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In these turbulent times of rapid crisis and change, masterful leadership is vital. Key faculty members of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard University present a framework and practice method called Meta Leadership in which the leader seeks a bigger picture of the intricate complexity of the problems, opportunities, and solutions of a crisis in order to take decisive action. This holistic leadership view consists of three connected elements – the person or leader, the situation, and those the leader leads or the team.

What a wonderful surprise this book was! When it came across my desk, it immediately grabbed my attention because of the cover…a young boy and two enormous dogs, I had to take a look! I read the inside of the jacket and knew I had to read it even though I had never heard of the author or title. I started it that night and it was one of those books that you can’t wait to get to, but drag out finishing because you don’t want the story to end.

At the onset of this story, Roy and Celestial have been married for a little over a year, and are just getting to the point where they understand each other. Tragically, their marriage is derailed by a miscarriage of justice that lands Roy with a 12-year prison sentence. The remainder of the book explores the very complicated dynamics of a forced long-distance marriage. Told from multiple perspectives and spanning several decades, the story dives deep into the family members and circumstances that make us who we are.

The Mountains Sing is the English debut novel of Vietnamese poet, Nguyẽ̂n Phan Qué̂ Mai.

Steve Cavanagh is my new favorite author of a great legal thriller series.(Book #1 is The Defense.) In the second book, The Plea, he pens an exciting story filled with plot twists and naughtiness.

With her usual style of not letting any of the characters, let alone the reader, know everything that’s going on, Lapeña slowly reveals the secrets of a neighborhood. Someone has been breaking into homes and personal computers. When the hacker is discovered and confesses, good intentions turn deadly.

A heartbreaking yet triumphant story. Educated is a beautifully written memoir about Westover’s pursuit of knowledge and struggle to find her place in the world.

Naledi, the heroine of A Princess In Theory, is a grad student in epidemiology who lives in New York City and works part-time as a waitress to help pay the bills. When she starts getting emails telling her that she’s betrothed to an African prince, naturally she assumes they’re from a scammer and deletes them. But there is a real prince on the other end of the emails: Prince Thabiso of Thesolo.

Red, White, & Royal Blue, Casey McQuiston’s debut novel, is a romantic comedy starring Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the first female U.S. president, and Prince Henry, heir to the British throne.

In The Kiss Quotient, Stella, a data scientist with Asperger’s, is under pressure from her family to get married. So she hires Michael, an escort, to be her fake boyfriend in order to help her learn about dating and relationships. As they spend more time together, they find they’re falling in love for real.

Every business, large and small, should have a current contingency plan when emergencies or disasters strike – whether man-made or natural – to minimize risk and limit damage.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & other lessons from the crematory is a collection of personal stories and lessons learned by Caitlin Doughty, a current mortician, writing about her time as a crematory operator in California. It sounds pretty morbid, and at times it is, but it’s also entertaining, funny at times, and refreshingly honest. I learned a lot about the death industry and what happens behind the curtains. I’m sure I’m not the only one to wonder.