Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 318

Review: MAN OF MY DREAMS by Faith Andrews

10 years later, Mia, now married with two children, still has dreams of the gorgeous guy she majorly crushed on in high school. Not that she’d want to swap her ordinary life for some wild, amazing sex with Noah—even if it’s only in her dreams.

It’s funny how she gets jealous of her husband lavishing more attention to the daughters than to her. But he’s just not fun anymore.
Story relays between the past and the present—between the boring life with her husband and how it used to be when they first met. There was a time when Declan was the man of her dreams. But then why is Mia dreaming of another man? My guess is extreme sexual frustration, which this book seems to dwell a lot on in detail.
At times, Mia acts like an eager, chipper teenager, especially when obsessing over Noah (high school crush), which is cute. I thought Noah was actually going to enter the scene eventually and shake up Mia’s marriage a little, which I guess he does at the 10-year high school reunion. But mostly he just remains a figment of her sultry fantasies.
The story mainly centers on the rocky relationship between Mia and Declan, summarizing their good and their bad times. Apparently, they rushed into the whole thing—marriage, parenthood—way too soon, and it all came crashing down on them. Is it any wonder why two people are feeling such resentment and loss?
Although it was well-written, I got tired of hearing the ups and downs of a love story while raunchy sex dreams played in the midst. 

My rating: 3 stars

Review: A SHATTERED WIFE by Diana Salyers

This is the story of a ranch family bound by unrelenting and hard-core traditions and shattered by one tragic and life-altering accident. 


Bill—always the strong one, always the provider, always active and in charge—has been sentenced to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. From then on, he turned into a bitter and angry stranger that aimlessly shot at animals. Horrible.
Bill becomes mean and abuses his devoted wife, Martha. I suddenly see Jack Nicolson in The Shining or Lizzie Borden. I can’t think of anything scarier than being trapped with a killer. 

This was a good psychological thriller, even though it was a tad predicable and a little anticlimactic.
My rating: 3.5 star

Review: FRY by Lorna Dounaeva

Ever since she nearly ran the girl over, things have not been the same for Isabel. She feels like she owes this girl, Alicia, something. So she gets her a job at the supermarket, gets her a place to stay, and invites her to hang out with her and her friends. But suddenly she’s become too chummy, too good. What’s up with that? There’s something peculiar about Alicia. She’s shy and quite, but she can do things. How did she start the bar-b-que without any matches?
There’s definitely something wrong here, and the worst part is that nobody believes Isabel. Suddenly, Isabel is a suspect in a fire. Could this new “friend” be a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Who is she? But, more importantly, what is she?
The concept was really interesting, although the pace might’ve been a little slow. The story is written in the 1st person, so the reader feels everything Isabel feels—anger, confusion, jealousy, suspicion, etc.
Freaky how Alicia was able to infiltrate herself into Isabel’s life. What is she, some kind of demon or something?
Quick and intriguing. Simple and captivating.

My rating: 4 stars

Review: RAGE by Gary Lusby

16-year old Jay can’t stand the domestic violence caused by his drunken father, especially when that abuse is mainly targeted to the one person who means the world to him—his mom. “His mom was a prisoner in her own home and his dad controlled everything.” (137) Jay truly loved his mom (yeay!), which was why he picked a girl just like his mom (eesh!). It’s kind of gross when you think about that.
As memories flood his frustrated mind, the rage inside Jay grows more fervently and intense. His poor mom—what a stupid, little thing. Why didn’t she just leave? Fear. That’s what all abusers thrive on. Fear. Take away the fear, take away the violence. His mom won’t help herself, so it was up to Jay to do it for her.
Reading through it, I kept hoping that Jay would kick his father’s ass. On the other hand, Jay was getting so angry that, deep down, I worried that he might take out his rage on someone else, like his girlfriend (like father, like son.)
The story brings an interesting psychological perspective to why men hit women (insecurity, power, the need to control, etc.)—nothing I didn’t know already. For some reason, the author felt compelled to repeat the same thing over and over again. Okay, we get it! There was abuse in the house. Now what? 

Additionally, the POV constantly switched from 3rd person to 1st. So was Jay telling the story, or was it narrated? Odd. This should’ve been kept uniform. Also, there was way too much football. Sports have never held my interest. 

Towards the end, I wondered: Will Jay kill his dad? I hoped so, but I didn’t want his life to be ruined. The author attempted to pump the reader with excitement and seat-gripping adrenaline, but failed. The book was just a long, warring battle (yawn.) It was just a repetition of the same ideas over and over again.
Ultimately, this was a boring read. 

My rating: 2 stars

Review: HERE COMES THE NIGHT by Linda McDonald

A psychological crime thriller, as dark and twisting as a suspenseful noir film, told against the background of the stockyards in Oklahoma City.

At one time ex-football-star Buck Dearmore had it all: power, adoration, a seemingly bright future. But that was long ago. Now the only life he considers worth living is with Angie, his lover, and the wife of his boss.

After their plan to kill the mean-spirited bank president succeeds, their path to happiness seems clear . . .for mere moments. As Buck walks away from the crime, henchmen carjack him, setting off a series of fatal miscommunications.

Then, as daylight turns to dawn, a dangerous parolee impulsively take Buck’s custom Mustang on a bloody joyride, implicating him in a horrific crime he didn't do.

There’s no way to know who’ll survive until dawn, and of those that do, who’ll be charged with which crime. Hang on tight, Here Comes the Night. A dark, steamy suspense thriller.




My thoughts: Question: Was this a bank heist story planned out Ocean’s Eleven-style, or was it all about Oklahoma-Texas football?
Either way, I couldn’t get past the first couple of chapters. Boring. 

My rating: 1 star

Review: PEDDLING DOOMSDAY by Petra Jacob

When I first started reading this, I was a bit confused. I mean, at first, a character feels things moving in his head (whatever that means,) then we move on to Sarah and Dove trying to fix a printer machine. Obviously, I saw no connection here.
Story soon focuses on Deidre and her mediocre existence. The plot has an unbelievable lag. I kept on wondering when things were going to get interesting. Or was it ever going to get interesting?
Unfortunately, this book did not get interesting at all for me.
My rating: 1 star

Review: THE LAW OF TALL GIRLS by Joanne MacGregor

If you really stand out, can you ever fit in?
Peyton is a tall girl and has always abided by the Law of Tall Girls, which indicates that no male over 6 ft. shall date a female under 5’8”. There are so few tall guys and they are wasted on short girls. So true! Why should short girls get the tall guys when they have a massive pool of average guys? Yeah!
“Once you go tall, you never go small.”
A $400 bet was that Peyton couldn’t get the hot, tall guy to kiss her. Well, mission accomplished. But then there’s a raise in the stakes. The bet was now $800 to get a tall guy (at least 6’3”) to go on 4 public dates with her with a final date at the prom. Sounds easy enough, if Peyton had any confidence and didn’t feel like a freak show so much.  
Being a tall girl, I related to Peyton, especially never finding clothes that fit unless they came from the men’s dept.
This was a pretty good story, but it was lagging at times with a bunch of high school crap. Still, it was interesting reading about Peyton’s quest to find a tall guy (it’s like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.)  At times, I thought Peyton focused too much on her tallness, and I couldn’t get into the Romeo & Juliet plot. Apparently, that was her chance to snag the hot, tall guy she’s wanted all along. The problem was that he was already snatched up by, yep, you guessed it. A short girl!
This was okay.


My rating: 3 stars

Review: PAR FOR CINDERELLA by Petie McCarty

A stalled yacht leads to an unexpected encounter. And it is at sea that sets this sappy Cinderella story. He is captivated by the alluring woman and she simply can't stop thinking about the elegant stranger. But how to find one another?
It had a slow start and had some lagging areas throughout. Although the yachts and the sea life were certainly romantic elements, I just failed to see any chemistry between the two characters. They struck me as nondescript and blasé. They're story was not very riveting. It wasn't what I expected.
My rating: 2 stars

Review: FORGETTING OPHELIA by Julie C. Gardner

At 35, Lia has wondered if it was too late to adopt. Not that she seriously wanted kids, because she was overall satisfied with her life with Jake. Until recently, she and Jake have always been in synch, but lately it just seems that she has been second in his life. He's not following The Plan. Then, like a punch in the guy, Jake announces that he's leaving her.
Story has a slow start, then it progresses with Lia's ponderings of her recent separation and her life amidst the company of pedestrian characters. Frankly, I wasn't too taken by any of this. Between her and Jake, all I got was a barrage of memories and endless musings.  I didn't feel like the story went anywhere.  I mean, what was the meaning of forgetting Ophelia? I honestly anticipated for Lia to take on more of an independent role―for her to take charge of her life. Although the story was well-written and contained a poetic feel, I just wasn't too impressed by the development.
My rating: 2 stars

Review: SEX IN THE CRAZY ZONE by Teri Riggs

This is a short novella about an old married couple wanting to reignite that sexual spark.


It had quirk with a dash of ridiculous scenarios, like sex on a trampoline or in a playhouse. I thought this would be a funny, little story. After all, the funny illustration is pretty eye-catching. However, it didn't do it justice. It was on ok read, but I thought it would’ve been funnier than it was.


My rating: 2 stars