Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 345

Review: A MAGICAL SHIFT by Vella Day

Two werewolves + One Witch = A Magical Shift

Rye is a shifter destined to be the Alpha male of his clan. Isadora is a powerful witch aiming to help her coven in any way she can. The two cannot deny the immense attraction.  But how could a wolf mate with a witch? One can definitely find out.
But then a lone wolf stalks into town and he wasn’t leaving until he made Isadora his mate for life.
I was fascinated by the supernatural world of witches and werewolves, and the evil wolf surely added a thrilling twist to the story. But, overall, this was just a mating story. The sex, of course, was intense and powerful. The climactic scene where the wolves fight was rundown and should’ve had more excitement. Still, this was a pretty good story.
 
My rating: 4 stars

Review: TOUCHED by Hazel Hunter

Isabelle is a psychic with the gift of touch. All she has to do is touch something to get a series of visions about it, which, at times, can be overwhelming. That’s why you always see her wearing gloves.

Right now, she’s on the case for the missing daughter of a retired FBI agent, who brings in his protégé for assistance. However, Mac doesn’t need a so-called “psychic” to get in his way, even if she did have the most ravishing legs he’d ever seen. Even though they may not see eye-to-eye, the two make an electrifying team and neither will rest until they find the kidnapper. Of course, they make time for a romp in the sack though.
All in all, this was an easy and enjoyable read, but it just seemed that the story didn’t concentrate on the missing case so much and mostly revolved around the two having sex. And she kept the gloves on the whole time. I mean, we don’t even find out what Mac’s deal with this woman from his past. I guess we’d need to find out on the next story of the series. Still, the ending was too convenient and weak. I wish we would’ve had more psychic action rather than regular action.
 
My rating: 3 stars

Review: THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S ASSISTANT by Lulu Fairhazel

Provocative cover! You can obviously tell what this is about.

The premise was quite simple. Hanna is an assistant intern to a prize-winning photographer that specializes in boudoir art.  This photographer is a moody, eclectic bastard, but, nonetheless, Hanna agrees to pose for him in exchange for studio time. Of course, we all know what this leads to.
Although I loved the London art scene, I couldn’t help but feel daunted by the eroticism.  Basically, nakedness was art. Didn’t take too well to that notion.
The London scenes did bring me back though with the Underground, Big Ben, and the Lake District.
 
My rating: 2 stars

Review: VIVIAN’S LIST by Haleigh Lovell

Why is Vivian wasting her time with that jerk Brody? Liam, her brother’s best friend, can’t figure it out either and has made it his mission to look out for her. If only he can shake off the intense attraction to her.
After getting rid of the cruel boyfriend, Vivian decides to prove she’s not “frigid” so she compiles a list of sexual escapades (a sexual bucket list.) And Liam might be just the guy to help her out.
Sex with no strings attached. Is that possible? Vivian soon realizes that sex can be more—much more.
A wonderfully sexy story!

My rating: 4 stars

Review: RAMP RAT by C.C. Standish

Dedicated to the working stiff with a double life

Welcome back, Conrad! Last time, the witty slacker gave us a bungling account of working low-wage retail and fast-food jobs in The Customer is Always Wrong. I just enjoy this author’s hilarious accounts on work and life. His satirical prose summarized how much working sucks. Now, as he approaches his 20’s, he begins working as a baggage handler at Aircraft Services, which allowed him to fly damn near anywhere for free, which may not sound like much, but for a Minnesota kid, who was “landlocked in the center of the United States” and has never been anywhere, this was a desperate cry for freedom. “There was a big world out there full of fun girls.” (8)
This book takes the reader into the life of a Ramp Rat. “In some ways, the airport was a lot like prison: each day you passed through a secured gate into restricted government property and spent the next eight hours surrounded by men with nothing but time on their hands.” (29)
I kind of figured working the grinds of a terminal airport would be mindless and tedious. Admittedly, the day-to-day tasks slowed down the story a bit with all the plane jargon and whatnot. But, just like the last book, the story was full of colorful characters and snarky dialogue.
“I pondered my next move: my girlfriend had just dumped me, my rent was being raised, and my overnight bag smelled like piss.” (63)
In this sequel, good ole’ Conrad learns the hard way that life ain’t all peachy keen and that sometimes, even though you don’t want to, you have to be a grown up.
The book had the same old intellectual wit and crude commentary from the previous work, but it just felt a little subpar. The story tended to go off-tangent at times and it sort’ve lagged a bit. I definitely liked the first book better. This one was pretty good, but not as good as the first.
 
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: UNDER by Abigail Blakely

It all begins with a woman waking up in a dark and desolate environment. She doesn't know where she is or how she got there. She doesn't even remember putting on a green dress. In fact, she can't even remember her own name. When she encounters a boy claiming to be "no one," she's desperate for answers, so he tells her that's she's dead. But that's impossible.

At first, she doesn't believe it, until she becomes surrounded by grotesque monsters and foul creatures. Then she begins to wonder: maybe she is in Hell? But, instead, they call it Under, a place the dead have fallen into to wander aimlessly in dark shambles.
The story instantly grabbed me with its alluring mystery. Of course, anything involving death usually has a compelling mystery behind it. But this one had an interesting spin on it. Named after an object that they died with, these characters are lost souls, carrying an air of grim despair and misery. Our main character is called Key, named for the key she was left with. Though the idea of naming each character after an object was clever, I also thought there were just a few too many characters to keep track of.
Suddenly, news spreads of a murder. How could somebody murder the dead? You can't kill something that's already dead. That tidbit was very unsettling. It just didn't make sense.  So, with a killer on the loose, everyone in Under was in a frenzy, and then Key begins to wonder if the key she has could be the answer to something. After all, "every key unlocks something."
All in all, the book was well-written and the story carried an exquisite element that combined horror, mystery, and fantasy. In fact, I could almost see this turning into a Tim Burton film. Story had its morbid, odd-ball characters with a twisted, nonsensical plot. The mystery was certainly interesting, but the whole thing was just a big, dark maze that the reader has to blindly fumble through, meaning that you hardly know what's going on and you can't see where you're going. And I guess that was the beauty of this story, but I just felt like I was running into too many walls with it. It's not bad, it's not good. It was okay.
 
