Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 300

Review: DAUGHTER OF MAGIC by Teresa Roman

At her father’s funeral, Lilli sees her mother, whom she thought was dead for more than 18 years. Ever since she was a child, she’s had dreams of monsters and magic. Later, she discovers that she comes from a land of witches.

Story had a rather slow start as the character goes on and on about how she misses her father and how she’s afraid of being along and losing her sanity (because of these visions.) Where does the hocus pocus finally tie in? We really don’t get any inclination until Devin (the co-worker she has a crush on) gives bits and pieces into her lineage and history, but we still don’t get the whole story.
It was just taking forever to get to the good stuff. Not quite what I expected.

My rating: 2 stars

Review: GRAYSON MANOR HAUNTING by Cheryl Bradshaw

Addison Lockhart just inherited Grayson Manor, which seemed like the perfect opportunity to escape her past life. But there’s something strange about the house. She hears noises—cries and pleads for help. But from where and how? Could it possibly be starting again?

As a child, Addison often experienced visions, one of which was the death of her best friend. But nobody believed that she saw it before it happened, so she was sent to a psychiatrist, keeping her secret hidden and her visions at bay. But, in the manor, the visions are strong. There is a ghostly presence of a woman in a bloody dress.  Research indicates the woman was an actress from the 50’s. A murder in 1952? And what could it have to do with her grandfather? And what else is her grandmother hiding, besides the fact that she also has visions?
In this story, we uncover old Hollywood secrets and lay the dead to rest.
A compelling mystery!


My rating: 4 stars

Review: CURSED AT FIRST SIGHT by Daphne Dewitt

Every Norwood witch has a curse, and Malady’s is the worst one in the family. She can’t fall in love or be close to feeling in love without causing some disaster to the people she cares about. She was the black cat.

Over the years, Malady has come to terms with her curse and has learned to control it, for the most part. As long as she suppresses her happiness, everything should be fine.
Suddenly, there’s a murder in town. Her old school nemesis has been thrown off a building and her old school crush (her first love) is the prime suspect, who claims that he remembers nothing and, somehow, he felt compelled to be with the victim. Like he was under some kind of spell. Naturally, Malady suspect magical foul play and sets off to prove his innocence.
The Norwood witches were an odd bunch with lovable eccentricities, each with their own curse. I mean, we have twins that share a voice, a brother trapped in bodies of winged creatures, and a sister that’s just too perfect all the time. It was fun to read about them.
Story had witches, clairvoyants, and ghost whisperers. A charming mystery!

My rating: 4 stars

Review: SPECIAL OFFERS by M.L. Ryan

A special offer: a Kindle for $79. Little did Hailey know that she would get much more than she bargained for. And I wondered what that was exactly.


Story started off explaining Hailey’s life and daily routine. She’s a single, 30-something woman with a cat named Vinnie, living in Arizona and working as a milkmaid. Seemed simple enough. But why was the writing spending so much time on milking chinchillas? And what the heck is a chinchilla anyways?


At first, Hailey seemed that she would be a relatable character with her wry sense of humor, which really wasn’t that funny, especially when she’s rambling on factual data. Yes, she has a few blundering snafus, but nothing really interesting happens to her. Obviously, story takes a while to progress at this rate. In fact, I often wondered if anything was going to happen here. For godsakes, when is the damn genie/monster coming out of the damn Kindle!?


Just wasn’t what I was expecting.

My rating: 2 stars

Review: WITCH IS WHEN IT ALL BEGAN by Adele Abbott

This is a Witch P.I. Mystery, which was all the more compelling.Jill Gooder wants to be the best P.I. ever, next to her late father, of course. So what if she was adopted? He was more of a dad than either of her real parents.
It’s been kind of slow in the P.I. business, until a client comes in and wants to hire her. So what if it’s a serial killer case? Whatever pays the bills, right? But this one is kind of loony. Apparently, someone is killing off people with animal surnames. Mmm, weird. But then, out of the blue, her birth mother contacts her, wanting to see her. Her final words on her death bed were: “You’re a witch.” What?
Now Jill’s world is turned upside down. My god, cats are talking to her now!But then she gets the hang of it. Jill was a quick study and soon learns that being a witch was fun. I liked Jill. She was funny, quirky, OCD, and magical. But it seems solving a serial killer case may not be the only thing on her mind. Apparently she must also escape the forces of darkness, too. Sheesh!
This was definitely a fun, light read, but I found the ending to be quite anticlimactic. I was like, “that’s it?” It felt like a rip-off, if you ask me.

My rating: 3 stars

Review: CALL ME CAT by Karpov Kinrade

Caitlyn was a struggling law student. With her financial aid cut off and reduced hours as a teaching assistant, she wasn’t making ends meet. On top of it all, her parents were murdered and the killer was still out there, stalking her to this very day. Why haven’t they caught the Midnight Murderer?


