Today, I have a nonfiction college guide to share in our book blitz spotlight! Learn about Thinking Critically in College: The Essential Handbook for Student Success by author Louis Newman! 

Date Published: April 1, 2026

Publisher: Manhattan Book Group

Finally, a book that actually prepares you for college! Nearly every first-year college student discovers that college courses are more academically challenging than high school. Professors expect you not just to absorb material but to analyze and synthesize it, to consider multiple perspectives, to evaluate conflicting evidence, and then to apply what you've learned in new contexts.

Drawing on a lifetime of experience teaching and advising students, former dean of Academic Advising and associate vice provost at Stanford University Louis E. Newman explains how to do all this, and more. Whatever your background or academic interest, this book will prepare you for college-level learning. Thinking Critically in College is the definitive guide, not only for those in college, but for everyone who needs a refresher on thinking clearly.

"Even students who have taken college-prep and AP courses are unprepared for the type of learning that will take place in college. Thinking Critically in College is poised to help all students at all types of institutions develop the dispositions and skills necessary for success in college." -LYNN PASQUERELLA, president of Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

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This morning, we are sharing a nonfiction, biographical novel in our book spotlight. Learn about Alive For a Reason and author Jaiden Jackson Smith!

What You Don’t Know Will Kill You and It’s Not the Pandemic: Julia’s Story

Date Published: December 23, 2024

This gripping memoir tells the true story of a sudden, devastating illness—thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP)—a rare blood disorder with a 90% mortality rate if left untreated. 

Through a deeply personal and conversational narrative, Jaiden Jackson Smith brings readers into Julia’s world:

● A body turning against itself

● A mind navigating fear, confusion, and altered reality

● A spirit clinging to faith and purpose

● The link between stress, trauma, and autoimmune disorders

● The reality of hematological conditions and platelet disorders

● The emotional and spiritual battle of survival

about the author

Her debut memoir earned the 2025 International Impact Book Award, marking her as a powerful new voice in inspirational nonfiction. 

Jaiden holds a Master’s degree in Law and Public Policy in Nevada and is committed to continuing her education to advocate for: 

● Individuals with intellectual disabilities

● People with disabilities

● Senior adults

Beyond her professional achievements, Jaiden finds joy in:

● Spending time with her husband

● Enjoying music—especially Earth, Wind & Fire

● Writing and creative expression

● Bringing light into the lives of others through kindness

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Today, I have a Christian inspirational novel to share! Learn about A Round of Golf with Jesus and author George Miller. Be sure to enter for a chance to win a prize in the book tour giveaway at the end of this post.

Christian Inspirational / Devotional Nonfiction

Date Published: July 8th, 2026

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

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about the book

 

Faith and golf have a way of humbling us. They both seem more complicated than they are and harder to master than we expect. PGA professional George Miller has discovered that each is meant to bring joy, peace, and grace rather than frustration.

In A Round of Golf with Jesus, Miller invites readers to walk nine holes beside him and Christ, exploring how simple shifts, on the course and in the heart, can lead to transformation. With gentle humor, Miller shares personal stories, devotional insights, and practical teachings to remind us we can find fulfillment when we let go of perfection. 

If we trust God’s guidance and focus on being present, golf and life become far more rewarding.

 

about the author

George Miller is a PGA teaching professional and lifelong athlete with over thirty years of coaching and instructional experience. A Denver native, he played four years of collegiate golf at the University of Colorado Boulder before coaching both the boys' and girls' golf teams at Regis Jesuit High School. The girls’ teams earned three state championships under his guidance, and he received multiple Coach of the Year honors from The Denver Post. Known for his encouraging teaching style and deep love of the game, George has helped countless players connect with the joy and simplicity of golf. In his debut book, A Round of Golf with Jesus, he offers heartfelt reflections on sport, faith, and the quiet ways in which God meets us on the course and in life. Of all his golf partners, his favorite is his son, with whom he shares many of his most meaningful rounds.

 

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This morning, I have a business self-development book to share! Learn about Born to be (Unconsciously) Biased and author Fabi Fugazza. 

Strategies to Unbias Your Business Decision Making

Unconscious biases, however, cloud our view, and threaten our ability to make optimal, rational decisions. These biases impact our thinking without us even being aware of it, so, because we don't see our own unconscious biases, we often feel our decisions are based purely on "merit". 

