Book Review: Redemption of a Wolf by Jennifer Snyder

 

Book Description

His wolf wants him to repair his pack, but then she comes along. Will love be his ticket to salvation, or will it disrupt things even more?

Blade Malone is the new alpha of the Dark Moon Pack, but his pack is in shambles. Damage from their previous leader still lingers, and so does Blade's guilt for the things that happened. Just when there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, his mate walks into his life.

Laney Henry thought she was emailing the man she was hired to interpret nightmares for, but she was wrong. Instead, the big, burly biker doesn't know why she's standing in his motorcycle clubhouse. Not one to walk away from a challenge, Laney knows if she can get his walls down, she can figure out what's troubling him and help.

But a pack in disarray brings challenges, and when those challenges threaten Laney, Blade knows he must step up and protect the woman his wolf has chosen—even if it means tossing pack rules out the window.

Redemption Of A Wolf is book one in the Dark Moon Pack series, which is part of the larger Paranormals of Crescent Creek World. If you enjoy reading about small towns with quirky characters and shifter romance stories with Fated Mates, you'll love these books!

Author Note: Unwind with a bite-sized, fast-paced fated mates shifter romance perfect for busy readers! This short paranormal romance story—designed to be read in under 2 hours—is packed with sizzling chemistry, heartfelt moments, and a dash of suspense, all leading to an HEA.

My Review

Laney is a dream interpreter, and she is hired to help Blade get over his nightmares. He's a wolf shifter and the new alpha of his pack. Laney has no idea that he's a shifter though when she takes the job to help him with his nightmares. Blade and his wolf are at odds right now because of something that happened to them, so when his wolf calms just for a while when Laney is around them, Blade takes notice and gives her a chance. Because why is his wolf so calm around her?

Some of Blade's pack are not happy with the way Blade is handling getting the pack back to normal and when they make themselves seen, all hell breaks loose. Laney finds herself in danger just as she and Blade are getting to know each other, which makes all of Blade's protective instincts surface. 

Laney feels a pull towards Blade but Blade knows something she doesn't, she's his mate. When Laney finds out that shifters exist, she sure takes it all in better than I would have imagined most people would have. 

This was a short novella length book but it felt like it had all the information I needed to really enjoy this story. I loved how this book ended and now I'm looking forward to reading more from this series.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

We had some clouds this week. No rain but it was cloudy and cold. That's my apartment complex at the bottom of the picture. Someone once told me it looked like prison dorms. lol 

Sunrise.

And then this sunset.

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.

Living With Schizotypal Personality Disorder

I didn't find out that I had Schizotypal Personality Disorder until I was 25 years old. Which is weird since I had been in and out of the Psychiatric hospital a few times from the time I was 17 years old. The Psychiatrists and Psychologists in the hospitals only said I suffered from depression and anxiety. But after I got out of the Psychiatric hospital the last time, I looked for a psychologist and after a few weeks of talking to her she told me I fit all the criteria for Schizotypal Personality Disorder as well as Schizoaffective Disorder. It explained a lot. The Psychologists explained that Schizoaffective Disorder in my case can be thought of as having all the symptoms of Schizophrenia without the Psychosis. Although I have had a couple of Psychotic episodes.

When I was a kid my mom used to get really mad at me because I didn't show a lot of emotions, this especially upset her when we were taking pictures and I didn't smile. I feel emotions, they are just very subdued. My mom used to tell me, "Stop giving me the evil eye."

Only, I wasn't trying to give her the evil eye, this is just my face. Neither one of us understood what was wrong with me. I learned really quickly not to look my mom directly in the eyes because she would always accuse me of giving her the evil eye or giving her a dirty look. 

