Delighted that author Toni Pike will be joining us for the next few months with her series Personal Power which I am sure you will find very interesting and thought provoking.

Finding your personal power and living an authentic life with validation and self-respect.

This is a series about authenticity, validation, self-belief and personal power.

Previously, I talked about deciding on your values. Always following and living according to those values means that you are living your truth.

Standards and boundaries

A part of living your truth is having clear standards, based on your values, for how you live your life and what you are willing to accept from others. Maintaining those standards means that you can live your truth in every single aspect of your life.

That is where boundaries come in. Boundaries are the tools you use to maintain and enforce your standards.

I now realise that, for…

Delighted that author Toni Pike will be joining us for the next few months with her series Personal Power which I am sure you will find very interesting and thought provoking.

Finding your personal power and living an authentic life with validation and self-respect.

This is a series about authenticity, validation, self-belief and personal power.

Previously, I talked about values and living your truth – and that means living according to your own core values in every aspect of your life. This article is about standards – and next time I’ll be talking about boundaries.

The role of standards and boundaries

An important part of establishing your values and living your truth is not just thinking about your own behaviour. It’s also about what you’re willing to accept from other people. That doesn’t mean you have to make everyone else conform to your values. I’m referring to having a…

During this series I will be sharing my reviews for books I posted during 2022 

Good books deserve to be showcased on a regular basis and I hope that it might entice you to either move the books up your groaning TBR’s or add the books to its burden!

Here is my review from May 2022 for Toni Pike’s and her very enjoyable novel Linda’s Midlife Crisis…

About the book

Meet Linda Lockwood: fifty, fat, frumpy and bullied by her horrible husband Ron and the vile students and principal at the school where she teaches English. But her life is about to undergo a total transformation.

Linda suffers a breakdown after a traumatic classroom incident, and that brings out the worst in Ron and devious principal, Wayne Forsythe. Then she is rocked to discover her husband has a shocking secret.

With her own determination and the help of friends and…

Today, I am delighted to introduce children’s and adult fiction author, Toni Pike. Toni is a prolific writer with at least two non-fiction books, six adult thrillers, one women’s fiction, and two children’s books, all available from Amazon. Today, we are focusing the discussion on Toni’s two children’s books in the Brody Cody series. I’ve read both and they are wonderful for middle school children.

I love your books about Brody Cody as they are filled with excellent, age-appropriate humour without resulting in facetious child characters which is a pitfall with many modern children’s books. Is there any particular children’s book author whom you admire and consider to be a role model for your writing?

Thank you so much for your lovely comments, Robbie – I’m delighted that you liked my characters. That means so much to me, coming from such a wonderful writer.

Roald Dahl is my favourite children’s…

Delighted that author Toni Pike will be joining us for the next few months with her series Personal Power which I am sure you will find very interesting and thought provoking.

Finding your personal power and living an authentic life with validation and self-respect.

This is a series about authenticity, validation, self-belief and personal power.

You’ve probably already heard about values, the basic key principles that underpin your life. Harder to understand is the concept of your truth, and how to live by that. It took me quite a while to come to terms with what that really meant.

Values

Values are those principles that you believe are the most important and fundamental to the way you live your life. They might include concepts such as honesty, loyalty, responsibility and fairness. There are, of course, many more of them.

If you search for the term “values” on the Internet…

Delighted that author Toni Pike will be joining us for the next few months with her series Personal Power which I am sure you will find very interesting and thought provoking.

Finding your personal power and living an authentic life with validation and self-respect.

Welcome to my personal power series where I explore topics such as authenticity, values, self-validation and self-respect. I experienced a steep learning curve of personal transformation as I made some major changes in my life, and I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned that have made a huge difference to me.

This is a series about authenticity, validation, self-belief and personal power.

Have you heard the expression, “don’t give your power away,” and found it hard to find out exactly what that meant? When I finally worked it out, it was nothing short of a revelation to me.

We need to understand that…

Delighted that author Toni Pike will be joining us for the next few months with her series Personal Power which I am sure you will find very interesting and thought provoking.

Finding your personal power and living an authentic life with validation and self-respect.

Welcome to my personal power series where I explore topics such as authenticity, values, self-validation and self-respect. I experienced a steep learning curve of personal transformation as I made some major changes in my life, and I wanted to share some of the things I’ve learned that have made a huge difference to me.

Become Your Own Best Friend 

This is a series about authenticity, validation, self-belief and personal power.

Some people may like to think that they don’t talk to themselves, but the truth is that we constantly communicate to ourselves using our own inner voice. How do you speak to yourself?

My Own Worst…

Welcome to the Smorgasbord Christmas Book Fair with a selection of books from personally recommended authors on my bookshelf I believe will make wonderful gifts for friends, family and for you.

The first book today is  the latest release by M.J. Mallon and enjoyed the collection very much. Do What You love: Fragility Of Your Flame Poems, Photography and Flash Fiction –

About the collection

Do What You Love is a personal poetry collection celebrating how the fates may have a part in all that we do.

With special poems and short reflective moments inspired by family, flowers and nature, love, scrumptious morsels, places I’ve visited, lived and intend to live in, the friendships and hopes I have for the future.

The overarching theme is to live a life well lived… And to do what you love.

One of the reviews for the collection

Over the course of the next three months I will be sharing the authors who feature in the Smorgasbord Bookshelf with the books that I have reviewed and can personally recommend.

In this first part of the summer fair, I am sharing books that are the first in a series in both adult and children’s books along with one of their five star reviews. I hope that this will encourage you to enjoy the series in full. I will feature every author on the shelves by the end of the summer. I hope you will enjoy.

The first children’s book today that I can highly recommend is Brody Cody and the Stepmother from Outer Space by Toni Pike.

About the book

Brody Cody is almost eight years old and definitely, absolutely, positively does NOT want a mother. His mother died when he was a baby but life with…

I read so many great books over my break that I decided to hold a couple book reviews until June. I have soooo many great reads for you to browse.

Below are reviews for this month’s 4 and 5-star reads including a historical fiction, a thriller, three romances, a cozy mystery, a horror short story collection, a MG horror novella, a women’s lit novel, and a debut poetry anthology.

Click on the covers for Amazon global links.

*****

The Russian Concubine by Kate Furnivall

If you like Amy Tan, I think you’ll enjoy this beautiful, often gripping, often heart-wrenching, and tragically romantic historical fiction. The book opens toward the end of the Russian revolution and then shifts eight years into the future to an international settlement in China, another nation on the brink of communism. Lydia is sixteen, living with her Russian mother as refugees, and they’re barely scraping by.

What Amazon says

How does a fifty-year-old woman start a new life?

Meet Linda Lockwood: fifty, fat, frumpy and bullied by her horrible husband Ron and the vile students and principal at the school where she teaches English. But her life is about to undergo a total transformation.

Linda suffers a breakdown after a traumatic classroom incident, and that brings out the worst in Ron and devious principal, Wayne Forsythe. Then she is rocked to discover her husband has a shocking secret.

With her own determination and the help of friends and family, she starts to turn her life around. She begins to succeed, but there are still some more surprises in store Linda.

A feel-good and inspirational romance for older women who love second chances and chick lit.

My review

Despite its heavy title and topic, this book is a fairly light and entertaining read. Linda is married to…

Delighted to share the news of Toni Pike’s latest release – Linda’s Midlife Crisis…

About the book

Meet Linda Lockwood: fifty, fat, frumpy and bullied by her horrible husband Ron and the vile students and principal at the school where she teaches English. But her life is about to undergo a total transformation.

Linda suffers a breakdown after a traumatic classroom incident, and that brings out the worst in Ron and devious principal, Wayne Forsythe. Then she is rocked to discover her husband has a shocking secret.

With her own determination and the help of friends and family, she starts to turn her life around. Her own success might be the best revenge, but life still has some more surprises for Linda.

