Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 30

Review: SCOUT IS NOT A BAND KID by Jade Armstrong

 

Although the pictures were nice,the whole band story wasn’t a big draw for me. Yes, I get that Scout was not aband kid. Just didn’t like it.

 

Rating:2 stars

Review: MONSTER BLOOD IS BACK by R.L. Stine

 

Would you buy anything from aplace that sold very evil toys? Well, that’s where the girls got this monsterblood. What could be so scary about green slime, right? Well, that’s what I wasasking as I was reading this book. Things heat up when the girls enter atelevised cooking competition. The play-by-play on the cooking and the judgingwas too descriptive and slowed things down a lot. It was so disappointing whenthe girls finally use the monster blood and it does nothing. Quite honestly,there’s not much that happens here. I expected much more from this scary blob.Eh, the read was okay and the story wasn’t too great.

 

Rating:2 stars

Spotlight: ALPHA ENFORCER'S FORBIDDEN MATE by Skylar Cassidy

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Summary: A venomous attack, meant to destroy her. A forgotten past, haunting every shadow. A wolf shifter's fierce devotion, risking everything for a forbidden bond.

Waking up in a stranger's cabin wasn't part of my plan.
Neither was discovering I can make an entire forest bend to my will.

Luminescent markings pulse across my skin, as mysterious as my newfound abilities.
But the fierce, protective wolf shifter who saved me stirs something deep in my soul.

Liam swears he's protecting me, but his pack sees me as a threat.
I'm the mysterious outsider whose very presence puts them in danger.

As venomous tendrils advance beneath my skin, shadows hunt me through the night.
Something deadly stalks these Colorado mountains, and I'm its target.

Each day reveals new powers I can't control and enemies I can't remember.
The only thing I know for certain is that Liam's touch feels like coming home.



Author Bio: Amazon Bestselling Author Skylar Cassidy conjures immersive Fantasy Romance novels where realms collide, destinies intertwine, and love defies every boundary. Whether set in the mystical peaks of Colorado’s mountains or ancient fantasy realms reached through hidden portals, her stories are rich with magic, adventure, and heart. Skylar’s worlds brim with celestial beings—angels and angelic hybrids—alongside dragons, fae, vampires, and shifters, each playing roles in grand narratives laced with political intrigue, epic battles, and quests for power.
At the core of every tale is a romance as intense as it is fated, exploring themes of forbidden love, soul-deep connections, and the struggle between duty and desire. With each book, beloved characters from past adventures reappear, creating a woven tapestry of intersecting fates and shared destinies across realms.
Skylar lives in the wild beauty of Colorado with her two Doberman Pinschers, drawing inspiration from the land's quiet majesty. A lifelong equestrian at heart, she dreams of the day she can have horses again. Above all, she treasures her role as a grandmother, finding joy and grounding in family as she spins tales of love and legend.

Purchase links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZ45W6KK 

Social Media links: 
Website: https://skylarcassidy.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skylarcassidyauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skylarcassidyauthor/
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skylarcassidyauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/43916955.Skylar_Cassidy

Blog Tour: TEARDOWN by William Campbell Powell

 

TEARDOWN

William Campbell Powell

 

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GENRE:  

LGBT+ Romance

 

 

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BLURB:

 

Growingup in a dead-end, Thames Valley town like Marden Combe, Kai knows there’s noescape without a lot of talent, hard work—and luck.

 

Twoweeks before the Clayton Paul Blues Band plans to set out on tour to Germany,their singer quits, and drummer Kai takes matters in hand. With bandmates Jakeand Jamie, they recruit a talented new singer—the enigmatic Dominique—as thenew face of the band and set out on the road to Berlin in a rickety white van.

 

Doggedby mishaps and under-rehearsed, the band stumbles through their first shows,zig-zagging between chaos and brilliance. But as the first gig in Berlin drawsnear, the band begins to gel. They’re clicking with their audience, and eventhe stone-hearted Kai starts to crumble under the spell, first of Dom andthen…of Lars.

 

Asthe end of the tour approaches, Kai must make hard choices. Dom? But she’skeeping a dark secret. Lars? Not after the acrimony of their last parting. Theband? Or will that dream crumble too?