I was too young to fake it or to put a fake smile on my face. It never even occurred to me. Not until I was older and had a job and people would say things like, "You'd be prettier if you smiled. Are you in a bad mood? You should smile more. What's wrong today?" So I started fake smiling. I still do it today. I would say that 75% of the laughing or smiling I do today is fake. I just do it to make others feel comfortable. I had a therapist tell me that's what I should do. Learn to read the room and act the way everyone else is. So, as I got older, I learned to mimic others' emotions because my own emotions are very subdued and I have an abnormal affect. Meaning I might smile at the wrong time or look sad at happy occasions. It can be quite hard to constantly be on guard as to what emotion is playing out on my face in social situations. At home a lot of times I don't self-regulate my emotions or fake anything and my daughter will still ask me if I'm alright or mad, sad, depressed. No, this is just my face. 

So because I have both disorders, I have hallucinations, hear voices, mostly whispering but sometimes actual voices talking. I sometimes feel someone touching my leg or at night I'll feel my bed shaking like an earthquake. But I've been relying on Falcor to let me know if it really is shaking. If he doesn't respond to what I'm seeing or feeling, I know it's not real. I sleep with a couple of lights on so hallucinations can't come out of the shadows at night and scare me. 

So what is Schizotypal Personality Disorder? Good question.

People with schizotypal personality disorder are often described as odd or eccentric, and usually have few, if any, close relationships. They generally don't understand how relationships form, leading to severe anxiety and a tendency to turn inward in social situations.

In schizotypal personality disorder, people also exhibit odd behaviors, respond inappropriately to social cues and hold peculiar beliefs.

Schizotypal personality disorder typically begins in early adulthood and is likely to endure, though symptoms may improve with age. Schizotypal Personality Disorder is a condition characterized by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior. This disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviors become persistent and very disabling or distressing.

In response to stress, individuals with this disorder may experience very brief psychotic episodes (lasting minutes to hours). If the psychotic episode lasts longer, this disorder may actually develop into Brief Psychotic Disorder, Schizophreniform Disorder, Delusional Disorder or Schizophrenia. Individuals with this disorder are at increased risk for Major Depressive Disorder. Other Personality Disorders (especially Schizoid, Paranoid, Avoidant, and Borderline) often co-occur with this disorder.

Symptoms of Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Schizotypal personality disorder is characterized by a pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

•Ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)

•Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)

•Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions

•Odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)

•Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation

•Inappropriate or constricted affect

•Behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar

•Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives

•Excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

So this may answer some questions about me, eh?

I see no reason to hide mental illness. It's an illness like any other and the stigma surrounding it needs to stop. 

Links to past stories

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Happy Raturday!

 

"Just out eating a fancy cheese plate at a fancy restaurant."

"Do you like our Winter hats?"

"Look deeply into my eyes. You want to give me all the treats."

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

Apartment Life #406

 

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.

I told you that maintenance was installing lights around the buildings, on Tuesday they were working on the courtyard lights and they started pushing the gutters off the roof to get the lights up in places. I'm glad I wasn't walking by at the time when it fell because they weren't even looking to see if anyone was there as the gutters were falling in places. They did remove this later that day.

Since we have no more gutters, when it rains the water will be coming off the roof everywhere instead of just a couple of places and down the gutter pipes at the end of the building. 

---

I spotted the police down the street early Tuesday morning. They got out of the cars and ran into that building and I could hear them pounding on the door yelling, "Police!" I waited around for a few minutes to see if someone would answer the door, but when no one did, they left. 

It was windy one day this week and I spotted this note flying down the sidewalk, so I picked it up and read it. Funny thing is, the 209 building is in my apartment complex. There is no assigned parking so I have no idea what this person is talking about. Maybe that's why the recipient tossed it on the ground when they read it. 

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This is our pool. That building next to it at the top of the picture is the office. Ever since the new owner took over and hired this new management company, they haven't been maintaining the pool at all. Now they sent out a notice saying that there's too much wrong with the pool for it to pass inspections. *I call BS!* This pool has been here and open and passing inspections for at least 27 years. It passed inspections last Summer and was open, but now all the sudden it won't? Yeah, ok. 

