Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 316

Review: NEVER KNEW by Maria Elena Martinez

Graphic Image designed by Sandra Lopez

Lexi has given up her career as an illustrator to run grandpa Candelario’s hotel because he has gone missing and is believed to be dead. Lexi believes she can trust Mark, her grandfather’s accountant and an old friend from elementary school. Staying in contact hasn’t been easy but he always sent her messages through her grandfather. However, Mark might not be the person she remembers. Lexi needs to start trusting the right people in order to keep herself safe in this suspense about friendship.

Available on Amazon










My review: Lexi’s grandfather disappeared and, since then, has been presumed dead, resulting in her inheriting his prestigious hotel in Florida. As a former Illustrator, she knew nothing about running a hotel, but was not about to dishonor her grandfather’s wishes.
Coming back to Florida may have seemed like an easy task, especially when she reconnects with an old friend from school—Mark. However, nothing is without its drama. Out of the blue, her boyfriend, Rob, presents an impromptu proposal that leaves her floored. After all, Lexi has never really considered marriage. Suddenly, he wants more—he wants to move to Miami, buy a house, and settle down with her. With Rob’s decision and the hotel, Lexi was spinning in all sorts of directions. It was too much too soon.
Of course, things get more complicated when her old friend and her boyfriend don’t seem to get along too well. Could Mark be in love with her? And what kind of secrets were they hiding? Who was she in love with? Both? Neither? That whole war of the roses between them was just crazy!
Caught up in a strange disappearance, an espionage trail, and the love of 2 men, one confused woman learns what she never knew.
This was a pretty enjoyable read. Reader feels just as lost as Lexi battles the confusion and sense of loss. So many questions and no answers.  What lies will she discover? Who does she believe after so long? What will be the truth?
The writing presented the story in a summary style, explaining rather too much at times. For the most part, the story was well-written and easy to read. I liked how relatable Lexi was as well as the surprises you find in her story. Although I valued the descriptive scenes, I thought some were too long and could’ve been condensed to just the major parts.
Overall, this was pretty good.   
My rating: 3.5 stars



---Excerpt---
Her first instinct told her not to let him inside. A past incident regarding someone else came to mind. She clinked her nails on the doorknob, deciding what to do.

Review: COURAGE BETRAYED by R. Scott Mackey

A woman thinks her husband may have killed someone. But Detective Ray Courage didn't have anything to go on. After all, there was no bloody knife, photographs, or anything else that would cast guilt on her husband. He just had a nightmare about killing someone. Not proof at all. Crazy, yes. But not proof.
However, it seemed that mild-mannered husband was experiencing a schizophrenic episodes―"Jekyll and Hyde" moments in which he was acting out of character. And the fact that the husband screamed out a murder that was reported in the newspaper recently was too big of a coincidence to ignore.
Ray Courage must find the truth. Was the husband a killer? Or were these allegations the result of a drunk and suspicious wife? Or perhaps this case was much bigger than he thought.
Well-written and insightful, this novelette is once again packed with mystery and intrigue. Of course, it wasn't quite as climactic as previous Ray Courage books, but it was still a pretty good read.
My rating: 4 stars

Review: THE GIRL ACROSS THE STREET by G. Lusby

This is about a guy named Tim telling the story of a girl across the street—a girl named Ashlee, who is now the love of his life.
He has always loved her, but now that they are in high school, that love is different.
The bulk of the story is centered on him pining over her. I grew tired of hearing about how great Ashlee was—her smile, her eyes, her hair, her laugh, and her body, which is doing strange and exciting things to Tim. It was all very redundant and blasé.
My rating: 2 stars

Review: MURDER IN THE 4TH HOUR by Michael Gregory

A dead teacher. But not just one dead teacher, but two in the 4th hour period of a high school. 

Doyle is a young high school kid with a brilliant and incisive mind. In fact, he can be a little too smart for his own good. But he just might be the one who can solve this complex case. And when I say "complex," it is REALLY complex. 

He, along with his best friend, Jack, will need to counteract administration and a police captain father to solve this bloody case. 

I thought the idea of a kid detective was pretty cool. Doyle certainly had some funny language, like he was Sherlock Holmes or something. Why couldn't he just talk like a regular kid? The mystery and investigation wasn't that interesting either. All the two really talked about was school and the other kids. Well, the murder did take place at the school. But the story was a little lengthy and a little too dull at times. I liked how this was narrated by Jack, who was the more laid back and typical teen, rather than Doyle, who was uptight and superior. 


My rating: 3 stars

Review: LAST EXIT TO MONTAUK by Phillip Vega

Graphic Image designed by Sandra Lopez

Love the eighties? Love romantic adventures? How often have you looked back on your high school experiences and just thought . . . WOW. Last Exit to Montauk will take you there . . . and more.
***
When he approaches her at the market, he has no idea the next three weeks of his life would change him forever.

