Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 312

Review: SCRAPBOOKING SLAYING by Brianna Bates

After her dad's old truck finally dies, Missy must call the help of an old friend and someone who's not so friendly to come get her and all her scrapbooking supplies. When they arrive at the school, a dead body is discovered. Now, Missy is on the case. But how can you get anywhere relying on the memories of the Cuckoo Old Lady Club? 

Could the murder be linked to a picture meant to be in a scrapbook? Could someone have seen that picture on Facebook?

Missy is smart and relatable. Yeah, she might be a tad overweight, but she takes it in stride. 

Who would've thought that you could solve a murder through scrapbooking? A great, wholesome mystery!


My rating: 4 stars

Review: MEXICAN CAFÉ COZY MYSTERY SET by Holly Plum (Book 1-4)

Murder con Carne (Book 1 ): Mari Ramirez works at her family’s Mexican restaurant in Texas. One day, she finds the body of the town’s only meat delivery man under one of her dining room tables that held a plate of carne asada. Could this have been poison? No, he was stabbed? But who would want to stab him? The leading suspect was obviously Mari’s hard-headed father, who was the only one near the vicinity when it happened. Could the rival Chinese restaurant across the street have anything to do with it?

Mari’s was determined to find the killer to not only clear her dad’s name and save the restaurant, but to hear  her dad say, “I’m proud of you.” Let’s face it, he had the mindset of the “old Mexican ways,” where the man is the master and the woman does what she’s told.
A quick, quirky mystery, although slightly predictable.
I love how it gets right to the mystery.


Killer Salsa (Book 2 ): Mari enters the family’s famous salsa in the Chile Festival and aims to win that prize money. Suddenly, the event organizer drops dead at the event after eating her salsa. Naturally, they suspect her salsa may have had poison.
This was better than the first mystery because it had more suspects and kept you guessing.


Smothered in Lies (Book 3 ): A man has been shot and dumped near the porta potties at a food truck lot, where Mari’s brothers sell at.  This then sparks possible speculation of the Legend of Red Arrow. What? Suddenly, archeology comes into play. Weird. I also thought it was lame how these murders center on the Ramirez family being the culprit and how it somehow boosts sales for the restaurant. And it happens every time, too.


Rice, Beans, and Revenge (Book 4 ): An old high school classmate, who is now a famous celebrity, is murdered from a plate of rice and beans at Mari’s restaurant. Could the culprit be someone from the old days looking to exact revenge? Again, this follows the same pattern from the previous books, but this one had more suspects and more allure to the mystery.

Overall : The first four books in the series were, overall, pretty good. Best ones were Book 2 + 4. Books tended to follow the same plot pattern and writing had some typos that could’ve been fixed.

My rating: 3 stars

Review: COOKIES AND BURIED SECRETS by Amber Crewes

Meghan hasn't been in Sandy Bay very long, but she has already been involved in 2 murders in this sleepy, little town. Celebrating her old friend's birthday, she is suddenly thrown into trouble again when the estranged daughter waltzes into town with a crazy ex on her trail. Suddenly, the ex turns up dead.
How could Meghan prove the innocence of the best friend's daughter when the gun was found in her purse?
This was a nice, easy, cozy, little mystery with a scattered plot.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: SOFT TACO MURDER by Holly Plum (Book 6)

The Ramirez family has gone camping and Mari stumbles upon a dead body in the woods. Of course!

Story was not as good as the others. Kinda slow and boring, and there were no tacos! How can you call it a soft taco murder? And why set this in the woods?

My rating: 2 stars

Review: MY HIDDEN LIFE by Necie Navone

An Italian daughter is an heiress to a mafia king. Alessandra is a little girl obsessed with a tiara. As she’s about to be crowned, she gets shot. Now the family must protect her. As she grows older, she learns to protect herself. It’s a coming-of-age story of a girl’s life in the mafia.


Story had a slow start. Character POV’s change constantly, making it harder to keep track. It should’ve been focused more on Alessandra. There was also a constant lag throughout. I really wasn’t that captivated by the story, and it surely doesn’t inspire me to continue the series.


My rating: 2 stars

Review: THE ONLY ONE by Necie Navone

An heir to Camelot…Security. He was a rich boy with all that money could offer without a care in the world.


Sex without the complications was getting harder and harder to find for Fitz, but he still stuck with it regardless. After all, why attach yourself to someone when nothing lasted forever? This may have something to do with the fact that his birth mother was killed when he was a little boy, and the scar on this side was a constant reminder of that horrible night that still haunts him to this very day. Alas, not a soul has been able to melt the heart of the Beast. The only one who ever came close was his Bella, who always stood up for him growing up. It was she that taught the frightened and lonely boy to trust and accept the family that took him in. But can she every forgive him? A charming tale of Beauty and the Beast.


I thought it was sweet how Fitz and Bella held a torch for each other all these years, never letting go and never letting anyone else in. Of course, things get more difficult when family and friends enter the mix. Drama certainly abounds this classic tale of romance.


