Author Archives: Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez

About Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez

My Niece and Nephew joke that I could open a used book store with all the books that I own. I love to read, that is my addiction. I can't go a week without going to a book store. I love crocheting. I love to write stories and poetry. I also love my family, even though they make me crazy at times. I am a huge Donald Duck Fan.

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | November 28, 2024 · 5:00 am

The Start-Up Puzzle Virtual Book Tour

Nonfiction / Business

There’s a lot of over-promises and incorrect advice being given
online on starting a successful enterprise. This wrong advice could cost
someone their life savings and importantly ruin their life ambition and
dream. Therefore, in partnership with the Erasmus University Rotterdam, we
decided to pull together a practical how-to guide explaining the process
successful start-ups go through: The Start-up Puzzle. It explains the
different steps by using real-life examples and has an academic section
explaining the theory behind these steps, all augmented by interviews with
experts in the field of start- and scale-ups. What makes this guide unique?
Real-life examples and expert interviews augmented with a birds-eye overview
of the academic theory create a practical guide that is both understandable,
practical, and implementable.

EXCERPT

Introduction

GIVEN MY BACKGROUND as a law graduate, let me start with a disclaimer:

This guide doesn’t pretend to cover every element of new

business creation and entrepreneurship. It is also not meant to be an

academic publication or research summary. It aims to give a practical

birds-eye overview of the common factors & deliverables that

successful start-ups seem to have focused on. The pieces of the puzzle

or the academic framework are not meant to become a tick-thebox

exercise but instead offer a holistic view to aid understanding

of the key drivers of building successful enterprises. We have chosen

and named the different pieces of the puzzle as we felt fit based on

our own experiences in the start-up and scale-up world as founders,

board members, advisors, angel investors, or acquirers of start-ups

and scale-ups. We thus accept that our puzzle pieces will stem from

our subjective biases, yet hope the simplification we have tried to capture

will aid the understanding of the whole process of starting a new

venture. We will leave it to academia to properly define the appropriate

definitions, models, and frameworks of the start-up phases. We

hope this guide will help entrepreneurs make choices about where

they want the magic and/or superpowers of their start-up to be. On

top of our own experiences, we held interviews with serial entrepreneurs,

academics, private equity, investment banking, and other subject

matter experts, with jointly more than 300 years of experience

with start-ups & scale-ups. We hope their unique perspective will not

only aid the understanding but also serve as an inspiration from those

who live and breathe start-ups day in, and day out.

We have chosen this condensed practitioner’s format as we ourselves

also would not have the time or patience to read multiple fourhundred-

page business books to get a big-picture overview of what

constitutes a successful start-up journey. Furthermore, we hope the

practical examples will inform and inspire how to overcome certain

challenges and navigate opportunities entrepreneurs will likely be

confronted with during their start-up journey. We believe this practitioner

guide can also offer food for thought for more established businesses,

as most of the reflections and observations hold for businesses

in general, not just start-ups.

About The Author

RvP is known as the go-to person to simplify & break down complex
business challenges into understandable questions you can deal with. He has
a remarkable 30+ year track record as both a senior leader in a Fortune 50
company in operational regional and local jobs, global marketing and
strategy roles, innovation and external ventures jobs – world of abundance
of resources, shortage of entrepreneurship. On the other hand, he was
closely involved as an entrepreneur and advisor to many start &
scale-ups in FMCG, Luxury, and MedTech, a world that is often dominated by
scarcity, and thus the only way to survive is by taking risk, and coming up
with creative out of the box solutions that have never been done before.
Currently, he is active as a senior consultant, advisor to start &
scale-ups, an avid (public) speaker, a University lecturer, and a
high-altitude tour skier, Robert strives to make a difference in the lives
of those who aspire to be involved in creating new ventures, in starting
enterprises as well as big Corporates that want to be inspired by the
creativity that a culture of scarcity breeds.