It’s the late 1980s, summertime, on the North Shore of Long Island. The air stirs with possibilities as it often does during this time of year. And so begins the romance between one Hispanic seventeen-year-old male, on the verge of manhood and ready to conquer the world, and one beautiful and intelligent young woman named B.It is much more than romance, though. B will forever become a part of this young man’s soul. He will never forget her.

This is a coming-of-age story, a love story, replete with milestones, tangled emotions, and adventures that are the embodiments of first love. Not just for the young, but for the young at heart. 


Available on Amazon


My review: It’s the Summer of ’87 and love is in the air.

Sparked by a random woman in the supermarket, who was a dead ringer for his wife, a man recollects his first meeting with her. It was 1987, and they first met as teenagers in high school in the supermarket smelling citrus fruit.
The story had a hard-core setting of the 80’s. The pace was languid, but the writing was decent. I enjoyed the ambition and wit in the story, which is something I think that most readers would relate to. Even if they weren’t from the 80’s, most people would relate to a first crush or love.
A puppy love tale immersed with Latin culture and rockin’ with an 80’s theme.
The book was a teen romance all the way. The boy just couldn’t get enough of the girl, which was sweet, but I kind of wished the story would’ve picked up a little. I didn’t think that we really needed to hear the boy’s every minute thought. Perhaps a little tension in the story could’ve heightened the intensity.
All in all, I thought this book was pretty good.
My rating: 3 stars




---Excerpt---



The bowling alley was located at a strip mall near my house. We checked in with the guy behind the counter, who assigned us a lane, then gave us each a score sheet and a pair of really fashionable bowling shoes. You know the ones. Red and black separated with a white stripe down the middle, white soles, shoe size emblazoned on the back. To this day, they still remind me of clown shoes.
We found a couple of black bowling balls and put them in the ball return area. I placed the scoresheet on our bowling desk and wrote our names down.
Back then we didn’t have electronic scoreboards, so you had to know how to keep score. You had to know the difference between a strike and a spare, how to score it properly, and what happened in the last frame if you threw one. Of course, each table had the rules written down, so if you didn’t know how to keep score, you could read the directions and learn the rules. It was bowling, not rocket science.
We were playing the best of three. Like tennis, the loser would buy pizza. “And don’t take it easy on me. I plan on winning again,” she warned me, grinning.
I laughed. “Oh don’t worry; I don’t plan on losing two days in a row. I hope you brought your wallet.”
I wasn’t much of a bowler and only played now and again. I was lucky if I broke a hundred, but don’t judge. How many famous Hispanic bowlers do you know? I bet you could rattle off a few hundred Hispanic baseball or soccer players though, right?
Besides, most kids in the neighborhood didn’t come to the bowling alley to bowl. We came to play video games. I remember when they got Ms. Pac- Man. Adults and kids would put their quarters down on the lip of the machine and patiently wait their turn. While you waited, you could play another video game, like Asteroids, or play pinball.
They had the classic pinball games like Kiss and Pinball Wizard. Today, it’s all about X-Box, iPads, Sony PlayStation, and online computer games. Man, times have changed. But that day, we were there to bowl.
She bowled first. She did a quick stretch, blew into her right hand, and picked up her ball. Before making her approach, she bent over and stared down the bowling pins as if to say, “You’re mine.”What a view.
She inhaled, held it, and exhaled. Then in a very fluid motion, she took a few steps and released the ball, knocking down nine pins. She twirled around, smiling, and looked over at me, raising her eyebrows. “I hope you brought your A game!”
Oh, crap!
I just smiled back. Her ball returned, and she picked it up. She went right back to her previous spot and picked up her spare. She yelped and did a fist pump. She then turned around and bounced back to the bowling table as if it were no big deal. So, she can bowl. Who knew?
Maybe she got lucky. Yeah, that’s what it was—luck. Just like tennis yesterday. Luck.

