Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 247

Review: THE ART OF DUPLICITY by Jennifer Jennings (Book 6)

An art gallery owner was shot and killed during a robbery, putting Sarah and Carter on the case.
This was not as scintillating, but still a good read.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: THE FRIGHTS OF FIJI by Sunayna Prasad

 

The message: “Your life will never be the same again as magic will interfere.”

It turns out that Alyssa was a wizard, finding out total Harry Potter style. And just like Harry, she trains and learns how to use her magic.

Story had a simple narrative, making it fairly easy to follow, although the pace was a little slow, dawdling on mediocre scenes.  There was some pretty cool magic here and there.

Overall, a pretty good YA read.

 

My rating: 3 stars

Review: SHE NAMED ME WOLF by Tenkara Smart

 

This is the story of Wolf, a young boy, lost and confused with an embedded fear of his controlling and abusive father. He has a stutter and a dear friend named Polly, who can only be seen by Wolf. It would seem he has a wild imagination and often plays with his imaginary friends. Eventually, he starts taking karate lessons, gradually gaining confidence and self-control. It’s basically about a boy that comes out of his shell.

Narrative was easy, but can be kind of long at times. An okay read.

 

My rating: 3 stars

Review: NO GRAVESTONE UNTURNED by Debbie DeLouise

 

There’s a Halloween party happening at the library, but the last thing anyone needed was a real death.

Story had a nice and easy narrative, but it had a slow start and a daunting pace. There are many characters introduced in the first several chapters, each one getting a brief summary on their lineage and how they connect with the other characters. Not sure if this was all necessary. It seemed to deviate from the main story. Odd when we got to the conversations between the cats.

The dead body of the caretaker’s son isn’t discovered until chapter 11 –that’s quite some time before the plot starts to thicken. You really don’t get much in the first 10 chapters. Seriously, the body should’ve been discovered like in chapter 2 or 3.

After that, the mystery then goes into a rehash of the past involving an old town legend, which was interesting. Perhaps the intricacies were much too elaborate for my liking. Overall, an okay read, but needed a faster pace.

 

My rating: 3 stars

Review: WHISPERS THROUGH THE MEADOWS by Anne Pete

 

Maggie had a rough childhood. Although her family may be hard to deal with at times, she still went back to them whenever there was a problem. I don’t see why Maggie feels like she should have to fix everyone. Maybe it was her profession as a mechanic giving her the need to “fix.” Whatever the reason, this trait was annoying. I’m sure she was meant to be an endearing character, but, to me, this made her a busy-body. The writing was pretty good, but I wasn’t captivated by the story.

 

My rating: 2 stars

Review: DOORWAY TO ADVENTURE by Elizabeth Klein

 

These stories are supposed to be a doorway to adventure. Well, you have aliens, scarecrows, and talking mice—all of which find some kind of predicament. However, to me, the stories were kind of dull. I really didn’t find anything interesting. I don’t know, perhaps it was the writing that lacked vivacity. These little tales certainly sounded enticing at first, but it just didn’t do a thing for me.  

 

My rating: 2 stars

Review: DEATH AND DECLUTTERING by Nancy McGovern

 

Aurora and Joy were 2 opposites that inherited a house and were now miserable roommates and essentially stuck with each other. Joy wasn’t happy that her Nonno (what?) willed her half of the house to some stranger. How odd, really.

The start is full of character intros and figuring out who’s who in the family. The whole thing was slow and not very interesting.

 

My rating: 2 stars

Review: DEATH UNDER THE FIREWORKS by Nancy McGovern (Book 4)

 A weekend getaway for the 4thof July and a chance to earn

some extra money. Plus, Nora would get to spend some time with her old friend as she meets her future in-laws. Too bad the in-laws made everything so much more difficult. A father too cruel to his family ends up dead at the dinner table. Poison? But who did it?

This had a good setting to kick off the mystery, but, in the end, it felt too rushed and convenient. Still a good read though.

 

My rating: 3 stars

Review: DEATH IN THE LIBRARY by Nancy McGovern (Book 3)

 

Nora was catering an author’s talk at the library. Things seem to go smoothly in front of the audience; it’s just when they get off stage that the drama emerges. One author wants to write a book on the town exposing it as full of hypocrites and snakes. Ouch! It ended with another author storming away in anger. Later, a death was discovered at the library. But Nora doesn’t think it’s who everyone suspects it is, no matter what happened in the past.

A quick and enjoyable mystery!

 

My rating: 4 stars

Review: DEATH AT A B&B by Nancy McGovern (Book 9)

 

Nora is having stiff competition with the new B&B, then the owner of it is found dead. They all have an inkling of who did it, but, once again, Nora is not so sure.

Another quick and easy mystery!    

 

My rating: 4 stars