Contact Link

Website

Purchase Link

Amazon

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Tagged as Nonfiction / Business, Robert Van Pappelendam, The Start-Up Puzzle

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | November 27, 2024 · 5:00 am

The Moldavian Gambit Virtual Book Tour

Spies & Politics, Espionage, Terrorism

A taut, fast-paced, geopolitical techno-thriller set in the dying days of
the Soviet Union. The Moldavia Gambit will appeal to lovers of complex
espionage, terrorism and political thrillers by authors like Tom Clancy,
Daniel Silva and Mark Greaney.

Inspired by actual events and filled with authentic technical detail, the
gripping tale races between Moscow, Moldavia, Paris, Washington, the skies
over Eastern Europe, and geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth.

EXCERPT

Prelude

With the impending implosion of the Soviet Union in 1991, more than thirty-three thousand nuclear weapons remained stored on Soviet soil, aboard warships of the Red Fleet, or in the armories of the republics around Russia’s western and southern perimeter. Nearly 10,000 were strategic arms: warheads deployed on land-based and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, or nuclear bombs and air-launched cruise missiles carried by the Bears, Backfires, and Blackjacks of the strategic bomber forces. Most of the remainder were tactical nuclear weapons, generally employed on intermediate and short-range ballistic missiles or aboard dual-capable fighter-bomber aircraft.

The Soviet stockpile also included several hundred small, short-range nuclear devices ranging from nuclear mines and artillery rounds with yields of less than one kiloton to suitcase-size portable charges with yields of ten kilotons or more, comparable to the weapon that had devastated Hiroshima 46 years earlier.

In the summer of 1991, the Soviet Union faced widespread political and ethnic unrest. In the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, cries for greater autonomy were mainly peaceful. But in the Muslim republics to the south and elsewhere across the fragmenting empire, calls for secession were often complicated by the violent demands of fractious ethnic minorities.

The Russian majority of the Soviet population viewed the rapid decline of their extended motherland with a combination of fear and resentment. Dispersed throughout the calcified Soviet political and military leadership were fervent nationalists who shared this sentiment – and believed they had the means to do something about it. On August 19th 1991, the world awoke to news of a short-lived coup against the Soviet leadership, an attempted putsch that ended quickly when its leaders apparently failed to win the support of key apparatchiks in the military and security services.

In Washington, D.C., and throughout NATO Europe, the reaction to events in the Soviet Union was one of wary skepticism. While Soviet military and political leaders pointed to the abortive coup as evidence that the Soviet nuclear arsenal remained fully secure, NATO military observers remained concerned that local insurgents might somehow gain access to the nuclear genie – and with good reason.

Less than a year before, Western intelligence sources reported that the Kremlin no longer had faith in its ability to maintain control over the nuclear arms stored in its unstable republics and had begun a gradual withdrawal of the weapons to safer areas of the Rodina. On June 22nd 1990, The Wall Street Journal carried a front-page story highlighting the emerging threat. Under the sub-caption “Fear of Theft or Civil War Prompts Military Action on Short-Range Arsenal,” the article noted that:

“Rising levels of crime, thefts of conventional weapons from military bases, attacks on military units, and personnel problems within the military have accelerated the effort [to secure Soviet nuclear stockpiles]. It appears to focus, at least in part, on bringing tactical nuclear weapons such as short-range missiles, nuclear artillery, and bombs into the [politically stable] Russian Republic [and out of the more volatile western and southern republics]…

“[A major] concern involves the theft of one or more nuclear weapons that could occur if an isolated Soviet storage site were overrun by rebel forces. This became more than a speculative possibility in late January [1990] when the Kremlin suddenly dispatched elite Russian airborne units to stop fighting between armed Azerbaijani and Armenian groups around the Caspian Sea city of Baku…”

The highly publicized withdrawal of nuclear weapons had, in fact, begun two years before at the direction of the General Secretary, both to reassure the West that the Soviet Union intended a safe and orderly transition to a new political order and to forestall any real security risks among the unstable republics around its perimeter.

