Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 122
May 10, 2023
Blog Tour: GILLESPIE FIELD GROOVE by Corey Lynn Fayman
Mystery
Date Published: March 15, 2023
An obscure rock'n'roll roadie dies under mysterious circumstances. His prized Jimi Hendrix guitar has gone missing. Can Rolly Waters save his new client from the ruthless collectors looking for it?
When nurse and fledgling pilot Lucinda Rhodes hires guitar-playing private detective Rolly Waters to track down a Stratocaster guitar owned by her deceased father, Rolly is thrilled to take on her case, especially when he learns the guitar’s original owner may have been Jimi Hendrix. But Gerry Rhodes’s reckless personal history leads to more questions than Rolly and Lucinda have bargained for, as an aging rock’n’roll impresario, his trophy wife, a Russian gangster and the FBI get involved. When a forty-year-old shooting accident reveals a surprising connection to a pop star’s hit record, Rolly sees darker forces at work. And his and Lucinda’s lives hang in the balance.
Gillespie Field Groove is the fifth book in the Rolly Waters mystery series
Review: In chapter 1, it seemed that wewere transporting back to the past in memories of the old Woodstock days. Theold was taking one last stroll down memory lane before taking his final breath.
Days later, his daughter, Lucy,requests the assistance of P.I. Rolly to help find an old guitar that mighthave belonged to Jimi Hendrix. Was it true that anything he might’ve touchedwould’ve been worth a lot of money? But that wasn’t the most interesting part.The interesting part was that the police thought the old man might’ve beenmurdered. Now, it had my attention. You’d think that, at this point, Rollywould dig right into the murder. Instead, he goes trolling around old musicshops looking for that missing guitar. The character was clearly familiar withthe music industry, which was rather fascinating, but, to me, it wasn’t themain focus. I wanted to get into the murder right away.
The narrative was nice and simplewith some witty commentary. To be honest, the mystery of the missing guitar wasrather appealing but not overly enticing to me. I’m not really a fan of Hendrixor really any of the old music from the time. This would definitely be a goodread for those music buffs.
Fairly nice read.
Rating:3 stars
About the Author
Corey Lynn Fayman has made a career of avoiding the sunlight in his hometown of San Diego, California, where he’s done hard time as a keyboard player for local bands, a sound designer for the world-famous Old Globe Theatre, and an interactive designer for organizations both corporate and sundry. Armed with a B.A. in Creative Writing from UCLA and an M.A. in Educational Technology from SDSU, he’s also taught technology and design courses at various colleges and universities in Southern California.
Fayman's adventures working for the infamous Internet startup MP3.com led him to conceive the character of Rolly Waters, the guitar-playing detective first featured in the San Diego Book Awards nominated mystery, Black’s Beach Shuffle. Unduly encouraged by this early success, he set about writing a second Rolly Waters Mystery, Border Field Blues, winner of the Genre Award at the 2013 Hollywood Book Festival. Desert City Diva, the third novel in the series, was a bronze award winner in Foreword Reviews 2015 Indiefab Book of the Year Awards. The latest in the series, Ballast Point Breakdown, was awarded the best-in-show Geisel Award at the 2021 San Diego Book Awards.
Contact Links
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May 9, 2023
Blog Tour: IMAGINARY FRIENDS by Chad Musick
Imaginary Friends
by Chad Musick
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GENRE: YA Magical Realism
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BLURB:
If the delivery had been a demonic bowlingalley or a mermaid’s grotto, Ivy would have sent it away. She has standards,after all. But she can’t refuse a magical Library, especially when they’ve goneto the trouble of including a wheelchair ramp. They say that on the Internetnobody knows you’re a dog, but somebody knows fourteen-year-old Ivy is anorphan, that she sells her paper-writing services to lazy college students, andthat her imaginary friends are unhappy being stuck in the mural on the wall ofher Alaskan home.
