Happy Raturday!

 

"Hiding in the wheat grass."

"I'll share my drink with you if you like."

"Getting ready to make breakfast."

Apartment Life #289

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.

Last week I told you this apartment had been broken into through the bedroom window. Well, the one next to it was also broken into. If you look really closely you might be able to spot all the graffiti on the walls inside the apartment. Maintenance didn't bother boarding this window up for several days. They broke the entire glass out of one side. I hope it doesn't rain.

Maintenance boarded this window from the apartment next to it from the inside though.

And then I took a short video of one of the tweakers across the street. He was standing there sleeping standing up and his knee's kept looking like they were going to buckle. I thought for sure he was going to fall down but he didn't. 

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On Thursday Falcor got me up at 7am to go out. I'm walking down the street and an older homeless man walks by me and says good morning. So I said it back and notice his jeans are only buttoned and the zipper is Down... and his eh, little soldier is hanging out of his pants. I just kept walking.

----

 

Yesterday the police helicopter was flying over my apartment complex and I got a short video of it when it stopped and I guess zeroed in on someone and then flew off. 

The high this week was 68F/20C

The low this week was 36F/2 C

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

 

Last week I told you I was going to share other kinds of music I like and this week it's 2 of my favorite KPOP songs. Yep, I like KPOP. I listen to all kinds of music. I hope you enjoy these.

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:

I was able to snag this Little Freebies Box from Bloomingdales when I spotted the ad on Instagram. 

Inside the box were 3 mini candles and a scent stick. 

These candles are so cute and they smell so good. The scent stick is infused with essential oil and came with a string so you can hang it in a room. It smells really good.

The candles are so pretty. This was a very nice freebie.

I received:

Voluspa Gilt Pomander & Hinoki Mini Votive.
Apotheke Charcoal Mini Candle.

L'or De Seraphine Mini Candle. 

Nest Fragrances Amalfi Lemon & Mint Scentstick. 

Book Review: Banished Wolf: (Fated Mates of the Underworld, Book 1) by Lily Winter

 

Book Description

Shifters mysteriously disappearing. A plot to open Hell. A hunky pack leader insisting she’s his mate.

Lone wolf shifter Paldon Harper lives a typical bounty hunter's life, kicking ass and taking names. So when council ask the exiled woman to help investigate recent disappearances, she's willing to experiment with the frightening magical talents that led to her banishment. But the domineering, hunky local pack leader seems determined to throw a wrench in her plans.

Dealing with demons and trolls getting in the way of her work, Paldon has no time for romantic entanglements, but Ryker is always showing at the right time. And when the Devil himself shows up with instructions, Paldon realizes she might already hold the secret to unlocking the gates of fire and brimstone.

Can she balance unfamiliar magic and the mating pull before she accidentally kick-starts the end of the world?

My Review

Paldon was exiled from her pack, her home because she broke the rules. So she and a human that she became friends with opened a PI business and Paldon is also a bounty hunter so she can afford to buy the Prada shoes she loves so much. So when the vampire king comes to her office and tells her that shifters have gone missing and the Supernatural Council thinks she is somehow the key to opening the underworld, she finds herself in danger. When Ryker shows up out of the blue and tells her she's in danger and he wants her to move in with him to keep her safe, she's not into it but does move in with him eventually. That's when her real father shows up out of the blue and let's her know that she has been lied to and she has to find out who her real mother is in order to stop the end of the world. 

Not only does her father show himself but so does one of her sisters. Wrath, her newly found sister  wants to help her find her birth mother and find out why the woman wants to use her to cause the end of the world. Her father didn't help much even though he could have but they have three women that they need to check out who could be her mother. Along the way She and Ryker get closer and he's not gonna let her go this time because he knows she's his mate. 

When they finally end up figuring out what's really going on, it's not what they thought it was at all. There's a pretty good twist at the end which I liked. Secrets are revealed, and I liked how it ended. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Barista and the Bear by Rebel Carter

 

Book Description

Of all the coffee shops in the world, he just had to walk into hers…

In Oak Fast, there are mates and then there are fated mates, and fate just delivered Teresa Ruiz’s fated mate to her doorstep, er, coffee shop. After losing Aunt Mary, the center of her world, Teresa made work and the people there her life. They are her heart, but in the quiet moments Teresa knows it's not enough—even if it is safer, which is all she longs for. After all, safety is key in a world full of magic, shifters, and the fey folk.

When Cash Strongheart, her fated mate and all around giant pain in her ass, appears claiming her as his mate, it’s anything but magic. Determined to do things her way, Teresa refuses the bear shifter.

