Happy Halloween!

Hope you get lots of candy but beware of the ghosts and goblins.

Happy Gotcha Day, Falcor

On this day in 2014 we got Falcor from our apartment manager who was moving and didn't want her 5 month old puppy anymore. Ken already loved the dog and had been asking the manager if he could have the dog for a while because she and her husband weren't treating him well. 

This is the dog pen that Falcor spent his first 5 months in. The manager said he was too hyper to let out so she had him in this all the time. Every time Ken or anyone went into her office, the dog was always in this so when she gave him to us she also gave this dog pen to us and we just used it at night until he was potty trained. He wasn't house trained and had never walked on a leash before we got him. He was scared of everything and we suspect that he was abused since he always acted so scared and would start screaming when he saw a belt, broom or shoe. 

He's a happy dog now and doesn't act the way he did when we first got him. He isn't scared of us anymore and loves going for walks, rides and getting spoiled. My daughter took him to Petsmart and bought him a shirt and a toy and then took him to Starbucks for some whip cream. lol 

Falcor is now 3 1/2 years old and still acts like a puppy full of energy always wanting to play. 

He likes it when some of the neighborhood dogs come over for a visit. He gets along with other little dogs. 

He loves going for a walk now. He's much happier now than he was when we first got him. I'm glad we had the chance to get him.

Happy gotcha day, Falcor.

Happy Raturday!

All of the rats in today's Happy Raturday post are pictures of rats I've had in the past. Enjoy!

"This spider is almost as big as I am"

"I vant to suck your blood! Or a jelly filled donut, I'm really not picky."

"I think that pumpkin makes my butt look big."

"You're hair would make a nice orange coat."

"If I stand really still, maybe the spider won't bite me."

"What a rip off, it's not even a real pumpkin!"

Happy Halloween!

Favorite Video of the Week

My daughter showed this song to me a couple of weeks ago and I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. If the lead singer sounds familiar to you, he used to be the lead singer for Mudvayne.

Review: Bound To Submit by Laura Kaye

Book Description

From the ruins of an abandoned church comes Baltimore’s hottest and most exclusive BDSM club. Twelve Masters. Infinite fantasies. Welcome to Blasphemy…

He thinks he caused her pain, but she knows he’s the only one who can heal her…

Kenna Sloane lost her career and her arm in the Marines, and now she feels like she’s losing herself. Submission is the only thing that ever freed her from pain and made her feel secure, and Kenna needs to serve again. Bad. The only problem is the Dom she wants once refused her submission and broke her heart, but, scarred on the inside and out, she’s not looking for love this time. She’s not even sure she’s capable.

Griffin Hudson is haunted by the mistakes that cost him the only woman he ever loved. Now she’s back at his BDSM club, Blasphemy, and more beautiful than ever, and she’s asking for his help with the pain he knows he caused. Even though he’s scared to hurt her again, he can’t refuse her, because he’d give anything to earn a second chance. And this time, he’ll hold on forever.

My Review

Kenna is hurting, physically and mentally and most of it stems from what happened while she was in the Marines. Her best friend was killed and she lost an arm. She's trying to deal with the physical pain and the phantom pain she still has but nothing seems to be working. She's distant and not the happy person she used to be and she wants more, she's just not sure how to get it. 

Griffin is a Dom at his BDSM club and has been kicking himself for 5 years ever since he let Kenna walk out of his life because he didn't think he was ready for a long term relationship commitment. So when he see's her in the club, he does a double take because he can hardly believe she's there.

Kenna decides to go back to the BDSM club to see if she can get her mind on something other than the phantom pain in her arm. She's a little shocked to find griffin happy to see her there but she's cautious after he emotionally hurt her before and that as well as other things sent her running to the Marines.

Kenna has a lot of guilt to work through, she's hoping that being back at the club will help her with that as well as her physical pain but being back with Griffin opens up a lot of emotions she's tried hard to hide or keep pushed back so she doesn't have to deal with them. 

I really liked Griffin, I started out not liking him because of how he pushed her away but he really redeemed himself during this book. 