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“Do you know how to keep score?” she asked.
“Yeah, I know how to keep score. This isn’t my first time bowling,” I replied. It’ll only look like it.
We spent the rest of the afternoon bowling without a care in the world. Strike! Spare! Gutter ball! Seven/ ten split! Spare! We laughed. We high-fived. Most importantly, we had fun. We only played two of our best of three games. Yes, Charlie Brown lost again . . . sigh!
I just laughed it off. Besides, she had distracted me with her awesomeness.
“So where do you want to go for pizza?” she asked.
“I know a joint,” I joked.
Like most Long Island strip malls, this one had a grocery store, liquor store, card store, record store, Carvel ice cream parlor, drugstore, dry cleaner, Chinese food, and, of course, a neighborhood pizza joint.
On Long Island, every neighborhood has a locally-owned Italian pizzeria in every shopping center. You had Tony’s, Vinnie’s, Mario’s, Johnny’s, and an assortment of other places that were names ending in a vowel. The very best pizza on the planet, in my opinion, was our neighborhood’s local pizzeria—Giuseppe’s.
If you want to get into a pissing contest, make the mistake of saying your pizza place was better than someone else’s. You know the expression about never discussing religion and politics? Well, when you’re on Long Island, add pizzerias to the list. You will argue for hours.
When the pizza chains started to open up, people would order from them only if they didn’t feel like driving, or were in a jam; otherwise, people looked down their noses at those places. You never admitted to ordering from Domino’s, or being seen in Pizza Hut.
It wasn’t raining very hard, so we walked a few stores down to Giuseppe’s Pizzeria. We ordered a couple of slices each and Cokes and found a booth toward the back. And that was how you ordered it: “Let me get a couple of slices and a Coke.”
Back then, you didn’t have a great selection. You couldn’t order a Hawaiian slice or a Meat Lovers slice.
Gourmet slices like goat cheese and truffles or escargot pizza were not yet in vogue.
For those of you wondering, yes, I was the one who once had eaten escargot pizza. Yes, it was awful, and yes, there was a girl involved. Fortunately, the girl I was trying to impress that day, still agreed to marry me the in the mid-’90s. The lesson I learned that day? Don’t be a shmuck! When in doubt, go with pepperoni. Okay, back to the story . . .
“Did you let me win again?” B teased.
“You were there. Did it look like I let you beat me? Besides, you only beat me the last game by two pins.
And I do recall someone coughing real loud as I threw my last ball. I’m not making any accusations or
excuses, mind you, I’m just saying.”
She tried to hide her smirk.

Review: KILLER AMONG by S.E. Green

“Life is supposed to  be  pretty  routine,  right?  You graduate high school, work a summer job… help out at home, [and] get back into stalking…”


Lane has been trying to get back to what appears to be “normal” for a while now, if only she could shake off the annoyances of her family. Up until recently, all her kills have been warranted (e.i. her mother, her aunt, even her own copycat), but the last kills was purely accidental. Turns out that she killed the son of a District Attorney, who was ruthlessly known for putting away the bad guys.  And the guy she killed was known as a vigilante on the hunt for a serial killer, who apparently has re-surfaced in the eyes of the public. Not only is Lane dealing with guilt over her latest kill, but she’s also following a killer’s trail to make him pay.


The idea of a killer-killing killer was just an ironic and clever twist. It’s something you usually don’t see every day.


Written in 1stperson POV, story is a simple chronicle of a witty teen’s investigative hunt.  I enjoyed her sharp and sarcastic mind along with her questioning morals on righteousness and normality.


“If things would’ve gone as planned, Scott might still be alive, I wouldn’t be on the Butler’s radar… and I wouldn’t be chasing a clock trying to beat the D.A. and her team in finding Teddy.”


Things become more complicated when a dead body turns up and Lane has to dispose it and protect someone’s identity. Story follows a series of strange events with secrets revealed in every corner.


Readers will be entranced by Lane’s time-ticking search, and, oddly enough, they will root for this killer-killing killer and her kind of justice, even if her justice was a little too violently graphic at times. Her heart may not be pure, but it bleeds for the innocent victims and secretly lurks beneath a load of wicked darkness. Her need to “re-balance and unbalanced world” was altruistic. However, was this true justice…or just a killer among? And who were the real monsters? Quick, easy, and captivating!


My rating: 4 stars

Review: THE OPEN WINDOW by Glen Ebisch

Professor Teller was dead, plummeted to his demise from an open window. The question remains. Did he fall, jump, or get pushed? Was it accident, suicide...or murder?
This might be just the sort of thing to get realtor Kate out of retirement and back on the crime scene, especially when Teller was her boyfriend's favorite professor. At the insistence of her boyfriend, Kate agrees to go undercover as a reporter to find out what was behind Teller's death.
Kate was a smart, clever, and spunky. She wasn't put-off having to contend with the snobby, young journalist she was paired off with, no matter how annoying she was or how smitten she seemed to be with her boyfriend. Kate obviously had a good head on her shoulders and had the inquisitive mind needed to solve this puzzling case of the open window. The case certainly gets complicated the deeper she goes. Some people thought suicide and others thought it was an accident. Sometimes there were a few too many angles to consider that I almost lost sight of the clues and suspects, but, hey, that's detective work, right? Perhaps there were a few too many characters, which weighed on the case.  
For the most part, story was well-written and provokes the reader to find out the truth.  
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: CHILDFREE SOCIETY CLUB by Jaclyn Jaeger

