Favorite Song of the Week

 

One OK Rock- Stand Out Fit In

I recently found this band a couple of months ago and have been loving their songs. They are a Japanese Rock band. I hope you enjoy. 

Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, 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.

What I received this week

A Full size bottle of RED by KISS Growth MD: Hair Growth Serum

A $10.17 Amazon gift card for cashing out my points on Paid Viewpoint

My hair is getting a little fine and thinner in places as I get older so when I saw this freebie, I snatched this one up. I've been using it in one place to see how I react to it or if it actually does help your hair grow more. Nothing yet but we'll see how it goes in the future. 

I cashed out my points from doing surveys on Paid Viewpoint for an Amazon gift card. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: The Alpha's Inferno by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

Marcus is the new sheriff, tasked with keeping law and order in this wolf town. The tough grizzly is determined to prove he's moved on from his troubled past and notorious family. Looking for an easy life and a fresh start, his infatuation with the local doctor is a distraction he doesn't need. Even if his bear is telling him otherwise.

Leila has a reputation as the wolf pack princess. To be seen, but definitely not to be touched. She's worked hard to carve out a life for herself as something other than the Alpha's daughter. When she meets her fated mate, a bear shifter who's the opposite of what she expected, she wants passion and fireworks, but the grumpy sheriff has other plans.

All of which involve staying far, far away from Leila Jones.

When an old enemy resurfaces in Grey Ridge, tragedy hits their small mountain town, putting both their lives in danger. Will it bring them together or tear them further apart?

This is Book 2 in the Shifters of Grey Ridge paranormal romance series. Expect a happily ever after, grumpy men, strong women, and lots of steam.

Grumpy sunshine, fated mates, second chance romance, bear shifter, wolf shifter

My Review

Marcus is the new sheriff in a town of shifters. That's ok because he's a shifter himself but he's a bear while most of the others are wolves. Marcus has secrets, family secrets that he is trying to forget and get past and he's afraid that if the alpha finds out who he is and who his father is, he'll be asked to leave. So when he meets Leila and wants to have a little fun with her, he's all for it until he finds out she's the alpha's daughter. Then he's all hands off and wants to keep her at arms length. But that's easier said than done since Leila is a wolf shifter and can tell that Marcus is her fated mate. But he's not a wolf and doesn't know. 

Leila wants to fall apart when Marcus pretty much rejects her without saying the words but her brother is having worse problems and she has to put aside her own feelings for her family. But because Marcus is around, he and Leila spend time together and seem like they are getting closer but he keeps her at arms length all the time. Because he thinks he's not good enough for her, it causes a lot of problems for them. Communication is key when trying to have any kind of relationship. I always say that and these problems that always arise in these romance books brings that to light all the time. 

So much of the drama in their relationship would have been solved if Marcus had just talked to her. So many hurt feelings could have been avoided. 

There are several other things going on at the same time as these two are trying to get together and all the drama made for a really entertaining read. I really like the characters and hope to read more of this series now. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

We moved into this apartment complex about 26 years ago. At that time my courtyard had a lot of these green bushes and the pine tree's were small. That's my daughter posing for a picture. lol 

Taken at the same angle, this is what my courtyard looks like now. There's one pine tree instead of the two that were down at this end and none of the bushes are here anymore. I liked it better with all the bushes. There are still a few bushes around the complex here and there but nothing like it was back when we first moved in. 

Book Review: Malachite by Starla Night

 

Book Description

Dragon shifter CEO, Malachite “Mal” Onyx, doesn’t have time for relationships.

But the gruff billionaire has no choice. He must marry a human female and produce dragonlets, or return to his home planet and take the claw of ancient Empress Horribus.

Where can he find a willing female? One with soft brown hair, mouthwatering curves, and who lights his soul on fire.

Like that mysterious intern, Cheryl…

Cheryl has been secretly drooling over her smokin’ hot boss for months. Then, his marriage offer lands on her cramped desk. What's a shy intern to do? Should she run from the irresistible dragon and his toe-curling kisses?

Or give in?

A dragon male has never dared to turn down the Empress. The entire universe is about to be rocked by a curvy female from a backwater little planet named Earth!

Get carried away by this fun standalone novel with no cliffhangers, no cheating, and a guaranteed happily ever after where an introverted heroine goes from crippling self-doubt to literally breathing fire. 

My Review

Malachite (Mal) is a dragon shifter and is supposed to marry the Empress but if he does, he'll lose his company because it's a matriarchal society and she'll rule the relationship.  Mal's mother tells her sons that they are to marry soon and when one of them tells her that he can't because he's in love with a human woman, the others do the same. Now Mal has to find a human female that will agree to marry him right away. 

Cheryl has been drooling over Mal ever since she started working for his company but he never looks twice at her until he does. Mal is in such a hurry and Cheryl is so love struck that things rush past her and all of the sudden they go from dating to him wanting her to sign a marriage license. 

Since Mal is a dragon shifter, he's not very smart about human relationships and gets so many things wrong. I wanted to not like him but his family helps so that he sees the mistakes he's made and tries to fix them but sometimes that doesn't work out the way he thinks they will either. Watching him fall over himself as he tries to make things right with Cheryl was fun. But when danger comes to their door, he goes from bumbling fool to pissed off dragon instantly and will do whatever it takes to save the woman he's fallen for. 

Oh this was a good one, I was highly entertained while reading this. This was exactly what I needed. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"An apple a day keeps the veterinarian away"

*All pictures this week are courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #315

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

On Tuesday two police cars showed up as I was out walking the dog. They went into the courtyard that has the swimming pool and were at someone's door for a few minutes and then they left. 

Wednesday the police came in 2's again. Two police cars stopped in the middle of the street while I was checking the mail and were in the courtyard 2 buildings away from mine. They were there for at least 45 minutes but I didn't see anyone arrested before they left. 

---

Then on Thursday a fire truck showed up for an apartment across the street. 

Then two ambulances showed up. One is the Fire Departments ambulance and the other is AMR (American Medical Response). AMR left soon after getting there. 

And then the other ambulance brought their bed back out without anyone on it (They had their equipment on the bed) and they left. The fire department left a few minutes later. What's the point in calling for help if you're going to refuse to go to the ER? Because for such a big response, a fire truck and two ambulances, the caller must have said at least one person was in need of serious medical help. 

The high this week was 90F/32C

The low this week was 55F/12C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

The Boyz- Watch It

As I've said before I like some KPOP and this is one of those songs. I hope you enjoy. 

Wild Flowers

 

Today is supposed to be Freebie Friday but I didn't get any freebies this week. So enjoy some wild flowers. My courtyard was alive with these tiny yellow wild flowers. I have no idea what they are. They lasted about a month before the groundskeepers came and weed whacked them away. 

 They are still popping up all over my street though. The flowers are super tiny. 

Book Review: Seduced By The Sea Lord by Starla Night

 

Book Description

Tattooed warriors are climbing out of the secret depths to claim their soul mates and save their race!

Determined warlord Torun must claim Lucy, who mistook him for a shipwreck survivor and pulled his injured body from the ocean. She is his soul mate. Now she must join with him and give him a child.

Lucy can’t believe the words coming out of this dominant male. Her destiny is to become a mermaid queen? Too bad “destiny” forgot that Lucy’s a broke divorcee who can’t even have a child. It really is too bad, because Torun’s gorgeous, and his iridescent gold tattoos shimmer beneath the water as he flexes those broad, hard pectorals...

But Torun's in more danger than a bump on the head, and Lucy is the only one who can save him. Their choices will forever change the endangered race of mermen - or destroy it!

Dive in to the first novel in the bestselling Lords of Atlantis series. This complete novel with a happy ending features steamy shifter love scenes, underwater gun fights, and a giant female octopus named Mr. Huggles.

My Review

Lucy's ex divorced her because she couldn't have children. But she's determined to make a name for herself by finding opal's in the ocean. While out on the ocean in her boat, she spots Torun's body and thinks he's deceased. But she can't just leave him there knowing his family would want closure so she pulls him aboard only to find he's very much alive. But once he recovers, she finds he's a bit strange and thinks it's just because he's from a tribe far away. He is in fact from far away, under the ocean because he's a merman. 

Torun knows that she's his mate right away because he can see a light coming from her and it's bright. He convinces her that he's a merman and that she'll be able to breathe under the water if he can just find an elixir that she can drink so they can go find more opal's. But his people are outraged that he's brought back a human as a mate and a long battle between he and his people start. 

Torun was a little weird at first because he really doesn't know a lot about humans on the top side. So he's learning and it was fun to watch. He's very protective of Lucy and wanted her to be happy with him. The things she sees while under the water was sometimes fun like the octopus she called Mr. Huggles and sometimes scary like when Torun's people found out she was there. 

Learning about the people, culture and things under the sea like their life tree was fascinating and made for a fun read. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the week

 

There was a huge rain cloud that came through, mostly over the mountains. We did get a few sprinkles out of it but just a few. And yes, before you ask, those are bullet holes in the block wall by the trash can. They have been there a while and it happened a couple of years ago when someone shot at the trash can. I wrote about it in this post. 

This cloud blew by really fast and then it was gone. 

Book Review: Long Distance Wolf by Rose Bak

 

Book Description

He’s the right wolf at the wrong time…

Connie Lucero has just turned eighteen and is looking forward to escaping her small-town, going to college in the big city, traveling the world, and having adventures. When she meets her fated mate at a party, she knows she had no choice but to reject him before she ends up mated and pregnant.

Andy Galina moved to the shifter town of Greysden for a new job, but it’s not long before his wolf locks onto the beautiful younger woman they’re meant to be with forever. He’s stunned when Connie tells him she has no interest in being his mate. He knows that his independent mate needs some time to find herself and make her own way in the world, but his wolf has other ideas.

Can their love survive a long separation?

“Long Distance Wolf” is a prequel short story that’s part of the “Bite-Sized Shifters” paranormal romantic comedy series. Each book in the series is standalone that can be read in a few hours, and features a mature couple, steamy scenes, a lot of fur and claws, and a guaranteed HEA.

My Review

Connie is just now 18 years old and she knows what she wants to do with her life. The most important thing is to go to college and get her degree and nothing is going to stop her, not even meeting her mate. Connie and Andy are both wolf shifters and after they meet each other, Andy thinks he can just decree that she is his mate and they will live happily ever after. But that's not what Connie wants and she rejects him as a mate. 

He's so confused and surprised that his mate rejects him that he goes to talk to her and they decide to stay friends for now and she'll go off to college and hopefully one day Connie will feel differently about him. 

This is a very short novella prequel for the Bite Sized Shifters series and after reading this, I will be reading more of this series. This book definitely intrigued me enough to want to read more of this series now. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"We watched the eclipse but we liked the donuts more."

*All pictures this week are courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #314

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

I heard cars racing down my street and wasn't able to get the police cars because they went by too fast but I snapped a picture of this ambulance as it raced past. I didn't even have time to open my window and had to take the picture through the window screen. It was at the end of the street, someone was arrested and someone went to the ER in the ambulance. 

So last week I noticed a little construction going on in our alley. A few days later I noticed these. Looks like charging stations for electric cars. I've looked to see if any of the cars that are parking there are charging and none of them have been so far. lol I seriously doubt that anyone who lives here has an electric car. It was about 5am when I took this picture which is why it still looks dark out. Watch this place raise the rent because of the "upgrades" they made this year when it comes time to renew our leases.

The police showed up for a domestic dispute on Tuesday. One man was arrested. I was across the street and was able to get a picture of the police cars parked near the courtyard behind the office. 

Then later that night the police and ambulance were back in that same courtyard of my complex and another guy was arrested for having a gun. A lady was taken away in the ambulance. I have no idea what happened to her. 

---

You might remember that at the end of last week's Sunday post I told you that we heard 5 gunshots that sounded really close. 

Well I think I figured out where those gunshots came from. This is a metal sign that is right next to my apartment building. As you can see there are 5 gunshots in it. One or two of the holes is on the bottom edge of the top sign. 

This is the front of the sign and you can really see the bullet holes from this way but you sure can from the back. That walkway to the right is the sidewalk to my apartment building. It's just a couple of feet away. So when I said last week that it sounded close, I wasn't wrong. 

The high this week was 88F/31C

The low this week was 54F/12C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

Dead By April- Break My Fall

I love this band and when I heard this one I really liked it. I've been listening to it for a while now. I hope you enjoy it too. 

Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, 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 perfume sample and two Vichy face serum samples. 

The perfume smells so nice and the face serum made my skin soft so I'd call that a win. 

Did you receive any free samples this week?

Book Review: Legion by Tia Didmon

 

Book Description

A Dragon. A Druid. A Disaster.

Art student Mara Krane has no time for the sexy 'dragon' in her dreams, even if he insists she is the key to saving humanity. But as her dormant magic emerges, she can no longer ignore her immortal mate.

Trusting him will make her a target in a war that has lasted for millennia and unearth a long-buried family secret, concealing the betrayal of a former life.

As she faces an ancient adversary set on her destruction, will her hopes burn to the ground, or will she discover that love hath no fury like a dragon scorned?

My Review

Legion is a dragon shifter that lost everything in a war. Adara used her magic to be reborn into another and when Legion found out that she was his mate, he was mad she never told him. Now years later Adara's magic is being awakened into Mara as she reaches her 23rd birthday. When she unknowingly reaches out telepathically and hears Legion talk to her, she thinks she's going mad until he walks into her shop and tells her all about dragons, druids and magic. 

Things really start happening pretty fast after that because Mara's magic is about to turn on full power and she has no idea how to use or control it. Mara starts to remember things about Adara and secrets are revealed because secrets always have a way of coming out. As Mara and Legion become closer, they realize that they really are meant to be together but the black dragons will do anything to have Mara because she's a druid and a seer and her blood gives them what they want. 

So while they are fighting the black dragons, trying to stay ahead of the danger, Mara is also learning to use her powers, they are learning about each other and getting closer. It was a fun read. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

We had one very cloudy morning for a few hours. No rain. 

And the next day because we still had some clouds, we got this sunset. 

Book Review: Layla by Summer Stanton and Claire Marta

 

Book Description

Thomas Harrow is new to Carnal Pleasures. Though an accomplished Dominant, not everyone is impressed with him at first sight. In an effort to prove that he belongs, he sets up a public demonstration that has a disastrous end. Layla Marks is a dreamer who works behind the scenes at the club. Night after night she watches the playing, secretly longing to be apart of the lifestyle. The pair couldn't be more different: Thomas is demanding with little patience for Layla's naiveté. With a rocky start already between them, they enter into a tentative D/s relationship, hoping that the other can be what they need. But Thomas is not the only one who covets the shy beauty, and Layla soon finds herself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse.*The Carnal Pleasures series will be a mixture of various M/M and M/F pairings following the lives of the employees and patrons of the club. While this series has romantic elements, not all books will be romance. Due to language and explicit sexual interaction, it is recommended for readers 18 and up*

My Review

Layla is a cleaning lady at Club Carnal Pleasures. She isn't one of the people who play at the BDSM club although she does watch some of the scenes as she's doing her job. Things are going well for her and for the most part the people who play there leave her alone. She's shy and keeps to herself for the most part until Thomas, the new Dom walks in and mistakes her for someone else. The mix up puts these two on a course that they never intended because they are complete opposites. Thomas is a dragon shifter as well as a Dom. Layla on the other hand is another kind of paranormal creature but most people can't tell what she is and she likes it that way. 

But secrets have a way of coming out and hers come out in a big way. I like Layla but I didn't like Thomas at all. He's bossy, overbearing and never seems empathetic with Layla for what she's going through. He just barrels ahead and does what he thinks is best in any situation and then doesn't understand why she's upset with him. He never came across as sympathetic towards her or understanding at all. 

Poor Layla goes through a lot because of her stalker. I really would have liked Thomas more if he seemed to have more emotion but in my mind I just pictured this stone faced guy who thought he knew best and you should just agree with him. Again, not likable at all. The fact that this ends on a cliffhanger just sealed the dislike for this book. The storyline had real promise, the dialogue was good and the other characters were very likable and relatable. For those reasons I enjoyed and kept reading this book. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"We had a party for our 1st birthday!"

"I need cake"

"I'm still waiting on cake."

"We all got cake."

"Our sisters came to help celebrate and we all made a cake."

Apartment Life #313

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

I noticed this guy hanging out his bedroom window across the street. He was using a drill so I figured he was installing a camera. 

I was right. lol I'm not the only one around here wanting to get pictures of all the action and shenanigans. 

He had it installed in less than an hour. 

This is a picture from weeks ago when they were redoing the roof but I'm using it so you can see what window across the street it is that has the new camera. It's the right window on the second story. Directly across from me so I'll have to be careful having my curtains open at night. lol Don't want to end up in someone else's story. 

When I was being nosy and taking pictures across the street, when I zoomed into this window I noticed another camera in the right corner. LOL There's probably a lot more cameras pointing on our street than I thought there was. With all the homeless, domestic disturbances, drunk people, and drug addicts acting a fool out here at night, as well as the police, fire Department and ambulance... I'm not surprised to see all the cameras. 

---

On Wednesday there were two police cars down the street. I saw someone being arrested but I went inside when the police turned and were watching me watch them. They don't seem to care if people are out watching unless they see you taking pictures. 

---

Tuesday night around 10:30PM I heard about 5 gunshots pretty close by. I waited to see if I saw anyone running or screaming. I didn't see or hear anything and no police showed up so I figured it must not have been that close after all. Nothing around here the next morning either. They could have just been shooting in the air as well. I couldn't pinpoint where the shots came from so saw no reason to call the police. 

The high this week was 81F/27C

The low this week was 41F/5C

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