Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 208
November 20, 2021
Review: GROWTH MINDSET GRIT FOR KIDS by Adrian Laurent
Jack was going to do a triathlon. See Jack as he tries to train and be as fast as can be.
With bright and fun images, this story goes to show that practice makes perfect. A great lesson for all!
Rating: 5 stars
Review: TWINS MAC AND MADI’S BIRTHDAY by Linda Herron
Mac and Madi were facing a classic twin problem: they were tired of always being the same. So they aim to be different on their birthday.
A cute story with fun and colorful illustrations. A great twin story!
Rating: 4 stars
November 18, 2021
Book Blast: TWISTED TEA CHRISTMAS by Laura Childs
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Laura Childs will be awarding a “Tea Party in a Box,” - a special kit with a tea assortment, English shortbread, chocolates, Laura Childs’ books, and a few more goodies to a randomly drawn winner (USA ONLY) via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
It’s the week before Christmas as tea maven Theodosia Browning and her tea sommelier, Drayton, cater a fancy Victorian Christmas party for Miss Drucilla Heyward, one of Charleston’s wealthy doyennes. But smack dab in the middle of the Fa-la-la’s, Miss Drucilla is murdered, her gold rings stolen off her fingers, and a genuine Renoir snatched off the wall.
The police come screaming in while Theodosia peers speculatively at the guests and wonders – whodunit? Urged on by Miss Drucilla’s personal assistant, Theodosia runs a shadow investigation on suspects that include wealthy neighbors, a handyman named Smokey, an unscrupulous art dealer, and the executive directors of two local charities who were in line for donations.
As Theodosia continually finds herself in hot water, she also hosts numerous holiday tea parties, stumbles upon a second dead body, and shelters a cadre of homeless dogs who come to her rescue in the surprise ending. This Tea Shop Mystery is written with pacing, plot twists, and action reminiscent of a thriller and is liberally sprinkled with the magic of Christmas.
Read an Excerpt:
“What’s got you so interested, fella?” Theodosia asked as she snuck up behind Earl Grey and grabbed his collar. She was so intent at clipping on her dog’s leash that she almost didn’t see the dirty hand sticking out of the soil.
When she finally did notice, her mouth turned dry and her brain bonked out a screechy warning that yelped: No. This can’t be happening!
But seeing is believing so Theodosia stole a second look, registered the waxy appendage with dirty curled fingers, and let out a strangled cry.
“Drayton!”
“What?” He was stumbling after his own dog, frustration in his voice.
“Get over here.”
Throwing up his hands, Drayton abandoned his chase, and picked his way toward her. “What’s wrong?”
Heart in her throat, Theodosia pointed to the solitary hand that sprouted from the dank earth like some kind of unholy mushroom.
“There’s a hand sticking out of the dirt.”
“What?” Now Drayton was mumbling to himself about muddying his loafers.
Theodosia stood her ground, though her nerves were firing like rockets, warning her to back off this amateur investigation that had suddenly taken a deadly turn.
“Wait a minute, did you say hand? Human hand?” Drayton honestly thought she was making a bad joke. Trying to frighten him.
“There’s a body buried here. A dead body!”
Reluctantly, Drayton took a step closer. He stared down, let out a loud gasp, and clapped a hand against his chest. “Mercy, I think I need a defibrillator!”
About the Author:
Laura Childs is the author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. All have been on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestseller lists. Recently, Book Riot named her mysteries to their list of “25 of the All Time Best Cozy Mystery Series.” In her previous life Laura was CEO of her own marketing firm, authored several screenplays, and produced a reality TV show. She is married to Dr. Bob, a professor of Chinese art history, and has a Chinese Shar-Pei named Lotus.Website: http://www.laurachilds.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.childs.31
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/88924.Laura_Childs
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Twisted-Christmas-Shop-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B08S7DLKWL/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
a Rafflecopter giveaway
November 17, 2021
Blog Tour: SIMPLE TRYST OF FATE by D.M. Barr
Simple Tryst of Fate
The Tryst Series Book 1
by D.M. Barr
Genre: Contemporary Dark Romance
A desire for a more conventional life once propelled travel writer Dani Barrett into a disastrous marriage. Ten years later and newly divorced, she’s back on the road with a series of rules to protect her heart and a secret sideline as an erotica author.
