Book Review: Marked By a Vampire by Angela Sanders

 

Book Description

A night of celebrating a new beginning ends in a nightmare that Grace can’t escape. When she wakes up in a strange place three days later, she realizes her life has been turned upside down. She’s been forced into a world where magic is real along with monsters of myth. The vampire who marked her is hell-bent on making her come to him—to be one of his possessions. Grace soon learns that she was born a powerful witch and with the help of some new and old friends, she learns her craft as she transitions into a vampire/witch hybrid.

It's a race against time as the crazed vampire attempts to take over Grace's mind—he’ll do anything to have her. Matthew, the hybrid who saved her life, will do anything to protect her, even if it means sacrificing his own life.

Deceit, betrayal, and new beginnings.

My Review

Grace and her friends go out to have a good time and run into vampires but they don't realize what they are until it's too late. Grace is bitten but gets away and that's when Matthew finds her and brings her back to his place. He's a hybrid and knows what's going on with her. Grace is a witch but never had any training so her powers never manifested. Now she's a hybrid witch/vampire like Matthew and needs help to keep the vampire that bit her from getting to her mind and making her do things she doesn't want to. 

Matthew and his friends come to her rescue and teach her what she needs to know but the vampire that bit her isn't giving her up without a fight. Grace and Matthew have some feelings for each other right from the beginning but they don't react on their feelings for a while because of everything that is going on. I liked their romance even if it did feel a little rushed towards the end. 

The story was interesting but the writing style didn't help me really get into the story and the characters weren't all that interesting. I wanted to like this but I really didn't.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Discovering Dani by N.J. Walters

 

Book Description

Dani O'Rourke is no stranger to hard work. She’s been raising her two brothers alone since their parents died and she owns and operates her own business, O’Rourke Cleaning Services. Spending all her time working and looking after her family means she’s never had time for men. And if she was going to look for a relationship, it wouldn’t be with an arrogant and cynical man like Burke.

A brush with death has successful businessman Burke questioning his priorities. He’s come to Jamesville for some peace and quiet to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Catching a woman breaking into his cabin certainly isn’t part of his plan, nor is being attracted to her after her finds out just how wrong he was about her.

Burke finds himself caught up in Dani’s family, but is there room in such a gentle woman’s life for a man as hard as him?

My Review

Dani has been taking care of her two brothers ever since her parents died. She owns her own cleaning company and is cleaning out a cabin when she first meets Burke. He thinks that she is stealing from him since she knocked over a briefcase and is putting all the spilled papers back inside when he comes into the cabin. He makes a big mistake telling her he won't call the police if she's "nice" to him. I hated this guy right away. 

Burke has been on his own for a long time and he's made a lot of money for himself. But he has no friends or family and that fact hit him right between the eyes when he had an accident and only a couple of business acquaintances came to see him in the hospital. He made changes after he got out of rehab and wants a family and friends which is why he's in Jamesville. His first real run in with Dani was a complete misunderstanding that made him look like a jerk but she's still nice to him afterwards. 

When Burke realizes that he's made a terrible mistake, he goes to Dani's house to apologize where she invites him in and he has dinner with her and her brothers. Her brothers are very protective of her and don't trust Burke right away. But Burke is kinda in awe of the way they all get along and react towards one another which is not something he's used to since he's never had a real family like Dani does. 

Even though everything seems to be going well for the two of them, Burke once again ends up acting like a complete jerk and emotionally hurts Dani, which made me hate this guy. I really wanted her to erase his memory from her brain and find something worthy of her because his bad temper, irrational behavior and the way he treated her, like picking up and leaving without telling her a thing for over a week was more than I ever would have put up with. But they do get back together more than once and things seem to be working out for them. It ended well but I can't help think that she is going to have nothing but problems with this guy in the future and I still don't like him. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Viking rats, invading to take your snacks."

*All pictures courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #258

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 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

 

The police showed up at 10 PM last week. I only knew because my daughter had just gotten home from work and was outside talking to one of her friends and what she thought was an undercover detective asked her if she lived around here. So she told him she did and he asked what apartment so she told him and he just said ok and then headed down to the drug dealer's apartment that's a couple of doors away from me. My daughter came in and told me what happened so I looked out front and saw three cop cars parked out there. Then looked out my door and saw 2 cops hiding right around the corner of the building and they kept peeking around the corner. They did that for about 20 minutes before knocking on drug dealers door. There was a bit of an argument before drug dealer was told he had to open his security screen door or they would open it themselves. The cops were at his apartment for hours. 

I found out a few days later that police raided his apartment because of all the drug activity and they found heroine and a bunch of other drugs. Drug dealer was arrested but his wife wasn't for some reason. This is the same guy that was arrested over a year ago for attempted murder when he shot a guy that was in his apartment. I was hoping he would be gone for a while but he was out in a week. I waited a week to post this to see if he would be back and sure enough he's back home. I just don't understand how.

The wife was right back at it though before he even got out. There's a bunch of people going to her apartment, staying a few seconds and leaving. This happens all day and all night. It's so obvious she was still selling drugs from her apartment. Maybe the police will raid it again.

Oh and I was able to take a pretty good picture late at night with the phone my daughter gave me because the lights over the freeway have been changed and they are bright as hell! That's why it looks so lit up out where the police cars are, because it is. The light that is right there on the other side of the sound wall is close enough to the wall and taller than the wall that it lights up my street and my courtyard. The drug dealers around here really don't like that. 

Oh and On Thursday drug dealer's car was towed off the street. He's had the car for a couple of months and never put a license plate or tags on it so the cops finally saw it and towed it away.

---

On Sunday night around 10pm when I took Falcor out for the last time, I was walking back in my courtyard and watched a guy and girl come out of drug dealer's apartment and walk down the street. About 20 seconds later this woman storms out of drug dealer's apartment yelling after the guy. She kept screaming, "Where are you going?" But then I noticed that she was completely naked. Nothing on at all and she's just walking around outside not giving one f*ck about it. 

She walked back into the apartment and I walked to my apartment and told my daughter what I just saw. So we are standing outside and naked woman comes outside still naked but holding a towel in front of her. She goes back in and a few minutes later comes out with clothes on and starts screaming for that guy that is long gone now. She left and I didn't see her again until the next day when she was sitting in front of drug dealer's apartment with a couple of luggage type bags. WTH is going on in that apartment?

---

On the 16th someone *probably maintenance* changed my mailbox lock. The mail carrier said he didn't do it so it had to be the maintenance guy. I couldn't go to the post office because they wouldn't have had the key since the mailman didn't change it. I emailed the apartment manager and she said the maintenance guy said he didn't do it. Me and the mail carrier both think he did it and probably changed the wrong lock and didn't want to fess up about it. So on Tuesday the 22nd the mail carrier put the old lock back on my mailbox *because whoever changed it left the old one inside my mailbox*. So at least I can get my mail again. It only took a week this time. I really hope this is the last problem I have with my mailbox for a while. 

The high this week was 108F/ 42C

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

Book Review: The Master Shark's Mate by Zoe Chant

 

Book Review

He's the most feared shifter in the sea.

She's a middle-aged grandma from Arizona.

He may have finally met his match...

Hated and mistrusted. Feared and misunderstood. For decades, the Master Shark has protected the underwater city of Atlantis. Now, his Empress has set him his most difficult mission yet:

A relaxing beach vacation.

Coyote shifter Martha Hernandez doesn't want to take a vacation. She doesn't want to sit around in some fancy all-shifter resort when her pack could be getting up to who-knows-what mischief in her absence. And she definitely doesn't want to bang this mysterious scarred, silent stranger like a screen door in a hurricane.

Nope nope nope. No matter that he's her one true mate. She's a respectable widow with no call to be having such fool notions at her time of life. What would her family think?

But he is the Master Shark. And he has never failed in the hunt...

My Review

Master Shark is just that, the biggest, baddest shark to have ever lived...a megalodon shark shifter. He's now working for the Pearl Empress of Atlantis and everyone either fears him or respects him. He's on vacation by order of his Empress when he spots Martha and knows right away she's his mate. 

Marta is a coyote shifter. I mean could she be any more different from a shark shifter? She's also a middle aged grandmother and alpha of her pack. She had a good life with the father of her kids even if he wasn't her mate. She feels bad for even thinking about Finn, but she knows her husband who is no longer alive would want her to be happy.

First let's talk about Master Shark's name...Finn. A fish named Finn, that's the funniest thing ever. 

Martha doesn't want anything to do with Finn at first but she can't fight her attraction for long and Finn pursues her which makes it harder. So they end up spending time together and it's funny because he doesn't understand everything since he lives most of the time in the sea. 

They wanted to be together but didn't know how that would work since she couldn't leave her pack and he couldn't leave Atlantis since he was second in command. But each knew that the other probably wouldn't be happy giving up their life to live with the other. I loved how when they finally thought they had it all figured out, they get special gifts from someone special that makes everything even more fun. This was so fun to read. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

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: 

Fix hot sauce. 

Salonpas pain relieving patch. 

Belle perfume. 

I cashed out some points on Product Report Card for a $55 Amazon gift card. 

I won a $25 Amazon gift card from a blog contest. 

And received a foam seat cushion from Walmart Spark Reviewer to review. 

The Fix hot sauce is too hot for me. It's a Siracha hot sauce. My daughter liked it though. I love the perfume and will use the Salonpas patch on my back I'm sure. 

The seat cushion fits the chair I have in my bedroom so that's a win. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: His Beloved by Anna Santos

 

Book Description

It was just a silly reality show...

Until he chose her.

Absurdly rich and gorgeous Daniel Wolfe is used to get what he wants. And he wants Jade. The powerful vampire male picks her from the crowd of screaming females willing to do anything to please him. He's convinced that she's the One, His Beloved. But he wasn't prepared for a feisty girl who loathes vampires and doesn't want to be his for all Eternity.

Jade will sacrifice anything—even her freedom—to protect her orphaned little brother. But when she's forced to join a reality show that may keep her away from him, she has to survive hell and temptation to get the money she needs to pay for her brother's treatment.

In a world that reveres vampires and reality shows rule the entertainment channels, Jade needs to endure Daniel's seductive games for a week before she can be released from her contract and go back to take care of her brother.

However, not everything is what it seems and despite her secret past and her hate for vampires, Jade may be facing a worse danger than being bitten: falling in love.

Content Warning: Explicit love scenes, naughty language, and an extremely sexy vampire. Intended for mature audiences.

My Review

Jade is talked into going to a reality show by her friend Jenna who is a bit of a ditz. The reality show is for vampires to pick humans that they will spend a week with and become the vampires pet. Jade doesn't even like vampires but her friend is really hoping to get picked so she goes there to give her friend support. Jade has a sick brother named Stevie who she takes care of ever since their parents died. 

Daniel is the head vampire in charge of the vampire reality show. He spots Jade before the contestants are chosen and she has no idea who he is. It's pretty obvious that Jade doesn't even like vampires but that doesn't stop Daniel from picking her and since she signed a contract to get inside, she can't say no without having to pay a bunch of money.

Daniel believes that Jade is his beloved, his mate but she is so stubborn and scared of vampires that she won't believe anything he says to her but she doesn't mind when he kisses her even though she kept telling him to leave her alone or not touch her. He really doesn't take no for an answer which kinda irritated me. He could have won her over without being so pushy. But there's a reason that Jade is scared of and doesn't trust vampires and Daniel doesn't find out about what happened until later. 

Even though Daniel is pushy at first, he ends up being a nice guy and Jade does finally realize that he's not like the other vampire she knew and starts to trust him a little more. It doesn't hurt that Jade is really attracted to him either. But there are two other girls on the reality show that Jade has to go against in order to win the game and be picked to be with Daniel. One of those girls ends up being Jenna, her best friend. The other is one of Daniel's ex's an she's not happy that Jade seems to be his favorite. There's a little drama that you would expect from a reality tv show but Daniel already knows who he wants to end up with. 

Towards the end of the book, danger seems to pop up out of nowhere and Jade finds herself facing some troubling realities and family secrets. We find out that there's a whole lot more to Jenna than the ditzy persona that she shows to everyone and we get a sneak peek of what the next book might be about. I'm looking forward to seeing how Jenna will react when her mate comes sniffing around her. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

My Daughter is Selling on Etsy and is an Avon Rep.

 

Yesterday was my daughter's 30th birthday so I thought I would help my daughter out with her businesses and give her shops a boost. My daughter sells stuff on Etsy and is now an Avon Rep. First I'll show you some of the products on her Etsy shop. This is a metal marijuana leaf ashtray. 

She makes Witchcraft kits and sells them on Etsy as well. 

She also has some misc craft supplies available. 

She made this pentacle wall hanger and it's for sale.

This is another Witchcraft set. 

And she makes her own soaps that she sells in the bath gift sets. 

You can find her Etsy Shop- Brought2youbyMe at this link. She has other products on there as well.

---

My daughter is also selling Avon online too. You can find her online store here- Elizabeth Post Avon

Book Review: Latent by Rae Salander

 

Book Description

The perfect daughter, the perfect partner, and the perfect medic-that’s me, or at least that’s what I have been working on for most of my life. So, what if I find my papa has a condition that has no discovered cure? I can work harder to make him proud while he still remembers me. So, what if I secretly don’t think I am good enough for Nathan? I can try harder. So, what if I have discovered I don’t have the people skills to be a medic? I can plan to go into research.

See, I am adaptable. After all, it has only been about two hundred years since the world went to hell. With the natural disasters and then the pandemic. With extra-terrestrials swooping to the rescue. At a price, of course. Nothing comes for free. The new world order is a human-eat-human one. And the hand I have been dealt is a pretty darned good one. Even Freya, my roomie, and best bud have learned to put up with my borderline OCD tendencies. Yes, life is good. And then they take it all away. Every little bit, I have built up. Every shred of what I believe makes me. But they will pay. If I ever make it out of this alive.

My Review

Arwen has her life planned out for herself. She is going to partner with Nathan, finish her schooling and become a medic. But everything changes when she meets Makhye (Mak). 

Mak is a hybrid alien who has come to Earth for a reason but he and his brother don't want anyone to know they are there so they disguise themselves. Mak and Arwen become friends but he feels more for her and wants a relationship with her. 

Things seem to be going well for Arwen and she's about to be partnered with her long time friend, Nathan. But when she meets Mak, she finds she likes to spend time with him and they get along together and like some of the same things. But Mak isn't very truthful with her and doesn't tell her what planet he's from or that he's been disguising what he actually looks like. He tells her that he has feelings for her and wants her to come back to his planet with him but she isn't willing to give up her life for an alien she just met when she has her life planned out. He doesn't know how to take no for an answer and ends up pretty much stalking her day after day, wanting to talk to her and try and talk her into coming with him. She tells him no on more than one occasion but he won't take no for an answer. No means no in my mind so this was already going badly for me. 

The last time he confronts her, he's attacked by other aliens but Arwen calls for help and hopes that he'll be ok. Mak has 8 brothers and they are out for blood because they are convinced that Arwen had something to do with the attack on Mak. So she is kidnapped so she can confess. But things go very wrong when one of Mak's other brothers, F'Xan loses his mind and attacks Arwen. He bites her during the attack and they don't think she'll survive because their venom usually kills those that they bite. But she lives and so they continue to interrogate her and on more than one occasion she is tortured. This story made me cringe so many times. First she's attacked and raped, then tortured, pretty much starved and tortured some more. It's only when Mak wakes up after he partially recovers from his attack that the entire truth comes to light. He and a couple of his brothers or pod mates feel awful for what they put Arwen through but somethings that even they didn't realize cold happen come to light and they realize that they want her in a romantic way. I don't know how she would or could ever trust any of them again after what she went through though. I'm not going to say how this ends because I seriously had to set aside any base in reality to even keep reading this. Frankly, my ending of her picking up a blaster and melting them all into a puddle of goo would have been better but at any rate I think you can tell that I was not pleased at all with this story. I liked Arwen, she's a fighter and some of the other characters are great. This story could have been really good without all the violence.

This is a dark romance. TW for rape, torture and kidnapping. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

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

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"That makes no sense! I hate math."

*App pictures today courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #257

 

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 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

I spotted another used syringe on the path where I walk Falcor. It was only a few feet from the trash can so I picked it up and threw it away. Someone asked the last time I found needles if this was the kind of needle that diabetics use and if the drug addicts use these for drugs. The answer is yes, they do. 

There was a car speeding down my street and a cop quickly caught up with him and pulled him over. 

I enlarged the picture so you could see. The speeder got a ticket. I hope more of the speeders get caught because there are a lot of people that like to speed down this street and take that corner really fast so I was glad to see the police around here getting them and giving out tickets. 

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

The high this week was 116F.  That's 46C for those not in the US. 

Flowering Palm Tree's

 

Did you know that palm tree's sprout flowers once a year for a couple of weeks? I've seen it happen but never was in time to see the flower stalks sprouting from the leaf axils. They sprout so fast that it's easy to miss the tubular sprouts before they flower. 

I circled some of the tubular flower stalks so you can see what I'm talking about. Most of the palm tree's around here have them and within a day or so start sprouting flowers. Some flowers you can see already.

The flower stalks look different from the palm tree fronds *leafs* so it was easy to spot the flowers coming. 

Some of the flowers are either bright yellow like these or more of a whitish yellow.

These ones are more of the lighter whitish color.

There's a lot more white flowers than there are yellow flowers on these tree's.

Some of the flowers that sprouted are bright yellow. I'm not sure what the difference is. But so many flowers are on these palm tree's right now and the bee's are everywhere. Once the flowers sprouted from the flower stalks I don't walk under them for a couple of weeks until the flowers and bee's are gone.

I thought it was kinda cool and thought you guys would too. See, I found more flowers. lol 

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 Pond's Chat Pack from Ripple Street. 

In the box was Pond's moisturizer, dark spot corrector, anti aging cream and a coupon for a full size free Pond's product. 

I already used Pond's cold cream so I already liked their products but I like these products as well. I've been using them since I received them. 

You can sign up for a Ripple Street account and apply to get free products. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Alpha's Prey by Renee Rose and Lee Savino

 

Book Description

The human thinks I’m stalking her. Maybe I am.

But I’m not the only one.

There’s something evil in these woods and it preys on single women.

I’m not about to let the sexy scientist fall into its lair.

Even if that means holding her prisoner in my cabin.

Keeping her where I can see her at all times.

Bending her to my bear’s will.

Just until the storm passes. Until her research is finished.

Then I’ll let her go.

I swear.

My Review

Caleb has been spending more time in his bear form than his human form since his mate and cub had been brutally murdered and he was the one to find them. He should be hibernating but there's a serial killer/kidnapper on the loose and another female has gone missing and she's not the first one.

When Miranda goes to the research station's cabin by herself, Caleb is fearful that she might be the next victim. Miranda is writing a paper on tree ring research and if she doesn't get the research done so she can write the paper, her funding will be gone.

Miranda brought her dog, Bear with her to the research cabin. The name of the dog made me laugh since I knew in short order there would be a bear shifter watching her and coming to her rescue, which I was right about. They meet when Miranda goes outside to gather some research but gets lost. Caleb finds her hypothermic, in the snow because her dog is barking like crazy. He brings her back to his cabin to warm her and the dog up. But when she wakes up hours later and he's sleeping inside the sleeping bag with her, she fears he might be the serial killer that the clerk at the convenience store told her about. 

They end up being stuck in his little cabin for a couple of days because it's snowing and the snow is really deep. There's no way that she's be able to hike through it and get back to her cabin. He's grouchy but his bear really wants Miranda and that makes Caleb even grouchier. So while Miranda has a weird habit of talking to herself like she's narrating what's going on around her, Caleb isn't making things real pleasant for her with his gruff behavior. 

The serial killer who has been kidnapping women, is actually a crazy guy who is experimenting on the women. We get a few glimpses of what he's up to during the time that Miranda and Caleb are stuck together in his cabin. And then again later. 

Watching Caleb and Miranda tip toe around each other at first was fun because they both are lusting after each other. So when Miranda pokes the bear, so to speak and Caleb decides to act on list lust, these two are hot enough to melt the snow piled up around his cabin. He's all but given up on life and is pretty much just living to find the evil thing that killed his family. But Miranda is a breath of fresh air and just what he needed in his life. What happened to his family is heartbreaking but finding Miranda gives him anther chance at life. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Review: Daily Goodie Box-June

 

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 was in the box?

Vit Health - Beyond Gorgeous Vitamins- I got the Hair, skin and nail vitamins and started taking them right away. I love these kind of vitamins. They usually make my skin nicer.

Flathau’s Fine Foods - Raspberry Snaps- These were my favorite thing in the box. They were so good. I love shortbread cookies and thought these were great. Loved the mild raspberry flavor they had.

Nature Nut - Shampoo for Normal Hair- I've received this before and I'm not a fan of the scent but my daughter and grandson who live with me love it so it was a win for them.

Bare Republic - Hand Sanitizer Spray -  This is a good hand sanitizer. Works as well as the other one I have. It doesn't smell bad and made my hands feel the same way all the other hand sanitizers do. Always good t have around.

Honey Belle - Seaweed Spirulina DIY Detox Mask- I used this a couple of times so far and it didn't break my face out so that's a plus. My face felt clean after using it. 

Eco-Dent - Dental Gum, Tooth Powder & Daily Rinse- The toothpaste sample was just ok to me. It did work well though. Not a fan of the flavor though.

We Are Rugged Beauty - Long Lasting Nail Polish- I got a pretty purple color that I liked and it lasted 5 days before it started chipping.

ShiKai - Healthy Glow CBD Night Cream- It's a good night cream but I don't know what benefits the CBD really has if any.

I was also sent a small round paper with wild flower seeds embedded inside it. I just have to plant and water it and see if I have flowers later on.

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.

Review: Notorious by Diana Palmer

 

Book Description

Trusting him is dangerous.

But resisting him is almost impossible.

New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer’s Long, Tall Texans series returns with secrets…and dangerous seduction.

Gaby Dupont knows some men shouldn’t be trusted. Ever. Especially not high-profile lawyer Nicholas Chandler. How can she trust the man who might be helping her greedy relatives steal her family fortune? To get the inside scoop on Nicholas’s dealings—and protect herself and her beloved grandmère—Gaby must take a job with the devil himself. Of course, she can’t tell him who she really is…

Nicholas Chandler knows there’s more to Gaby Dupont than delicate beauty. She’s sweet and clever—but just too young and secretive. Yet even as they clash, Gaby gets under his skin as no other woman ever has. When Gaby comes under fire, Nicholas risks his career and reputation to keep her safe. But can he protect Gaby without losing his heart?

My Review

Gaby had something bad happen to her when she was younger and she and her grandmother are scared that Nick might take the case and defend the guy who is responsible. She goes to his apartment to make a plea to him not to defend the guy but when an opportunity arises to take a job for him instead, she takes it hoping to get to know him better and then ask him not to take the case. 

Nick is a high powered, successful attorney. But he's got a lot going on at home and at work. His teenage niece is a handful and he has some crazy court cases that are stressing him out. So when Gaby is knocking on his door, he thinks she's from the temp agency to catalog his bookshelves that his niece knocked over in a rage. 

 Nick really had his hands full with his niece, Jackie. Her mother, his sister isn't much of a mother and is more concerned with her new boyfriend than her daughter which really messes with the teenagers head and makes her hard to live with. She and Gaby butt heads right from the very beginning but Gaby is really good at finding out what is really bothering a person which makes it easier for her to talk to them and that's what she did with Jackie. After a while, Gaby was able to break through to her and show her that someone really cared about her. Which wasn't easy because she gets herself in over her head with an older boy who is really bad news and makes things dangerous for Gaby as well as Jackie. 

Because Gaby is scared of men and hasn't ever had a boyfriend, she's a little leery of Nick at first but he's a good guy even if he has a little bit of a temper. Nick is also the way he is because of a heartbreaking secret in his past. It broke my heart when his secret was revealed but it truly brought Nick and Gaby closer when they were able to talk about the bad things in their past. There's only one problem, Nick has no idea that Gaby is a very wealthy woman or what she is really doing there. 

There's a bit of a disagreement when Nick realizes who Gaby is and why she was really at his door that first day but losing her only showed them both that they cared much more about each other than they knew. 

I liked the whole mob connection that got thrown in the mix and the conclusion to Nick's case that was causing him a lot of stress. This story came together just the way I knew a Diana Palmer story would. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Raturday!

 

"I need help wiff my homework"

"Mmm pamcakes" 

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

Apartment Life #256

 

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 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

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I found out that my frail, elderly neighbor *the one with the homeless brother who broke his cheekbone a few weeks ago* passed away. I hadn't seen him outside for a few days and I had a bad feeling. He lived with another brother in that apartment and I gave him my condolences. I haven't seen the homeless brother around since he busted out their bedroom window some weeks ago.

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This week we have the tale of Jessica and Mikey...the local homeless meth heads that argue all the time. They are also the couple that broke into the shop a couple of years ago and broke through the wall to get into the vacant apartment next door. Yeah, these are great people. They are always getting into trouble around here. So while I was out walking Falcor, I noticed Jessica checking out this truck with the large tarp in the back that was across the street. So I came home and set up my camera and waited...

And then it happened. She got up in the back of the truck and dove under the tarp. She climbed down and went back up a couple of times. 

She was looking around and pulling stuff out of the back of the truck but it was small stuff so I don't know what all she stole off the truck. 

And then her boyfriend walked up and she started yelling at him like she always does. I seriously don't know why he puts up with her abuse and she is abusive. She is always calling him a fat b*tch, or a stupid little b*tch. And she hits him, I've seen her punch him right in the face. He'll try to hold her in a hug and she'll start screaming about how he's hitting her and for someone to call the cops. She screams at him that when the cops come they'll believe her and he'll go to jail and then she'll start hitting him or biting his arm. This has been going on for years. 

After she yelled at him and called him names, he left. Then I watched her dive under the tarp again and she stayed there for about an hour. I think she fell asleep because she looked all out of sorts when she finally jumped down from the back of the truck. I was just surprised that the owner of the truck didn't come out and see her in the truck while they were loudly screaming at each other. It would have been kinda funny if the owner had started the truck and took off with her asleep in the back. Would serve her right. 

I saw them 'making their bed' by pulling the plastic tarp to the sides and securing it. But one side kept coming undone and they were getting so mad about it. 

Jessica took a break and let her man secure the tarp but he failed too. LOL But they dived under the tarp for a little while but that didn't last long. I saw them out walking around a little while later and were jumping in and out of the laundry room across the street where they do their drugs. Most times they don't even shut the door and I can watch them hitting the crack pipe from my bedroom window. 

And no I didn't call the police because every single time these two get arrested, they are out right away. I would have had to write a voluntary statement about what I saw and then testified, which isn't happening. So instead, I called the constables office and reported an abandoned vehicle. They came out and took a look at the truck and then left. "someone" I'm assuming Jessica or Mikey who have been using it as a drug den, moved the truck later that night to right in front of my bedroom window. Good grief. I'm just guessing that when the truck was maybe stolen and abandoned, the thieves left the keys in the car and now these two have them? I'm just guessing though. See that window with the window AC? That's my bedroom window. Why does everything happen right by my window? lol I don't know but these idiots have been waking me up at night when they start to argue. I'm waiting to see if the truck gets towed away at some point. But I won't hold my breath. 

One of the arguments went like this...

Jessica: You're just mad you can't have this *points at her crotch* because you're a fat pig. 

Mikey: I've had it. It wasn't that good. 

Jessica: *loses her damn mind and starts screaming* You know you want it, but you ain't getting it. 

Mikey: Calmly walks away. 
Jessica: Lays down in the back of the truck and starts scream/crying. 

They finally settled down later and went to sleep in the back of the truck.

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The high this week was 103F

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