Martinez Books

Dr. Anna Huang is in Indonesia helping with tsunami efforts and relief. Finally throwing caution to the wind after 20 years of celibacy, she craves the touch of a man. Not just any man will do. She wants a man who will be gentle, yet forceful. Loving but willing to settle for just one night. She finds such a man in Rand, a bearded giant who comes to her rescue as she is swarmed by men all wanting something from her; something that she is unsure she will be able to give.
Rand Weatherby aches to feel the touch of a woman. Years of honoring vows to a wife now deceased, he wants to lose himself inside of a woman to alleviate the ghosts that haunt him. Past decisions have influenced Rand's life and he vows that they will not influence him on this. Looking for and waiting on the perfect woman to walk through the door of the bar in which he sits, he has almost given up hope. Until she walks in. Five feet two inches of pure and snow white innocence. When she is surrounded by men immediately, Rand decides then and there that she is his to save. And so the seduction begins.

Great things do come in small packages! Anna Huang was tiny, angelic and a complete surprise to me. Past hurts kept her from reaching out to men and I could sense her vulnerability. When she and Rand came together they were passionate, loving and I felt their connection to each other right down to my toes. The fact that Rand was so honorable just kept me spellbound wanting to find out his story. He was tenacious and I became entranced by his unwillingness to give up on Anna.

China Doll is a tantalizing tale set in the humidity of Indonesia. I could feel the sweat of the two characters and could envision their complete abandon with each other. As I read the last word, I just sat and thought about this book. How one author could make something so real that I felt the touches, I smelled the scents and have my heart pounding in tune with the characters. Steamy and sultry romance at its best, China Doll is a perfect addition to any bookshelf.

Talia
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

"China Doll" by Sunny. In Indonesia, Rand and Anna meet for the first time with both sharing in common a need to get past their respective pasts. Both desires a one night stand that they each believe will allow them to move on. Neither anticipated the desire for much more.

"Tempted" by Jami Alden. Coworkers Lauren and Tony have been best friends for years, but both hide their desire for much more from the other out of fear the relationship would die. However, an out of town weekend gala leaves them sharing a room in which the temptation proves stronger than the trepidation.

"Hot Wired" by Valerie Martinez. Lola visits San Francisco for a last summer fling before starting her career. However, she was unprepared for the hunk owner of a fiery red pickup that is his truck as much as his body. This is turning out to be the most wonderful summer of her life.

These three well written erotic romantic novellas star interesting protagonists who though they spend a preponderance of the story line (defined as pages) in bed have enough down time to make them seem genuine and their relationships real. SKIN ON SKIN is hot fun in the summertime.

Harriet Klausner

Purchased this kinda by accident. Unusual that I would like more than one story in an anthology (so I avoid them), but two of the three here were actually very good.

Tempted by Jami Alden. A story of best friends & co-workers becoming more. The characters and plot were fun, engaging and believable. Good Well done and very enjoyable read, I will be watching for more from this talented author.

Hot Wired by Valerie Martinez. What to say...hummm. Propogates racial stereotyping, and would be a scandal if written by an author from a different race than the heroine. If there was any indication of an HEA, I missed it, the story ends..."It hadn't been love between us, but rather pure lust." The characters are all loosers, the plot has heroine more sexually involved with a different looser than the hero, nothing uplifting or happy here. Seriously, when viewing a mans chest tatooed with multiple x-girlfriends...what woman fantasizes seeing their own likeness & name tatooed there? Not an author I will read again.

China Doll by Sunny. Typical of this author if you have read her before. Well written & engaging. Although a little choppy in places, pulls reader into the story. Very enjoyable.

The book warning "This is a REALLY HOT book, sexually explicit" is true...have fun with this one!

This Boook is Hooooot(Hot) Buy This Book if You don"t Belive me see a Docter And Tell Him To belive me.

This children's chapter book is one great book! It's both hilarious and sad. SpongeBob tries to fly with the jellyfish. He makes different gajets: a bat costum, an airplane, and ties himself to a kite. By accident he makes inflatible pants. He goes around Bikini Bottom (his hometown) and he becomes a superhero. He goes too far with the superhero thing. This book teaches a wonderful lesson of life. It teaches that you should never give-up on your dreams and you should keep on going in life!

This book is GREAT! It is better than any other book! This book is very easy to read I LUV THIS BOOK! I recommend this book to anyone who have seen the Spongebob Squarepants Lost episode. Well nothing else to say!

A short but intriguing novel set in 2001 from Eloy Martínez, a writer whose work battles between history and literature. Whereas 'Santa Evita' (****) and The 'Perón Novel' (****) saw history dominant, here it is the literary side that provides an (allegorical?) framework for an almost mystical search through the horrors of Argentina's recent history. Best read if you have a knowledge of Buenos Aires and Borges - and a map handy!.

Tomas Eloy Martinez is a superlative writer. He has written about his native Argentina in award winning books such as 'Santa Evita' and 'The Peron Novel' and though he has been on the faulty of Rutgers University (Latin American Program) since 1982, he first wrote THE TANGO SINGER in Spanish in 2004. It comes to us through the English translation by Anne McLean. Many idiosyncrasies here, but at least we finally have access to what is one of the finest novels this reader has read this year!Martinez writes with a flowing, dancing style and with a technique that obliterates the lines between the past and the present in such a unique manner that his style is utterly mesmerizing.

Bruno Cadogan lives in Manhattan and is writing a dissertation on Jorge Luis Borges' essays on tango and discovers a clue to understanding Borges' words about the famous Tango singer Carlos Gardel (in early 1900s) in finding information about a current tango singer Julio Martel whose strange life and lack of recordings drive Bruno to fly to Buenos Aires in hopes of not only hearing Martel sing but to also engage him in conversation to further define his dissertation. Upon arrival in Buenos Aires Bruno meets a fellow he calls El Tucumano and they room together (we are not sure to what extent these two attractive men are bonded) and together they search the city for performances by Martel. Every performance location, though thwarted, introduces them to different characters who relate different aspects of the history of Buenos Aires: the rooming house where the two live is also the location of a librarian Bonorino who lives in the cellar and is convinced he has found Borges' 'aleph' ('a point in space that contains all other points') and Bruno falls under the spell of the new information. But the main goal of finding Martel overtakes him and eventually he is on the trail of the mysterious tango singer who was born a hemophiliac and has a distorted body and health. Ultimately Bruno meets Martel's lover Alcira and meets Martel in an ending to the novel.

The story of Martel's strange life is alone fascinating enough for the novel to hold the reader's interest, but Martinez doesn't stop there. He finds ways of reviewing the long history of Buenos Aires from 1810 when the Spanish domination was ended through the many trials of political upheaval, through the Peron era, to the present 2001 period when five presidents were elected and rejected within a week's time! He lets us get to know the mysterious city of Buenos Aires: 'the shape of a labyrinth is not in the lines but in the spaces between those lines'...'the true labyrinth of Buenos Aires is its people. So near and at the same time so distant. So similar on the outside and so diverse within. Such reserve, which Borges tries to assert as the essence of Argentina, and at the same time such shamelessness.'

Tomas Eloy Martinez' style of writing takes some mental adjustment to keep the timelines clear and he uses no quotation marks making it difficult at times to differentiate between conversation and reportage, but the style once understood is like the music about which he writes. This little novel has all the seduction and romance and challenge and lust of a tango. It is brilliant! Highly recommended. Grady Harp, June 06

If you love Argentine culture, literature and her people, this is an extremely satisfying novel. If you don't know a lot about Borges or Argentina in general, it may not be the best Martinez novel for you.

I attended this book's release party, which was also a birthday party for Tillman Franks. It was a wonderful day, filled with great music. As Faron Young's biographer, I made many contacts who were later helpful to me. Franks wrote an important story, and I enjoyed reading about all the familiar names. What detracted from the book was its lack of editing--numerous typos and other errors. Still, it contains much valuable information about people like Jerry Kennedy, Glenn Sutton, David Houston, Johnny Horton, Claude King, and many others.

This book was so easy to read and I really could not put it down until I was finished! Tillman Franks did a great job of telling his story and it is absolutely fascinating. I can highly recommend this book!

This is one of those books that is long overdue. I was just beginning in radio when I first met Tillman Franks. It was through this legendary bass-fiddle player, personal manager of super stars, songwriter and country music promoter ... all-in-one ... that I met most of those mentioned in this book. Tillman was not only "there when it happened" ... in many instances, he was responsible for many good things in country music "happening" in the first place! It was through Tillman that I first met Elvis. I would appear on several show with 'Old El'. It was also Tillman who introduced me to Johnny Horton, David Houston and so many others. Although I never met my idol, Hank Williams, Sr., Tillman Franks was also responsible for much of Hank's super stardom. This book, written in the easy, Louisiana speaking style of the author, not only takes you backstage with so many legends, it takes you to the dressing rooms! Yes, Tillman was there when it happened ... and I'm glad he was. You don't have to be a fan of country music to enjoy this very good book. It's musical history, told by a man who belongs in our Country Music Hall-of-Fame ... which will eventually "happen", of course.

This book exceeded my expectations for three reasons.

First, I was impressed by the pacing and realism (real terror), which is what I expect from well executed horror, rather than just body count.

Second, it was superbly illustrated, contributing to the overarching themes, rather than overshadowing the work as a whole.

Finally, and most importantly, the book explores new themes for the Zombie genre, with a dose of post-mortem existentialism(pun intended!)

Definitely recommended.

This little book turned into a big surprise. I picked it up because it was cheap and would push my order total over the limit for free shipping. When it arrived I was very happy, it's an illustrated short story. While the story is pretty run of the mill for zombie fiction, the art work is fantastic.

Such a great find! At a fast, brutal, horrifying pace, and with rich, gorgeous and gory illustrations, this short story reads quickly. But it's definitely worth a second and third time through. Wynter throws the reader into a helpless, terrifying piggyback ride with a flesh eating zombie, while the visuals of Rudy Martinez shock and tantalize simultaneously. Congrats to all at InkPen Mutations. I love this little book...and I'm a 'hater'!

Saturday, December 02, 2006
"The Battle for New Orleans" by Jimmie Joseph Martinez, ©2006

This book was written by my brother Pete's brother-in-law.
I am impressed by this story. It is most impressive by how surprising it gets: it is a romantic story with a bit of business thrown in. I sort of thought it would be a mystery or a suspense novel, but it turned out to be a really good business romance type of story. It is nice that no one was hurt in this story: no dead bodies, no torturing; just a business chess game.
Nappy, the hero, is trying to obtain the cacino license for Louisiana. He is attacked, he knows, in various alternative ways to prevent or at least, skew the process for his opponent. It turns out, he is right and the rest of the main story is about his fight to get that license against heavy odds. I liked the undercurrent of love and sacrifice he finds very satisfing. This is a very good story.
The beginning was a bit slow. I put it down, but realized that I did not have any other better book to read, so I picked it up again. Then it got really good. Something odd was all the money that was being thrown around, $100 million this, $35 million that; to me, that is rather a lot, but I guess that if you got it to start, banks will loan you more, but it sure is a lot.

I thought this was a great book. The characters were well developed and so was the story. It really kept me captivated. I would recommend this to everyone. The only problem I have is that I cannot find another book by this author.

This book was not what I expected. The subject of life in Los Angeles, CA, seemed sort of narrow but after reading the book there were many aspects I never considered. Not being involved in show business, this gave me a humorous insite into the trials and tribulations of working with show biz types. It also gave me a look at L.A. that I hadn't even begun to consider. L.A. is just a vast, busy metroplis where no one knows anyone and everyone just lives their lives in a bubble. But maybe that isn't always so. Maybe there really is the possiblity of life in L.A. I very much enjoyed reading this book and was constantly delighted at the "out of the square" look at life in L.A.

....in Los Angeles one day. She was striding determinedly across an overpass that spans the Hollywood Freeway just north of downtown..."

For reporter Al Martinez, the guy who looks like a Hispanic Einstein, this woman is type and metaphor of Los Angeles herself--and so it is, and so she is, to any one of us who've lived within her flashpoint gunpowder confines.

If you want to get under the skin of L.A., start with this book. I'm giving it a 4 rather than a 5 only because I've read Al's columns and have something to compare this book to. I know of only one newsman with the heart and guts and literary power of the author, let alone the worldweary humor that never wearies, and it's not Mencken, although his work sometimes reminds me of Mencken's. It's Mark Twain, who asked: "Can we afford Civilization?"

Here are two rather serious quotations from this oft-humorous gem:

You'd think that after all that anguish [he means the riots] we'd come up with some stable course of action to make things better between the races generally and in the South-Central section particularly. But what emerged wasn't a powerful program to enfranchise the forgotten, but a call, you guessed it, to improve our image. Keep the naked fat lady who in her madness strides no-where, but tie a nice little ribbon in her hair.

We create our own Skid Rows by turning our backs on segments of the population who no longer attract our interest. Because they dwell in economic brackets that allow their homes and apartments to fall into disrepair, we either label their dwellings slums and allow them to rot, or rip them out in the name of urban renewal. What we don't see won't hurt us, though we've learned the hard way that what we don't see now we'll later see in the crimes and riots that are the handmaidens of despair.

I enjoyed reading this collection of columns very much. I am sorry it is out of print. It is worth searching for. You won't be disappointed.

__DANCING UNDER THE MOON__ contains a number of Al Martinez's column which cover a myriad of subjects that alternately make you laugh, cry, get angry, feel empathy, feel good, feel bad, just shake your head, or experience any of a hundred other emotions.

Some examples of the above follow:

In one column, he tells the story of a young woman who tries to come to the aid of a young man in an East L.A. barrio who is being severely beaten by several gang members. She is the only person who tries to help him while several people at a nearby fast food joint just watch while she tries to protect him with her own body. Sad to say, she only temporarily brings the beating to a halt before one man stabs the victim 11 times and kills him.

In another, Martinez tells of a local bank which has a dress code requiring women to wear panties but has no uch rule that requires men to wear undershorts.

He tells of the uproar among teens at one of the wealthier local high schools when a City Councilwoman suggests that alternatives to proms which cost over a thousand dollars (including the prom itself, limo's tuxes, etc.) which might make it possible for the less affluent students to attend too.

In another teen oriented column, he talks about how some teens feel that they are being denied their constitutional rights when their high schools attempt to remove unhealthy foods from the campuses.

In another column he tells of the patients in a Hospitalh emergency room waiting room diagnosing one another's ailments with all the authority of trained physicians. For example, the man who diagnosed another's stomach ailment as the result of eating peanuts even though the man with the stomach problem hadn't been eating peanuts.

He talks of his personal sense of loss when his pre-school grand-daughter and her parents move out of his home into their own. He had dreaded the thought of a child in diapers living in his home, then felt even worse when, after a couple of years she left.

These are only a few examples of the dozens of columns included in _DANCING UNDER THE MOON__. It's one of those books that you can pick up at any time, read for a few minutes, put down, pick up again later, and not worry that you've lost your train of thought.

I am a student at the University of Westhill in Mexico and currently studying law. This book did not "beat around the bush"! It got right down to the bone of what the Judicail system is all about. I totally recommend to all my fellow students!

An insightful meditation about Law and Justice. Departing from philosophical meditations the author has a new approach to take us beyond of what we understand as the "Penal Process". This book offers plenty of original material.Is written with elegant and eloquent style. Fort the one who likes philisophy, for the seasoned lawyer and researchers, they'll find thistitle a stimulating challenge to their intellect

The great thing is that the setup was fairly easy and the children were able to learn and retain what they learned according to the results of the tests that were administered. However, I would have been happier if we were able to get a cheaper price on this item, because the quality of the product did not quite warrent the price.

This book has sparked a new passion at our program - seeing how much we can interest the children in learning through fun. The activities are very exciting and have helped our staff come up with many new ideas. It's true, you can have fun while teaching and learning. Our favorite activity is the Haiku Straw Paintings. They are displayed for all to enjoy and the children show them to everyone entering the site.