Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 34
February 8, 2025
Review: THE ISLAND by Natasha Preston
“Only 6 of us have been invited.Six influencers. An exclusive weekend at a new island resort. An amusement partso remote that you can only reach it by boat.”
Everything on the island—the hoteland the amusement part—has that gothic horror theme. The story kicks off to arather slow start with touring the hotel and the main characters describing it.There was too much touring and just walking around the creepy place. Wassomething going to happen soon? I was intrigued by the premise, but I wasn’timpressed by how it was going. It takes almost 10 chapters before somebodyvanishes, and I guess that’s where it gets going—10 chapters later.
The read was pretty mild. Itdefinitely wasn’t what I thought it be.
Rating:3 stars
Review: WHILE SHE SLEPT by N.L. Hinkens
Abby was on her honeymoon inIreland. When she wakes up one morning, she finds her husband gone—missing.
“My husband of two days hasvanished without a trace in a foreign country.”
Abby spends the whole timenegotiating with kidnappers that have taken her husband hostage. Four weekslater, her husband was still missing. Afterwards, it becomes a mystery ofwhether her husband scammed her and if his first wife faked her own death. Ofcourse, this gets even better when murder gets in the mix. Whatever this messwas, I was sure it involved the missing husband in every way. The mystery getseven better when Abby gets arrested for murder. Whoa, what was going on here?
A gripping read you won’t want toput down!
Rating:5 stars
Review: I’M FOLLOWING YOU by Emily Shiner
After losing her sister, Collettebegins group therapy. With dreams still haunting her, she firmly believes thewoman that killed her sister was still alive and still out there…and she wasdetermined to find her. This sounded like a pretty good storyline. But, forsome odd reason, we get Amanda’s story tossed in there.
The read was pretty decent. Nottoo exciting though and it felt pretty long, too. As far as reads go, this wasjust okay.
Rating:3 stars
Review: SLEEP by C.L. Taylor
This book was appropriately namedas “Sleep” because that’s what it does—put you to sleep. I expected this to beWAY MORE exciting than what it was. It’s boring from page 1. What a waste!
Rating:1 star
Review: ONE BY ONE by Freida McFadden
“In Revelation, 666 is the numberof the devil. The 6th commandment is thou shall not kill. Six is nota nice number.”
Six people at a hotel in thewoods. Each one with a secret. Claire was so sick of her husband with himalways belittling her and being cruel to her. Thank goodness she got separaterooms for the week. She might even make good use of it with another man—withher husband’s best friend. What a long car ride—so awkward and tense. And thenthe car breaks down in the woods? Getting lost in the scary woods and hearingall those howls were certainly eerie enough. I didn’t really get the prose fromthe anonymous person though.
The story was enticing, but alittle slow. There seems to be some kind of animal out there, but we’re notreally sure. All we know was that Claire was scared. And, yes, slowly—veryslowly—one by one, they start to disappear. I thought that this would be moresuspenseful and faster. Too much time on the day-to-day stuff and the foragingin the woods.
A decent thriller, but I thoughtit be better.
Rating:3 stars
February 7, 2025
Blog Tour: REIGN OF TERROR by Leo Silva
Reign of Terror by Leo Silva is a gripping true crime memoir that takes readers deep inside the brutal world of Mexico’s Los Zetas cartel. Follow a rollercoaster of suspense, intrigue, and unrelenting action as you delve into this heart-pounding thriller.
Reign of Terror
by Leo Silva
Genre: True Crime Memoir, Thriller
“One of the best DEA narco books I have ever read” – Dave Gaddis, DEA Chief, Global Enforcement Operations
Reign of Terror by Leo Silva is a gripping true crime memoir that takes readers deep inside the brutal world of Mexico’s Los Zetas cartel. Former DEA Special Agent Silva brings unparalleled insight, recounting his years on the front lines in the relentless fight against one of the world’s most violent criminal organizations. This powerful narrative unveils the hidden realities of the drug war, from the complex relationships between the cartels and law enforcement to the personal sacrifices made by those who risk everything to protect others. With raw detail and authenticity, Silva sheds light on the lives of those entangled in a web of corruption, power, and violence. Reign of Terror is more than a recount of battles won and lost—it’s a story of courage, resilience, and the cost of justice. A must-read for fans of true crime and international intrigue.
“In Reign of Terror, Leo Silva masterfully recounts the rise and fall of the notorious and ultra-violent Los Zetas cartel. But more than just retelling the story, Leo’s work is filled with inside information and insights that bring the reader into the world of those tasked with dismantling Los Zetas. Compelling, Leo brings profound humanity to the fight against the Zetas, a fight that brought both victories and tragedies, all of which are deeply felt by the reader.”
