Book Review: Defying My Wolf by Scarlett West

 

Book Description

Aila

As a half-human, half-wolf hybrid, I’ve been rejected by my mate and cast from my pack. Then Kaden kidnaps me, ushering me into his dark shifter world. I’m drawn to him more than I should be and he awakens a primal passion in my wolf. He wants to claim me as his fated mate. Only, there are two problems: he intends to use me in a dark ritual, and he’s my worst enemy.

I hope I make it out alive…

Kaden

Aila didn’t see it coming when I took her, but if I didn’t, we would remain in danger. As alpha, I planned on using her in a ritual to break a curse killing my pack. She’s my enemy…and getting under my skin in ways I never anticipated. Ways that make my wolf demand I protect and claim her as mine.

Yet if I get her into my bed, we may not survive…

If you love broody alphas, sassy heroines, and hot paranormal romance with a heart, Defying My Wolf is for you. The novella is a prequel to the series, Stone Mountain Wolf Shifters.

My Review

Aila was rejected by her pack because her mother was human and she's half human. Her father would kill her if he ever saw her again and so would most shifters since they see her as an abomination. She's kept herself safe from shifters for years since she was kicked out of her pack when she was a teeneager. 

So when Kaden spots her in a laundromat and kidnaps her because not only is she his mate, she's also from an enemy pack who cursed his pack. The only way to stop the curse is to sacrifice her on a specific night and hope the curse is lifted. Kaden is torn as to what he wants to do with her the more time they spend together. He feels the pull to his mate but he also doesn't want the rest of his pack to die a horrific death because of the curse. But Aila is an innocent is all of this, she had nothing to do with the curse and she's not part of that pack any longer so Kaden and his pack killing her to lift the curse seems very wrong. Kaden and his pack were pretty unlikable. 

There was no real romance between these two characters because they only got together because she was in her heat since she's a shifter and any males around could smell her and wanted her. It seemed like that and the fact that the mate bond was pulling them together was the only reasons they even spent any time together. I didn't care for Kaden, he was not a likable guy for most of the book and the ending seemed very rushed. I felt sorry for her that she got stuck with this guy.

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week!

 

*Click on pictures to enlarge them*

I looked outside right as the sun was setting one night this week and saw the fiery sky. Had to get pictures of it. 

The sky looked so cool with these colors streaking across it. 

Book Review: Descent by Chloe Adler

 

Book Description

Sydney Flores doesn't believe in love. Why should she? Men only want one thing.

As a third-generation working girl, it's all Sydney has ever known.

But when she's done with walking the streets and trades up for a brothel she quickly learns that Ichor isn't just any brothel... it's also a blood bank where lonely vampires come for a little entertainment with their refreshment.

Syd has seen and done it all, so a little fang on the job doesn't scare her away, especially when it comes with security cameras, bouncers, and a 401K.

Plus, it takes a whole lot of man to make her Latina blood boil. So imagine her surprise when she meets three of them...

It was just another night on the job when a shifter, a vampire, and a warlock walked into the bar.

That bad joke is her reality.

How fast can she run if love really is on the menu?

My Review

After reading the description I figured I would be getting a paranormal romance story like what I'm used to. But that's not really what I got. Sydney is a prostitute and works in a brothel with a madam. She's relatively safe because of the bouncers and cameras but not all the time. Paranormal creatures are known and she has a rule against taking vampire blood or being bitten to be a blood donor. I really expected to see more magic, more about the vampires but we hardly ever hear about that, only the fact that Sydney refuses to be a blood donor for any vampires. 

This book was mostly about Sydney's life, what led to her being a prostitute and what she does to keep herself safe. The guys who end up falling for her, how and why it happens was too rushed and over the top. The ending abruptly stops which I didn't like at all. The fact that these guys all fall hard for a prostitute when some of them are in fact more than a century old and couldn't find love with anyone else? Really? Was just not believable. The warlock had no idea that magic was being used against him, really? Again, not believable. 

I was expecting more romance but with Sydney being a prostitute maybe I shouldn't have been because even though these guys think she's all that and a bag of chips, I didn't care for her personality at all, she's an unlikable character. She sleeps with her new friends boyfriend and doesn't tell her what happened after she starts staying with the both of them? Not a very nice person. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"We hope you had a nice Valentine's Day. Sending you kisses."

"No matter what, find something to smile about."

* A big Happy Birthday to Huckleberry, Asher, Blue and Sage for turning 2 years old. Picture courtesy of Karen Grant on FB*

*All pictures this week are courtesy of martymousehouse.com and Karen Grant on FB*

Apartment Life #357

 

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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The police came by for the apartment complex across the street but I didn't see anyone get arrested. They didn't stay long, whatever it was. 

So this week my daughter was talking to two of the homeless people who have been here for years. They told her another homeless person has died from a Fentanyl overdose. The lady was the one who was found next door behind the liquor store. They also told my daughter that there's a hit out on another homeless man named Derek, known as the cross dresser because he wears ladies clothes when he gets high. Seems that Derek has been the one to deal the drugs laced with Fentanyl and because of him and the drugs he's selling, 4 homeless people in the area have overdosed and died. So someone, I'm guessing one of the homeless people or their friends put a hit out on Derek. 

The homeless people also told my daughter that Derek had given the two people who passed away in this house fire I told you about a few months ago. And they said when the fire started, Derek just left both of them passed out in the house and didn't try to get them out. So everyone blames Derek for their deaths as well. Both people who were pulled out of that house fire later died. 

The homeless people in the area are really mad at him because 4 of their friends have died because of him. I was wondering why I haven't seen him in the area for a few weeks. I have seen Derek almost every morning for years but not in the past few weeks. Guess he found out about the hit and got out of the area or someone found him and his body hasn't been found yet, I have no idea. 

I know one thing, if I do see him I'm turning around and walking the other direction just in case someone drives by and starts shooting at him. 

The high this week was 67F/19C

The low this week was 43F/6C

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 more healthy so I thought I would share some pictures on Saturday's of what we've made. Most pictures are from my daughter since she takes good food pics. lol

Quinoa Salad

What You Will Need: 

1/2 Cup Fresh Spinach- diced

1/2 Cup Carrots- diced

1/2 Cup Bell Pepper- diced

1/2 Cup Cucumber- diced

2 Stalks Celery- diced

1 tsp. Chicken Bullion

1/2 Cup Uncooked Quinoa

1 Cup Water

To Prepare Quinoa:

Rinse and drain quinoa. Add 1/2 cup of rinsed quinoa in a pan with 1 cup water. Add 1 tsp. Chicken bullion to the pan and cook on high heat until boiling. Turn down to medium low heat, cover and let cook for 15 minutes or until water is gone. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, add to a bowl and put into the refrigerator for 15 minutes to cool. 

Mix all of the vegetables together and when the quinoa has cooled, stir it into the vegetables, breaking up any small chunks of quinoa that might have formed as it cooled. 

You can serve this with any dressing you like or eat it as is like we did. I've served this as a side dish and eaten it by itself for lunch. 

This makes about 4, 1 cup servings. 

Each serving is about 100 Calories and 12 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.

What I received this week: 

A sample of Lancome Genifique face serum. 

The coupons from Charmin that I got because they accidentally sent out a winning email to a lot of people who didn't win their sweepstakes.

A 6 LB bag of Purina Pro Plan Adult dog food, chicken and rice flavor. From Fur Buddies. 

The face serum didn't do anything except make my face feel smooth and soft. Which is nice. 

The Charmin coupons were hard to get a store to accept. The first store we went to the coupon wouldn't scan, the cashier wouldn't accept it. The next store the cashier had to manually put in the numbers because the coupon wouldn't scan but at least they accepted the coupon. So I did get a few packs of free toilet paper. So that's good. 

Falcor loves the dog food. So that's good. It didn't upset his stomach and that's great. So it was a good week. 

Did you receive any freebies this week? 

Book Review: Deal With A Demon by Ami Wright

 

Book Description

Would you make a deal with a monster?

I need money. My rent is overdue, my aircon is busted and my bank account is overdrawn. So when I get an email from Monstrous Deals offering discreet well-paying clients willing to negotiate all sorts of arrangements, I’m not too proud to sign up.

Then I meet Rin. Impeccably styled, perfectly cultured and devastatingly gorgeous, this handsome billionaire is too good to be true. When I find out exactly what he has in mind, it’s even more unbelievable. Beneath his smooth, polished facade, hides a beast. A ferocious oni demon set on devouring one thing: my pleasure. Over and over again.

Will he demand more than I can give? Is that even a thing? Or will Rin be the answer to all of my fantasies?

My Review

Kalli needs money in a bad way so when she spots an ad for Monstrous Deals, she decides to sign up not realizing at first what she's signing up for. Monsters or non-humans are known to the world and this site matches non-humans with others who don't mind seeing them for whatever reason the client wants. Kalli is matched with Rin, an Oni demon. But he looks pretty human to her and he requires her to wear a blindfold when they're together. She knows he's not human so she's not sure why he wants to keep what he looks like a secret. But he doesn't want to scare her when his shape and face changes into his demon, hence the blindfold. 

Kalli loves being with him and she loves the money she's making but he gets obsessive to his own surprise because he's never felt this way for a human before. He was such a sweet but alpha demon which played well with Kalli. These two made me smile several times while reading this spicy, sweet romance. I love a good monster romance and this sure was that and more. 

This was a short, spicy read but I didn't feel like I was missing any of the story like some novellas and it wasn't rushed. I plan on reading more from this series. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week!

 

*Click picture to enlarge it*

Snow was falling in the mountains and you can actually see it falling from the clouds. We did not get any snow here in the city even though it doesn't look that far away. But we did have rain one day as I told you on Sunday.

Book Review: Curvy Girl and The Monster Next Door by Jessa Joy

 

Book Description

Who knew that monsters love curvy girls? Or that my gorgeous next door neighbor is a demon in disguise?

Mollie

Life gets kind of same-y here in Snowflake Falls. Yet another Halloween when I’m stuck on my own.

But then my mysterious high school crush moves next door. So far, so good. The only trouble is, he seems different… but not in a bad way. He’s bigger, hotter and more mysterious than ever. I'm intrigued and I want to find out more. A big Halloween party is the perfect opportunity to get to know him better. Sparks are flying between us faster than a bat outta hell.

And why does this handsome devil look like he wants to eat me right up?

Brad

I was a big deal in high school but life had other plans. Being turned into an enormous horned monster certainly wasn’t on the agenda. It's been all tricks and no treats so far while I try to keep myself hidden away.

I’ve stayed away from my hometown as long as I can but a family issue means I'm needed back in town. The first thing on my mind is the gorgeous curvy girl who's haunted my dreams for the last five years. By a quirk of fate, she’s also my new next door neighbor. I can't help imagining what it would be like to get close to her. Really close.

But how could this perfect angel want to be with a monster like me?

Part of the Curvy Girls Date series featuring curvy women and the men who fall head over heels for them. Short, steamy reads with no cheating and always a HEA!

My Review

Mollies sister was popular in high school while she wasn't at all. Most of the popular girls made fun of her and that made her not like going to parties. She had a huge crush on Brad who was on the football team and very popular. They talked once and he was nice to her but they wouldn't see each other again for 5 years when he comes back to town a different man. 

Mollie is all grown up 5 years later and she's a writer of romance books. I loved that about her. But Brad has a huge secret and he doesn't realize that danger follows him back to town. Brad is half demon and he's stuck in his demon form. He hides under masks, hoodies and makeup. When he finds out Mollie lives next door to him, he has a hard time staying away from her and she doesn't mind because she still has a huge crush on him. So when Halloween comes around and the town has a big party, he decides to go as himself, a demon. What other day of the year could be better to go out as himself, it looks like a great costume, no one will be the wiser. 

He talks Mollie into going with him and they have a good time until Mollie gets overwhelmed and runs away. But Brad can't stay away and he's afraid to tell Mollie what he really is. 

Things take a turn when someone from Brad's past comes calling and puts Mollie in a dangerous situation. This was such a great monster romance and I loved the ending. I liked that there was an epilogue at the end so we get to see how they are getting along about a year later. They were so sweet together. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

All of the pictures used in today's post are mine. These are just some of the rats that I've had over the years. I made all of these meme's unless otherwise stated. This was Lucky. You can read His Story here. He was my 3 legged rat. I figured I would post some of the rat meme's I made of my own rats for those who are newer to my blog and hadn't seen them before. I've had 18 pet rats over the years. These are just some of them. 

*Flower, female hairless rat.* Melissa over at RatLogic FB page made this Meme for me when she saw this picture I posted. Melissa has since passed away. 

*Scribbles*

*Hades*

*Lucky*

*Lucky*

*Flower*

*Hades*

*Lucky* Lucky sat in between me and Ken and ate some pizza with us. lol 

*Scribbles*

*Flower*

*Ken (My late husband) and Scribbles*

*Flower* She was trying to grab the plastic bag I had sitting there while I cleaned her cage.

*Falcor and Scribbles*

*Flower*

*Scribbles*

*Lucky*

*Lucky*

*Jasper, Brodie and Hades*

*Jasper, Hades and Brodie* They loved to pile on top of each other. 

*Brodie and Jasper*

*Hades*

*Hades and Brodie*

*Brodie and Hades*

*Lucky*

*Jasper, Hades and Brodie*

*Flower*

*Lucky*

*This was Fang. I named him Fang because he bit Ken 4 times after we got him from someone who did not socialize him. He was brothers with Patches, Marbles and Bandit. He and Ken made friends after a few weeks and Ken was able to pet and handle him without getting bit. Ken (my late husband) kept giving him food and treats and Fang came around. This is how he would lay and sleep all the time. He looks pretty cute, huh? Don't put your fingers near him though. lol He always wanted me to hold him and he never tried to bite me. 

*Patches and Bandit*

*This was Marbles. He was my grumpy boy, he even looks grumpy. He never bit anyone but he did not like to be held. He loved coming out and running around which all the rats got to do but he did not like to be petted, held or bothered. He wanted to do his own thing. He was the only rat I ever had who was like that. Open the cage door, give him and treat and let him do his own thing and he was happy.*

*Did I throw Lucky a birthday party one his 1st birthday? You bet I did. LOL I even made a cake and a tiny birthday hat for him. Lucky had a few bites of cake and we ate the rest. lol *

*Bandit holding a rubber ducky while he slept*

So there you go. There's a look at some of the rats I've had over the years.