Like most things in my life, my reading journey proceeds in a convoluted and undirected fashion. The reading cut ends up being about 75% romance, 25% everything else. Almost all of the books will have been supplied by the publisher in return for an honest review.
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole
Sunday, August 7, 2022
A Hunger like No Other by Kresley Cole
Friday, April 15, 2022
HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself -Anthology
The first talks about how you allocate your resources. Author Christensen advocates for looking at delayed gratification and not always looking for the shortcut.
"... humility was not defined by self-deprecating behavior or attitudes but by the esteem with which you regard others." "... if you have a humble eagerness to learn something from everybody, your learning opportunities will be unlimited."... abusive, arrogant or demeaning... their behavior is almost always a symptom of their lack of self-esteem."
Drucker tells us about feedback analysis, that it can lead to the actions of concentrating and developing our strengths, then look for where our arrogance is hindering us and overcome it. "...but with opportunity comes responsibility." "Organizations are no longer built on force but on trust. The existencs of trust between people does not necessarily mean that they like one another. It means they understand one another." "...it is vitally important for the individual... to have an area in which [they] can contribute, make a difference, and be somebody."
Oncken and Wass lead a spirited article on the discussion of monkeys and whether the monkeys (problems) should be on the backs of the managers (rarely) or their trusted subordinates.
Coutu talks about resilience, the study of which has been more closely looked at lately and will come into focus again soon with all that faces the world at the moment. Her key points include facing down reality, searching for meaning, and continually improvising.
Schwartz and McCarthy look at four types of energy (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual) and how those can be drained but also rebuilt.
Hallowell's article explores ADT, attention deficit trait and how so many people have so many drains on their time that they can't accomplish anything. He talks about the goals or protecting your brain (sleep, food, exercise), organize around the ADT (break down tasks, keep an area on your desk and in your calendar clear, practice OHIO (only handle it once), and work in a way that helps you perform the best (adjust hours, use headphones, work standing up)), and slow down and take your time.
Friedman focuses on the domains of work, self, home, and community. He suggests that you sit down and really figure out who/what is important in your life and then see what small changes that you make might make you happier in all of the domains. He walks you through Total Leadership (the principles of which are be real, be whole, be innovative) which is designed to help you figure out how to not only plan but how to experiment and measure progress in all four domains.
Ghoshal and Bruch talk about prioritization and what you want to achieve as a manager.
Quinn argues that great leadership comes from within. We can learn and emulate all we like but we need to find the fundamental state of leadership. He introduces the four questions that can shift you into that state: Am I results centered, internally directed, other focused, and externally open?
Key questions to ask yourself are the focus of Kaplan's article. They help you identify visions and priorities, how you manage your time, feedback, succession planning, evaluation and alignment, leading under pressure, and how to stay true to yourself.
Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee write about emotional intelligence and not only that leaders should know that they impact employees but HOW they impcat employees (and therefore adjust their style.)
Sunday, October 24, 2021
The Under Dog and Other Stories by Agatha Christie
Sunday, September 5, 2021
Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters
Sunday, May 2, 2021
The Villa by Nora Roberts
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Three Fates by Nora Roberts
Friday, April 9, 2021
Three Witnesses by Rex Stout
"When a Man Murders..." features a man who makes it back from the war, only to be murdered in a hotel. Was it the man's wife who has now married another man? She also used her rather large inheritance to purchase her new husband's business though they both claim to be ready to give back the money if only they can stay together. Of course, it could also be the man's aunt or her two children who mutually inherited the other half of the man's estate.
The last story, "Die Like a Dog" relies on some rather interesting coincidences for Archie to end up with a black lab whose owner has just been murdered.
A fun read and nice to have short stories that are easy to get through.
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Hopcross Jilly by Patricia Briggs
Mercy and a pack of wolves discover a skeleton one night while they are out hunting. It turns out that there are actually four skeletons, pointing in the four cardinal directions. And as the police come in and start looking, those aren't the only four.
At the same time, Jesse is being ostracized at school because of her relationship with the wolf pack. But there is one new girl, Jillian, who seems interested in being her friend. But she's just a little odd herself and Jesse isn't sure she's a friend worth having.
Friday, February 19, 2021
Manhunting by Jennifer Crusie
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Bite Me by Shelly Laurenston
Vic is a half-bear-half-tiger shifter. Apparently he's generally strong and patient but easily startled. He and Livy have been friends for awhile (yes! one of my favorite tropes!) but he is only just now starting to realize that he might feel more for her than just little sister vibes. And Livy feels the same. But she's also distracted by the fact that she's just found her father -- her supposedly dead and buried father, in another woman's apartment. So there's that.
I hadn't read any of the other books in this series the first time I read this book but I was able to catch on fast to the world building. There were a LOT of extra characters that I assumed were from previous books and they were but there are pretty much always this many characters in the books of this series.
Four stars
This book came out March 25th, 2014
This book follows Wolf with Benefits
Followed by Hot and Badgered (new series but closely connected with this one)
Ebook I borrowed from Overdrive
Opinions are my own
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Wolf with Benefits by Shelly Laurenston
Ricky Lee Reed works for his brother's security agency. He meets Toni one day and is interested, until she turns him down. But their paths keep crossing and he is consistent in his interest.
I liked this one. Toni didn't get on my nerves as much as come of the other heroines in this series and was actually pretty good at her job once she figured out that she could do it.
Four stars
This book came out March 25th, 2014
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Bear Meets Girl by Shelly Laurenston
Marcella Malone knows that Lou isn't her boyfriend. But he's so fun to tease. And it turns out that her work with the feline protection agency overlaps an investigation that he is very much an important part of.
The more I read this book the more I enjoy it. Cella has a sly humor that makes her a great character for the series.
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Big Bad Beast by Shelly Laurenston
Of course, we get to see many of the shifters from previous books and there is more going on with the overarching story of people using hybrids as fight dogs. A wonderful book in the series since we get to see so much of their relationship growing.
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston
It is better when you skim the Blayne parts. Bumped it up to three stars on the re-reads (I do re-read it often though because I can't stand to skip books in series...) because Bo is really growing on me. He doesn't try to change Blayne and her annoyingness, he loves her as she is and plans to work around her.
Follows The Mane Squeeze
Followed by Big Bad Beast
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own
Sunday, January 3, 2021
The Mane Squeeze by Shelly Laurenston
Blayne is not nearly as annoying in this book but she and Jessie together can be... over enthusiastic. And the annoyingness of that comes through in every interaction.
This book came out November 1st, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2020
The Mane Attraction by Shelly Laurenston
Follows The Beast in Him
Followed by The Mane Squeeze
This book came out November 1st, 2008
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own
Friday, December 18, 2020
The Beast in Him by Shelly Laurenston
But he left. And she went out and built her own pack, becoming the Alpha of a wild dog team that also does computer hacking to test security. When they meet again as adults, Jessica wants to put him in his place so she pretends not to know him. And that pisses Smitty off. Because he "knows" that she's faking so he's not going to take no for an answer (not romantic).
I had a lot of issues with the not taking no and Jessie being a little hyper but I did love her family and how they were so accepting of everyone. Except the Smiths; but there was history.
Three stars
This book came out April 1st, 2008