 

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ExcerptTwo:

 

 

So I pulled the mic stand around to the side of the kit, setit up so it didn’t get in the way of the hi-hat, and we gave it a go. I picked‘I Come from the Blues’, which was one of Clay’s compositions. It had fallenout of the set sometime in the last six months, but I loved Clay’s soft, jazzybutterscotch vocals on it. If it had been up to me, it would still be in theset, but Clay had said he wanted to move on.

 

Where did I come from? I come from the blues.

Where am I going? I’m going to lose.

Where is my future? I’m sure I have none.

Where is my hope? My hope is all gone.

 

I’ve always sung along—off-mic and under my breath—so Ididn’t have any trouble fitting the words in the right places. And I’ve gotdecent pitch and rhythm. So I think I did all right.

 

Now, Jamie wouldn’t meet my eye.

 

“What?” I demanded. “What was wrong with that?”

 

He mumbled something.

 

“I can’t hear you, bro. What did he say, Jake?”

 

Jake looked away. He didn’t want to get involved in anysquall between me and my brother. Besides, he’d used up all his words for theday.

 

“I’m not sure how to put this, Kai. You’ve got a good voice.It’s, well…not very, well, rock’n’roll. No…grit. Too pure. Sorry.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Look, we’ll ask around our friends. Social media. There’sgot to be something online.”

 

I didn’t say anything. I was thinking lots though. About howI’d discovered that this was something I really wanted to do.

 

 

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Topic: Whatwas your writing routine like when writing this book?

 

Teardown wasn’t a quick bookto write. I got the idea for the book around June 2014, a couple of monthsafter my debut novel – Expiration Day – got published. But that’s all it was –an idea. A couple of lines in my “Ideas Bucket”. Writing-wise I was busypromoting Expiration Day, then suddenly work went sour and I was spat out in amass redundancy in April 2015. I can see the first couple of pages were writtenin early May 2015.

 

I have a rule when writing anew novel. If I can get to 8,000 words, then it’s OK to continue, If I lose thewill, or can’t find the inspiration to get that far, then the idea goes in thetrunk. In that phase, there’s no routine – I just write when I have theinspiration.

 

I reached that magic 8,000words about 3 months later. I also had a new job, so the routine shifted to‘After midnight’ (when all the family were in bed), finishing around 2am orwhen I’d written 1,000 words, whichever happened first. Uh, research (by whichI mean googling the etiquette of German saunas, or finding videos of how tomake an origami swan) also counts.

 

I think this was also thenovel where I switched to Scrivener and stopped using Microsoft Word. It was adecision I’ve never regretted, and it’s made a huge difference to keeping awriting project coherent. The immediate benefit was that whenever I wrotesomething about a character – like their age, height, hair eyes (but also theirmannerisms, motivations) – it could all go into a character profile, and Iwouldn’t inadvertently write something conflicting. And all the research can bekept together in a project folder.

 

Then there was a hiatus ofabout a year, because I was writing a sequel to Expiration Day, and thenrewriting a fantasy novel that had got some agent interest. Neither gotaccepted. (The Expiration Day sequel was probably the right outcome, but Istill have hopes for the fantasy novel.) Along the way I was also writing andsubmitting short stories, and I got my first short story sale around that time.So up to mid-2016 I was mostly working on other projects. It took a whole yearto get Teardown to first full draft (to mid-2017) and a year of editing (incollaboration with professional editors) to get to something that was – I hoped– submission ready in mid-2018.

 

That’s become the pattern ofmy writing life – there’s always a current project on the go, but interleavedwith that there are older projects being revised, others out on submission orout with an editor. Everything competing for that two hour window of time.

 

And then at the start of 2024Teardown found its home with NineStar Press. But that didn’t mean the writingwas done – I went through another 2 or 3 intense 2-week rounds of editing withElizabetta at NineStar, filling plot holes and polishing. Hard work – eveningsand weekends solid editing – but also a joy, because Elizabetta has such aflair for inspiring creativity.

 

I’ve left one of the moreunusual aspects of writing Teardown to last, which was the songwriting. Havingbeen a musician from an early age, it was both natural and necessary (forcopyright reasons) for me to write original songs for Teardown. Lyrics andmusic were both required. The songs themselves need to be stories in miniature,with a theme and a progression. Sometimes the tune wouldn’t come right away,but as snippets came, I’d hum or sing them into my phone. It was an opportunityto push my songwriting skills as much as my writing skills, to experiment withmore adventurous chord progressions, getting a little jazzy at times.