"There are two types of women who walk this earth: those who want children, and those who don’t."
"but there came a point when [the] decision to remain childfree began to cause cracks in even [the] closest friendships, eventually creating a rift so wide that the divide has become impossible to cross."
This complex novel introduces four women in different stages of their lives.
The writing follows a literary prose, a style so deep and moving―it's almost poetic. Story was so saturated with human emotion that the weight of it was almost too overbearing. I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I expected it, because although I could identify with being childfree, which was the element that attracted me to this book, I could not relate to any of these women. I thought it was a little dull and it didn't really grab me.
My rating: 2 stars

Review: Weirdville Book Series by Majanka Verstraete

FRIGHT TRAIN by Majanka Verstraete


On the way to Grandma's house, young Charlie awaits a train―a train to Weirdville. After a short delay, he comes across a strange woman warning him not to board the train. I wonder why. Of course, never one to listen to strangers, he boards the train. Then he meets another woman with the same warning, including that the boy was in danger. He won't be pleased? Who's He? Before he knew it, Charlie was running from the conductor named Thaddeus and meets a couple of kids. Apparently, the train to Weirdville was not as weird as the train itself, which was filled with the living dead. Yikes! Now Charlie must escape before Mrs. Weird makes him one of them.


I liked how fantastic and smart this story was. While trying to escape the evil witch, he found two ghostly allies, who risked their after-lives trying to help him. After all, "even the dead can die." 


Well-written and enjoyable. A spooky, little tale that's perfect for young readers! And I LOVE the covers on all of them.


My rating: 4 stars




THE DOLL MAKER by Majanka Verstraete


For as long as he could remember, Derek always had a creepy feeling about The Dollmaker, a toy shop in the town of Weirdville. He was especially creeped out by the doll his bratty sister kept wanting. Such life-like features. Kinda reminds me of the Chuckie doll.


"What would the world be like without Annie or creepy dolls?"


Before he knew it, he was face-to-face with his little sister's new doll. The one whose plastic skin looked like flesh! No matter how many times he admonished himself that toys were not real, he could not get over the fact that the doll breathed. That doll was alive and seeking a friend. The mystery is further embellished when Charlie discovers that the dolls were named after kids that have gone missing recently. Coincidence? Probably not.


What I like best about these books is how much they remind me of the Goosebumps series (my favorite as a kid.) Stories are so youthful, spooky, and full of adventure.


My rating: 4 stars




HOUSE OF HORRORS by Majanka Verstraete


A carnival was coming to Weirdville, and Jacky couldn't be more excited. After some begging and pleading, she finally convinced her parents to let her go. Once at the carnival, the first thing she wanted to check out was The House of Horrors. Ooh, chilling!  


One thing the kids didn't anticipate was once you enter, only The House of Horrors can let you out.


"In here, you will face your greatest fears, your worst nightmares. Only the strong-willed make it out to the end." ‖


If the kids don't find the exit, they will be locked in the house forever. To find the exit, they must face their greatest fears.


Readers will root for these kids every step of the way. Love the irony in every book. Spooky, fun, and enjoyable!


My rating: 4 stars

Review: TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES by Denise Grover Swank

A vision of death. A public meltdown.


When Rose, gifted—or cursed—with the sight, sees a vision of her own bloody death, what’s a girl to do? Have a humiliating meltdown at work, of course. Up until then, she has always been the freak that usually had visions of overflowed toilets and ear infections; she has never foreseen death, especially her own.


All her life, Rose has had someone controlling her, especially with an overbearing mama and an overprotective sister. “No excuses were acceptable, not even illness.”


Her latest vision along with her slave-driving mama evokes an epiphany: that she was frittering her life away. So she makes a list of things she wants to do before she dies. 28 wishes (her list actually went to 29 with the last item being left blank.)


Just before she can embark on her journey, she comes home and finds her mama dead on the couch—the very couch she saw herself in her vision. It was supposed to be Rose lying dead on the couch with a bashed skull. Not only must she contend with the guilt over her mama’s death, but she is also accused of her murder.


This is the story of a frightened, young woman’s search for independence while battling the menacing glares of a lynch mob community and finding a killer. Story was well-written and full of emotion, drama, and mystery. Story was a “Frankenstein”—an unknown entity comprised of different parts.


1. psychic visions (paranormal)
2. 28 wishes to accomplish (women’s fiction)
3. murder (mystery)


What genre would this book fall into? Each segment is so out-of-place that it’s hard to pinpoint what this story is truly about. At first, I was enjoying all these elements that were oddly put this together, however, it got to feeling much too scattered and the pace was rather slow.


This story had potential of being a really good read, but it just didn’t make it there.


My rating: 3 stars