Will Teresa learn to trust the magic of mates? Can Cash prove that for all the risk, life with a fated mate is just sweeter? Find out both in the first book of the Oak Fast Fated Mates Series! This is a sweet, whimsical, and grin-inducing PNR shifter romance set in a small town with plenty of found family vibes, smart-mouthed heroines, magical realism, and cinnamon roll heroes.

My Review

Teresa was heart broken when her Aunt Mary passed away and now she feels a little lonely even though she has the people she works with at the coffee shop.

Cash knows as soon as he spots her in the coffee shop that Teresa is his fated mate but she wants nothing to do with him at first. All of her friends are very protective of her so he has to show them that he's a good guy before they will trust her with him. 

Teresa grew up thinking she was human but once she and Cash start getting to know one another, he tells her something that she can hardly believe. He's a bear shifter so he can smell that she is more than just a human. She wants to take things slow and get to know him but because she's fighting the bond between them, she and Cash start to have weird symptoms because magic will not be denied. So she agrees to bond with him because she really does like him. 

The magic between them makes itself known and at that point it's hard for Teresa to keep things slow and stop herself from falling for cash. 

This was a great shifter, fated mates story. It was also a quick read because it was a novella but we got an entire story and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Savage Road by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

When Savin “Savage” Pajari and Seychelle Dubois first met, their connection was instant, their attraction undeniable. Their relationship has been full throttle since day one.  Even though months have passed, the passion and love between them has only increased.

Savage completely owns what he is: a sadist in the bedroom who can only get off on his partner’s pain. He believes he’s not a good man, but he loves Seychelle with a fierceness that shocks him. He wants all of her, but only if she gives herself freely with eyes wide open.

Seychelle never imagined the lure of mixing pain with pleasure, or how much she’d crave Savage’s darkness. She’s been shaken to her core, but Seychelle is committed to Savage and their life together—even though he’s keeping a piece of himself back. And to truly make their relationship work, he has to give her everything that he is, just as she is doing for him.

Savage knows that what he really needs could break his woman if she isn’t ready. She agreed to come into his world, and he’s not about to give her up. He has to find a way to let her see the monster inside without pushing her away. But the real Savage might be more than Seychelle can bear...and he knows he wouldn’t survive losing her.

My Review

This is the second book about Savage because this man is so complex and his story is so compelling that one book, Annihilation Road, was not enough. This book takes place a few months after the last book, so Seychelle and Savage have gotten to know each other better but she still hasn't seen Savage at his worst yet. Savage is a sadist but he made sure that she knew that before bringing her into his life. The fact is, Seychelle likes the pain he brings her with the whips but he hasn't let himself really show her what he considers, the monster inside him when he's taken too much of his friend's pain, rage and anger inside himself. 

Savage has a psychic gift that helped him and his family stay alive when they were children being held captive and abused. He can take some of their pain, anger and rage into himself but if he takes too much, his way of releasing it is to release the monster inside himself and use the whips he's so good at using. It's either that or go to a fight club and beat the crap out of his opponent but his family has had to pull him off of the other guy too many times before he killed someone. So it's no wonder he's afraid to let Seychelle see the monster inside him, he's not sure she'll ever be ready to be with him when he's in that kind of mindset even though she likes some pain mixed with their more intimate times. 

Savage is a control freak and wants to control Seychelle all the time but she's also no pushover so it was fun to watch as they try to navigate their new relationship and Savage has to try and figure out how to give Seychelle the freedom she needs while still holding onto the control that he needs. 

Brandon from the last book is still trying to influence Seycheele because he has a psychic gift that let's him influence people with his voice but because Seycheele has the same gift, he can't influence her and he's take that as a challenge. He is mad because Seychelle was able to break the psychic hold he had on a couple of women and now he wants revenge on her for interfering. 

When a hit is put out on Savage and a body is found murdered, Savage is the first person that the police suspect but they have no case because he has an alibi. But that just makes the person setting him up madder and out for revenge even more. As Seychelle uses her gift on several people to see who is and who isn't influenced by Brandon's gift, it becomes apparent that Brandon isn't the only other one with a psychic gift. Someone else has been putting thoughts into people's minds for one reason or another and because of this, more than just Seychelle and Savage are in danger. 

