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 bottle of Pumpkin Spice cold brew coffee from Nestle Good Nes (Starbucks Coffee at Home)

Peace Out acne dots

Facial cleanser

NYX Marsh Mellow Primer

Skinceuticals moisturizer

An assortment of men's cologne from Macy's

I liked the pumpkin spice cold brew coffee concentrate. I thought it was good. The men's cologne fragrance's smelled good for the most part. The NYX Marsh Mellow primer is great. Works well under face makeup. I've used a few Skinceuticals products and liked most of them. I haven't used the acne dots yet so we'll see if they help with a break out or not. The facial cleanser worked well. 

It was a good week for freebies. 

Did you receive any freebies or free samples this week?

Book Review: Fated To The Beast by Kenzie Skye

 

Book Description

Broderick

Being half bear/half wolf shifter, I’ve been shunned my entire life. Now I spend my time in exile, watching over the village below my castle grounds—until one day when a fair maiden stumbles onto my land. I want her the moment I lay eyes on her. Since everyone already believes I’m a monster, I grab her and bring her back to my castle. I know it’s wrong, but I crave Fiona in ways even I don’t understand. Both my inner beasts rage at me to claim her as my mate. I can bear the scorn and hatred of others, but there is one thing I can’t endure: knowing she can’t possibly return my affections. Before I lose all control and become the monster people accuse me of being, I set Fiona free.

Fiona

I never imagined forming an attachment, let alone romantic feelings for the beast of a man who has been holding me captive. Broderick has been ostracized his entire life and I can’t help but be drawn to the wounds he hides inside. Who am I to think I can offer him any solace? Yet, in my presence, he does seem more settled, more at ease. If I’m honest with myself, the inner restlessness I’ve struggled with my entire life also calms. Together we soothe each other. But then he lets me go and I’m left to wonder if we’re meant to be after all.

My Review

In this Beauty and the Beast retelling we have Fiona who is out picking berries when she accidentally travels into the Broderick's private property. He's known as The Beast of Boding because he's a shifter who when he gets upset, changes into his beast. When Fiona stands there and talks to him instead of fleeing in fear because of who he is, Broderick decides to take her back to his castle and keep her. He knows what he's doing is wrong but the pull to her is too much for him to stop himself. 

Fiona is worried about her father so Broderick agrees to send a letter to him to let him know she's fine. While Broderick might have kidnapped her, he's a complete gentleman towards her until she tries to escape and then he makes her sleep in his bed where he can keep an eye on her but he's still a gentleman. 

I loved Broderick. He was a beast but he's also such a great hero and once Fiona agrees to stop trying to escape, they come to an understanding. Watching them get to know one another better and fall for each other was so much fun. Broderick is such a nice guy and even though Fiona had rejected all the men who came calling while she was at home, she finds herself falling for Broderick. 

When Broderick comes to his senses and realizes he can't keep her captive anymore, he lets her go but the pull between them cannot keep them apart for long. I loved everything about this story. Fiona was so sweet with him and even though she wasn't sure about her feelings at first, his tenderness and caring made her see him for the great guy he was. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Recipe: Cabbage Rolls

 

You will need: 

1 Head of cabbage (Leaves cut into 4X4 inch squares)

1 Can of diced tomatoes 

2 TBSP tomato paste 

1 Bell Pepper (diced)

1 Onion (diced)

1LB ground chicken

1tsp. McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning

1tsp. McCormick Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste

0 Calorie cooking spray

Preheat an oven to 350F

What To Do

Add some of the cooking spray to a pan, add diced bell pepper and onion. Cook on medium heat stirring as needed until the vegetables start to become soft. Add ground chicken, 1/2 the spices and salt & pepper. 

Cut the cabbage into 4x4 squares. You will need about 20 of them. 

Add diced tomatoes and tomato paste and other half of spices and salt & pepper to a sauce pan and heat up over low heat.

Boil the cabbage leaves for about 5-7 minutes or until they become floppy and rollable. Add a little of the meat mixture to each leaf and roll carefully. They might tear, this didn't bother me, just add to a pan after rolling. 

This is what they looked like after they were rolled and in the pan.

Next, take your tomato mixture and pour over the cabbage rolls. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Serve with salad or your choice of side.

I had mine with some salad. 

Calories for 5 cabbage rolls- 250

Carbs per 5 cabbage rolls- 8

This recipe made 20 cabbage rolls for me. 

Would you eat this?

Book Review: Primal Instinct by Sydney Somers

 

Book Description

She was only supposed to be the bait…

Corrine Lawson is living next door to a werewolf.

Okay, probably not, but teasing her secretive neighbor, Ryker, about howling at the moon is far more entertaining than worrying about how she'll pay her bills after getting fired—again.

At least it’s entertaining right up until Ryker abducts Cori, exposing her to a dangerous world where magic and gargoyles are real, and the search for Excalibur can get you killed. A mythical world Cori belongs to more than she realizes.

Both man and wolf, Ryker McKinnon has spent nearly a century tormented by the past, hungering only for vengeance against the shifter who slaughtered his family. When a promising lead exposes his enemy’s one weakness—a human daughter clueless about the immortal world—Ryker knows she’s the perfect bait to lure his enemy out of hiding.