Himitsu refuses the Library, becoming angry enoughto attack the delivery people with his bamboo sword. They won’t tempt him withbooks, any more than his mother has been able to tempt him into leaving theirapartment during the past two years. He has all he needs: video games, onlineforums, and his virtual girlfriend Moe. Well, almost all. His dad’s death hasleft a hole in him, which is why when he receives text messages saying theLibrary can bring back the dead, he changes his mind. Moe tries to warn himabout the danger, but what does she know, anyway?
Now, having been lured into the Library and havingfoolishly brought their imaginary friends with them, Ivy and Himitsu find thosefriends are trapped. The teens have a choice: fulfill the Librarian’s odd andpainful demands in hopes of rescuing their friends or go back alone to theirsmall, boring lives, knowing they’ve failed the only ones who really believe inthem.
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Excerpt One:
All giraffes are named Janice, excepting a few heretics. Theold guard, being traditionalists, are the most militant in asserting that thisis the necessary state of affairs.
The Janice of our story, however, is not one of the oldguard. He’s too young to be a veteran of the Nehming War, and to him theconsequent Sophie massacre is something that happened to distant Frenchrelatives. Because of this, he is sometimes known to intimate that his namemight, in fact, be Chanda. Despite this obvious breach in social graces, hedoesn’t consider himself to be a deviant. In fact, he thinks of himself asquite normal. Janice is anything but normal. For one thing, he’s a giraffe. Wemustn’t neglect this observation. Giraffes are not normal. But let us leavethat aside for a moment and pretend they are. Humans, not being monstrositiesexcept in aggregate, naturally regard involuntary baldness among the males asan unsightly defect. Bald men are likely to be regarded as degenerates. Some ofthem even become history teachers. Among boy giraffes, however, baldness of theossicles—those little sticky-uppy bits on their heads—is a mark of honor gainedby battering at other giraffes.
To his enduring shame, the tops of Janice’s ossicles arecovered in thick, feathery hair. Not because he is cowardly (though he is) butbecause Janice has never met another giraffe. In fact, he’s never encountered athird dimension at all, being stuck in perpetual twilight in the paper junglepasted to the wall of Ivy’s otherwise crappy little house.
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What drivesthe characters in your story and why?
The twomain characters in Imaginary Friends are Ivy and Himitsu. They are verydifferent. Ivy is living on her own in Alaska and selling term papers tocollege students while trying to stay off the radar of social services. Whenshe receives the delivery of the magical library, and they include a wheelchairramp, she is immediately intrigued. Ivy’s world is very small, and her onlyfriends are animals in a mural painted on her living room wall. She enters thelibrary out of curiosity and at the urging of her imaginary friends who want toescape the mural. Ivy never imagined that they would be trapped inside thelibrary. Once Ivy’s friends are trapped, she is motivated to free them. Ivylost her parents in a car accident and cannot bear to lose anyone else.
When wemeet Himitsu, it is several years after the suicide of his father, and he isliving with his grandmother. Himitsu is a shut-in whose only friend is an AIcalled Moe. The first time they try to deliver the library doors, Himitsurefuses them thinking that they are a ploy of his grandmother to get him to dosomething other than hang out with Moe. Later that day, he receives a messagethat the doors leading to the magical library can bring back the dead. Moe is skeptical and warns Himitsu not to go, but he enters the library anyway.He is desperate to see his father again. Once inside the library, he discoversthat they cannot bring his father back and that Moe is trapped inside. Himitsu,like Ivy, wants to save his only friend.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
ChadMusick grew up in Utah, California, Washington, Texas, and (most of all)Alaska. He fell in love in California and then moved with his family to Japan,where he’s found happiness. He earned a PhD in Mathematical Science but lovesart and science equally.
Despitea tendency for electronic devices to burst into flame after Chad handles them,he persists in working in various technical and technology-related roles.
Chadmakes no secret of being epileptic, autistic, and arthritic, facts that informhow he approaches both science and the arts.
Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-Friends-Chad-Musick/dp/1953971733/
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GIVEAWAY :
Chad Musick will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnesand Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.a Rafflecopter giveawayBlog Tour: SHATTERED by Cassie Swindon
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Cassie Swindon will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Darkness is gnawing at my soul. The shadows swallow me a little more each day. But someone needs to destroy Elana Elidi. And I may be the only one who can. There’s a spell to stop her from destroying the remaining Ordulls. But it requires a sacrifice from my true love. The problem is—who does my heart belong to—Jadox or Isaac?
Read an Excerpt
Terrified of making any sudden movements, I crossed the room at a snail’s pace. Kyra patted the floor beside her without taking those obsidian eyes off me. Haunting, unnatural eyes.
Another shudder threatened to rip through me, but I held it back, using all my energy not to spook her. One wrong move might push the thing possessing her to lash out. As a child, I had heard Gemm tell a story about spirits, but it was only supposed to be a fairytale.
I gulped down what felt like a pile of stones and carefully sat beside her. The healing spell was at the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t want to scare her. Instead, I silently chanted Terra angakok. Terra angakok, again and again, praying to the Divinity above that it would save her from whatever monster bewitched her body. It didn’t work. Kyra stared at me like an empty shell.
My heart rammed chaotically against my chest. I needed help. Reinforcements. Where was fuckin’ Nilson when we actually needed him? Maybe if I distracted her, it’d break the stupor. Terror seized my soul, and I didn’t move a single muscle. What the Flames was I supposed to do? If I touched her, would she snap out of the trance? Had someone cursed her? Why were her eyes the color of death? Sweat dripped down my back, and time ceased to exist.
“Hallie wants me to buy a puppy.” She stroked my dog’s head again and again. The sweetness of her voice had an actual scent; it was like ice cream dipped in poison and spider webs.
“Kyra, Hallie died. She’s not here anymore. I think we should go to bed and —"
“No!” she bellowed. “I don’t have to go to sleep. I don’t have to choose one of you! I don’t have to save anyone.”
I clenched my fists into balls by my side, then released them. Clenched. Released. There was a fundamental wrongness in the air. Gemm had never taught me how to deal with dark Magik as a child. This wasn’t something I had ever trained for. It was time for a new approach.
“Kyra, it’s okay. I think you’re sleepwalking,” I pleaded, hearing the uncertainty in my voice.
She laughed, but the sound was foreign to my ears, veiled in jagged, harsh edges. “No, I’m awake, right, Hallie?”
If I knocked her unconscious and carried her inside, maybe Narelle or Caspian would have a solution. Or we could call Gemm. But there was no chance I’d leave her here alone to search for them.
“What if I die soon?” Kyra asked, her tone sweeter a scrumptious pie.
“What?”
Her gaze latched onto all my fears. That fraudulent smile returned, slithering up her face and claiming it. I had to stop this. Whatever controlled Kyra was taking another piece of her with every passing moment.
About the Author:
Cassie Swindon isn’t only an Indie author of six fiction books, but she has also tackled a stranger for a pair of Michael Phelps’ personal goggles, cried when the Cubs won the World Series and chose where to move cross-country by the flip of a coin. If you’d like to learn more about how her cat caused a flood in her house, or maybe to buy a book or two of hers, then check out the social media accounts below. Website
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May 8, 2023
Blog Tour: THE NOT SO TRUE ADVENTURES OF BRANDON, JOSH, AND ADAM by Barry Fellinger
The Not so True Adventures of Brandon,Josh, and Adam
by Barry Fellinger
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GENRE: Children's Fiction
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BLURB:
Eleven-year-old cousins Brandon and Josh return homesafely at the end of their Almost True Adventure, only to discover that theircousin Adam has been captured by the very same aliens from the IntergalacticCouncil on Obedience to Parents they just escaped from!
Now the boys must figure out how to get back intospace, rescue Adam, and return home safely again!
It's a Not So True Adventure full of action,surprises, old friends, new enemies, frenemies, and what's that about doublestroubles?
A hilarious and once-in-a-while serious story ofpast, present, and future antics, based on some of the three cousins' escapadesin real life!
