Book Review: The Naga Hunters Lost Mate by Robin O'connor

 

Book Description

I am caught by a beast but the longer he has me, the more I lose the desire to escape.

Charlie

Everything is terrifying and strange on this alien planet I’ve crashlanded on. Especially the purple-scaled snakeman that ‘rescued’ me. When I run, he just follows me and I realize that maybe I don’t want to escape. How crazy is that?

When his Clan threatens me, we’re hunted, and there’s only one option. We run and surrender to the sizzling desire between us.

Mox

The scaleless female ignites my mating sigils. I catch her, never to let her go. She is curvy and tempting and when danger lurks I will do anything to keep her safe. Even if it means giving up all that I knew, even if it means abandoning my Clan.

For a chance at happiness in her arms? I would risk it all.

This is a standalone novella, prequel to the Serpents of Serant Series. This steamy sci-fi monster romance features one barbaric Naga, a savvy human woman, and a steamy HEA.

My Review

When Charlie wakes up on an alien planet. She has no idea how she got there. When she spots a stasis pod near her, she knows that it crash landed on this alien planet, and that's the only thing that saved her from dying when they crashed.

Mox Was out hunting. When he came across Charlie, who was just trying to find a safe place. But Charlie came across another predator called a rakeworm and the rakeworm was about to eat her for dinner, So Mox did the only thing he could and saved her from the it.

Mox Saved her twice and at first they could not understand each other and then as long as they were touching each other they were able to understand each other and speak. Mox was some sort of alien human hybrid as he had a human torso but a snake body. Mox knew that Charlie was his mate because he was having mating signs in his body but Charlie wasn't understanding what he was talking about at first.

Mox wanted to keep Charlie safe and brought her back to his village. But then things go badly, and they ended up having to Leave his village and try to live either with other outcasts or by themselves, either way was fine with them.

This was a quick read as it was only 80 pages long but it was a nice prequel to this series and I'll definitely be reading more of it.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Falcor and Friends

 

Falcor has some doggie friends in the neighborhood. Falcor and Lady. Lady always looks mad. 🤣🤣🤣

Falcor and Hope. Hope is 12 years old, just a year older than Falcor is. And yes, Hope and Lady are always off leash. (Smh)

Falcor and Lady again. Of course there's lots of butt sniffing. 🤣🤣🤣

I didn't get any pictures of Falcor with these 6 dogs because I needed both hands to make sure all of our leashes didn't get tangled while they were all saying hi to each other. You can see a couple of those dogs didn't want to leave. They weren't done saying hello. 🤣

Book Review: My Guardian Demon by A.D. Craig

 

Book Description

What happens when a demon gets assigned a guardian angel's job by mistake?

Wynn

I thought I was free.

After leaving my toxic ex-boyfriend and my old life behind, I moved to a new town, enrolled in a new school, and kept everything under wraps. No one knew where I was.

Turns out, I wasn’t as far away as I thought.

Onyx

When Wynn’s guardian angel retired, someone had to step in—but a clerical error landed me the job. A demon assigned to protect a human? That’s... new.

I’m stuck with this job until they sort it out, and honestly, I’m not sure how a demon is supposed to look after a human like Wynn.

I wonder how a guardian demon will work out for her?

My Review

Onyx is a demon so when he gets assigned as a guardian to Wynn when her guardian angel retires. It's a clerical error so Onyx thinks it will get fixed fast, but it doesn't. Wynn moves into a new apartment right next to Onyx. She's trying to get over leaving her abusive boyfriend and stay hidden from him. 

Wynn can hear when Onyx has a guest over since the walls are so thin and she jokingly tells him to keep it down from now on. That's all it takes to get these two talking and joking around with one another through the wall. Wynn has no idea what Onyx looks like so when he knocks on her door and she finally meets him in person, she can hardly believe how handsome he is. 

When Wynn tells Onyx about her abusive ex and how she fears he might find her, he does what any guardian demon would do, he shows her how to protect herself. Not exactly the same way a guardian angel would keep her safe but he's a demon, so he does what demons do in order to get the job done. 

We find out that when Wynn is hearing what she thinks is Onyx having a good time next door through the walls, he's actually torturing evil souls because that's his job. But a filter lets everyone around him hear something else, so he doesn't have to explain the screaming to anyone. The torture scene descriptions were a bit graphic but he's a demon after all, so I understood it. That fact that Wynn was ok with it when she finally finds out the truth, was a bit hard to fathom though. It's definitely a bit of a dark paranormal romance, which is fine if you like that sort of thing, which I do. 

