Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 291

Review: MULTILEVEL MURDER by Audrey Claire

57-year old Deena thought she had her life all figured out. Mother, wife, homebody. Until one night, she stumbles (literally) over her dead husband, who was poisoned by one of the supplements he was selling as part of a pyramid scheme. Cases like this almost always point to the spouse.


On top of that, Deena learns that she can’t collect her husband’s retirement money, so she has to take a retail job to pay off his debt. Life has certainly turned upside down for her. Then she gets the feeling that she’s being watched. Was she next?


The town sheriff, an old high school crush, believes she’s innocent and promises to catch the killer…but not without Deena’s help.


Who could’ve killed Russell? A crooked businessman? An angry customer? A jealous lover?


Crafty, inquisitive, and compelling.


A good mystery! Easy to read and just as easy to get caught up in.


My rating: 4 stars

Review: ASKING FUR TROUBLE by Ally Roberts

Wendy Walker was newly single and on her own for the first time ever. After the divorce, the only thing she kept was her dog.


One day, while walking her dog, she finds a stray dog with a collar, which, thus, leads her to a house with a dead body inside. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time somehow connects her to the crime. Things get only worse when the small-town detectives do everything they can to pin the murder on her. Suddenly, she has no choice but to solve this murder on her own. Sounds pretty RUFF!


Easy to read and easy to relate. A cute, cozy, little mystery.


My rating: 4 stars

Review: A HOPELESS MURDER by Daniel Carson

Hope Walker is an investigative reporter that’s just been fired from the Portland News Gazette. Considered a liability, she’s been blackballed from the journalism world. What’s a girl to do? She returns to her hometown of Hopeless (exactly how she feels.)


“Like a Christmas sweater, my hometown was equal parts weird, charming, comfortable, and likely to give you a rash.” (12)


Hope came all the way home for her granny’s funeral and the woman didn’t turn out to be dead. WTF!? Turns out, Granny has pretend funerals in preparation for the big day. Oookay.


In front of her arch nemesis, proud granny, and the whole stinkin’ town, she automatically blurts that she got fired. Boy did she need a whiskey. The next day, she stumbles on the dead body of the sheriff she’s hated for years.  One day back in town and she was the town drunk and the Grim Reaper. Of course, Hope is a suspect, but, in reality, the whole town had a reason to hate him. Hope puts on her reporter’s hat to solve the case.


I enjoyed the witty, frank commentary. Loved the funny, old grandma.


A good, little mystery! Very crafty!


My rating: 4 stars

Review: NEW MATH IS MURDER by JoAnn Lamon Reccoppa

One morning, during a jog, Colleen stumbles (literally) onto a dead body. Turns out someone killed her daughter’s Algebra teacher. But who? And why? For a Teacher Award? Or perhaps this was a lover’s crime of passion?
Now, Colleen is on the writing assignment and on the case.
A quirky, cozy mystery and a quick read!

My rating: 4 stars

Review: MORNING CUP OF MURDER by Vanessa Gray Bartal

Lacy Steele is a struggling freelance writer going nowhere. All she has is her laptop and her morning cup of coffee. With money not flowing in as fast as she needs, she must live with her sweet, old grandma, whom she adores. All of a sudden, Grandma becomes the prime suspect in a murder. That can’t be.

With her grandma’s freedom on the line and the chance to prove herself and get out of this writing rut, Lacy sets out to investigate, not resting until she finds the answers.
Story ingeniously answers the who, what, where, when, and why.
Crafty, sweet, and delightful!

My rating: 4 stars

Review: MIDNIGHT SCENT by Dori Lavelle

Former model Ivy is looking to forget the past and start over. She moves into a college dorm, where she finds old letters in her mattress. They were love letters to the previous tenant. Words in the letters ignite a passion in her, making her wonder who this guy is.


After getting away from the spotlight, Ivy aches to be a normal girl and get her college degree. She doesn’t want the lame college boys who only want the model she used to be. No, she wants the author of those letters.


She soon finds out that the man used to be a professor of the college and that “Jennifer” was one of his students whom he was having an affair with. The story goes that a fit of jealousy caused a student’s murder, and the professor was the accused and was awaiting trial. How could the hands of a passionate guy be stained with blood?


“He’s a stranger to me in my head, but so familiar to my heart.” (73) The whole world thinks he’s a monster, but Ivy won’t let herself believe it, so she starts writing back to him.


“He could be dangerous, but he’s my comfort zone. He could be poisonous, but he’s my elixir.” (75)


He gets closer and closer to her, reaching her emotionally and sinfully from behind bars. Talk about some powerful words. Letters are erotically charged that it’s enough to make any girl swoon.


The professor turns her on and scares her at the same time. The man is too powerful. The compelling part was trying to figure him out. Was he for real or was he dangerous?


Lovely and well-written. A worthy read.


My rating: 4 stars

Review: LOVE NOTES by Susan Coventry

Sophia was just invited to a wedding in FL. She recently broke up with her boyfriend and missed having a date for things like this. Maybe she can ask her best friend, Drew?