I really liked or wanted to like this book as I was reading it but I had a few problems with a couple of things. First, Kenna hasn't seen Griffin in 5 years because he told her he wasn't interested in a relationship when she told him she loved him. It hurt her so badly that she cut her phone off, moved and joined the Marines. So now that she's emotionally vulnerable she wants to subject herself to the same man who emotionally hurt her before? I had a big problem with that and I didn't like it. The second thing was Kenna just fell back for him too fast. He hurt her before, she's now emotionally a mess and when they meet back up it seemed like even though she wanted to go slow she just slipped right back into a routine with him and she believed what he said about missing her and how sending her away had been a mistake. Maybe it's just me but I don't think I could have trusted him again so easily. 

Now but for those to things about the storyline that I didn't care for, I did like this story but it was hard to believe that they just fell back together so easily. I did enjoy the other parts of the book and ended up liking Griffin and how he helped her through the problems she was having. Even with the couple of problems I had with the storyline, it was a good book. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

You might have noticed I didn't do a Freebie Friday post today. That's because I didn't receive any freebies this week. So I posted a review instead. 

Review: Enlightened Ice Cream Bars- Frozen Hot Cocoa flavor

I received a coupon for a free box of these Enlightened ice cream bars and figured why not. They are about half the carbs of some other ice cream bars and only 90 calories. I've been trying to limit my carbs to 50 per day which isn't easy but since these are only 18 carbs per ice cream bar, if they were good that would work. 

Just one problem...I didn't care for them. When I have ice cream, it's a treat and I expect it to be sweet. I mean that's why most people eat ice cream, right? They're looking for a sweet treat. So I was a little disappointed when I bit into this and it wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be. I was thinking frozen hot cocoa, cool it'll be sweet like hot cocoa is but it wasn't. It's actually a little bitter and whatever chocolate chips they used in this didn't seem very sweet either, just adding to the disappointment. 

So while it's lower in carbs and calories...it's not worth buying in my opinion if you're looking for a sweet treat. I had a coupon for a free box but if I had bought them the price was $4.50 per box at the grocery store we purchased them at. I'd rather buy a Klondike bar and only have one a month. 

Review: BirchBox- October

I decided to sign up for a Birchbox subscription box. It's only $10 a month and this month's box came with 5 products. This will be my last Birch Box though because I'm just not liking the products. I'm either giving them away to my daughter or it sits in my cabinet because it's not something I'd use. But my daughter likes the boxes so she's gonna start getting them.

This month I received: 

Avene Hydrance Intense Rehydrating Serum

Embryolisse 24 hour miracle cream

Eyeko black liquid eyeliner

Lipstick Queen Lip Liner

QUAI Rose hair and body oil 

The two samples or the face serum and cream I already used because the sample bottles were very small and there really wasn't enough in them to see if either of the products did anything for my face. 

I'll use the eyeliner but the lip liner is not my color and the rose body oil smells good but I don't like putting oil on my skin because I feel like I need another shower. I wasn't really pleased with this box and it was the last straw for me, so this is my last box from them. Hey, at least this box didn't contain yet another dry shampoo. lol 

Review: All Roar and No Bite by Celia Kyle

Book Description

Who needs claws when you’ve got a baseball bat? Lauren Evans sure as heck doesn’t. 

Human Lauren has a protective streak a mile wide and one immediate goal in life—get her best friend out of an abusive household. If that involves a little bat-based redecorating, so be it. Unfortunately—or fortunately—a certain sexy-as-hell cop breaks up the fight before she has a chance to really get going. Grayslake police officer Van Abrams is too hot for his own good, and his handcuffs make all those wonderful places tingle. Too bad he, you know, arrested her and stuff. But then he becomes overbearing, demanding, and commanding. Suddenly Lauren finds herself in his arms, in his bed, and mated to his werebear butt. What’s up with that?

Werebear Enforcer Van Abrams doesn’t want anything to do with humans. He’s got reasons, and they’re damn good ones. He doesn’t need to explain himself to anyone, especially the curvaceous, luscious, gorgeous, human Lauren. Then, his bear decides Lauren is his mate and Van’s anti-human feelings abandon him. He still hasn’t figured out if that’s a good thing. Of course, when danger rolls in from Boyne Falls and joins with a powerful prick from Grayslake, Van realizes that, human or not, Lauren is his.

Van hopes he can kill their enemies and still make it home for dinner. 

