April 2021 – Page 2 – Everything Is Better With Dragons

TBR Pile Review: Unconquerable Sun, by Kate Elliott

55472064. sy475 — Hardcover, 523 pages
Published October 1st 2020 by Head Of Zeus (first published July 7th 2020)
ISBN:1800243200 (ISBN13: 9781800243200)

GENDER-SWAPPED ALEXANDER THE GREAT ON AN INTERSTELLAR SCALE

Princess Sun has finally come of age.

Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected—and feared.

But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme—and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead.

To survive, the princess must rely on her wits and companions: her biggest rival, her secret lover, and a dangerous prisoner of war.

Take the brilliance and cunning courage of Princess Leia—add in a dazzling futuristic setting where pop culture and propaganda are one and the same—and hold on tight:

This is the space opera you’ve been waiting for.

Book Bliz: White Knuckle Dance, by Andrew Cockburn

Blurb

She’s not what she appears to be.

He’s got secrets of his own.

But someone has to lead this dance.

There is a story behind every face you walk by on the street, or that you bump into in life. But what about your own story?

Dan never thought about himself as being different, and the world would agree with him. Just a regular nice guy who works in a regular nice job in London.

His nice and normal London life in the hectic world of sales turns upside down when he meets the captivating Mary at a work event. Deep down he knew there was more to life than what he was doing. He had an inkling that things with him could maybe be a little different. That a life of drudgery wasn’t what he’d signed up for.

But there seems to be a lot more to Mary than meets the eye. And with her guidance and through their relationship, he learns things he never even knew about himself.

But Mary is not the only one with a secret. As the dance speeds up, the games begin, and the

stakes are raised.

And so begins the white knuckle dance of discovery, risk, and power.

But can there really be a winner in that deadly dance of theirs?

Author Bio

Andrew is a Scottish writer who has lived in Asia for many years. As an anthropologist and sociologist by training Andrew has developed a keen interest in people, society and culture. Andrew’s debut novel, White Knuckle Dance, explores relationships and social norms though the lens of power and knowledge.

Audiobook Review: The Shephard’s Crown, by Terry Pratchett, read by Stephen Briggs

26179786 — Audible Audio
Published August 27th 2015 by Random House Audiobooks (first published August 1st 2015)

A SHIVERING OF WORLDS

Deep in the Chalk, something is stirring. ¬The owls and the foxes can sense it, and Tiffany Aching feels it in her boots. An old enemy is gathering strength.

This is a time of endings and beginnings, old friends and new, a blurring of edges and a shifting of power. Now Tiffany stands between the light and the dark, the good and the bad.

As the fairy horde prepares for invasion, Tiffany must summon all the witches to stand with her. To protect the land. Her land.

There will be a reckoning. . .

THE FINAL DISCWORLD NOVEL

Review: Social Goodness by Claire Burdett

Blurb

Social Goodness is a guide to how your business can meet your customer’s expectations through your brand actions and so ensure you don’t just survive but thrive in the coming decade. Perfectly pitched for busy C-suite leaders and entrepreneurs it is a meticulously researched, comprehensive trendspotting business bible, which is an easy to read, enthralling, and engaging page turner.

Social Goodness forensically investigates current trends, like sustainability, human marketing and ESG, and joins the dots to show you how it all connects and affects businesses in the wider world. It looks at what works and what doesn’t for brands post-pandemic in the new ‘normal’. Social Goodness examines why some companies are getting it right both on social media and with their brand actions – and thriving as a result – and why others are experiencing severe backlash and criticism.

It takes a view from a different perspective of social media and the central role it now plays in society and for business. Most business leaders still think of social media as somehow ‘other’ – an add-on to the marketing and generally of minor importance to their core business unless a social media crisis erupts. Yet, as we saw throughout the last few years, social media is at once a reflection of offline life and a petri dish that causes and influences real life events. It has resulted in a fundamental and irrevocable shift in how business is conducted – i.e. business is now totally transparent at every point. People can see for themselves if companies are lying, and pressure brands to change their policies and strategies, boycott their products, get others to also avoid buying and quite literally topple major brands, if they are behaving inauthentically or unethically.