 

When I thought I had matchingwords and music, I’d then capture the whole thing with just guitar and vocal ona digital recorder (better sound quality than my phone). Towards the laterstages of the NineStar edit process, I started to create fuller demos of eachof the songs, using multi-track recording software. Those demos are up at https://bit.ly/TeardownMusic forreaders to listen to.

 

I was songwriting pretty muchup to the wire – Elizabetta and I were working on tightening-up one of thecentral questions – why Dom joined Kai’s band. Writing a new song and weavingthat into the narrative was one of the last significant edits I undertook.

 

And then it was done.

 

Thank you for followingthrough to this point – I hope you found it interesting (and not tootechnical).

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Williamlives in a small Buckinghamshire village in England. By night he writesspeculative, historical, crime and other fiction. His debut novel, EXPIRATIONDAY, was published by Tor Teen in 2014 and won the 2015 Hal Clement Award forbetter than half-decent science in a YA novel—the citation actually says"Excellence in Children's Science Fiction Literature".

William’slatest novel - TEARDOWN - was published 10th December 2024, by NineStar Pressin the US; it is an LGBT+ romance/road-trip.

 

Hisshort fiction has appeared in DreamForge, Metastellar, Abyss & Apex andother outlets.

Byday he writes software for a living and in the twilight he sings tenor, playsguitar and writes songs.

 

Mywebsites: https://williamcampbellpowell.com/

https://teardownbook.co.uk/

 

BuyLinks: https://teardownbook.co.uk/#whereThe book will be on sale for $0.99

 

SocialMedia:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/WillCamPowell/

 

Instagram:http://www.instagram.com/willcampowell

 

BlueSky:https://bsky.app/profile/willcampowell.bsky.social

 

 

Mycomps for the book:

 

Thenovel combines elements of LGBTQIA+ romance with Road Trip fiction, and - withits focus on music - might sit alongside Taylor Jenkins Reid’s ‘Daisy Jones andthe Six’ (2016) or Dawnie Walton’s ‘The Final Revival of Opal & Nev’(2022), or - with its focus on (Kai's) gender-ambiguity and relationships -near Camille Perry’s ‘When Katie Met Cassidy’ (2018) or Beth O’Leary’s ‘TheRoad Trip’ (2022).

 

OneUSP: The book is about a band and contains original songs, for which I havecreated demos – see/listen: https://williamcampbellpowell.com/music/music.html

 

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GIVEAWAY 

WilliamCampbell Powellwill be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawnwinner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: RAVEN'S HILL by Garth Pettersen

RAVENS HILL

Garth Pettersen

 

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GENRE:  Historical Mystery

 

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BLURB:

 

WhenHarald, the second son of King Cnute, returns from fighting the king's enemiesin Northern Wales, he expects his life to return to normal⸺farming in the Midlands,overseeing his few tenants, evening walks with his beloved Selia⸺an idyllic life, far fromthe power-mongering of King Cnute's court. But the king has other plans forHarald and his wife—he grants them a large landholding, a gift they cannotrefuse.

 

Onarriving at their new holding, Ravens Hill, Harald and Selia receive a tepidwelcome⸺from belligerent housecarls,a conniving steward, an uncompromising abbess, bitter at not adding theirestate to her abbey lands, a priest with roaming hands, and a grieving daughterof the previous landholder, who has entered the nunnery.

 

Haraldand Selia wish to improve the lot of their tenant farmers but they faceobstacles at every turn, and Harald’s generosity is seen as weakness. They alsolearn the lands come with an unexpected millstone—an unsolved murder.

 

Andthen the trouble begins.

 

Fansof Bernard Cornwell will love Ravens Hill—part of the award-winning AthelingChronicles series.

 

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ExcerptThree:

 

The old church was roofless and only a portion of each wallremained, lichen and moss-covered, half-hidden by brambles and bracken. At oneend of the ruin, Raedwulf and the other three túnland retainers ringed the monkwho stood with his back to me. He wore a brown woolen tunic with a hood hangingat his back. His head was tonsured, though the bald spot needed shaving.Raedwulf released his hold of the hermit’s garment on my arrival.

 

Raedwulf scowled up at me. “Tún-lord.”

 

“Leave the monk be,” I ordered.  My housecarls rode up to join me. Selia andRicmann came just behind.

 

While the other men stepped away from the monk, Raedwulfstood his ground. “Steward Ricmann told us to turn him off the lands.”