My Review

Van doesn't like humans but when he goes to a domestic abuse call and ends up arresting Lauren for assaulting the Mayor, he finds out things aren't always what they appear. Lauren was just saving her best friends life or at least saving her from being beat and abused once again from her dirt bag husband. I was rooting for her every time she hit the bastard but he pressed charges and she's arrested. But because he's the Mayor, charges get dropped, a quickie divorce is filed and papers are signed so no one looks bad and no one can say much about the incident. That should have been the end of it but the Mayor is an ass and he doesn't let it go. 

Van knows that there's something between he and Lauren so when it looks like her life might be in danger he brings her home and tries to get to know her better but there's always something that happens to stop an easing into a relationship and this is no different. 

Lauren gets scared, terrified actually and her eyes are opened. This was the part of the book that I didn't care for because according to their laws if a human finds out for sure about them they have two choices, become a mate to one of their people or be 'dealt with'. So in all actuality she really didn't have a choice, death or mate. I didn't care for that aspect but it did work out but knowing that Ty would have had to kill her if she had chosen the latter doesn't sit well with me. I don't think he or any of them would have been likable after something like that. 

There's some drama going on with other were animals and there's a crazy conclusion to that story line but it really added an interesting bit of drama to this story. 

I really like the little bits of Anna, her best friend who is getting out of a bad marriage that we see. I am hoping that we see more of her and her new man in one of the next books. I really like all of the other characters and am looking forward to seeing who finds their mate next and how it happens. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Cindy Roger's*

"And III willll allllways Looove youuuu"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of Poppy's Mischief*

"Your head is a lumpy pillow."

*Picture courtesy of Storm's Mischief*

"I carved you a pumpkin."

Review: Jared by Alisa Woods

Book Description

He was broken by the war. Her secret could destroy her family.

Ex-Marine sniper Jared River left the war, but the war never really left him. He’s a broken wolf who’s only good for one thing now—killing men. And he’s peering down his scope at Senator Krepky, the anti-shifter politician about to ruin the lives of all the shifters Jared loves.

Grace Krepky is the daughter of the Senator, a good girl with a passion for her father’s politics and who’s earned her way into being his campaign manager. Only problem? She’s secretly a shifter… and the clock is ticking until her own father inadvertently forces that secret into the open, ruining both their lives.

Jared’s all set to pull the trigger when he sees something shocking through the Senator’s glass walls—his daughter is a wolf. Jared puts his gun aside to go after the fleeing girl, but he already knows this can only end in one of two ways—either he’ll convince her to reveal herself to the Senator and stop his anti-shifter legislation, or Jared will have to assassinate her father.

If only she wasn’t making him come alive again…

Jared is a complete novel with HEA, the third in the River Pack Wolves trilogy (all standalone stories, but best enjoyed if you read them in order!).

Contains scorching hot shifters, alpha military heroes, and dark family secrets. Only readers over 18 should dive into the deliciously hot world of the River brothers.

AFTER THE RIVER BROTHERS: Check out the Wilding Pack Wolves series!

My Review

Grace Krepky works as her father's campaign manager. He happens to be a senator who wants all shifters to have to register and come out of the closet so to speak so that everyone knows who they are. The only problem is that his own daughter, Grace is secretly a shifter and that's not something she wants her father or anyone else to know. 

Jared knows there's only one thing that will stop the Senator from making all shifters register and that's a bullet to the head and that's why he was pointing his rifle at the Senator but right before he killed the man, he see's something that could change the Senators mind, his daughter shifting into a wolf. Now if only he can convince the woman to come out to her father and hopefully change the mans mind about the shifter registration. 

Secrets come out and Grace finds out things she never expected, one being how deep a hate her father really has for shifters. But the ending was as good as I was hoping it would be and I liked how they tied all three books together at the end of this one. 

This was the 3rd book in a 3 book series and I really enjoyed reading about these three brother's who all seemed to have a secret that they thought they needed to keep to themselves. I was interesting to see these secrets unravel, come to life and the darkness of it all be filled with light when they met their mates. 

After finding the first book on Amazon for free I knew I was gonna have to read this entire 3 book series. I read all three books in 3 days because I was excited to get to the next one after reading each one. Then when I was searching Amazon for more of her books I saw that there's a Wilding series as well with other wolf families from a different pack. I will be reading that series as well at some point. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

My Favorite Video of the Week

If you like Imagine Dragons then you'll recognize the three songs in this. This guy mashes up 3 of their songs together in one song and it's seamless. Absolutely amazing and his voice is so nice and perfect for this song.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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 canister of Enfagrow Toddler Milk Drink.