I liked the secondary characters as well, I hope we get to know more about Osian in the next book. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Everyone Has a story, Here's One of Mine

 

I've been thinking of writing an autobiography or memoir but it just never comes together for me but I figured if I write one story at a time and post it on my blog maybe once a month, I can do that. Maybe one day I'll pull all the stories together and put them in a book but for now I'll just share some stories with you about my childhood and into adulthood. Some of the stories will be happy, some sad and some horrific because that was my childhood. But they will all be real, things that actually happened. If it seems like something that people enjoy reading maybe I'll keep it going. These stories will not be in any kind of order, I'll just write them as they come to me.

Perry Park

I might have mentioned that when I was little, the house I grew up in was directly across the street from Perry Park. My brother and I loved going over there because not only was there a park there was also a small room where this lady would lend out toys for a week. It was the coolest thing for kids. Your parent had to bring you and sign out the toy you wanted for the week, and you had to bring it back on time. She had great toys that we didn't have. 

I remember being able to get a Big Wheel, Legos, Baby Alive, Barbies, So many baby dolls, 8 track cassette player and the 8 track cartridges, a doll house with miniatures and tiny dolls, Play Doh, and so many Barbie things. I loved going over there to get toys. My brother always got some sort of trucks or cars. I've never heard of another toy lending closet, but it was such a good idea. 

The park was also where my brother played baseball. His team was the Blue Jays. My dad signed him up but then never went to any of his games. I went to all of them. He was even in the parade that went down our street. 

All kinds of things happened at the park like Easter egg hunts, Christmas toy hunts, 4th of July fireworks and the Fire Department would be there since their station was at the end of our block. 

One of the most memorable days was when a hot air balloon and a Sikorsky helicopter was on display at the park. They let adults and kids inside the helicopter and air balloon. My brother was trying to get inside the hot air balloon when the wind made it shoot up into the air and then all at once it came down hard and bounced on the ground while my brother was in the basket with some other people. The person piloting the balloon finally got it down for good, but my mom was freaking out because we were little kids both under 10 years old. 

I've looked on Google Maps recently and the park is still there, but it's named something else now and looks different as well.  We kids sure had a good time there while we were younger. 

Links to past stories

2023

January 2023

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

June 2023

July 2023

August 2023

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December

2024

January 2024

February 2024

March 2024

April 2024

May 2024

June 2024

July 2024

August 2024

September 2024

October 2024

November 2024

December 2024

2025

January

February 2025

March 2025

April 2025

May 2025

June 2025

July 2025

August 2025

September 2025 

October 2025

Apartment Life #393

 

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 27 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 27 years here in a weekly blog post.

My daughter's best friend moved into my courtyard a while back. Well the friend's girlfriend is very crafty and so talented. She painted a couple of rocks for my daughter's garden. Here's one from Friday the 13th. 

And IT. How nice was that?

---

Speaking of the Garden...The new landscapers came on Tuesday. He was blowing all the Pine needles away. Cool. Then I watched him because I don't trust anyone and sure enough this idiot sticks the leaf blower right down into my daughter's garden. By the time I get to the door after snapping a picture I see him bent over the garden and he's pulling up plants IN The Garden. I yelled at him to stop. He turned around *Speaks no English* And said sorry sorry, then keeps blowing the dust around away from the garden. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this small part is gated off and shouldn't be touched! Seriously!?

She takes care of her garden, there was no reason to turn the leaf blower on it full blast the way he did. And I know damn well if I complain to the new manager that they'll say it all has to be pulled up because it shouldn't be there in the first place. So I'm not saying anything. 

---

I was dog sitting this little French Bull Dog for my neighbor this weekend. Her name is Sahara and very cute. She's built like a tank though and muscled her way out the front door when I went inside. Thankfully she came right back to me when I called her to me. Catastrophe averted!

The high this week was 83F/28C

The low this week was 57F/13C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

We did something a little different for dinner this night. My daughter saw pictures on Instagram labeled "Tin Fish Dinner" She wanted to try it. So we have canned liverwurst (She ate this I did not 🤣) canned Vienna Sausages, canned sardines, canned octopus, canned squid, crackers, green olives, pickles, grapes, sliced cheese and I had canned Deviled Ham for my crackers. It was different but I would eat it again but without the squid. 🤣🤣

Have you done the Tin Fish Dinner challenge?

Halloween Baking

 

My daughter and grandson did a bunch of Halloween baking throughout this month so I thought I would share some pictures of what they made. This was pudding, crushed Oreos and marshmallow pumpkins all in a cup. 

They came out really good. 

They carved some pumpkins. My daughter's friend carved the first one, my daughter carved the middle one and my grandson did the last one.

Made Cherry Pie.

Sugar cookies. 

Chocolate cupcakes with witches' feet sticking out of them. 

They came out cute. 

Did you do any baking this month?

Happy Halloween!

Book Review: Wild Games by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

Book 3 in the Alpha Games series!!!

Round 3 of the Games kicks off, with the best of the best from packs across the realm competing to win a territory of their own. With tensions high, it's not just tempers that are getting hot.

Camille Black is an enforcer, sent to investigate a conspiracy at the Alpha Games, when she finds a problem she can't ignore: Jax Reynolds, the alpha's broken brother, a wolf so dangerous he's chained up at night, and even his own pack think he's too far gone to be redeemed.

Jax has spent years convinced his beast is a curse, and too feral to be saved. The last thing he wants is a fated mate, he'll only drag her down with him. He'll do anything to protect her, even if it means rejecting the one bond that could save him.

But as a dark magic plot threatens to tear the games apart, and someone inside the competition is determined to make sure Camille doesn't get in the way of their mission, Jax is forced to help the woman he's trying to push away.

The only thing Camille can trust is her instinct, which tells her this wild wolf shifter is worth saving… and worth claiming.

A dual POV, MF, wolf shifter romance with all the feels. Fated mates, enemies-to-loves, dominant alpha males and the women who drive them wild.

My Review

Camille is trying to find a stolen magical artifact but she's also an enforcer sent to investigate the Alpha Games for a problem, so she goes to the Reynold's territory to help find the person using magic in the games for whatever purpose they are doing it. 

Jax is Alpha Reynold's younger brother, his wolf is out of control most of the time, so much so that he has to be chained up at times when he can't control his wolf. All at once Jax knows that a female wolf shifter is near and that she's, his mate. But he knows he can never have a mate, broken that he is, he doesn't trust himself or his wolf enough to take a mate, so he watches her instead. But when Camille can feel him watching her, she calls to him and instead of coming to her, he retreats which hurts her and throws a cold blanket on her emotions. 

Camille has already been rejected by one male who she thought was going to be her mate, she refuses to make a fool of herself with another male who doesn't want her. Camille can sense him when he gets close, but she keeps her cool when they meet face to face. She has to work with Jax since he's the one who first sensed the magic being used and informed his brother, the alpha. Them working closely together is hard for both of them since the mate bond is pulling them together. 

When Dean and Camille think up a way to get the person using the stolen artifact to show themselves, it puts Camille in danger and Jax doesn't like that one bit. She puts herself in danger to find out who is behind all the drama but she and the others helping her get a huge surprise when they find out who it is. 

Poor Alpha Dean Reynold's has a lot of his plate with all that going on and also trying to get the Alpha Games done and finally geta winner out of the games. He's vowed to never have the games in his territory again but other alphas are watching how the games go so they can do something similar in their territories, so this won't be the last we see of the Alpha Games. 

Jas and Camille finally find a way to be together when she convinces him that he's not so broken that he doesn't deserve a mate. 

I really loved Jax and Camille is exactly who he needed. He and his wolf were never in sync before because of all the abuse he suffered but once he and Camille found each other he and his wolf had to work together at times in order to help her and keep her safe. 

I loved this book as much as the first two books. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

I've read the first two books in this series and loved them, you can read my reviews of those books below. 

Rogue Games

Savage Games

Disclosure: I was given an e-ARC of this book via the author but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Rain clouds. And we actually got some rain out of this storm that passed by. 

You can see the rain coming out of these clouds so well. 

And then some clouds the next day. 

Then this sunset one night. The clouds were all lit up and looked so cool. 

I saw so many pictures of this sunset this week. 

Book Review: The Pyres of Vengeance by N. C. Koussis

 

Book Review

Game of Thrones meets The Witcher in this epic grimdark sequel to The Sword of Mercy and Wrath, where no one is safe!

After losing everything she knew, Selene struggles to keep hope alive. Terrifying threats from the capital test her in ways she never thought possible.

Richter can't destroy himself or the corruption that lives in his body. He won't let anything stop him from his mission, though - to kill every other werewolf on the Continent.

The Order of the Golden Sword cares not for the laws of men. They’ll do anything to wipe the lycanthrope haven of Palerme from existence. But no one has ever faced an army of werewolves before.

My Review

Selene is a werewolf and she's tired of losing her people to the others who hunt and kill those who are like her. I really felt sorry for all that she has to endure. She and her people just want to be left alone to live. 

Richter is a werewolf but his mission in life is to kill every other werewolf he comes across. he somehow thinks that will life the werewolf curse from his body if he does. He's probably a psychopath with the way he thinks and the things he does, he's all kinds of crazy. 

I didn't read the first book, The Sword of Mercy and Wrath but I was able to pick this up and read it with no problems. 

This is not the paranormal romance type book that I usually read. My daughter bought this book for me when she was out with her friends and she noticed the cover. She figured it would be my kind of book. I love the cover but the story is dark, very dark. There's a lot of killing and fighting in this book because the werewolves just want to live and the ones hunting them won't let that happen. 

Will I be reading the 1st or 3rd books in this series? Probably not because this was a slow read for me. Yes, a lot happens but the pace was a bit slow for me. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon