A compelling and practical book on modern mindful leadership.
Executive coach and debut author Haddad offers a novel about personal and professional transformation.
Aidan Perez is haunted by dreams of an eagle, which appears to be a symbol of his own desire to soar. He’s built a career as a tech-company CEO but hopes to craft a new identity as an executive coach and find inspiration and renewal in the empowerment of others. However, he finds that the allure of the familiar is strong, threatening to pull him back into the mire of old labels and limiting beliefs. Determined to break free from this cycle of conformity, Aidan relies on the guidance of his mentors in his own life, learning to be vulnerable, to put aside his ego, and to face his innermost fears. Along the way, he discovers a wellspring of hope in a pamphlet, “5 Steps to Joyful Wisdom,” inspired by Hindu philosophy. The work awakens Aidan’s hunger for change and sparks a desire to know the identity of its anonymous author. As he investigates, Aidan uncovers a powerful coincidence and gains insight he needs to embrace the future. Serendipity, according to the author, is “the heart’s way of finding what the mind doesn’t know it wants.” This interweaving of heart and mind is a recurring element of Haddad’s powerful work, which compellingly fuses elements of a novel, a spiritual guide, and a leadership manual. The book offers self-help exercises, real-world examples, and parables to help readers to also seek their best selves. To this end, the book effectively outlines five crucial steps for change, including a desire for transformation and relinquishing a desire for control. These elements are clearly depicted in the main character’s growth, but they can be readily incorporated into readers’ lives, as well.
A compelling and practical book on modern mindful leadership.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2022
ISBN: 979-8846371620
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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