An Untold Conspiracy is a humorous account of a man with a quirk–and
the extraordinary measures his colleagues take to combat it!
Set in a small town in northern India, this story follows Coinman, his peculiar habit and the incredible animosity it provokes in everyone around him. He just wants to do his clerk’s job with colleagues who’ll treat him fairly. He just wants a wife who will treat him like a husband. He just wants a happy home life. Instead, what does he get?
His colleagues are planning his complete destruction.
His wife is an obsessed actress more than a little “off plumb.”
And there are enough shadows and secrets in his home for two lifetimes.
Can Coinman ever get what he wants? Or will that cost him his sanity?
Quotes from Coinman: “Isn’t life a collection of weird quizzes with no answers to half the questions?” “The only thing God is afraid of is a strong-willed human!”
“People say there are thousands of options we have in life. I say we have only two: we can either be happy or be unhappy.”
“Talented minds have always been stealthily targeted by mediocre ones.”
About the Author:
Pawan
Mishra is a leader in the technology and finance industries. He
completed his education, including postgraduate work, at Indian
Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), India, in 1999. He
discovered his passion for storytelling, reading, and creative writing
during his early childhood. Originally from Aligarh, India, Pawan now
lives in Morrisville, North Carolina, with his wife Ritu and two
daughters, Mitali and Myra.
Enjoy this coming of age story, Moxie’s Problem by Hank Quense set in a parallel universe of Camelot.
Title: Moxie’s Problem (Book #1)
Author: Hank Quense
Pages: 294
Genre: Fantasy
Book Description:
Do you enjoy atypical coming of age stories? Well Moxie’s Problem is just for you!
Moxie is an obnoxious princess who has never been outside of her father’s castle. Until now. The real world is quite different then she expects and she struggles to come to grips with this reality. Her story takes place in the backdrop of Camelot but it is a Camelot from a parallel universe.
My Thoughts
This book was definitely not what I was expecting. I had thought the story would set around Moxie mainly with other minor stories woven in. The novel is narrated from the views of a knight and Merlin. The novel goes back and forth between these characters. I found this made the story a bit chaotic at times as I tried to follow it. There were so many great ideas in the parallel universe but it made it hard to follow at times.
The plot line is very good and unique but it was overwhelming with so many different characters, view points and ideas (from soccer to battles and Merlin). It almost felt like each of these characters could have had their own novel to themselves so that way Moxie could shine in this story. I think there is so much more to Moxie and I would have loved to have seen that come out in this novel. We only had small glimpses of this throughout the novel. It would have been really interesting to see her character develop fuller throughout the novel.
While an interesting read and I loved the idea, I found the novel overwhelming at times and would have loved to see the focus on Moxie. I would like to see how his next novel with Moxie plays out as I feel there is so much more to her then we see.
Rating: 3/5
About the Author:
Hank Quense writes humorous and satiric sci fi and fantasy stories. He also writes about fiction writing and self-publishing. He has published 14 books and 50 short stories along with a few dozen articles. He often lectures on fiction writing and publishing and has a series of guides covering the basics on each subject. He is currently working on a series of two humorous novels that take place in the Camelot era.
He and his wife, Pat, usually vacation in another galaxy or parallel universe. They also time travel occasionally when Hank is searching for new story ideas.
Ethics are a growing concern in all sectors of American culture. From businesses to all levels of schooling, as well as nonprofit companies, the values that guide business and teaching criteria are under scrutiny. But, does it take a scholarly textbook to understand how to create an ethical culture? No, Dwight Johnson has delved into the problems and presents practical solutions in his easy to read book, The Ethical Coach Leader: Developing Honor and Integrity.
About The Ethical Coach Leader
A fiction book that has universal application, Johnson creates an intriguing story about a college coach who finds out that his star athlete failed a steroid test, putting the coach in the cross hairs of an ethical dilemma. During a couple of restless nights of sleep, Coach is visited by five ghosts: the Ghost of Example, the Ghost of Education, the Ghost of Experience, the Ghost of E-information, and the Ghost of Environment. Each has different advice for Coach on how to resolve his ethical dilemma. With the dreams haunting his every waking moment, Coach also seeks advice from two of his former mentors. The lessons Coach learns can be applied to any industry, business, school or individual life.
The Ethical Coach Leader challenges cultural mindsets and introduces new ideas on how to apply desperately needed teachings in ethics, integrity, honor and good character. This is a must read book for anyone who has influence on others or is in a leadership role.
My Thoughts
The Ethical Coach Leader was an interesting and different style of book then I would normally read. It took the topic of ethics (which can be overwhelming and difficult at times) and used a real world problem in the form of a story to teach the readers and give us advice on how to solve ethical problems.
In this story, a coach is faced with a positive drug test on one of his best players. He is faced with a difficult decision on what to do. He relies on “visits” from each of the ghosts to help him solve his problem and develop a unique solution to this specific problem. It was very interesting to see how the story played out and what the coach focused on and ignored in making a decision.
