Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 294

Review: TIME CHANGE by Elyse Douglas

1948: Rita, a Hollywood actress, was tired of the spotlight. Tired of playing the mysterious femme fatale, she wants actually meet a nice man—her knight in shining armor. “But I’ve never really lived. I’ve never had the time to be truly in love… to really care about somebody other than myself…I haven’t fallen in love.” (18)
2019: Clint was a struggling novelist. Ever since his wife died, he became distant and withdrawn. “His heart was stone cold. He felt nothing.” (22)
Book relays two different stories—the stories of these two characters. After a violent attack from her agent, Rita flees a murder scene, trying to cover her tracks. What would she do if the cops found out? Would she get jail time? That would surely end her career and any possible hope of finding a husband and father for her daughter. Entranced by the classic beauty of one of the era’s leading actresses, Clint decides to learn more about Rita Randall and the scandal that had befallen her. Oddly enough, one of his neighbors seems to be the spitting image of Rita.
Two characters, lonely and unfulfilled, lost in deep and dark despair. Living decades apart, the characters, connected by the same soul, only see each other in captured images. How could they appear in each other’s lenses? What was this strange phenomenon? A time portal connecting the past and present? But what happens when one accidentally stumbles through the portal? Talk about Alice of Wonderland down the rabbit hole.
Story become topsy-turvy as each character swaps time. Characters are constantly trying to find each other in this strange time warp.
Time Change transcends across space, geography, and…time. A well-crafted and overall enjoyable read!
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: DARK JUSTICE by Angela Smith

Twelve years ago, Luke was tried and convicted for murder. If only someone believed that he didn’t do it.
Lauren thought Luke killed her sister. Luke was once the man she loved with all her heart. But now he was nothing more than a killer set free. How could she forge that he killed her sister? But how could she ignore the desire she still felt for him? Even now when she had the pistol aimed at Luke, she couldn’t hide the longing she’d kept for him.
The trust was broken, but the fact remains: the true killer was still out there. Could Lauren know him? And could she protect her daughter—a daughter belonging to her and Luke—from him?
Story was well-written, painting a nice scene of the arid Texas landscapes. Plot often shifts between present and past scenes, depicting the events of the trial and the mystery surrounding the unsolved case. At times, the scenes could be somewhat lagging (like the court scenes, for instance,) but the story was, overall, full of mystery and suspense.
A pretty good read.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: WOKE UP DEAD by Nadia Gilkes

“The day I woke up dead was the day my life changed forever.” (3)
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” was a mantra she overused and now it would seem ironically fitting.
How odd, right? I mean, how does someone wake up dead? I guess it all started when she woke up in bed to blinding lights and an earthquake. I didn’t really understand this particular transition or what exactly was going on here. Turns out she was at her own funeral. Then off to the ER she went.
Story was merely describing the “process” of waking up dead, which wasn’t very stimulating. I honestly expected it to be funnier. Instead I felt that this was going all over the place. The plot wasn’t straightforward and clear.
Not what I expected.
My rating: 2 stars

Review: FOCUS LOST by Doug Cooper

Levi Combs and Emily James—two up-and-coming Hollywood stars—caught being photographed in flagrante. She was one of the biggest teenage star and he…was not.  
Easy to read. Various characters from the Hollywood scene are interlaced in this simple yet twisted plot. The characters have their own personal agenda. At times, I wondered what the ultimate goal was in all this. Was it to make some easy money on some cheap photographs? Was it to ruin the careers of the celebrities? Or was there something more sinister lurking here?
Although I wished there were fewer characters and the plot was quicker, story was, overall, a decent read.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: CHRISTMAS ON THE BEACH by Tori L. Wilson

An artist lives out her dream, living on a peaceful island, where she meets an interesting, young man. The two become instantly close and end up spending Christmas on the beach.
Story was lovely and well-written with a leisurely pace, which is synonymous with life on the beach. Scenes are very descriptive in a romanticized fashion. The characters obviously get swept up by the holiday and their crippling loneliness, so they naturally find comfort in each other. I thought they got too close too fast, but, nonetheless, it's a nice, little story.
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: THE MAN WHO LOVED TOO MUCH: ENTENDRE by John Rachel

This is Book 2 of the Billy Green saga. It begins with Billy’s college class with students engaging in comprehensive studies on Dear Abby letters, thus, provoking feministic views and gender equality.
Story is a journey of self-discovery and especially love. But what was love? That’s the eternal question on Billy’s mind.
The writing itself was sentimental and thought-provoking; however, the reading was not as compelling as the first book, for some reason. Following Billy’s story seemed more challenging this time.
Still, it’s good writing, but the story wasn’t so great.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: NORMALISH by M.C. Lesh

A new kind of “normal:” somewhere between average and out-of-your-mind crazy. It’s about perception. Was she normal? She was a freshman, who didn’t fit it, hated school, and thought all the other kids were idiots. For Stacy, the movie, 10 Things I Hate about You, can sum up her life pretty well.


Everyone knows that life can be depressing and this kid was as witty and sarcastic as can be. She keeps it real. But she’s also in love with love—actually she’s in love with Anthony.


“For the past 2 years, my love for Anthony has been the one constant in my life: the thing I can count on, just like the extra zit on my forehead when I’ve had too many French fries (love is like…junk food?)” (17)


She sums up her mediocre high school existence in a diary format, which read like an 80’s teen movie (I could almost see the prissy Molly Ringwald in a shallow role.) Her monologue read like a vapid drone at times. That’s when my interest started going down. It’s okay if you like reading a teen’s diary.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: LIV by Kelsie Rae

After being married for five years, Liv was pregnant. She should feel happy, except she was burying her dead husband. At the funeral, she reconnects with an old friend, Luke, who offers his 3-bedroom condo to help her out. Hopefully, his girlfriend, Trisha, doesn’t mind.


I thought this was a pretty sweet romance, but I think it concentrated too much on the pregnancy, which would make sense since that’s how the two characters connect. I liked Luke being there for her.


An okay love story.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: PERFECTLY FLAWED by Nessa Morgan

What if you were the daughter of a murderer? What if your dad went totally psycho and brutally murdered your mom, your siblings, and left you to die with 20 stab wounds? Yeah, you'd be a freak alright.

Joey is used to being the talk of the school. In fact, she takes it in cynical stride.
So is this a story about relishing your imperfections rather than conform to the monotonous standards of popular culture?
This seemed like an interesting story, but it seriously lags with endless rambles and drains the reader with mindless banalities.
Joey is not really an interesting character to begin with. All she does is whine about death and being different. In fact, most of the time she dreams of death (drowning, suffocating, being buried) and this is probably because she should've ended up that way when her dad went postal.
The only thing that was even remotely interesting was the therapy session and even that totally bombed out.

My rating: 2 stars

Review: LOST by Jodi Kae

Derek is a Fortune 500 millionaire who finds a beaten woman on the dirt road near his cabin. It was strange that while he was cleaning up and doctoring her wounds, he was aroused by the mysterious woman.


The unknown woman can’t remember what happened or who she is. Was she running from people trying to hurt her? And, if so, will they come for her again?


“Needing a connection to someone, even…on a physical level, seems like a necessity for me. Feeling lost and alone, no identity or past.” (29)


Love story was sensual, but the erotica was tapered by the summary-like monologue of each character. It was often repetitive and it didn’t feel like it progressed. It’s an ok suspense love story.


My rating: 3 stars