My rating: 3 stars

Review: HOLLOW TOWN: THE DARK SIDE OF THE CITY by R.A. Marc

"Children went missing all the time, it happens here in America and in every single other country in the world...Most of the many thousands that happen every year, no one ever even hears about...It's only those few ones the press get a hold of and enter the national consciousness." (3)

Janet Wingers seemed to have been one of the many that went missing, even though it's almost unheard of for such a thing to happen in Central London. And how could she have disappeared from an enclosed dressing room at the mall?
Described as a "thriller suspense set in London," Hollow Town follows the investigation of a little girl's disappearance. Harry, a lead detective the parents hire for the case, believed this to be a crime of trafficking by a Saudi Arabian cartel. Then the story takes an alternate route, revealing how a wealthy Middle Eastern man named Ahmed was kidnapping these girls to support his lavish lifestyle.
Short, quick, and simple, story was pretty straightforward, although I kind of felt that it was a little too scattered. It didn't really have a natural flow. I mean, one minute, we are reading about the so-called versatile Patricia, who works for the detective agency that suspects the Middle Easterners, and the next minute, we read about a woman's abusive relationship with the Middle Eastern man, who confessed to all these kidnappings. And this was all in the first chapter. I mean, I honestly thought that Patricia was going to be the lead detective by how it started, but it turns out that a couple of gangsters were on the case. And why was there even a case when Ahmed practically revealed his whole operation to this ex-girlfriend, who confessed everything to the police? Perhaps the "thrill" was in catching this guy and his villainous cohorts. It just felt all over the place. There really wasn't much direction or real "thrill" in it. There was also a few typos in it, which I managed to overlook for the most part.
The writing was okay, and I liked the concept and all, but no way would I have called this a "thriller."
 
My rating: 3 stars

Review: THE ACCIDENT by Glen Ebisch

An accident mangled a face, resulting in a need for cosmetic surgery. At the age of 35, a woman was starting off new and improved, practically perfect. But, for Karen, perfection just seemed superficial. Still, there's a void in her life, ever since the car accident that took her husband's life and kept her from returning to the line of duty. But when a friend's sister goes missing, Karen is thrust into the case to figure out what happened.

Moving into the victim's home, Karen re-traces Justine's steps in an effort to find out where she was and why she left. Could it have anything to do with her estranged husband, a man she was seeing, or a complete stranger that broke in? Soon, Karen realizes that there was more to the disappearance than she thought.
Story was quick and simple, and the mystery was wistful and compelling. Karen is a practical, sensitive character with a strong will and endearing heart. She can definitely hold her own with her kick-ass taekwondo skills. Readers will cheer her on as she navigates this mysterious case with crafty ingenuity and solemn caution while also contending with survivor's guilt and the horrors of that dreadful accident.
A well-worth read!
 
My rating: 4 stars

Review: THE CON ARTIST NEXT DOOR by Sophia Han

Three short stories.

In "My Boyfriend, My Thief," a woman wonders how money could be strangely disappearing from her bank. But when the thief somehow gets to the last of her money from her box, she begins to ponder her own sanity...until she discovers the cold truth. "Mark, who I always thought was my hero, was actually my villain." (12)
 "Confessions of a Phone Scammer" gives a behind-the-scenes on those tricky phone calls and what happens when guilt settles in.
 "His dreams had to be my dreams" was the mantra Rachel recited when she married Aiden in "For Richer or Poorer." But when it seemed that Aiden was being scammed by a nameless company, she couldn't help but feel that her "reality" was putting a damper on Aiden's "perception."
Money may be the root of all evil, but, in this life, you can't live without money. And these characters make a point to do whatever it takes to get it, to make more money than they ever could at their J-O-B, which stands for "Just Over Broke." Yep, that's the song of the poor worker. These stories were so relatable that I could not have believed them anymore if it happened to me (and I've had similar experiences, too.) I mean, who isn't tempted by that "get rich quick" scheme? Who doesn't strive for that "better life?" But if something sounds too good to be true...well...The best thing about these stories is that there's something for everyone.

Witty and frank, these lovable shorts are a delight! The Con Artists is a beacon to life on the wrong side of the tracks. I look forward to more stories by Sophia Han.
 
My rating:  5 stars

Review: SPELLCASTER by George Bachman

16-year old Christine has something that nothing can cure with its excruciating pain and high fevers. But what’s causing this are visions of a mysterious person on the run from a strange man. Instantly, I was allured by this paranormal ramification. Unfortunately, this plot line fell flat.

Set in Victorian England, the story sets off to an ambiguous start with its dreary characters and trite setting. At first, I didn’t really know who was telling the story, and, as I dove deeper, I felt deterred by the plot, getting more and more confused. I actually had to go back re-read a couple of parts just to clarify certain things. At one point, I even had to go back to the summary just to see what the heck this story was supposed to be about. Perhaps it was the writing style or the story itself that set me off, I’m not sure.
The author created a worthy premise that incited me enough to want to read this, however, the execution was meager and subpar. As the title indicates, the book should’ve casted me under its spell, but I wasn’t. I just expected more from it.
My rating: 2 stars