Happy Raturday!

 

*All pictures this week 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 have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

Last Sunday morning my daughter took this video of the one of the dumpsters in our alley being set on fire. The fire department came and put it out. We all think that one of the homeless drug addicts that is still around here is the one who keeps setting fire to the dumpsters. 

The fire department was able to put the fire out really fast thankfully. 

Thankfully nothing else caught fire.

Here's the reason some people around here believe that Mike (The homeless drug addict) is the one setting the fires. This is him sitting in front of one of the water spigot's in front of my building. He had taken all his clothes off except for his underwear and was sitting here. He was extremely high and ended up passing out on the steps to the walkway into my building that are right behind him. I ended up having to walk around him to walk Falcor out front. One of my other neighbors saw him there and called the police to check him out. She was worried because of the heat/plus irritated he was laying there in his underwear when there are so many kids around here. 

The police showed up, asked him if he needed help and then let him go. My neighbor told him she was the one who called because she was worried about him and that really pissed him off. The next morning she was arguing with him in front of my door and it woke my daughter up because they were both being so loud. Mike started making this really loud whooping noise in my courtyard and doing cartwheels while my neighbor yelled at him. Mike is the same guy that I got a video of a few weeks ago breaking into the apartment door in my courtyard. 

The next day we spotted Mike passed out in front of the apartment across from us that had the fire. You can't see it well but he's the black spot laying under the boarded up window. So my daughter called the non-emergency number and had paramedics come to check him out. 

I enlarged the picture.

When they got here though, he woke up really slowly but once he saw who was waking him up, he jumped up, stumbled a bit and ran off. Oh and he was mad anyone called then for him. The next night was the fire in the dumpster. 

---

And there's an update on what is going on with my daughter's creepy ex boyfriend. If he finally leaves her alone, I won't post anymore updates. But if he continues to harass her and make more fake accounts to contact her on social media after she's blocked the others, then I will continue to post about him because I don't like him...and I can. 

The high this week was 112F/44C

The low this week was 82F/27C

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

 

THROUGH FIRE - Stronger

I've listened to a few of this band's songs and just really liked this one a lot. it has a great beat to it too. 

Freebie Friday!

 

I didn't receive any freebies this week so I thought I would leave you with this cute picture of my daughter and Falcor. They were playing and I just happened to catch this picture of them staring at each other. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

We had a storm blow through on Sunday night of last week. You can see on the left hand side the rain was really coming down and there were some really dark clouds. It was still 105F but it rained a little and made it humid too. Some places around Las Vegas got a lot of rain, we just got a little where I live. 

Book Review: Taming The White Wolf by N.J. Walters

 

Book Description

The lone wolf answers to no alpha or pack. From his first transformation, he knows his destiny: to be both judge and executioner for rogue werewolves. Welcome to the spellbinding first book in New York Times bestselling author N.J. Walters intense new werewolf series.

White wolf Devlin Moore has spent nearly the last century following his destiny: hunting rogue werewolves. His fate is to be the only one of his kind—hardened, feared, and brutally ruthless. Only now, Devlin’s not alone. There are two others. And if that wasn’t unsettling enough, Devlin is drawn to New York City for what appears to be a human…

As far as Devlin can tell, vibrant artist Zoe Galvani is no threat. But there’s something about her— from her unusual eyes that look similar to the same shocking hue as his own, to his growing need to mark her as his that suggests magical forces may be at play.

Now there’s no escaping each other, or the attraction that grows stronger by the second. But no one, especially a human woman, should have this effect on a lone wolf. And just when he’s sure that having her could be his undoing…the truth steps out of the shadows.

My Review

Devlin is a lone wolf who hunts rogue werewolves who break the pack laws. He knows his destiny to be alone so he can do the job fate has given him. He's supposed to be the only one of his kind until he dies and another will take his place, but there are two others just like him. So when he meets Zoe and he feels things for her that he shouldn't feel, he knows there must be some kind of magic at work. Because there are other things out of place like two other lone wolves, these feelings he has for the human and the fact that she is a little different makes him believe other things are at work. 

