Tag: Books

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

New Release: Sins of the Father: Children of the Streets book two

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17th May 2018

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Sins of the Father

by

Maria Gibbs

Genre: Literary Fiction

Buy your copy of Sins of the Father here

Sins-of-the-Father-Kindle

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Having seen first-hand the results of starvation, abuse, and murder, Carlos Suarez knows all too well that the streets of Rio are no place for a child to grow up.

Because of his own history and subsequent rescue from that poverty at the age of fifteen, he makes it his life’s work to ensure opportunities are available to the future generations of Brasil’s homeless children—but no matter how many kids Carlos saves, it’s never enough for him.

Almost to the point of obsession.

Dedicated to his work, and haunted by his past, Carlos has never considered an intimate relationship with anyone, let alone another man, especially after that night. But when Fate throws him a curve ball, and his past comes screaming back threatening to destroy his future, Carlos will discover that redemption can be found in the most unexpected of places.

Guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings, Sins of the Father is a story you won’t be able to put down.

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I write in many genres, my mind is alive with thoughts and ideas so I allow them free release on paper. Inspiration comes in many forms and I grab it with greedy hands. Writing has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. My most popular book so far is A Boy from the Streets which is centred on twin babies orphaned at birth in Brazil, one baby is adopted into a life of luxury and the other abandoned into the poverty of the streets.

When I’m not writing, I like reading, listening to music or riding my motorbike.

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Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

My Review of ‘The Baby & the Bride’ by Laura Barnard

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After devouring book one, I nosedived straight into this book and have to say I loved it too although it became a little samey and predictable but fun reading none the less and I’m glad I read it. The characterisations are great and I love the friendships within this book. My only real criticism though is that there were quite a few mistakes in here that were missed. It didn’t spoil it for me but did bring me out of the story a few times more than I’d have liked.

Pick up your copy here:

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

Work/Life balance

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Does it exist? It would seem to me that the scales tip firmly on the side of work – so where is the balance?

Work takes up the majority of our working hours but it seems that employers are taking up more of our leisure time as working hours and stress levels increase. Where does that leave downtime? I can tell you that is doesn’t. We’re so caught up on this endless treadmill of trying to earn a living to put a roof over our heads, pay the bills, support a family etc… that we end up spending so much time at work to pay for it all. When you get home, chores, eating and head to bed so that you can face the next day. Weekends are the time you catch up on chores and can maybe indulge a little in whatever passes for leisure for you. Then on a Monday morning, barely refreshed we step back onto that treadmill of life again.

Many years ago my brother said, “You either work to live or live to work. ” this has always resonated with me. I don’t live to work. Don’t get me wrong, I have to work and I want to enjoy what I do. I have a strong work ethic and believe in giving my all to work, but all that results in is burn out. Over the last few years, I’ve experienced and heard more and more about horrendous work conditions. Now bearing in mind that maybe 50% of the population (this is a guess – see the maybe!) work to live then how have we allowed ourselves to end up in places that tear at our sanity, rob us of our sleep and make us dread going to work? Now I’m not suggesting that everyone experiences this, for all those people who love/like/enjoy going to work, I’m very pleased for you – that is how it should be.

Now, this really isn’t just a post about personal experience, this is something I’ve been hearing from people around me. Some very capable people, who work hard are being undermined, bosses, managers are chipping away at people’s self-confidence. I hear you say, well why do you stay? Good point. Except when they leave they find themselves in a similar situation in another company.

Why are things so dire? Have they always been that bad? Or as we get older do we struggle to deal with it? Are we worn out by it all?

I’m 44 years old and I know that I can’t take another 20 years of this but I have a plan for an exit strategy, which is a few years down the line but maybe not quite 20. My intention is to eventually be able to give up full-time work and live off what I earn from my writing. A long way off as I might have already mentioned. But with this in mind I have to spend a lot of my spare time writing, this is no hardship as I love writing, which brings me back to my earlier point of having fewer leisure hours in which to do it. Now let’s add into the mix, lack of sleep, messed up mind and inability to switch off from a demanding job and you can see what a challenge I have set myself.

“Take Care Of Your Employees And They’ll Take Care Of Your Business,” Says Richard Branson, Founder Of The Virgin Group.

Check this out 

ACAS: “Look after your staff and they’ll take care of the rest”

Check this out

ACAS has even published a guide on how to get the right balance to look after staff.

It isn’t just me saying it: when the leading employment law specialists and a man as successful as Richard Branson are recognising the importance of a good workforce and looking after them, why is it so hard for employers to do it?