I gave this to my daughter because she works with women who have kids in this age range.

It was a slow week after last weeks haul. lol

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Jace by Alisa Woods

Book Description

His wolf is out of control. She’s a wild thing that won’t be tamed.

Ex-Army Specialist Jace River has a lock on his bedroom door, but it’s not to keep anyone out; it’s to keep his nightmares from breaking loose. His wolf is an out-of-control killer, which means he can never risk shifting, never truly be part of his pack, and definitely never take a mate.

Piper Wilding works for the Army as a civilian, traveling the world for her work in counterintelligence and fighting the bad guys while bedding down the good ones. The best part? It keeps her far from her asshole father in Seattle, the rest of the Wilding pack, and the pressure to take a mate. Settling down isn’t her thing, and after what happened to her mother, Piper vowed she would never be tied down by magic or men again.

While Jace’s wolf keeps him Sleepless in Seattle, Piper returns home to find her missing kid brother. When she breaks into the River brothers' safehouse, sparks fly and claws come out. Her sexy skills threaten to bring out Jace’s wolf, and Jace’s good-guy hotness reminds Piper how tempting shifter men can be. They’re like fire and gasoline, and as they race to find Piper’s brother, the heat threatens to burn down all their carefully constructed walls. But falling in love has never been so dangerous—and being together means taking risks that neither might survive.

RECOMMENDED: Read Jaxson (River Pack Wolves 1) FIRST! Jace is a complete novel with HEA, the second in the River Pack Wolves trilogy (all standalone stories, but best enjoyed if you read them in order!).

Contains scorching hot shifters, alpha military heroes, and sexy spy girls. Only readers over 18 should dive into the deliciously hot world of the River brothers.

My Review

Jace served in the military but that's when things seemed to have gotten worst for him because his wolf had gone crazy and killed people. He had a hard time keeping his beast under control and had to keep locks on his bedroom door in order to keep his nightmares from becoming a reality or worst. He couldn't allow himself to shift and let the beast loose, because the beast was bigger than most other wolves and stronger and he had very little control over the beast. 

He was helping his brothers catch up with Agent Smith, a guy who was kidnapping shifters and performing experiments on them. 

Piper Wilding made the mistake of breaking into the River Pack safe house, the same house that Jace and a bunch of other shifters just happened to be staying at. Jace was already awake as she tried to make her way up the stairs and he had no problem chasing her down and catching her. But she was there to speak to her brother who happened to be staying there because their younger brother was missing and she needed his help finding him. Instead of just getting her brothers help, she got a lot more help. 

The main story of trying to find the missing brother and find out where other missing shifters were being held and what for is a really intriguing story line. The story moves fast right along with the chaotic relationship that seems to be developing between Jace and Piper. 

There's a senator who wants all shifters to have to register and that would out them all to the general public. Most people know they exist but most people don't know who they are and a lot of people don't like the thought of being around them or doing business with them. 

In trying to find the missing shifters they uncover other things going on and some of the players in this are a shock to some of the characters. There are a couple of really good twists that really add to the story and made this exciting to read. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

Ken used to make fun of me when I'd share my food with the rats. But look what he's doing now. 

Little bite for me, little bite for you. Of course Falor sits there patiently waiting for a bite and Ken even feeds him right off his fork, something I would do with the rats that he just couldn't understand. LOL Falcor isn't spoiled at all, nope not one bit. 

Review: Jaxson by Alisa Woods

Book Description

Three brothers. Three Secrets. One hope to save the shifters of Seattle. Former SEAL Jaxson River would give his life for his brothers and his pack, but if he doesn’t claim a mate soon, he’ll be forced to step down as their alpha. There’s only one problem: Jaxson’s dark secret would kill any mate he claimed. With someone kidnapping shifters off the street—and only Jaxson and his brothers, Jace and Jared, to stop them—now is not the time for his secret to come out. 

Curvy Olivia Lilyfield is a half-witch orphan with a dark secret of her own. She wants to atone for it by doing good in the world, so when she finds a wolf being tortured in an alley, she doesn’t hesitate to help… even though wolves and witches mix like matches and TNT.

