Each of us has the power to create a life we love. This is the core belief of Build-A-Bear CEO, Sharon Price John, and one that makes Stories & Heart stand out among today’s business books. Revealed in events and experiences that shaped her life, Sharon Price John assembles a blueprint for making meaning in modern times.

Although the female movement is interwoven into our social world and people preach “girl power,” brand experience expert Katie Mares has seen that this mindset hasn’t penetrated business branding or the experience businesses provide to women. Very few businesses focus on elevating “interaction” so that a brand experience includes a personal connection with the consumer and addresses their genuine interests and needs. CustomHer Experience sends the clear message that true power comes when businesses focus on providing a brand and consumer experience that women can’t live without.

When the most unimaginable tragedy occurred in her life, it was as though Dr. Annabelle had prepared for this very moment all along. Having her son Macario, and being told that the removal of 40% of his brain at five weeks old would greatly inhibit developmental processes both physically and mentally became the defining turn. Macario’s brain loss and Dr. Annabelle’s quick response became an awakening moment for Dr. Annabelle. This story of finding cannabis and taking risks to replace the medications that were initially given to him is compelling and inspirational.

Twenty-nine-year-old Imogen Banks is hashtag struggling. After a disaster ends her career, destroys her home, and burns up all the money she’s saved to open her own bakery, she enters a baking contest for an all-or-nothing last-ditch chance at getting her life together. But when she arrives at the mysterious island off the coast of France, she discovers all the inhabitants of the quaint town are magical, and if she wins the contest, she’ll become the next royal baker at the castle on top of the hill. No worries that the last royal baker appears to have been murdered. 

When a climber suspiciously falls to his death and a local artist has her dog stolen, both cases fall into the lap of local sleuth, Patricia Fisher...and so starts an adventure that will see her travel the world. 

With over thirty years’ experience as a senior executive, Dr. Ronald S. Glickman shares practical techniques to execute effective change initiatives, develop high-potential talent, and motivate teams to deliver breakthrough results on a global scale. A timely and important book for leaders at any stage in their career journey, Lead for a Change explains why the goal of change management is not happiness, but meeting and exceeding clear expectations.

When a US airdrop of billions of dollars disappears in the desert sands of Syria, only a small group of military operatives knows its ultimate destination or why it has been stolen. Their goal is no less than the restoration of America’s geopolitical dominance on the global stage. Essential to this scheme are Greta Webb, a sophisticated CIA operative who is an expert on dark money, not to mention lethally skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and Elias Vicker, the damaged, dangerous soul who runs the world’s largest hedge fund.

Virulent pockets of plague, first reported in China, break out worldwide and spread with mind-boggling speed. CIA black ops agent Chad Halverson flies to Los Angeles to visit his brother after receiving a call that his brother has been hospitalized after a car accident. Halverson's Boeing 737 crash-lands in an eerie Los Angeles shrouded with an impenetrable haze of smog. But that is only the tip of the iceberg of Halverson's nightmare.

In recent years, millions of companies have undergone digital transformations, harnessing digital technologies like the cloud, SaaS, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things to overhaul their businesses and drive growth. But many key decision-makers, including senior leaders and board members, simply don’t understand these technologies, how they work, what they do, and the potential they bring. So, they fail to capitalize on them, putting their business at risk. This book solves this problem by describing these technologies in laypeople’s terms.

In 1800 France, twenty-year-old Barbe-Nicole inherits her great-grandfather's uncanny sense of smell and uses it to make great champagne, despite the Code prohibiting women from owning a business. When tragedy strikes and she becomes a Veuve (widow), she must grapple with a domineering partner, the complexities of making champagne, and the aftermath of six Napoleon wars. When she falls in love with her sales manager, Louis Bohne, she must choose between losing her winery to her husband to obey the Napoleon Code, or losing Louis.

For almost three hundred years, people have searched for one of the greatest treasures in history—the lost gold of the Scottish Jacobites. Following his father’s death and a brazen late-night break-in at the United States Naval Academy, Lieutenant Carter Porter, his life and career in tatters, unwittingly joins the quest. In Scotland, Hassie Douglass, a spirited young employee of a luxury inn situated on the picturesque shores of Loch Ness, thinks her prayers have been answered when she stumbles across four old gold coins that may be part of the Jacobite treasure.

Battling against a Texas prison, a young lawyer fights for a fair trial in a prison-friendly town as witnesses and evidence evaporate. Scarred physically and emotionally by a botched delivery, his wife struggles to realize their dream of a healthy baby and a happy family.

Life hasn't sparkled too brightly for Bonnie Balfour over the past few years, but a heart-breaking divorce has brought her back to her small rural hometown of Bliss, Georgia, and things are starting to shape up. The proud new owner of Bless Her Heart - a second chance dress shop and boutique on the town square - Bonnie thinks 38 might not be too late for a fresh start in life after all.

Calla Hammond has always been a loner—a product of the foster system and avoided by others because of a skin condition. When doctors discover her immune system holds the key to curing cancer, she struggles to advance lifesaving research in a world that sees her only as a means to an end. Yet along the way, Calla gains the one thing she has always longed for: a chosen family. When a group of unscrupulous people join forces to sell Calla’s blood to the highest bidder, she digs deep to find the strength to retake control of her life, her body, and her story.

Integrity. Kindness. Hard work. Substance and value. Are these the words that describe a media mogul? They are when it’s the late Frank Biondi, the former CEO of HBO, Universal Studios, and Viacom, who leaves a legacy far beyond the movies and TV you love. Through Frank’s example, we can learn how to make good relationships alongside great deals, earn respect while earning multi-million dollar returns, and maintain character even when surrounded by an industry full of characters.