It was fun to watch them figure out who is behind the problems and how it all fit together. I like Savage and Seychelle even though I knew going into these books that Savage was a sadist and I might be reading scenes in this book and the last that would make me uncomfortable and let me tell you, this book made me uncomfortable. Much more so than the last book. Savage let's loose his monster a lot more in this book and the only reason I was ok with it was because Seychelle is all in, it's completely consensual between them and Savage really does love her. 

I wasn't sure I was going to like this series when I first started reading it, but this is the 7th book and I'm looking forward to see who find's their mate next. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure: I was given an E-book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Amazon

Apartment Life #288

 

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.

The 2 end apartment in the building across from me have been vacant for a while and one of the apartments used to have a board on the door as well as the window. But then maintenance started working in there and the floors were being replaced and the walls were being painted so they left the board off the door I guess thinking that the security door would be enough to keep the crackheads out. 

They were wrong. People broke into the apartment after they had worked in there for days. Me and a couple of other neighbors got sick of seeing the crackheads freely walking in and out the door so we emailed the manager on a Wednesday. They didn't respond to any of us and didn't send maintenance out to kick them out and cover the door with a board until Monday. 

A few days later my daughter saw the same crackheads slithering through the bedroom window of the same apartment. Me and my neighbors decided not to email again and instead let the crackheads tear the place up in the hopes that the hit in the pocketbook of the management company when they have to fix everything that the crackheads break in there and re-paint over all the graffiti that will obviously be there will teach them to board up the windows as well. 

I mean, the residents who emailed the manager didn't even get a, "Hey thanks for letting us know" or anything. No response at all. 

----

For weeks now the guy 2 doors away from me *Bam Bam* has been slamming all of his doors inside and out. He slams his door and screen door. He will stand there and slam it several times sometimes. We can hear him slamming his bedroom door over and over inside his apartment. He points his bluetooth speaker outside and plays music for the courtyard and laughs maniacally. He used to say hi when he saw me or my daughter, now he just stares all crazy eyes half the time O.O. 

This week has been especially bad. He's been slamming either the bedroom or the bathroom door repeatedly in a row all night long. One of my other neighbors was talking to us about it the next morning. He said that when he did it around 8 times in a row that is scared the crap out of him because it was loud through the walls and kept waking him up. The guy is 2 doors away from me and I can hear it through the walls really loudly. That gives you an idea how hard he is banging this door shut over and over again.

My daughter walked by one day while he had his blinds and door open and saw he was just pacing back and forth in his kitchen talking to himself. Tuesday night he came and sat down next to my daughter outside and was talking normal like he used to for a minute and then told my daughter the government has tapped his phone. Then he started making weird hand gestures and said he doesn't like his fingers. Fingers! He was acting very paranoid too. So I think he might be schizophrenic and is either off his meds or is never took meds for it. 

We thought about the calling the police but the only thing they will do is come do a welfare check on the guy. The noise won't actually stop and we are afraid if the cops show up it will make him mad and he'll do it even more or he'll become even more paranoid. 

Then Friday night he threw bottled Jalapeno peppers all over the sidewalk, lined hotdogs by his door and tossed a flat of water bottles out into the courtyard. 

I had to wait until the next morning to get pictures. But there are jalapenos all over the sidewalk in front of his door.

And here are the hotdogs he lined up next to his door. The water bottles got picked up soon after he threw them out in the rocks. Drug dealer and Jessica (who I've talked about before) gathered up the water bottles and took them back to drug dealer's apartment. I have no idea what he was thinking but he came outside and was yelling and screaming when he threw all this stuff outside. And yes, I have nicknamed him Bam Bam.

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Someone I know at the Dollar Tree just down the street took these pictures. Last week a woman walked into her store and told her she was depressed and felt like killing herself and others. So my the worker asked her if she wanted her to call for help and she said yes because she was thinking of killing the worker and the other people in the store. So she called and told them that. While they waited the worker brought out a chair for her to sit on and bought her some candy and they waited. The worker called 2 more times over the next 2 hours. The operator just kept telling her they were busy. It took 2 hours for the police and an ambulance to show up but they finally did. 

---

Covid Update: 

We're feeling much better. I think we're over it now.

The high this week was 66F/18C

The low this week was 38F/3 C

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

 

By now you already know that I like bangers. I like metal and rock. This will be the last metal/rock song for a few weeks. Starting next week I'm going to share some of the other kinds of music I like to listen to. I had to share this one this week because the lead singer can really belt out those lyrics. I love his voice. 

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 new kitchen trash can from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I really needed another one so I'm glad that I was able to get this one. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Bad Santa by Mina Carter

 

Book Description

She’s finally free… if she can stay alive.

