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:

3 samples of U Beauty Resurfacing Compound for the face.

It's a cream that goes on your face under moisturizer. I used one packet so far and I haven't seen any difference in my skin.

Did you receive any freebies or samples this week?

Review: Ipsy Glam Bag- January

Ipsy is a monthly subscription box that sends you 5 sample size makeup or beauty products and a makeup bag. You can customize what they send you by filling out the personal surveys. These bags are $13 each.

This month I received: 

Aromatica Tea Tree foaming cleanser.

Hempz herbal body moisturizer.

Brooklyn & Bailey Lash Next Door mascara. 

Ciate London blush. 

PUR4 in 1 pressed mineral makeup powder. 

Makeup bag.

The PUR 4 in 1 pressed powder is neat. It functions as a foundation, concealer and powder. It's light coverage which is fine for those days you just want a little coverage. 

The cleanser and moisturizer works great and smells pretty good. I already like this mascara. I've tried it before and thought it made my lashes longer. The blush is a really pretty color. And the makeup bag is a really nice one. 

I'm pretty happy with everything in this bag. 

Did you get this bag?

Review: Wicked Cowboy Wolf by Kate Ballenger

Book Description

Third in the dark and dangerous Seven Range Shifters series where the sexy cowboys are ranchers by day and wolf shifters by night.

***

To his enemies, he's known as the Rogue. To her, he's her only chance at survival…

Years ago, Grey Wolf Jared Black was cast from the pack for a crime he didn't commit. Now, he's the mysterious criminal wolf known only as the Rogue, a name his former packmates won't soon forget. But when a vampire threat endangers the lives of their entire species, Jared must confront his former packmates again, even if that means betraying the only woman he's ever loved…

Ever since Maeve Gray escaped the pack's bloodsucking enemies, she's been determined to save her species—and fast. Each passing day risks the lives of her friends and family. But when a wicked cowboy wolf shows up on the Grey Wolf ranch, offering everything Maeve's heart desires, her eyes are opened to a whole new world beyond the packlands. For this cowgirl, sleeping with the enemy could prove as desirable as it is deadly…

My Review

Maeve (mae) lost her best friend when she was a teenager and she's never really gotten over what happened. Her uncle was a scumbag and her father was a jerk and now her brother is the packmaster or alpha in charge. He loves her but she knows she'll have to marry an alpha she doesn't love for the good of her pack. 

Rogue is a rogue wolf that takes in other rogue wolves who have no where else to go. He's essentially the leader of the rogue wolves. He has had a rough life because of a choice he made when he was just a kid. 

Rogue saved Mae from the vampires when they kidnapped her to steal her blood to experiment on for nefarious purposes. But he had plans to use Mae to get back what is rightfully his. He doesn't want to hurt her but he doesn't see any way around it. He made a deal with her when he saved her and now he's come to bring her back to his ranch where she'll be safe from the vampires who are looking to kill her. 

Mae doesn't want to do what is expected of her anymore so when Rogue comes and tells her that she can be free and safe from the vampires, she willingly goes with him. But the vampires keep coming after her so they have to track down a scientist who can help then get the serum they need in order to keep her safe. Once they get that the vampires should stop coming after her. But while she's with Rogue, the attraction they feel for each other explodes. Rogue is hurt because she doesn't recognize who he really is and she gets hurt later on when she realizes that he and her brother lied to her. 

This was such a good book. Not only does this book have vampires and wolf shifters but it also has a great romance. My heart broke for Rogue so many times because of what he's gone through. Mae's uncle and father were awful people and even though her brother is not like them he lied to her which hurt her. 

The secondary characters were great, I especially like the kids and Tucker the pig. Imagine a wolf shifter having a piglet as a pet, it was hilarious. This book made me laugh, cry and get mad so many different times. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Review: He Ain't Lion by Celia Kyle

Book Description

Life sucks... And then you get turned into a werelion...

Curvaceous, blonde bombshell Maya Josephs is looking for a little action to take her mind off of her recent break-up. Crazy werecats or not, an evening at Genesis is exactly what she needs. And when she meets the hotter than hot, super-sexy owner, Alex O'Connell, the alpha lion shifter is just the man to fit the bill for a one-night stand.

Dumped like a rotting piece of meat by her ex, Maya is on the prowl, fixin' to do whatever it takes to get herself a piece of the gorgeous furball. Besides, what's the harm in a girl having a little bit of fun?

My Review

Maya goes to a shifter night club on the night that shifters are looking for a willing partner to have sex with. She's aware that there will be plenty of shifter males there to help her get her mind off the painful breakup she just went through. But even though she knows all that, she still seems to be surprised when she gets in over her head because things happen that she wan't expecting. 

Alex is the leader of his pride and the owner of the club that Maya goes to. He is attracted to her right away and spends a moment trying to get her to leave for her own good before they close the doors and the shifters are all trying to get in her pants but she wants to stay with Alex and he's too far gone to make her leave. 

She thinks this is just a one night stand and even tries to leave once the act is complete but Alex has other ideas and talks her into staying the night. Things get a little crazy once she sneaks out the next morning and goes back to her life. Things have changed for her and she doesn't know what's going on. I don't want to say more but it was a real eye opener for her and for Alex. I love that Maya's best friend is a wererabbit and that all these different shifters seem to get along together for the most part. 

This was funny in parts and made me laugh. It also has some seriously sexy times when Alex and Maya get to know each other really well. These two were smoking hot! I already love this author so when I saw this novella, I knew I would like it and I was right. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I need to sell my RV to afford my yogie addiction."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I think this lunch tastes pretty good."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"It's lip smacking good. Looking forward to the cake the most."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Cake for lunch? Sounds good to me."

Apartment Life #117

This is a new 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 20 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 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

The other day Ken and I heard a lot of yelling going on across the street but we didn't see anyone. So we waited to see what would happen and about 15 minutes later 2 police cars parked across the street. The police got out and went into the courtyard over there and we could hear a lot of loud yelling.

A few minutes later 2 people follow the police back out to their cars and the two people are standing in front of the police car in the back. The police had the guy in handcuffs for a few minutes and then took them off and they went back in their courtyard and the police left. I think it was just an argument between some of the people that live over there but I'm not sure. I took the pictures from my bedroom window. 

_____

On Friday night At 11:55pm I started hearing shouting and arguing outside my bedroom window. That went on for about 15-20 minutes, I think there was a big party at one of the apartments across the street. Then at 12:15pm 7-10 gunshots right outside our bedroom window in the street. We both got up in time to see two people shooting at each other. One guy was in a car speeding off while another guy was standing in the street shooting at the car. The car drove off really fast and then 12-15 people came running from the courtyards across the street and got into about 7 different cars and sped away really fast. Another guy was standing in the street and a gun fell out of his hand and into the street but he picked it up and got in a car and left. At 12:19pm we saw the first police car drive by but by that time everyone was gone. 2 more police cars showed up and drove around my street and in the back alley across the street but after about 15 minutes they took off because no one was outside. At 1am people who live around here started coming back and parking on the street and going back to apartments across the street . I don't know if anyone in the first car that sped off got shot or not but they never came back. That was a close one, those shots took place on the street right outside my bedroom window. 

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

Review: Kodiak's Claim by Eve Langlais

Book Description

A Big Bear Romance.

He might growl, but she’s not afraid to bite.

Hands full taking care of his clan, the last thing this Kodiak bear needs is a woman poking her cute little nose into his affairs. But when she refuses to back down—and shows the courage to stand up to him—he can’t resist the allure of a curvy city girl.

She’s mine. All mine.

And when a rival clan thinks to use her to force his paw, he’ll show them why you never piss off a Kodiak, or threaten what’s his.

Tammy is convinced all men are scum, even gorgeous ones like Reid Carver. She knows he’s hiding something. Something big. She just never expected a real freaking bear hid underneath all those yummy muscles. But when the truth comes out and he tries to scare her off with a roar, she shows him not just bears have bite.

My Review

Reid runs a shipping business but his trucks are going missing so when Tammy from the insurance company comes to investigate his claim, he's not expecting to feel instantly attracted to her. 

Tammy got rid of her cheating boyfriend who put her down because of her weight. Now she's investigating an insurance claim when she meets Reid and his grandmother.

At first Tammy finds Reid to be big and intimidating but staying in his house with him and his grandmother has its advantages. She ends up seeing a lot of him and getting to know him better and he can't seem to stop flirting with her. Things are going well between them when she see's him change from bear to man and back again. Reid and his people are all shifters and now Tammy knows about it. Frankly she takes it better than I thought she would under the circumstances. 

Reid fights his attraction for Tammy because he knows that being the alpha of his people means he should mate with a shifter but the connection he feels for her is intense and when she leaves and ends up missing, the bear in him really comes out. 

This was so much fun and I really liked the twists that happen at the end of this book. These two fight their attraction at first but then they admit that it's more than just attraction. Some of the scenes between these two made me laugh out loud because they were so funny at times. I love Eve Langlais and will continue to read hr books. 

I give this 5 out of 5 stars.

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 won a gift card in a blog contest.

It was a slow freebie week. I didn't get any free samples this week.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Sasquatch Surprise by Anne Lowe

Book Description

All Nala Dixon wants is to make it home to her wolf pack in time for the holidays — alive. But a simple road trip turns into a fight for survival when a gang of vampires turns up, thirsting for her blood. A damn good thing a knight in shining armor rushes to her rescue — and hot damn, it’s Harrison, the sasquatch she’s secretly dreamed of for years.

* This is standalone, spin-off story from the Twin Moon Ranch series with adult content. The perfect read for fans of paranormal romance with strong heroines, alpha heroes, werewolves and shapeshifters, paranormal suspense, action-adventure romance, and fantasy romance! If you enjoy the books of T.S.Joyce, Terry Bolryder, and Milly Taiden, you'll love these dark & dangerous shapeshifter romances!

My Review

Nala was on a stretch of road with no cell reception when she spotted her stalker in the rear view mirror. He was a vampire that had been stalking her ever since he had a small taste of her blood when she fell off of her bike in front of him. Now he wouldn't leave her alone and even though she was a shifter, she knew she was in big trouble if he caught up to her. Just as her stalker is about to sink his fangs into her, a man from her past shows up out of nowhere. 

Harrison is a sasquatch and has known he's been in love with Nala since they were kids. He comes to her rescue and they run from the vampire stalker but have to keep running until her wolf pack family can come to their rescue. 

This was a sweet, adventurous read. They're on the run from vampires bent on killing them but the love they feel for one another is obvious. 

This was a quick read but it sure had a lot of action and adventure. I haven't read but maybe 2 sasquatch romances but this one was quite good.  I'm glad I took a chance on this when I found it as a freebie. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Birchbox- January

I signed up for a Birchbox subscription box. It's only $14 a month and this month's box came with 4 products.

What was in this box?

Daily Concepts Multi-Functional Mother of Pearl Soap Sponge. 

TLW Let's get Naked Frizz Fighter for hair. 

Lipstick Queen Shade Shifter lipstick. 

Acure Seriously Soothing Under Eye Hydrogels. 

This was supposed to be in the box and wasn't. 

Grande Cosmetic Grandeprimer. 

So I was supposed to also get the Gradeprimer- mascara primer but it wasn't in the box. I will contact them and see if they can replace it. 

The lipstick goes on clear and changes color to a light peach. It's actually a really nice color. The sponge soap smells so good. I'm not sure if it's wrapped in a sponge or what but the soap is in the middle of the sponge and it's kinda scratchy to rub on your body. It works really good if you have oily skin though because it's a soap and dries your skin out a bit. So if you have oily skin on your face this actually works well for that and it smells like baby powder which I love. 

The anti frizz hair cream is nice and did tame the frizziness but not enough that I didn't still have to straighten my hair to get all of it out even though I have straight hair. 

The hydrogels for your eyes are funny. They are cooling but they didn't decrease any puffiness around the eyes that I have. 

I like the box it came in as well because the drawer pulls out. If they start sending boxes like this I will glue them on top of each other and have a little box of shelves that pull out. 

So for the most part I really liked this box of products. 

Did you get this box?

Review: Hero's Haven by Rebecca Zanetti

Book Description

He’s her darkest fantasy. . .

After years of struggling, Haven Daly has finally accepted that she’s nuttier than a fruitcake. Why else would she see visions of a beautiful but tormented male every night . . . and actually believe she can talk to him, even feel his touch?  But thanks to those dream journeys, she can paint images nobody else on earth can duplicate. In each brush stroke, she captures the blatant masculinity and raw desire in his eyes that promise he’s coming for her…and soon.  

She’s the light that keeps him going. . .

Quade Kayrs has already suffered a lifetime of pain and torture. Completely isolated, he kept his sanity  thanks to one beautiful female, a vision with kind emerald eyes. In the end, her soft voice led him out of hell. Now, naked and alone, he’s in a strange world that bears little resemblance to the one he left behind. All he knows is Haven.  All he wants is Haven.  His final mission? To protect her from the evil hunting them both—whether she likes it or not . . .

My Review

Quade is part of a super secret group of warriors that keep Earth protected from the evil Ulric. He has spent centuries in another realm where he has spent his long life being tortured and endured unimaginable horrors. But as a vampire-demon hybrid he kept coming back to life when he died, and so he lived a long time in the hell world he was trapped in. When his world starts to collapse around him it's Haven that helps him escape and bring him to Earth.

Haven's adoptive parents thought there was something seriously evil about her because of the visions she had and her nightmares. They treated her so badly, I really felt bad for her. But she had visions of Quade for years and never knew whether he was real or a figment of her imagination. 

Quade thought he would die all alone in the realm he had been for so long, but Haven somehow comes to him and pulls him to Earth when she wakes from her nightmare. Something inside Haven pulls her to where he is and when she spots him, she believes him to be a delusion. She thinks she's crazy as hell and thinks everything that happens for a time is just in her mind until he finally convinces her of everything he's been telling her. 

Of course there's more than one bad guy after them which makes it harder for his family to track him down since Quade and Haven to keep moving. But once his family did find them we see some characters from previous books which was nice. These characters all have great personalities but I especially like Hope who is one of the kids and I have a feeling she'll be quite the character as she gets older. 

This book is filled with danger, action, excitement and romance. I've only read a few books in this series but I love these books. I might be reading them out of order but I will get around to reading them all at some point. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I bringed by teddy wiff me to eat a hamburger" 

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"It's a tasty hamburger"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"A rat sized hamburger is just the right size"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I think teddy wants a bite too"

Apartment Life #116

This is a new 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 20 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 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

You might remember I told you guys about the homeless tent that was set up right outside my courtyard a few of weeks ago. Well they did finally move down the street. They set up their "tent" about a block down the street in between some power boxes. They had 5 people sleeping there for about a week. The police got called out a couple of times but all they did was make them pack their stuff up and move on. They were back that night. 

Then the other day a few of the homeless moved about a half a block further down the street and one day while I was out walking Falcor I saw 2 motorcycle cops that were on motor bikes talking to one of the homeless guys that had a sleeping bag out in the rocks. I took the picture from a block and a half away that's why the picture is so small. If you click on the picture it will enlarge it a little. The police drove away after a few minutes and the homeless people are still setting up their tent way down the street. So at least I can walk Falcor without being harassed for a while. A lot of them still come to the drug apartment in my courtyard. I think if the manager evicted them, the homeless would move on somewhere else. I feel bad for them and just found out that my city is building new housing for the homeless which will house around 800 people. They are also getting more help that they can sign up for but I think the ones that are addicted to drugs like some of the ones around here don't usually partake of any of those services so the only thing we can do is get rid of the drug dealers here and hope they move on somewhere else.

***

The other morning around 5am we got woke up to someone screaming outside. We got up and heard yelling coming from my courtyard in one of the apartments. A door slammed and it sounded like people were arguing. So I got up, got dressed to take Falcor out. Ken calls me in the bedroom because the ambulance pulls up outside on the street. Of course my camera won't take pictures at night without being 100% blurry so all you get to see are bright lights. But it's an ambulance with its lights on. They stayed for a few minutes and left. No one went to the hospital. I didn't hear any more arguing.

One of these days I'll figure out how to take pictures at night without it being blurry. lol 

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

Review: Daily Goodie Box- January

The Daily Goodie Box has been around since about July of 2016. I signed up for an account right after I heard about them. They are 100% free, you don't even have to pay for shipping. And for a free box it's a nice sampler box of products.

What did I get in this box?

Coco Luxe - Hydration- I was sent two of these and if you like the water that's inside a coconut then this will make you happy because that's what this is. I love it, it's delicious.

Hydralyte - Effervescent Electrolyte Tablets- These tablets can be used after you had the flu, had a night of too much drinking, if you've been sick with vomiting and need to replenish your electrolytes. I didn't use this yet but I'll be keeping it just in case I do need it. 

Mary’s Gone Crackers - Original- The name made me laugh. I showed ken and since my name is Mary he wants to know if they have one called, "Mary's Gone Nuts" lol The crackers aren't bad but all I taste from them is sesame seeds. 

Eco Lips - MONGO KISS™ Lip Balm- I can always use another lip balm. I like this one, it goes on smoothly and smells really good. Having good lip balm here in the desert of Las Vegas is a must so I have several of them.

RXBAR - Protein Bars- I'm not a fan of these but Ken loves them and said this one was good. 

North Coast - Organic Apple Sauce- I was sent three pouches of applesauce. I like applesauce and these taste pretty good so I was happy to get them.

Michael's® Naturopathic Programs - Sleep Factors™- I've tried Melatonin in the past and it never did anything for me for sleeping. But I had a bad cold when I got this and was having trouble sleeping so I decided to try it again and after using it for three nights I think it might have made me a little sleepy in the beginning but not enough that I would use it again for myself. I know others who say products like this work well for them but I find it doesn't work for me.

Tosi - Super Bites- These were crunchy bites of deliciousness. That's the best way to describe them because it was really good. I would definitely buy this again. Tasty little snacks.

All they ask you to do is try the products and leave reviews for the products you got in order to be eligible for more Free Goodie Boxes. As you guys already know, I'm a fan of all these types of boxes. I love all the different subscription boxes and it's really nice to be able to try new to me products for free. This is a great box to try for.

Oh and one more thing, if you visit their FB Page, they give away Goodie Boxes to people who interact with their posts. So if you've tried before and weren't able to get a Goodie Box, there's even more ways to get one now.

Daily Goodie Box. It's more than just Free Samples!

Have you signed up? Have you received one of these boxes?

I'm a fan of subscription boxes and love trying new products for free so this was a huge hit with me. New products+free box = Fabulous!

Disclosure: I was given and free box in exchange for a review but all opinions are my own.

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:

Sephora Collection Liquid Lipstick.
10 free prints from Snapfish.
I won a book.
Dolce and Cabana perfume sample.

I also received a full size box of Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats from Kellogg's Rewards.

I actually received the book last week but forgot to add it to the post. The perfume sample is a small one but it does smell good. The lipstick color is nice.

I have a stack of prints that I've been meaning to put into a scrapbooking project. I have a lot of scrapbooking supplies but haven't had the patience to make more pages in my album for a while. One of these days I'll have to pull it all out and finish the album I have.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Take A Walk With Me...

I've shown you guys where I usually walk the dog. I've shown you lots of pictures of the rocks, the wall that separates us from the freeway on the other side and the path I usually walk Falcor. This pictures shows where I usually walk. If you want to see more of what it looks like down this path check out this post. Some of my newer readers might not know that I have Agoraphobia and so it's hard for me to get out and go far from my apartment or take a different route. But I've been trying. So I thought I would show you what's down the other way, if I turn right instead of left when I leave my apartment complex. 

There's a hole in the fence behind the trash can so everyone goes out this way when we want to walk towards the stores. I mostly use the hole in the fence so I don't have to go up and down the steps which hurts my knee's because I have Osteoarthritis. The trash is all over the ground because over the weekends the homeless come through and throw it all over the ground looking through the trash and the porter hasn't been through o Monday to clean it up yet. Take notice of that block wall right behind the trash can...

This is what's right behind that block wall. The homeless people in my neighborhood use this bed that they dug out of the trash to make camp at night. I've talked about it before but we have a homeless problem in my area because the drug dealers keep them around to run drugs and I'm guess pay them in drugs for running the drugs out to the cars that stop in the street. 

I'm going to show you what I see from the path along the wall when I walk Falcor. About 10 feel from that old bed is this fenced in area for Cal Ranch. They keep a lot of their bigger products out here. 

Directly behind the fenced in area across the parking lot is the first store front, it's a dog daycare, dog training place. 

Right next to the dog daycare is Cal Ranch. It's a ranch store where you can get ranch supplies, snacks, clothing, pet products and other stuff. There's usually a lot of cars in the parking lot but I took the pictures really early in the morning.

Next to that are smaller shops. There's a sub shop, hair cuts, party supply place, smoke shop, liquor store and ice cream shop. 

Further down is Mariana's Mexican Market. We do most of our grocery shopping here now because it's so close and they have really good prices. Next to Mariana's is an Income Tax place and around the corner is 4 Kegs bar and a laundromat.

I turned around so you can see the path I have been walking. This is the walking path that I've been walking as I'm taking the pictures of what's to the left of this path. I'm walking along the sound wall and right on the other side of the wall is the freeway which I'll show you down the path a little.

Now as we keep walking down the path this way there's a McDonald's right there next to the path. 

And across from the McDonald's to the right is a Del Taco. 

There's still a path that I'm walking on, and I can now start to see the cars on the other side of the fence coming off the freeway off ramp. 

Falcor likes walking down this way because he likes to sniff around in the rocks ahead on the McDonald's property. 

As I get closer to the McDonald's the wall to the left gets lower and I can see the freeway.

A little further and now you can see the cars on the freeway on the other side of the fence. That's how close I am walking to the freeway.

At this point if I turn towards the way I just came, I can see up the freeway off ramp. The sound wall nearly disappears here and starts up again down the street where an on ramp to the freeway is. 

Now you know what I see everyday when I take Falcor for a walk. Thanks for taking a walk with me.

Review: Wolf Gone Wild by Juliette Cross

Book Description

What's the worst thing that can happen to a werewolf? Unable to shift for three months, Mateo Cruz knows all too well. His wolf has taken up residence in his head, taunting him night and day with vividly violent and carnal thoughts. Convinced he's cursed, he needs the help of a powerful witch before he literally goes insane. ​

Evie Savoie has always obeyed the house rules of her coven--no werewolves. They're known for being moody and volatile. So, when a distempered, dangerous werewolf strolls into the bar and almost strangles one of her late-night customers, she's ready to bounce him through the door. But the desperation in his eyes when he begs her to help him softens her heart and convinces her to bend the rules. ​

What Evie doesn't know is that Mateo's wolf has a mind of his own. And now that she's in his sights, he wants only one thing. Her.

My Review

Mateo thinks he's been cursed with a hex so he's not able to shift into his wolf form and his inner wolf is in his head all the time. Mateo's inner wolf, Alpha is a mean, viscous animal who wants to fight all the time. He's constantly pushing Mateo to hit people and it's driving Mateo crazy so he asks a witch for help. 

Evie and her sisters are witches but they usually don't help werewolves because they are dangerous predators. But it turns out that Mateo is more dangerous if they don't try and help him because his inner animal is unpredictable. 

Evie and her sisters research a way to help Mateo but it's taking some time and Mateo realizes that his wolf, Alpha is calmer when Evie is around so he asks to spend a few hours a day with her and she agree's. The only problem with that is Mateo and Evie both start lusting after each other which makes things a little awkward. 

Evie and her sisters try to remove the hex but it turns out to be more powerful than anything they've ever come up against. So while the sisters do more research, Evie and Mateo spend more time together and finally give in to their mutual attraction. Mateo and Alpha are sexy as hell and even though Evie knows she should be afraid of Alpha, she finds him to be sexy with his dominance and gruff nature. The fact that Alpha can actually speak through Mateo when he comes to the surface is different and I really liked it. 

I did not know who the villain was in this story until right before we see for ourselves. I actually thought it was someone else and for other reasons and I was wrong which was fun. I like being surprised. This was such a fun book to read and I loved the characters. I love all the sisters and am really looking forward to reading more of this series now. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Review: Gilded Cage *complete series box set* by Fawn Bailey

Book Description

From bestselling dark romance author Fawn Bailey comes the complete Gilded Cage dark romance mafia trilogy.

On her eighteenth birthday, Ophelia Sokolov, a Russian mafia princess, is taken.

Kidnapped by a ruthless young hitman, she lives in captivity for years. The thing she fears most is her captor himself. Yet, she finds herself falling for the monster her family created.

Years later, she must decide between the three men in her life. The one she was destined to marry, his rival twin brother, and...

The man of her nightmares, her captor himself.

Who will own Ophelia in the end?

This is Ophelia Sokolov and Kain's complete story of over 500 pages. Available for a limited time. Gilded Cage is a dark romance trilogy.

My Review

Ophelia is kidnapped and help against her will by Kain, who rapes, beats and tortures her. But with each new thing he does to her she falls a little more for him until she learns to like the things he does to her and she completely transforms into his *dolly*. 

Kain is a sadistic bastard. He pissed me off on more than one occasion. I found it harder and harder to find any redeeming qualities about him. That is until we get a glimpse into what happened to him to make him the man he is today. 

This is all about mobsters, their families and how they make connections with other families. Ophelia's family life growing up wasn't good and her father was a complete psycho who used his kids to make connections with other families by marrying them off to men they didn't love. Ophelia was supposed to marry Max but she was in love with his twin brother Ryker. But she is kidnapped and held by Kain who brainwashes her into feeling something for him and only him. So when she is rescued and given to Max years later and they are to be married, she finds that Max has changed and is even worst than Kain was. 

Kain wasn't about to let Ophelia stay with Max and when he goes to her, she actually wants to go back with him because she loves him. Kain realizes that he loves her too so these two psychos actually become quite the couple. I thought that things would be better for her once Kain gets her back but there's a twist that really throws everyone for a loop. The mafia leaders in this story are cruel men even to their own children and when all that's been done to the kids comes out, it was one heck of a reveal. But with that reveal comes shocking revelations that they are all going to have to live with. 

Kain and his *Dolly* finally seem to be happy but Kain really messes up and has to turn to Ryker for help to somehow reach Ophelia when she has a breakdown and completely shuts down. The only problem is that Ryker loves her, even the person she's become under Kain's special kind of brutality. 

I won't tell you who she chooses to stay with in the end, Max, Ryker or Kain because that would give a lot away but I will say that given all the brutality these characters go through in this series, it does end with an HEA. The ending is a good one and even if I did have my doubts about this story, several times, I am glad that I read it because it ended up being a really good trilogy is a completely crazy way. 

I was in the mood for something different and this seemed to fit the bill. When I saw that the trilogy box set was free on Amazon for a limited time I got it. This is a very dark romance, very dark. This trilogy was filled with mobsters, danger, kidnapping, brutal torture scenes, rape, beatings and graphic violence. If these things bother you, don't pick up this box set. 

I give this book set trilogy 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

"We partied a little too hard"

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Have a Happy New year"

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"They're hogging the whole bed"

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*