- Jack Luellen, Author of Someone Had to Die Podcast Host: “Cartels, Conspiracies and Camarena”
**Get it for Only $3.99 on Kindle!**Amazon * Bookbub * Goodreads
Leonardo “Leo” Silva is a native of Brownsville, TX, a charming seaside city on the border. He is a 1982 graduate of Homer Hanna High School and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature from the University of Texas-Brownsville in 1985. He served as a Special Agent/ Supervisory Special Agent with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration from 1987 to 2015. During his career, he was assigned to offices along the Southwest border, Guadalajara, Jalisco and Monterrey Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
Website * Facebook * Facebook * X * X * Instagram * LinkedIn
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Choice of Print or ebook copy of Reign of Terror,
$20 Amazon giftcard
– 1 winner each!
Spotlight: NIGHT OF THE CRESCENT MOON by M. Flagg
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Summary: Martine, a good witch and ER nurse must enlist Lukas, a mystical warrior she had pushed away years ago, to save her patient who is under the spell of a dark witch from the Second Realm. Simply seeing each other again has them both questioning their feelings, but Martine refuses to open her heart. When she asks him to return to a realm where he was once held captive, he agrees. With the help of an arrogant vampire and his mystically enhanced father, Lukas faces unexpected danger. To bring the dark witch into the human realm, he must trust others in the Second Realm. When the hidden portal closes and Martine’s patient is safe, Lukas is ready to tell her how he feels. In this heart-warming romance, they will open their hearts to love - all because of what happened on a night of the crescent moon.
Author Bio: M. Flagg’s imaginative world is full of mystical warriors, witches and the not-so-normal vampires. Always an avid reader, the realm of paranormal fiction is her favorite genre. She chooses to spin stories full of passion and the paradox of love. Her writing style has been compared to Anne Rice and Stephen King. Now a retired music teacher and an urban school administrator, she is a published author with five novels in the genre. She is a contributor in a book on urban music education and has published a piece in Still Standing, a web-magazine about loss and healing. Named a Distinguished Music Educator at the 2010 Yale Music Symposium, M. Flagg is a life-long New Jersey resident, a member of Liberty States Fiction Writers and NJRW, and has served as a Professor in Residence with a local university.
Purchase links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Night-Crescent-Moon-Champion-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0D9YRZKG7/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/night-of-the-crescent-moon-m-flagg/1145982465
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/night-of-the-crescent-moon/id6569253813
Social Media links:
Website: https://mflagg-author.com/
Blog: https://mflagg-author.com/m-flaggs-a-writers-blog/
February 6, 2025
Excerpt: THE CUL-DE-SAC by Christopher Null
Genre: Thriller
Summary: How well do you really know your neighbors?
Veteran serial killer Klaus Fischer is determined that his most recent murder will be his last, but like many retirements, this one isn’t sticking. No one has come close to suspecting he’s buried the victims on his quiet suburban California cul-de-sac property—but he’s feeling the urge to kill again, and this time he’s set his sights on a target dangerously close to home.
Widowed Peg Jurgensen has lived on the cul-de-sac for the past fifteen years, and she’s ready to shed her doldrums and re-enter the world around her. And where better to start than with mothering the curious young teen Eliza van Damal, whose family just moved to the cul-de-sac in order to expose their daughter to a better life.
Eliza, however, prefers to coerce the enigmatic hermit next door, Alex, into helping her pass math. Alex wishes the lot of them would disappear.
The closer these misfits become, the more danger even the most ordinary conversations invite. As the body count rises, can these residents trust anyone hiding behind their doors on this street?
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Chapter 5
Klaus
I thought fondly of the nurse. You’re probably thinking of a young woman like you’d see in a movie, but that’s not the right mental picture. She was in her early fifties, a “second act” career they call it, and after tiring of her life as an English teacher, she spent years going back to school to learn a trade in medicine. She had told me this was common, and that many of her fellow students were in the same position: sick of what they’d been doing for the last thirty years and ready for something new. I got it.
Of course she said she wanted to help people, too. And I suppose the best way to do that was by taking temperature readings, stitching wounds, and wiping hintern.
I saved the identification badge she always had pinned to her uniform. Scrubs, wasn’t it? I would love to have had one of those little nurse’s caps, but I guess those went out of favor in the seventies. Sure, the badge was risky, since it had her name and picture on it, but it was unlikely to be found in the safe with my other mementos. I especially liked it because it had a surprisingly good picture of her on it—better than real life—and I knew that would bring me joy down the road.
What was lingering in the safe? Cash, passport, some documents, and the collection.
Available for Pre-order: https://www.amazon.com/Cul-sac-Christopher-Null-ebook/dp/B0DGVD98RR/
February 5, 2025
Blog Tour: BLOOD LASTS FOREVER by Jeff Gunhus
Book Details:
Book Title: Blood Lasts Forever by Jeff Gunhus
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 256 pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publisher: Seven Guns Press
Release date: November 2024
Content Rating: R. Blood Lasts Forever is a psychological thriller with supernatural elements and similar to a Stephen King novel. While not gratuitous, the story centers on an act of violence that could be disturbing to some. Could be PG-13 + M or R.Book Description:
Not every death is a tragedy.
