Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 360

Review: BREAKING FREE by L.L. Collins (novella)

This is all about a young girl’s will to “break free” from her home and family to find independence at a college university. Right away, I applauded the pursuit of higher education and growing up. I agree that high school is nothing like college—it’s better.

On first impression, Alexis seemed too perky and perfect—valedictorian, cheerleader, lots of friends, guys asking her out, and wanting to be a doctor. And then there was Greer, who was the opposite—the nerd, the tech-geek, the friendless, the one people made fun of. The fact is that Greer has Aspergers. So when the two get teamed up as lab partners, it made for an compelling spin. This is all about looking beyond first impressions.
The interesting thing with both of these characters is that they don’t necessarily fit the stereotype. Alexis may be a cheerleader, but that didn’t make her a blonde bimbo; and Greer may be called a loser, but he had movie-star good looks and a sculpted body.
I liked Greer. He may not be sociable and his communication skills may need some work, but he was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. I find that interesting, and, apparently, so did Alexis. I found it sad how the college cheerleaders can be just as mean as high school cheerleaders. What problem did they have with Greer? He was a nice guy! Like Alexis said: Why are people so mean?
This is a cute college friendship-turned-romance. The story is sub-par and somewhat banal. It’s practically an after-school special to teach kids good behavior (a must, in my opinion!) “If we all spent more time worrying about helping others rather than thinking we’re so much better than them, the world would be a much better place.” (36) A cliché you’d so hear in one of those programs.
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: THE BOOKSHOP ON THE CORNER by Rebecca Raisin (a novella)

“You know the frustrating feeling of losing the page in your book? You didn’t want to go too far forward and spoil the surprise, and you didn’t want to go too far back, so you kind of stagnated and started from a page that didn’t seem quite right…that was how I felt about my life.” (LOC 76)
Sarah always kept her nose in a book (like me!), waiting for something to find her yet worried she may never be found. Yes, it would be nice to have a man who understood your love, or obsession, with books. But where do you find one? What’s a girl to do to get off a rut? Start a book blog, where she would be free to discuss books and connect with other book aficionados. It’s always easier to live vicariously through a book.
Suddenly a handsome stranger has the books falling out of Sarah’s hands. Then a story of puppy love unravels.
You can’t help but love Sarah’s love for books and the cute, little love story is endearing. However, I got kind of sick of hearing all the talk about weddings and babies among the circle of friends. Seriously, those women were just nosy and neurotic. I also didn't adore the small-town life, which, let's face it, is usually filled with nosy busybodies.
I liked the hopeless romantic concept, but wasn’t all too impressed with the writing, which had expressions like “sticky-outy.” I guess it was sort of fitting as the main character was shy and introverted in a cute, dorky way.
Sweet, short, typical love story.
My rating: 3.5 stars

Review: BLUE FLAMINGO by Joyce V. Harrison (a novella)

Blue Flamingo is the name of a bar. The name was printed on the back of a matchbook. At first glance, the place seemed to be nothing special. But...could it be a possible connection to a mystery, a mystery concerning his mother?
This is the aimless journey of a young slacker. What he expects to find, I do not know.
Our main character, Dylan, certainly carried an airy, witty demeanor, and it was amusing seeing him interact with various eclectic characters throughout. However, the story progressed rather slowly, even for a novella. For a while, we simply forget about the mystery and focus on a budding relationship in the midst of a deserted, ratty community. And why did Rita's story (Rita is the bar owner) get mixed in here? Was she Dylan's mother? Oh, that would be a hoot.
I liked the way it started with the character's snarky comments, but it just sort've waned from there. Overall, I thought the concept was okay, but the read wasn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be.
My rating: 2.5 stars   

Review: RANDOM PSYCHIC by D.N. Leo

Madeline has a psychich ability - she can see people's minds.

Her best friend has been kidnapped and will die, unless Madeline locates an Avatar (one of those character things online, right?) she must find out who plays with Jo using the name "White Knight."

Story is kind of like a Mission Impossible mystery with all the covert operations concerncing a wealthy, prestigious family and conspiracy theories. They just happened to throw a psychic into the mix.

Ultimately, the story was slow and the characters were not amusing.  

My rating: 2 stars

Review: MURDER BEHIND THE MOON by Alfred Becker

A balmy night in July 1969.
There's a spaceship.
A bloody knife.
And a boy lying dead in the grass.
This is all inextricably linked in my memory.
But let's start at the beginning...




My thoughts: A little boy is murdered during the TV viewing of the moon landing, and forty years later, Ralf is still haunted by the image.

In reality, the whole book takes place in the bar with people talking about that murder, which I thought was weak. I was left unfulfilled and expected more detective work. There was just no thrill.
 
