Favorite Song of the Week

 

While this song isn't a new one, Wasteland by 10 Years is such a good song. You might have already heard this one. He has such a great voice so I hope you enjoy this song. 

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: 

Bloomingdale's Little Box of Freebies which included...

CLE De Peau Beaute' eye contour cream

Charlotte Tilbury Magic face cream

Sisley- Paris Pre Shampoo hair treatment

Mizensir perfume

Tom Ford Perfume

BVLGARI perfume

I also received a sample of Lancome face serum. 

And then I received a box of Macy's perfumes. 

I really like all the different perfumes. They smell so good. I don't think I'll run out any time soon. And the face creams are nice. I hadn't tried these before. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Panther's Promise by Zoe Chant

 

Book Description

She's a struggling artist on the edge of a big break - if the world doesn't break her first

When the gallery exhibition that was meant to kick-start curvy artist Irina Mathers' career instead threatens to ruin it, the last thing she expected was a dark and seductive Prince Charming sweeping her off her feet. He's everything she never dared to dream of. Strong, protective, and utterly caring. But there's something about him she doesn't know.

He's a panther shifter who doesn't trust his panther

Billionaire Grant Diaz grew up struggling to suppress his panther. Panthers don't have a pack instinct; they're loners, like his shifter father, who abandoned Grant and his mother decades ago. Grant is haunted by the thought that he will do the same—that the animal inside him will be stronger than the man. He promised himself long ago that he'd never let his panther hurt any woman he loved. When he meets Irina, he can't fight his attraction to her. Gorgeous, funny Irina is everything he ever wanted, but being with her means he'll have to face what he truly is.

Grant isn't the only one with his eye on her...

Irina's moment in the spotlight put a target on her back. Someone wants her dead. Someone who has powers beyond anything either of them have seen before. Grant always feared his panther's instincts would break his mate's heart. But now, he'll have to trust the animal inside him to save her life.

My Review

Irina has an art showing and is hoping that this will be a big break for her but when a rather rude woman corners Irina at the showing it's Grant that comes to her rescue. Grant knows the rude woman because he and her brother are friends. He's actually at the showing to see if he can find that friend but he meets Irina instead and immediately knows that she is his mate. 

The problem with Grant finding his mate is he's always been afraid that his panther will become too strong and make him hurt and leave the human woman he loves if he finds one since panther shifters are notoriously loners. His father left his mother and him and never looked back and he vowed to never do the same thing. 

Irina works a lot so they don't have a lot of time to get together but he takes her out when she does have the time. It becomes apparent that someone wants Irina dead so they have to figure out who. Grant has to rely somewhat on his panther to help Irina and they have to work together which is something neither of them are used to. it was great seeing Grant realize that his panther is nothing like his dad's and he doesn't have to worry about hurting Irina like his father did his mother. 

I liked the conclusion and the reveal as to who was after Irina and why. It was a good read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: Pariah by Sullivan Gray

 

Book Description

What if magic existed, but humans--and most supernaturals--don’t know it?

All that’s about to change.

My school has a dark secret... ...but the one in my past might be darker.

When the other cheerleaders mentioned an initiation, I thought they were joking.

Hours later, I've somehow left two football players unconscious and I'm escaping my first varsity party with the scariest guy in school.

In one night, I went from popular to pariah. From knowing who I was to confusion about my past.

And even more confusion about my ability to take down two guys twice my size with ninja skills I didn’t know I had.

Nothing feels safe anymore, except the group of students who call themselves The Select. Right now, they are the only people I can trust-- even if they aren’t telling me everything about The Select or its elite academy.

The further down the rabbit hole I go, the more sure I am that I won't be coming back.

Who can I trust if even my own memories are lies?

My Review

Taya lost her memory at age ten because of an accident that she can't remember. She's in high school and goes to a party where she's told by some of the other cheerleaders that she has to go in the closet with a couple of high school boys as part of an initiation. I really didn't think it would be that big a deal, until it was. This book got dark, fast. It got really dark because Taya was almost raped but another boy comes to her rescue and gets her out of the party and back to his place where she meets his mother who actually works at their high school. 

But after meeting the mother and some of the other kids who come to his house, she's left with more questions than answers. There's a kind of club that they all belong to and the mother tries to invite her to it. It's all very secretive so they don't hang out at school which messes with Taya's head a little bit. But when those boys from the closet come back and try and get revenge on her for getting away, the members of the club come to her rescue time and time again. The fact that nothing is really done to stop the bully boys from making her life hell at this school had me shaking my head. The fact that Taya doesn't tell her parents what went on even though they are suspicious and are mad at her for staying out all night was just irritating. 

The story kept me reading because I was waiting for the bullies to get theirs but then this story takes a really weird turn and gets even darker. Lies, secrets and more are kind of partially revealed at the end of the story but all that did was leave more questions unanswered and we don't really get a real ending. Everything is left wide open which I hate. This really could have been a great read if we were given a real ending. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: Immortal Rising (An Argeneau Novel Book 34) by Lynsay Sands

 

Book Description

The Argeneaus are back! Filled with love, passion, and adventure, New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands returns with another sexy romance about everyone's favorite immortals.

Stephanie McGill was attacked and turned when she was just a teenager. Worse, her abilities are unlike any other immortal. Now 13 years later, with the help of her adopted Argeneau family, Steph has carved out a new – if not lonely – life for herself. Until a new neighbor arrives…

Thorne is also one-of-a-kind. The result of a genetic experiment, he’s not an immortal, but he’s not mortal either. He’s looking for a place to hide, to get some peace and quiet so he can figure things out, and Stephanie’s sanctuary is perfect. In fact, Stephanie is perfect. For the first time, Thorne is free to be himself and he’s falling for her.

But if they’re going to have a future together, they’ll first need to deal with their past…because the mad scientist who created Thorne is now after Stephanie.

My Review

After Stephanie and her sister were attacked and turned against their will, Stephanie developed the ability to hear others thoughts but she can't block it out or turn it off like the other immortals can. So her new family set her up in a house out in the middle of nowhere, far away from others. But they don't realize that her abilities are far stronger than she let on and she can still hear some of the people around her. 

Thorne was an experiment from the moment of conception. His father is a crazy scientist who tried to make children with special abilities through DNA splicing and he's one of the results. He has wings and small feathers on his head and he is hoping that he can have his wings removed so he can be somewhat normal. 

So he moves into the vacant house next to Stephanie and she can't hear his thoughts because something is happening with her ability which has her troubled. She and her family are concerned that she might go crazy and start killing people like what they call a no-fanger. It's happened before and she's concerned that her losing her ability might be the first step to her going crazy serial killer. But she doesn't say anything to her sister about it which I thought was kinda crazy in itself. 

Thorne is using the cabin close to her while her family figures out how to help him. Stephanie is so bubbly, so open and forthright that she makes Thorne feel comfortable right away. He feels like he's a freak and wasn't sure how she would respond to seeing him at first but they got along right from the start. They both find the other attractive right away and he finds her funny so they get along really well. It was fun to watch them fall for one another.

It would have been interesting if Stephanie could also hear her cat and dog's thoughts because they were so much fun but that wasn't part of the story which I thought would have been fun. 

When Stephanie finds out that she has a stalker or someone is just spying on her, she and Thorne try and figure out why someone is spying on her. She thinks it's because she's an author and maybe one of her fans is trying to find out information about her newest book but then things get more dangerous and they have to call in backup. 

I've been reading this series for a really long time. This is the 34th book in the series and I still love this series and look forward to reading the books when they come out. This was no exception, I loved Stephanie and Thorne, they were just so great together.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

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

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #301

 

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 heard someone on a loud speaker on Wednesday, so I look out my bedroom window and sure enough the police are out there. I saw them walking right across the street to that apartment complex. At first there were two police cars.

And then a third police car pulled up. They all walked across the street. 

Then this truck pulls up and a Marshall gets out and meets the police across the street. I know he was a Marshall because he had on a black vest that said Marshall on the back.

And then the fire department ambulance pulls up. I saw a guy come out on the stretcher and his face was all bloody. I watched for about an hour and then they brought out a guy in handcuffs and took him away in a police car. The police stayed there a long time. I am just guessing but I think the guy they arrested beat the crap out of the guy taken to the hospital. 

----

I heard something outside so I looked out my bedroom window and spotted this woman smoking from her crack pipe. She kept hiding her head in the sheet but she wasn't very good at hiding and I could clearly see her smoking crack right there. She moved on after about 30 minutes. 

---

The high this week was 91F/32C

The low this week was 54F/12C

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 love Korn. They have so many good songs but this one is the one I find myself listening to the most. 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: 

Samples of ...

Foundation, Cerave moisturizer, Dark and Lovely blow out cream, Lancome moisturizer, Garnier Whole Blends leave in treatment. 

RCA Amplified tv antenna from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

A composition notebook from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I really like all the moisturizers and hair products. Whole Blends leave in treatment works great. I have really long (Down past my waist) hair and it's really straight. So it's nice to try some new hair products.

I needed a tv antenna for the tv in my bedroom so that was nice to get. 

And I love notebooks so anytime I get offered one, I snag it. 

Did you receive any freebies this week. 

Book Review: The Dragon's Reluctant Sacrifice by Ines Johnson

 

Book Description

Diagnosed with an incurable disease, she thought her life was over. When she is sacrificed to a dragon, she learns it has only just begun...

The day Chrysanthemum Jones goes to exact revenge on the man responsible for her sister’s death is the day she knows will be her last. Instead, she finds herself stolen away to another dimension and sacrificed to a real live dragon. Rather than a cave full of gold, this dragon’s lair is a throwback to the 1980's complete with pixelated video games, unwound VHS tapes, and animal print spandex. And the mythical creature in question is totally more sex on a stick than Smaug. Schweet!

As one of the last dragon shifters beyond the Veil, Corun is desperate to control the beast inside of him. The only thing guaranteed to keep the dragon under control is the surrender of a human female. But sacrificial offerings have been in short supply since his realm was cut off from Earth -something or other about women's liberation? So when a sacrifice turns up on his doorstep, Corun should be elated. But as totally tubular as Chryssie’s curves are, her health is fragile and he fears she wouldn’t survive the claiming that would soothe his beast.

Death has never bothered Chryssie. With an incurable, hereditary disease, she's been prepared to die her whole life. Now she has a chance to lose her V card and birth dragon babies before she goes? Talk about bad ass exits. Count her in! She just needs to get her sexy dragon shifter on board and in bed.

As Corun becomes more attached to his sassy little human, his beast roars that Chryssie is his and pushes to claim her. If he doesn’t claim her and soothe the beast inside of him, he will become stuck in dragon form for the rest of his life. However, if he does claim her, the birth of his offspring could be the last day of her life.

My Review

Chrysanthemum/Chryssie seeks out the person to get revenge for her sister's death but instead she is kidnapped and brought behind the veil, a place where some dragons live. But these dragons have a hard time controlling their beast unless a female is sacrificed to them but not in the way we think even though the female usually dies in the process. Corun feels something for Chryssie right away but he tries to let her go before he can condemn her to death, but she has no where to go. But Chryssie is different and might be able to save Corun without getting herself killed in the process. 

These dragon shifters really ended up having a heart of gold and really don't want to hurt anyone but their beasts push them to mate with females and have babies, which the female usually doesn't live through. But when Chryssie finds out about this, she's more than willing. She figures this is the one thing that she does have control over since she's never really had control over much in her life. 

There are other characters including the one who is responsible for bringing Chryssie there that bring a lot to the story like how Chryssie is different and how this changes a lot of things in the story. I had a good time with this one and I love the dragon shifters in this book. I look forward to reading more of this series. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: Shadow Fire by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

Journey deeper into the world of Chicago’s most dangerous, alluring crime family in this incendiary installment of the Shadow Riders series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan.

Shadow Rider Elie Archambault has been called many things: domineering, brash, loyal, but most of all fast. And there’s nothing faster than choosing to marry a woman you’ve never met. All he has is a signed contract and a list of his new bride’s expectations for their arranged marriage. He’s not expecting love or some happy ever after, just a partner that knows exactly what she signed up for. He’ll be faithful because he’s a man of honor, but she’ll never have his heart.... 

Elie knows who he is. A privileged member of the Archambault family. A skilled rider and fighter. A man who's always had things easy for all the wrong reasons. He's made his mistakes and lost his chance at real, true passion with his other half thanks to his own careless arrogance. Now he just wants to do his duty as a Shadow Rider and leave the past behind.

But Elie has no idea that his choice is about to spark a blaze that will burn all his carefully laid plans to the ground....

My Review

Elie had met Brielle years ago but she overheard the way he talked about her and how he didn't want her as a wife. After she left her family and Elie wasn't able to find her, he gave up ever being with the only woman he knew was for him. He's a shadow rider and it's his duty to marry and have kids to carry on the tradition of the shadow riders. So he enters into an arranged marriage with a woman he's never met or even seen. They sign the papers before ever even meeting so on the day of their ceremony they are both shocked to find the other standing there. 

Elie might have been born an Archambault but the Ferraro family are his real family now and they feel the same way about him. His blood family treated him badly and he wants nothing more to do with them. Brielle's family treated her badly and she has nothing to do with them now either so she and Elie have that in common which was just heartbreaking.

Shadow riders are able to move very quickly through the tubes of the shadows. Essentially meaning they are able to turn into shadows and quickly move anywhere shadows are. The Ferraro family gets justice for people who have been hurt by child predators and human traffickers. They are a crime family but they find and kill child predators and human traffickers which makes them the good guys in my book. 

After Elie and Brielle get over the shock of having married each other and Brielle realizes that there was a huge misunderstanding between them all those years ago, she accepts who she is married to. As they are getting to know one another, Brielle has to tell her new family that while she is a really experienced shadow rider, she gets sick in the tubes while she is riding. When the family and Elie find this out, she is told she won't be sent on missions but she is also extraordinary with computers. And while she is doing some research, she and parts of her new family are attacked which was a really bad idea for the people who did it. You don't mess with Elie or the Ferraro family, ever. 

Now they have to figure out who is out to kill them and why.  I liked that Elie was so understanding with her and gave her sometime to get used to them being together. But Brielle was very attracted to him and always had been so she was more than ready to steam up the windows with him. There's quite a bit of kink in their play times which was fine with me. I thought that they made a great couple. I have been loving this series and this book was another great addition. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Amazon 

Walmart Beauty Box- March

 

The Walmart Beauty box is a subscription box that comes out 4 times a year. You sign up for it and it comes automatically every 3 months. They did increase the price of the box a little bit. So instead of $5 it's just a couple of dollars more. These boxes are free and you just pay for tax for shipping, mine came to $7.48.

What was in the box?

Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier drink mix. 

Covergirl Clean Fresh moisturizer. 

Not Your Mother's Smooth Move anti frizz shampoo and condition. 

Lottie London eyebrow pencil. 

Maybelline Super Stay matte liquid lipstick. 

Tailored Beauty Curling Cream for hair. 

Hard Candy liquid eyeliner.

I don't have curly hair so I gave that to one of my neighbors that has curly hair. 

I've tried the drink mix before and didn't like it so I let my daughter have it. 

All the makeup products are great. I haven't tried these before but they work great and I like them, 

The shampoo and conditioner samples are really nice and I like the scent. 

I think for the price it's a really good deal.

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #300

 

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 happened to be in my bedroom on Tuesday when I spotted 2 police cars sitting in the street talking to each other. They didn't stop and get out but I have been seeing a lot of police cars patrolling around here a lot lately. Maybe it will cut down on crimes around here but maybe not.

----

I noticed that there were gunshots in one of the garbage cans in our alley. I don't know if this is from the last gunshots that happened around here or one of the other times I heard gunshots. But those are definitely bullet holes. 

---

My daughter catches the bus very near our apartment complex. On Thursday while she was sitting at the bus stop she noticed a woman crawling on the sidewalk and into the grass across the street from her. She took a little video. It was pretty apparent that the woman was on drugs. My daughter said she was yelling and crawling around for a while. 

---

This is also my 300th Apartment Life post. I'm actually surprised that so much stuff goes on around here for me to post about each week. 

The high this week was 84F/28C

The low this week was 39F/3C

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 really like metal so I had to add my favorite Slipknot song to this week's list. I used to have this as my wake up song. If anything is gonna get you out of bed, it's this song. LOL Oh and I first started listening to this band because I love the masks. It gives them an air of mystery which I love. 

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 $25 Amazon gift card from Pinecone surveys when I cashed out my points. 

I also received a Daily Goodie Box that I reviewed this week. 

A 3 subject notebook from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I can always use a new notebook. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Her Donut Shifters by Mia Harlan

 

Book Description

Jetta hates donuts. Can three donut shifters change her mind?

When a donut shop opens down the street from my house, I want it gone. Then I meet the three delicious owners and fall in love at first sight. There’s just one problem—they shift into the one thing I hate most: donuts.

Can my three fated mates, a few dozen sugary treats, and a little bit of magic help us set aside our differences and find our happily ever after?

Her Donut Shifters is a short, fun-filled, steamy, reverse harem romcom featuring a witch who hates donuts and three shifters who love them. It stands alone and comes complete with quirky characters, laugh-out-loud moments, steamy shenanigan with donuts, and a happily-ever-after. Grab a sugary snack and get your copy today!

My Review

Jetta hates donuts. She hates how they smell and doesn't eat them. So when a donut shop opens near where she lives, she sends them letters asking them to get a witch to mask the smell coming from their shop. They don't which makes her really mad. So when she meets a woman and is invited back to her shop for a coffee, she goes but there seems to be a spell on the coffee she's served. Jetta is a witch and can detect the spell but doesn't think it's malicious so she drinks it anyway and then gets in her car to go home, only to find herself in front of the donut shop. Because the spell on the coffee was to help her find her fated mate or mates and now she can't stop herself from going inside the donut shop. 

Inside the shop she finds three shifted donuts. At first she is horrified to think that her fated mates are donuts and then they start to shift and she realizes that they are donut shifters and they also shift into men. Three gorgeous men who are all her fated mates and they show her that donuts aren't that bad. 

This book was definitely different. I love a shifter romance but I've never read one where the shifters shifted into inanimate objects. So while it was a cute, sweet romance. It was also kinda strange. It was a fast paced novella though and I did laugh while reading it. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Product Review: Daily Goodie Box - April

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?

Miracle Tree - Chocolate Organic Moringa Tea- Chocolate tea? I say yes please. It has a pleasant taste, not overly chocolately but just enough. I like the tea and since I drink tea already this was a nice addition to my collection. 

Pasokin - Original PB Bites- I love peanut butter or things made with peanuts so this was nice to get. These taste good, I was happy with this. 

NeatGoods - NEATwipes- I've received this before and think the wipes are great. They are a good size and are strong. I can just grab a wipe and clean the counter or sink. 

Artisana Organics - Nut Butters Variety- There were 4 different flavors of this and I liked all of them. I really like cashew butter so these were nice to get.

Jada Spices - Vegan Turmeric Salt- I don't like Turmeric at all so this is not something I'll probably use again. An interesting idea for those who like turmeric though.

Bambo Nature - Snuggle Time Body Lotion- I've received this before and like the lotion. I have dry skin so I go through a lot of lotion and this one works without being overly oily. So I am happy to get another tube of it. 

Good Organics - Toothpaste Tablets- You chew the toothpaste tablets, brush and rinse. They are alright but I like using toothpaste more than this. 

RareESSENCE Aromatherapy - Breathe Ease Aromatherapy Inhaler -This is a 100% essential oil inhaler that is supposed to open the nasal passages. They used Eucalytpus which did a good job of opening my nasal passages during the windy days when all the allergens were flying around and making me stuffy.

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: Shadow Fallen by Sherrilyn Kenyon

 

Book Description

For centuries, Ariel has fought the forces of evil. Her task was to protect the souls of innocent mortals when they die. Captured by a powerful sorceress, she is transformed into a human who has no memory of her real life or calling.

And is plunked into the middle of the Norman invasion of England.

Cursed the moment he was born with a "demonic deformity," Valteri wants nothing of this earth except to depart it and will do his duty to his king until then. When a strange noblewoman is brought before him, Valteri realizes he has met her before…in his dreams. When others come for her, bringing with them preternatural predators, he is faced with a destiny he had no idea was waiting. One he wants no part of.

The truth is that Valteri isn’t just a knight of William the Conqueror. He is the son of one of the deadliest powers in existence, and if he doesn’t restore Ariel to her place, she is not the only one who will be in peril. The world itself hangs in the balance, and he is the necessary key to hold back the powers of evil. But only if he can find a way to work with the woman who stands for everything in the universe he hates.

My Review

This is a Dream Hunter book which is a spin off from the Dark Hunters series. I've been reading both of these series for a long time and I have to say this is the first book of this authors that I didn't love. Not that it will stop me from reading the next books in either series but for the first half of this book, it didn't feel or read like it was from the Dark Hunters universe at all. 

Ariel can't remember her life and has been cursed to be a mortal human because of something she did but can't remember. She meets Valteri who was given up by his mother who never wanted him and he was abused and treated badly as a child until his brother found him and tried to help him. His brother has now given him a home, land and title. 

Valteri is looked upon by others as something vile because of his mismatched eyes and how many men he's killed on the battlefield but Ariel doesn't look at him in that way. Valteri feels a strong pull towards her but his self loathing won't allow him to make a move on her because he thinks that being with him would ruin her. Plus he's never met a woman who would willingly be with him, not even when he paid for it. 

These two end up working closely together when he asks for her help with his books since he isn't good at math and can't make heads or tales of the ledgers. So Ariel helps him and they spend more and more time together, getting closer.

It was bored with the first half of this book but once her "brothers" showed up, it started to pick up because then we start to see what's really going on and who she actually is. Once I understood why she was cursed, who she is and who Valteri actually is, then things started to make more sense and the story started picking up and I enjoyed it more. I really enjoyed the ending when Acheron and Simi made an appearance. It was a good addition to the series but not my favorite. 

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. 

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Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #299

 

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.

Tuesday afternoon the police stopped a couple of the druggies that were standing around by my building. They stood out there, frisked them and looked like they ran their ID's. But no one was arrested. They must not have had any drugs on them at the time. The flashing lights kind of obscured the picture.

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I took 3 short videos of the police on my street Tuesday morning. In one of the videos you can hear the police telling someone that they know they are hiding behind the retaining wall. In another video you can see them stage by their cars, and walk towards the fence for the retaining wall. They walk over to the fence, cut the lock and search the area but no one was there so they left. 

This is the fence they broke the lock on to look behind the wall. But no one was there. The homeless people and some of the druggies go back there to sleep or do their drugs. They usually have to climb the fence but not anymore, it's wide open now. 

When I first looked outside I just saw the two police officers standing by their car. Then as you can see in one of the videos there were several police cars on both ends of the street. One of the cops standing here had his AR-15 rifle. When I saw that and all of the police cars, I figured something big was happening.

There were so many police cars on my street. 

Within a few minutes more police cars showed up and more cops starting standing with the first two cops I saw. 

With all those police standing around, I really thought something big was going to go down.

Once all the police arrived and one even brought out a shield to walk behind, they started advancing on the retaining wall. I took the videos from this part forward. But they didn't find anyone and they left. Now I have to wonder who they were looking for and why? I wonder if the person they were looking for is somewhere in the area or in drug dealer's apartment hiding until they left. And with all the fire power they had and all the police, I have to wonder if this person is armed. I guess I just have to wait and see if anything else happens. 

The high this week was 95F/35C

The low this week was 55F/12C

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