments about her voice going squeaky. *rolls eyes* The typical overbearing, bulldozing male is once again used in this book. Why he can't just let Heller tell things in her own time is beyond me, instead he has a private investigator (or the like) pry into her business to find out.
Some other things I didn't like about the book:
1. There was too much going on in it; mother's health, a fire, the Witness Protection Program, misunderstandings (which are usually the main or only thing in a romance book). Just pick one and stick with that, don't go over-the-top.
2. Heller was worried about endangering Conrad's life but not Simeon's, I found that wrong. Some convoluted thinking there.
3. Why-oh-why did the author decide to name Heller's best friend Doodie?
Even with all that I still found myself enjoying it more and more as I progressed through the book. Both Con and Heller became more likeable and Heller started showing more spunk. I do have to say that everything tied itself up rather nicely in the end and their relationship was rather sweet and instead of not being together until the end, they actually had a relationship during the book. And the after-party was highly entertaining, too. :)
If you can get through the first 50 or so pages it's actually rather rewarding! I ended up enjoying it way more than I thought I would. :)
Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated Playing With Death in Books
Jun 6, 2019
^^ I am familiar with Simon Scarrow’s Roman novels, so was excited to try this one out, as it is something new from an established author. With Playing with Death, Scarrow is co-writing writing this novel with Lee Francis, and it is NOT a historical novel! My goodness. This could be the death of him, or so I thought. But actually, it wasn’t bad.
^^ This is what I’d call a technological thriller and it highlights how the use of gaming via Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality technology could be detrimental to society, even in our world as it is today.
^^ Rose Blake is an FBI agent with a strange new case to investigate, and it is one that will take her beyond anything she can at first imagine, as murder and online gaming intertwine and the boundaries of what she knows to be true are stretched to the limit. To top it all she is feeling distanced from her husband, Jeff, who works as Senetor Kelly’s media manager with very little downtime, plus her own job is (as you would imagine) very demanding and often cutting into her family time, putting a strain their marriage.
^^ It’s a violent, fast-paced story with lots of twists and turns, and as a lover of thrillers, I thoroughly enjoyed Scarrow’s refreshing change of genre. My dad is a huge fan of Scarrow, however, I’m not sure how he’ll take to this since it’s about technology of which I doubt he’ll be interested in. I’m hoping he’ll try it out though. Saying that, this new genre is a great way to reach out to new readers, who may have not read any of his previous historical books.
Overall: I look forward to seeing if this is the start of a new series, as I would like to see how this enjoyable book, develops into more exciting stories.
^^ This is what I’d call a technological thriller and it highlights how the use of gaming via Artificial Intelligence and virtual reality technology could be detrimental to society, even in our world as it is today.
^^ Rose Blake is an FBI agent with a strange new case to investigate, and it is one that will take her beyond anything she can at first imagine, as murder and online gaming intertwine and the boundaries of what she knows to be true are stretched to the limit. To top it all she is feeling distanced from her husband, Jeff, who works as Senetor Kelly’s media manager with very little downtime, plus her own job is (as you would imagine) very demanding and often cutting into her family time, putting a strain their marriage.
^^ It’s a violent, fast-paced story with lots of twists and turns, and as a lover of thrillers, I thoroughly enjoyed Scarrow’s refreshing change of genre. My dad is a huge fan of Scarrow, however, I’m not sure how he’ll take to this since it’s about technology of which I doubt he’ll be interested in. I’m hoping he’ll try it out though. Saying that, this new genre is a great way to reach out to new readers, who may have not read any of his previous historical books.
Overall: I look forward to seeing if this is the start of a new series, as I would like to see how this enjoyable book, develops into more exciting stories.
Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated Musseled Out (A Maine Clambake Mystery, #3) in Books
Feb 21, 2018
***NOTE: I received an advance copy of this book for review through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
Julia Snowden is in Busman's Harbor, Maine, wrapping up the tourist season for her family's Clambake business and trying to decide if she will be headed back to her job in New York now that summer is over, or if she will be staying in Maine full-time. When a potential competitor turns up dead in the water, Julia's brother-in-law Sonny finds himself high on the list of suspects. Making matters worse, he is obviously hiding something from Julia, her sister Livvie, and the police. Julia is afraid that her boyfriend, Chris, is hiding something from her too. Since he's one of her reasons to stay in town, the decision to stay or go is just that much harder.