The writing was frank and witty, although a little lagging and complex at times. Constantly shifting between past and present, story cleverly blends historic values and metaphors in a contemporary setting. Fitz and his brothers are true knights in shining armor—dedicated, valiant, and honorable. It’s surely a sappy story romance fanatics would enjoy. Personally, I wish it would’ve been a little quicker.


Still, I would like to hear more of The Brothers of Camelot.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: NEVER TRUST A SKINNY CUPCAKE BAKER by D.E. Haggerty

Callie is a bakery owner with a size 14 body and the hots for the local detective. To make her see her sexy side, her friend enlists her for pole dancing classes. Yikes! Well, it wouldn’t be so bad if the skinny pole dancing instructor would stop picking on her and calling her fat.  In short, Calling was short, overweight, and a total nerd, so, therefore, there is no way that hunky Ben would want her. But he does. In fact, the first part of the book concentrates on Ben and Callie starting off, which was a slow start.

We don’t get to the mystery at all until Chapter 7, where we find that the pole dancing instructor has been poisoned supposedly by one of Callie’s cupcakes. So, naturally, she’s the prime suspect. To save her job at the university, Callie then must prove her innocence.
Story was mildly witty and had a fun, little mystery that includes pole dancing and gyrating your stuff. I thought Ben was too clingy though. Almost every one of his scenes included his claim on Callie, professing how it took him a year to get her and how he wasn’t going to lose her. O-Kay!
Still, I wanted to know whodunit.

My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: DEAD GIRLS DON'T BLOG by Pamela Frost Dennis

Katy is saddened and affected by Lindsay’s story. Lindsay was a girl she used to know in high school, who went to a frat party and was gang-raped, and, later, murdered. Years later, her killer is being paroled and Katy wonders if she can do anything to prevent a killer from being released. Just off a divorce, Katy also wonders what to do with herself. A friend then suggests a blog for her anger issues.


Then the story suddenly backtracks and relives Lindsay’s harrowing and devastating crime. Back on the present, Katy decides to blog about Lindsay and what she knows, prompting more flashbacks on the girl. I am usually not too keen on back-and-forth scenarios, but I guess it kind of worked in this particular case just because I was interested to find out what happened to Lindsay. The bad thing about this particular format was that there was really no use for Katy—she couldn’t really solve anything. Another thing that was disconcerting was the mood shift. The past was full of Lindsay’s gruesome crime, generating a morbid ambiance, while the present was full of Katy’s wry quirkiness. So the reader was morbid one minute and quirky the next. It was an odd shift that was constantly jumping back and forth.

Another odd thing was that Katy doesn’t really blog in the book. Or maybe she does and the reader just doesn’t see her blog entries. Of course, I wouldn’t have liked a story written in blog entries (that’s really annoying,) but I certainly expected one or two at least. I mean, blogging is part of the title after all.


Story was well-written and interesting for the most part, but I kind of was getting tired of Katy in the end with her constant blathering and nonsensical purpose.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: KARMA’S A BITCH by Shannon Esposito

A Pet Psychic Mystery! Interesting!
Darwin is your regular, run-of-the-mill co-owner of a pet boutique in Florida, but she also happens to be a pet psychic that is able to receive vision energies from the animals.
One day, Darwin encounters a homeless guy with a mutt named Karma and something struck her about the two. They form an instant friendship; she gives him a job and they meet up for breakfast every morning at a local café. Still, he was reluctant to open up to her, and, everyday, she would wonder what kind of trouble he was getting into since he was showing up with more and more bruises.
Then, one day, his body is discovered by the lake with Karma barking frantically by his side. One lick from Karma and ZAP! She saw it and, together with Karma, she will figure it all out, thus, beginning the quirky investigation with a loyal and lovable canine.
Right away, you feel for the heartbroken dog and the poor, dead Mad Dog, who had a tough life but still had a soft spot for the furry, little friends. The mystery was enjoyable, but I wish we would’ve gotten more from the psychic visions so we could try to piece together the puzzle. All we got were little snippets with vague descriptions. I mean, I understand author was trying to keep the mystery of it all, but the best thing about visions is actually seeing them.
A must read for any animal lover!

My rating: 4 stars

Review: TAKING THE FALL by Laney Monday

Brenna Battle and her sister are moving to a small town to start their own dojo school for kids. As an Olympian judo athlete, she loves the sport, but can no longer stand the training, traveling, and the competing, so she figures this might be a good change. She knows judo! How cool is that?
On their first night, her sister is suddenly the prime suspect in a reporter’s murder. Death by a hair brush—a plastic hair brush? Oh, that’s rich!
Story captures the reader with its witty banter and sisterly bonding. Best thing about these girls is that they know how to kick butt. It was disappointing, however, that they didn’t even give a kick against the bad guys. What a rip!
Also, the story duplicated the exact same chapter, word-for-word, in the book. Chapter 1 & 7 were exactly the same. Why would they do that?
Regardless, this was still an engaging mystery. I still had to know who dunnit.

My rating: 4 stars