Book Review: A Dark Guardian by Donna Grant

 

Book Description

Earth is about to be annihilated by creatures spoken of only in myths and legends. The fabled race of the Fae has gathered together a group of warriors highly skilled and trained to defeat these creatures. These men come from different times and realms, giving their lives, if necessary, to end the destruction of our world.

Dear Reader –

Have you ever wanted to travel through time with weapons crafted by the Fae themselves? To experience adventure so thrilling and dangerous you don’t know if you will live to see tomorrow? Now my men and I are faced with fighting creatures only thought to live in legend but which have been brought to Earth by evil bent on annihilating all the realms. That is my life – and I love it.

At least I did until I found myself staring into the angelic, innocent face of Lady Mina of Stone Crest. In all the time I have led the Shields, I have trusted my instincts to keep us alive, yet now I don’t know what to believe. Everything points to Mina as the evil summoning the creatures, but she proclaims her innocence.

I should be able to see through her lies, if she is indeed lying, but my attraction to her blinds me to even that. The last time I found myself so lured to a woman, it nearly cost me the lives of my men. I cannot allow that to happen again. I won’t allow that to happen again.

Yet every time she looks at me, begging me with those blue-green eyes to believe her, I find myself sinking further under her spell. Her mouth is a temptation mortal men will never know and her love will either bring me the peace I thought I’d never find – or the death I’ve managed, thus far, to avoid.

Hugh the Righteous

My Review

Mina has had a hard life because her brother and sister have never liked her. They treat her bad and blame her for things that were not her fault. They blame her for the monsters that have been killing the people of their village even though she isn't at fault. 

Hugh is the leader of the Shields, who are men from different times, and places brought together by the Fae to fight the monsters. 

Mina is out by herself trying to lure the monster into a trap when Hugh comes upon her. She thought that there were a few of her men there with her but they had fled on her brother's order, leaving her for dead if the monster had been able to get to her. 

Hugh and his men follow her back to her castle where they meet her brother and sister and Hugh doesn't like either of them. But Mina is taken with him right away. Hugh and his men stay there and try to rid the monster and find out where it came from. Mina shows them where the monster came from which only brings about more questions than answers. There's also a Fae man that is helping them find out what's going on and put the pieces together. 

I was really liking this book and how Hugh and Mina were together and then Hugh's personality seemed to change a bit and I wasn't so sure that I liked him anymore. I didn't like the way he treated Mina even though he proclaimed that he loved her, it was weird. I know this is the first book in this series and some of the questions about the monsters, where they came from, and questions about some of the other characters that were brought up will probably be answered as the series goes on but I found this to have too many holes and not enough answers. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Day Zero: Beginnings (Savage North Chronicles Book 8) by Lindsey Pogue

 

Book Description

Survival of the fittest. Those four words accompanied me into the inferno. Followed by four others. I am the weak. And knowing I deserved far worse than death, I let the fire inside me burn.

Before the fever, a deadly plan was set in motion from which a single text altered the world beyond remedy--three words that changed humanity forever. It is time.

After the Great Transformation, life in the North was miserable and bleak for those who remained. Loved ones were mourned. Survivors heard voices and could do impossibly unnatural things. Yet, amidst the fear and uncertainty, the grief and despair, Bert, Ross, Kat, and Cal found a semblance of hope.

These are the stories of those who survived the beginning.

My Review

I haven't read any of the previous books in this series  and this is book 8 so I'm sure I'm missing a few things. But this prequel read like the beginning of the series and not 8 books in because it told what happened when the sickness first came and when people first started dying from whatever happened.

Something bad happened, people played a part in that disaster and those that are left have to go on somehow. This book tells how a few of the survivors first started out in this story. It was very heartbreaking. People are dead and dying, people are taking advantage of others. Kids are alone and scared. 

I have no idea what happened after this but it was an interesting look at the beginning. I'm glad I read this first because it definitely piqued my interest.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.  

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Who needs a kiss?"

All pictures courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com

Apartment Life #263

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 24 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 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

For some reason I was seeing and finding needles everywhere this week. There was a large population of homeless people in these areas this week so that's probably why. Plus I was seeing a lot more people by drug dealers apartment this week as well. The wall that these first two needles were was right by the wall that separates my complex from the parking lot of the store next door. But right on the other side of this wall is a garbage can. Good grief.

