Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 301

Review: CONFESSIONS OF A KLUTZ by Abigail Davies

She is a klutz with the attention span of a fish, which was why she’s had so many jobs. After relocating to a temporary office, she meets her new boss and sees that he’s hot. Of course, she would rip her skirt in front of him. She was a klutz.


Violet is a klutz and a rambler. It’s the story of a woman with the hots for her boss. This should’ve been an easy situation to manage, except that she happens to be a walking disaster. Things like kneeing your boss in the groin (accidentally, of course) and drawing a penis on the board with a permanent marker are all incidents that happen only to Violet, who has broken every part of her body and makes constant visits to the ER. I loved the plot of the luckless woman, and reading about these stunts were certainly funny; however, the whole thing kind of tapers off once she sleeps with her boss half-way through.


This wasn’t quite what I expected, but it was alright.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: 10 DATES by Emily James

Joan has waited for years for her proposal, and tonight―New Year's at midnight―was THE night. What she got instead was her boyfriend's unexpected announcement to move to NY to launch his new dating app. The even ended with her drunk butt landing on a cake, topped with frosting and drenched in champagne.
Shortly after her New Year's disaster, she runs into her hot, sexy neighbor, who is as arrogant as can be. The last thing she needed was to be annoyed by his conceited antics or to be haunted by that penis that she accidentally grabbed to break her fall. Ooopsie!
Joan is clumsy and a bit of a scatterbrain. I liked how she gets into these funny situations, but her delivery (way she describes them) could use a little work. The dates were interesting, but the read was mediocre.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: EASY LIKE SUNDAY MOURNING by Jennie Marts (Book 2)

Another Page Turners (the book club from last book) novel. Another “Dating can be Deadly” theme.

This one centers more on Maggie and Jeremy (the new couple that met in the last book.) At least this one had a dead body to start with, but it still wasn’t very compelling. It still had the same lag I couldn’t stand in the last story. And that book club is just a girly teen bopper club, where the gab fest never ends.

My rating: 2 stars

Review: ANOTHER SATURDAY NIGHT AND I AINT GOT NO BODY by Jennie Marts (Book 1)

Dating can be deadly.

Sunny Vale yearns for excitement. Not that teaching 2nd graders wasn’t exciting, but it didn’t compare to the hot romance novels she loved to read. Then she becomes entranced by the sudden arrival of a sexy, new neighbor. But then what happened to her other old neighbor?
In the midst of this strange mystery, Sunny’s book club schemes to set her up on a blind date each Saturday night, thus beginning a series of clumsy, bad dates. At the end of each disastrous date, Sunny would come home weary and exhausted, but yet still compelled by new neighbor Jake, whom she’s suspicious of and attracted to. Could he have anything to do with Walter’s disappearance?
Story was cute and had its funny moments, but it was also long-winded. It just took forever to get to the point. But I kept on reading because I did wonder what happened to Walter and if Jake was a killer. The ending was not what I expected though.

My rating: 3 stars

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