Book Lovers' Magazine

In The Beginning, There Was a Murder by P.C. James

When her best friend is murdered, Pauline Riddell finds she must take the law into her own hands if she is to see justice done.

It’s northern England, 1953, rationing is still in place and the Cold War is heating up. Her fiancé is out in Korea, where thankfully that war is winding down, and she’s just setting out in adult life working at a local armament factory. She’s hard-up, everyone is, but Pauline can see better times ahead, a home, a family, a responsible job, and she’s preparing for that future. Then her friend, Marjorie, is stabbed to death.

At first, Pauline is only concerned with helping the police. She’s intelligent and resourceful but also inexperienced, just out of school and still believing the world runs in trustworthy ways.

Then she finds the police think they’ve caught her friend’s killer and they’re winding down the investigation. Pauline now realizes this is a world where you can’t always leave things to others, you have to get involved yourself. But, as she investigates and puts pressure on the police for more action, she finds the killer wants her out of the way and the police have come to suspect she killed her friend.

Can she catch the killer before she either faces the same fate as Marjorie or is hanged for killing her?

Cricket and the Singing Frog Sisters by Dana Andrews

By Book Lovers Magazine

Cricket and the Singing Frog Sisters by Dana Andrews

The singing frog sisters love to sing about their favorite numbers, but they are not like most frogs. Cricket is very hungry and about to learn their secret. Will they all become friends? Will Cricket be too afraid? This story has a big surprise!

In The Beginning, There Was a Murder: An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery by P.C. James

By Book Lovers Magazine

In The Beginning, There Was a Murder: An Amateur Female Sleuth Historical Cozy Mystery by P.C. James

When her best friend is murdered, Pauline Riddell finds she must take the law into her own hands if she is to see justice done.

At first, Pauline is only concerned with helping the police. She’s intelligent and resourceful but also inexperienced, just out of school and still believing the world runs in trustworthy ways.

Illusional Reality by Karina Kantas

By Book Lovers Magazine

Illusional Reality by Karina Kantas

Becky Jones is as independent as they come, a marketing executive determined to succeed on her own terms. But her career plan goes sideways when two men try to kill her – and her rescuer whisks her away to an enchanted realm. Her realm.

In Tsinia she is Thya, heir to the throne and gifted with magical abilities, destined to fulfil an ancient prophecy. Her people are kind and peaceful, desperate to forget the evil that looms over them. When she refuses a betrothal to an enemy prince to stop the oncoming war, her act of rebellion sparks old tensions and threatens the future of the kingdom.

As well as battling to save her kinsmen, she is battling with a power within her that is threatening to take over her body, mind, and soul. All while falling for one whose heart she can never have. Thya must find a balance between her needs and those of her people, but in order to do so, she must fight against destiny itself – and forge her own fate, no matter the cost.

This duology includes Illusional Reality and The Quest

SMART Objective Setting for Managers by Irial O'Farrell

By Book Lovers Magazine

SMART Objective Setting for Managers by Irial O'Farrell

Every year, millions of managers sit down with their staff, to set objectives for the coming year. Every year, the vast majority of those millions of managers dread the prospective of having to sit down with their staff, to set objectives. If this sounds like you, then meet your new best friend – SMART Objective Setting for Managers.

This book unpacks the 4 main challenges that most managers grapple with, when setting objectives:
– Defining the desired outcomes of performance
– Diagnosing team members’ individual starting points
– Defining tangible objectives for “soft” behavioural performance issues (e.g., poor communication or influencing others)
– Understanding what goes wrong during the communication of agreeing objectives

As you read through the book, your understanding of SMART, developing performance and communication builds up, culminating in Chapter 8. This chapter explores how to identify soft performance issues and how to diagnose what the real underlying issue is and provides a framework to design an objective that will deliver real performance improvement.

Reviews on Amazon rave about how easy-to-read and concise the book is while providing a whole new way to look at objective setting.