My review for the book May 21st 2022

This is a heartwarming read that shares the journey of Linda Lockwood as she suffers bullies in and out of…

Delighted to share the news of Toni Pike’s latest release – Linda’s Midlife Crisis…

About the book

Meet Linda Lockwood: fifty, fat, frumpy and bullied by her horrible husband Ron and the vile students and principal at the school where she teaches English. But her life is about to undergo a total transformation.

Linda suffers a breakdown after a traumatic classroom incident, and that brings out the worst in Ron and devious principal, Wayne Forsythe. Then she is rocked to discover her husband has a shocking secret.

With her own determination and the help of friends and family, she starts to turn her life around. Her own success might be the best revenge, but life still has some more surprises for Linda.

An early review for the book

I am used to associatingToni Pike’s writing with crime and thrillers, not this delightful modern feel-good women’s fiction and so it was a surprise for me to see it on her post.  

The first part of the novel is about Linda’s marriage to Ron, a horrible man.

He was the sort of person who brought joy whenever he departed, a feeling of peace and freedom that lasted until the moment of his return.

Ron is constantly criticizing Linda, especially her weight, treats her like his servant and is often going out at night coming home smelling of alcohol. Linda stays in the marriage because she doesn’t know what else to do and likes her home when her husband is at work or playing golf. As much as Linda is the glass half full type of person Ron is eternally pessimistic.

Aside from her marriage, Linda also hates teaching…

I am sure like me, there have been times when you have wondered what difference might have been made to your life, if your younger self had been gifted with the experience and knowledge you have accumulated over the years.

I invited several friends from the writing community to share their thoughts on this subject which I am sure you will enjoy as much as I did.

My guest today isToni Pike who writes for both children and adults and I can recommend both genres. Today Toni shares a number of areas that she feels have impacted her life and would have benefited from her experience gained over the years.

I wish I knew then what I know now! by Toni Pike

Thank you so much, Sally, for the wonderful invitation to write about things I wish I had known long ago. I always try to look forwards rather…

On Thursday as I did my usual rounds of social media, I discovered I was tagged in a number of posts from several authors. There was a conspiracy it seemed, and on investigation I discovered I was the target of a campaign by a group of authors intent on plastering my name across the Internet to their followers and beyond.

Unlike many campaigns of this nature…. this one was very different and delightfully so.

The eleven authors that form Story Empire honoured me with individual posts sharing my books, their reviews and some lovely comments that frankly left me blushing (and delighted of course).

I hope by this point I have responded to everyone who kindly left messages of support and  apologies to anyone I have missed.. I will catch up I promise.

I love my job, which is how I regard blogging and author and book promotion. It began…

Our neighbor girl on the right of our house and the couple on the left got mild Covid, but they are recovering nicely. We wear doubled masks when going to the gym and grocery stores. I wear my mask when walking in the neighborhood even when people are not out walking. We have to be patient to get through this crazy Covid. I find more time in reading and watching music or ballet videos. I also started to submit my memoir to my writing group for feedback. Here are the book reviews part 1 for this month.

House of Sorrow

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House of Sorrow by Joan Hall is about an elderly widow, Ruth, who lives alone in a Victorian mansion. She lives on the first floor to avoid getting up and down the stairs. Her nephew has suggested to her to move into a care facility, but she ignores him…

With Christmas in a few weeks I thought I might check out more children’s books and delighted to share my review for Brody Cody and the Stepmother from Outer Space by Toni Pike.

About the book

Brody Cody is almost eight years old and definitely, absolutely, positively does NOT want a mother. His mother died when he was a baby but life with his dad is just perfect.

Brody is horrified when his father goes away to a publishing conference and returns with a wife, Pandora Smith, who is a children’s author. His life spirals out of control as he is forced to eat healthy food, do his homework and help with some chores.

Even worse, he and his friends suspect that his new stepmother might be an alien from outer space.

My review for the book November 11th 2021

The book does begin on a sad note…

March is almost here! Time to plan some reading for spring (or autumn)!