When fifteen-year-old Wyatt Bucks is found dead in the Sagasett River, the small town of Chambers breathes a collective sigh of relief. Wyatt was a troubled youth, feared and despised by many. But his death, deemed an accident by the local sheriff, leaves a chilling legacy that will haunt the town for decades.
Twenty years later, Mitch Ansel, now a middle school teacher, receives a call that resurrects the nightmares of his past. Alongside his old friends, the Fab Five, Mitch is forced to confront the dark secret they’ve buried for years—a secret that ties them to Wyatt’s death.
As the friends reunite at a remote cabin, they must navigate a web of deceit, fear, and violence. Each carries scars from the past, but none are prepared for the revelations that await them. Mitch’s terrifying visions of Wyatt and the relentless pull of their shared guilt threaten to unravel their lives and sanity.Buy the Book:
Amazon
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add to Goodreads
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Review: Ever since high school, the FabFive swore to never tell a secret. Now they all must meet again.
The Fab Five, now adults, weremeeting at a remote cabin. Right away, this storyline grabs you from thestart—literally from page 1. It gets you intrigued, especially when trying tofigure out what this secret was.
In the beginning, we get thestories of individual characters—some part of the Fab Five in the present, somepart of the Fab Five in the past it seemed, and some were even students, Ithink. To be honest, it really wasn’t too clear at times. Stories kind of wentin different directions and my mind was spinning with questions. What was thisbig secret? Did the Fab Five murder Wyatt? But then how is Wyatt alive in somechapters? When was the Fab Five going to reach the cabin already? This wasn’tquite what I was expecting. It was mostly reminiscing and harping over the“murder” for a good chunk of the book. It started off well, but then it startedgoing downhill. I really didn’t care for that dissected cat scene. I guess Iwas just expecting something different, something more exciting.
Still, this was a fairly niceread.
Rating:3 stars
Meet the Author:Jeff Gunhus is the USA TODAY bestselling author of thriller and horror novels for adults and the middle grade/YA series, The Templar Chronicles. The first book, Jack Templar Monster Hunter, was written in an effort to get his reluctant reader eleven-year-old son excited about reading. It worked and a new series was born. His books for adults have reached the Top 30 on Amazon, have been recognized as Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Finalists, Kirkus Top 100 Indie Books, and reached the USA TODAY bestseller list. As a father of five, he leads an active life in Maryland with his wife Nicole by trying to keep up with their kids. In rare moments of quiet, he can be found in the back of Old Fox Books in Annapolis, working on his next novel, or on JeffGunhus.com.
connect with the author: website ~ X/twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads ~ bookbub ~ InstagramEnter the Giveaway:BLOOD LASTS FOREVER by Jeff Gunhus Book Tour Giveaway
Blog Tour: FANNY FITZPATRICK AND THE SIRENS by Dana Hammer
FANNY FITZPATRICK AND THE SIRENS
Dana Hammer
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GENRE: Middle Grade Fiction
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BLURB:
It’sthe end of the school year. For most kids, it’s time to relax and get ready forsummer. For Fanny, there’s work. She has a brand-new baby brother, and she’sbeen hired by Zeus to look after his “injured” son. And she still has her andher friends’ cheesemaking business! Fanny is overwhelmed.
Butthen she meets three sirens who want Fanny to join them on Feather Island for asummer of singing, instrument playing, and fun at the beach. The program istotally free and could start an amazing musical career-the thing that Fanny hasalways wanted the most.
Athenaand Gemma are dead set against it. Athena says that the sirens are bad news;that their whole purpose in life is to lure men to their deaths with theirbeautiful singing. Gemma says that Feather Island is part of a network ofunmappable islands, the type of place where criminals and sketchy organizationshoard their wealth and do their crimes.
Surely,the sirens don’t do that anymore, right? All that stuff was a long time ago. Ifthe sirens want to keep their island paradise a secret, well, that’s not soweird, is it? Fanny has talked to them, and she just knows that they aren’t asevil as everyone says. They are perfectly nice ladies.
Right?
FollowFanny Fitzpatrick as she navigates big sisterhood, friends who disapprove ofher life choices, burning ambitions, and a bunch of sirens luring her away totheir private island.
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ExcerptTwo:
But I don’t have a chance to practice or not practice,because I remember that I have a Zoom date with Gemma and Athena. I head downto the computer and log in to the meeting.
Gemma and Athena are already in there, talking aboutsomething. They look serious and sour, but Gemma is wearing the most adorablenewsboy hat with embroidered flowers on it, and I squeal when I see it.