On a press trip, she meets James Aldridge, a charming yet cynical publisher who arouses her interest. Little does Dani know James is secretly an investigative journalist with his own kinky streak, and that rather than writing a travelogue, his undercover probe into political corruption will suck her into a treacherous journey across South America that could either end at James's gravesite or in his loving arms.
Review: Dani Barrett was the divorced travel writing. She was also known as Fuller Cox, erotica author—the alter ego allowed to explore her sexual fantasies. Still, she lived by the hard-fast rule: never fool around with the other reporters. Then the British prick comes along.
For James, the rule was: never date a divorced woman. But, hey, rules were meant to be broken, right?
Story had a nice narrative, but it was slow at times. There were some witty quips and some fun flirting. Overall, this was a fairly nice read with an interesting premise.
Rating: 3 stars
By day, a mild-mannered salesperson, wife, mother, rescuer of senior shelter dogs, competitive trivia player and author groupie, happily living just north of New York City. By night, an author of sex, suspense and satire.
My background includes stints in travel marketing, travel journalism, meeting planning, public relations and real estate. I was, for a long and happy time, an award-winning magazine writer and editor. Then kids happened. And I needed to actually make money. Now they're off doing whatever it is they do (of which I have no idea since they won't friend me on Facebook) and I can spend my spare time weaving tales of debauchery and whatever else tickles my fancy.
The main thing to remember about my work is that I am NOT one of my characters. For example, as a real estate broker, I've never played Bondage Bingo in one of my empty listings or offed anyone at my local diet clinic.
But that's not to say I haven't wanted to...
Website* Facebook * Twitter * Instagram* Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon
Blog Tour: IF THE LIGHT ESCAPES by Brenda Marie Smith
If the Light Escapes
by Brenda Marie Smith
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Sci-fi, Science Fiction (post-apocalyptic)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
IF THE LIGHT ESCAPES,
A BRAVING THE LIGHT NOVEL
By Brenda Marie Smith
A standalone sequel to IF DARKNESS TAKES US
A solar electromagnetic pulse fried the U.S. grid. Now northern lights are in Texas—3,000 miles farther south than where they belong. The universe won’t stop screwing with 18-year-old Keno Simms. All that’s left for him and his broken family is farming their Austin subdivision, trying to eke out a living on poor soil in the scorching heat.
Keno’s one solace is his love for Alma, who has her own secret sorrows. When he gets her pregnant, he vows to keep her alive no matter what. Yet armed marauders and nature itself collude against him, forcing him to make choices that rip at his conscience. IF THE LIGHT ESCAPES is post-apocalyptic science fiction set in a near-future reality, a coming-of-age story told in the voice of a heroic teen who’s forced into manhood too soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt One:
OPENING LINES:
Bright green lights stream and pulse across the northern sky all night now, growing from thin and wispy to bold and fat, expanding, contracting, sending out bands of yellow streamers like they’re partying on ecstasy at some cosmic rave. The lights are pretty, and they’re hypnotic, and they creep me out to the core.
Northern lights every night for two solid weeks in Texas. Halfway to the equator from where they belong. They’re supposed to be a phenomenon tied to the magnetic poles—it’s a scientific fact.
Nothing is right about this. The only explanation I can think of is that the north and south poles are shifting. I don’t know what that means for the planet and the future of its creatures. We don’t have TVs or talking-head scientists to tell us...
The universe just won’t stop f**king with us.
Today, I’m hoeing corn in our front yard, sweat stinging my eyes. It’s blistering hot out here—early December in what used to be high-tech Austin, until the … sun zapped us with an electromagnetic pulse and took our power, our cars, the damned running water. It stopped pretty much everything—everything modern, that is.
It’s been fourteen months, and all the front yards in our subdivision are mini-cornfields now. We grow beans and veggies in the backyards. It’s a desperate attempt to keep us alive when our food stockpiles run out. Don’t know if it will work, but I’m doing my damnedest to make sure it does.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Brenda Marie Smith lived off the grid for many years in a farming collective where her sons were delivered by midwives. She’s been a community activist, managed student housing co-ops, produced concerts to raise money for causes, done massive quantities of bookkeeping, and raised a small herd of teenage boys.