So we have been told it will no longer be here and will be destroyed but if we want to use a pool, we can walk down the street to the next apartment complex *That our owner now owns too* and we can use their pool. I think the manager just doesn't want to deal with the loud kids, people having pool parties and the homeless using it to bathe in every Summer. 

We've been told that they are going to fill it and it's going to be turned into a dog run/potty place for dogs, sometime in the next 2 months. The manager said she doesn't want anyone letting their dogs potty elsewhere on the property. Well there are a lot of dogs down the street that walk here as well as the people across the street. So if she wants to stop them from walking their dogs down the street, she'll have to fence the entire property. No one is going to bring their dog into the office courtyard to use this small dog run. No thank you. 

The high this week was 66F/18C

The low this week was 36F/2C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

My daughter and I are trying to eat healthier, so I am sharing some of the dishes that we are eating each week. 

Baked Zucchini Chicken Patties and Swiss Chard

You will need

1 lb ground chicken

3 TBSP diced Cilantro

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium sized zucchini)

2 diced green onions

1/4 tsp Chili Powder

1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch Swiss Chard

1 avocado

2 TBSP lemon juice 

No calorie cooking spray

1/2 tsp. McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning

Add the grated zucchini to a cheese cloth or clean kitchen towel and twist it to remove most of the moisture from the zucchini. Set aside.

Mix together the chicken, zucchini, cilantro, garlic powder, green onions, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, and drop by large spoonful onto a baking sheet. Flatten out a bit so they look like patties. Cook in a 425 F oven for 30 minutes or until done. They will release some liquid while cooking, just pour it off about half way through the cooking process.  Serve with guacamole dipping sauce. 

Recipe for Guacamole

1 ripe avocado

1TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp mayonnaise

salt to taste

Peel the avocados and mash them. Add lemon juice, mayo and salt. Mix well. 

I love making these ahead of time and having them as a snack or lunch.

To make the Swiss Chard

Trim the stems of each leaf, cut the stems away from each leaf, chop into small pieces. Add no calorie cooking spray to a sauté pan, add the chopped stems, cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Chop the Swiss Chard leaves small and add to the pan with the Montreal Chicken seasoning, cook on medium for 10 minutes. When it's done pour on 1TBSP lemon juice and mix well. 

Spread a little of the guacamole onto the chicken patties and enjoy.

Serving size = 3 patties, 3 TBSP guacamole and 1/2 cup of Swiss Chard. 

Each serving has 530 calories and 20 carbs. 

Would you eat this?

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.  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 sample of Rodan Fields face serum. 

It made my face feel soft, that's about it. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: The Magical Mocha Latte by R.A. Muth

 

Book Description

I thought a free latte would be the highlight of my day. Instead, it changed my life.

What was supposed to be a simple errand for my aunt—a quick delivery to a nearby town—spirals into a whirlwind of magical mishaps, suspicious detours, and way too much fur when I accidentally adopt a dog… much to my cat’s dismay.

Now I’m dealing with enchanted caffeine, a missing family member, and two talkative pets with a lot of opinions. The only person who might be able to help? My ex-high-school sweetheart, Jones—the last person I want back in my life.

But with danger brewing and long-buried secrets bubbling to the surface, Jones may be my only option. Mockingbird Springs may be a small Southern town, but something big is stirring—and if I don’t figure it out fast, this latte might just be my last.

My Review

Zip is off to make a delivery for her aunt but what should have been a very easy thing to do turns into one surprise after another. On her day full of problems, she comes across a stray dog who she ends up bringing home to keep. But a magical drink makes it so she can talk to both her cat and the new dog. Zip decides to get help from her, only to find the aunt missing. 

Jones, her Ex-boyfriend, gets a call from Zip hoping for help finding her missing aunt. They might be ex's but they're still friends. They try to figure out why Zip's aunt went missing and where she might be. Along the way they encounter some strange happenings and more questions. 

