Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 99
October 21, 2023
Review: BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Issue 1 by Jordie Bellaire
Willow and Xander meet Buffy…thevampire slayer.
This has some cool action scenes,of course, but I couldn’t read some of the chunks of text since it was toocrowded and too small. In this first issue, Buffy fights your typical vampires,except one doesn’t die. Huh? The whole thing ends with the arrival of Drusilla.An interesting start.
Rating:4 stars
Review: BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Issue 5 by Jordie Bellaire
Xander’s been bitten! He’s betweenDeath and Demon. Can Buffy save him? Or will he turn into a vampire?
The change that Xander goesthrough was really awesome to watch! Such cool angles and graphics! A cool one,for sure!
Rating:4 stars
Review: BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Issue 4 by Jordie Bellaire
Buffy, Willow, and Xander havebeen training and fighting together. This time, Willow’s been meddling inBuffy’s love life. Meanwhile, Drusilla attacks Xander, who has his own lovewoes over Buffy. Again, this wall fluff and no action. They’re really short andquick, but they all end with a TBC (To Be Continued.) Angel shows up at thevery last scene.
Rating:3 stars
Review: BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Issue 7 by Jordie Bellaire
Willow’s going nuts! This was likea psychedelic dream or something. Dreaming that Xander was dead? A vampire?What? Then she re-lives the past, I guess. Couldn’t really figure this one out.But, again, the pictures were cool.
Rating:3 stars
Review: BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Issue 6 by Jordan Bellaire
Enter into a Bug Universe to helpsave Xander from turning into a vampire. This one was a little odd and wordy.Cool special effects though.
Rating:3 stars
Review: FAITH Issue 1 by Jeremy Lambert
Faith is my girl! My favoriteslayer!
This is Faith’s backstory, whichis interesting, but still the text was hard to read. Cool fight scenes asalways. Whatever you do, don’t interrupt Faith when she’s watching a movie. Apretty good read.
Rating:3 stars
October 20, 2023
Blog Tour: TALES OF TIMOTHY TIP TRUCK: TIMOTHY GETS STUCK by Mark Lawrence
Children's Book
Date Published: August 29, 2023
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Tales of Timothy Tip Truck is a series of short, fun stories that are based on real-life experiences by the author. They relate to the workings of trucks and earthmoving machinery as told to his two young boys at the time. The stories combine fun with learning some old-fashioned values including honesty, respect, caring for animals and those less fortunate, friendship, manners and the environment.
Review: This is the story of Timothy, thehappy, little tip truck. One day after work, Timothy decides to splash in somepuddles and gets his wheel stuck in the mud. Oh no!
The illustrations were cute andcolorful. A nice story with a good lesson of heeding to warnings.
Rating:4 stars
Purchase Link
Blog Tour: THE LOST CHILD by Thomas Grant Bruso
The Lost Child
by Thomas Grant Bruso
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: ContemporaryCrime/Thriller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Newspaper reporter Luke Sorenson has recently moved to a new townin upstate New York. Despite the change in scenery, Luke cannot run away from abrutal, harrowing past driven by the death of his only child, Emily.
Soon,Luke is propelled into a dangerous case of child abduction, an eerie reminderof losing his daughter. An eight-year-old boy named Daniel Hadley is kidnappedfrom his own bedroom and it is Luke, battling his own demons, who is assignedthe story of the year.
Aspieces of Luke’s mysterious, violent past are revealed, so are the sinistersecrets to his daughter’s demise, sending Luke into a tailspin of heavydrinking and self-torment.
Thesearch for Daniel is on, but it may be too late for everyone involved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt One:
Prologue
He watches her. She is alone.
She is six, maybe seven years old. She is having a picnic inthe front yard with her dolls.
The girl’s hair is the color of spun honey. Her eyes, darkbrown, innocent, come alive when he hears her talking to one of her plasticdolls.
Her voice is lively, soft, and gentle.
She laughs as the man shifts his footing in the shadowywoods across from her house. A small branch snaps underfoot, the sound of hisweight on the thick twig imploding like fireworks.
She looks up from grooming her doll’s hair and stares in hisdirection. The man creeps behind a leafy spruce tree to hide.
Two vehicles pass along the quiet suburban street. The manstares around the massive tree, watching the young girl.
The sound of her humming to her dolls makes him smile. Asplinter of electricity vibrates through his rangy limbs. Something mechanicalsurges through his veins and up and down his body to his scraggly face.
Trembling, he reaches a gnarled hand out against the thickbark of the tree to balance himself. His head is dizzy. His legs are unsteady.
He knows this feeling. It is familiar, like the blade of aknife skimming the surface of young flesh. Then he hears the sound of scaredchildren panting and crying in the back of his head. He sees their frightenedeyes, pleading for their parents, and he smiles.
He slips back into the brush behind the birch tree.
Watching. Waiting.
A dog walker passes two feet away. He skulks back into thecoiling shadows so they won’t see him.
He wipes sweat from his neck with the back of his hand.
The man’s identity is almost discovered when the sizeableblack lab points its nose toward the dense foliage. The owner tugs on the dog’sleash lightly and starts down the street, around the corner; now, they are outof sight.
The man waits for a second or two until he’s sure they’regone. He hugs the tree limb and cocks an ear to the sound of the young girl’smother yelling at her from the brightly lit porch.
“It’s getting dark, Susie. Come inside.”
Susie.
Sweet little Susie, the cigar-smoking man muses.
Curly-haired Susie. Doll-grooming Susie.
When the time is right, he will be back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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Thomas GrantBruso knew he wanted to be a writer at an early age. He has been a voraciousreader of genre fiction since childhood.
His literaryinspirations are Ray Bradbury, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Jim Grimsley, KarinFossum, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Bruso lovesanimals, reading books, and writing fiction, and prefers Sudoku to crosswordpuzzles.
In anotherlife, he was a freelance writer and wrote for magazines and newspapers. Incollege, he won the Hermon H. Doh Sonnet Competition. Now, he writes andpublishes fiction and reviews books for his hometown newspaper, ThePress-Republican.
He lives inupstate New York.
Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thomgrantbruso?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomasgrantbrusoauthor/?hl=en
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8591689.Thomas_Grant_Bruso
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomasgrantbruso/
Buy link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Child-Thomas-Grant-Bruso-ebook/dp/B0CJ6FRM5H/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY
Thomas Grant Bruso will be awarding a$10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during thetour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
October 19, 2023
Book Blast: A LESSER GOD by Don Hackett
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Don Hackett will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
As a young man, Dion Athamas was spiritually summoned to rapture then tenured god status. He had been endowed with all the benedictions to achieve sacredness: a devout flock, the power to heal and a covet for control. He also held a deep desire and ability to influence justice and universal liberty. The setting: the fictional town of Forgedmont, Mississippi, in the 1950s. Against great opposition he strived to become a new-age god; the earth was his oracle. He found faith-based conviction to be lacking in reason and truth. He chose to maintain an instinctive path to holiness. Regrettably for him and his followers, there were a great many roadblocks. He was forced to face off against the church, community, prejudice, family and scheming dreams influenced by fallacious spirits, all set forth to hamper his ascension to divinity.
Read an Excerpt
Test-tube love,
your hands are full,
your mind
is empty,
your pride can kill.
Pressure for life within the womb
With no clearance from God
On the road to the tomb.
Inside,
Outside,
No reason to stay,
A meaningful art in an
Inartful way.
Bring into light!
From
The darkness
Of blood,
The unwanted bare
With a shield from above.
I still had no idea who could be sending these poems. One wouldn’t have to be a Scotland Yard detective to figure out that the same person wrote both of these ludicrous poems. Who and why was a complete mystery to me. I was not an old man, and I knew nothing about any abortions. I was positively sure that my mom wasn’t having an abortion. I thought someone might be trying to be ironic, or just a pain in the rear—the latter being more likely.
About the Author:I have been writing poems and short stories for most of my life. It was not until I retired from my government position working with Special Needs individuals that I was able to focus on writing full time. The treatment of Special Needs people fostered in me a search for the explanation for the absence of morality in mankind. I have degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Calgary, Alberta.
Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJXBLWKZ/ref=sr_1_1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tw6639Hac
a Rafflecopter giveawayAbout the Author:I have been writing poems and short stories for most of my life. It was not until I retired from my government position working with Special Needs individuals that I was able to focus on writing full time. The treatment of Special Needs people fostered in me a search for the explanation for the absence of morality in mankind. I have degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of Calgary, Alberta.
Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJXBLWKZ/ref=sr_1_1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tw6639Hac
a Rafflecopter giveaway
October 18, 2023
Blog Tour: GHOST MOON by Kathryn Knight
Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Date Published: 04-03-2020
Publisher: Wicked Whale
When Lark Cavanaugh’s life in New York City falls apart, she’s left reeling from a staggering betrayal. She escapes to Cape Cod, where a distant relative has left her an old house with a tragic past. Rumors of a haunting presence plague the abandoned home, but Lark doesn’t believe in ghosts…until she has no choice.
After completing his military duty, veterinarian Jesse Holt returns to his small hometown to take over his father’s practice. He soon finds himself drawn to the alluring redhead now living next door, but she has made her intentions clear—she’s moving back to the city as soon as possible. When frightening events threaten her safety, though, he can’t deny his protective instincts.
Unable to fight their feelings, they give in to desire…but another battle looms. Lark’s arrival has awakened a decades-old mystery, and the truth of what happened at Holloway House will only be revealed when it claims yet another life.
Excerpt:
She bolted uprightin bed, the series of thumps that had awakened her still ringing in her ears.Fumbling for the light, she pulled the covers against her chest, as though thatcould offer some protection against whatever had made the noises. What the hell was it? She scanned theroom, her pulse skittering in jagged bursts. Why was this happening to her?Hadn’t she been through enough?
Nothing in thebedroom appeared to be the source of the disturbance, but her instincts toldher the sounds had originated from somewhere else in the house. And itdefinitely wasn’t the cat this time—he was still at the vet’s.
Reaching for herphone, she sucked in a breath as she noticed the time…1:06 a.m. Exactly thesame time she’d been awoken last night. She glanced back up to the hallway dooras she jabbed at the screen, pulling up the keypad just in case she needed tocall 911. In addition to occurring at the same time, though, whatever she’djust heard sounded similar to last night’s mysterious disturbance, and that hadn’tbeen an intruder. Not a living one, anyway.
As if on cue, ahaunting moan shivered through the air. Her lungs froze as a fresh spike offear pierced her chest. Oh, God.There really was something wrong with this house. Fighting the urge to diveback under the covers and hide, she slowly climbed out of bed, unsure whatexactly she was going to do. Check the house, for starters, she decided. Hermind was still begging for a more reasonable, less terrifying scenario. Aquirky appliance, maybe?
With each tentativestep, she paused, waiting for something else to happen. As she made her wayinto the hall, a chill enveloped her, and she crossed her arms, rubbing thegoosebumps rising on her skin. Below her, the stairway unfurled into shadowscast by the upper hall light.
A loud crash rang out behind her, and shejumped, a scream tearing from her lips.
***
Review: Lark was moving into an abandonedhouse that everyone in that small town believed to be haunted. Good thing shedidn’t believe in ghosts, right? That is until the noises started happening.Weird, creepy noises. Unfortunately, those noises kept her up at night. Theonly bright side to all this was meeting the handsome vet that saved her sickcat. And what luck that the hunky vet was also her neighbor. If only shewouldn’t embarrass herself with these strange sleepwalking episodes.
The narrative was descriptive andgenerally compelling. At times, the prose felt long and slow. I find it mucheasier to read shorter chapters rather than long ones. The whole thing mainlyrevolves around some eerie occurrences and jumpy paranoia. Well, who wouldn’tbe paranoid with ghosts hanging around, right? It’s a slow mystery for sure. Idid like the romantic element between Lark and Jesse. I was hoping the mysterywould’ve had a stronger presence though.
A fairly nice read overall.
Rating:3 stars
About the Author
USA TODAY Bestselling Author Kathryn Knight writes books filled with steamy romance, dangerous secrets, and haunting mysteries. Her novels are award-winning #1 Amazon Bestsellers and RomCon Reader-Rated picks. When she's not reading or writing, Kathryn spends her time exploring abandoned places and searching for ghosts. She lives on beautiful Cape Cod with her husband, their two sons, and a number of rescued pets.
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