Devlin and Zoe talk a few times and he thinks that she might be some kind of trap to try and kill him but he's not sure how so he reaches out to one of the other lone wolves who is surprised to hear from him but I have a feeling that in the future these lone wolves will be working together because they are connected and no one else can understand what they are going through. 

Devlin tries to tell Zoe that werewolves exist and she might be in danger but she thinks he's crazy and doesn't believe anything he's saying. But when danger comes looking for Zoe and finds her, it's Devlin that comes to her rescue and keeps her safe. She has no choice but to believe werewolves exist after what she sees.

I felt so bad for Devlin after hearing about his first shift and how he was treated, how alone he's been his entire life since then. It was heartbreaking. I can only imagine that it's the same for the other two lone wolves and that is just sad.

Watching these two get closer as the danger just gets worse and worse, was fun because neither one of them knew if they could trust the other. These two have a connection but they don't know where it comes from until they find out who is behind all the danger coming at them. It was fun to finally find out what and who was coming after them and why. I'm really looking forward to the next book now.

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

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: The Billionaire Shifter's Secret Baby by Diana Seere

 

Book Description

A masquerade ball in Malibu led to a single night of passion under the stars… and set the wheels of fate in motion.

Three years ago, waitress Kara Jablonski gave in to her wilder side with a fellow weretiger, the rock star billionaire Lars Jensen, a sun-kissed blond drummer with a viking's build. Six weeks later, the pregnancy test came back positive.

Knowing Lars' powerful, overbearing mother would be able to take the baby away, Kara did what she had to do.

She hid him.

Now chance has brought Lars back into her life, his touch making her pulse beat like the old legends. So strong, so loud, so bold.

So right.

But can she trust him to want more than another night under the stars? Can she trust him to claim his son as his heir... and Kara as his mate?

Fate responds with a roar...

The Billionaire Shifter's Secret Baby is a novella that stars Lars Jensen, a member of a shifter family with viking blood featured in earlier books in the series, and is part of the Howls Romance series as well: http://howlsromance.com

My Review

Lars and Kara hooked up in a one night stand three years prior. Lars kicked himself ever since then for not getting her number or some way to contact her because in just one night he absolutely fell for her. Lars is a rock star and a tiger shifter. While Kara is also a tiger shifter, she's not wealthy so when she finds herself pregnant after their encounter, she has the baby but doesn't try to reach out to Lars because she's afraid he or his powerful family will take her baby from her. 

She's not expecting to see Lars again but she does while she's in a club. She tries to hide but he's a shifter and can smell her. Once he finds out that he has a child, he was rude and I didn't like him much. I never really fell for his character during this story. And I think she accepted his apology much too easily. There is another storyline going on as well that is left open for the next book and I didn't like that too much so I hope that is cleared up in the next book. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #276

 

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 have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

I was outside with Falcor and I saw a pigeon who was having a hard time flying. So I picked him up and brought him inside, put him in a box on my desk and called Animal Control. They said if he's just hot and needs food and water they can help him but if he's hurt they'll have to put him down. 

He was trying to fly and was spreading his wings and flapping them so hopefully he just needs a little rest and to cool off. I tried to give him some water but he didn't want it. He slept on my desk until they got here.

----

This Ground Medical Transport picked someone up from the apartment complex across the street. I've seen other medical transports around here but haven't seen this one before. It's nice to know there are so many services here in the valley like this if someone needs it. 

---

I noticed the police blocking the side street one day this week. They weren't letting anyone by. 

And there were other police parking on that side of the street. There were several police cars in the alley across the street as well but I couldn't get pictures of them from where I was. They were here for about 2 hours but I have no idea what was going on. 

The high this week was 116F/46C

The low this week was 87F/30C

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

 

Ice Nine Kills - A Grave Mistake

This is a long into that you can skip the intro part if you just want to listen to the music video. But the song is really good. I love the lead singers 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 set of stackable Skull Mugs from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

And 3 different flavor ketchup's (Chipotle, Jalapeno and Habanero)  and a little dipping cup from Influenster. 

Some of the ketchup is a little too spicy for me but the Chipotle is good. My daughter likes them though. I love the stackable skull mugs. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Bait by Jade West

 

Book Description

A stranger online. Dark hair and even darker eyes that knew my dirty desires before I did.

A fantasy that should never be spoken. But he pulled the confession from me.

And now he’s coming for me.

Rough. Dirty. Dangerous.

It’s supposed to be one night to get me off and make me forget.

He’ll make me his and I’ll pretend I don’t want him to.

I’ll run and he’ll chase.

Because I asked him for this.

I begged him for this.

Tonight, in the darkness, he’s the hunter.

And I’m the bait.

My Review

Let me start off by saying this is a dark romance with CNC kink (Consensual Non-Consent) where both parties agree to a kidnap roll play scene and a "forced" non-consensual encounter that is actually consensual between the two parties. If this is something that would bother you then I suggest not reading this. 

I don't mind a dark romance as long as it's done right and no one is being abused. The fact that these two meet after they both were hurt in relationships in different ways was nice because they both needed someone like the other one after all they had been through. 

Abigail has been trying to find what she needs in the strangers she meets but isn't having any luck. So she puts an ad on a dating site and Leo just happens to see it. He's not sure she's for real and she's not sure he'll be able to give her what she needs...until he does. And let me tell you, these two are smokin' hot together! I really wasn't sure I would like this book and planned to just stop reading it without a bad review if that was the case but this story is definitely a romance with a kinky side to it. It's not all about the sex because there's a back story into both their lives, as well as we see their lives now. 

You would think Leo would be this weirdo person after finding out just how much he likes the chase but he actually turned out to be such a great guy, a great character and I loved him for that. This isn't my usual read but I'm glad I read it. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon 

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Falcor likes to sleep a lot during the day. He takes several naps in between going out and barking at every noise he hears. LOL I found him in my bed in between the throw pillow and comforter. My bed HAD been made up that morning. But it's a lost cause with a dog who likes to have a blanket on him when he's sleeping. 

Falcor doesn't like most kids but he loves my grandson, probably because he grew up around him.

Book Review: Crave Me Roughly by Kira James

 

Book Description

When I was a child, he destroyed my world. Now, he wants to make me his.

For almost twenty years, he’s been watching me in secret. This dark, sensual, dangerous man who steps out of the shadows to help me when I need it the most. He won’t accept any payment other than a kiss. But it’s a kiss that sparks a dark desire in a secret, hidden part of me. And when he touches me, all I crave is the kind of dangerous passion that he offers.

Then I learn the truth—he’s not a man at all. He’s a vampire. 

The love that burns between us is forbidden, but now it’s too late for me to turn back. Perhaps it always was. Because no matter how much danger stalks us both, I’ll sacrifice anything to keep him safe.

Crave Me Roughly is a prequel novella that introduces the Dark Alliance world and focuses on the characters of Luke and Sara who are featured in Embrace Me Darkly.

My Review

Luke has been looking after Sara since her father was killed when she was a kid. But Sara had no idea that someone was looking out for her. Over the years Luke has gotten to know her really well and has fallen in love with her even though Sara doesn't know him at all. She only knows him as a creepy stalker that she spots in the shadows every once in a while. The fact that she thinks she has a stalker doesn't freak her out the way it should, in fact she kind of likes the fact that she spots him following her around at times. 

Luke wasn't supposed to let her see him but he's slipped up a time or two and doesn't realize that she's seen him. One night when she puts herself in danger, Luke has no choice but to save her and they finally come face to face. 

From that point forward he can't stay away and she doesn't want him to until she finds out he's a vampire. Then she's not sure what to think but she knows she's not scared of him because she knows he'd never hurt her. 

This is the prequel to the Dark Alliance series and so we get a little back story as to what her father was into that got him killed. She had no idea about any of it so some family secrets come to light which I always like. It was a good setup for the next book but it ended a little abruptly, which I didn't like. But I am willing to read the next book and see how I like that because anyone who knows me, knows I love a vampire romance.

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

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

 

"I'm all packed and ready for school."

"These are my books for Business school."

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

Apartment Life #275

 

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 have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

There were two different ambulances down at the end of my street but I only got a picture of the one before the other one took off. This is the Fire Department ambulance which is why it looks different from some of the other ambulances that I've shared pictures of. I have no idea what was going on though.

While my camera doesn't take great pictures at night, at least you can make out the police car, lights and the woman in front of the car. This lady's nick name around here is screamer lady because she lives down the street but walks up and down the street screaming and yelling at the top of her lungs. I think there's some mental illness going on there. That's what she was doing when the police stopped her this night. But after a few minutes they let her go and left. 

---

Tuesday night at 10:00 p.m. while I was walking the dog, two police officers who were outside with their flashlights looking in different courtyards stopped me and asked me if I heard anybody screaming for help. I said no I just got out here. The lady cop said was it you screaming for help? When I said no she said are you sure? And kept questioning whether or not I had been the one who was screaming for help. I said you literally just saw me walk down the stairs from my apartment building, you know I just now got out here with my dog. And she said well if you need help just let us know or give us a call and I said okay I will. And I went ahead and went on my walk with the dog. This lady cop did not believe that I was not the one who was out there screaming for help before they got here. They stayed around for a little while with their flashlights looking into different courtyards and into cars and even drove around the side street to look over there and then they left when they couldn't find the person who was yelling for help. Hey, at least they came out to check it out.

----

And this week I've had some drama of my own with my daughter's ex boyfriend. Some of you might have seen the post I made about it this week but if not and you are so inclined, you can read about it here. I'm updating the post as more stuff happens. Hopefully there won't be anything else to add in the future. 

The high this week was 118F/47C

The low this week was 80F/26C

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

 

Beartooth - The Past Is Dead

I heard this song not too long ago and enjoyed it. it's the first song from this band that I had heard. I hope you enjoy it too. 

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 perfume sample. 

A sample of NYX Face Freeze primer. 

I really liked both of the samples. The perfume smells good and the makeup primer works well. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Caleb by Summer Stanton

 

Book Description

Caleb Knightly is a Professional submissive at Carnal Pleasures. After escaping a dangerous situation and reluctantly being turned into a Vampire, he is finally happy with his life. He doesn't need, or want, anything else. Until fate decides to turn his world upside down—again.

Callum Rutters and Eli Dran have been together for an amazing sixty years. They love the time they spend playing together at Carnal Pleasures. Their complex relationship keeps things interesting and they couldn't be happier. Until fate throws them into the path of someone they never knew they needed. Now, they have to convince Caleb that being bonded doesn't mean he'll lose his autonomy. Instead, he'll gain a family, something he thought he lost a long time ago.

Just as the three men are beginning to find their footing and learning how they work as a three, Eli's past returns to haunt him, and fate steps in once more. This time in the form of Lucian Drake, local Pack Alpha. Lucian doesn't know what to make of the threesome, he just knows he wants more with them all, in whatever capacity they'll allow.

However, Eli isn't the only one facing danger and Lucian will have to fight, not just for the three men he is growing to love, but for the Pack he's spent his life building and protecting.

Separately, the four men are vastly different, but together they have something extraordinary. It may not be conventional but it can be all theirs—if they can survive.

My Review

Caleb is a submissive at the BDSM club and when he comes into contact with Eli and Callum they feel a pull of magic and Caleb is informed that it's because he is their mate. He is told he should go home with them because being apart from them now will be tough because of the mate bond and magic. So he really never had a choice and that bothered me. 

This is book 3 of a 4 book series and I should say that I haven't read the other books so I might have been missing a little as I read this. But Caleb isn't sure how to feel at first and I'm glad that Eli and Callum took things slow with him. The thing is after taking things slow, right away they have this big scene with Caleb and while things were consensual, it was weird that they would come on so strong their first time together. So that also bothered me a bit. 

Because it's the magic pulling them all together and not them taking things slow and getting to know each other, I never felt the connection between any of them. It never felt real to me. But these guys are paranormals and so are some of the other characters at the club, we get some witches, vampires and wolf shifters. So that could also account for the unnatural and rushed feelings I kept getting from all of them. 

I liked the danger they found themselves in and the new person that joined them but the romance between all of them just seemed too complicated which stalled the story so many times for me. All in all not a bad story but not a favorite. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Last week my daughter went to the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. They made a display using real, live flowers and plants. I thought the pictures were really pretty so I thought I would share them with you. 

You know it smelled good in there.

They did a good job, it's so pretty. It's also free to get in and see this.

Book Review: Wild Danger by TJ Finn

 

Book Description

Alpha wolf, Sean O’Reilly, is out for blood. The man who killed his mother and several other members of the Wolf Creek Pack always seems just out of reach, disappearing into the wind any time the pack circles in close. Nothing could keep him from finding this monster and making him pay. Nothing, except Emma. When Emma walks into his family’s brewery, Sean—and his wolf—are drawn to her instantly. But there’s something different about her. She’s his mate. But the female shifter isn’t connected to the wolf within. Sean will do everything to keep his mate safe, and make her fall in love.

My Review

Emma is a wolf shifter but she's only shifted once when she was a teenager and she can't feel her wolf. She was raised by human adoptive parents so she never had any shifters to help her figure out what was going on with her shifting abilities. Now she studies wolves and tries to care for them long enough to set them free when she is able. She is back to see how some wolves are doing after they were released a while back and she comes across Sean who is a wolf shifter also. 

Sean is consumed with finding and bringing down the hunter who killed his mother and is killing other shifters. But this bad guy is really bad. He does absolutely horrific things to these shifters once he kidnaps them before killing them. He's sadistic and Sean and his pack need to find him and stop him. But Emma complicates things because now Sean knows she's his mate and if this bad guy finds her even though she can't shift, he will probably kidnap and kill her also. So Sean has to keep her safe while getting to know her better and tracking a killer. 

This was an action packed, quick read. I loved the twist and reveal who the bad guy was. I had a good time with this one. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"We had a Vet check up and I gave the Vet a new hair do."

"I got a clean bill of health."

"And gave one of the Vet's some ratty kisses."

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

Apartment Life #274

 

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 have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The police have been patrolling my street, the alley across the street and my alley this week. I've been seeing a lot of police cars on my street when I go outside. 

Now I know why the police are patrolling so much around here now though. My daughter and her boyfriend were in his car around 11 pm last Sunday and the cops pulled in behind them to check out what they were doing. After they figured out they were just sitting there talking and why they were not on her street because my daughter told the police she's seen too much gang activity like gang members tagging the walls, alley ect...one of the cops got very serious and asked her what she saw. She explained she saw 4 hispanic teens tagging the wall in our alley and the police gave her his card with his personal cell phone number on the back and told her to call him directly if she sees them tagging anywhere around here again or sees them doing anything sketchy. 

He told her to be careful because he thinks it was the same hispanic teens that beat up a little 12 year old boy just down the street in what he thinks was a gang initiation and also stabbed a man just down the street from where we live. And this cop really wants to catch them. We finally get rid of drug dealer and now we have this kind of thing going on in the neighborhood? C'mon! Good Grief.

---

On the 4th of July there were a lot of illegal fireworks popping off in my neighborhood. I figured there was going to be at least one fire somewhere around here so I kept looking out the window and sure enough, the dumpster in the alley across the street caught fire. This is the dumpster on fire.

When I saw the smoke and fire truck, I told my daughter and she went right over there to see what was on fire and took a few pictures for me. This is the front of the fire truck that showed up.

This is the middle of the fire truck. it's a little blurry because of the smoke and the bright lights from the truck. They put the fire out pretty fast.

----

The high this week was 114F/45C

The low this week was 78F/25C

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