Halfway through the year — and the stories just keep getting better.
We’re thrilled to bring you another exciting lineup of books, each one crafted to spark curiosity, stir emotion, and claim a spot on your ever-growing TBR pile. Whether you’re drawn to sweeping love stories, modern-day dilemmas, or transformative self-help, there’s something here for every kind of reader.
Here’s what’s releasing this month:
Know more||
When Michelle meets Jonny, she finds him guarded, temperamental, and utterly unreadable. He finds her immature, frustrating — and far too perky. But fate has other plans.
Inspired by a true story, Pickle Mist is a captivating tale of two strangers caught in the strange, serendipitous tide of the universe. For fans of slow-burn romance and messy, magnetic connections.
Know more||
Destiny always dreamed of working in mental health — not going viral. But when @DestinyIzzaLeo stumbles into digital fame, she finds herself entangled with @DawnGames, a seasoned influencer, and Donovan Cider, who’s still nursing a bruised heart.
A modern love story set in the fast-scrolling world of internet fame, Chronically Online is tender, witty, and achingly real.
Know more||
In 19th-century Sulawesi, orphaned shaman Minah strikes a deadly bargain with a jinn. A century later, Julia, a Malaysian woman desperate to conceive, becomes ensnared in the consequences of that pact.
Rich in folklore and charged with suspense, The Shaman’s Circle is a gripping tale of sacrifice, sorcery, and the ghosts we inherit.
Know more||
Not everyone wants the spotlight — and that’s more than okay.
In this empowering guide, introverts are encouraged to own their quiet strengths and navigate a loud, fast-paced world on their own terms. Thoughtful, honest, and affirming, Shh…Give Me A Moment is for anyone who’s ever felt out of place in a room full of noise.
Know more||
OG personal finance blogger Budget Babe (Dawn Cher) brings you a clear, no-fluff roadmap to financial freedom.
From busting myths to building wealth, Take Back Control of Your Money helps you break free from paycheck-to-paycheck living — and finally feel in charge of your financial future.
Which one will you reach for first? Follow us on social media for exclusive sneak peeks, author updates, and release announcements — and let your next great read find you.
Happy Ever After: Transform Your Leaders, Teams, and Organizations with HAPPY System™ is a robust book based on leading industry research on what it takes to create sustainable change, bringing together the latest breakthroughs in neuroscience, wisdom from ancient philosophies, thought leadership on coaching and experience of working with hundreds of leaders across the world.
***
How Can Organizations Develop a Culture of Coaching?
Creating a sustainable culture of coaching in an organization goes beyond one off initiatives for leaders to work with external coaches—it requires embedding coaching and being coach-like in our daily interactions as a core organizational value. The following steps outline how organizations can cultivate this culture, from defining a coaching philosophy to aligning coaching practices with strategic objectives.
Defining the coaching culture
Begin by establishing a shared understanding that coaching is essential for growth and development of individuals, teams, and organizations at all levels. This sets a foundation where employees and leaders alike see coaching as an integral part of their developmental journey.
Training managers in coaching skills
Equip managers with coaching skills that enable them to ask powerful questions, encourage self-discovery, and provide constructive feedback. Trained managers model a coaching approach, inspiring others and gradually infusing coaching into the organization’s daily interactions.
Democratizing coaching access
Make coaching available across all staff levels to develop an environment where everyone feels valued and supported. Access to coaching for all employees unlocks their potential, leading to higher engagement and a more resilient workforce.
Implementing a systematic approach
Develop structured coaching systems tailored to the organization’s needs. This might include creating a global network of coaches, cultivating in-house coaching capabilities, or establishing partnerships with local providers. Define success metrics to ensure these initiatives have measurable impact.
Aligning coaching with business strategies
Integrate coaching with organizational goals, ensuring that coaching initiatives are designed to support broader strategies. This alignment maximizes the relevance and effectiveness of coaching, reinforcing its role in achieving the organization’s vision.
Embracing learning and celebrating success
Deploy coaching in a way that feels natural by celebrating success stories, sharing testimonials, and highlighting real impacts. This encourages employees to embrace the value of coaching, making it a part of the organization’s fabric.
Providing support structures
Offer ongoing training, supervision, and recognition for internal coaches to maintain high-quality coaching standards. Integrating coaching into organizational processes ensures it remains a vital part of the work environment.
Engaging stakeholders and building partnerships
Engage key stakeholders and establish partnerships with external coaching experts to enrich the organization’s coaching capabilities and ensure seamless integration of coaching initiatives.
Together, these steps build a coaching culture that empowers employees, drives growth, and aligns with organizational goals, positioning coaching as a strategic asset for organizational success.
***
This book re-defines the way we relate to ourselves, our teams and life itself. It is a must-have book for any leader who wishes to turn possibilities into reality for themselves, their teams and organisation. Get your copy now.
This Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re not here to tell you to think positive or be mindful.