February book reviews include my4 and 5 star reads of fantasy, a paranormal western, a psychological thriller, a western contemporary romance, and a spooky kid’s book. ! I hope you enjoy the browse.

Click on the covers for Amazon global links.

*****

I’m a total sucker for beautiful, lyrical writing, and this book is loaded with it. I was underlining the paperback like a mad woman. The story is based on a Russian folktale, I think, but it was unfamiliar to me, so I read the story as if it were a fantasy. It definitely has the feeling of a folktale with a Russian flavor. The details are rich, rich, rich, magical and fantastical, a feast for a reader’s imagination.

The story begins when Vasya is a child and…

Today, I am delighted to welcome author, Toni Pike, to Robbie’s Inspiration to introduce us to the second book in her Brody Cody Series of books for children.

Welcome Toni

Thank you so much, Robbie, for inviting me to write about my new book. I’m always amazed at how you manage to combine so many creative pursuits including your writing, so it’s a real honour to be here. I found it more difficult to write during the pandemic, and that gave me a lot of sympathy for children around the world and all the difficulties they’ve experienced over the last year. I think there’s nothing more important than teaching children to become enthusiastic readers, because It helps them in every aspect of their lives.

Brody Cody and the Haunted Vacation House has just been released, and it’s the second book in the Brody Cody Series. The first book, Brody Cody…

I recently came across a post on Derek Murphy’s website titled Best Self-Publishing Companies for Indie Authors (that aren’t scams).

You can go to his website to read the entire post (which I found interesting and informative). Since this is a post about Toni Pike’s novel Desolation Bluff I want to draw your attention to a section of Derek Murphy’s post that I find fits perfectly with Toni Pike’s novel.

COVER AND BLURB

Blind romance author Oliver Cameron uses the pen name of Fidel…

I wasn’t sure if I would make it before Christmas, but thanks to David who pulled out all the stops as always, my new short story collection, with a sprinkling of poetry is now available.

About the collection

Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries: Sometimes Bitter, Sometimes Sweet is a collection of short stories with scattered poetry, reflecting the complexities of life, love and loss.

The stories in the collection dip into the lives of men and women who are faced with an ‘event’ that is challenging and in some cases life changing.

Even something as straightforward as grocery shopping online can be frustrating, and a DNA test produces surprise results, the past reaches out to embrace the present, and a gardening assistant is an unlikely grief counsellor. Romance is not always for the faint-hearted and you are never too old for love. Random acts of kindness have far…

My 60-book Autumn Reading Challenge speeds toward the finish line. I’ve read and reviewed 54 books!!

Ten days to read 6 more. Piece of Cake!

December’s Part I book reviews include my 4 and 5 star reads of fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal fiction, thrillers, a memoir written by a dog, poetry, and a children’s book! I hope you enjoy the browse.

Click on the covers for Amazon global links.

*****

Clearly, from the title, this is a fairy tale retelling, and though the story of Snow White is recognizable in the book, this tale has enough originality and enhancements to rise above the Disney version. No singing mice here; instead there’s a young woman named Gwen trying to survive in California at the start of the Civil War.

Like in the fairy tale, Gwen flees her evil stepmother (and…

Only four this month! I’ve been slacking.

Actually, I’ve been super busy preparing for my launch and then dropping into bed at night, too tired to read.

This month, my offering of  4 and 5 star reviews includes fantasy, sci-fi, and a children’s book that my 7-year-old grandson reviewed. I hope you enjoy the browse.

Click on the covers for Amazon global links.

*****

Coyote Summer by Laura Koerber

I really, really enjoyed this book. The story starts with a “boys will be boys” rape of a very drunk teenager at a party. The main character, Ben, doesn’t participate, but he also doesn’t take strong action. This story is about his loss of innocence as he grapples with his guilt and the disheartening cultural biases, including within his own family, that force the victim into silence and give the perpetrators a break.

The story, the attitudes, and the choices of…