Buy Links https://www.socialgoodness.co.uk/#thebook

Extract Post: The Source, by Sarah Sultoon

PUBLICATION DATE: 15 APRIL 2021 | ORENDA BOOKS | PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £8.99

A hugely anticipated debut thriller from former CNN international news executive Sarah Sultoon. Inspired by Sarah’s own time in the newsroom, The Source follows a young TV journalist who is forced to revisit her past when she’s thrust into a sex-trafficking investigation in her hometown. TV rights have already been sold to Lime Pictures, with Jo Spain writing the screenplay.

1996 – Essex. Thirteen-year-old schoolgirl Carly lives in a disenfranchised town dominated by a military base, struggling to care for her baby sister while her mum sleeps off another binge. When her squaddie brother brings food and treats, and offers an exclusive invitation to army parties, things start to look a little less bleak…

1997 – London. Junior TV newsroom journalist Marie has spent six months exposing a gang of sex traffickers, but everything is derailed when New Scotland Yard announces the re-opening of Operation Andromeda, the notorious investigation into allegations of sex abuse
at an army base a decade earlier.

As the lives of these two characters intertwine around a single, defining event, a series of utterly chilling experiences is revealed,
sparking a nail-biting race to find the truth… and justice.

A tense, startling and unforgettable thriller, The Source is a story
about survival, about hopes and dreams, about power, abuse and
resilience.

Review: Thought Economics, by Vikas Shah

Blurb

Since 2007, entrepreneur and philanthropist Vikas Shah has been on a mission to interview the people shaping our century. Including conversations with Nobel prize winners, business leaders, politicians, artists and Olympians, he has been in the privileged position of questioning the minds that matter on the big issues that concern us all. We often talk of war and conflict, the economy, culture, technology and revolutions as if they are something other than us. But all these things are a product of us – of our ideas, our dreams and our fears. We live in fast-moving and extraordinary times, and the changes we’re experiencing now, in these first decades of the twenty-first century, feel particularly poignant as decisions are made that will inform our existence for years to come. What started out as a personal interest in the mechanisms that inform our views of the world, and a passion for understanding, has grown into a phenomenal compilation of once-in-a-lifetime conversations. In this incredible collection, Shah shares some of his most emotive and insightful interviews to date.

Publication Day Fanfare: The Mystery of the Squashed Self, by

Blurb

Are you a frustrated, but fabulous, female business owner who feels like you are losing a grip on your passion, personality and power?

Are you feeling stuck in the traps of people-pleasing, blurred boundaries and conformity?

Are you driven, but don’t feel like you are in the driving seat?

Stop!

You are self-squashing.

This book will get you unsquashed. You will feel released as the REAL you with a business that thrillingly thrives rather than sort of survives.

Buy Link https://amzn.to/31zSNgw

Author Bio

photograph by Hattie Miles (please credit) … 14.12.2020 … Trisha Lewis who’s written ‘The Mystery of the Squashed Self’.

Communication coach, actor and business owner, Trisha Lewis, empowers women to find and be their ‘unsquashed self’ – released from the ‘shoulds’ and ‘self-doubt spirals’.

Trisha has a background as a freelance actor, entertainer, speaker and story facilitator. She set up her communication coaching business in 2016 – at the age of 59. She now works with women starting or growing their own business – with soul and originality.

Trisha pulls on her life and business growing experiences along with common themes in her client work – to ensure her written and spoken resources resonate. This includes her popular ‘Make it Real’ podcast.

‘The Mystery of the Squashed Self’ is Trisha’s first full-length book – and true to form it brings the challenges of 8 fictional, but reality-based, business owners to life. The common link being ‘self-squashing’. Trisha took her own advice when deciding to write a business book that didn’t follow the standard style!

Trisha lives by the seaside on the south coast of the UK with her husband. Her children are all grown up and she has no pets – other than the robotic vacuum cleaner which she admits to talking to.