Julia's Paperback

Gentleman Bastard Series    by Scott Lynch Genre: Fantasy My rating: ★★★ ★★ Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard series is absolutely one of my favorite book series of all time. I absolutely love the story, the characters, and the language. The Lies of Locke Lamora was Scott Lynch's debut novel and I appreciate his creativity with the profanities in this book. The series is just absolutely hilarious meanwhile being action packed, and emotional. The Gentleman Bastard series is about a group of orphans who are taken under their masters wing and taught how to act and pull off crazy heists. The group becomes a close family and the bickering back and fourth is just hilarious. The trio of the series are Locke Lamora, Sabatha, and Jean Tannen. Locke is your main character, a smart ass little orphan who grows up to be a scrawny thief  that works closely with Jean. Jean Tannen is the big bad thief, the muscles of the two. Sabatha is the older female of the group w...

The Sea Garden by Deborah Lawrenson Genre: Historical Fiction My rating: ★★★★★ This book is comprised of 3 novellas that tie together in the end. I picked up this book on a whim while I was browsing in Barnes & Noble. I was drawn to the title and the part of the description reading "...restore an abandoned garden." I love gardening. I was also interested in reading a book that was historical fiction and I quite enjoyed that I would get to travel back in time for part of the story. Book I The Sea Garden takes place in 2013. Ellie Brooke travels from London to a small island off the coast of France to fulfill a garden commission but it's not what she was expecting. From the start Ellie is put in strange situations and it only gets more and more creepy the longer she stays on the Island. While reading I was wondering if Ellie was just insane. Book II The Lavender Field takes you back to 1944 France where you're introduced to Marthe who is blind and...

A little over 2 years ago I applied for a Supervisory position within the company I work at. Prior to that point in my career I had absolutely no intention of being in charge of a team but my Supervisor at the time must have saw something in me and just shoved a job description in front of me and told me to apply. After I was promoted, and before I transitioned into the Supervisory position, I decided to research and read up on how to be a good Supervisor. Up to that point I only knew what I deemed as a "good" Supervisor but what I think makes a "good" Supervisor is much different than what other people expect of their Supervisor. The following 3 books I picked up at different stages in my career and I hope they can be useful to you. The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter  by Michael D. Watkins Genre: Business My rating: ★★★☆☆ The First 90 Days was one of the first books I purchased. I was at Barnes & Nobl...