Book Review: Wild Cowboy Wolf by Kait Ballenger

 

Book Description

Blaze Carter is the cowboy wolf with the most dangerous desires. One of the wolf ranch's elite warriors, the Grey Wolf security technologist is as smart as a whip, the quickest to joke, and the first to act on his impulses—carnal or otherwise. But this cowboy has a dark secret he can never escape, and Blaze fears the day when his demons catch up to him.

Dakota Cassidy has everything a she-wolf could ever want—an appointment as one of the pack's first female elite warriors, a career as the ranch's veterinarian, and an endearing family that's equal parts loveable and trouble. There's just one thing missing—someone to share it with. Enter: Blaze. For the first time ever, Dakota's now seeing her best friend in a whole new light. But to act on her desires could have deadly consequences for them both...

My Review

Blaze is an elite warrior but he has some secrets that are about to catch up to him. Dakota is his best friend but he's been in love with her for years and she has no idea until she decides she has feelings for him.

Dakota is also an elite warrior, one of the pack's first female's to have the job but she wants more. She wants someone to share her life with, she just never considered Blaze to be that person until now. 

When a friend of Blaze's comes to warn him that his secrets are about to catch up with him and he could be in danger along with his pack and anyone close to him, he decides to tell his alpha. Blaze had been sent on a mission that still haunts him. He had been sent to Russia to infiltrate the Volk who are sadistic, murderous, sociopathic wolf shifters that were thought to have been extinct. He was able to join their ranks and be the spy he was sent there to be and report back to his superiors about them but in doing so he made an enemy of the Volk and still has nightmares about what he saw. So when he's warned they might be coming for him, he's worried. 

When Dakota finally realizes she has feelings for her best friend, Blaze and that he loves her too, they try to take things slow but end up being together because they know they are meant to be mates. But the Volk are coming so they can't put as much into their relationship before the attack happens.

Blaze tries to prepare his pack for the arrival of the Volk and the vampires that come along to attack them but they didn't have enough time to prepare and there are some losses when they are attacked. Blaze blames himself and does something stupid to try and keep the rest of the pack safe. 

This was an interesting twist on shifters, a different kind of shifter and vampires. I like the story of how the Volk came into being and how this ended. I've been reading this series for some time and I usually really like the books but while I really liked the 2nd half of this book, the first half was slow to get going. I'm glad I stuck with it though because the story does pick up and get a lot better. The action in the second half is great. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

*All pictures courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #280

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 24 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

---

My daughter and neighbor were telling me how two men were going around banging on doors (including ours) at 2am last Sunday morning.  Thankfully my daughter didn't open the door but she heard them saying to someone else that they were looking for *Michelle* that she was being held hostage in the 119 building. But the 119 building is across the street. It was sketchy as hell. I was wondering if they were seeing if anyone would open their door so they could rush in and rob them. It's happened before. I didn't hear anything else about it.

---

My neighbor was so mad on Sunday. She had a yelling match with the people in drug dealers apartment because so many of the druggies are pushing carts full of items they found in the trash down the walkway in front of her apartment and trying to trade said items for crack. All day last Saturday people were going back and forth with carts full of trash and my neighbor is tired of it. Not that I blame her one bit.

So my neighbor is using chairs, a table, potted plants and whatever else she can find in her apartment to block off the sidewalk in front of her door so people with carts can't push the cart by her door. I heard her telling drug dealer that if he has a bunch of people at his apartment from now she's calling the police. She's so mad. 

The next day the guy in the apartment directly across from her started yelling at all the druggie coming and going and waiting in front of drug dealer's apartment. He yelled that they needed to leave, that they didn't live here and needed to be gone. They left for a while but it didn't last long. That guy is so quiet, I've never heard him raise his voice before but I guess people are here are getting tired of the druggies hanging around all the tie causing problems for the people that live here.

---

The high this week was 72F/22C

The low this week was 41F/5C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

I don't know if you've heard of Hollywood Undead but if you haven't then this is a good song to start with. They have softer songs like this one, rock songs and then songs that have a lot more rap in them. I don't listen to a lot of rap but I really like them because they can actually sing. 

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 bathmat from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

Smart Mouth dental chew for dogs. 

Estee Lauder anti aging face cream. 

Lancome Youth Activating Concentrate face serum. 

I love the bathmat. It's such a nice color and will be a nice backup after the one I'm using falls apart like they usually do after a few rounds in the washing machine. 

The face creams and serums are nice. They smell good and leave my face soft but I don't actually think they do anything except act as a good moisturizer. 

Falcor didn't really like his dental chew. He chewed on it a little bit but he has such small teeth and this thing is really hard so I think that he doesn't like chewing on it. But he likes throwing it around and playing with it. lol 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: The Jackal (Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp Book 1) by J.R. Ward

 

Book Description

The location of the glymera’s notorious prison camp was lost after the raids. When a freak accident provides Nyx clues to where her sister may still be doing time, she becomes determined to find the secret subterranean labyrinth. Embarking on a journey under the earth, she learns a terrible truth—and meets a male who changes everything, forever.

The Jackal has been in the camp for so long he cannot recall anything of the freedom he once knew. Trapped by circumstances out of his control, he helps Nyx because he cannot help himself. After she discovers what happened to her sister, getting her back out becomes a deadly mission for them both.

United by a passion they can’t deny, they work together on an escape plan for Nyx—even though their destiny is to be forever apart. And as the Black Dagger Brotherhood is called upon for help, and Rhage discovers he has a half-brother who’s falsely imprisoned, a devious warden plots the deaths of them all…even the Brothers.

My Review

Nyx realizes she can get into the prison her sister has been in for fifty years and hopefully break her out but her grandfather tells her a huge secret, he's the one that turned her in and she belongs there. Nyx doesn't believe him for a minute and goes to rescue her sister. 

The Jackal has been in this underground prison for 100 years after he was accused and convicted of something he didn't do. The prisoners in this place are treated horribly and the guards and person in charge are pure sadists. When the Jackal finds Nyx inside looking for her sister, he decides to help her because he knows she'll wind up dead if he doesn't. 

Once Nyx and The Jackal find a way to trust each other a little, the temperature rises because they lust after one another and give into that lust pretty fast. While The Jackal is trying to keep her safe as he and his friends help her look for her sister, they get to know each other better and we get The Jackal's back story. 

I found this book quite slow in the beginning almost until the end of the book when things finally pick up because of the twists the story takes. We also find out why The Jackal has stayed for so long and hasn't tried to escape. His story was sad, what was going on inside this prison was sad but it did end up having a good ending. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

This week I thought I would share some of the things I saw while I was out on a walks with Falcor. 

That Pine tree is actually in my courtyard. When I first moved here 25 years ago, it was shorter than the top of the roof. Now it's so tall. 

Then I realized while I was taking that Pine Tree picture that the clouds in the background looked kinda cool. That tan building is my apartment building. I've been told it looks like prison housing. lol 

Someone left a note on a piece of cardboard on a light pole that said, "Kindness & courtesy were the masters style."

There has been a lot of road construction going on my street this past week. They have been starting at 6am, so I've been getting up early. They dug up the ground right around the corner to the left. 

Someone had an inflatable bouncy house in their backyard for a couple of days. Sounded like they were having a fun party. The kids sure were having fun. 

Book Review: Heart of Stone by Cynthia Eden

 

Book Description

She was created to tempt…and enchant.

Sabrina Lark is a muse who has the ability to inspire any man…to do absolutely anything. Unfortunately for Sabrina, the latest human to fall under her spell has turned out to have one very dark side. Now he’s obsessed with her, and she’s realized—too late—that she just inspired a serial killer. She truly has the worst luck in the world.

Desperate, Sabrina makes a deal with the devil in order to get some serious paranormal protection. Her protection comes in the oh-so-sexy form of Adam Cross, a man who is able to resist her magic…because Adam really is made of stone.

He’s a real beast on the outside…

Cursed centuries before, Adam is a gargoyle. Fierce, strong, and absolutely unstoppable, he is the guard who is placed at Sabrina’s side. He’s supposed to protect her from every danger…he is not supposed to find himself falling under the seductive Sabrina’s spell. But even a man with a heart of stone can find himself pushed too far…

Sabrina thinks she may have found the perfect lover, but Adam’s past is about to come back and bite them both…and he may not be the man she can trust, after all. If she can’t find a way to touch the man inside the beast, if she can’t make his stone heart burn for her, then they’ll be lost.

My Review

Sabrina is a muse and inspires people to be their best selves but sometimes the people that fall under her spell are bad people and her powers bring out the worst possible sides of them. So now Eric, a serial killer is after her because she inspired him to be his best self and that made his serial killer tendencies come to life. 

Adam is sent to keep her safe and eliminate Eric, who is after her but Adam is a gargoyle so he's immune to her powers which makes it easier for her to be around him since she doesn't have to worry about him falling under her influence.

Sabrina and Adam are both the last of their kind so they have that in common and they are attracted to each other pretty much right from the start. Sabrina could see his aura which scared her at first because she thought he was dark and bad but Adam isn't all bad. I really loved how they spoke to one another, they were so much fun!

Adam is kept on his toes when her ex comes after her time and time again and he can't find a way to kill the man. When Sabrina puts herself in harms way to save not only a victim but Adam, he's really not used to having anyone care about him like that and it amazes and infuriates him. 

I love gargoyles and I don't see a lot of them in the books I read even though I read a lot of paranormal type romance books, so I was really happy to see a gargoyle in this one. There were a lot of twists and plenty of action in this story to keep me engaged and waiting to see what would happen next. 

 I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Hey, keep it down up there! I'm trying to sleep!"

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

Apartment Life #279

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 24 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

So this week I ended up calling the police, I was outside with Falcor and a lady who was walking down the center of the street carrying a baseball bat that she was dragging along side her so it was making a pretty unmistakable noise as she was getting closer. I wouldn't have been worried but she was also screaming at no one in particular, not that I could understand what she was saying. But as she was passing by me, she turned to face me and started walking over to me, all the while shouting something unintelligible. 

She's homeless and I've seen her around here because she shouts a lot. I think she has mental problems and her being homeless isn't helping her situation. She topped me last month and tried to stop me from going past her on the sidewalk but I just told her to get out of my way and she went out in the middle of the street to stop the cars from driving by her.

But this week she started to raise the bat and I brought out my taser, turned it on and set it off a couple of times. Then I yelled at her, "You better get your ass away from me, because I will light you up with this." And then pulled the trigger again. 

She had the bat on her shoulder and was still screaming about something and then walked away. I came inside and called the police because I don't like feeling like I've just been threatened. I saw out my bedroom window when they got here and I went outside. They looked around for her, she was gone and then said that if I see her to call them back. There really wasn't anything else they could do. 

I mostly take my taser with me at night because there have been a lot more homeless, tweakers, crazy people walking around here. Good thing I took it this time too.

----

You remember that child I've told you about in my courtyard that is always outside with no clothes, shoes and is only in a diaper? I got a picture of him (I didn't want to show his face) but you can see he's only got a diaper on, no shoes or anything. He and his brother were outside and this kid was just standing still screaming at the top of his lungs. Just screaming in front of his door for no reason and his mother never said a word to make him stop. I don't understand this mother at all. This kid has almost been hit by a car at least twice that I know of when he wandered out in the street.

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The high this week was 76F/24C

The low this week was 46F/7C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

I've said before that I listen to a lot of different kinds of music and here's one of those that I wasn't sure I would like but did. Plus the music video is so much fun. It reminds me of an old horror movie and you know how much I love horror movies. I hope you enjoy. 

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 sample of scents from Macy's. 

A power strip, light bulb and fridge thermometer from the power company.

Spicebomb Infared by Viktor Rolf might be the best smelling Eau de Toilette Spray for Men that I've ever smelled. It really smells good. 

I can always use another power strip and light bulb.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Night's Bliss by Mary Hughes

Book Description

I could never trust a vampire. Ever. It wasn’t enough that vampires killed my parents and left me for dead. Nope, they also left me with this searing fear of every one of their kind. But when someone I care about grows sick from poison, I have no choice but to infiltrate a Romanian castle filled with pissy, evil vampires in search of the antidote.

And my only saving grace is that for some reason, I can do things other humans can’t.

Unfortunately, I also seem to be the perfect bait for the Vampire King, Kai Elias. More than seven feet of dark, wicked charisma, ancient eyes, and a body that holds more power and raw, animal sexuality than I can resist. But there’s something about Elias that looks painfully, terrifyingly familiar.

Now I am in over my head and my heart. And my only choice is to trust this dark, charismatic creature…or die.

My Review

Rey met Greyson after he had been poisoned by vampires because Lord Umbra wanted to bleed him dry and use his ancient vampire blood to keep himself alive longer. Rey found him and helped him but she thinks he's a human when in reality he's a ten thousand year old, ancient, vampire who had been poisoned and needed her help. Rey fell in love with Greyson in the time they spent together and Greyson fell in love with her but she hates vampires and has no idea he is one. 

Rey goes to Castle Umbra to find the antidote for the poison that he was given and even though she finds a way to smuggle the antidote out of the castle, she is caught by Umbra. Umbra calls himself the Shadow Lord and people fear him. Umbra let's human know that vampires exist and all hell breaks loose. After Greyson gets the antidote and takes it, he remembers that he's actually Elias, an ancient vampire. He's sick with the knowledge because he knows that Rey hates vampires and will be horrified as well as terrified of him because vampires killed her parents when she was a kid and tortured her. 

Elias goes to Castle Umbra to save Rey but instead gets caught in the same cell as Rey and she is horrified that Greyson is now a vampire. As they talk while they're in the cell, she realizes that he's not like the vampires that killed her parents. She doesn't completely trust him but she can see bits of Greyson in him and she loved Greyson. It takes a while but they start to trust one another and make a plan to escape. 

This was such a good vampire romance. I love Greyson/Elias because he's so in love with Rey and so hurt when he thinks she'll never be able to love him as he now is. His heartache was sad to watch but seeing Rey realize that he's a good man was so much fun to watch. Rey was much more than she seemed and had some secrets but she isn't the only one with secrets. I loved the twists this story had, they made the story fun to read. 

I enjoyed this story but at some points during the book I found the story to slow down quite a bit in places but it was enjoyable overall. This is the 3rd book in the series but I didn't feel lost at all. This can definitely be read as a standalone.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

I was taking pictures of the clouds we got when it rained a couple of weeks ago and thought this was fun because it looks like a black and white picture but it's not. That's actually what the clouds looked like. 

Book Review: Bewitch The Darkness by Alexandra Ivy

 

Book Description

Only one drastic mission can tempt Kyi away from the peaceful woodland where the dryads raised her: killing her mother. Xuria’s beauty masks a bone-deep evil that has enslaved fey for centuries with the help of a powerful stone. A hundred years ago, Kyi almost succeeded—until one meddlesome vampire destroyed her chance. With rumors that Xuria has emerged from her secret realm, Kyi’s determined to try again—despite the vampire who is now focused on destroying her.

 

Locke has been waiting over a century to avenge what he believes was Xuria’s death. Discovering the sorceress’s raven-haired fey daughter was the assassin is a surprise—until her story of Xuria’s treachery begins to ring true. Working with Kyi is one solution—and the relentless heat simmering between them is a hint that they may be fated as mates. But even a destined love will have to wait as they now struggle to defeat Kyi’s twin sister, who has a chilling plan of her own . . .

My Review 

Kyi has been in hiding for a very long time. But she needs to go after her mother, Xuria and stop her because she'll never be safe until she does. 

Locke is still grieving the death of his mate and has been waiting to get justice for her and revenge on the one who killed her. But things don't go as planned.

Locke thought his mate had been killed but when he's informed that it was all a trick of magic that Kyi's mother had done to him, he's skeptical at first and then comes to believe her more and more. He had locked himself away, waiting for the day that he was alerted that the killer was close once again. But what he finds is Kyi and she convinces him that her mother used magic to trick him into thinking what she wanted him to think.

Kyi has a twin sister, Cleo but they aren't close. Kyi is a kind, sweet woman while Cleo seems to be the exact opposite. Cleo doesn't even trust her own sister but wants to get revenge and kill their mother, Xuria for killing their father and trying to kill them when they were just kids. 

There's actually three simultaneous storylines going on in this book. Inga and Levet are on a quest, Locke and kyi are trying to find Xuria so they can kill her and Troy and Cleo are also also trying to find Xuria to kill her. 

Xuria uses magic to keep herself immortal and uses other beings as slaves, using their life energy to fuel the magic she uses to keep herself immortal. She's not a nice person and now several people are after her to kill her which makes her even more dangerous. 

Cleo wants her mother dead but she let's her plan be known that she wants the crystal that her mother uses for her own use after she kills her. Troy is only there because he was tricked into owing Cleo and he can't get out of it until he pays the favor back but he knows she's not out for good reasons. 

Having all of these storylines going on at the same time made sense in a way but it also detracted from the main couple's romance which I didn't like. Locke and Kyi seemed to fall for each other too fast while they were trying to catch up to Xuria. I like this series but this wasn't my favorite book. I did like the ending though because Inga deserved to finally have something good happen in her life. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #278

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 24 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

I noticed that a vacant apartment's windows were boarded up. I guess that's just what they do now to keep the apartment's from being broken into over the weekends. The vacant apartments used to get broken into over the weekends all the time but it hasn't been as big a problem in a while. 

----

Wednesday night I was woken up from the flashing lights from this police car right across the street from my bedroom window. It was 2am and he did shut his flashing lights off after a minute but I was already awake by that time. So I got a blurry picture of the police car. All the bright lights from the freeway do help with taking pictures at night but they still come out blurry but at least you can see it's a police car. 

I watched the police going into one of the downstairs apartments across the street and were talking to people over there. 

And then 2 more police cars showed up and an ambulance (I didn't get a picture of that) drove behind the building into the alley. The bright lights in this picture are of another police car that had their flashing lights on and they were blocking off the street with their headlights pointed towards me so it was really bright.

I saw someone be taken out of that courtyard across the street on a stretcher and taken to the hospital in the ambulance. No idea what happened but the police were there for over an hour when I decided to go back to bed. I have no idea when they left.

The high this week was 81F/27C

The low this week was 52F/11C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

I listen to a lot of different kinds of music so I thought I would share a song that you might not have heard. I hope you enjoy this one. I love their voices, they fit together so seamlessly. 

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: 

Urban Decay HD Eyeshadow Primer Potion. 

LaRoche Posay Sunscreen. 

Pura Scent sampler. 

I love the Urban Decay eyeshadow primer. I use an eyeshadow primer but this one is really nice. It's the first time I've tried it. 

The sunscreen is a good one and it works which is always nice. I didn't get red while wearing it which usually tells me it's working. 

Pura scent sampler was to let you sample a bunch of their home scents so you could pick the air freshener that you liked and buy it. I have to say that they all smell really good. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Daily Goodie Box - November

 

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?

Electrolit - Electrolyte Beverage- I don't really do any excessive exercising to where I would need something like this but it did have a good grape taste to it. 

GoodLight - Vanilla Nutmeg Cardamom Candle Tins- This was my favorite thing n the box. It smelled so good. I would definitely buy this. I love candles. 

Green Goo - Free to Breathe Natural Decongestant- I suffer from allergies so I did what the instructions said and put a little of this under my nose which was supposed to make me breathe better but I don't think it had enough eucalyptus in it to open my air passages. It did nothing for me. 

Rejuva Minerals - Natural Eye & Brow Pencil- This is a nice eyebrow pencil. I think it worked well. I would buy this for sure.

Bare Republic - Mineral SPF 30 Tinted Face Sunscreen- I wear sunscreen everyday so I tried this on my face and neck and it does work. My skin didn't get red and I didn't burn. So it does work. 

ShiKai - CBD Cream with Borage- Another CBD cream or lotion that did nothing for me. It didn't have a nice scent so even as a lotion I didn't like it. When I used it, it didn't feel good on my skin so I won't be using it again.

Shire City Herbals - Fire Cider Super Shots- I didn't try this. I'm not into throwing back a shot of vinegar. Not happening.

Jack N’ Jill - Hand Sanitizer- This worked well. Plus it has a cute little holder that you can attach to your purse. 

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.

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

I was up early and the sky looked like it was on fire this morning. The picture really doesn't do it justice. 

Book Review: Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

Light and dark combine as the cards reveal hidden truths in this intoxicating installment in Christine Feehan's #1 New York Times bestselling Carpathian series.

