Tag: Toni Pike

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Linda’s Midlife Crisis by Toni Pike

Published on by dgkaye101 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing Toni Pike’s latest release – Linda’s Midlife Crisis. I enjoy Toni’s books and this one didn’t disappoint. This womens fiction/chicklit-ish story is about a neglected housewife with an unfulfilling job who learns to take back her power. Yay for Linda!

Blurb:

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.


***** “Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop!” – Goodreadsreviewer, USA

***** “Highly recommended for a beach read, or as a feel-good book.” – Reader’s Favorite reviewer, UK

My 5 Star Review:

Linda had finally had enough of her husband Ron’s neglect, insults and emotional abuse. She was 50 years old, about 25 pounds overweight, and had lost her sense of self-esteem. She was also childless because nasty Ron never wanted any kids.

Linda was an English school teacher, and even her students were mischievous brats who liked to play mean pranks on her. The last prank had kept her at home for a month in a depression-like state. Her husband couldn’t give a damn and continued to belittle her, demanding she cook for him in her near catatonic state. But Linda finally learned to pay him back with silence and neglect of her household duties, a type of revenge that finally had him asking for a divorce and leaving – to her delight.

Linda was clever and held the reins on her demands since Ron was the one leaving, also threatening him with getting a shark lawyer if he didn’t comply, worked well. She then went to her cunning school principal, Wayne Forsythe, to inform she was retiring, demanding a package, she eventually got, thanks to her persuasion of assuring him if he didn’t comply she would use the information she had on him about his devious doings. Linda was getting out of her slump and taking her power back.

After selling her house in Sydney, Australia, she moved up to Canberra where her sister lived, bought a beautiful condo, got a part-time job in a clothing store to keep her busy, made some new friends at work, went for long walks, changed her diet, lost her unhappiness weight, and began enjoying her life. But before she left for Canberra, when packing up her house, she packed up Ron’s stuff and left it on the front lawn for him, warning him to pick it up by day’s end. She got a shocking and infuriating surprise when Ron came to pick up his things – sorry, no spoilers.

Linda learns to love her new life in Canberra and takes up her passion for writing, begins to submit articles about her journey back to healthy lifestyle, and was hired to produce weekly articles.

Life was good, and one day she discovers Ron looking for her, begging for her back. Ahhh yes, sweet revenge! Linda learns to step back into the dating pool with her work friends and is pleasantly surprised to meet someone while out with the girls. Dr. Tran was enamoured by Linda and her new life was nearing perfect – if only Ron would stop showing up!

This was a fun and very engaging read. I could have read it in two days because I didn’t want to put it down, but life calls.

©DGKaye2022

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Brody Cody and the Haunted House, #Children’s by Toni Pike

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My Sunday Book Review for Toni Pike’s – Brody Cody and the Haunted House. I read the first book in this series and when Toni generously offered me an ARC to read for this next clever and engaging #Children’s book in the series, I happily accepted.

 

 

Blurb:

Brody Cody loves his new stepmother but is surprised to hear that she is expecting a baby. To celebrate, his parents take Brody and his friends away for a week to a very spooky house in the Blue Mountains, owned by the elderly and even spookier Mr Sludge.

Very strange things start to happen, and the friends soon become convinced that the house is haunted. They love scary stories and know all about ghosts, but will they be able to solve the mystery?

A hilarious adventure for children aged 6-9.

Book 2 in The Brody Cody Series.

It would be best to read the series in order. Book 1 is BRODY CODY AND THE STEPMOTHER FROM OUTER SPACE.

 

My 5 Star Review:

This is the second book in the Brody series where in book 1, Brody gets a new stepmom, and now she’s pregnant and Brody isn’t sure how he feels about a baby in the house after he’s been an only child all his young life.

To surprise Brody, his dad and stepmom, Pandora, decide to rent a holiday house for a family vacation and Brody is allowed to invite a few of his good friends to join in. When they arrive, the place looks nothing like it did in pictures, a rundown big old house that needs some TLC. But the family didn’t mind, they were there already so Pandora and the kids got cleaning up the place and the owner, old Mr. Sludge, gave them a tour of the property.