Once again I started a series somewhere other than at the beginning. While you won't be lost reading this book without having read the previous installments, in this case I do wish that I had read books one and two first. I think having a better understanding of the interpersonal relationships beforehand would have been nice, but the author does a good job of keeping you informed without totally rehashing everything that has already happened. With that aside, I really liked the story. There were enough characters and sub-plots to make it hard to guess "whodunnit", yet without being confusing. I felt like I should already have known who did it once Julia finally figured out who the murderer was, but while the conclusion was logical, it was not obvious.
This book is part of a series of culinary mysteries, and recipes like Lobster, Shrimp and Fennel Scampi, Hot Lobster Dip, and Grandma Snowden's Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are sure to make your mouth water.
I will be heading back to Busman's Harbor to read the beginning of this series, and I'm looking forward to more books to come.
Julia Snowden is in Busman's Harbor, Maine, wrapping up the tourist season for her family's Clambake business and trying to decide if she will be headed back to her job in New York now that summer is over, or if she will be staying in Maine full-time. When a potential competitor turns up dead in the water, Julia's brother-in-law Sonny finds himself high on the list of suspects. Making matters worse, he is obviously hiding something from Julia, her sister Livvie, and the police. Julia is afraid that her boyfriend, Chris, is hiding something from her too. Since he's one of her reasons to stay in town, the decision to stay or go is just that much harder.
Once again I started a series somewhere other than at the beginning. While you won't be lost reading this book without having read the previous installments, in this case I do wish that I had read books one and two first. I think having a better understanding of the interpersonal relationships beforehand would have been nice, but the author does a good job of keeping you informed without totally rehashing everything that has already happened. With that aside, I really liked the story. There were enough characters and sub-plots to make it hard to guess "whodunnit", yet without being confusing. I felt like I should already have known who did it once Julia finally figured out who the murderer was, but while the conclusion was logical, it was not obvious.
This book is part of a series of culinary mysteries, and recipes like Lobster, Shrimp and Fennel Scampi, Hot Lobster Dip, and Grandma Snowden's Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are sure to make your mouth water.
I will be heading back to Busman's Harbor to read the beginning of this series, and I'm looking forward to more books to come.
Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated The Cockatoo from Timbuktu in Books
Mar 19, 2020
Honest Review for Free Copy of Book
The Cockatoo from Timbuktu is from the same author who wrote Timothy Mean and the Time Machine (a 4/4 book I reviewed about a year ago) by William AE Ford. Just like the first book I reviewed by him, it is an amazingly cute book with fun rhymes.
Kian is a baby Cockatoo that lives at a zoo but wants to go home to Timbuktu and his parents. The little Cockatoo plans his escape and goes on a trip around the world to go home. He visits places like India and China, along with Egypt and Rio. He directly visits eight places during his journey and if readers pay attention he flys over even more amazing places such as the Stonehenge.
I absolutely love the cute little Cockatoo that is the focus of the story. “Cockatoo” and “Timbuktu” are both fun words to say, drawing interest from children. The artwork is also extremely cute as are all the other animals. Other than the few areas where the rhyme falls apart, I could find nothing to complain about. I absolutely love the cute little Cockatoo that is the focus of the story. I do understand losing the rhyme at spots for the sake of the story.
This is designed for children. It could easily be read to newborns and older. A great book fro the beginning reader. It may also spark interest in different animals in older children as they track Kian’s path home. I rate this book 4 out of 4. Just like the book before it, this book is wonderful. I love the bright artwork and repetition and rhymes. Everything about this book is great for young children.
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Kian is a baby Cockatoo that lives at a zoo but wants to go home to Timbuktu and his parents. The little Cockatoo plans his escape and goes on a trip around the world to go home. He visits places like India and China, along with Egypt and Rio. He directly visits eight places during his journey and if readers pay attention he flys over even more amazing places such as the Stonehenge.
I absolutely love the cute little Cockatoo that is the focus of the story. “Cockatoo” and “Timbuktu” are both fun words to say, drawing interest from children. The artwork is also extremely cute as are all the other animals. Other than the few areas where the rhyme falls apart, I could find nothing to complain about. I absolutely love the cute little Cockatoo that is the focus of the story. I do understand losing the rhyme at spots for the sake of the story.
This is designed for children. It could easily be read to newborns and older. A great book fro the beginning reader. It may also spark interest in different animals in older children as they track Kian’s path home. I rate this book 4 out of 4. Just like the book before it, this book is wonderful. I love the bright artwork and repetition and rhymes. Everything about this book is great for young children.
https://www.facebook.com/nightreaderreviews/
https://smashbomb.com/nightreader
https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com/
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