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Excerpt One:
I Wish I WouldHave Just Eaten My Dinner OR ADAM MEETS THE COUNCIL
Twelve-year-oldAdam was mad. He was very mad. He was in a cage with bars and not happy aboutit at all. With every bit of his 120-pound might and five feet two height, hegripped the bars and tried twisting them loose until his hands hurt. No use.They would not budge.
Adam was not sure how he ended up in the cage.Last thing he remembered, he had been horribly angry at his mother, stompingaway from the supper table and up the stairs towards his room. Next thing heknew, he woke up in this dark place. Only when his eyes became accustomed tothe darkness could he tell he was in some kind of jail. Still, he refused tobelieve it.
At first, hethought he was dreaming. He tried to wake up by pinching the skin on his arm.That hurt! Next, he shook his head back and forth, his curly brown hair wavingaround until it fell over his eyes, and he felt dizzy. Nope, that didn’t workeither because he was already very much awake. Then he thought his two olderbrothers might be playing a trick on him. He yelled as loudly as possible,“Danny! Ken! Is this one of your dumb jokes? It’s not funny!”
No one came.
Next, he triedwalking away but found he ran right into the bars and bumped his forehead.Ouch! He rattled the bars again. Nothing changed. This was not a nightmare. Itwas not a trick. It really was a cage. Adam was getting nervous and his handsfelt clammy. He could feel the sweat on his forehead. He sat down and tried tothink. His mind started racing with all kinds of crazy thoughts. Was this someweird punishment for leaving the dinner table? Where was he anyway? Was hebeing pranked? Maybe he was on one of those TV shows where a friend or familymember plays a prank that is filmed on an unsuspecting victim. He wouldn’t putthat past his brothers or his cousins, Brandon and Josh. He concluded he had toslow down and think things out and not jump to conclusions about what hadhappened to him.
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Review: Waking up in a cage was verystrange to Adam. How did he get there? Was this a dream? Apparently, he was tomeet before the council. What council? What was going on here?
The Intergalactic Council onObedience to Parents (ICOP) was in session.
The narrative was nice n’ easy,but it was rather slow as it was often a big too descriptive. At first, wedon’t even know what these creatures of ICOP were talking about. A lot of thetrivial nonsense took up more time than it should’ve. Was Adam a pup? Was hedog food or what? I mean, we still don’t know how Adam even got there.
Things get a little clear inchapter 2 when the cousins back on Earth reveal that Adam was taken by aliensto their planet—the very same planet that they themselves escaped from. Okay,but still, that leaves a lot more questions unanswered. At times, the prose wasa little odd. For instance:
“There’s the going-up-the-stairsboys; let’s call them Brandon #1 and Josh #1. And there’s thecoming-down-the-stairs boys, Brandon #2 and Josh #2. The going-up-the-stairspair acted quickly. Josh #1 put his hand over Brandon #2’s mouth, and Brandon#1 did the same to Josh #2, motioning for them to come up to Brandon’s room.”
When did the boys split? Why werethey four of them?
The whole thing was long and slow.The black-and-white illustrations were a good distraction and a refreshingchange of pace.
The story was certainly zany withwild scenarios and antics. It was quite imaginative, I’ll give it that. But itjust wasn’t that easy to follow. It would’ve been nice to have an explanationto all this. It just felt that we got dropped somewhere in the middle of thestory without any background info.
A fairly nice read. Good forsci-fi kids that like crazy, out-of-this-world stories.
Rating:3 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Barry M. Fellinger resides in St. Thomas, Ontario, with his wifeBeth, and currently works as a director in health care and also teachesleadership courses and seminars.
He loves spending time with his adult children, grandchildren,extended family, and friends.
He enjoys reading, writing, watching superhero television showsand movies, collecting comics, attending the occasional Comicon and, forinspiration, relaxing in Sanctuary II, his comic book/man room.
He has a few more books in the works which he hopes to completebefore or during retirement.
Social Media
Barry Fellinger - Facebook
www.instagram.com/barryfellinger
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GIVEAWAY:
Barry Fellinger will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GCto a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
May 7, 2023
Review: THE 8TH GRADE KILLER by Katy Pierce
A missing friend found dead.