Freed from marriage to a brutal pixie warlord by his death, Joy knows her life could be counted in weeks… days probably. her husband’s death put a price on her head as every pixie warrior in the city plots to claim her and take her husbands place as Lord. Surviving long after that… yeah, she’s not that stupid. Her only chance is to take down her late husbands criminal empire before they can stop her. Behind bars, she can make sure none of these bastards hurt anyone ever again. But for that, she’s going to need some help…

Help that arrives in the form of PPA operative Nick, a panty-wetting, ripped… actually, she’s not sure what he is. He’s strong, ruthless and might just be her only chance at making it to Christmas alive.

Frost killed his wife, so now Nick’ll take what belongs to him: His daughter.

Since the death of Mrs. Claus thirty years ago, Nicholas Claus has been hunting down Jack Frost to make him pay. The original Santa, he’s not always been the guy in the red suit and working for the PPA allows his… other side out to play. The side that is far older and way more dangerous than the chocolate box image.

hen a new case drops Frost’s daughter right into his lap, he can’t believe his luck. All his has to do is put the girl in danger and wait for daddy dearest to show up. But Joy is different, unlike any woman he’s ever known before, and Nick finds putting her in danger is harder than he thought. Posing as her lover is the easiest thing he’s ever done. The hardest? Telling himself that it’s all for show.

But when his enemy finally shows, will Nick take his vengeance for the woman he loved… and lose the woman he loves forever?

My Review

There will be spoilers.

Nick is the original Santa but after Jack Frost killed his wife, all his time has been spent tracking Jack down so he can get his revenge. Nick's family has taken over the cheery Santa duties and Nick now works for PPA (Paranormal Protection Agency), where he can put his other abilities to work. So when his next job comes through and Jack Frost's daughter is the woman he has to keep safe, he plans on using her to lure Jack out of hiding...until he starts having feelings for Joy. 

Joy just got out of a bad marriage when her crime boss husband died and is on the run from her husband's people because if they find her she's not sure what they will do. Joy is now the head of her Pixie clan but she'll have to prove that she can stay on top since other Pixies want the top spot and aren't wanting to have a female boss, so they aren't going to make it easy for her. 

Nick had been hired to keep Joy safe but she wasn't helpless and had defenses because of who her dad was. When Jack Frost does finally show himself to his daughter, Nick is furious and there's a huge fight between them. Once Joy realizes that Nick used her as bait to get to her father, she leaves with her father. 

Now for what I didn't like about this book. Jack Frost didn't have anything to do with his daughter because he knew Nick blamed him for Mrs. Claus freezing to death but it was an accident that Jack had nothing to do with. So when Joy forgives Nick and they get back together, it just made no sense to me. She spent her entire life being treated badly and sold into a marriage that she hated all because her father couldn't show his face around her because he knew Nick would try to kill him or his daughter if he did. The story and the secondary characters like Rudolph and the other reindeers being shifters was fun but there were too many things that bothered me about this story for me to like Joy and Nick's relationship. Santa was a jerk and that didn't sit well with me. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: The Texts Before We Met by Matilda Swinney

 

Book Description

Tilly dreams of becoming an oscar winning actress. She also dreams of something far less family-friendly. She has always longed to be dominated. During an acting course in Brighton, she decides to embrace her desires and makes a risky decision. She agrees to meet the stranger she has been talking to online for a mere few weeks.

As the acting course progresses and Tilly begins to make friends, her texts with her online mystery man accelerate too. She worries whether she has made the right decision. Should she listen to her heart’s desire or pay attention to the warning signs? Is she in over her head?

On the day they are due to meet, she races to the five star London hotel her date has arranged. She's running late, but she's ready to finally find out who he is. Will he live up to her expectations and be the sexy dominating guy she has always wanted.

My Review

Tilly wants to be an actor so she's taking a course to make her dreams come true. But she's also talking to a guy online that seems to have the Dom qualities she's looking for. Their texts back and forth make her feel more and more comfortable as well as excited to finally meet him. It was obvious during watching her through her acting course that Tilly was a very nervous person and had some anxiety. It made her so much more likable to me since I have the same type of personality. 

Tilly did the sensible thing and told her friend Amelia that she was meeting a stranger from the internet and where she would be. They had a code that Tilly could text her in case she ran into trouble so that Amelia could send help to her. Not that Tilly really thought that her dominating, dream date was dangerous or anything but you can't be too careful. 