Within a year, however, a rift had developed within the Kremlin as some argued that by limiting its range of nuclear options, the Soviet Union risked encouraging aggression from Chinese and Western opportunists. Knowing that further reforms would be impossible without the continued support of the KGB and the military, the General Secretary acquiesced. Through the winter of 1990, some of the inventory was quietly returned to more secure bases along the Soviet perimeter, including one in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic…

About the Author

Brad Meslin has spent more than 35 years working at the intersection of the
aerospace and defense industry, private equity and national security.

Meslin founded and manages a leading advisory firm that performs diligence
on aerospace, defense and government services contractors active in the
defense, space, aviation and intelligence sectors in the United States,
Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. Advising on hundreds of
transactions over more than three decades, Meslin has gained a deep
understanding of the national security programs and missions these companies
support, and the capabilities and systems they help to develop and
operate.

Dr. Meslin earned a Master’s degree in law and diplomacy and a Ph.D.
from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, with a focus on international
security.

Contact Link

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Tagged as Brad Meslin, Espionage, Spies & Politics, Terrorism, The Moldavian Gambit

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | · 5:00 am

A Ten-Year Overnight Success Virtual Book Tour

The Inspiring Story of a Business You’ve Never Heard of

Business Memoir

Date Published: September 10, 2024

This is a story for the rest of us. Those who want to grow their companies
but can’t find relatable inspiration, or guidance, in current business
literature. It’s a story about a company that you’ve never heard of, but one
that used computer algorithms to save the American taxpayer over $60 Billion
in government pandemic relief fraud. And it’s about an unlikely founder who
takes the risks and inspires his team to go from an idea to a nine-figure
exit in less than 9 years.

In A Ten-Year Overnight Success, Pondera Solutions founder, Jon Coss, takes
you with him on his journey through what he describes as the four stages of
a typical startup. You’ll share his raw emotions through the “rise and
fall of enthusiasm”, his months of desperation in the “desert of
despair”, his tempered confidence through “wiggles of hope”,
and his immense relief and sense of accomplishment marching toward the
“Promised Land”.

Jon’s story-telling narrative combines soul-searching truths with
self-deprecating humor to provide you with an inside look at what it takes
to achieve the success that less than 1% of businesses ever will. Along the
way, he offers practical, nuanced lessons that you won’t find in the typical
business book. Lessons learned in the trenches. Lessons that may not make
you the next Tesla but are sure to grow your business. Lessons that apply to
the rest of us.

EXCERPT

Overview

98.7% of American companies make less than $1 million a year.

In search of inspiration, fledgling business owners read stories

about multibillion-dollar companies like Nike, Amazon,

and Tesla. In reality though, the majority of us have no chance

of achieving this level of success because only .002 percent of

companies generate even $100 million in annual sales.

This is a story for the rest of us. Those who want to grow

their companies but can’t find relatable inspiration, or guidance,

in current business literature. It’s a story about a company that

you’ve never heard of, but one that used computer algorithms

to save the American taxpayer over $60 Billion in government

pandemic relief fraud. And it’s about an unlikely founder who

takes the risks and inspires his team to go from an idea to a

nine-figure exit in less than 9 years.

In A Ten-Year Overnight Success, Pondera Solutions

founder, Jon Coss, takes you with him on his journey through

what he describes as the four stages of a typical startup.

You’ll share his raw emotions through the “rise and fall of

enthusiasm”, his months of desperation in the “desert of

despair”, his tempered confidence through “wiggles of hope”,

and his immense relief and sense of accomplishment marching

toward the “Promised Land”.

Jon’s story-telling narrative combines soul-searching truths

with self-deprecating humor to provide you with an inside look

at what it takes to achieve the success that less than 1% of

businesses ever will. Along the way, he offers practical, nuanced

lessons that you won’t find in the typical business book. Lessons

learned in the trenches. Lessons that may not make you the

next Tesla but are sure to grow your business. Lessons that

apply to the rest of us.

About the Author

Jon has provided strategic consulting to many of the world’s largest
technology companies, a nationally recognized expert in government fraud,
and an active mentor for aspiring entrepreneurs

Contact Links

Purchase Link

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Tagged as A Ten-Year Overnight Success, Business Memoir, Jon Coss

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | · 5:00 am

Hunger Blitz

(Winter’s Call 2)

Dark Fantasy Romance

Date Published: November 29, 2024

Publisher: Changeling Press

One witch, one cop, and an insane vampire hell bent on destroying them all
— if the demons don’t get them first.

Dr. Adriana Hill’s life is thrown into a frightening whirlwind when
she meets the twin sister she never knew she had. Swept into a fight ages in
the making, she joins forces with her sister’s friends to stand
against a vampire hell bent on destroying the one who made them all.

Detective Logan Greer is hunting down a killer who seems to be targeting
anyone associated with the beautiful and enigmatic Dr. Hill. Things are not
what they seem, though. He’s determined to protect the woman
who’s stolen his heart, no matter the cost.

Excerpt

“Did you hear?”

Logan Greer looked up from the mountain of paperwork on his long-suffering
desk. “Hear what?”

His friend and fellow detective, Jan Summers, leaned on the side of his
desk, arms crossed while she peered at him like he’d missed something.
Had he?

“They found another body.”

“Okay…”

“Believed to be connected to your case.”

Now she had his attention. “What? Not that friend of the doc’s,
was it?”

“No, but close enough to her to make the higher-ups
leery.”

Logan stood and grabbed his coat. “Where?”

Jan handed him a slip of paper with an address on it. “Apparently,
it’s a block or so away from Dr. Hill’s office.”

He grabbed his keys and headed out, his mind going in half a million
directions at once. Whatever was going on, he didn’t doubt it had
something to do with Dr. Adriana Hill.

The drive to her office didn’t take long, even without a siren. He
parked in front of the building and noted the metal detector just inside the
door. Not many health providers stuck their necks out for vampires, and
those who did put themselves at the wrong end of others who would rather the
vamps die final deaths. Logan had no qualms with vamps as long as they left
him alone.

He spotted a few department vehicles along the busy street and started down
the sidewalk in that direction, needing answers before he went inside to
break yet more bad news to the doc.

“Ah, there you are,” one of the techs said as Logan
approached.

“What’ve you got?”

The tech finished removing his gloves and tossed them into a biowaste bin.
“Well, believe it or not, a vamp.” At Logan’s raised
eyebrow, the tech just nodded. “Young one, in vamp terms. I’d
say about twenty-five, maybe thirty? Female.” He led Logan to a black
body bag and unzipped it.

The resemblance to Dr. Hill unnerved Logan more than he cared to admit.
“Cause of death?”

“That’s just it,” the tech said, zipping the bag up.
“We don’t know. We’re gonna have Tox run some tests,
though. She wasn’t drained or burned or decapped.”

Logan sighed. “Keep me updated, especially with whatever Tox finds. I
need to go have a chat with Dr. Hill.”

“Dr. Adriana Hill? The vamp doc? Think she’s
involved?”

“I think she may be a target,” Logan said. “Gut feeling.
I’ll be in touch.”

Logan went back toward Dr. Hill’s office and stepped inside. He
placed everything on the scanner table and nodded at the guard. The detector
beeped, but given his profession, the guard just waved him by. Logan
gathered his things and walked up to the receptionist’s desk.

“Hello, can I help you?”

He handed a business card to the young woman. “I need to speak with
Dr. Hill, please.”

“Oh, yes, Detective. Please have a seat, and I’ll let her
know.”

Logan sat in a nearby chair before giving the decent-sized waiting room a
cursory glance. A few patients sat scattered around the room, most of them
on their phones.

“Detective Greer?”

Logan looked up and couldn’t help but be taken aback by those
mesmerizing dark emerald eyes. He stood and offered his hand, which she
shook. “I apologize for this unannounced visit, Dr. Hill. Do you have
a moment?”

Though she seemed a bit apprehensive, Dr. Hill gestured toward the hallway.
“Of course, follow me.” Once inside her office, she shut the
door and sat behind her desk. “There’s been another
murder.”