Drew was too good-looking to be anyone’s friend…but he was Sophia’s (friend.) Sophia was the book-loving book worm—“Guys don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses.” But Drew liked her as she was, and instantly agrees to be her wedding date.


The two have wanted each other ever since high school, but neither are willing to risk their friendship. As they practice being a couple, the feelings start to stir.


This started off fun and flirty, but I thought it was kind of slow. You’d kind of wished the two would get it on already. The whole thing is on the “should we or shouldn’t we” question. And then Drew makes a list to convince Sophia that they should be together. Well, that just made it even slower.


It’s a good friends-to-lovers romance, but it just felt lukewarm to me.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: DYING TO MEET YOU by Rich Amooi

Liz just won the lottery―$575K. Somehow her excitement was tapered by her predictability and routine, but she didn't need fancy, extravagant things to feel fulfilled. But then again...was she fulfilled?


What to do with all that money? It was interesting to find out how the lottery works in California...you know, in case it ever happens to me (fingers crossed.) It was annoying and overwhelming how Liz becomes the center of attention and that everyone wants a piece of her and her money. A dying mother, really?


Adam is a private-jet pilot with a stern view: "Money can't buy me or anyone else happiness. Health is more important than money." (LOC 502) Yes! Still, Adam has a fear of hospitals, like Richard Nixon, which is understandable. After all, who likes hospitals? His fear was that if he ever went in, he might not never come out. I get that! Hospitals + Doctors = Death.


Figures that after Liz wins the lottery is when she finds out she has a terminal disease. Turns out she has a rare bone marrow disease, which is sad. She has 3 months left to live. Damn! In comes the bucket list. Yes!


She makes a list of all the places she wanted to see, so she charters a private plane (Adam) for all her trips. Together, they have the trip of a lifetime.


Although they were opposites, Adam and Liz shared a deep connection. She was a planner and he was spontaneous. She lived in the past (on account of her being a history teacher) and he lived in the present.


Liz: "By failing to prepare, you're preparing to fail." (LOC 1234)


With Adam's help, Liz learns to enjoy life for once.


"It's what we make of the time that counts." (LOC 875)


Smart and well-informed. Witty, endearing, relatable! A good story!


Most people wait 'til retirement to travel to these exotic destinations. Why wait to stop working to have fun? Do it now while you can!


Peru, Africa, Paris, Norway―all places I'd like to see. Very travel inspiring.


My rating: 5 stars

Review: SEEING DOUBLE by Tamra Baumann

Dani vowed to find a more compatible man, hold down a job, and stay out of harm’s way.


Even with a soon-to-be ex-husband, living in her mother’s fame, and prophetic visions popping in her head, she still aims to make an improvement on her mess of a life. In addition to seeing crimes before they happened, she was also seeing DOUBLE—caught between an ex that she slept with from time to time and a friend/one-night stand.


While Jake (the ex-husband cop) wanted to get back together, Dani didn’t because she was a lousy wife and would make a lousy mother, especially if the kids inherited her abilities. Michael was a former NFL football star now working as a lawyer, whose wife left him for another woman. One thing they two men have in common is that they both want Dani.


Meanwhile, Jake and Dani work another crime case, one she swears will be the last one. Dani (now a realtor) was also helping Michael buy a house. The whole thing was wonderfully chaotic.


The two men were wonderful and Dani loved them both, but, according to her vision, Dani knows the man she’s supposed to be with and it’s not Jake or Michael.


Of course, that’s not the half of it. It would also seem that Dani’s life is in danger. If she testifies in court, she may not live another day.


Contending with two men, figuring out puzzling clues in her visions, finding a killer and keep from being killed herself—all while trying to make a sale and find her independence. So many questions that beg for answers in this novel.


I was intrigued by the premise and the character, but I thought there were too many angles. Who will Dani choose? Or will she choose at all? Who was the killer? Will Dani survive? And, if so, will she find her independence as well as the man of her dreams? It all kind of bubbled with excitement, but then it all watered down to mediocrity.


An okay story.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: MY PERFECT EX-BOYFRIEND by Annabelle Costa

Bailey is a divorcee with a young daughter. If there’s one thing she can’t stand, it’s her flaky ex, the starving musician who constantly stands up their daughter and doesn’t pay child support. Her father’s sudden engagement shocks her as her mom was always supposed to be it for her father. What’s even more shocking was that her future stepmom had a son she hadn’t seen in a decade. It was none other than Noah, her hottie ex-boyfriend.


You would think that by-gones would be by-gones, but nope. Noah will never be able to forgive Bailey for what happened. So what did happen?


Story goes back and forth between past and present, reliving Noah and Bailey’s relationship from the first time they met in college. Segments quickly stop, then regresses back to the present, where Noah hates Bailey in the face of their parents’ nuptials.


It’s a reverse love story. I’m not too keen on the back-and-forth jumps, but I’m willing to overlook it as long as the story had a steady stream. But this one read kinda slow for me. It still has wit, but it wasn’t the greatest story. It was okay.


My rating: 3 stars