This would be an incredibly important book for any individual to read. We all struggle with ethical decisions, whether we realize it or not. It may not be sports related as it was in this example but we all play similar roles from parenting, to self and even into our work lives. We all need to learn how to look at the whole picture and pick out the important information and how to develop the honourable solution, which is not always the easiest solution.
Dwight Johnson resides in Colorado Springs where he works at the United States Air Force Academy. He is a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel who was a Squadron Commander three times and a Division Chief twice. He also served as the Department Head of Services at the Air Force Institute of Technology, where he taught Customer Service and Total Quality Service.
In 2012, Dwight was awarded the General Billy J Boles Mentorship Award for the Air Force Academy for mentoring cadets. You can connect with him online, Twitter and Facebook.
Book Trailer
The Giveaway
My US and Canadian readers can now enter to win one of five copies of The Ethical Coach Leader.
LEGO has always given us hours of family fun and encouraged fine motor skill practicing for our children. LEGO is one of those toys that anyone can play with, age and gender doesn’t matter! Although they have some pretty cute new sets that are geared towards girls that I would have loved as a child.
I still remember as a child building farms, houses and castles with my brother and sister. We had huge boxes to play with and used our imagination to create our own master pieces. We didn’t have a lot of instructions to follow and would literally spend hours creating on the kitchen table.
While the LEGO has changed, the educational and creative benefits of the toys are undeniable. Children can literally build anything with their kits now, from Star Wars ships to boats and ambulances. Schools use them in kindergarten for math skills and social skills (my son’s personal favourite section at Kindergarten is this section, he comes home telling me all about what he has created on a daily basis).
Spring time is perfect to break out the LEGO kits and get those creative minds and hands working. The weather can be so unpredictable which cancels outdoor playtime, so it is important to keep your children entertained. We can do this through building model ships, cities, hosting battles and more.
Netflix understands the love children hold for LEGO and have brought the world alive with brand new shows. Their play list includes: Bionicle, Power of Friendship, Superheroes, City and Elves. There are so many different themes of LEGO to choose from, your child will love choosing the next inspired episode – they may even be able to reenact scenes with their figurines and worlds they have built.
Check out this Netflix clip from the new Bionicle Episode One: The Journey To One:
Looks awesome right? Don’t forget to check out the full episode on Netflix this month! What is your favourite LEGO themed show/kit?
Disclosure: I am affiliated with Netflix and receive perks with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.
Get ready for Waking Amy, the first novel in this three-part series from Julieann Dove.
About Waking Amy
Amy Whitfield is blindsided when she comes home and finds a note on the fridge from her husband, Wesley, stating that after four years of marriage, he’s leaving her. Amy was in the midst of trying to spice things up, to bring life back to their boring marriage. It seems now that she was too late.
As Amy sits with her head between her knees, trying to figure out what to do next, a call comes from Mercer General Hospital. The ER nurse is telling Amy’s answering machine that Wesley has been in a car accident.
When Amy arrives at the hospital, she finds her husband in a coma. The doctors say there is no sign of brain damage, and Wesley will eventually wake up. Relieved, Amy sees this as her second chance: the chance to get it right this time. To channel the girl Wesley won’t leave when he regains consciousness, she just needs some help to pull it off.
Amy would never figure on getting that help from Mark Reilly. Wesley’s doctor! He’s a non-committer, too cute for his own good bachelor, and completely the guy Amy begins falling for. It’s a race against time to see who wakes up first, Amy or her husband.
My Thoughts
An extremely interesting and unique book that I cherished from the first chapter. Amy is a quiet, down to earth girl who just wants to be loved. Something we can all relate to! She lost her parents at a young age and always carried this burden. She is the type of girl who follows routine, likes to be home in her pjs (yes please!) and never saw the life changing moment coming. My heart broke for her when she finds the message from her husband wanting to leave her. You can feel her pain, confusion through the pages of the book. When she is called to the hospital, you think how can it get any worse!
My heart ached for her as she turns to Mark for help being the adventurous, fun-loving and daring wife she feels her husband would want. No one should ever have to feel they need to change to be loved and accepted, but somehow we do do this. We allow ourselves to change to suit the person we are with and it is only years later that we see the mistake in this. Amy falls into this trap and has to decide if this is the way she wants to live her life – trying to be someone she isn’t to make someone else happy or to truly accept herself as she is. In the midst of all of this is Mark, someone who sees Amy for who she is and loves her for that. He accepts her faults, her quietness and brings her to life-like her husband never did.
You are kept guessing throughout the novel whether Amy can love herself for who she is or if she will put her own feelings and desires on the back burner for Wesley. I loved every moment of this novel and I can’t wait for the second part of this story as I fell in love with Amy’s character.
Julieann lives in Virginia, yet longs to live everywhere else. It doesn’t come as a surprise that along with her gypsy soul, comes an active imagination. That’s why she loves to write and invent worlds and people, so that she can formulate their happily ever after. Hobbies include cooking new recipes, sewing, and spending time with her cute boyfriend/husband and five fabulous children. Vacations happen in Nantucket or the Carolina beaches—anywhere there is inspiration for her next book. One day she hopes to travel to Italy, drive one of those little cars around the countryside, and speak the language fluently!
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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