Brenda is attracted to stories where everyday characters transcend their limitations to find their inner heroism. She and her husband reside in a grid-connected, solar-powered home in South Austin, Texas. They have more grown kids and grandkids than they can count.
Social Media:
Website: https://brendamariesmith.com/
Blog: https://brendamariesmith.tumblr.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrendaMarieSmithAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bsmithnovelist
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJlLSnORIyoaygvZ1j49ZKw
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58043963-if-the-light-escapes?ac=1#
Buy Links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/If-Light-Escapes-Braving-Novel-ebook/dp/B09CMZZRKZ/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-the-light-escapes-brenda-marie-smith/1140037562
BookPeople: https://www.bookpeople.com/book/9781970137224
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY:
Brenda Marie Smith will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveawayNovember 16, 2021
Blog Tour: SWIPE RIGHT FOR MURDER by Polly Harris
Swipe Right for Murder
by Polly Harris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: New Adult Thriller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
DATING IS TOUGH. ESPECIALLY IF THE GUY YOU LIKE MIGHT BE A SERIAL KILLER.
After a devastating heartbreak and a string of short-lived, failed relationships, college student Georgie Itoyama has now decided to approach dating in the same way that she approaches everything else: methodically, logically, and efficiently.
Georgie downloads countless dating apps, determined to find the love of her life as easily as she orders jeans online. And while her love-at-first-sight aspirations don’t exactly come true, she does find someone she likes. Quite a lot.
There’s only one problem. Girls are going missing at Georgie’s university, and all the signs are pointing to . . . him?
But that’s ridiculous. What are the chances that she’s dating an actual serial killer?
Then she matches with Nate. Mysterious, intelligent, and oddly fixated on solving the local disappearances. As Georgie’s relationships deepen with each of her guys, she unwittingly finds herself caught up in the mess that is murder, intrigue, and the nightmare of online dating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt Two:
“They found her body in a ditch. She’d been there for a couple days or so.” Shannon almost drops her precariously tall pile of books upon delivering this news to me. She shakes her head and starts shelving.
“That’s awful,” I say from a few shelves away where I’m trying to alphabetize the children’s section. Kids are not very good at putting books back from where they found them.
I’d heard the news this morning back at the dorms. I’d been in the bathroom doing my makeup with a few of the other girls on my hall, when the RA had come in and told us about it. Gossip spreads like wildfire at a small school, especially when it involves murder. I’d had a surprisingly numb reaction to it. Much like my reaction now. I keep expecting it to hit me. For me to feel sad, upset, afraid—anything. I actually only feel relief. Horrifyingly enough
Relief that it wasn’t me who found her. That someone else gets to carry that trauma and not me.
“That’s your school, isn’t it?” Shannon asks.
“Yeah.” I think back to finding Whitney in the stairwell. The image is strangely void in my mind—I remember walking down the stairs, discussing bacon flavored cupcakes with Olivia, I remember the heels of my sneakers squeaking against the linoleum. And then it’s blank. I do remember the feeling though. The denial. The blood rushing in my eardrums, my heartrate accelerating before I even understood why.
“So creepy,” Shannon comments, almost to herself.
With a jolt, I remember what Miles had said at the froyo place a few nights ago. How some girl from Altmar had gone missing. He didn’t mention a name, probably didn’t know it, but I have the feeling it’s this same girl.
A part of me wants to think like Amelia did when Miles first mentioned it. This girl was probably caught up in the wrong crowd. She probably knew some nasty people, was maybe even involved in something illegal. Anything to curb the nagging fear that’s rising up inside of me. The fear that this could happen to anyone. That I could be next.
But I think back to Shannon’s ramblings from a few minutes ago. She’d been such a sweetheart. Her parents said she never partied, never did drugs, was a perfect student. Who would murder such a girl? This perfect, sweet girl.
But none of us are actually as good as we seem, I think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Review: Online dating can be bad…especially if one of your dates could be a murderer.
“Was having a boyfriend that great anyway? Why would I want another one?”
I liked the candid slapstick narrative and the refreshing wit overall, but, at times, it can go off on a cynical ramble, which slows down the story. It takes the girl a while to sign up for all these dating apps and setting up a profile. There’s a lot of lag when she’s going through the dates—the ordeal, the process, the talking. Her quick thinking was good and kept you entertained, but I just wish the story would’ve been just as quick.