In a world overflowing with endless feeds and fleeting updates, it’s easy to fall into the trap of constant scrolling, especially when life feels overwhelming. If you’re feeling frayed, restless, or just plain tired lately, you’re not alone. Doomscrolling might feel like control, like staying informed—but mostly, it just wears us down. But this month, we’re offering an alternative: start reading.
Not because reading will magically solve anything. Not because you need another thing on your “self-care” checklist. But because your mind deserves better than an endless scroll of anxiety, outrage, and distraction. Each book here, whether fiction or nonfiction, offers insight into the human experience, mental wellness, and self-discovery. Here’s what we recommend flipping through instead of your social media feed.
Buy here||
Through the powerful stories of her clients, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Cassandra Aasmundsen-Fry explores how buried experiences shape our feelings of being stuck, in our careers, relationships, and personal fulfillment. This book is a journey of embracing our most difficult parts to rediscover hope and reconnection. It is about unearthing and embracing the difficult parts to reconnect with ourselvesand with hope.
Buy here||
The story follows its disturbed protagonist over two nights. She is a Harvard-educated mother who struggles to find an outlet for her loaded brain. Meanwhile, her marriage with an asexual husband unravels and she goes through familiar motions of motherhood for their child. She lives entrenched in her mind, facing demons whispering that the love she gets from this family unit won’t make her own life less devastating.
Buy here||
This book is not a prescriptive roadmap to being more efficient in life. Instead, it will guide you to create your own manual to get things done through the power of self-awareness. It will ask you confronting questions that only you can answer; it will show you how to look inward and dig deep into yourself and how to look outward so that you can understand your surroundings.
Buy here||
Woman Turning F*fty is a collection of savagely personal as well as eclectic experiential essays from a former journalist on the margins of middle age. The author ponders timeless questions about life, maturity, and loss, and dips into universal truths that not even hormonal changes can alter.
Buy here||
Beautifully illustrated and easy to dip into, this book provides a toolkit for self-reflection that honors your unique journey. It’s not about fixing yourself—it’s about discovering who you are and embracing your own path to progress. With bite-sized writings and illustrations, it aims to help get us to know ourselves better and appreciate our unique way of progressing in life through self-reflection and evaluation.
Buy here||
Tracy was at the start of her law career and at the cusp of life when she got a debilitating brainstem stroke that affected her breathing, swallowing, speech, eyesight, and severely weakened her left and paralyzed her right. She found herself effectively a thinking statue at the age of thirty-five. In this memoir, author rebuilds her life, she learns life’s basics all over again, discovering the deeper meaning of faith, resilience, and healing.
Buy here||
A vibrant collection of seventeen stories rooted in Malaysia, Tapestry of the Mind introduces you to characters navigating everything from family loss and legal injustice to spiritual crises and societal stigma. Each story is a rich exploration of the mental and emotional threads that bind us.
Buy here||
A charming and wealthy young man who is grieving, begins to hear his late sister’s cat speak, and the conversations change his life. This touching and surreal novel explores grief, memory, and the strange comforts that help us survive loss.
Buy here||
This book demystifies the process of how to come up with effective, problem-solving ideas. It will help you discover how to unlock the transformative power of creative conflict. You will become an expert at sparking creativity. By the time you get to the end of this book, you will have all the tools to brainstorm like a champion.
Mental Health Awareness Month isn’t just about awareness—it’s about action. Choosing a book that speaks to your experience or stretches your perspective can be a small but powerful act of care.
So here’s your challenge: put the feed down. Pick one of these books up. And start feeling a little more like yourself again.
What if money wasn’t the obstacle, but the opportunity? In a world where we’re constantly told to grind harder, save more, and never stop chasing the next big thing, The Wisdom of YOLO lands like a breath of fresh air, and a wake-up call. Nikki Jurado’s bold new book doesn’t just ask how to build wealth, but why we’re building it in the first place.
Part manifesto, part financial guide, and part soul-searching workbook, The Wisdom of YOLO challenges the conventional hustle narrative and invites you to rethink what a “rich life” really looks like. If you’ve ever felt torn between living in the moment and planning for the future, this book might just be the roadmap you didn’t know you needed. Read an excerpt below to know more.
***
First things first: YOLO isn’t just about living for the moment. It’s about living fully and intentionally, with an understanding that our time here is precious and limited. It’s about making choices that enrich our lives and create lasting happiness.
So, how does money fit into this picture?
Money, in its essence, is a tool. It’s not an end goal but a means to achieve the life you desire.
When you shift your perspective from chasing money to making money work for you, everything changes. Imagine having the financial freedom to pursue your passions, spend quality time with loved ones, and experience the world without the constant worry of financial instability. This is where the wisdom of YOLO and smart financial practices intersect.
Consider this: What are your core values? What brings you true joy and fulfilment?
The first step in making money work for you is aligning your financial goals with your life goals. It’s about clarity and purpose. Ask yourself, how can your money support your dream life? Rather than getting caught up in the grind of earning and spending, think about investing in experiences, knowledge, and assets that grow over time.
Investing is a key strategy here. But let’s demystify it: Investing isn’t just for the Wall Street elite. It’s a powerful way to make your money work for you, no matter where you start. Whether it’s stocks, real estate, or even a side business, investing can create streams of passive income that free up your time and energy. Imagine earning money while you sleep or while you’re off on your next adventure. Isn’t that the ultimate YOLO move?
But wait, there’s more. Let’s talk about the mindset shift required. It’s about breaking free from the pay cheque-to-pay cheque cycle and embracing a mindset of abundance. This means being wise about your spending, yes, but also being bold in your investments. It’s about taking calculated risks that align with your long-term vision.
What if you could turn every dollar into an ally, working tirelessly to build the life you want?
***
Learn more in depth about these tips in The Wisdom of YOLO. Get a copy now and watch your life transform for the better.
B.E.S.T. Marking presents a powerful new Leadership Paradigm to navigate the complexities of this new normal environment- and win it big. It’s more than a framework; it’s a revolution in leadership. A call to action for leaders to conquer emerging challenges.
***
Why is trust important in leadership and followership?
Trust is essential for great leaders, especially in the post-pandemic world. The pandemic has created a number of challenges for leaders, including:
Increased uncertainty and complexity: The world is more uncertain and complex than ever before. Leaders need to be able to make decisions quickly and effectively in the face of changing circumstances. To do this, they need to be able to trust their team members to provide accurate information and to execute on their decisions.
Greater need for collaboration: The pandemic has shown that leaders need to be able to collaborate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers, and government officials. To build and maintain successful collaborations, leaders need to trust their partners and to be willing to share information and resources.
Increased focus on employee well-being: The pandemic has also highlighted the importance of employee well-being. Leaders need to create a work environment where employees feel safe, supported, and valued. To do this, leaders need to trust their employees and to be willing to give them the flexibility and autonomy they need to succeed.
In the post-pandemic world, leaders who are able to build and maintain trust with their team members and stakeholders will be more likely to succeed.
There are many benefits to trust in leadership and followership. Some of the key benefits include:
Increased employee engagement: When employees trust their leaders, they are more likely to be engaged in their work and to feel motivated to do their best.
Improved productivity: Trust allows employees to work more efficiently and effectively. When employees trust their leaders, they are more likely to take initiative and to go the extra mile.
Higher-quality decisions: When leaders and followers trust each other, they are more likely to make better decisions. This is because they are more likely to share information openly and honestly, and to consider all sides of an issue.
Reduced turnover: Trust helps to create a more positive and supportive work environment. This leads to lower turnover rates and higher retention of top talent.
***
Learn more about the importance and benefits of trust in leadership and followership along with other crucial information in B.E.S.T. Marking by Jerome Mangadap.
Employees’ use of social media can be a source of authentic and interesting content that helps to tell the corporate story. It can also represent a source of reputational risk. Manson said, ‘I think there’s some companies you need to worry about this, but for the vast majority you don’t. I love British Airways, who were my client at one point, and they had this amazing group of pilots who were making fantastic films by sticking a GoPro in their cockpit and making total aeroplane geek content, but it had a big audience, and the pilots were known in the community and really beloved. However, British Airlines had a problem not too long ago where they rolled out some new uniforms and a bunch of employees went on Twitter and complained about the uniforms. As a result of that they rolled out a new social media policy banning employees from using social media during working hours, which probably wouldn’t have helped with the uniform issue and stopped the pilots from posting their videos. I think you have to just let people be themselves and give them some security guidelines, give some behaviour guidelines but be permissive rather than prohibitive.’
While acknowledging the value of being permissive rather than prohibitive, there is a range of practical guidelines for any company to consider. These include:
Avoiding the instance of employees having their personal social media platforms) being mistaken as an official company social media platform. However, they should be able to identify themselves as being an employee for the company on those platforms that request users to identify their employer, the most obvious current example being LinkedIn.
It is a good thing if employees wish to advocate on behalf of the company by sharing company-approved content relating to specific announcements, events, news, and milestones. The nuance is that posts/ comments that are personal opinions, for instance in relation to political issues, should not be confused as representing the position of company itself.
If employees wish to establish a social media platform that officially represents company rather than the employee themself, then they should obtain prior approval from the company.
Ensuring employees never disguise themselves as a customer or try to conceal their employment relationship with the company if promoting its products and services on any social media platforms.
A systematic training programme will help to ensure employees have a good understanding of the company’s policies and guidelines and feel well-equipped to follow them.
Reputations of Value serves as a guide for those wanting to better understand how companies can operate on a stronger, more resilient, and authentic basis in the face of a dynamic and unpredictable landscape. Get a copy today and learn from the experts – the value of reputation and how to maintain it!
