Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 331

Review: CONNEXIONS by T. Mariano

“The dating site had made it easy to find these women. Their profiles revealed more than they knew; he could always spot the vulnerable ones. He was amazed at how quickly they agreed to meet him alone. Only three dates and they were his. He silently thanked ConneXions.” (4)


Stephanie is a mother of two and trapped in a loveless marriage. Good thing that there was ConneXions to seek out hungry men to help her fill the void. Without that odd drink and occasional affair to keep her sanity, who knows what she’d do?  
Jenny just needed to feeldifferent from her old persona—to touch and be touched. She was tired of the liars and cheaters.
Both women were perfect prey for Kyle, who can never seem to quench his thirst of seeing that last bit of life drain away.
Dana is a PhD student in clinical psychology seeking an understanding behind these internet dating sites and why women stray in her thesis, “The Relationship between Infidelity and Low Self-Esteem.” Of course, she was no better with her sensual fantasies of her professor.
Told in the POV of all these characters, story provides a brief snapshot behind loneliness and dangers of intimate encounters. Mariano does a great job with words, describing the sinking feeling and utter despair along with the adrenalin of fear and evil passion. You can definitely empathize. There was a certain lag at times, making me wish it would pick up the pace a little, especially when it came to Dana’s interviews; however, the core of the story keeps the reader going. It deals more with the psychological issues of the characters rather than a hunt for a killer, so it wasn’t the suspenseful thriller I would’ve liked.
Quick and intriguing, ConneXionsis a pretty good read.
 
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: A TIME FOR PENANCE by Robin Storey

The prologue begins with a wife celebrating an anniversary by poisoning her cheating husband. At first, she doesn’t think she can go through with it, but then he takes a bite and there’s no turning back. Suddenly en route to the hospital, she’s sweating bullets, hoping and praying that he doesn’t survive. I thought this scene was an excellent start!

Now widowed, Eva heeds to the “love em’ & leave ‘em” mantra with her endless strings of one-night stands. Still plagued by the haunting visions of Charlie, twenty years later, she wonders if there might be something more to them than just guilt.
Story had a compelling start, but then soon began to contain lagging intervals, especially where the religion was concerned. I guess, as the title suggest, this was Eva’s “time for penance”—a confession of sins and self-punishment. And, with that, she begins by confessing her sin of murder to a priest, which introduces a monologue of how it all began, starting with Eva’s first meeting with Charlie, outlining their rocky marriage, and concluding with her decision to kill him. It was basically a confession.
But rather than go straight to penance, what if you’d have the option to undo your sin—to “enact your penance by travelling back to the past?” If Eva were to go back twenty years, would she still murder Charlie?
The book definitely had an interesting premise (I just love time travel stories,) but I couldn’t get past the constant lag. It just felt like the story took forever to pick up. Okay, is she going to kill him again or not?
Plot was slow and full of uninteresting characters. I really just wanted to get to the best part; however, it was fascinating how Eva managed to miss Charlie’s loving ways from the past and also hate him for what he was about to do in the future.
Still, overall, the writing was pretty good, the pace was kind of slow, and the plot was rather mediocre.
 
My rating: 3 stars

Review: WICKED REMNANTS by Manuel Meléndez

Alright, first, the cover: it’s like right out of a Marvel comic. I mean, the dude on the bottom reminds me of the Hulk. Awesome work!

Next thing: I open the book and I find that there are more illustrations inside. Dreadful, gory, very well done! Love it!
In a nutshell, this is a collection of short stories filled with dark reverence and alluring mystery. Each one was like watching an episode of Tales from the Crypt with its engaging wit and bloody horror.
“Lunch Hour” is a delectable recipe for revenge and murder.
“The Old Man” reveals a terrible truth in a man’s reflection.
A man contemplates ending the misery of his poor, sick wife, perhaps following in the footsteps of the acclaimed writer in “Poe’s Cottage.”
A murderer stalks the streets of a peaceful barrio neighborhood in “A Killer Among Us.” Upon realizing the true killer’s identity, a young boy takes vigilance and embarks on the adage, “Like Father, Like Son.”
A man relays his encounter with a savage beast and how it sealed his fate. An artist goes mad with insanity, wondering if the demons he paints are coming to life.
Enriching and poetic, these tales take the reader on a wild trip to the dark side. Meléndez did a splendid job of blending gothic horror with Latino culture. A great read!
 
My rating: 4 stars

Review: TOUGH JUSTICE: COUNTDOWN (Episodes 1-8)

Agent Lara Grant refuses to let her past get in the way of her duties as an FBI agent. Yes, she’s still haunted by the memories of discovering her mother’s murdered body and having to give up an illegitimate child, but the citizens of NY need her services, and the time is now. A string of bombs is terrorizing the city, and she must find the bomber, known as “The Whisperer,” before he strikes again.