The whole thing is mostly a diary of the nightmares of online dating. It’s a fairly nice read overall.
My rating: 3 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Polly Harris is the author of six YA novels and runs her own editorial company where she works on books just like this one. When Polly isn’t writing or editing, she can be found cuddling her cat (professionally known as her editorial assistant), crafting, or swiping through dating apps.
Twitter: @PaulineCHarris
Facebook: Facebook.com/PaulineHarrisEditorial
Email: harrispaulinec@gmail.com
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0965VC7T1?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420
https://www.paulineharriseditorial.com/my-books
The book will be $0.99 during the tour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY :
Polly Harris will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
November 15, 2021
Blog Tour: THE PIG WARS by M.K. Theodoratus
The Pig Wars
by M.K. Theodoratus
Genre: Medieval Fantasy
The Half-Elven are fighting over who will rule the Marches.
Black Tail, Lady Renna's pet pig, says: "Pigs rule!"
After inadvertently causing her father's death with her magic in battle, Lady Rena avoids the political in-fighting among the Half-Elven of the Marches. She spends her days weaving and managing her lands, trying to heal from the trauma. But this fragile peace frays...
Renna’s neighbor, Lord Gorsfeld, has plans for the retiring young woman. As the richest man in the Marches, but one without magic, he decides to woo Renna to gain control of her magic and her lands, by setting himself up as a strong protector, who can save her from the marauders who harass her border villages. However his campaign goes awry when Black Tail, Renna's pet pig, injures dumps him in the mud.
Gorsfeld intensifies his vandalism, hoping to scare Renna into his arms. Renna must fight to protect her people without angering the Lord High Commander of the Marches who expects his childhood friend to help him keep the peace. But she is caught off guard and is forced to ue forbidden elf-fire to protect her people.
Renna discovers she must fight for her life.
Author M.K. Theodoratus offers a stunning and captivating fantasy novel that will have audiences on the edge of their seats in “The Pig Wars”. This compelling and intriguing book is unique in its beautifully-crafted world, fascinating characters, and a fast-paced story line that is both fantastical and political. “The Pig Wars” is an absolute must-read that fantasy lovers won’t want to miss!
5* Review: "If you enjoy fantasy, get this book. You will fall in love with the characters (even the pig) and the story line will keep you hooked and reading until the last word."
A Northern California gal, M. K. Theodoratus has been intrigued by fantasy since she discovered comic books and the land of Oz. Some of her early favorite authors as a teen were A. Merritt, Andre Norton, Catherine L. Moore, and Fritz Lieber. She has traveled through many fantasy worlds since then. Now she enjoys reading Lee Child, Patricia Briggs, Sharyn McCrumb, Neil Gaiman, and Carol O'Connell among others.
When she's not disappearing into other writer's worlds, she's creating her own alternative worlds -- that of Andor where demons prey and that of the Far Isle Half-Elven where she explores the social and political implications of genetic drift on a hybrid elf/human people. Magic and mayhem are her favorite topics.
She now lives in Colorado with her old man and two lap cats.
Website* Facebook* Twitter * Bookbub* Amazon* Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$25 Amazon
November 13, 2021
Review: MOTH BUSTERS by Margaret Lashley
Getting shot in the head. Yep, that was Bobbie Drex’s kind of luck.
“I’m the prodigal son who turned out to be the pitiful daughter.”
In the game of life, she was the dodgeball target. Such great metaphors, huh?
Story is filled with snarky wit and candid humor. It’s mostly that deadbeat, redneck kind of humor, which was fun but gets annoying at times.
Not lousy, but not great. An okay read.
Rating: 3 stars
Review: THE CAVE IN THE CUTS by Debra Castaneda
Although the narrative was well-done overall, it’s REALLY, REALLY slow. Just feels like the main character just yammers on and on about everything and nothing at the same time.
Rating: 2 stars
Review: THE FAULT IN THE CUTS by Debra Castaneda
Earthquakes were shaking the town. Could a ghostly presence from a box be responsible?
This started off okay, but then it went into black butterflies and swarms and whatnot. Made me lose interest fast.
Rating: 2 stars