I spotted this needle by the hiking trail that I walk Falcor.

And this needle was further down the hiking trail where I walk Falcor. I found a plastic bag to pick them all up and put them in the garbage can. I just think it's ridiculous that they leave their needles laying around like this. 

----

Saturday morning around 3am, my daughter was sitting outside our door in one of our chairs and herd gunshots close by. She wasn't sure where they were coming from until a couple of people started running by the side of the apartment building from the alley and then she heard a couple more gunshots. She quickly came back inside and said a few minutes later she heard the police sirens out there as well. I have no idea if anyone got shot in the alley but I didn't see any blood out there when I walked Falcor later that morning.

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

Recipe: Pancakes

 

Ya'll, I actually didn't realize how easy it is to make homemade pancakes until now. I've always bought the Aunt Jemima complete pancake mix and while it's good, these are just as good and so easy to make. 

Recipe: 

1 1/2 cups flour- sifted

3 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. salt

4 TBSP Sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

1 large egg

4 TBSP butter- melted

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sift together all dry ingredients in one large bowl. 

In another bowl mix milk, egg and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Add melted butter and mix just until incorporated. 

Let sit at room temperate uncovered for 30 minutes. 

Heat griddle or large non-stick pan to med. Add batter 1/4 cup at a time. Flip when you see bubbles forming on top. 

I don't have a griddle so I use a large non-stick pan and make one large pancake at a time. This will make 6 large pancakes or 12 normal size pancakes. You can also add different flavorings to this recipe. 

Have you made homemade pancakes before? Do you have a good recipe?

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 $15 gift card from You Gov Surveys. 

A Halloween Costume from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

2 free Luna Bars from Any Cart when I ordered using them. 

I'm really liking You Gov surveys. It's pretty easy to cash out with them. 

I got this cool looking Halloween costume for my grandson from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I ordered a couple of things using Any Cart and in the bags was a free Luna Bar. That was kinda cool. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

I'm Going To Bug You

 Warning: This post will have pictures of bugs. If you don't like bugs, you can leave now. 

Every Summer and sometimes in the Winter the bugs seem to come out and I find weird things in my apartment. One year it was spiders, another it was lady bug larvae and this year it's been beetles. This is a baby stink bug. They don't bite, or at least I've never been bitten from them and I've handled several of them. You don't want to squish these things because they put out a really bad smell when you do. So just take them back outside. I take all the bugs I find, back outside.

This was a tiny beetle. It was really tiny and was crawling near my laptop.

This is how tiny it was which is why I couldn't get a good picture of it.

So imagine my surprise when I took it outside and it sprouted wings and flew away. Flying beetle with wings. 

I'v made these kinds of posts over the years and if bugs interest you as much as they do me, then you might like these posts... Baby Ladybug Larvae, Sowbug, Stink bug. 

Aren't you glad I bugged you today?

Book Review: Godhunter by Amy Sumida

 

Book Description

Godhunter—what a dumb name.

Hunting implies an advantage. It speaks of tracking and skills and swift kills. That's not what I do. I'm more of a “sneak up on them when they're asleep” kinda gal. And don't give me any crap about that; didn't you catch the god part? I do what I have to do to survive. Yes, survive. I don't do this for pleasure. I'm not a crazy person. I kill gods because I don't want them to kill me. Okay, yeah, that still sounds a little crazy.

But then he showed up: eyes full of lightning, a jawline that could cut glass, and the body of a Norse god... which is exactly what he is. One of them. He's the one who gave me that stupid name. He also says he's on my side. I should probably kill him. And by that I mean that I should run away and sneak up on him later when he's asleep. But I have the strangest feeling that I can trust him. As a witch, I always trust my gut but as a woman, I suspect that this time, those feelings are coming from somewhere a little lower.

Trigger Warning: Although there is NO rape in this book, there is a dream scene with an enemy that involves consensual sex which the MC considers to be rape after she awakes. The dream itself is not violent nor does it involve force, but some readers may be disturbed by the reaction of the MC after the fact.