This is not so. This book will lift the cloud, explain why decisions made purely on merit are generally a "myth", and show you how unconscious bias impacts your decisions. This book will then provide you with practical strategies to minimise bias in your decision-making processes, helping you to optimise your organisational decision making and your organisation’s outcomes. 

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 Fabi Fugazza ANZAM LLB BBusComm MMgmt GDLP is a management expert, author, international academic and lawyer with extensive experience in equity initiatives, human/civil rights and organisational management. 

She has owned unconscious bias consulting and training business jObjective since 2018, is Co-Executive Director of the Italy-based human/civil rights coalition CILD and is a multi-award-winning academic at two universities based in Australia. She has taught unconscious bias, law, business, and social sciences in undergraduate and graduate programs across three continents, and in executive education programs. She is a former Lead Scientific Adviser of New York University’s Public Interest Law Clinic in Paris, has delivered several CPDs on unconscious bias, and has worked with non-profit organisations for over 15 years.

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Today,  I have a business leadership book to share in our book blitz spotlight! Learn about The Executive Code and author Andrea Nicholas! 

 

Business - Leadership

Date Published: May 29, 2026

The C-suite changes everything: the scale, the stakes, the scrutiny. What got you promoted — functional excellence, execution, personal drive — isn’t enough to sustain you when every decision is visible and every move is interpreted.

In The Executive Code, strategic advisor Andrea Nicholas reveals the unspoken rules of C-suite leadership, drawn from years advising senior executives in high-pressure, enterprise environments.

Inside, you’ll discover how to:

* Navigate the invisible transitions that come with C-suite responsibility

* Avoid the traps that cause capable executives to stall or be sidelined

* Expand your judgment, influence, and executive presence across the enterprise

* Handle politics, pressure, and power without losing your edge or integrity

* Lead with clarity when scrutiny is constant and the margin for error is thin

If you’re preparing for the C-suite or determined to endure once you’re there, The Executive Code is your strategic advantage at the top — a concise, practical guide for turning a hard‑won role into sustained authority and impact. 

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about the author

 ANDREA NICHOLAS is a trusted advisor to C-suite executives leading under sustained visibility and consequence. She brings more than three decades of experience across consulting, executive leadership, and entrepreneurship, and is the creator of the Coachsulting® method, helping leaders expand influence, sharpen judgment, and build legacies that endure.

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Some experiences are difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't lived through them. In Notes from Planet Widow, Gwen Suesse reflects on the emotional landscape that follows profound loss, exploring the uncertainty, loneliness, and gradual shifts that can emerge when life changes in ways that cannot be undone. This morning, we are joining the book spotlight tour for Notes from Planet Widow by Gwen Suesse! Check out the book, read an excerpt & learn about the author! 

  

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about the book

What happens when the life you knew disappears overnight?

Gwen Suesse invites readers into the disorienting reality of grief after the sudden loss of her husband. As familiar routines, assumptions, and plans for the future begin to unravel, she finds herself navigating a world that no longer feels recognizable.

Drawing from her own experience, Suesse examines the many dimensions of loss, including loneliness, fear, anger, exhaustion, and the challenge of redefining identity after a life-altering change. She reflects on the quiet moments that often go unseen by others, the questions that linger without answers, and the emotional contradictions that accompany grief.

Rather than offering a roadmap or simple solutions, the book provides an honest account of what it means to keep living when certainty has disappeared. Through thoughtful reflection and lived experience, Notes from Planet Widow explores how small moments of understanding can gradually help create space for resilience, connection, and the possibility of beginning again.

 

 read an excerpt

PLANET WIDOW. A desolate, hostile land. Bleak. Unfamiliar. Foreign. So far away until suddenly it was not; until, like Dorothy, picked up and deposited in Oz by a tornado, I found myself plunked down in a strange barren landscape, overwhelmed by unrecognizable terrain. I was awash in grief, heartache, and disorientation. How could I navigate this unknown land? How could I find my way forward when there was only half of me left to do that?

All I could see was grayness, everywhere grayness, obscured with apparitions of death, visions of loss, and specters of being alone pockmarking the landscape.

For Dorothy, there was a yellow brick road. I saw no roads of any kind or color. No way forward and no safe haven. I was consumed by desolation, loneliness, and cold fear.

That stark, terrifying, hard landing happened years ago. In time the edges softened, the landscape came into focus, and colors reemerged. It is a strange truth that human beings are endlessly adaptable, even when we don’t want to be. We become inured to our situations in spite of ourselves. Surviving grief is as old as humankind. Life does go on. Somehow, we manage to “continue to continue,” as the Simon & Garfunkel song goes.

Initial paralysis slowly morphed into a truce of sorts with this new terrain. Seeing no alternative, I reluctantly embarked on a messy, disorganized, nonlinear process steeped in a brew of grief, heartache, self-doubt, and gut-wrenching loneliness. This process entailed false starts, full stops, unexpected roadblocks, unforeseeable hurdles, periodic rebellions, hand-wringing insecurities, agonizing uncertainties, and all other manner of obstacles and challenges. One day followed another. Somehow life went on.

What makes such transformation possible? Surely Grace—Grace, capital-G—that unmerited, mystical assistance that defies explanation, surely that was at work, carrying me when I could no longer carry myself, shifting my spirit when life had ebbed to its darkest moments, revealing glimmers of hope, difference, love, and possibility.

Examples spring to mind: A friend showing up with a plastic produce bucket full of ice and a bottle of wine. Omnipresent friends—each helping in their own signature way—through phone calls or emails or sharing books or splitting wood for my wood stove. Nature stunning me with her resilience and outrageous beauty as dappled sun sparkled through the trees and onto the stream next to my favorite hiking path, reminding me of Light, Hope, and Buoyancy, hinting that despite everything, joy can still be found. Grace in plain sight alongside the grief, coaxing me inch by excruciating inch to stop staring at closed doors and turn to windows open with possibilities.

 

learn about the author

Gwen Suesse is a writer, certified life coach, and grief support practitioner whose work focuses on helping people navigate life after profound loss and transition. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wagner College and a master’s degree in teaching from Harvard University, and is certified as a Martha Beck Life Coach, a Creative Grief Support Practitioner, and an administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®.

Her professional background spans education, choral conducting, human resources, coaching, and leadership roles in nonprofit and community organizations. She has led workshops and delivered keynote presentations at women’s conferences and charitable events, bringing a thoughtful, experience-based perspective to topics of identity, resilience, and personal growth.

Gwen is the award-winning author of Womansong: Balance and Harmony in a Feminine Key, which explores women’s search for balance and self-realization, and Notes from Planet Widow: Finding My Way After Loss, a deeply personal reflection on rebuilding life after unexpected loss.

She lives in Tryon, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

 

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This morning, I have a nonfiction book in our book spotlight. Learn about The Mind-Spirit Bible Practice by Nicole Doña and buy your copy of the book today! 

A Trauma-Informed DBT Inspired Guide to Renew the Mind & Spirit

Date Published: April 21, 2026

Publisher: Lucid Books Publishing

The Mind-Spirit Bible Practice was written for you.

In these pages, author and mental health advocate Nicole Doña bridges the gap between faith and psychology—showing how Scripture and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) can work together to bring emotional and spiritual wholeness. Drawing from her own story of healing and resilience, she offers practical tools and biblical insight to help you regulate emotions through grace, find God’s presence in your pain, and live from “the mind of the Spirit” (Romans 8:6). 

Whether you’re a believer, clinician, or ministry leader, this book is a resource for experiencing lasting healing—where emotional health and spiritual transformation finally become one.

about the author

Nicole Doña is a Christian author, nonprofit founder, and mental-health advocate passionate about integrating faith and psychology for emotional healing. She is the author of The Mind-Spirit Bible Practice—a groundbreaking guide that bridges Scripture and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to bring emotional and spiritual wholeness to believers, clinicians, and ministries alike. A brain tumor survivor, wife, and foster mom, Nicole writes from lived experience, weaving neuroscience, trauma recovery, and biblical wisdom into a practical framework for transformation. 

She has led policy reforms in San Francisco for system-involved youth, advanced statewide mental-health reforms across California, and collaborated with global brain-health leaders through the University of California, San Francisco. In 2015, she received a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco City & County Board of Supervisors for her contributions to mental-health policy and advocacy. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Josh.

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