“Gemma, that hat though!”
They stop talking and look at me, not smiling. I realizesomething weird is going on, and so I stop smiling.
“Fanny, we need to talk,” says Athena.
That’s not good.
“Um. Gemma? How’s England?” Gemma shakes her head at me.
I look back to Athena, who has crossed her arms, which makesher look like a strict disciplinarian who’s about to give me a terriblelecture. And I realize that’s exactly what’s about to happen.
“Herman told me everything,” Athena says.
“Um.”
“You let those things in your house! After I specificallytold you how dangerous they are!”
“I didn’t let them in,” I say, which I realize is a wimpything to say, but I can’t think of anything better. “My dad did.”
“What did they want? Why were they there, at your house?”
“Well—”
“Do you have any idea how many people sirens have killedover the course of these millennia?”
“But that was a long time ago!” I say, sounding desperateand silly, even to my own ears.
“Fanny,” Gemma says, quietly, looking around to make sure noone is listening to her. “I’m not supposed to say this. But there are theseislands. A few of them. And they have special deals with the UN, NATO, theAfrican Union, and a few others that I’m not allowed to even say the names of.They have diplomatic immunity. They operate under their own laws, and theyanswer to no one. They’re unmappable, untraceable. I’ve been talking to Athena,and I think these islands are owned by the sirens.”
“You sound like conspiracy theorists,” I say, rolling myeyes. “How do you even know about these top-secret islands if they’re so topsecret?”
“My parents,” Gemma says, like it’s obvious. I guess itshould be obvious. I still have no idea what her parents do for a living, butthey seem to jet around the planet a lot, with machete-bearing security guards,so I guess it must be important. Still.
“Well, Feather Island is a school. A school for musicians,”I say, trying to reassure them. “There’s a brochure and everything.”
I wish I had the brochure so I could show it to them, howlovely and harmless the place is, but my parents have put it somewhere and Idon’t know where it is.
“How do you know about Feather Island?” Athena demands,looking even more furious.
Whoops. I guess I’ve gotta tell them now.
“That’s what the sirens wanted. To tell me about their musiccamp.”
“NO!” Athena shouts, banging her fist on the table in frontof her. Splinters of wood fly everywhere and I’m kind of scared now. This isintense, even for Athena. “You can NOT go to this island. I don’t care whatthey told you. It’s bad news.”
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What Makes a Good Middle Grade Story?
This is an excellent question, and one that can only be answeredsubjectively. So I’ll do my best, but I’m sure plenty of people will disagreewith me.
First of all, middle graders are people, and they like the samethings in a story as older people do. Interesting people tackling big problems,satisfying character arcs, and readable prose are all indisposable to a goodbook. It should be engaging, not preachy, and make the reader think outside oftheir own experiences. All of these components make for a great novel of of anygenre, for any age range.
The difference is how subject matter is tackled. Most middlegraders are probably not interested in epic tomes that span generations andshine a light on the plight of the working class, and have long, meditativepassages about chopping onions as a metaphor for union busting. But a middlegrader might love a book about a fellow classmate who is experiencinghomelessness, and is forced to chop onions in the school cafeteria to pay fortheir schooling, and gets teased because she always smells like onions. Bothbooks deal with poverty and struggle, but for a middle grader, you have toscale the problem down.
One thing that is super important in writing a middle grade bookis to remember what middle grade was ACTUALLY LIKE. Think about yourself whenyou were eleven, twelve, etc. Were you always thinking about your parents, andschoolwork? I know I wasn’t. I was thinking about my crushes, fashion, bands,and what I was gonna do with my friends that weekend. We swore. We gorgedourselves on candy and chips. We played truth or dare. We froze each other’sunderwear at slumber parties. (I don’t know why we did this, it was thenineties, ok?) We gossiped, a lot. We were interesting, complex people. I thinkit’s important to remember all that when writing for middle grade.
I’m not saying a middle grade novel needs to be gritty andprofane to be relatable. No one wants Trainspotting for Tots. But it shouldn’tjust be “I hate homework. My mom makes me do chores and eat broccoli. My littlesister is annoying.” Because that’s not life. Or rather, that’s only a small,uninteresting part of life, and not what makes for a riveting story, orcompelling characters.
Anyway, I don’t pretend to be an expert on the subject. If I was,I’d be a lot richer. But in my opinion, this is what makes for a good middlegrade novel.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She haswon over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generatedincome, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she isthe author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middlegrade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to writesomething her 9 year old daughter could read.
Website: https://www.danahammer.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danahammerwriterofthings
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Fanny-Fitzpatrick-Sirens-Dana-Hammer/dp/1962308243/ref=sr_1_1
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GIVEAWAY
DanaHammer will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift certificate to a randomly drawnwinner.
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