My rating: 1 star

Review: BAD MEN AND MAD MEN by A.J. O'Brien

Story starts off in a haze of confusion, unsettling the reader. Then we jump back three months to a college professor giving a lecture to a room full of students. The name Casey Lee Jones comes up. The cop killer? Can he see into the future? Mmmm, interesting.
Reader follows the story in the POV of Jeff, who I guess is some kind of researcher. Who were these characters? Reporters? Theorists? And what does all this have to do with Casey Jones? The plot really wasn't as riveting as I thought it would be. It lagged too much with complexity and tedium.
My rating: 2 stars

Review: TRIPPING THROUGH by Michelle Morgan

This is the story of Karly A.K.A. “The Strangeness Attracter.” Nothing seems to go right for her; she always seems to step in it. I can relate. She is the accident-prone, the bumbling idiot, the Canadian Urkel. The best thing about her was even though she was a disastrous jinx, she still had a positive outlook.

Of course, nothing can compare to the mess of her bad break-up. Seriously, the guy didn’t pay rent, didn’t pay for dinner, accused her of cheating, and even took the toilet paper! That’s why she vowed never to date a “good for nothing TV zombie.” Good!
Karly is so adorable—she babbles when she’s nervous and she honestly means well. It’s not her fault that things take a sour turn every once in a while. By the way, I love the movie, Pure Luck, too.
Things get interesting when she develops a crush on Alex, a therapist for the accident-prone. But when it seems like her crush is unreciprocated, she begins speed dating, which leads to a series of bumbling fall-outs. In fact, the whole story is just one disaster after another.
Funny, charismatic, and quirky, this story narrates Karly “tripping through” life.
My rating: 4 stars

Review: SWEETLY SCANDALOUS by Jacqueline Winters

A hard-core reader and a blogger: right away you’ll be able to relate to the main character. Allie has always been a fan of her romance novels, until one day, she meets a man right off the pages of Harlequin. You could’ve knocked her over with a feather when she discovered the alluring man was the new doctor at the hospital where she worked. Well, that might give her reason to stay in Willow Creek, a town so small that everyone knows your underwear size. I guess that’s what always bothered me about small towns. Of course, fiction is much more stimulating than the small-town reality. And, surely, as soon as Dr. Nick Bryant, recent divorcee, moved in, the town was all over him like ketchup on fries.

Right away you feel for the two main characters. Allie is trying to leave town to escape a troubled past; and Nick is trying to settle into a new life that was thrust upon him by a cheating wife. Both want to forget what happened and move on. Yet neither could help the tingling attraction for the other.  The fun part was sneaking a peak at the good doctor and his “man-snake.” Full of sweet and sensual moments, the two grow closer.
Overall, the story was well-written with enriching detail of country living, but it had a few lagging areas that slowed the pace. What picked it up for me, however, were the potential threats of the past coming to ruin things for the sweet couple: an old flame known as “The Travis Tragedy” and a malicious ex-wife refusing divorce. This is the good stuff, but, again, it takes a while to get there.
As indicated by the title, story is “sweetly scandalous,” showing an earnest, beautiful, and smoking-hot love blossoming in the midst of terrible secrets and vile corruption in a small town. Full of excitement, vengeance and blackmail, this novel takes the reader on a long, winding road through heart ache, love, and recovery.
My rating: 4 stars

Review: CLUTCH by Lisa Becker

Caroline has had a love for handbags since she was little, so it was natural that she came to be a designer for handbags. Her dream, however, is to start her own handbag line called Clutch.
“Much like a handbag, she believed a man was an accessory that needed to be perfectly matched. This is the true story of how she had to try out a number of different handbags to find the one she wanted to clutch – or hold onto.” (27)
Story started off a little slow, beginning with her obsession with handbags, but it was interesting to see how they related to the men she’s dated. I must admit that some of these were enjoyable, like “Hobo,” the one with the starving artist bum that mooches off Caroline. I mean, stealing from her, really? Each chapter is named after a specific handbag as it relates to the man. In “Messenger,” Caroline runs into a guy that won’t stop speaking in bible quotes, claiming to be a messenger for God. Yeah, that gets annoying fast. These dating experiments along with best friend Mike’s sarcastic remarks and childish antics made for a pleasant and easy-flowing read. I liked Mike. He was funny, charismatic, and willing to lend an ear. But, most importantly, he gets Caroline, he understands her and knows what she wants. Mmmm, maybe he was “the clutch?”
Witty and heartfelt, Clutch is a light, fun romantic-comedy about trying on different styles (of men) before the right one fits.
My rating: 4 stars

Review: GOAT LIPS: TALES OF A LAPSED ENGLISHMAN by Matthew Taylor

This is a collection of stories about Matthew Taylor, chronicling events from his audition as “Goat Lips” to his near-orgasm of owning his first car.
The author relays an honest and witty account in a light and philosophical manner. The events in the book are somewhat analyzed from the character’s point of view, like his theory on jumping in first naked, for example. Some were interesting while others were just weird, like his idea of changing the word “clothing” to “jiggle-stoppers.”  Ooo-kay.
I thought these tales were good in a sense that they were generally well-written; they didn’t impress me so much as some tended to drag on and on with gratuitous details. It’s like the character was going on and on about a point, talking senselessly about it, but never actually gets to the point, which caused for some enervated reading.
 My rating: 2.5 stars