If you compare yourself to a rechargeable battery for a moment (go with me) and you keep running that battery to empty and then put it on change for the bare minimum of time, you’ll only get the bare minimum back. If, however, you keep that battery topped up you get the best from it. (You see where I went with that?) Workplace empowerment creates a good environment where staff want to strive to be the best. Constant pressure and micromanagement create a stressed workforce who try to do their best under trying circumstances but invariably they burn out. We spend the best parts of our days at work, we should be able to feel safe there.

If you are a manager/boss and you’re reading this, think about this truth: People rarely leave their job, they leave their boss. Empower your staff don’t drain them.

Leaving you with one small thought: If 15,000 people picked up a copy of one of my novels, I could give up working for a year.

If 30,000 people did – I’d have two years grace.

If that were to happen I could leave my stressful work environment behind and write full-time.

Let’s get this trending #helpMariagiveupwork 😉

If you’re tempted in the US:

If you’re tempted in the UK:

 

I’d love to hear back from you on the following.

Do you live to work or work to live?

What are your experiences in the workplace, good or bad? Feel free to share experiences.

 

 

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Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

My Review of “The Debt & the Doormat” by Laura Barnard

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I’ve had this book on my kindle for a while now, my TBR list is immense. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I dipped into this book but I got more than I bargained for. Poppy and Jazz are best friends, they know each other inside out and back to front as good friends do. But therein lies the only similarity between them. Poppy is clumsy and has given up on life after a disastrous relationship, she reclines in life like an old-fashioned heroine from a bygone age would on chaise longue. Jazz, on the other hand, is the rich daughter of a now dead millionaire who made his fortune in the porn industry. She wears revealing clothes but has the freedom of a hippy at heart. On a drunken night in they decide to swap lives and that is where the fun starts.

Poppy can’t help but do everything wrong, she falls flat on her face, she makes plans to help people that backfires spectacularly and she has a pushy mum into the bargain. I laughed out loud on the London Underground because of this book, I also cried in public (think I might have been hormonal at the time!). I rated this book so highly that I rushed out and bought the next book in the series and read that straight away too.

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

My review of Bankers Town by Joel Hames

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This is the second book I’ve read by Joel Hames and once again I devoured it. The story does dip in and out of the present and the past and if you don’t like that style of writing then this book is now for you, but I love it. I like to see how the threads of the story weave together, and this book did that well. I love the author’s tone of voice, it’s an open and honest dialogue which you can relate to.

If you’re looking for a fast pace of action, this book doesn’t have it but it builds layer upon layer of information, drawing you in with each new nugget. It’s cleverly written, the characters are strong. I will be reading more by Joel Hames.

Pick up your copy of Bankers Town here

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

What you see isn’t always what you get.

gibbsdream

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We’re complex creatures, hiding a multitude of emotions. Some people wear their emotions on their sleeve, their eyes and faces expressing everything they’re feeling, leaving you in no doubt when they are angry or upset. I’m like that but when I’m working I have to retrain my brain in order that clients don’t see when I think they’re cretins, and believe me that’s not always easy.

For some people, though they successfully mask their feelings without having to try and whether that is a skill learnt or an ability to distance themselves from emotions is hard to say.

We spend our lives judging people on what they wear, how they look, or the attitude they portray to the world, but we only know what goes on in the minds of those we are closest to. What does that smile, that frown, that withering look hide? Maybe, it is simply what it appears to be. Maybe the smile is a person who views the world and everything in it positively, at all times. Are they naïve or are the rest of us slightly jaded? Just because they show you a smile doesn’t mean though that they don’t hurt when you say something cruel. That person who is walking in with the frown, are they angry or maybe they are just so caught up with their own thoughts, overworked, family stresses, that frown may not be aimed at you. The withering look, oh but don’t you just want to slap that face? But consider for one moment, maybe there is something going on underneath it. It doesn’t make it acceptable but sometimes people are going through so much that they can’t/don’t know how to behave in a courteous manner and they should be pitied. This is about them, not you. If you can remember that, which I don’t suggest is easy, then you will be better for it. My point isn’t that unacceptable behaviour becomes acceptable because someone might be going through hell in their personal or work life but maybe its something to be thrown into the equation.

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In ‘Is this Love?’ one of the supporting characters, Jake, blots out emotions because of abuse suffered in his childhood. He’s one of those characters you want to dislike because he’s obnoxious and charming at the same time. If you’re anything like me, you won’t be able to help being pulled in by the side of his character that he hides from most people.