Carlee, a private eye, was a techwhizz and often used her own gadgets to catch cheating husbands. One case wasalways on her mind and that was the murder of her twin brother. Maybe one dayshe would find his killer and finally get a life. Maybe one day, but not today.Ever since The 8th Grade Killer slaughtered her classmates,including her brother, she’s never had any friends or social connections. Butthat didn’t matter. Right now, Carlee had a request to look in on the beachmurder and maybe clear a young boy’s name, sending her home to Harborside andbad memories.
The only alibi the poor boy hadwas one that could destroy families and possible futures, so Carlee had herwork cut out for her, especially with every town busybody recognizing her andasking her about The 8th Grade Killer.
I liked Carlee’s smarts, wits, andclever retorts. Like Batman, she was a tech genius with all these cool gadgets.But mostly what got me into this was the murder case. It could be anyone.
“An embittered [ex], a vengeful[lover], a jealous [friend], and tyrannical [father] –none of them could becompletely trusted.”
The dead bodies were piling up,which could only be the result of another serial killer. But that wasn’t all.Carlee’s trip back to Harborside also brings back The 8th GradeKiller. Two serial killers?
A compelling mystery from start tofinish! I’m definitely getting the rest of this series.
Rating:5 stars
Review: THE AWESOME FABULOUS DOG-WALKING SOCIETY AND THE CASE OF THE DISSAPPEARING DIAMONDS by Tiffany Nicole Smith
It all startedwith a dog-walking business. Fisher, Valentina, and Langley were all in on ittogether. Each chapter represents a POV from one of the characters. Since it’sin a diary format, we get the 411 of what’s going on in their lives. We evenget the POV of the new girl, Cici.
The whole thingwas kind of slow. In fact, it takes a long time to get to the case as the storywas so busy with introductions.
An okay read ifyou like middle school drama.
Rating:3 stars
Review: CHOCOLATE MOUSSE AND MURDER by Cindy Bell
The town dressmaker was murderedand Ally’s assistant, Gabby, was found holding the bloody scissors. The policenaturally thing she did it, but Gabby swore she didn’t kill her. And Allybelieved her.
It was up to Ally and her Mew Mawto figure out what happened and who the real killer was. Like always, she’lluse her sweet, delectable chocolates to get the clues she needs. Was it the stressed-outbride’s mother? Or an ex-husband? Or a jealous cousin?
This story keeps you guessing allthe way. Another sweet and enjoyable mystery! I just loved this chocolateseries by Cindy Bell.
Rating:4 stars
Review: TRUST ONLY ME by McGarvey Black
An employment recruiter by day anda mystery thriller writer by night. But what if the stories started comingtrue? That’s what happened to this author. Her dark story of a dementedpyro-teen that caused buildings to explode was actually happening. What?After self-publishing several ofher books, getting an agent and a book deal was a writer’s dream come true. Butit was only getting worse for Jillian.
I liked the candid diary prose ofthis writer. The grim and cut-throat reality of the publishing world was sospot-on. It was truly scary.
“It looked like real-life arsonwas helping my books catch fire.” Clever!
The story took a detour when thecharacter went on about her family issues and how she met her husband. All thattook up too much time. Let’s get back to the bombing. But if she wasn’t talkingabout her life story, she was harping over her unpublished manuscript,obsessing over every detail and taking everything so personally.
This was an okay read, but itdefinitely wasn’t as thrilling as I thought it be.
Rating:3 stars
Review: MY SISTER’S KILLER by McGarvey Black
We’re getting the prose from adead person? That was unsettling and certainly unamusing. I should’ve known Iwouldn’t be that into it considering the first book was a 3 at best. Not aworthy read.
Rating:1 star
May 5, 2023
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I will be giving ONE AUTHOR a FREE 4-mo ACCESS to over 400 reviewers + 1 GUARANTEED REVIEW that I will seek out personally. Contest Ends May 13. One randomly drawn winner will be selected May 14.