One day, she gets offered a job with The Pleasure Palace, a place seeking people with appealing voices. A telemarketing job, right? Wrong. It was a phone sex company. Although reluctant at first, Caitlyn comes to realize that sex sells and she needed the money, because, after all, she was about to be homeless and kicked out of school. She tells her clients to call her Cat.


Although a virgin, Cat gets a handle on the sex talk. One of her callers ends up being the shy, sexy millionaire met recently, and, surprisingly, they end up having a nice, meaningful conversation about everyday things. He continues to call her, each time learning more about the other, causing Cat to like him more. Meanwhile, random calls that are right out of the movie, Scream, continue, making Cat more nervous and questioning the sanity and safety of those around her. Could her secret crush be a murderer? How else could you explain his sudden appearance after every mysterious phone call?


I thought this was a fun, scintillating novel with the phone sex and stalker aspect. Although the ending was kind of anticlimactic, the overall story was pretty good.


My rating: 4 stars

Review: SHARP EDGES by K.L. Middleton

For Lindsey, life was good—doting husband, loving kids, and good friends. There was a time when she used to turn heads like her friend, Darcy; but now she gets her jollies staring at her hot, new neighbor. Jake Sharp is as hunky as they come.


Sex life with her husband was not that exciting anymore, especially when he finishes first. He couldn’t be having an affair, could he? Then she catches him with his pants down…literally! Her world just falls apart. Of course, she couldn’t help but fall into Detective Jake, who seemed nice and easy to talk to.


Not only does she get involved with Jake, but she also gets involved when she thinks one of her neighbors is being abused by her cop husband. She is then frightened by an intruder, one who is watching her and threatening her children. Makes her glad that she had the protection and trust in hunky Jake, who wants her more than anything.


“All I could think about was the man who’d broken into my home and threatened my children, and the other man who’d lived in my home and threatened our marriage.” (187)


Jake was strong, confident, and street-smart. Was there something dangerous about Jake, something sharp?


This was a scintillating read from beginning to end, and although the heat was sensual, it wasn’t a high level, certainly not what the cover lends you to believe. I also think we could’ve heightened the suspense angle a bit, but, overall, I thought this was good.


My rating: 4 stars

Review: SUBLIME KARMA by Peyton Garver

One morning, Jake got up and left for school just like always...except there was a new girl that boarded the school bus. He couldn't help but be intrigued by the mystery girl, who mainly kept to herself and had an air of emptiness.
Brie never really wanted to fit it. As long as people left her along―including her mother and stepfather―she was good; all she needed was her art and run.
He's on the football team and she's on the cross-country team. I kind of bypassed most of the sport stuff since it wasn't that interesting. I wasn't that taken by the story. With a lot of it revolving around high school life and world of popularity, there was often too many characters―faceless names really. I honestly would've kept that to a minimum as it crowded the story, making it more daunting.
The kids obviously have their parental and peer issues and there was possibly a blossoming romance that played in there; however, I would've liked it better had it been more simple.
My rating: 2 stars

Review: DIRTY DEAL by Crystal Kaswell

Cash-strapped Kat is looking for nothing more than a job. With bills, mortgage payments, and now her sister's tuition, Kat is willing to do "whatever it takes." Then comes the alluring Blake, who oozes money, pure sexiness, and is also the CEO of the biggest tech company in New York. He also makes her an offer she can't refuse. But what could he possibly want with Kat? Besides the obvious of course...Yes, he wants to f#ck her, but he wouldn't pay her for that; he'll pay to marry her.
If the rich mogul is willing to make all her problems go away, it might be worth 6 months of her life...for a million dollars.
So what happens when a virgin and a man that commands anything get involved? Things get dirty. After all, a girl could do anything for a man with all the money and power in the world...right?
The story follows Kat as she is tossed into a world of glamour and chic. She basically puts on this Cinderella suit for all to see. That world can honestly be stifling and dull. But I guess Blake more than makes up for it with his dirty deal. The two mostly engage in dirty foreplay, orgasmic flutters, and sexual jaunts. The writing was okay. Yes, the talk is dirty, but the scenes seem to go on forever, summarizing things like a point-by-point bullet list. It really didn't seem like things were moving along much at times. The sex, which has some BDSM, can be intense and pleasurable, and I liked the whole Cinderella theme (poor girl being whisked away by a rich prince;) however, the whole thing felt average and not too exciting.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: THE CHAIN OF LIES by Debra Burroughs

Ever since her late husband’s death, Emily has been having nightmares. Ironically, the murder of her husband, who was a brilliant P.I., has, ironically, gone unsolved. But what gets to her most was that “he kept a whole tapestry of secrets from her—including his real identity.” (LOC 57)


Emily can’t move on with her new boyfriend until she—a kickass Charlie’s Angel—can solve his murder and put her nightmares to rest.


This book struck me as an inquisitive mystery, one I thought I would look forward to unraveling.  Although this chain of lies does unravel piece by piece, it also somehow deviates to a prostitution ring, which I thought was irrelevant. A lot of federal logistics slowed the pace dramatically, making it harder to keep up. It makes you wonder what the real mystery was.

My rating: 2 stars