Olivia’s dangerous magic means she can’t let anyone get too close—but Jaxson can’t keep his hands off her, and his kisses are more than she can resist. As they race to save the disappearing shifters of Seattle, the true danger lies in loving each other. They’re playing with magical fire… and their secrets could end up destroying them both.

Jaxson is a complete novel with HEA, the first in the River Pack Wolves trilogy.

Contains scorching hot shifters, alpha military heroes, and sexy witches. Only readers over 18 should dive into the deliciously hot world of the River brothers.

My Review

Liv doesn't love her job as a reporter for a sleazy celebrity stalking paper but it's paying the bills for the most part and with her so far behind on the bills after a set of bad occurrences happened including getting hacked, she can't afford to drop this job. But that's exactly what she does and on her way home she spots a couple of guys torturing an animal and before she can think about what she's doing, she saving the animal from more abuse. 

Except the wolf wasn't just a wolf, it was a shifter. Once the bad men ran off the animal shifted and thanked her for trying to save him. 

Jaxson had sent Liv off after she tried to save him. He hasn't had much luck getting her out of his mind since then but since he was the alpha of the River Pack, he had a lot on his plate to keep himself busy. 

Jaxson needs an an office assistant and Liv needs a job so they come to an agreement and since they both seem to have the hots for one another it works out well for both of them. 

Shifters are going missing and Jaxson and his wolves are trying to figure out who is behind it. So when another shifter goes missing he and the other wolves go out to find her and that's when a lot of things start happening fast. This story is filled with secrets, twists and so many hot male wolf shifters that seem to be keeping secrets of their own. The three brother's all seem to have some deep dark secret of their own and I'm looking forward to finding out what they are. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"All this, for me. I don't think I can. "

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of Me*

"Happy Halloween."

Review: DegustaBox- October

DegustaBox is a monthly subscription box filled with food and drink products. The price for the box is $19.99 a month.  

You do not get to pick any of the products you get, it's a surprise each month. But they say each box contains 10-15 items and each box is worth at least $30. I like trying boxes like this because they usually contain products that I've never tried or haven't seen before. 

What was in the box?
Goetze's Candy Co. Cow Tales
Kernel Seasonings popcorn seasoning
Boboli pizza dough
Hippeas Organic chickpea puffs
Loacker raspberry yogurt wafer cookies
Welch's Fruit 'n Yogurt Snacks
Bush's White Northern Beans
SunButter Sunflower butter
Bush's kidney beans
Dave's Gourmet Overnight Oats
Artisan Tropic Plantain Strips with Cayenne seasoning

I liked everything in this box except for the popcorn seasoning. I don't eat a lot of popcorn but my grandson loves it so I gave the seasoning to my daughter. The last time there were Cow Tales candy in my box I found out that it's one of Ken's favorite candies. So he was very excited to see them again. lol 

The sunbutter tastes pretty much just like peanut butter and I liked it so that was good. The fruit 'n yogurt snacks are so darn good and again Ken was very happy to see them in the box. I like oatmeal but this is the first time I'd tried overnight oats but it was good. The plantain chips were hot! Tasty but spicy. I'm still on the fence about the chickpea puffs but they are edible. 

If you don't live in the US, they now have a Great Britain Website. Now here's a treat for you. If this box looks like something you'd like, you can use code MARYK-ACB and get your first box half off. That's a big box of food for only $10! and you can cancel anytime. So if you're interested, go to the DegustaBox site and sign up and don't forget to use my code to get your first box for just $10.

Have you tried any of these products?

Review: Crowdtap Crowdkit

I know I've talked to you guys about Crowdtap before but I wanted to show you one of the reasons besides the great Amazon gift cards that I love the site and keep going back...Full Size Free Products!

I received a full size product of each of the following...

Dove Cool Moisture Conditioner

Dove Dry Shampoo, Fresh Floral Scent

Suave Essentials Amethyst Sunset Body Wash

Degree MotionSense Deodorant, Fresh Energy Scent

Degree Clinical Protection Deodorant, Shower Clean Scent

My daughter loves dry shampoo, in fact I just gave her two samples bottles I had of it yesterday.

I already use Degree deodorants and I usually get the Cucumber Melon scents but the Shower Clean scent on this one smells really good. I like the Fresh Energy scent as well and will definitely be using both of them now that I have them. The Amethyst Sunset body wash smells so nice. It's nice to get one free so I'll know if I like it before I buy a bottle of it.