 

“And I am telling you to leave the man be.” I dismounted andhanded over my reins. I joined the monk and faced Raedwulf. “I have differentways than Thegn Wulfrun, and Steward Ricmann will soon get to know them. If youfind you cannot manage change, then you are welcome to find hiring elsewhere.”I held Raedwulf’s gaze, then shifted my attention to the other carls. “Thatgoes for all of you. Do you understand?”

 

The three housecarls nodded or muttered, “Aye.”

 

“Raedwulf?” I said, still facing him.

 

I had given not half a glance at the monk who stood besideme. Before Raedwulf could answer, the monk said, “Harek? It’s you, isn’t it?”

 

I turned to face the hermit. A familiar gaunt face, heavybrows, and sad, gray eyes. To my mind came a hazy memory of care received in ahermit’s cave many miles to the north.

 

“Brother Widuc?” I grasped his upper arm. “So good to seeyou again, my friend.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

GarthPettersen is a Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC.When he's not writing, he is riding horses or working on his acreage. Garth'sshort stories have appeared in a number of anthologies and in journals such asBlank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary 'Zine.His story, River's Rising, was awarded an Honourable Mention for the ShortStory America 2017 Prize, his fantasy novella River Born, was one of tworunners-up for the Windsor Editions (UK) Short Fiction Prize, and his novel TheSea's Edge won a first place Incipiere Award in 2024. Garth Pettersen'shistorical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles is published by TirgearrPublishing and is available on most online outlets (The Swan's Road, The DaneLaw, The Cold Hearth, and The Sea's Edge). The fifth book, Ravens Hill, will bereleased in April, 2025. Print editions are available on Amazon.

 

BuyLinks:

TirgearrPublishing:    http://www.tirpub.com/gpettersen

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Ravens-Hill-Atheling-Chronicles-5-ebook/dp/B0DZPGNVXZ

Apple:https://books.apple.com/us/author/garth-pettersen/id1292516225

Kobo:https://www.kobo.com/ie/en/series/the-atheling-chronicles

Nook:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Garth%20Pettersen

Smashwords:https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/gpettersen

 

Website:  https://www.garthpettersen.com

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/writeandride/

Twitter:https://twitter.com/garpet011

 

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GIVEAWAY 

GarthPettersen will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: BETWEEN TODAY AND SOMEDAY by Ann M. Trader

BETWEEN TODAY AND SOMEDAY

Ann M. Trader

 

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GENRE:  Contemporary Romance

 

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BLURB:

 

PrimVreeland is an emergency department nurse, and after a string of disappointingrelationships, her own heart needs life support. On a leap of faith, she moveshome and is surprised when her brother’s best friend—and her secret childhoodcrush—has the same idea. As attraction sparks, she finds her usual steadyfootsteps treading on quicksand.

 

Sportfishingmedia influencer Chase Bova realizes it’s time to swap life on the road forhometown roots. When he crosses paths with Prim, she tangles his line, tying itin knots. Her charm reminds him why he’d steered clear of her years ago…andshould probably do the same now.

 

Astheir irresistible connection turns into romance, questions of honesty andcommitment linger. Will Prim and Chase dig deep for the courage to face theirpast and together, discover what really lies between today and someday?

 

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ExcerptThree:

 

Prim

 

Chase turned his hand over on my knee, and within seconds, Ifelt his gaze on me. Fizzy excitement bubbled through my veins. Was he alwayslike this, touching and turning toward the woman he was with…?

 

I looked at his gentle expectant expression and feltinstantly calmed, wanted. I took his hand, rubbing and studying every creaseand callous, knowing it was capable of tackling the worst kitchencatastrophe…and experienced in traversing the curves of a woman’s body. Manywomen’s bodies.

 

I took a steadying breath. Maybe even my body.

 

“Hey,” Chase said, his voice a deep whisper.

 

“Hey.” I held his gaze for several spectacular seconds. It’dbe so like me to retreat now, refuse to acknowledge the attraction thrummingbetween us. Because I didn’t like being vulnerable…didn’t want to be let downagain.

 

His mouth twitched, softness playing around the edges of hissmile. “I like your hands, too.”

 

“You do?”

 

“Yeah.” He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed myknuckles. Then he wove our fingers together, placing our joined hands on mythigh. “I like all of you.”

 

My stomach flipped.

