Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 293

Review: NO MORE BAD DATES by Kate O’Keefe

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Well, when your boyfriend dumps you at a wedding, that couldn’t be truer for Sophie. What’s worse is that she sees that same boyfriend cuddling up with a random hottie minutes after he dumped her. Oh yeah, this was the worst day of her life alright.


Of course, her friends tell her that there’s plenty of fish in the sea. The problem was that Sophie sucked at choosing men. Then the pact idea comes up. “They called it the ‘Last First Date Pact.’ Basically, they agreed that the next guy they each dated would be The One.” (17)


But rather than focus on the HEA, the girls lean more toward an HFN (Happy For Now)—nothing too serious, nothing too permanent. They agree to only date the good guys. No more jerks, no more creeps, no more bad dates. Hear, hear!


The way this works is that the worthiness will be decided by the others. That’s all fine and dandy, but what about getting the guy’s perspective? That’s when Sophie’s BFF and roommate, Jason, comes in. “Having a guy friend help us understand the “enemy” might give us an advantage.” (26)


Story is a total make-over in the world of dating. Sophie is relatable to any single woman with a wacky family infected with Baby-ness. There were a few lagging areas, but I think the story gets the basic point across. Is it so hard to meet a good guy? Heck yeah! I guess that’s why everyone from crazy relatives to busybody co-workers makes it their mission to match Sophie with one. The thing was that it takes a while for the first date to come up. We were supposed to get a series of bad dates, weren’t we? Instead, this mostly dealt with the relations between family and friends with witty banter and good humor.


My rating: 3 stars

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Review: KILLER CUPCAKES by Milda Harris

Ava is a freelance screen writer, but, unfortunately, that doesn’t pay the bills. Meanwhile, she works at an up-and-coming Hollywood bakery called Celebrity Cupcakes. The guest celebrity, Penelope Rose, takes a bite of the first cupcake and collapses in front of the media on opening day. Could it have been the cupcake?


With a murdered celebrity, who would come to a place with killer cupcakes?


Everyone was a suspect—the owner, the employees, even Ava. That meant that Ava needed to solve this thing quick.


Simple, sleuthing tale that you can get into. It was mostly a lot of speculation, but, overall, an okay read.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: REST IN PIECES by Katie Graykowski (Book 1)

A PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) president and a dead teacher.


Why would a beloved kindergarten teacher overdose? The teacher was afraid of needles and didn’t even drink, much less do drugs. But it couldn’t have been murder? What could the motive be? That’s what Mustang aims to find out.


Since the police tended to protect the haves of the TX town and Molly (like Mustang) was part of the have-nots, Mustang takes matters into her own hands.


Looking at the body at the funeral home, the PTO club realize something shocking—half the body was plastic and half was missing. What!? Why would her real head be connected to a fake body? Where was it? I enjoyed the girls fumbling in haste trying to put the body back together.


I liked how this started off, all crafty and witty. But what should’ve been an interesting mystery soon turns into a rioting gab fest between the broads. Although they were snarky and had high energy, they just seemed to lack focus. Keep your eye on the prize, girls! And what’s with all the guns? The gun lesson was truly boring.


All in all, story had silly antics and a slow pace. It involved pregnancy, drug lords, surveillance bugs, and terrorist plots. The mystery wasn’t that easy to follow. It was okay, although I hope the next one would be better.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: MURDER ON THE MENU by Nancy Skopin

Nikki Hunter is a P.I. with most of her cases being cheating husbands and bad employees. But this time she has something different: a murder case.


Nikki is very thorough and has keen observational skills. She finds no reason why a rich college student could’ve been murdered. After all, the kid read romance novels, slept with Shrek dolls, and watched Disney movies. On the other hand, she also got automatic deposits from a nudie bar. So the girl was a part-time stripper, too.


It takes a thief to catch a thief. Thanks to Nikki’s past life of transgressions and misdemeanors, she’s able to use her thievery skills to hunt the bad guys and bring justice to order. Her compulsion to fix the world makes her good at what she does. I thought she was a pretty cool chick.


I thought this started off pretty enjoyable because you just fall into this mysterious case, but, most of the time, Nikki got WAY TOO descriptive, especially about her dumb boats. And because of this, it was much too slow for me. Must she describe every little thing? At 25% of the book, this started to REALLY bug me how she would describe EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. I think she even describes the same people. If I have to hear one more time about how so-and-so had strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes, and a vanilla complexion, I’m going to scream.


The mystery could’ve been good if it hadn’t choked me with all the describing. If this is the rest of the series will be, I think this will be the only book I read then.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: JUST ONE PIECE by Katie Graykowski (Book 3)

The PTO girls once again veer off topic in this book. When do they find the penis? Really, the chopped appendage was the only alluring quality of the book. Although the penis shows up at the end of chapter 1, it still felt like forever to get there. The girls are all-over-the-place whacked.


This was SO BORING. I was really looking forward to it.


Such a disappointment.


My rating: 1 star

Review: CATS, CANNOLIS, AND A CURIOUS KIDNAPPING by Cheryl Denise Bannerman (Bk 1)

Anna Romano was a lonely Italian lady from the Jersey shore. At 37, she was an old maid, unmarried with seven cats. She's often asked why she hasn't found "the one." Her answer: "It could be (A) from a lack of trying, (B) my sarcasm and independence is a turnoff, or (C) I find most men annoying and harder to clean up after than my cats." (10) Right on, girl!
The only fulfilling part of her life was her work as a mystery author. She was known as "The Author Cat Lady."
Ever since her book signing in NY, she's been getting strange calls and messages from an unknown sender. "Silence is golden." What did that mean?
Since the police seemed to be no help, Anna decides to investigate on her own in order to protect herself and her cats. She comes to the realization that her stalker might have some similarities to a character from her book. Then she gets kidnapped.
The character is witty with a good sense of humor. I liked how relatable she was with her down-to-earth persona and candid remarks, which were sometimes funny. Girl tells it like it is even in the face of danger. The plot can get a little chaotic with the different character perspectives (Anna, stalker, and the police,) but the track is fairly stable.
Will the police get to Anna in time? That's the question since Anna's kidnapping is the main event in like 80% of the book. I didn't quite see the connection between Anna's story and the kidnapper, but still, this was quick, little mystery that I found overall amusing.
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: A BLOODY STILETTO, COLD LASAGNA, AND A BESTSELLER by Cheryl Denis Bannerman (Bk 2)

Anna Romano is back!
What better way to entertain a cat lady than with a cat fight at the supermarket? Somehow Anna gets involved in a case concerning a scorned wife and a cheating husband. She figures she might as well score an interview with the wife for her next story. The last thing she expected to find was the wife dead on the bathroom floor at some fancy party. Death by a red stiletto. It was a bloody scene. Although how much force would you need to be able to drive a stiletto heel through a human skull? Ouch!
Now the question: Who could've wanted her dead? "This poor woman was being cheated on by her husband, is attacked by her husband’s mistress, and then murdered the same night." (56)
This story doesn't have just one murder; it has TWO murders. And, of course, Anna would be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Once again, Anna charms readers with her witty and candid commentary. This was definitely a juicier case than the last one.
An entertaining mystery!
My rating: 4 stars

Review: KILLER REMEDY by Julia Rohatyn

Betsy was in low spirits, and her friend, Miriam, was hoping a trip to Italy would help; Emma was a grieving widow.
From the looks of it, these women were battling their own inner demons, however, their story is so scattered that it's hard to pinpoint the issue. Needless to say, I didn't fall into this story. It was too boring and complicated.
My rating: 2 stars

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