Book Review: Lost by Ava Benton

 

Book Description

Tyson and some of his pack are acting as emissaries to other packs in the state when they suddenly spot something on the side of the road and he picks up the scent of blood. It’s a girl, lying in the road. She’s beaten and bloody.

Alicia wakes up, can’t remember much other than her name and age. She’s hurt. Someone seems to have beat the daylights out of her. And she’s in someone else’s—a male’s—clothing.

Then a rugged hot guy walks in. Now she realizes how lost she is.

My Review

Tyson and a few members of his pack are on their way back home, driving through a rival pack's territory when they pick up the scent of blood on the side of the road. They think it might be a setup but they stop anyway. They find Alicia who has been stabbed. They pick her up and load her into their vehicle and bring her back to their pack where their doctor can ptch her up. Tyson and his pack are wolf shifters so now with a human in their house, they have to be careful and not scare her by wolfing out. 

Once Alicia wakes up, she can't remember what happens. But she knows she feels safe with Tyson for some reason. Tyson doesn't want to admit it right away but Alicia is his mate. Something really bad happened to her and she keeps getting small flashes of what happened but she knows that there's something really important that she can't remember. 

Tyson is so patient with her while she recovers and tries to remember what happened to her and who would want to stab her and why. They can't keep their hands off each other because of the pull of the mate bond but that's ok because they really needed each other. Tyson wondered why he hadn't met his mate before now so he's happy to finally find her. Alicia really needed someone in her corner to be there for her. 

I liked the mystery of who tried to kill Alicia and why. The ending was great. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Don't Fall For These Scams

 

Recently I've been getting more and more scam emails. These two in particular though were new to me and made me read the emails twice. I even opened a new browser window and checked my Paypal account just to make sure this wasn't true. It wasn't but if I had been an older person who didn't know better like my mother, she would have clicked on the link in the email for sure back when she was alive and got her first laptop. 

This almost looks real, doesn't it? But if some unsuspecting person clicks on the "Review document" link at the top, I'm sure this is a Phishing scam where they ask you to tell them personal identifying information that they can then use to open new accounts in your name or when you click on the link they are able to infect your device with spyware or malware. Don't ever click on links that you don't trust. 

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This scam email made it look like I was going to have $541.00 taken out of my account through 'auto debit' for this. There was a pdf to download at the bottom. Don't click on that! malware, spyware, and who knows what else could infect your device if you click on any links or download anything like a pdf from these types of emails. Don't fall for these scams. 

I'm sure we all get scam emails but these two were new ones I hadn't seen before so I thought I would share them so you now know they are scams and just delete them. 

If you ever think something is going on with a bank account, Paypal account ect. Just log into your account the way you normally would and check. I'm sure most of you already know not to click on links like these but older people, like my parents would have probably fallen for this. It's always good to get this information out there for those that don't know. 

Everyone Has A Story, Here's One Of Mine

 

I've been thinking of writing an autobiography or memoir but it just never comes together for me but I figured if I write one story at a time and post it on my blog maybe once a month, I can do that. Maybe one day I'll pull all the stories together and put them in a book but for now I'll just share some stories with you about my childhood and into adulthood. Some of the stories will be happy, some sad and some horrific because that was my childhood. But they will all be real, things that actually happened. If it seems like something that people enjoy reading maybe I'll keep it going. These stories will not be in any kind of order, I'll just write them as they come to me.

Some Good Times

I realize that a lot of what I've written over the years has been pretty bad stuff, but it wasn't all bad. There were some good times as well. So how about I share some of those today. 

My parents split and got divorced in 1981. They didn't get along for a few years afterwards. This was taken in 1984 at Christmas. My mom invited my dad over for Christmas dinner with all of us. And everyone got along surprisingly. 

Christmas dinner was me, my brother, our mom and dad, my mom's mother (grandma) and grandma's new husband, Buster. For the most part my parents got along from this part forward. My parents were divorced at this time.

My dad liked to take us all for drives along the Pacific Coast Highway in California. We would get out and take pictures. For the most part I always liked going for a drive with my dad. I loved going to the beach. This is my dad with me and my brother.

During the Summers we would usually drive from California to Utah to visit my grandma (dads mom). This is my brother Billy, me and our grandma. She was a very nice lady. This was in 1980, I was 10.

After my parents divorced, my mom started dating Larry. I've written about him before. In the Summer of 1982 my mom and Larry took my brother Billy and me to a few different places. This was Moro Rock in California, and we stayed there to see some sights and visit Crystal Cave. It's in or right near where you enter Sequoia National Park in California. We stayed in Sequoia as well at that time. My brother and I climbed the 350 steps to reach the top of this rock a couple of times. I wish I had that kind of energy and endurance now! I had a lot of fun in Sequoia. The tree's there are so massively large. 

This is me, my brother and our mom at the top of Moro Rock. It was such a beautiful view from up there. 

I was living with my grandma after my parents divorced but for my 12th birthday my mom came to visit and got my ears pierced. She also bought me this outfit. Those are red corduroy pants. lol 

When I was a kid we had a dog named Poochie. He was a Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix. This is me holding Poochie when we went for one of my dads famous drives. This is somewhere in California but not sure where. 

My brother, Billy and I have always been close. My brother pointed out not too long ago that in most all of our pictures together I'm hugging him or have my arm around him. We went through a lot together so I think that's why we are so close, because we only had each other to count on. That's our mom in the background. 

Me and my brother, Billy again. I had just left West Virginia and come to Las Vegas when this was taken. We lived in this tiny camper next to us with our mom. My mom was happy to have us with her and she had stopped drinking for a while. 

This was taken in 1986 at Big Bear Lake, California. This is me, my aunt Wanda and my mom. We were out on a boat on Big Bear lake. My mom and her brother Jack had rented a cabin in Big Bear and we stayed there for a few days. I always loved Big Bear and the cabins. We were there during the Winter months so there was a little snow on the ground too. We had a great time there. I was 16 and taller than my mom and aunt both. lol 

1986 my brother and I. We both look pretty happy here. For a time we were happy. I can look back at this time and smile at some of the things we did and some of the trouble we got into. Were we trouble makers? Maybe? lol 

For comparison, this is my brother and I taken this year. 

This is my grandma who I was living with after my parents divorced. She is on her car. I believe this was a 1969 Ford Mustang Convertible. Man, she loved this car. She was a character as you can tell. I lived with her from 1981 to 1982. It was a little over a year but it was a time in my life that I felt the safest. 

My 8th grade graduation. I'm the one in the pink dress on the right. My friend is in the blue dress on the left. My mom actually took me dress shopping and bought the dress for me. She took me to the hair salon and had my hair done. She bought me my first pair of heels for the dress, they were only 1 inch high but still my first heels. My mom came to the graduation ceremony and took pictures. She never came to any school functions so this was unusual. Afterwards my grandparents took us all out to eat. It was a good day. 

I hope you enjoyed the look back through some old pictures and some good times in my life.

Links to past stories

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December 2024

2025

January

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April 2025

May 2025

June 2025

Happy Raturday!

 

"Maybe I can find a dating site for single rats."

"Or maybe I'll just look at funny cat meme's like everyone else."

*This weeks pictures courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #375

 

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 26 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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.

On Monday morning while I was outside, the Fire Truck pulled up and the firemen went inside a courtyard. 

Less than a minute later they came back out and left. Why call for the fire dept. if you don't actually need them? I don't get it. 

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I've noticed recently that a few homeless people will go up to people getting in and out of their cars around here and ask for money, food, clothing, or if the person getting out of their vehicle wants to buy whatever they are selling. A guy on a bicycle came up to me and asked if I wanted to buy a shock collar for my dog this week. I declined. Most of the time they are selling stolen goods from stores around here. 

I watched on my camera as this lady was getting out of her work truck  these two homeless people quickly walked up to her and I'm guessing asked for something. Because she reached in the back of her truck pulled out water bottles, a blanket and sandwiches. 

Then she took out a box of donuts from inside the truck and gave them some of those too. I thought that was really nice of her to do that.

The high this week was 107F/41C

The low this week was 74F/23C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

My daughter and I are trying to eat healthier so I thought I would share some of the foods we are eating. 

Fruit Popsicles

You will need: 

A blender

fruit

popsicle molds

2 TBSP  Zero Calorie 7-Up

I found the popsicle molds on Amazon years ago. I've been making these every Summer for years. 

What to do: 

2 packages of strawberries made 8 popsicles. Wash and trim each strawberry. I cut them in half for easier blending. Add the Zero calorie 7-UP to the blender and pulse until it's blended very well. The 7UP adds a bit of sweetness without adding any calories. Some of these strawberries were very tart so they needed a bit of sweetness. 

Add the strawberry mixture to the popsicle molds and stick in the freezer for 3 hours. 

Each popsicle is 25 calories and 6 carbs. 

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 bag of Zukes Mini Naturals dog treats from Fur Buddies. 

Breathe Right nasal strips. 

2 CeraVe lotion samples. 

I redeemed my points on Pinecone research for a $25 Amazon gift card. 

Falcor loves getting mail so he was excited there was something for him. He likes the treats. He gets so excited when he knows I'm opening something for him. 

The breathe right nasal strips are supposed to open your nasal passages when they are closed due to allergies or colds. They don't work for me. I guess I'll stick with the allergy medications. 

I love CeraVe lotion so I loved these samples. 

I've been saving all my amazon giftcards for a while because I want to use them to buy a new Laptop. Right now I'm using a Windows 8.1 and some websites won't allow me to even access them because  you need Window 10 or higher to sign into their websites. I now have $135 in Amazon giftcards so I'm slowly getting there. I think by the end of the year I should have enough just in Amazon giftcards from doing surveys that I will be able to buy a new laptop. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

How I Get Free Stuff and Make Money Online

*I thought I would share this post again for those of you that didn't see it the last time I posted this. I've updated my list and added a few more links to this list that have sent me free stuff to try or that I've received gift cards from.*

I tell my friends and family all the time how I get free things coming to me and some of them have tried it and they don't have the same results that I have. So I am going to tell you the websites that I belong to in order to get free stuff and maybe you'll be able to get free stuff too.

Fetch Is an app where you snap a picture of your receipts from shopping and you get points from it that you can exchange for gift cards. I've earned more than $100 this year. 

Inbox dollars sign up with Inbox Dollars and click on the emails they send you and shop with them for points that you can turn into real money. This one takes more time to do but in the past 3 years I have gotten $120.00 from them.

Hey it's Free This is one of the best place to find free samples online. I used to use a lot of sites but this is one of the best ones I've found for free samples that actually come. And they have a fb page where members post other freebies they've found.

She Speaks- Sign up for an account and sign up for free samples and full size products to test. Sometimes they just send you an email asking you to fill out a form to see if you qualify for the product testing they are doing. I've had good luck with testing products with them.

Ripple Street- Sign up to host a Ripple Street party "Formerly known as House Party" and if you get picked they send you all sorts of freebies, coupons, and free products to test and share with your Ripple Street guests.

Freebie Shark- This is another really great place to find links to free samples. I use this site a lot for signing up for free samples and they have a fb page where other members can post freebies they find.

American Consumer Opinion - This is a survey site where the points you get for surveys can be exchanged for gift cards.

Influenster- A site where you sign up for an account, fill out some surveys and do small tasks to improve your score. Then they send you free products to try out at home. I have been a member of this site for years and have filled out a few of the surveys and done a few tasks and have been sent free products. If you want to get free products at home to test, this is a good site to sign up for.

YouGov Sign up with this site and take surveys for points that you can cash out for either cash or gift cards.

Paid Viewpoint- This is a survey site where you get money for each survey to complete and when you reach $15 you can cash out. You do need to sign up with a smart phone number though in order to cash out because you have to verify your account with a text.

Crowdtap- Is a site where you interact with brands by answering questions, tweeting, posting pictures,  posting to fb and taking polls. You can apply for sampling parties and get free products to review and samples to share. Everything you do gets you points and at the end of the month you get a chance to win gift cards based on how many points you have.

My Points- It's a site where you answer surveys, and complete tasks in order to get points that you can exchange for gift cards.

Simple Solutions - This site is all about Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. They send out free samples or full size boxes of it for you to try and have you fill out some surveys.

Generation Good - This is the Seventh Generation site about their products. They've sent me several free Seventh Generation samples and products to try and review.

Snuggle Bear Den Community - This is the site for Snuggle Fabric Softener. You sign up for an account and fill out a few surveys and they might send you free samples to try out. So far I've received a free Snuggle stuffed bear that I gave to my grandson and a free full size bottle of Snuggle Fabric Softener to try.

Pinecone Research  This is another great site if you can get in that sends you survey invitations where you can earn points that you can cash in for actual products or virtual prepaid cards, and gift cards. 

Social Nature - Sign up for an account and pick products that you'd like to try. They'll email you if you get picked to try the product for free.

Valued Opinions This site you take surveys that you can then cash out for gift cards. 

It's All Free Online - A website that finds free samples, unique testing panel opportunities and other free product opportunities that I haven't seen on other freebie pages.

Fur Buddies - If you have a dog or cat, sign up for this site and you can get free samples of dog and cat food and supplies. I've been sent so many free products and samples from them for Falcor. You just have to share about it on social media and write a review for the products. 

Batiste Nation- Do you use Dry Shampoo? Sign up with this site nad you might get sent some for free to try out. I've been sent several bottles of dry shampoo since I signed up. You just have to share online, and write reviews. 

Thrifty Pig Surveys- This survey site gives you points for the surveys you take. You can then exchange the points for either an Amazon gift card, Paypal transfer or a paper check when you reach $5 you can cashout. 

Book Review: Lin's Challenge by Mara Jaye

 

Book Description

I don't want to die, but I just might on an alien mining moon.

On Earth, I had a good life. For the record, I didn't go into the light, but it came for me. It turns out the "people" were aliens. They abducted me and others, threw us into a cargo hold, and told us nothing.

Later, when we're dropped on a strange and barren planet, we're expected to work. I do, wanting to stay alive. Nothing distracted me until a bronze god of a man strolls in like he owns the place.

The hunk of an alien is everything a tall, dark, and handsome man should be. I can't help but stare until he stares back. He finally talks to me, calling me his forbidden fruit and making me scream his name during sexy times. He also says I don't belong here and plans to rescue me.

I hope so since I'm sure the other aliens know he's in an alien law enforcement agency. If he can't call for backup spaceships and ray guns, we might both be doomed.

My Review 

Lin wakes up and finds herself aboard a ship that is flying them to a far away planet with other aliens. She can't understand any of the other aliens but some of the female aliens help her out. They find themselves on a mining planet and are forced to work. She's seen what happens to those who cannot or will not work so she works and barely makes it until she is befriended by Turkh. He and another of his kind are there on a mission to bring the aliens who are enslaving lesser aliens on this planet to mine for them to justice. But his mission goes a little sideways when he meets Lin because she turns out to be his mate. He does things that are against his mission protocol in order to keep her safe until they can be rescued. 

I loved Lin because even though she finds herself in a terrible situation, she's really strong and keeps it together. She wants to believe Turkh when he tells her that he's going to get her out of there but she isn't sure that they are going to be saved. They spend a lot of time in this mining colony gathering information to bring down the evil aliens and in that time Lin and Turkh get closer and Lin learns a lot more about him. 

But they are in an open field with the open prisoners when they have their sexy times which even though they are supposed to be far enough away from the others so that they have a little privacy, it seemed a little to voyeuristic to me. The tech he has in his head is a little confusing and I thought it was a little unbelievable that he could mess up and accidentally give her too much of it when he's trying to help her. And when he tries to take it back to save her Lin acts like a child about it. 

The story was good, the conclusion was a good one. So even though I had a few things that bothered me about the story as a whole, I still enjoyed this book. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Typical Summer sunrise. Not many clouds in the sky this morning but a couple that didn't stick around for very long as the day heated up. 

Book Review : Kyrix by Kate Stevens

 

Book Description

Meredith always dreamed of being whisked off her feet by a prince—she just didn’t realize he’d be a blue-scaled alien warrior.

Working a dead-end job in a chocolate shop, Meredith Sinclair has all but buried her dreams of finding happiness.

But when a bland-looking man comes into the shop and starts asking her suspicious questions, the most ridiculous thing happens—he turns into a horned, seven-foot tall alien before her very eyes.

Sent on an expedition to determine the intelligence of the human species, Lord Kyrix Yio’naeus doesn’t expect his cloaking device to break down on his first mission.

When a human sees his true form, he has no choice but to take her back to his ship. But at the touch of her soft skin, his blood ignites like it has with no other female.

When the Herkleian government orders Meredith transferred to a lab for study, Kyrix will do anything to save her. Is it possible a human could be the fated mate to an alien royal?

And even if she is, will Meredith and Kyrix be able to escape his crew for a future together?

My Review

Kyrix comes to Earth on a mission to see if humans are ready to join the other aliens in an alliance. But while questioning Meredith his cloaking device fails and his true form is shown to her. He has no choice but to bring her back to his ship and erase her memory but the memory wiping serum doesn't work on her. When Kyrix's government hears about this, they decide that she is to be transported back to their planet and experimented on to find out why the memory wiping didn't take on her and if humans will be a problem. 

But Kyrix doesn't like this at all and has formed a bond with Meredith so he's going to do what he has to in order to keep her safe. 

Kyrix and Meredith fall for each other so fast and I loved that. At first she thinks she's having a break down because big, good looking alien in her shop? That can't be real. But it was and Kyrix turns out to be such a great guy. He is the illegitimate son of the King and the King has sent him away so that his other son can take the throne. Kyrix doesn't want the throne and wants to keep his mother safe.  

This was a cute, quick read and now I want to go back to the first book and read that too. Bring on the aliens! I'm here for it. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"We got a new duck bed"

"It came with Quack Snacks, which I might share either the others."

"Maybe, if there's any left after I'm done."

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

Apartment Life #374

 

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 26 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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.

Firstly, Happy Birthday to my daughter who turns 34 today!

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This is also my 5100th post. That's a lot of posts. 

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The big crane was back across the street putting in another new AC on the roof. There are 8 apartments in each building and from what I can see there are 4 large AC's so 2 apartments share a rooftop unit.

  They did it from the alley side so I only got this picture of it. I think that's 4 new AC's in the last 2 years for 3 of the different apartment buildings across the street and those things are not cheap. 

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While I was out walking the dog on Monday, I saw 2 police cars pull up and park real fast. This was the first one. 

This was the second one that showed up really fast. They were walking so fast they almost ran into the courtyard across the street with the tan buildings. I stayed outside for a few minutes and then watched on my cameras and they were there for over an hour. Then they left. No one was arrested and no ambulances showed up so I have no idea what was going on. Maybe they were taking a report for a robbery or something.

It was hot as Hades here this week. 

The high this week was 110F/43C

The low this week was 76F/24C

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