The Godhunter Series is a slow-build Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance series with Gods, Shapeshifters, Witches, and mythical beasts that will keep you hunting for more.

My Review

I wanted to like this book, the description sounded promising but I couldn't get into it for several reasons. I DNF'd this book at 40%. This is my very first dnf but it won't be my last I'm sure. I used to try and read the books that I started but I don't have time for books that I cannot get into and this was one of those books. 

Vervain is a witch and when someone comes after her to kill her, she kills him and a god. She decides to go through the god's things and finds a book that teaches her how to do more magic. So she kills a couple of gods and gets the name Godhunter because of it. 

In walks Thor, yes, that Thor and he wants her help. There are a few other gods that join them and want to change how the gods treat humans. Sacrificing humans gives the gods more power but we find out that the gods already have all the power they need so there's no need for all the killing. So Vervain decides to stay and help if she can. 

Now my first problem comes when we start meeting some of the other gods. A good looking man walks in and we're told he's Indian but then this happens... " (Indian with a dot not a feather)". I actually had to read that a couple of times because I couldn't believe what I had just read. The author could have said so many things. Indian from India. Indian but not Native American. I mean, I just had a lot of problems reading the rest of this after that. 

It was overly descriptive to the point where I started skipping over some of the descriptions. The conversations didn't flow and was immature at times. 

And then there was Blue, the sun god who is also pretty much Dracula or the father of all vampires. After he kidnapped Vervain and she gets away, he enters her dream and pretty much mesmerizes her and tricks her into sleeping with him and letting him bite her in her dream. But when she wakes up she has real bite marks. Blue was a total creep. I love vampires but I didn't care for this guy at all.

It was so slow. I kept waiting for the storyline to pick up and things to start happening and when it didn't, I just got bored and quit. A book has to keep my attention and unfortunately this one didn't. 

I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: Fierce Cowboy Wolf by Kait Ballenger

 

Book Description

Cowboys by day, wolf shifters by night: These bad boys are ready to heat things up in a sexy paranormal wolf shifter romance from author Kait Ballenger.

Sierra Cavanaugh has worked her whole life to become the first female elite warrior in Grey Wolf history. With her nomination finally put forward, all she needs is the pack council's approval. But those stuffy old wolves refuse to elect her unless she finds herself a mate.

Packmaster Maverick Grey was reconciled to spending the rest of his life alone. Now, having entered into treaty renegotiations with all the Seven Range clans, he needs the elite warrior vacancy filled—and fast. If Sierra needs a mate, this is his chance to claim her. But Sierra has an agenda of her own for their union, and they'll need to work together against the assassin intent on barring the deal.

For these two rivals, the only thing more dangerous than fighting the enemy at their backs is battling the war of seduction building between them...

My Review

Sierra worked hard to become the first female elite warrior for the grey wolf pack but she was denied by the council because she doesn't have a mate. 

Maverick needs the council to comply with his wishes in order to do what he needs to do. But he never expected to have feelings for another woman after his mate died but here he is about to be mated to Sierra even if he only wants a business arrangement. 

Their mating started out as a mutually beneficial arrangement but when Sierra asks him to tutor her in the art of all things sexual, it's hard for him to keep feelings out of the mix. 

Sierra is a fierce woman and I loved that about her. She's been in love with Maverick for ages and was upset when he didn't pick her to be his mate and instead picked another female years earlier. I liked that she found out why but that didn't change the fact that Maverick is a different guy than the friend she had when they were younger. But as they get closer she gets glimpses of the boy she knew and knows that he still has feelings for her but is scared to love her which melted my heart. These two had a lot of get through in order to be a real mated couple. 

On top of everything else these two are dealing with they also have to contend with someone trying to kill Maverick. I really liked the storyline and watching it unfold as we find out who was behind the attempt on his life and why. I had no idea what was really going on which was fun. This might have started out as a marriage of convenience but as time went on, they both had to admit that they loved each other but watching the trouble they had in order to get there was sad. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was sent a free e-ARC via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Hey you, human. You realize I have no idea what I'm doing, right?"

"This new math is so confusing"

"Will you read me a bedtime story?"

*All pictures today are courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*