Only nothing prepares Ryker for the staggering emotion Cori’s touch unleashes or the wolf’s brutal need to claim her for his own.

Once the wheels are set in motion and Cori is plunged into the middle of a centuries-old feud, will Ryker’s secrets destroy their fragile bond, or finally awaken the fierceness inside her?

My Review

Ryker lives next door to Cori but at first they don't see each other over the fence, they just talk through the fence and get to know each other. I thought this was going to be one of those "The hero falls for the girl next door" type romances because I didn't re-read the description after adding it to my Kindle. I just clicked on the book and started reading. Ryker slowly unveils his plans to use Cori as bait to get to her father but as he's gotten to know her, he's started to have feelings for her so things are working out a little different than he had first thought they would. Cori also isn't real close with her absentee father and she knows nothing about what he actually is. But when danger shows up at her door, literally and she's thrown into the fire sooner than Ryker can plan for, he saves her so he can use her to contact her father and because he feels protective of her. 

When Cori learns the whole truth about what's going on and that her father is a shifter who is responsible for Ryker's family being murdered, she's not sure what to do. She likes Ryker, a lot but isn't sure she should trust him after finding out that he only got to know her to get close to her father. 

I found this storyline to be a little confusing though because the shifters are called Gargoyles which I thought meant there would be actual gargoyles and there wasn't. The gargoyles are actually shifters like panthers, wolves and dragons but they are from King Arthur's Court ie, Avalon. They are only gargoyles in the sense that they are cursed and until they find their mates, they turn to stone at certain times. It was an interesting idea but also a little confusing. 

There's a lot of action and drama because of the danger Cori's father puts them all in. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"I know you ate my donut, I can smell it on your breath!"

"Want to join me for some tea and a pastry?"

"I'm not sharing my pastries." 

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

Apartment Life #327

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 have a lot to catch up on this week. I took a lot of pictures the 10 days that I was without internet. 

The man in the grocery cart was back a few times. I don't know why he chose to sleep in the cart, it can't be comfortable.

I wasn't going to share this homeless woman's picture while she was washing her clothes and hanging them on the fence line but then she started hitting the crack pipe while she was standing there. That's what she's bent over doing. She was getting the crack pipe ready and then hit it over by the wall. Unbelievable.

One night at 11PM the police showed up with sirens and lights. 

There were about 5 cop cars that showed up, they got out of their cars with their guns drawn, and ran to the right down the walking path. Then they ran back to their cars and sped off down the walking path. I have no idea what was going on down there.

The police showed up one day and were checking out some of the homeless people on my street. I've noticed at least 12 homeless people on my street this past week. The police stop them and search them all the time.

Falcor in his new hot weather booties that he hates.

I spotted this flowering bush across the street. It has orange flowers on it. I wanted to show something nice amongst all the bad.

Not sure what kind of flowers these are but they're pretty.

A few years ago this man (Jeff) had a fire in his apartment right across the courtyard from me. He was moved to another apartment. A couple of months ago his wife passed away and he was evicted soon after and is now one of the homeless people that hang out around here. I used to refer to him as married guy. He and his girlfriend that he has now hang out and hit the meth pipe and shoot heroin in plain view, I've seen them do it. Well the police stopped him last week, searched his bags and must have found something because he was arrested. 

I heard what sounded like gunshots one night. Wasn't sure what or where it was coming from. The next day I saw paintball marks on the sound wall in several places.

All those little white marks are where paintballs hit the wall. 

This is at least the third time that I've seen paintball marks on the walls around here. I worry when I see that because I don't want someone to drive by and hit me or others with the paintballs if we happen to be out at that time. 

The high this week was 109F/42C

The low this week was 85F/29C

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

 

NOTHING MORE ft David Draiman - ANGEL SONG

I love David Draiman's voice so whenever he is featured in another band's songs I like to listen to it to see if I like it and I liked this one. I love Disturbed because of Draiman's voice so hearing him in this song made it great for me. I hope you enjoy it too. 

Book Review: Primal Mirror by Nalini Singh

 

Book Description

ew York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into a family dark with shadowy secrets, as the world of the Psy teeters on the edge of a final catastrophic collapse. . . .

 

Daughter of two ruthless high-Gradient telepaths, Auden Scott is not the child her Psy parents wanted or expected, even before her brain injury. Her thoughts are scattered, her memories fuzzy—or just terrifyingly blank. The only thing she knows for certain is that she must protect her unborn baby . . . a baby she has no recollection of conceiving and who draws an unnerving depth of interest from her dead mother’s closest associates.

 

Leopard alpha Remi Denier is a man driven by the primal instinct to protect. Protect his pack, protect his allies . . . and protect the mysterious woman who has become a most unlikely neighbor. With eerie eyes that see too much and a scent that alters in ways disturbing and impossible, Auden Scott is the enemy . . . but nothing about this strange Psy is what it seems, and Remi’s feline heart is as fascinated by her as his human half.

 

Then Auden asks Remi to help her shatter the wall of secrets that is the Scott bloodline. What they unearth will reveal a nightmare beyond imagination. This time, the battle is to the death. . . .

My Review

So once again I've jumped right into the middle of a series and started reading it because it sounded good. I've read some of this authors other books and liked then so I thought I would like this one as well. But this story left me wanting and not in a good way. It starts out really slow and the story lags for the first half of the book. We get a sense that Auden who is pregnant has something more wrong with her brain than what those around her are telling her. The fact that everyone seems to want to do tests on her unborn baby that don't seem necessary and how Auden keeps losing time and her doctor says it's just seizures, was suspect at best. 

When Auden meets Remi who is a changeling (think shifter) she feels comfortable with him. So when he tells her that he saw her and she was different and she even smelled like a different person, she knows something else is going on. So she asks Remi if he and his people will keep her safe and give her sanctuary if it comes to that. 

When the truth is finally revealed, it made up for the lack of engagement during the first half of this book because it was a big secret that those around her were keeping from her. So even though I had some problems with this book because it starts out pretty slow, I ended up liking it when it did finally get more entertaining and dramatic. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Amazon

Book Review: The Polar Bear's Fake Mate by Sophie Stern

 

Book Description

One bear. One human. One big, fat lie.

Justin

You'd think that with a backstory like mine, the idea of taking a mate is unbelievable. You'd be right. The only reason I'm agreeing to this entire "mates" thing is so that my mother gets off my back, my shareholders are happy, and I continue moving forward in my career. I'm the face of a multi-billion dollar company. I don't need any scandals in my midst.

Rebecca

The offer is for one year. One year of pretending to be this guy's mate, and then we can have a quiet divorce. He just needs his shareholders off of his back, and me? Well, I'd like to not starve to death. Only, there's more than meets the eye when it comes to Justin. He might have money and brains and incredibly good looks, but there's a secret that lurks behind those beautiful eyes.

And I intend to find out what it is.

THE POLAR BEAR'S FAKE MATE is the first book in SHIFTERS OF RAWR COUNTY: a new shifter series from Sophie Stern. There is no cheating and a guaranteed HEA for our happy couple. You may also want to check out THE DRAGON'S CHRISTMAS TREASURE for a sneak peek at life in Rawr County!

My Review

Justin's mother wants her son married off even if it's a fake mate and a fake wedding. She doesn't want her son to lose their company after someone is editing pictures of him to make it look like he's bad for the company. Plus she just found out that she has some health problems. So her idea is to put an ad out in another city for a woman who will be paid well for one year's time who agrees to be fake married and everything that comes with that. But Rebecca doesn't realize that Justin is a shifter when she agrees to become his bride. 

Rebecca needs the money this fake marriage will bring her so she steps out of her comfort zone and applies to the ad not knowing if it's a real deal or not. But she gets the job, the only problem is after spending time with Justin, getting ready for the fake marriage ceremony, getting to know his mother and realizing that Justin is a nice guy...she starts falling for him. That's not supposed to be part of the deal, right? But she doesn't know that Justin wants her for more than just a fake wife, he has feelings for her too. Watching these two navigate a fake relationship, having to play at being in love when they really are and falling for each other was so much fun. 

Justin is a great character but he does come off a bit gruff at first. I think it's because he was hiding a big part of who he was but we get to see another side of him once all the secrets are revealed. 

I had a good time with this book. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

How blogging has changed For Me

Since I just celebrated my 19th blogoversary, I had this idea for a post. I've been around a long time and things have changed somewhat for bloggers and how people blog. Here are just a few things that have changed for me in that time. 

I used to just grab a picture off the internet when I wanted to add a picture. But then in 2012 things changed when I found out that you could get sued for posting pictures you found on the internet, and I almost deleted my blog because I used to post a lot of pictures. I made two blog posts about it at the time that you can find here and here. Ultimately I decided to just delete most of the pictures I had posted over the years and just change some things. So now if I want to use a royalty free picture I go to a site like Pixabay and find a picture there that I can use for free. The picture in this post are from there. 

I like using pictures in my posts because posts with pictures tend to get more traffic and pictures make the posts better, at least to me. So I take a lot of pictures myself as well. 

When I first started blogging, my friends and I started off using our blogs as diaries for the most part. One friend used hers as a site for all her recipes. I don't see a lot of personal blogs anymore, where they just talk about themselves. But I do see friends have a blog post every now and again about themselves or little snippets about their lives. I love those posts. It's nice to be able to get to know your blog friends. I value my blog and the friends I've made here because of it. 

While the types of blogs might have changed and there are more blogs sharing news, articles they find, politics and book reviews, there are still a lot of active blogs which I love. I like that I can experiment with self expression in my posts and tell stories that have happened to me as well as still share things I like. I blog for fun and to share my thoughts on things like books, products I like, freebies and my life. So I still post like I did when I first started out even though blogging has changed a bit. 

I used to see a lot of ads on blogs. So much so that they would pop up and slow my browser down. I don't see that anymore. Instead there are affiliate programs where you click on a link and the blogger who posted it will get a small revenue incentive. I don't blog to make money, I do it for fun. But something like an Amazon affiliate program might be worth looking into for the posts I share books reviews on. 

How has blogging changed for you?