 

Sandu Berdardi continues to exist only to protect his people. An ancient Carpathian, his entire long life has been dedicated to honor above all else. He knows his time has passed, especially since he has not been able to find his lifemate—the anchor to keep him sane in a world he no longer understands. But just as he truly starts to give up hope, a voice reaches out to him in the night and his world explodes into color.

 

Adalasia enters Sandu’s mind seamlessly, as if she has been a part of him forever. While she can see the shape of things to come in her deck of cards, her gift is both a blessing and a curse. The true course of Sandu’s quest remains unclear, with danger waiting at every turn. She cannot see everything the future holds, but she does know it is a journey they will take together.

 

By joining him, she will start them down a dangerous, seductive path from which there is no coming back....

My Review

Sandu was contemplating meeting the sun since he had lived such a long time, had not found his lifemate and knew his time was fast approaching when he would have to make the choice. Then he heard a voice in his head speaking telepathically to him and colors popped all around him which was quite shocking since he had lived in a gray world, colorless and emotionless for centuries. He knew what it meant, he had found his lifemate and she was speaking with him telepathically. After speaking to him for a moment she quickly cut off all communication but he was able to find her because they were now linked. 

Adalasia lost her mother a year ago in a break in. The people had been looking for something, she knew it and they hadn't found what they were looking for. Now she knew that those same people were after her, meant her harm and she was in danger. So when Sandu finds her at her tarot reading shop and confronts her, she tries to send him away to keep him safe but he's not going anywhere and he's not going to let her get hurt by anyone. 

Adalasia has a special tarot deck that has been passed down from mother to daughter for generations. Her family are gatekeepers and her deck of cards has magical properties that these other people know about and want. There are 4 gatekeepers that keep a beast locked away somehow. When Sandu and Adalasia talk and he finds out she is in danger, he knows they have to run and she knows it too so they do. It's right away that Adalasia finds out that he is more than human and because she has some idea from a legend she's heard about him and his people, she's not quite as shocked as someone else might have been. 

Not only are they on the run from the people who want her and her tarot deck but they want to find out more about Sandu's family and childhood because somehow, Sandu and Adalasia are linked in a way that they can't explain.

After talking to other Carpathians about Sandu's childhood and his family because he cannot remember anything about his family and childhood, they decide to seek out other Carpathians that might have come across his family when he as a child. In doing this we get to re-visit some of the beloved characters from other books in this series that readers have come to love over the years. 

A lot happens as they gather more and more information and the danger they find themselves in gets greater. This book kept me on the edge of my seat right up until the end. I never knew what was going to happen next and I really enjoyed the role that Adalasia's tarot cards played in this story. There's a lot more magic in this book than there has been in other books from this series and I liked the slight twist that the magic brought to the series. After reading this I know that we'll be seeing more the ancients from the monastery and I'm glad about that. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #277

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 24 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

On Halloween night around 11PM, I start to go to sleep and some woman starts crying really loudly across the street. I look outside and see some guy booking it down the street like the hounds of hell are on his tail. I doubt the two people had anything to do with each other, but you never know. I hear crying and yelling and stay awake because I had a feeling the police were going to show up and I was right. Got the picture of the police car and went to sleep. lol I didn't hear anything more and I have my window open at night now because the temps are nice so I would have heard more commotion if there was any.

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My daughter was at the end of the street playing Pokemon Go and sitting on one of those metal benches that I've shown you. Here's a post with the metal benches and tree's if you haven't seen them before. A guy walked past her on the sidewalk pushing his motor scooter and the police who must have been parked around the corner, pulled up right in front of where she was sitting and stopped the guy. He hadn't done anything but they made him open his backpack and searched it and his motor scooter he was pushing. She heard the police say that they pulled him over because you can't ride a motorized bike on the sidewalk but he never had it turned on, which is why he was pushing it. The the police pulled out a picture of a guy and asked this man if he knew him, my daughter said he told them he didn't. 

After a few minutes of searching him, his bike and backpack and running his ID, I guess they didn't find anything and let him go. But I'm stumped, why did they stop him in the first place? My daughter sat there and listened and took a picture for me and even she was trying to figure out why he was stopped. Sure it's a bad neighborhood but the police shouldn't be stopping people for no good reason.

The high this week was 77F/25C

The low this week was 51F/10C

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