The kids were eager to go for a walk through the bush and were warned if they got lost to stay where they are. They were sure they wouldn’t be lost because smart Kyle left tape marks every few meters so they can find their way back.  But somehow the tape mysteriously disappeared. The kids continue to be spooked by weird happenings. They find open kitchen drawers in the middle of the night when they go down to grab a late snack. Another night they hear the front door slam, and Mr. Sludge introduces them to an air raid shelter from the long ago past that the kids are invited to play inside, and warned not to close the door.

Brody is convinced there’s a ghost – or ghosts in the house and has nightmares of ghosts. The children decide collectively to stay on guard the next night to try and capture the ‘ghost’. They decide to all wake at midnight to wait for the ghostly shadows to appear out in the backyard and listen for the rustling noise they’ve been hearing nightly in the kitchen. And their plan worked! They followed the noises leading down to the kitchen. And what they found? I cannot tell you this. You will have to read the book!

This book was an entertaining read. Although the story centers around the ‘ghostly’ findings, it’s not a scary book for children, rather a mini mystery for kids, and quite enjoyable for adults too.

 

©DGKaye2021

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Book reviews by D.G. Kaye

Sunday Book Review – Brody Cody and the Stepmother from Outer Space by Toni Pike – #Children’sbook

Published on by 59 Comments

My Sunday Book Review is for a book not in my usual genre of reading – Brody Cody and the Stepmother from Outer Space is a children’s book written by my friend and multi-genre author, Toni Pike. I’m more used to reading Toni’s thrillers but couldn’t resist checking out this book when she gifted me with a copy. Wonderfully relatable book for children with clever lessons entwined in the story.

 

 

 

Blurb:

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.

A hilarious adventure for children aged 6-9.

 

My 5 Star Review:

This was a pleasant diversion in the children’s genre from this author whose books I’m used to reading in the mystery/thriller genre, but was delighted to read how the author crossed genres. Pike did a wonderful job with this story about a little boy growing up with his dad, just the two of them after Brody’s mom died in an accident when he was a baby, living like boys with no rules. That was until Brody’s dad falls in love with a new woman while out at a business conference and marries her, and Brody’s life of  lounging, junk-food eating and lack of household rules are forever changed.

When Brody proceeds to tell his best friend Kyle about his new stepmother, he also mentioned that Pandora had two different colored eyes. The boys were convinced she was an alien from outer space, especially since Kyle is convinced he saw a UFO while star-gazing. Between her two different colored eyes, her healthy cooking and creating new house chores, the two boys are convinced Pandora is from outer space.

I found this book a delightful read. Reading a children’s book through adult eyes, we can see how cleverly the author has woven in the good changes Pandora has brought to Brody’s life, despite the fact that some of these changes were so foreign to Brody, and how he eventually learns to happily adapt and realize how wonderful it really is to have a new mom.

 

©DGKaye2020

 

One Lovely Blog Award – Toni Pike

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one-lovely-blog-award

 

 Thank you so much to my newest blogging friend and author Toni Pike for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award.

 

I’m always touched when someone thinks of me and honors me with an award. I’ve been blessed to have many. And as I can’t bring myself to post an ‘Award-Free’ blog zone, and my protocol has always been not to single out any one person who is deserving, I welcome all my blogging friends here to copy and paste this award and post it to your own blog from me to you because I enjoy all of your blogs.

 

And if you wish to share and nominate others, the rules are posted below.

 

1. Thank the lovely person who nominated your blog and follow them.

2. Display the award and add this set of rules to your post so that your            nominees will know what to do.

3. Nominate 15 other great blogs listing them in your post and notifying          them via a link in one of their blog posts.

4. List 7 interesting facts about yourself to the post.

 

I can’t think of anything exciting about me in this current moment because I’m squeezing in this post in gratitude to Toni, and my plate runneth over with all things editing and blurb writing for my upcoming book. So I’ll keep it short with my 7 things about me:

 

I’m: Driven, Optimistic, Inquisitive, Empowering, Loyal, Friendly, Compassionate

 

 

 

Source: One Lovely Blog Award – Toni Pike