This is a collection of episodes that each read like short novellas, but, combined, they comprise into one full-length novel. Each part is a continuation of the series, picking up where the last one left off. Although each part could be read as a stand-alone, episodes 1-7 really don’t have endings; they finish off with a “To Be Continued.” In other words, you have to get the whole series to find out how this ends. You can’t get one part as you won’t get the whole story. However, once you get a taste of it, you’ll want to devour it all.
The hunt was compelling all the way and hooks the reader until the end. Gripping and Enticing!
 
My rating: 4 stars

Review: THE PECULIAR LIVES OF CIRCUS FREAKS (Multi-Author Anthology)

This is a collection of short stories centered on the circus and the lives of circus freaks. You have lion tamers, gypsies, fortune tellers, shape shifters, and even the bearded lady.

For the most part, they are well-written odd-ball stories with supernatural twists, but I couldn’t really get into some of them as they were so confusing and long-winded. I mean, for short stories, they sure were long.
While I couldn’t get into some of them, others were quite good. The best ones were “The Two Ringmasters” by Liz Long and BJ Sheldon’s “An Apple a Day.”
 
My rating: 3 stars

Review: THE TWIN GAME by V.J. Chambers

Hope and Serenity are identical twins, growing up with a mirror image of themselves; however, the two couldn’t be more different. While Serenity was smooth and flawless, Hope was clumsy and stupid. She hated Serenity and how perfect and delicate she was.

The day that she visited her father’s headstone, Hope was kidnapped and was told that she would die like all the rest. When she reported it, no one believed her and she spent her days in a mental institution. Now, she’s back in her old home, back with her spiteful twin.
Memories once again flood Hope’s mind—how Serenity was so cruel to her, how in love she was with Rhys, and how the family need to play the “Serenity Doesn’t Exist” game.
While reminiscing of the family’s past and psychological trauma, Hope firmly believe that the killer, who has raped and murdered several girls, is still out there and will kill again. Meanwhile, Hope starts to question her own sanity. What’s real and what isn’t? Why are Rhys and Serenity saying she’s having delusions? She saw what she saw…right?
Family secrets are unearthed in this enticing and gripping novel. Exciting and full of mystery! This is a game you’ll want to finish ‘til the end.
 
My rating: 5 stars

Review: FIDGET SPINNERS DESTROYED MY FAMILY by George Billions

The story began with the mayhem and aftermath caused by the fidget spinner. I mean, lost children and fire. I mean, MY GOD! How, in the world, did this start?

It all started at Christmas, when everyone in the family received the hot new toy on the market―the fidget spinner.  What started off as innocent obsession soon spells disaster.
Short, simple, and direct, the story is a witty and catastrophic account of one, little toy. Really, the root cause of all the disasters was sheer speculation. Fiddling with a spinner could obviously be mistaken for a utility knife or jacking off. Of course, for me, the interesting part was NOT the stupid spinner that's been all the rage, for some godforsaken reason, but it was the pure domino effect of disasters that ensued with drug addiction, violence, affairs, and whatnots.  And it all started out of nothing and mounted into unbelievable proportions. I'm not sure you can really say that the spinners were the cause of all this. I think it was this crazy family's paranoia.
This was just a kooky story, a classic tale of coincidental misfortune. Man, what a wicked and creepy cover! 
 My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: HIDING IN THE THIRD PERSON by Phil Bradley

Ricky has worked in a insane asylum for 5 years. The job ain’t much, but as long as he can entertain himself by hearing the looney stories, then it’s too bad. He is particularly intrigued by this one looney though. His name is Mr. Rivers, a paraplegic with burn scars all over his arms and face. It all begins when Ricky stars listening to this old man.

This whole book actually centers on Mr. Rivers’ story, which I failed to see the point in. What was he talking about? It was just weird and confusing. I actually wished the story was more focused on Ricky.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: DRIP: A GOTHIC BROMANCE by Andrew Montclack

Ever since they were kids, JD and George have been blood brothers. Now college students with JD majoring in engineering and George in English lit, they need money to cover tuition and rent. But George is worried that his major may not be a lucrative career, which is why he has a shirt that says, “Liberal Arts Graduate…Would you like fries with that?”

Believing that George does nothing but write about dead poets, JD manages to get him hired as an accounting intern for Brew Corp, a coffee company, hence, the title DRIP.
Described as a “gothic bromance,” this is story of true-blue friendship in which two “brothers” would do anything for each other. Story had a slow start and considerable lag. It didn’t really go anywhere. At first, it seemed that JD getting George involved in this accounting façade would make for a comical routine, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t. I found that it was far too technical and dull.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: PERFECTLY NORMAL by Amy Martin

The Perfects—Ridgeville High School’s ruling triumvirate. Mostly it’s comprised of jocks and prom queens, which is why everyone from students to administrators bows down to them.

Told from the POV of Rachel, a character NOT part of the in-crowd, story is a simple ride through high school life. It had quite a mediocre start that transcended to an unimpressive plot. I mean, what was “normal?” Being a typical high school teenager? Being yourself? Like I said, I wasn’t too impressed. There were also too many characters to keep track of. At first, this sounded like a good YA read, but I just couldn’t get into it.
 
My rating: 2 stars