Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #37

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Back in 2016 the people that lived in this apartment had huge fights and the police were called all the time. One night we heard a bunch of banging when we were in bed. The next morning I saw this. There were a bunch of holes in their door and one of my other neighbors said that some guy who used to live there with them had come back and when they wouldn't open the door he tried kicking it in. He didn't get in but he sure left his mark. I don't remember what the note on their door had said. They got kicked out about a month after the manager saw the damage to this door.

Oh and this week at 6am when I took Falcor for a walk, I saw some guy asleep in front of the door across from me 3 doors down. O.o

I didn't want him to wake up and see me taking the picture so I kinda hid behind the tree but you can clearly see his legs sticking out there. He slept there 3 nights in a row. The first night they left their chairs out and he slept in the chairs. After that they moved the chairs inside and slept in front of their door. He doesn't live there but he goes there to buy his drugs on occasion. I haven't seen him for a few days now. And yeah, that's one of the local drug dealing apartments. 

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Review: Finding Master Right by Sparrow Beckett

Book Description

Dominant, crop-wielding men are all Kate dreams about, but how far is she willing to go? 

Kate wants a man who will take charge—she just needs to find the right guy. Fortunately, her friend is throwing a kinky Halloween party with a guest list loaded with sexy, available men. That’s where she meets Banner.

Dark and intense, Banner’s not just a Dominant, he’s a Master looking for a slave. Kate isn’t interested in something that extreme, but when he offers to help her find the perfect Dom, while training her to be a flawless submissive, she’s glad to have a matchmaker and protector.

Banner knows they’re not compatible, yet something about Kate is impossible to resist. Once he finds her the right Dom, will he be able let her go?

My Review

Kate finds herself at a party and having a good time until a Dom comes on a little too hard. That's when she meets Banner who is also a Dom. Kate wants to experience what it's like to be a submissive but she's also very independent and has a hard time giving up control.  

Banner wants a slave not just a submissive but he has specific thoughts about what his submissive would be like. He isn't interested in having Kate as his sub since she's new to all of this and he wants someone more experienced that will be his 24/7 whenever he wants her. After talking with her a little he agree's to help find her a Dom and look out for her so she doesn't get taken advantage of since she's a newbie. 

Banner mentions he's a sadist and that she might find his tastes to be disturbing but he never really comes right out and tells the reader what it is exactly that he wants in a sub. I found this to be very irritating. I wanted to know why he thought she would never be right for him. Maybe he really didn't know what he wanted as much as he thought he did and that's why we as readers didn't know. But I'm just guessing. 

I really liked Banner. He's a genuinely nice guy. He's great to his friends and family. He has a funny side and he wanted to look out for Kate as soon as he met her. But Kate was challenging and not at all meek or sub like at first so when Banner introduced her to one of his friends, it didn't go well. Banner finally agrees to train her himself but he's fighting an attraction he feels for her. When these two do come together, they are smokin' hot. Just wow. 

Just when things are looking interesting for these two and her training is coming along, Banner wimps out and confuses Kate by giving her to one of his Dom friends to continue her training. She finds this guy attractive and she doesn't mind being with him, but the sparks just aren't flying like they do with Banner. If these two had just communicated a bit better about what they wanted and how they felt, a lot of heartache could have been avoided. 

I read this book in one sitting because I was so engaged and wanted to know what would happen next with these characters. I'm looking forward to the next book. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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:

A Makeup Eraser sample.
Coola Sport Sunscreen.

The makeup eraser is a small piece of pink fuzzy cloth. *About the size of my hand* I really didn't expect it to work the way they said it would. You just wet it with warm water and use the cloth to take off your makeup. No makeup remover, cold cream ect.. needs to be used. So I used it that night and could not believe how well it worked. I'm actually shocked and speechless. It even took off my mascara! I've used it 3 more times and it's worked each time. I'm telling you, as soon as the jar of cold cream I have is empty, I'm buying myself a full size Makeup Eraser. Not even kidding.

The Coola sunscreen works well and in this Las Vegas sun I need all the sunscreen I can get.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: DegustaBox - July

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 this month's box?

Lee Kum Kee Plum Sauce

Loacker Wafers - 2

Aiya Matcha Tea

Sir Kensington's Chipotle Mayonnaise

Goetze's Candy Co. Chocolate Caramel Cream candy

Chomps Turkey stick

Wise Cheese Doodles -4

Uncle Dougie's bbq sauce

My daughter was at my apartment when I got the box and I gave her the Matcha tea right away. I don't like Matcha at all and she does so that worked out well. 

The Turkey stick had a strange taste to it and all 3 of us tried it. None of us liked it. 

Ken was so happy to see the Chipotle mayo because he used the whole jar of the last chipotle mayo we got and he loves this stuff. And Ken loves those chocolate caramels because they taste like Cow Tails. The cheese doodles taste good. I would buy those again. 

I haven't used the plum sauce or the bbq sauce yet. For the most part we both really liked this box. 

If you don't live in the US, they have a Great Britain Website.

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?

Book Discussion: Cliffhangers

I've been wanting to start a discussion about cliffhangers for a while but so many readers don't seem to have as much of a problem with them as I do, or maybe I'm mistaken. A couple of weeks ago I became so mad at some of the 'freebie' ebooks I had read from Amazon that I deleted all but 3 ebooks from my Kindle and decided to start over with no freebies because too many times they end with a cliffhanger and to me, that's just unacceptable.

It seems like the reasoning behind the cliffhanger is to entice the reader into buying the next book in the series because you just have to know what happens next! But that's not what happens with me. Nope, I just get mad and put that author on my 'never read again' list. I think most of us readers and bloggers have a list like that.

Seeing so many cliffhanger endings lately in books has me wondering what authors are thinking? Aren't they aware that we readers hate that? Are they aware that some readers will completely write them off if they leave their book in a cliffhanger and never read their books again? I mean, they do want to sell books, right?

Let's get one thing straight though. I'm not talking about a background story arc for the entire series that doesn't get solved until the last book. That I can understand as long as the main story in each book in the series is resolved and no huge gaps are left open. A book should have a beginning, middle and real ending that closes all the gaps and leaves no questions open about the main story. When I pay for a book, I want a full book with a complete story, not something that is left wide open so I feel like I just read half a book. If I invest hours of reading into a book and it abruptly ends with a cliffhanger, that will be the last book by that author that I ever read. To me that is so incredibly sleezy, so selfish and I am so tired of it. Authors need to hear that we don't like it and it's going to cause them to lose readers if they keep it up.

I do realize that a continuing story arc is different than a full out cliffhanger and I'm fine with that. There is a way to keep readers interested and coming back for the next book without frustrating the hell out of them and pissing them off. All of the loose ends with the main plot need to be tied up so we get a full, complete story. If you plan on leaving a "To Be Continued" at the end of your book, just don't.

Cliffhangers make me feel like the author is trying to force me into buying the next book to see an ending that should have been in the first book. If you are going to have a cliffhanger ending then you should be required to put that right on the cover.

So what about you? How do you feel about cliffhangers?

Review: The Big Alpha In Town by Eve Langlais, Milly Taiden & Kate Baxter

Book Description

Three hot stories about three sexy shifters from a trio of today's hottest paranormal romance authors, headlined by bestselling authors Eve Langlais and Milly Taiden!

Bearing His Name

Meeting his mate should have been cause for celebration. There’s just one teeny tiny problem. Jade thinks Ark might have impregnated her sister. He didn’t, but convincing Jade is going to take a bit of honey.

Owned by the Lion

Keir’s been told to stop playing the field and settle down―difficult advice for a hard and hot man with a lion’s heart to follow. But his sights have always been set on Ally. She’s his mate, plain and simple. With her sweet and delicious curves, she’s nothing but sugar and trouble all rolled into one. But he’s known her and sparred with her for years. She’s his best friend’s little sister, and it’s going to take a whole new level of convincing that he’s the mate for her.

No Need Fur Love

Moving with his pack to the tiny town of Stanley, Idaho has Owen Courtney a little on edge. With literally no women in sight, Owen will be lucky to find a date, let alone his true mate. But you know the saying about a werewolf walking into a bar…

Gorgeous wood nymph Mia Oliver is on a mission: Find a suitable male to get her good ‘n pregnant and provide her with an heir. But when Mia decides to pick up a gorgeous and oh-so willing werewolf at the bar, she realizes she might be in over her head. …

My Review

Since this is a 3 story anthology I'm going to do a mini review for each one. 

Bearing His Name

Some of Ark's male family members were sent a card that pretty much accused them of getting a woman pregnant and then disappearing. Ark decided to track down the woman and find out who the father was. Jade sent the cards out to find out who knocked up her sister. When one of the men, Ark showed up to her door though, she and her sister were more than a little shocked. Now they just needed to figure out which of his cousins was the father of her sister's baby. Of course the pregnant sister also has a crazy ex who is stalking her and doesn't know how to take no for an answer. There's a great twist to the pregnant sister's story. I was really happy that both Jade and her sister had a completion to their stories.

Owned By The Lion

One of Ally's friends runs a shifter dating site and they convince her to sign up because she needs the money she'll get for the cancer treatments her mom needs. Keir is known for dating a new woman each day but never settling down but he knows instantly that Ally is his mate when he meets her. The only problem is that she doesn't like him much. So when they are matched on the dating site, he feels this would give her time to get to know the real him. I really liked him and their interaction, they fall in lust pretty fast but it was a fun read. 

No Need Fur Love

Owen and his pack moved to Idaho to expand their territory. He was on the look out for a one night stand but didn't expect to find forever. Mia on the other hand just wanted to find a willing male to give her a baby. He's a werewolf and she's a wood nymph, not exactly what the other thought their forever mate would turn out to be. Mia needed an heir to secure her birthright or her father was going to marry her off to someone not of her choosing. Things don't go exactly as Mia planned but they couldn't have turned out better. I really hated her jerk of a father but she got even with him and he never saw it coming.

This anthology was great. I enjoyed all 3 of these stories. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Look at the ears on that rat! I think I'm in love."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #36

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Back in 2016 we had a neighbor who lived right next door to me. We didn't get along because she was hooked on heroine and did some really stupid things. She played her music really loudly and would pass out in her apartment and leave the stereo up really loudly for hours. 

So she wanted to put out chairs and tables and a garden in front of her door but since her door was right next to mine, we shared the space in front of our doors. She asked me on more than one occasion if I would remove my bbq because it was in the way of what she wanted to do with the space in front of our two doors. I refused and said she could have half the space same as me. My bbq in that picture sat directly in front of my door. All that space on the left hand side all the way over to the bush was hers. But she had to invade my space. Big mistake.

She filled both of our spaces with chairs, a dog house, a table, and so many potted plants that there was no room at all in our space for anything else. She put some of her plants so close to the back of my bbq that you can see in this picture that they got burned when I lit my bbq. I hardly ever used the bbq but she pissed me off so badly that I bought two huge bags of briquettes and bbq's every single day for 2 weeks. It burned all of the plants that were directly touching my bbq and scorched the wood table she put on the right side of my bbq. She also couldn't keep her door open for the 3-6 hours that I was bbqing each day because all the smoke would blow into her apartment. I slow cooked a couple of roasts in the bbq for 5-6 hours a couple of days and she was really mad that she couldn't sit in her chairs out there. 

If she had just stuck to her side like I told her too, I wouldn't have had to go to bitch mode but she had no one to blame but herself. She ended up being evicted when she didn't pay her rent for 2 months. Spent too much on heroine I guess.

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Instagram, Kindles and Technology

For many years now I've had 1 Kindle that I read my ebooks on, it's the Kindle Keyboard on the right. You cannot download apps or easily go online with this. It's mainly for reading ebooks. You can go online with it but in order to do that you have to click on "Experimental" in the menu and it takes forever to actually load. I know because I tried going on Twitter with is a few times and it would drop the site several times. It took forever to do something like that. 

The left side is a Kindle Fire that we've had for a while. I had a kindle that I read ebooks on and I have my laptop for everything else and Ken has an Ipad that he uses. So it never occurred to me to use the Kindle Fire to get on sites like Instagram. I don't have a smart phone so the most I've done with my Instagram account is follow people. My daughter helped me download the app and now I can use Instagram. I'm RatLadyMary on there if you want to follow me too. I will figure out what to do on there but for now I've posted a few pictures of Falcor and it helped get me more points on survey sites like Smiley360. 

Now I can live Tweet on the Kindle while watching a show without having to take the laptop over to the couch. The thing about the Kindle Fire is I can only have one window open at a time when I'm used to having 12-15 windows open on my laptop all the time. I'm still getting used to it and I keep asking Ken how to do things since he's used his a lot. 

I'm still getting used to the Kindle Fire but who knows what else I'll find. It's the little things that make us happy and I'm happy I realized this.