I haven't applied for many samples or products from Crowdtap recently because I hadn't seen things that I wanted to try until these boxes of products started to become available and I'm happy I was approved for one. This actually makes my second box of full size products that I've received from them and I am loving these boxes. If you still haven't signed up for an account with Crowdtap, what are you waiting for? 

Disclaimer: I received free products for review purposes.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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:

From Crowdtap I received *full size products*...

Dove Conditioner

Dove Dry Shampoo

Suave Body Wash

Degree MotionSense Deodorant

Degree Clinical Strength Deodorant

From Seventh Generation I received...

3 samples of Seventh Generation Baby Wipes and a pen. 

Other freebies

14 days worth of Loreal Revitalift facial moisturizer

Rachel Ray Nutrish Cat Food

3 coupons for free Enlightened Ice Cream and Bean Crisps

I already use the Dove, Degree and Suave products so I was ery happy to get those. The baby wipes are always nice to have around when my grandson comes over and gets sticky hands and I already use Revitalift products because I have other samples so I know I'll like this moisturizer. I'm quite happy this week. 

Did you receive any freebies or free samples this week?

Recipe: Softened Vegetable and Avocado Bean Salad

You'll need: 

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

1/2 cup of canned kidney beans, rinsed

1/2 cup of canned white northern beans, rinsed

1 TBSP cilantro, diced

2 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. olive oil

What To Do:

Add olive oil to a saute pan and saute chopped onion, bell pepper and spices over medium heat for 5-7 minutes just until tender but still crisp. Set aside in refrigerator to cool off while you mix the other ingredients. 

In a large bowl add the rest of the ingredients and toss well. Once the softened vegetables are cooled add them to the bowl and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour before serving. 

I thought of this when I got 2 cans of beans in this month's Degusta Box. I wasn't sure what to do with them so I made something up and it came out really good. You can also skip sauteing the onion and pepper if you like them raw but I really don't like raw onion and cooking it for just a couple of minutes takes that bite out of it and makes then taste sweeter. This ended up being a great side dish. 

UPDATE: I also heated some up with a fried egg, a little grated cheese and some avocado tomato salsa. It was really good for lunch. 

Review: That Burke Man by Diana Palmer

Book Description

Todd Burke has no intention of getting hitched to anyone—even if his rodeo-riding daughter is crazy about Jane Parker. He tells himself there’s only room for one girl in his life, but secretly the single dad is nursing a Wyoming-sized crush on the beautiful rancher. There’s no way he’d ever give in to the hot-tempered, hot-blooded cowgirl from Jacobsville, Texas. Until one night changes everything...and Todd finds that he and Jane might just be a match made in cowboy heaven!

Originally published in 1995.

My Review

I've been reading Diana Palmer's books for years but even though this one had been released many years ago, I hadn't read this one so when I saw it on sale for .99 I went ahead and bought it. 

Todd knows his daughter isn't any good at barrel racing but she loves doing it and she is in awe of Jane Parker who is a legend in the sport. Todd meet Jane Parker after she makes what he thinks is a critical remark about his daughter and finds out that she's hurt, recovering but in pain. 

Jane's ranch is in need of a good accountant/bookkeeper and Todd let's her know he's really good with that sort of thing and he gets hired on to straighten out her books and she'll give his daughter some pointers to be a better barrel racer. 

I don't like lies or liars, it doesn't matter if it's a personal relationship or business relationship, it shouldn't start off with a lie and that's what happened in this story. It's the only thing that bothered me about this book. 

But even though they had a bumpy ride at first I really liked these two and Todd's daughter, Cherry is smart and just the right amount of sarcastic to make her really funny. I also felt bad for Cherry because her mother is a world class bitch. I want to say more but that would give too much of the story away so I'll just leave it at that. 

Overall I really liked this book and am glad that I read it. I usually enjoy this author's books and this was no exception even if it did have a few things about it that bothered me. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Target Beauty Box - 2nd September box

This was the 2nd September box, sometimes they release 2 boxes in a month and this was one of those times and was only $5,  but I can tell you from experience that if bought separately, this would have been quite a bit more. Not a bad value.  Each month Target releases a new Target Beauty Box but supplies are limited and it's first come first serve until they run out. These boxes go fast so I try to grab one as soon as I see it being talked about on Twitter or fb.

In this box was...

Curls Unleashed Curl Defining Crème

Curls – Blueberry Leave In Conditioner 

SheaMoisture Argan Oil & Almond Milk Smooth & Tame Shampoo 

Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion Deluxe Trial Size

Animalz Sheet Mask

St. Ives Invigorating Apricot Scrub

SheaMoisture Argan Oil & Almond Milk Smooth & Tame Blow Out Crème 

Chapstick Total Hydration- Blood Orange

I don't have curly hair, my hair is long and straight so I'll be donating that defining creme, leave in conditioner, shampoo and blow out creme to someone else. I'm sure my daughter probably works with someone with curly hair.

I really only bought this box because I wanted that Blood Orange Chapstick as soon as I saw it and it's a full size one to that was nice. I was hoping it would be that dark blood orange color but it's clear although it does have a nice scent but not much taste. 

I have a few of those face masks and I like them so I'll be using that too. I've always liked apricot scrub and even have some in my shower caddy right now so now I don't have to stock up on more. The Cocoa Butter lotion smells so good and it's great for dry hands. 

I really like this box of goodies and it was well worth the $5 in my opinion. 

Have you been able to grab one of these boxes yet?

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I finally have whirled peas...a whole bowl of them."

*Picture courtesy of Paula Rosa Lea Siviter*

" I really need to start drinking decaf, I can hear colors."

*Picture courtesy of Poppy's Mischief*

"Tan and White rats: I love garlic pizza crust.

Brown rat: The garlic is burning my lips. Does that mean I'm Dracula?"

Review: Taulan by Celia Kyle as Erin Tate

Book Description

He wants to return to Preor and she wants a job, but you don’t always get what you want.

Lana Cooper is down to her last hundred dollars, has no job, and her clunker of a car has finally clunked out. How has her life become such a cluster of horribleness? Oh, right. A guy. Only she doesn’t get a chance to beg for a job. Nope, one walk along the beach changes everything. Oh, she has a job now… as the mate to a hot, hunky Preor dragon male.

Taulan sen Pavon is anxious to return to his home on Preor. Yes, he’d journeyed to Earth in hopes of finding a human mate, but now… Now he would like to heal in the privacy of his aerie. Wings destroyed and body damaged by an explosion, he has no desire to watch others find joy with their mates while he remains unworthy and alone on a ship filled with thousands. But then he finds Lana. Lana with her alluring smile, sparkling eyes, luscious body, and whose mere presence initiates the Knowing.

Can he live long enough to claim her? Can she see past her father’s prejudice to love him? Both questions are pointless because there are still Preor who despise the joining of humans and dragons. They will stop at nothing to drive a wedge between the races. Including murder.

My Review

This is book 2 in the Dragons of Preor series. In the first book the Preor come to Earth to find their mates. They are alien dragon shifters, Earth's government made an agreement with them and now they are allowed to come here to find mates with the willing human females. 

Not everyone was for this arrangement because they wanted to keep their Preor blood pure without human DNA introduced to their species line but without the human females there was a good chance that their race would die out since they didn't have enough Preor females for each male. Some males went hundreds of years without finding his mate which was not a good thing. 

Fighting breaks out and Taulan is hurt. He doesn't think he's worthy of a mate now because of his injuries and wants to go back to Preor. 

Lana who is down on her luck and living out of her car applies for a job at the alien compound and goes for a job interview. She's changed her name and is hiding from someone she hopes to never see again. But before the interview happens she runs to save a child she thinks is in harms way and at the same time Taulan see's her and the knowing rushes over both of them. 

They find out that she isn't who she says she is and she ends up having to go away with Taulan when he claims her as his. 

These two don't start off great because they both have a lot of baggage but as they get to know each other things do start to pick up and I ended up really liking both of them. The fact that there are still Preors that don't want to see their people and Earthlings mated and having offspring made me sad. I know that it would happen if aliens ever do visit, there would be humans that wanted nothing to do with them too. 

I really like the world and characters that this series is bringing about. I've only read 2 of the books so far but I like how the books are showing the Preors culture and how they adapt to human culture through the knowing when they find a mate. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Favorite Video of the Week

Here's my favorite song of the week.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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:

Dunkin Donuts Coffee- Flavors were...coconut caramel, blueberry pancake and dulce de leche.

Did you receive any freebies this week?