Jake, inadvertently, forms a friendship with the male lead, Theo, and this is what he sees as a weakness. Jake doesn’t want to form strong ties because it opens him up to feel, and feelings make you vulnerable. He uses women as sexual objects, unable to recognise that they aren’t responsible for his abandonment by his own mother. Jake’s strengths start to come to the fore in the second half of this book and that personal development grows in book two where he forced me to make him one of the main characters with his own POV. On the surface, he isn’t pleasant but when you scratch the surface someone else appears, a man who has been hurt and abused but a spark of humanity is kindled by his friendship with Theo, but it takes a chain of events of bigger magnitude for him to really come into his own.

Do you want a sneak peek at Jake’s profile?

Continue reading “What you see isn’t always what you get.” →

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

My Review of Closer to the Heart

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A solid continuation of book one.

Click here to pick up a copy of Closer to the Heart

This is the second book in the series, I devoured this book. This book follows the relationship between Stephanie and James and Charlotte and Mitchell. But if you’re expecting happily ever after then you’ll be sadly mistaken, like any good book this author puts her characters through the ringer. Will it end well though? The characterisation in this book is so strong that they were as well known to me as my friends and the pacing was spot on. From here I dived straight into the last book in this series.

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

Round-up of the Week

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News from around the world

A French climber stranded on Nanga Parbat, Pakistan’s most deadly mountain nicknamed “Killer Mountain”, has been rescued but her Polish climbing partner is still out there and the search has been called off. They got stuck at 24,280ft on Friday.

News from London

Three teenage boys were killed in West London as an Audi mounted the pavement, hitting a lamppost. The three boys aged 16 and 17 were on their way to a 16th birthday party. One man fled the scene and the other was detained and held until the police arrived, eyewitnesses say that he was assaulted.

My News

I went back to work Monday, the flu not exactly behind me but certainly not wiping me out although residual tiredness, fuzzy brain and sinus pain lingered. There isn’t much to report this week. A busy week at work which left my brain spinning on more than one day! My sister and I have decided to sign up for the Kew/Richmond half marathon later in the year so will start the training shortly. This weekend has been a bit of a wipeout as a leak from the property above me come through both of my floors. So I’ve been washing towels and sheets which luckily took the brunt of the leak.

Writing News

This week I hate to admit has seen no more than a couple of hundred words added to my current WIP as the long work hours and busyness of this week has left me unable to focus on my writing at all. This has to stop. I have too many books that need to be completed this year.

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

My Review of: Where Did Your Heart Go? by Audrina Lane

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Builds beautifully to an un-put-down-able read.

http://getbook.at/YourHeartGo

When I started reading this book I found it slow going at first, enjoyable but slow going. I could easily put this book down but when I picked it up again it was like putting on a pair of slippers. The author allowed you to get to know the characters until they got under your skin and what happened to them actually mattered to you. This is a story of a love that spans generations, realistic friendships and a spiteful woman who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. I think I was about three-quarters of the way through this book when it became un-put-down-able and I devoured the rest of it and went straight into the second book in the series.

Now about the book: Charlotte is struggling with a teenage romance and in order to help her daughter, Stephanie allows her to read her our diary from when she was a teenager. This is a triple thread story, as we follow Charlotte and Stephanie in the present day and Stephanie’s past through her diary but it isn’t only Charlotte who is reading it, Stephanie can’t resist the urge to go back and take a peep herself. All the deep emotions come back to haunt her. Not sure I’d want my daughter (if I had one) to read through my diary but I thought it was a beautiful idea and slowly Charlotte manages to put the angst of her teenage romance behind her as she meets Mitchell. But this new love brings up unexpected complications.

I sometimes find it hard to read a series by the same author as it can feel samey, but once Audrina had me hooked I couldn’t not read the whole series. The only thing I would have liked is to have had the name of the character’s whose POV we were in. Even though the author did distinguish between them having their name at the beginning would have made it a bit easier for the reader.

 

 

 

Books, Life, Self-publishing, Uncategorized

What are the key ingredients that make a good love story?

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Yesterday I asked the question on Twitter and Facebook what do people think are the key ingredients that make a good love story. The genre ‘love’ comes in many sub-categories now but the basic elements of a good love story should always be the same whether it be historical, contemporary, paranormal or any other in-between.

A couple of weeks ago I released a new novel, a love story which although set in the early noughties is still contemporary. The table below shows the results of the question I asked and as you can see Is This Love? has all the key ingredients that make a good love story. This story isn’t fluffy and light, the love isn’t all hearts and roses, in fact, it’s positively gritty as the characters are hewn from real life not carved from alabaster.

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Check it out for yourself.

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Read the first two chapter #free here:

https://gibbsdream.wordpress.com/wip-the-course-of-true-love/