Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 343

Review: PLAYING TO WIN by Ashlie Knapp

After a disastrous break up, Callie has vowed never to date an athlete again. Of course, that makes it a bit more challenging when you spend most of your nights as an NBA cheerleader. But, of course, she’s not doing it for kicks; she needs the tuition money for her college education.

Kyle is a basketball star with Southern charm and dreams of winning the NBA championship.
I wasn’t too interested in all the sports (not really my thing;) however, the author managed to create two characters that were more than their sporting stereotypes.  Playing to Win was pretty much like Love and Basketball in the basic sense that it had love and basketball. It’s a whirlwind romance in the midst of the games, the play-by-plays, the promo events, the conferences, and all those reporters. All that stuff was just not very exciting. I guess I was kind of hoping that the story wouldn’t get too involved in the basketball and focused more on the characters instead. But then again what can you expect when the characters areinvolved in basketball? And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, this is a great story for those who love romances and sports. I was fine on the romance, but the sports kind of killed it for me.
 
My rating: 2.5 stars

Review: SLANTINDICULAR by Katherine!

What the heck is SLANTINDICULAR? I didn’t have a clue.

It seems that this is “a collection of observations”—“stories among other things.”
 In one story, the author relays her earliest childhood memory, stating how television was her babysitter, teacher, and best friend, and how humans revel in the background noise rather than face reality, which is true.
 Some were snippets of odd anecdotes while others were just plain weird. What were drawings doing in this book anyways? Weird.  I often wondered what the point was on some of them. Did they even have a point? It was hard to tell sometimes because stories kept rambling on and on.

Still, for the most part, stories elicited a healthy dose of “oh, yeah.” Some are so witty and insightful that they may even give you a light chuckle.
 
My Rating: 3 stars

Review: RUSTICLES by Rebecca Gransden

This book is a collection of unconventional stories. Reading them felt almost poetic. The author describes the scenes very eloquently with minute detail, yet we know little about the characters. It almost felt incomplete in a way. Personally, I had a hard time connecting with the stories. Like the cover image, stories were murky and hazy with no clear view.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: MAGICK AND MOONLIGHT by Marie Lavender

On his first night in town, he encounters a woman dancing naked around the camp fire. Instantly, he is allured by her. She claims to be a witch, but, of course, that’s just balderdash.

Afraid that he might reveal her secret, she casts a love spell on him, and, boy, does the passion ignite quickly. But what will she do when the spell is over and he starts to remember everything?
A quick read of love and magick with a conventional plot and ending.
 
My rating: 3 stars

Review: 51 SLEEPLESS NIGHTS by Tobias Wade

A woman impregnated by her dead husband. A fire gone horribly wrong. And a phone that takes death selfies.

This collection of stories was pretty good with the exception for those that were not so good. I enjoyed the colorful irony in some of them, and the author seemed to write with this dark, poetic style. Some of these stories may spook you or cause some apprehension, while some managed to read like a gruesome haikus.  
Of course, to say that these horror stories can cause sleepless nights would be a fallacy. In fact, some actually might be the key to insomnia. All in all, I liked some but not others. The cover design was pretty cool.
My rating: 3 stars

Review: THE LYONS ORPHANAGE by Charlie King

An orphan that can read minds.

Sam is just one of the many in Mr. Lyon's Orphanage. Throughout the years, Mr. Lyons has nurtured the boy's love for literacy by providing him great works like Of Mice and Men, which is a story of male bonding and endurance. And it is because of this that Sam has great respect for the man, although it was strange how he could never be able to read his mind. And the one thing that Sam yearned to know was how his parents died.
The whole story mainly comprised of life in the orphanage, which wasn't very stimulating. I wasn't fascinated by the characters or the tepid plot. The only compelling thing was the boy's ability to read minds, which didn't really go anywhere.
All in all, this book wasn't what I expected.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: THE TEENAGE SPY by Naila Tennyson

This is the story of a boy named William, who just wanted to be a spy; however, his father wouldn't hear of it, so he leaves his home in search of adventure. Along with a new friend, William makes it a mission to be a spy. In fact, it becomes an obsession.

Although the concept of a teenage spy was interesting, the overall execution (the writing, the plot, etc.) was a tad trite and dull. I wasn't too taken by this book.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: SOUTHWEST ON THE A303 by Adam Gary

This is the story of a boy recalling his Uncle Bill just after his passing, and I guess the significance comes from the boy's expedition to Cornwall on the "famous A303." What's so famous about it? It's just a road, right?

The reader's just on the road with this story. Nothing really happened in the plot—at least, nothing interesting. I just didn't really feel any connection with it.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: THE DIE-FI EXPERIMENT by M.R. Tapia

This is the story of a man relaying his life as he sits, strapped to a chair, awaiting his execution. It all begins with how he met and fell for his wife.

For me, this story was confusing as this man on death row (which I never find out his name) constantly switches between his past life and his current predicament. And what was this experiment exactly? The Die-Fi Experiment? What's Die-Fi? What kind of story was this? And we have an Italian and a Japanese Geisha in the mix? Why, exactly?
This book was just all over the place that I had to re-read a couple of parts. But, even so, I just didn't get it.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: TRUE GRANDEUR by Cal R. Barnes

"If there was ever a sole, singular thing that led me to California, that would undoubtedly be it — a need for some kind of greatness." (6) 

Conrad Arlington, "the last true artist," believed to have had drive and talent, which led him to this Hollywood story. A young boy with big dreams, he embarks on a relentless journey for true grandeur.
Told in the POV of Conrad, this story is the coming-of-age of a young man as he makes his mark in the Hollywood scene, which he soon learns is a "dark place filled with the cries of broken people." Yet, the only thing that mattered was his art, the only voice that drowned out the noise of this mad city. His words of fear and determination were candidly profound and lyrical. Obviously, he was a true artist.
Although the story carried a lovely rendition throughout, there was also a lag at times.  The character's excitement to create great art was so intense and addicting that it almost wears out with such grueling and tenacious monologues about it. He just tended to go and on and on. I absolutely admired his persistence, but, after a while, it becomes somewhat weary and taxing. I probably didn't take to his story too well because he struck me as an arrogant, little snob right from the start. Therefore, what should've been a relatable and inspiring read actually turned out to be quite daunting and grating.
 
My rating: 2.5 stars