This book is the prequel to, The Girl Who Jumped. It was only 58 pages long but we get to read the texts between Tilly and her online stranger before they meet at the hotel. It was a fun read and made me look forward to reading the book where they meet in person.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Badgering the Bear: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Mate in a Minute Speed Dating Agency Book 1) by Flora Dare

 

Book Description

Meet her mate in minutes? Ha! Oh, wait...look at that hottie over there...

Curvy badger shifter Jolie is nagged by her best friend to check out shifter speed dating (okay, she might have lost a bet). It's pretty boring, though, until she sees...him. Gabe is big. He's burly. And just the touch of his hand on hers sets Jolie's body aflame with need.

Insecurity sends Jolie scurrying for the cover of the forest. Good thing a bear like Gabe loves a good hunt. And what Gabe wants? Gabe takes.

The Mate in a Minute Speed Dating Agency short stories deliver a happy ending before bedtime.

My Review

Jolie is talked into going speed dating and really isn't holding out hope of anything coming from it until Gabe sits at her table. She's totally smitten with him and she doesn't know it but so is he. 

Gabe goes speed dating but after being hurt in a past relationship, he's chosen to keep a few things about himself a secret. 

So when the speed dating agency calls them both to let them know they're a match and they go on a second date, he doesn't tell the whole truth about himself and when Jolie finds out that he lied, it almost destroys what they could have. They are both shifters and they're both hoping to find their mates one day. Because this is a short novella, the pace was fast and things happen fast between them.  

This was a short (72 page), sweet, novella that was just the right length when I only had a little time to read one night. Plus it was a great introduction to the Mate in a Minute Speed Dating Agency series. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon 

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #287

 

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 know you can barely make out the police car there behind the van but it's there. The police were back over here with the homeless shelter van trying to convince the homeless people around here to go to the shelter. 

A few people did actually get in the van but there are still quite a few homeless people around here that wouldn't go. 

But in my pictures you can also see the street and where the street maintenance crews come by about a week ago and sealed the cracks in the street. 

----

Now that I figured out how to download old videos from fb, here's another one. 

Back in 2012 this guy lived in that apartment he's in front of. He kept his motorcycle inside his apartment instead of in the parking alley, and would start up his motorcycle in the courtyard every morning at 6am to go to work. And would ride it into the courtyard at night when he got home. He would ride right by 4 bedroom windows and didn't care he was making so much noise. How rude is that? Everyone hated this guy and were glad when he moved out.

---

Covid Update Day 24: 

We are all still coughing but we are doing better. My back muscles hurt from all the coughing. My sense of smell is really muted. I can smell just not strongly. My daughter and grandson are still coughing a lot. Me and my daughter still get mild headaches but my grandson is feeling better. Really, if we could get rid of this cough we would be fine.

Thank you for all the well wishes, we appreciate it.

The high this week was 65F/18C

The low this week was 32F/0 C

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

 

If you already listen to a band called Disturbed, then you probably recognize David Draiman who is the lead singer for that band. But for a while he sang for this band, Device as well and this is one of my favorite songs from them. 

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:

I cashed out my points on Crowdtap for a $5 Amazon giftcard. 

Free flowers.

You can sign up on Crowdtap  and take surveys that you can then cash out for giftcards too.

The lady next door found a bag delivered by Uber left at her door that she didn't order. It had kids cough medicine, iced tea and flowers in it. My grandson has Covid too so she brought the bag of stuff over to us. So that's how I got free flowers. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Auctioned For Her Blood by Mara Leigh

 

Book Description

Never go out after dark.

There's a secret in my blood. My mother died to protect me from dark magic, and I've played it safe for the past ten years, never going outside after the sun sets. But I can't live like this anymore. I don't want to die alone and a virgin.

One wrong turn and I find myself on an auction block where two wealthy, powerful men bid their fortunes for a night with me.

I can't deny that I'm drawn to both the cultured intellect and the dangerous bad boy. With them, I'm whisked into a glamorous world of powerful vampires, wild creatures, dark secrets and darker desires.

The secrets held deep inside me are going to come out. All I can do is trust the men I'm falling for to protect me from the danger hunting me.

Auctioned for Her Blood is Book 1 of The Vampires' Illuminant series. Expect a steamy, exciting story, where the heroine falls for more than one man and doesn't have to choose.

My Review

Ember was just a kid when her mother made her go into the magically concealed basement to hide from those bad people who were looking for her. But when her mother disappeared that night she knew her mother was dead and had died for her, to keep her safe. From that moment on she did as her mother had told her to do and never went out after dark in order to keep herself safe. Until one night she can't help but be out after dark for a work event. 