Logan blinked. “How –”

“Rumors spread like wildfire in the vampire community, Detective.
Several of my patients have mentioned it this evening.”

Logan sat down and tugged out a battered notepad and pen. “That makes
sense. I imagine losing one of their own would get them talking about it
amongst themselves. Did you know her?”

“Not personally. She was one of Edith’s patients, so I never
saw her in that capacity. What happened?”

“Her body was found about a block from here, stuffed behind a
dumpster like a ragdoll. No blood loss, no burns, no evidence of even
attempted decapitation.” He glanced up at her. “Dr. Hill, the
fact that she resembled you a great deal is of particular
concern.”

Dr. Hill leaned back, her expression pensive. “You think someone
mistook her for me?”

“It’s not a guarantee, but the thought crossed my mind. Despite
being a patient of Edith Tanner’s, the victim bears an uncanny
resemblance to you, and the murder took place within a block of your office.
I asked you before if Dr. Tanner had any enemies.”

Dr. Hill nodded.

“Now I’m asking that of you. Is there anyone who would want to
harm you?”

She sighed and stood. “What I am about to show you is confidential,
you understand. Patient-doctor privilege, HIPAA, you know the drill.”
She retrieved a folder from a filing cabinet and set it on the desk in front
of him. “The majority of our files are digital now, in an EHR program.
Only the oldest are still in paper format.”

He opened the folder. “A patient file?”

“Yes.” She sat down again and leaned back in her chair.
“About ten years ago, I had a patient come in who had been bitten. He
was angry and quite combative. He seemed to think I could fix
him.”

“Fix him?” Logan asked as he studied the black-and-white photo
in the top right corner, affixed to the patient information form with a
paperclip.

“Stop him from becoming a vampire,” Dr. Hill said.

About the Author

Carys Seraphine is an alter ego of gay romance author Mychael Black and
fantasy author Katherine Cook. Carys adores paranormal anything, be it
ghosts, ghouls, or goblins. Okay… maybe not goblins. Not even Carys
can make THEM sexy.

Contact Links

Author Website

Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok:
@changelingpress

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Tagged as Carys Seraphine, Dark Fantasy Romance, Hunger

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | · 5:00 am

Lead Like a Bodyguard Virtual Book Tour

Fifty Two Timeless Leadership Lessons

Business Nonfiction / Christian

Date Published: September 11, 2024

Discover important lessons on leadership and life from one of the Bible’s
most inspiring figures, Nehemiah.

Does this sound familiar? A leadership opportunity is presenting itself,
but you feel it’s unlikely that you’re the best fit. Perhaps you are new to
leadership, have plateaued in your position, or have doubts about your role
or line of work.

Whether in your family, church, coaching, volunteer organization, or
business, leading is never easy, but there is guidance that can make a world
of difference.

There was once an ancient bodyguard serving the most powerful man in the
world who unexpectedly found himself called to spearhead a massive project
nine hundred miles from his home. His otherwise stable existence was
shattered by news that changed his life and the destinies of thousands. This
humble bodyguard servant was Nehemiah.

Nehemiah’s story will fascinate, energize, and inspire you to decipher the
leadership puzzle with vigor. Lead Like a Bodyguard will become your wise
and indispensable companion for the journey ahead, combining dramatized
depictions of his story with deep and insightful analysis in the form of 52
Bodyguard Leadership Tactics.

Let Nehemiah show you how to take the lead!

About the Author

Dr. Don Mark Hamilton is an ordinary person called by God to do uncommon things. Don served thirty-eight years at a church he re-planted, watching it grow and thrive throughout his tenure. Vibrant church highly impacted the entire central Pennsylvania region through deep community involvement and creating a large campus and programs designed to bless the community, especially those with special needs. The congregation partnered to start over twenty new churches both domestically and internationally. Don serves on numerous boards of directors and in leadership positions for conferences and various non-profit organizations. As a dedicated blogger, Don’s weekly anecdotes are read by thousands of readers. He is now a speaker, blogger, author, and consultant for churches and non-profits. Don lives in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Contact Link

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