 

Was I crazy to open my heart to this man? Yep. Could I stopthis even if I wanted to? Not a chance.

 

Chase Bova had me. And I wanted to live in that feeling, atleast for tonight.

 

 

 

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 Review: 

It was at a small-town weddingwhere a singing bridesmaid reconnects with an old school crush that had justreturned to town. She was the good girl and he was the playboy. The twocouldn’t be any different, but they still shared an attraction and a connection.The reader undoubtedly becomes fond of the characters and gets into theirstory. The read, in general, was pretty good, but it was long and slow. It’sdefinitely one of those slow-burn romances that takes a while to get there. Thediary narrative of each character digs up a lot of memories and dives deep intotheir thoughts, which, at times, becomes a little daunting. This story wouldfit the criteria for any romance junkie. A fairly nice read.

 

Rating:3 stars

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Ienjoy spending time with my family and exploring recipes on the lighter side ofsouthern comfort foods. I’m a member of Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, andI love relaxing on my back porch to read and write. These days I take walksaround my neighborhood, but when I was sixteen, I hiked the Grand Canyon with agroup of friends. I love reading a great romance book and watching televisiondramas (in no special order): The Diplomat, Palm Royale, The Buccaneers, TheBear, Bridgerton, Emily in Paris, Black Mirror, Mary and George, Outlander,Shrinking Ozark, Shogun, Outer Banks, Stranger Things, The Crown, and PeakyBlinders.

 

Bluesky:https://bsky.app/profile/anntrader5.bsky.social

AmazonAuthor:https://www.amazon.com/author/annmtrader

BookBub:https://www.bookbub.com/profile/ann-m-trader

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/annmtraderbooks

Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21925238.Ann_M_Trader

X:https://x.com/anntrader5

 

UniversalLink: https://books2read.com/u/4D02ok

 

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GIVEAWAY 

AnnM. Trader will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawnwinner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: THE LEAK by Kate Petty

 

The illustrations were a bitgrainy and matted. I expected them to pop out and be more vibrant. Well,hopefully the story would make up for that. Basically, we have 12-year-oldRuthie aspiring to be a journalist. She tries everything to make hernewsletters more exciting buy putting things like alien invasions and genitaliagraffiti. O-kay.

 

Soon, she starts to suspect therewas something in the lake and nobody believes her, so she starts investigating.This turns into a regular Erin Brockavich.

 

This was a cute story of a young,intrepid reporter. An okay read.

 

Rating:3 stars

Review: MR. LOVENSTEIN PRESENTS FAILURE by J.L. Westover

 

These are little comics with funnypuns. In one, someone asks for a doctor for his dying, bleeding friend and thena plastic surgeon shows up. Well, at least he left a beautiful corpse.

 

Never mention the “G” word infront of the devil.

 

That male genital joke at the edgeof a cliff was a riot.

 

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead. Oops, Iain’t got no eye lids. Okay, I’ll jerk. Oops, ain’t got that either.” Toofunny!

 

This pretty much highlights all oflife’s epic and vital failures. After all, without losers, we can’t havewinners. Ha, ha! This was kind of a mix between Pearls Before Swine andSouthpark. Cute, brazen, and funny! You’ll enjoy these comics! Let’s celebratefailure! Love it!

 

Rating:5 stars

Review: TRESPASSERS by Breena Bard

 

“Who says a stack of books isn’tfun?” Yeah, buddy! Yep, that’s what Gabby loves to do even when vacationing inthe wilderness with her family.

 

The story starts off much too slowfor my liking with a supermarket story, a picture with Paul Bunyan, and all thegrizzly activities. Kinda boring. The art work was nice and colorful,especially in the landscape scenes. The whole thing was very long though. Iliked how Gabby lived in her own world of books, but that wasn’t enough tosustain the story. This was an okay read.

 

Rating:3 stars

Review: THE GIRLS WEEKEND by Jody Gehrman

 

Five women in their late 30’sreunite for a girl’s weekend. I’d hoped that we might be getting to theexciting thrilling stuff soon, but this had an unbelievably slow start with adeep, flowery prose. It almost seemed like the author was spending too muchtime and effort trying to sound poetic than actually get to the story. Andwhat’s with the insanely long narratives and long chapters? Couldn’t she haveshortened that? This will probably be the last and only book I try from thisauthor. What a waste!

 

Rating:2 stars