Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 289
August 6, 2019
Review: A WITCH’S REVENGE: THE RETURN by Gerfe Red
A strange, naked woman appearing at a guy’s front door. Who was she? Where did she come from? And why did she seem so confused? It turns out that she’s from 1691 and was locked away in a box by her stepmother and stepsister. Marjorie was a witch that had to battle with her step family. Now she has to make sure that they die.
With Jim’s help, she must assimilate to the present, find the old witches, and plot her revenge. The problem is that you can’t just kill them. There are laws against that, and Jim doesn’t want Marjorie to end up in jail. Meanwhile, the rest of the town is curious of the newcomer and aims to get to the bottom of who she is. Could this turn into a witch hunt? Well, it definitely becomes a war of the witches because Marjorie must seek justice for the people killed by the old witches. After all, it takes a witch to take care of a witch.
Simple story and an intriguing mystery. A good read!
My rating: 4 stars
Review: MURDER IS MAGIC by Chris Dupree
At 18, Victoria refused her father’s new wife and his obsession with power, so she fled the coven and his life. Five years later, her father, the mayor of the town, wants to demolish her magic shop, the shop that belonged to her mother. This then sparks a war of power against her stepmom and stepsister. Suddenly, her father falls into a coma and Victoria is accused of poisoning him. It’s clear to her that dark magic is at play and is aiming to ruin her life. So, with the help of a gay empathic friend and a mother whom she thought was dead, Victoria will fight this battle.
An enthralling tale full of magical twists!
My rating: 4 stars
Review: A WITCH’S GUIDE TO MURDER by Aubrey Harper
Rory inherited her grandmother’s house and cult booshop, so she decides to make the move back to her old town, where she discovers that she’s a witch and her grandmother may have actually been murdered by another witch. Interesting!With the help of her granny’s ghost, her witchy cousin, and her book nerd friend, Rory will learn to use her new witch abilities and find out what really happened.
At first, the story felt slow and repetitive with it being mostly biting back-and-forth dialogue between the characters. But there was magic, and the story was cute and crafty. I liked how Rory got the hang of her new witchy powers quickly, especially since she was a “person of interest” in not just one but two murders in town. Yeah, maybe she should’ve stayed in NY.
In the second half of the story, when we get down to who the real killer was, was, by far, the best part! It’s always the person you least suspect.
My rating: 4 stars
Review: MURDER’S A WITCH by Danielle Garrett
Holly is an elemental witch that is normally attuned to extreme weather at Beechwood Harbor Manor, where she was exiled to from her magical community. One night, a stranger shows up, lurking around the bushes. Rather than use her magical powers to ward off this prowler, she discovers that he’s a P.I. that’s come to investigate paranormal activity. What paranormal activity could he possibly find with a witch, a shape shifter, a vampire, and a ghost all living at the manor?So, not only must she watch out for this guy, but a dead body turns up and her best friend (which happens to be human) is the prime suspect. Can she use her crafty magic to help her out of it? That along with the trusting help of a werewolf shifter hottie?
I liked how Holly was smart and witty and that she knew how to cast a good spell. Story was a page-turner from start to finish.
Crafty, whimsical, and magical!
My rating: 4 stars
Review: DEAD WITCH ON A BRIDGE by Gretchen Galway
A dead body in the middle of a bridge. Was magic involved? How could someone have taken down one of the most powerful witches in Sonoma County? Alma is a witch living in a world of fairies, gnomes, and demons. She’s a demon killer that can’t kill. What’s that about?
This book had a good attention-grabber on the first page, but then turns into a slow crawl. For such a simple scenario (finding out who killed the dead witch on the bridge,) this sure had a complicated plot. I didn’t like it as much as I thought.
My rating: 2 stars
Review: CATALYST by Jessie Cal
A mission to take down the Order—the leaders of the Catalyst trial. Catalyst continues Mia’s story. The last we heard of her (and I’m having to go back to my review of Disarray for a rehash) she was battling the loss of memory and the struggle to remember. In the last few pages, Mia’s memory is suddenly restored.
Catalyst doesn’t quite pick up where that story left off, which is why it took me a while to get reacquainted with it. In this story, Mia is in hiding and the soldiers are still out there. There were some characters that I couldn’t quite remember, which made following the story a little harder. When I first started reading this, several questions came to mind. What was the Catalyst trial? What was their mission? I still didn’t get the whole soldier angle. And what does any of this have to do with Mia and her memory? Does Mia even have her memories back? Of course, I’m just assuming because that’s where the first book left off. And what has happened since then? For me, there were holes in this thing right from the beginning. I think I would’ve preferred a brief recap of Mia’s memory restoration and have the story pick up from there. That would’ve made it easier on me.
Once again, this is another lovely and well-written work by Jessie Cal; however, I just didn’t feel that same connection I had in the first book.
My rating: 3 stars
Review: SCREAMCATCHER: WEB WORLD by Christy J. Breedlove
A dream catcher: a woven item designed to trap the bad dreams. All 17-year old Jorlene has had were bad dreams, ever since the tragic death of her parents. But what happens when she stops having the bad dreams and starts living in them?
Story was well-written for the most part, but it was somewhat confusing. At times, it was hard to tell what was going on. I had a hard time picturing where the characters were. I understand they were trapped in this dream world (the dream catcher,) but I just couldn’t quite grasp the setting. The whole thing is an intricate web of mystery, which some readers may get a kick out of. But I just couldn’t get into this world. The concept sounded interesting, but I felt lost and that, in itself, lost my interest.
My rating: 2 stars
Review: INBORN MAGIC by Kim McDougall
Bobbi was a young, amateur witch. She practices and practices, but doesn’t seem to be getting any better. During a spell, something goes wrong and she loses a great deal of magic. It was a stranger that had to “unlock” her. In an effort to ditch her saviors, Bobbi somehow lands in some kind of time portal. I’m not really sure what happened here, but she seems lost and disoriented. This sounded like an interesting story about witches and secret covens, but I sort of found it hard to follow. Like Bobbi, I felt lost. Story was insightful and well-versed for the most part, but some of the language was a little odd. I guess I just didn’t get into this witchy tale as much I’d wanted to.
My rating: 2 stars
August 1, 2019
Excerpt: VICES/VIRTUES by Beatrice DeSoprontu
“The Doughnut Guy was my Stepfather!”
(excerpt from VICES/VIRTUES by Beatrice DeSoprontu)
Over the years, my mother divided her social calendar into three parts: church events, school activities, and doctor visits. She had become a connoisseur of waiting rooms, noting which ones ranked better on the qualities of cleanliness, staff performance, and amenities such as good pens that could be useful when tucked into her purse and brought home. Once I became a teenager, the allure of free pens and magazines faded. I began to pass on the opportunities to escort her during medical outings. I would have liked to pass on some of the church events as well, but these were categorized as being mandatory.
Still, when I was sixteen years old and Alex had gone off to college, I felt it was my responsibility to take care of Griselda. So, once again, I began accompanying her to medical offices. One of these times, my mother had an appointment with a new doctor. She often had a new doctor since inevitably, the old one could never cure her of the incurable fibromyalgia. Eyeing the many new patient forms she was filling out, I saw that she had written her age, ethnicity, two pregnancies, and had checked "Divorced." It all seemed in order. Confident that Mom didn’t need my help, I continued to read a magazine. She went to hand in the forms, and I got up as well, not to help her, since she was perfectly capable of handing in some forms, but just to change the magazine. I heard the receptionist look over the papers, muttering “Good,” “Ok,” and then the receptionist asked, “And the divorce, was this recent?”
“No, it was about ten years ago.”
I was standing a few feet away from my mother, but she didn’t notice I had just dropped the magazine in my hand. I was sixteen years old. Ten years before, I had been six years old. I remembered six. I remembered six very well. There had been no sign of Alfredo at six! My mother went back to her seat. I looked around the waiting room. There was a very old lady, with a man who could have been her son, sitting at the far end of the room. There was also a couple, middle-aged, seated a bit closer to us. There was the receptionist behind the desk and the medical assistants who kept walking back and forth between the waiting room and the exam rooms. Perhaps if I spoke quietly enough, the others wouldn’t hear me.
“Mama, que dijiste?”
My mother looked startled, no doubt due to the fact that I was speaking Spanish. It was a skill she never encouraged. With fair skin that burned in the sun, I looked like a white girl, far fairer than either Alex or Mom, and this suited her fine.
“Cristela, for sure the lady at the desk understands Spanish. Por favor no hablas.”
Since I had turned fifteen years old, my mother had switched from saying “Cállate” to “No hablas.” The words were more civilized but the meaning was still the same.
Shortly afterward, she was called in to see the doctor. For an agonizingly long time, the doctor examined her, as I stayed behind in the waiting room. I could have easily told him the problem — she has a lot of pain. It’s pain she always had, pain she’s gotten used to, pain she could probably no longer function without.
Once we left the doctor’s office, I confronted her. “What did you mean when you said that you divorced ten years ago?”
“Cristela, we are on the street. This is not the time or the place.”
“No, you’re wrong! This is the time and place!” This was the most forceful I had ever dared to be with my mother.
“It is nothing. It was a paper marriage. Do you remember Mr. Willis? He married me for a time so I could get my papers.”
The doughnut guy was my stepfather! It was such a nice thing, him bringing doughnuts, but now it seemed lame. What kind of stepfather does nothing but bring you some doughnuts once a month? But wait, why?
“Papers? What are you talking about? Puerto Ricans don’t need any papers.”
“Ah mi hija. Alfredo was the Puerto Rican. I’m from Venezuela.”
I thought about Venezuela. It’s in South America. It has oil and communism, and now my cousins, aunts, uncles, maybe even grandparents.
“I came to this country looking for a better life. That is when I met Alfredo. I thought we would get married, but it didn’t happen like that. For you and for Alex, I had to find another way.”
My mother looked genuinely concerned. It was rare to see her like this. She was usually too proud to show weakness. Even when Rubia died, I tried to hug her after we returned from the funeral, but Mom just brushed me off, wiped away her tears, and told me she had sewing to take care of.
“But why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was illegal, hija. We could have been deported. I couldn’t trust a child to keep such a secret.”
Admittedly, this made sense. I suppose if either Alex or I had blabbed, we would have been in trouble. When I was eleven years old, I had told Mom about the naked girl magazines Alex kept hidden in his drawer. After throwing them out, Griselda made Alex go to confession. I could see why she didn’t think I was the most reliable secret keeper.
“You and Daddy never married?” I asked, just realizing that if they had, she wouldn’t have been illegal.
“I told you. With Alfredo, it didn’t happen. But don’t embarrass me by telling this to your friends. Not even your brother knows.”
Just as Griselda instructed, I didn’t tell anyone, not even Alex. I couldn’t tell him because it would have been like tattling on Griselda. I knew her puritanical views on sex, and for her to admit she'd had not one but two children out of wedlock was tantamount to confessing a mortal sin. If she trusted me enough to confide this secret, it would have been betrayal to reveal it. Speaking no more about it to anyone, I considered how my family had just been negated. It was bad enough we lived on government handouts, but now we had been reclassified from “legal” to “illegal,” “legitimate” to “illegitimate” — an invalidation.
Life continued.
In high school, I discovered a certain knack for duplicity…
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