Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 311

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

Review: YOU MAKE ME by Erin McCarthy

Cat has never been the same ever since she gave herself to the man she loved on the beach shores and never saw him again. Well, that explains the provocatively sexy title cover!
Now a college student, Cat is dating Ethan, who is safe in every way (no drama and never made her cry.) And on the night of her marriage proposal, he walks back into her life. Heath was her first love, her soul mate, her heart breaker.
A girl loves two guys, but which is the one for her—the one who holds her future or the one with the key to her past?
I don’t blame Ethan for being jealous of Heath, but, man, did he have to be a jackass about it? Possessive, suspicious, controlling—I mean, really? It was no doubt that those millions of cracks in their relationship eventually shattered the glass.
Heath was  a world of passion. He understood Cat more, I think. I liked how Heath pushed (not allowed) for Cat to be herself—to be low-maintenance, simple, wild, and carefree. That’s the best way to be.
But the thing was that the story of You Make Mewas just that. You make me mad. You make me crazy. You make me do things I never thought possible. It was about two people who brought the best in each other but also brought the worst in each other. It was obsessive, psychotic, unhealthy really.
Still, you can’t help but get sucked into the craziness.
A wild, passionate, enthralling love story!

My rating: 4 stars

Review: NAILED by Alexis Adaire

My first impression on the cover: the man really needs to shave his beard. I find it hard to believe that his perfectly sculpted chest could be that hairless and the only hair is on his cropped-off face.

The story starts off with a woman gawking at the hot roofer. She’s a divorcee with a son in college. In fact, the roofer could just be the same age as her son.
A friend and even her therapist suggest a fling with the roofer. And she so desperately wants it. But she’s never been very good at that sort of thing, especially when the only man she’s ever been with was her cheating ex-husband.
Story basically summarizes the thoughts of a middle-aged woman wanting to venture into the dating world by getting laid. It’s a horny, old woman’s diary. She spends every day just staring at the roofer, lusting and hoping that she’ll soon get to bag him, while masturbating to her fantasies of him. The whole goal of this story is to get NAILED. And, boy, does she. In fact, she gets it over and over and over again. It gets kind of boring after a while.
This is how Dawn got her groove back.
It was on okay read.

My rating: 3 stars

Review: FIXING FREDDIE by Mona Ingram

Samantha hasn’t seen Freddie since they were in school and that was...what?...ten years ago? Back then he was painfully shy and was never seen without a computer game in his hand. So when he shows up in her favourite coffee shop she doesn’t recognize him at first. He’s still into computer games, and to make matters worse, his hair is long and his sense of style sucks. He’s nothing like her suave, sexy boyfriend. They discover they’ve both been invited to the same wedding and when he bemoans his lack of style, she surprises herself by offering to help him with a make-over.
But Freddie isn’t the only one in need of help. While Samantha helps Freddie, he helps her discover an inner strength she didn’t know she had. Join Samantha and Freddie as they navigate the minefield of their growing attraction on the way to finding out who they really are.





My thoughts: Meet Freddie, an adorable IT guy that looks like Clark Kent. Well, as you know, Clark Kent didn’t have to do much to turn into Superman. But, of course, Samantha offers to do a make-over on him for a wedding of an old high school acquaintance.
Personally, I liked Freddie the way he was, and I totally agreed with his statement on hickeys: “A man foolish enough to try to brand a woman in that manner obviously had no confidence.” (Loc 336)
A fun, sweet, contemporary romance.
My rating: 4 stars

Review: THE JOB OFFER by Eleanor Webb

Jane “Anne” Conner is a smart, logical person with a heart for saving the planet. She’s a biochemist. Well, good for her. Unfortunately, that doesn’t pay the bills. The job hunt is something many of us can relate to.

Additionally, she’s not the “getting lucky” type men go for. Then she gets an interview for a job in her hometown, where an old crush that’s gotten even hotter resides. But Ben was not just an old friend/crush, he ended being the head honcho for the company Anne was interviewing for. Oh, great! Complication!
The beginning was very monotonous and dull. With a rudimentary style, the story is very slow at capturing my interest. The characters were flat and the scene descriptions were rather long-winded; however, there were some sweet moments between Anne and Ben. Then you throw in a fake engagement for an obsessed ex-girlfriend, and you get a fairly compelling twist.
The bulk of the story mainly centers on their one-week fling and constant worry over the status of their relationship. The best part was yet to come: the colossal BOOM where truths are revealed.
This was an okay, little romance.
My rating: 3 stars