Meeting Zuben changed her life but then meeting Ryker also changed her life but not in bad ways. She now knows that things are not always what they seem and there's a lot more to be seen than she ever knew. Vampires exist and while some are bad, Zuben and Ryker and not the bad kind. At least she doesn't think Zuben is a bad vampire but the people he works for are not good so he tries to keep her safe from them because if they found out what she is, they would keep her locked up and experiment on her. 

I was really liking this book when it abruptly ended on a cliffhanger. I was not expecting that and it really ruined the book for me. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

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 was in the box?

NFco - Natural Mouthwash- You know how some natural mouthwashes have a bad taste to them? Well I was pleasantly surprised that this one was good. It has a good taste to it and because it's alcohol free, it doesn't burn to use.

South of France - Shea Butter Bar Soap- I love trying new soaps and this one smells so good. It has a nice lather, smells good and didn't dry my skin. 

Foods Alive - Nutritional Yeast- I've never used this before but it says you can use it as a seasoning so I added a little to my salad and it was fine. Here's to finding new things to use this with. I love trying new things.

The Good Bean - Crunchy Chickpeas- I've actually made crunchy chickpeas in the oven before but they take so long to get crunchy. So I love that I got to try these because they were good. 

FeelGood SuperFoods - Immune Support Shot- Well since I'm sick with Covid this came at just the right time. It didn't have too bad a taste and I figured it can't hurt to take now when I'm not feeling good. I didn't feel anything from it like the jitters or anything like with an energy shot but it wasn't too bad.

Whisps - Parmesan Cheese Crisps- Nope. I've tried these a couple of times when they've been in the box before. I cannot try them again. The smell is bad enough but the taste is slightly vomit-ish. Not good.

Neuro - Energy and Focus Gum- I chew gum a lot but I could not with this. It had such a bad taste to it. I spit it right out.

Zolli Candy - Zolli PB Cups- Hands down this was the best thing in the box. My grandson and I ate these over a couple of days. We both loved them.

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.

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

 

Book Description

MINE TO PROTECT. MINE TO PUNISH. MINE.

I’m a lone wolf, and I like it that way. Banished from my birth pack after a bloodbath, I never wanted a mate.

Then I meet Kylie. My temptation. We’re trapped in an elevator together, and her panic almost makes her pass out in my arms. She’s strong, but broken. And she’s hiding something.

My wolf wants to claim her. But she’s human, and her delicate flesh won't survive a wolf's mark.

I'm too dangerous. I should stay away. But when I discover she's the hacker who nearly took down my company, I demand she submit to my punishment. And she will.

Kylie belongs to me.

Publisher’s Note: Alpha’s Temptation is a stand-alone book in the Bad Boy Alphas series. HEA guaranteed, no cheating.

My Review

Jackson is a wolf shifter but he doesn't have a pack, he's a loner and the CEO of his own company. Some years ago there was a hacker who hacked his system but didn't take anything, she was just showing off her skills to him to let him know she could hack him and then she disappeared. He's been trying to find her ever since then with no luck. 

Kylie has been on the run ever since she witnessed something she shouldn't have seen and she and her grandma have been moving around even though the bad guy is in jail. 

Kylie who is the one who hacked Jackson's company interviews for a job there but gets stuck in the elevator with a man not knowing it's Jackson. She's scared of small spaces so she freaks out a little while in there with him and he's able to calm her down until the lights and power come back on. After she gets the job, Jackson can't seem to get her out of his mind and makes reasons to go and see her. But he's a wolf shifter and even though his wolf is telling him that Kylie is his mate, he can't mate her because doing so would put a human in danger. He might even kill her during the mating process, so he tries to keep her at arms length until he just can't anymore. 

When someone tries to blackmail Kylie she decides to go to Jackson and tell him the truth only to find out that the bad guys have kidnapped her grandmother. The action really ramped up at this point because not only does Kylie's grandmother have a huge secret of her own but there's a double-cross going on right under Jackson's nose.

I really liked Kylie and Jackson but there were a few problems with his personality that I didn't care for. He's messing around with a human who he knows could die if he bites her while he tries to mate her but that doesn't stop him from tempting his wolf too many times by being with her. There were too many close calls. Plus he's an alpha wolf and a dominant which wouldn't have been bad if his form of discipline hadn't got on my nerves at times and other times just came across as wrong. She was innocent, had no experience with men and he just came across too strong and wanted things from her that she seemed to inexperienced to be able to tell him she might not want to do. So while I really liked the story, I didn't like him at times. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon