Category: iRead tour

June 12, 2017

Speaking with Strategic Impact Spotlight

Speaking with Strategic Impact is for business people who make their living—or their mark—through presentations long and short.

About Speaking with Strategic Impact

Speaking with Strategic Impact is for business people who make their living—or their mark—through presentations long and short.

It’s a must-read if you’re a consultant, analyst, pitch team leader, roadshow executive, technology specialist, project manager, internal or external marketer, sales rep, subject matter expert or innovator.

Do your presentations unexpectedly fall flat? Do others hijack your meetings? Do you spend more time compiling slide decks than actually influencing decision-makers? Has someone vaguely told you that you “should look more confident up there” or that you “lack gravitas”? Have you watched TED Talks but wonder how you can bring that level of effectiveness into real business presentations?

Speaking with Strategic Impact gives you the key to leadership presence and persuasion. More than just tips and tricks, it outlines a discipline for navigating real business situations with consistently superior outcomes that’s favored by top business schools and Fortune 500 companies. You’ll get specific strategic and tactical advice to keep you on the mark in your presentations and meetings—and differentiate you from the vast majority of business presenters.

Read Speaking with Strategic Impact to master the means by which you make a living and a difference in the world!

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

About the Author

Kate LeVan trains, coaches and collaborates on business communication effectiveness with major corporations worldwide and as an instructor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Her training consistently receives top ratings from executive development program participants for its simplicity, applicability and career-changing impact. Connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

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Disclosure: This is a spotlight post, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

June 5, 2017

Dancing In The Rain Spotlight

In Dancing In The Rain, can she end the turmoil and escape the firmly built trap to find the freedom she craves?

Dancing In The Rain

Fifteen-year old Valeria Allegro works diligently on the family farm in Italy, where she is torn between her duty to her family and her desire to find freedom from her strict, domineering father. She finds solace in Dario, a young student who provides a blissful escape—until a neighbour’s son, Gregorio, decides he wants her for himself.

This raises an alarm for her father, which leads to family conflict and aggression. When Dario is threatened and her family is plagued by a series of suspicious accidents, Valeria is desperate to keep her loved ones safe. Can she end the turmoil and escape the firmly built trap to find the freedom she craves?

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon, Amazon US and Barnes & Noble.

About the Author

Lucy Appadoo is a registered counsellor and wellness coach with a part-time private practice. She also works as a rehabilitation counsellor for the Australian government. In her spare time, she self-publishes or writes nonfiction and fiction texts. She previously worked as a rehabilitation consultant, caseworker, English as a second language teacher, and proofreader.

Lucy has postgraduate diplomas in psychology, education, and English as a Second Language teaching, as well as specialised qualifications in grief counselling and hypnosis. She has also completed wellness coaching courses (levels 1-3) at Wellness Coaching Australia.

Lucy enjoys reading romantic suspense, romance, thrillers, crime novels, family/historical drama, and sagas. She writes in the genres of romantic suspense, historical fiction, and romance. She has enjoyed travelling to exotic places such as Madrid, Mauritius, and Italy, and draws on these experiences in her creative writing.

Lucy’s favourite authors include Kendra Elliot, Christiane Heggan, Theresa Ragan, Tara Moss, Nicholas Sparks, Adriana Trigiani, Erica Spindler, and James Patterson (to name a few).

Lucy’s interests include meditation, playing tennis, journal writing, reading fiction and nonfiction texts about writing, coaching, and counselling, ongoing professional development, spending time with her husband and two daughters, and socialising with friends and family.

Connect with Lucy on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

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Disclosure: This is a spotlight post, I did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

June 1, 2017

The Lady Who Cried Murder

In The Lady Who Cried Murder, fame comes at a price. Some pay with their privacy. Others pay with their pride. Khloe Everest paid with her life.

About The Lady Who Cried Murder

Determined to get her pretty face in front of the cameras, Khloe Everest fakes an abduction only to make a grand entrance in the midst of a press conference held by Spencer’s Police Chief David O’Callaghan.

Three years later, after failing to catapult her notoriety into a long-lasting celebrity, Khloe Everest returns to Spencer upon her mother’s sudden death and seemingly finds another weapon to propel herself into the spotlight. Unfortunately, someone kills her before she can make this entrance.

In Lauren Carr’s sixth Mac Faraday Mystery, Mac and his friends come up against reality stars, politicians, has-beens, and wannabes. Mac also finds himself face-to-face with an old foe from his past who had managed to escape arrest during their last encounter. Now, Mac sees that his adversary has only become more powerful, and dangerous, with the passage of time.

Intent to not let this killer escape again, Mac and his friends need to put all of their talents together to put a stop to a cold-blooded lady killer.

My Thoughts

This Mac Faraday mystery is just as exciting and suspenseful as you have come to expect from Lauren Carr! She is an amazing author that draws you into the story, makes you fall in love with the characters (they feel like family!) and keeps you guessing right to the very end.

In this novel, we start off with a wanna be celebrity faking her abduction in order to make the news. Several years later, she still hasn’t found her fame and returns home to Spencer when her Mother dies. This is when she uncovers a secret that would propel her into the spotlight permanently but she pays for this secret with her life.

After the murder is discovered, Mac and his gang uncover layers of murders, politicians, lies and cover ups. Mac uncovers a tie to an old foe that he couldn’t arrest and this motivates him to solve this new mystery. He needs the help of his entire gang (including his furry members!) in order to solve these crimes that are twisted and hidden in cover ups.

This novel is amazing – you are left guessing right to the very end. It was an ending that I did not see coming at all! The plot is fast moving, unexpected and well written. The characters fully come alive in this novel – they are relatable, funny and ready for anything.

Lauren has another winner in The Lady Who Cried Murder – a definite must read in the Mac Faraday series.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Audible.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband and three dogs (including the real Gnarly’s klutzy nephew Sterling) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

May 31, 2017

More Than a Soldier Book Review

More Than a Soldier is Angelo DiMarco’s powerful story of survival, resilience and courage.

About More Than a Soldier

Feeling a patriotic duty to defend his country after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, seventeen year old, Angelo J. DiMarco, enlists in the U.S. Army. Severely short of frontline fighters, the Army rushes Angelo through Ranger training and sends him to Italy as part of the 1st Ranger Battalion. Their objective: stop the German invasion.

Fighting on the front lines in Italy, the German’s teach Angelo a sobering lesson on life when they capture him during the bloody battle of Cisterna. Against insurmountable odds, Angelo miraculously escapes in a way that stretches the imagination. He survives behind enemy lines for over five months, hiding from the Germans and trying to outmaneuver them. He begs for food, sleeps in barns and suffers from many ailments, including dehydration, malnutrition, malaria and exposure to the elements.

My Thoughts

More Than a Solider is a truly powerful story of a young man who is determined to survive and fight for what he believes and knows is true. It is a story full of bravery, grace, resilience and leaves you feeling humbled, sad and hopeful. While a true story about Angelo’s experiences during the war, it does not glorify war. It shows us the real pain, the hopes and frailness of life.

Angelo enlisted in the US Army and was soon off to fight at the front with the very important battalion, the Rangers. They are trained in a physically demanding manner that makes you cringe but once they are out in the field, you truly understand why they had to be so physically, mentally and emotionally prepared. When they are captured and many of the men in battalion are killed, you worry that the end is near. Somehow he manages to escape but is then out in the open behind enemy lines. This begins an even greater struggle for food, shelter and survival.

Through this novel we are exposed to the real sides of war – the brutality, the illness, the friendships, the hopes and fears. Everything is laid out bare for us in this novel. You feel sadness, hope and pray for him throughout his journey. More Than A Soldier should be a must read for young adults and adults a like. It is a truly special story that I feel blessed to have had read.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Daniel M. Annechino, a former book editor, wrote his first book, How to Buy the Most Car for the Least Money, while working as a General Manager in the automobile business. But his passion had always been fiction, particularly thrillers. He spent two years researching serial killers before finally penning his gripping and memorable debut novel They Never Die Quietly. He has written and published five novels—all thrillers. But his latest work, More Than a Soldier, is a Historical Biography set in Italy during WWII.

A native of New York, Annechino now lives in San Diego with his wife, Jennifer. He loves to cook, enjoys a glass of vintage wine, and spends lots of leisure time on the warm beaches of Southern California.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

May 23, 2017

Infinity Book Review

In the second installment of the award-winning Horizon series, Dr. Caeli Crys returns to her war-torn world to fight for those she left behind.

About Infinity

Almagest, Caeli’s home, stands on the brink of revolution. Long hidden from the rest of the galaxy, the once-peaceful planet suffers under a regime that grows more violent and oppressive by the day. Marcus, Almagest’s dictator, is building an arsenal of alien weaponry by selling empathic children into slavery. A resistance has risen, but they are outmanned, outgunned, and in hiding.

Joined by Commander Derek Markham and his elite squadron of operatives, Caeli embarks on a dangerous mission to find the Resistance, rescue her captive people, and save her civilization from destruction.

My Thoughts

The second installment in this series was just as amazing as the first one, Horizon!

In this novel, Caeli’s home is under an evil regime – one who instills fear and despises anyone who isn’t like them. In Marcus version of the world, anyone with the lifesaving and remarkable powers that Caeli and her people have are outcasts and need to be controlled by force. His army has even gone as far as to sell children into slavery and a life of misery and death. From our own history, we can see how easily and quickly this can happen when one person instills fear of others into the majority and how deadly the consequences can be.

Caeli and Derek make the decision to go back to her home, they don’t know what they will do but they know they need to be there. Once she arrives, she learns of the resistance. While small, outgunned and hiding from everyone around them, they are brave and full of hope. It’s not just Caeli’s people who have joined the resistance – it is also members of Marcus’ army, those who have taken in her people and members of Marcus’ city. They know what he is doing is wrong and want to help stand up to him. This begins an amazing and scary adventure of the resistance fighting back, rescue and hope. It is scary, hopeful and full of tears and inspiration.

Infinity is a well written story of hope, fighting for what is right and what you believe in and freedom for all. I loved every moment of this novel – just as much and if not more as Horizon. Infinity does not disappoint!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Tabitha currently lives in Rhode Island. She is married, has four great kids, two spoiled cats, and lovable lab mix. Her degree is in Classics from College of the Holy Cross and she taught Latin for years at an independent Waldorf school, where she now serves on the Board of Trustees.

Tabitha’s debut novel, Horizon, won the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize for Self-Published Fiction in 2016, and was named finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and National Indie Excellence Awards. Infinity, the second book in the Horizon series, will be released in June 2017. Her short story “Homecoming” appears in the anthology Sirens, edited by Rhonda Parrish and published by World Weaver Press, and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is also a senior editor for www.BookClubBabble.com.

Visit her blog at www.tabithalordauthor.com where she discusses favorite topics including parenting, teaching, and her writing journey.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.