Review: Jace by Alisa Woods

Book Description

His wolf is out of control. She’s a wild thing that won’t be tamed.

Ex-Army Specialist Jace River has a lock on his bedroom door, but it’s not to keep anyone out; it’s to keep his nightmares from breaking loose. His wolf is an out-of-control killer, which means he can never risk shifting, never truly be part of his pack, and definitely never take a mate.

Piper Wilding works for the Army as a civilian, traveling the world for her work in counterintelligence and fighting the bad guys while bedding down the good ones. The best part? It keeps her far from her asshole father in Seattle, the rest of the Wilding pack, and the pressure to take a mate. Settling down isn’t her thing, and after what happened to her mother, Piper vowed she would never be tied down by magic or men again.

While Jace’s wolf keeps him Sleepless in Seattle, Piper returns home to find her missing kid brother. When she breaks into the River brothers' safehouse, sparks fly and claws come out. Her sexy skills threaten to bring out Jace’s wolf, and Jace’s good-guy hotness reminds Piper how tempting shifter men can be. They’re like fire and gasoline, and as they race to find Piper’s brother, the heat threatens to burn down all their carefully constructed walls. But falling in love has never been so dangerous—and being together means taking risks that neither might survive.

RECOMMENDED: Read Jaxson (River Pack Wolves 1) FIRST! Jace is a complete novel with HEA, the second in the River Pack Wolves trilogy (all standalone stories, but best enjoyed if you read them in order!).

Contains scorching hot shifters, alpha military heroes, and sexy spy girls. Only readers over 18 should dive into the deliciously hot world of the River brothers.

My Review

Jace served in the military but that's when things seemed to have gotten worst for him because his wolf had gone crazy and killed people. He had a hard time keeping his beast under control and had to keep locks on his bedroom door in order to keep his nightmares from becoming a reality or worst. He couldn't allow himself to shift and let the beast loose, because the beast was bigger than most other wolves and stronger and he had very little control over the beast. 

He was helping his brothers catch up with Agent Smith, a guy who was kidnapping shifters and performing experiments on them. 

Piper Wilding made the mistake of breaking into the River Pack safe house, the same house that Jace and a bunch of other shifters just happened to be staying at. Jace was already awake as she tried to make her way up the stairs and he had no problem chasing her down and catching her. But she was there to speak to her brother who happened to be staying there because their younger brother was missing and she needed his help finding him. Instead of just getting her brothers help, she got a lot more help. 

The main story of trying to find the missing brother and find out where other missing shifters were being held and what for is a really intriguing story line. The story moves fast right along with the chaotic relationship that seems to be developing between Jace and Piper. 

There's a senator who wants all shifters to have to register and that would out them all to the general public. Most people know they exist but most people don't know who they are and a lot of people don't like the thought of being around them or doing business with them. 

In trying to find the missing shifters they uncover other things going on and some of the players in this are a shock to some of the characters. There are a couple of really good twists that really add to the story and made this exciting to read. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

Ken used to make fun of me when I'd share my food with the rats. But look what he's doing now. 

Little bite for me, little bite for you. Of course Falor sits there patiently waiting for a bite and Ken even feeds him right off his fork, something I would do with the rats that he just couldn't understand. LOL Falcor isn't spoiled at all, nope not one bit. 

Review: Jaxson by Alisa Woods

Book Description

Three brothers. Three Secrets. One hope to save the shifters of Seattle. Former SEAL Jaxson River would give his life for his brothers and his pack, but if he doesn’t claim a mate soon, he’ll be forced to step down as their alpha. There’s only one problem: Jaxson’s dark secret would kill any mate he claimed. With someone kidnapping shifters off the street—and only Jaxson and his brothers, Jace and Jared, to stop them—now is not the time for his secret to come out. 

Curvy Olivia Lilyfield is a half-witch orphan with a dark secret of her own. She wants to atone for it by doing good in the world, so when she finds a wolf being tortured in an alley, she doesn’t hesitate to help… even though wolves and witches mix like matches and TNT.

Olivia’s dangerous magic means she can’t let anyone get too close—but Jaxson can’t keep his hands off her, and his kisses are more than she can resist. As they race to save the disappearing shifters of Seattle, the true danger lies in loving each other. They’re playing with magical fire… and their secrets could end up destroying them both.

Jaxson is a complete novel with HEA, the first in the River Pack Wolves trilogy.

Contains scorching hot shifters, alpha military heroes, and sexy witches. Only readers over 18 should dive into the deliciously hot world of the River brothers.

My Review

Liv doesn't love her job as a reporter for a sleazy celebrity stalking paper but it's paying the bills for the most part and with her so far behind on the bills after a set of bad occurrences happened including getting hacked, she can't afford to drop this job. But that's exactly what she does and on her way home she spots a couple of guys torturing an animal and before she can think about what she's doing, she saving the animal from more abuse. 

Except the wolf wasn't just a wolf, it was a shifter. Once the bad men ran off the animal shifted and thanked her for trying to save him. 

Jaxson had sent Liv off after she tried to save him. He hasn't had much luck getting her out of his mind since then but since he was the alpha of the River Pack, he had a lot on his plate to keep himself busy. 

Jaxson needs an an office assistant and Liv needs a job so they come to an agreement and since they both seem to have the hots for one another it works out well for both of them. 

Shifters are going missing and Jaxson and his wolves are trying to figure out who is behind it. So when another shifter goes missing he and the other wolves go out to find her and that's when a lot of things start happening fast. This story is filled with secrets, twists and so many hot male wolf shifters that seem to be keeping secrets of their own. The three brother's all seem to have some deep dark secret of their own and I'm looking forward to finding out what they are. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"All this, for me. I don't think I can. "

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of Me*

"Happy Halloween."

Review: DegustaBox- October

DegustaBox is a monthly subscription box filled with food and drink products. The price for the box is $19.99 a month.  

You do not get to pick any of the products you get, it's a surprise each month. But they say each box contains 10-15 items and each box is worth at least $30. I like trying boxes like this because they usually contain products that I've never tried or haven't seen before. 

What was in the box?
Goetze's Candy Co. Cow Tales
Kernel Seasonings popcorn seasoning
Boboli pizza dough
Hippeas Organic chickpea puffs
Loacker raspberry yogurt wafer cookies
Welch's Fruit 'n Yogurt Snacks
Bush's White Northern Beans
SunButter Sunflower butter
Bush's kidney beans
Dave's Gourmet Overnight Oats
Artisan Tropic Plantain Strips with Cayenne seasoning

I liked everything in this box except for the popcorn seasoning. I don't eat a lot of popcorn but my grandson loves it so I gave the seasoning to my daughter. The last time there were Cow Tales candy in my box I found out that it's one of Ken's favorite candies. So he was very excited to see them again. lol 

The sunbutter tastes pretty much just like peanut butter and I liked it so that was good. The fruit 'n yogurt snacks are so darn good and again Ken was very happy to see them in the box. I like oatmeal but this is the first time I'd tried overnight oats but it was good. The plantain chips were hot! Tasty but spicy. I'm still on the fence about the chickpea puffs but they are edible. 

If you don't live in the US, they now have a Great Britain Website. Now here's a treat for you. If this box looks like something you'd like, you can use code MARYK-ACB and get your first box half off. That's a big box of food for only $10! and you can cancel anytime. So if you're interested, go to the DegustaBox site and sign up and don't forget to use my code to get your first box for just $10.

Have you tried any of these products?

Review: Crowdtap Crowdkit

I know I've talked to you guys about Crowdtap before but I wanted to show you one of the reasons besides the great Amazon gift cards that I love the site and keep going back...Full Size Free Products!

I received a full size product of each of the following...

Dove Cool Moisture Conditioner

Dove Dry Shampoo, Fresh Floral Scent

Suave Essentials Amethyst Sunset Body Wash

Degree MotionSense Deodorant, Fresh Energy Scent

Degree Clinical Protection Deodorant, Shower Clean Scent

My daughter loves dry shampoo, in fact I just gave her two samples bottles I had of it yesterday.

I already use Degree deodorants and I usually get the Cucumber Melon scents but the Shower Clean scent on this one smells really good. I like the Fresh Energy scent as well and will definitely be using both of them now that I have them. The Amethyst Sunset body wash smells so nice. It's nice to get one free so I'll know if I like it before I buy a bottle of it.

I haven't applied for many samples or products from Crowdtap recently because I hadn't seen things that I wanted to try until these boxes of products started to become available and I'm happy I was approved for one. This actually makes my second box of full size products that I've received from them and I am loving these boxes. If you still haven't signed up for an account with Crowdtap, what are you waiting for? 

Disclaimer: I received free products for review purposes.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

From Crowdtap I received *full size products*...

Dove Conditioner

Dove Dry Shampoo

Suave Body Wash

Degree MotionSense Deodorant

Degree Clinical Strength Deodorant

From Seventh Generation I received...

3 samples of Seventh Generation Baby Wipes and a pen. 

Other freebies

14 days worth of Loreal Revitalift facial moisturizer

Rachel Ray Nutrish Cat Food

3 coupons for free Enlightened Ice Cream and Bean Crisps

I already use the Dove, Degree and Suave products so I was ery happy to get those. The baby wipes are always nice to have around when my grandson comes over and gets sticky hands and I already use Revitalift products because I have other samples so I know I'll like this moisturizer. I'm quite happy this week. 

Did you receive any freebies or free samples this week?

Recipe: Softened Vegetable and Avocado Bean Salad

You'll need: 

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

1/2 cup of canned kidney beans, rinsed

1/2 cup of canned white northern beans, rinsed

1 TBSP cilantro, diced

2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. olive oil

What To Do:

Add olive oil to a saute pan and saute chopped onion, bell pepper and spices over medium heat for 5-7 minutes just until tender but still crisp. Set aside in refrigerator to cool off while you mix the other ingredients. 

In a large bowl add the rest of the ingredients and toss well. Once the softened vegetables are cooled add them to the bowl and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour before serving. 

I thought of this when I got 2 cans of beans in this month's Degusta Box. I wasn't sure what to do with them so I made something up and it came out really good. You can also skip sauteing the onion and pepper if you like them raw but I really don't like raw onion and cooking it for just a couple of minutes takes that bite out of it and makes then taste sweeter. This ended up being a great side dish. 

UPDATE: I also heated some up with a fried egg, a little grated cheese and some avocado tomato salsa. It was really good for lunch. 

Review: That Burke Man by Diana Palmer

Book Description

Todd Burke has no intention of getting hitched to anyone—even if his rodeo-riding daughter is crazy about Jane Parker. He tells himself there’s only room for one girl in his life, but secretly the single dad is nursing a Wyoming-sized crush on the beautiful rancher. There’s no way he’d ever give in to the hot-tempered, hot-blooded cowgirl from Jacobsville, Texas. Until one night changes everything...and Todd finds that he and Jane might just be a match made in cowboy heaven!

Originally published in 1995.

My Review

I've been reading Diana Palmer's books for years but even though this one had been released many years ago, I hadn't read this one so when I saw it on sale for .99 I went ahead and bought it. 

Todd knows his daughter isn't any good at barrel racing but she loves doing it and she is in awe of Jane Parker who is a legend in the sport. Todd meet Jane Parker after she makes what he thinks is a critical remark about his daughter and finds out that she's hurt, recovering but in pain. 

Jane's ranch is in need of a good accountant/bookkeeper and Todd let's her know he's really good with that sort of thing and he gets hired on to straighten out her books and she'll give his daughter some pointers to be a better barrel racer. 

I don't like lies or liars, it doesn't matter if it's a personal relationship or business relationship, it shouldn't start off with a lie and that's what happened in this story. It's the only thing that bothered me about this book. 

But even though they had a bumpy ride at first I really liked these two and Todd's daughter, Cherry is smart and just the right amount of sarcastic to make her really funny. I also felt bad for Cherry because her mother is a world class bitch. I want to say more but that would give too much of the story away so I'll just leave it at that. 

Overall I really liked this book and am glad that I read it. I usually enjoy this author's books and this was no exception even if it did have a few things about it that bothered me. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Target Beauty Box - 2nd September box

This was the 2nd September box, sometimes they release 2 boxes in a month and this was one of those times and was only $5,  but I can tell you from experience that if bought separately, this would have been quite a bit more. Not a bad value.  Each month Target releases a new Target Beauty Box but supplies are limited and it's first come first serve until they run out. These boxes go fast so I try to grab one as soon as I see it being talked about on Twitter or fb.

In this box was...

Curls Unleashed Curl Defining Crème

Curls – Blueberry Leave In Conditioner 

SheaMoisture Argan Oil & Almond Milk Smooth & Tame Shampoo 

Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion Deluxe Trial Size

Animalz Sheet Mask

St. Ives Invigorating Apricot Scrub

SheaMoisture Argan Oil & Almond Milk Smooth & Tame Blow Out Crème 

Chapstick Total Hydration- Blood Orange

I don't have curly hair, my hair is long and straight so I'll be donating that defining creme, leave in conditioner, shampoo and blow out creme to someone else. I'm sure my daughter probably works with someone with curly hair.

I really only bought this box because I wanted that Blood Orange Chapstick as soon as I saw it and it's a full size one to that was nice. I was hoping it would be that dark blood orange color but it's clear although it does have a nice scent but not much taste. 

I have a few of those face masks and I like them so I'll be using that too. I've always liked apricot scrub and even have some in my shower caddy right now so now I don't have to stock up on more. The Cocoa Butter lotion smells so good and it's great for dry hands. 

I really like this box of goodies and it was well worth the $5 in my opinion. 

Have you been able to grab one of these boxes yet?