Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 323

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

Review: THE CASE OF THE QUESTIONABLE QUADRUPLET by Jaqueline Diamond

Graphic Image designed by Sandra Lopez


A father's legacy. A disgruntled patient. And an unsolved murder.
Eric Darcy, an OB/GYN, never expected the outburst from one of his oldest patients. "My daughters weren't triplets...they were quadruplets." Oooh, interesting.
Although Dr. Darcy tried to pass this off as a mind trick or possible need for new glasses, he couldn't help but wonder if somethinghad happened. Eric is then urged to search through his father's old records amidst his home's recent break-in.
Unlike a regular mystery, readers must delve into the medical scientifics to learn the history and depths of the patient's case. I thought the case of this missing quadruplet was a fascinating premise. Story was well-written and contains a certain degree of complexity. In fact, perhaps it was a little too complex. The number of characters in the story made it harder to keep tabs on it. It just seemed that this mystery was too convoluted and somewhat lagging. Mystery readers might enjoy the puzzling complexity and the scientific approach, but, personally, I would've liked this to have been more simplified.
My rating: 2.5 stars

Review: THE VIRGIN ROMANCE NOVELIST CHRONICLES by Meghan Quinn

Rosie wants to pursue a career as a romance novelist, often referring a “Briar’s patch” to a lady’s peaceful pleasure garden. Oh brother.


Needless to say, she has never experienced the pleasures of the flesh and has always wanted to see a boner, wondering what would happen if she were to touch it.  So the plotting was set: a virgin writing her first romance book.


Her doting friends think she needs to get f*cked or she’ll never be able to write this stuff. The mission was set: get Rosie laid.


In her mission to lose her virginity, Rosie keeps a sex journal to record her thoughts and feelings, which would be useful in writing her book. She becomes an eager student in the art and study of sex. How sweet of her friend, Henry, offering to show her his penis.


I enjoyed seeing Rosin fumbling in these hilarious situations, like kneeing a guy in the groin (accidentally, of course) and throwing up on a man’s genitalia. She’ll face demonic cats and floundering first dates.


It was sweet how Henry becomes jealous and overprotective of Rosie—he loves her after all. But Henry wouldn’t want to ruin their friendship, right? Still, the moments between these two were often sweet. Why couldn’t they just admit that they liked each other?


Sometimes the friends shared a little too much in their sexual knowledge and exploits. It was too explicit for my taste. And, although the klutzy disaster dates were enjoyable, they were getting a little tiresome, too. Okay, I get it, Rosie was a flop on dates. How many did we have to go through already? So this was where it started to taper off. Geez, how long was this? Evidently, this book has a few parts and very LONG chapters.


I’d say this book started off pretty good with a captivating and witty premise, but it just waned on me.


My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: TIMEFLIES: PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM by M.C. Goldrick

The second installment in the TIMEFLIES series is from the perspective of the best friend, Sam. Since time-traveling as flies was triggered by a question, this story begins with seeking the answer to: How did our maternal ancestors come to live in a country called Canada?
So the kids―as flies― travel more than 150 years.
There were definitely more tid-bits related to bugs, such as bees and ants (i.e. loyalty to the queen and what they do,) which wasn't particularly interesting. I mean, seriously ,this was a lesson on bugs―any and all bugs. I guess this particular story felt more detached because it was mainly a historical overview of settlers on a new country. The previous TIMEFLIES book, at least, had an emotional inquiry to how the parents named their daughter. Couldn't we have come up with another question? Like, why is my brother afraid of water? Or maybe ask something about the future? What will I be when I grow up? You know, something along those lines that would connect readers to the characters more.
Again, the scientific trivia might spark an interest to young readers, however, I wasn't too keen on the fiction aspect of it. There was a lag to it and I wasn't too invested in the overall adventure.
My rating: 2 stars