The cat and dog are so funny since she can talk to them. I sometimes wonder what my dog is thinking and now I have to wonder what's in his head when he looks at me. The animals were so much fun. 

This is a fun read for sure. I found myself laughing quite a bit at this one. 

While this isn't my usual type of read, I won this book in a giveaway and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

This was at 3PM, in the middle of the day, that cloud was so big and so dark. I mistakenly took this picture with my flash still on.

This is the same cloud as above, but I turned my flash off. This is what it looked like to me as I saw it. This storm blew past and we didn't even get any rain from it.

Lots of cloud cover.

That night the sunset was so pretty though. I couldn't get the entire sunset in my picture but the picture below is the other side of this sunset.

Another fiery sunset.

Book Review: Fated To The Alpha Bear by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

The man they sent to rescue me looks more dangerous than my captors. Bodhi Lennox hasn't spoken a full sentence since he arrived, just watches me with dark eyes and growls at anyone who gets too close.

He's massive, barely speaks, and is supposedly here to protect me until my brother pays his debt.

But the way he looks at me? Like I'm already his. Like he'd tear apart anyone who tries to touch me.

I should be terrified of him. Instead, I'm wondering what it would take to make a man like him lose control.

******

Three months in fur. Three months avoiding everyone I know. Then Chase Walker drags me back to civilization for one last job, protect a woman being held as collateral for her brother's debt.

Simple. Get in. Guard the asset. Get out.

Then I recognize her. My mate. And I know I'm in trouble.

Every instinct screams to claim her, protect her, keep her. But she thinks I'm just hired muscle. Another dangerous man in a house full of predators.

She has no idea she belongs to an alpha bear who's more animal than man.

She has no idea I'll burn the whole world down before I let anyone hurt what's mine.

A wild bear shifter romance with a possessive alpha hero, fated mates, and a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers.

My Review

Emma can't believe her brother, Jake owes around $80,000 to a loan shark and is asking her for a loan. It's not like she's rich and has the money to bail him out. His gambling is out of control and now he owes the wrong people a lot of money. Those bad people come looking for Jake and they find him at Emma's place. Now the loan shark decides to take Emma as collateral until Jakes can pay off his debts to him. But all the loan shark can see are dollar signs when he finds out that Emma is a virgin. 

Bodhi is a bear shifter and works with his brother's in their security company. Jake goes to them to ask for help getting his sister back but Bodhi is in bad shape and doesn't know if he can keep it together to help them. Once the plan is set and he looks at her picture, he knows right away that she's his mate, that fact almost blows the entire plan because he wants nothing more than to just go in there, pick her up and take her to safety but he can't, not yet. Bodhi is sent in to just be more muscle for the bad guy and he plays his hand well.

Being around her once he gets in as more muscle for the bad guy, is hard for him. He wants to let her know that he's going to get her out of there, but he can't let her know it yet. Emma knows she only has a few days of freedom left because the bad guy is auctioning her off to the highest bidder soon. 

When something happens to make the auction not happen, there's a flurry of changes that happen all at once and Bodhi doesn't realize that the bad guy knows something about him now that puts Emma in danger. With the danger at its highest now, Bodhi does the only thing he can and tries to save Emma. But afterwards, he thinks that he's a monster and that Emma might not be able to look at him and see any kind of forever. So of course, there's a time when they are apart and they both have hard feelings about it because not talking about what they are both feeling is coming between them. 

I really love this series. It just gets better and better. Bodhi is a grumpy bear shifter who's childhood was hard because of an abusive father who was frightened by and probably jealous of how big and powerful Bodhi was growing up to be. When Bodhi shifts, his bear is 800 lbs of muscle and that scares some of his clan because of what his father made him do and how he feels about himself because of it. But in reality, Bodhi is a nice guy with a troubled past and abusive father who treated him bad and kicked him out of the clan when he was just a teenager. Bodhi and Emma both have bad things happen to them and they deserved to be happy and be together finally. I loved the ending of this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon