Happy Raturday!

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July. 

"Just taking a nap with my big brother" 

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

"Cereal is good any time of day"

All pictures courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com unless otherwise specified.

Apartment Life #260

 

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 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

My daughter took a video when she spotted a fire in one of the garbage cans in the alley and the fire truck was in the alley putting it out. Turns out that someone had set a mattress on fire in the garbage can.

You can't really tell much from the picture other than there are flashing lights from the fire truck. 

The 4th of July was another crazy one. Lots of illegal fireworks going off until well after 2am. But at least none of the tree's caught fire this year. 

----

On Thursday night I was out with Falcor about 10pm and as I'm walking back to my apartment a guy on the other side of the chain link fence says, "Your dog likes to sniff the ground a lot. Well, he'll have something to sniff in a moment cause I'm fixing to take a sh*t right here." 

It was a homeless guy and he was slurring his words really badly, so probably drunk. And as I passed he popped a squat but I just kept walking. 

If I didn't have this dog, I would never leave my apartment. Some of my newer readers might not know that I suffer from Agoraphobia and social anxiety. I don't like going outside at all but Falcor gets me out there and sometimes we run into the weirdest of people. Thanks Falcor. 

The high this week was 116f/46C

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

Review: Shop Miss A

 

While I was watching Youtube videos of makeup dupes (lower priced makeup that are a lot like the more expensive ones) I came across someone reviewing this website. Shop Miss A. The makeup on their site is $1. Some of it is $1.50 or $2.00 but still, that is a great price for makeup if the makeup is good. So I decided to do a haul and review of what I got. 

I received: 

Setting Spray

Mascara

eyeliner

makeup remover wipes

eyeshadow primer

concealer

eyeshadow brush

6 pan eyeshadow palette

eyebrow pencil

loose setting powder

3 different shades of foundation

This AOA foundation was the only one that I liked out of the three that I got. It was closest to my shade and blended nicely. It's full coverage but didn't feel cakey on my skin. 

The concealer worked really well and didn't crease and stayed matte all day. I liked it and it was a good color for me. A little goes a long ways too.

I can always use another eyeshadow blending brush and this one works well. 

This is an eyeshadow primer and it worked as well as the one that I usually use. I will definitely be using this again.

I liked this loose setting powder but as you can see it was quite messy when twisting the cap on and off. The powder would slip out and just get everywhere for some reason. I use loose powder in this type of twist off jar and my other ones don't do this. The powder itself is nice though. Very lightweight and leaves a nice finish.

These makeup remover wipes work but not as well as Neutrogena wipes do. I had to work a little harder using these to get my makeup off but for the price, they work well and smell nice. 

The mascara for me was a fail. First the applicator is so bendy that I had a hard time using it. The mascara is thick, dry and clumped really bad. During the day I found little black pieces of mascara under my eyes where it was flecking off. 

This eyeshadow was a complete bust for me. I used the two lightest shades and they were ok but then I used the two darker shades on the bottom of each end and there was very little color. The darkest shade was so light I was surprised and it took me forever to get any color from it at all. Then I tried using the bottom middle shimmer shade and there was nothing. Not just a little but absolutely no color at all was seen on my eye. I even scraped off the top layer thinking maybe there would be some color payoff underneath and still got nothing. Such a shame because they look like they should be nice colors.

I tried both of these AOA foundations and I had to wash them off my face because they were so cakey, so drying, and they made my face feel so tight. I hate that feeling. The lighter shade on the left was worst with the cakey feeling and texture but both were a fail for me. 

The setting spray is great. Is smells so good, comes out of the bottle in a fine mist and didn't make my face feel like I had anything on my face once it dried. I really like this and it did seem to control the oil I get around my chin and nose.

My favorite thing though was the eyeliner so imagine my shock and disappointment when the twist bottom didn't work to make more eyeliner come up. I hate when that happens but I've found a fix for that and will show you. But let me tell you that this eyeliner is great. It glides on so nicely and it stayed looking great all day. It's a gel eyeliner and it dries down and didn't smudge at all. 

So if you buy an eyeliner with a twist up bottom and when you twist it, nothing happens, don't throw it away. Instead take a serrated knife and cut off the end right above the twist cap on the bottom. Get several small pieces of paper towel or tissue, and one of the plastic cocktail toothpicks. 

Once you cut off the end, you will see that it's hollow in the middle and inside the hollow part is the actual eyeliner. Take one small piece of paper towel at a time and place it over the end, take the plastic toothpick (mine is yellow) and slowly push the paper towel piece down inside the hole. Some of the eyeliner may come up through the side but that's ok, just wipe it away and push another piece of paper towel down the hole. You may have to do this 4 or 5 times until you see the eyeliner at the other end start to come out. I've had this happen with the more expensive brands as well and found this will work for those too. 

The eyeliner works just fine now and I don't have to throw it away because the twist knob on the bottom didn't work.

So some of the makeup worked for me and some of it didn't but for the price I don't mind trying it out to see what works and what doesn't. Have you heard of Miss A before?

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 $15 Amazon gift card from YouGov surveys. 

A plush baby shark from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I like this survey site. I've only been a member for a couple of months and already made enough points to cash out. You can sign up for YouGov as well if you would like to. 

I will be giving the baby shark to my grandson. He loves stuffed animals. Walmart Spark Reviewer is by invitation only so I don't have a link to sign up for you. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Firefighter Sea Dragon by Zoe Chant

 

Book Description

She wanted a nice, normal man.

She got a firefighting sea dragon Knight-Poet...

Neridia just wants to fit in - but that's hard when you stand six foot six in your bare feet. Isolated and lonely in her remote cottage on the shores of Loch Ness, she dreams of finding a man who'll look past her size and see the real her. A nice, normal man...

John Doe will never understand humans. A sea dragon knight from the hidden underwater city of Atlantis, he reluctantly took human form in order to carry out a perilous quest. Though John has found unexpected friendship as part of a unique all-shifter firefighting team, his heart will always lie under the ocean... until the night he meets Neridia.

As a knight, John's forbidden from taking any mate - let alone a human. And a sea dragon's honor is his life. But when a decades-old secret rises to the surface at last, only John can protect Neridia from a deadly foe...

My Review

John is a sea dragon and thought he didn't have a mate anywhere in the world because sea dragons only mate other sea dragons and he had looked for his mate before becoming a Knight-Poet which comes with a vow of celibacy.

Neridia is really tall and when her latest date gets a glimpse of her standing up, he recoils in disgust. When she leaves she brings the wrath of several men who had their drinks spilled while she was trying to leave. 

When John goes for a swim in the Loch Ness, in his sea dragon form, he comes to the rescue of Neridia when several men were chasing her on the water's edge. He's in Scotland for a wedding but more pressing matters pop up while he's there. Neridia is saved by John but she runs away from him because of what he is. That's when John's friends step in to help get them back together. I love how his friends all care about him. 

When John spots a painting back at Neridia's home that her father painted, he realizes something that he never thought could be true. Neridia is more than she seems and so was her father. John is shocked to say the least but it brings up a whole bunch of other questions. But before they can figure everything out, John and Neridia find themselves in serious danger. Thankfully his shifter firefighter team come to their rescue or things would have been really bad. 

But Neridia and John find themselves in serious danger when they thought they were safe. When the reality of the danger is revealed and John realizes what he's up against, it was just sad. I loved the ending though. It was everything I was hoping for. All in all, this book was so good. It's one of those books that I know I'm not doing justice for in my review but just know if I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. I liked it that much. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: Holding Hoarse by Cynthia Sax

 

Book Description

Hoarse hasn’t found his female, the one being manufactured for him. There is only one reason he can process for his lack of success—he isn’t yet worthy of claiming a female.

The big C Model is determined to change that status. He considers ulu, or doll, fabrication to be an essential part of mate preparation. Seeking to hone his skills, he contacts a reclusive doll maker and asks her to train him.

He doesn’t realize the being he is sharing his deficiencies with is his destined mate.

Arlicia desires a male whose face she has never seen. Her new trainee’s persistence, intelligence, and curiosity warrant admiration. His deep voice evokes visions of passionate kisses and heated embraces. His large hands cause her to quiver with wanting.

Before their professional relationship ends, she wants to rendezvous with Hoarse. The curious doll maker hopes for a glimpse of the huge warrior.

When a cyborg intent on being the perfect mate meets the female who knows all his secrets, garments are shed, illusions shatter, and beings die.

*

Holding Hoarse is a short, light, companion story in the Cyborg Space Exploration series and is meant to be read after Testing Truth.

It is also a BBW Cyborg SciFi Romance featuring an intense C Model warrior, an understanding doll maker, and packs of imperfect toys seeking loving homes. 

My Review

Hoarse is a cyborg and like other cyborg's, he hopes to find his female someday. So after he finds an Ulu or doll, he contacts the doll maker and asks her to mentor him so he might be able to make the dolls for his friends kids and hopefully his own kids someday in the future. 

Arlicia makes dolls for kids and keeps to herself. When Hoarse contacts her and asks her to teach him how to make the dolls, she agree's even though she has never done this before. 

She keeps her whereabouts a secret and for a long time only teaches him through text and sent pictures, never letting him see her face. Then when they get to a harder part she opens a video with him so she can show him in real time how to apply the hair to the doll. When Hoarse hers her voice he knows that she is his female and feels bad because he's shown her all of his deficiencies over the time that they have been texting. He doesn't feel worthy of her when they meet but she tells him that he is and that makes his heart soar. 

She doesn't know what he looks like but they agree to meet where she is going to distribute the dolls to a bunch of kids. When she is attacked, he comes to her rescue and she gets her first true look at him. She knew he would be big but she didn't realize just how big. There's some killing because he was made for killing and the men had dared to threaten his female. I've read a few of the books in this series and I like how these cyborg's are so fierce. They were made for battle and they don't shy away from spilling blood to defend the people they care about. 

Arlicia is great. She and Hoarse are such a great couple. The cyborg's are brutal but they can also be so sweet, it's quite the contrast and I really enjoy seeing both sides of them. This book was so good. I will definitely have to read more of these cyborg's in the future. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

 

"Frank, put your shirt back on. Well, this zoom meeting isn't going as planned."

"The Aliens have arrived."

*All pictures courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #259

 

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 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

I'm sure you remember a couple of weeks ago I told you about Jessica and Mikey who were using this abandoned truck as their home/drug den. I called the constables office and reported an abandoned vehicle and waited for them to do something. Well, they finally did! My daughter spotted the police outside checking out the truck and then he waited there for the tow truck to show up. 

The officer then pulled around to the other side of the street so the tow truck could hook the truck up. 

The tow truck already had a car on it so he just hooked the front tires to the pulley thingie *Yes, I'm aware that's not what it's called*  and pulled the truck behind his tow truck. 

I didn't see Mikey or Jessica anywhere around when it was towed away but I bet they were surprised when they came out looking for it. I'm just so glad the truck is finally gone. You have no idea how many shouting matches right outside my window I've heard at 3am from these two idiots. 

----

I told you guys that the old shop got a security door a couple of weeks ago. So last Sunday I see married guy and cordless drill woman breaking in again. They got through the security door with some tools. Then later that day I watched them both come out of the old shop. Guess they still have a place for their dirty little sexy times. 

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

Book Review: Etched In Stone by Susan Hayes

 

Book Description

Adina thought she bought a new statue for her collection. Fate sent her a soulmate instead.

Stone has been alive for centuries but he’s never truly lived. Created by magic, he was duty bound to watch over the Drummond family and guard them with his life. Now, his last master is dead and there’s no one left to protect. Instead of gaining his freedom, Stone finds himself locked in his granite form, a living mind trapped inside a statue. Lost in despair and on the verge of madness, the days blend together into one everlasting nightmare...until he begins to dream of her.

Adina Diggersby lives for her art. Sculpting stone is her passion, one that keeps her busy enough she rarely has time to mourn the one thing missing from her life, someone to share it with. The last thing she ever expected was for her newest purchase to come to life and inform her he was her new protector.

Adina won’t rest until Stone is free of the spells that enslave him, but unraveling the dark magic that created him will come at a price. Are these two souls doomed to be forever alone, or is their love strong enough to be etched in stone?

My Review

When Stone's master died, he was trapped in his stone state and wasn't sure he would ever be released. he started to go crazy and then the dreams came. Stone is a gargoyle cursed to be a guardian to the Drummand family and after many years, he thought he would finally be free when the last family member died, but that's not what happened.

Adina wanted the stone gargoyle she saw up for auction online and when she won the auction she had no idea that her life was about to change for the better. 

When the stone gargoyle is delivered to Adina's studio, she is so taken with the statue that she runs her hands all over it, not knowing that there is a very real, very alive being locked inside. But soon enough Stone is released from his stone prison and is standing before her in all of his gargoyle glory. Adina is shocked but not as shocked as much as I would have been. But there's a good reason for that, she lives in Magic, New Mexico where all sorts of magical creatures live. After coming to his senses, Stone assures Adina he means her no harm and then tells her his story. When he transforms into a gorgeous human man, she's even more shocked because they've been having dreams about each other. 

After realizing that Stone has been a prisoner, a slave to the Drummand family, Adina sets out to free him so he can make his own choices but that's easier said than done. She enlists a witch's help and they think they can free him but when someone attached to his last family comes looking for the statue, both Adina and Stone have to fight again for his freedom 

Stone is awesome! Gosh, I just loved him so much. He's fierce, gentle, romantic and very loyal. Adina is perfect for him and I found myself jealous of a fictional character. This was such a fun story. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

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:

2 perfume card samples. 

A $5 Amazon gift card from Crowdtap. 

I like both of the perfume samples. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review- Fever: a Blood Moon Rising Werewolf Romance by Lola Taylor

 

Book Description

When the Blood Moon rises, the wolves come out to play… and find their mates. Danica has about given up on love. In a last-ditch attempt at finding “the one,” she agrees to a blind date through an online dating service. But instead of finding roses and romance, she finds someone intent on killing her. That is, until the mysterious, brooding Gage shows up to save her…. Gage is running out of time to find a mate. If the Blood Moon sets before he can find her, he’ll lose the rank of packmaster—and the peace within the pack he’s worked so hard to obtain. When he saves a luscious blonde in the parking lot of a bar, he has no idea she is his mate—until he Marks her with his touch. Determined to keep her safe at any cost, Gage whisks Danica away into a hidden world full of lust, unlikely love, and treachery. Someone’s put a hit on his mate, and he’s hell-bent on finding out who, all while the Blood Moon looms closer, threatening to destroy his chances at true love forever. That is, if something—or someone—doesn’t kill the woman he’s falling for first.

My Review

Danica is supposed to meet her date at a bar but the guy never shows up. There are a lot of guys in the bar but none of them come up to her even though they check her out so she decides to leave. That's when her date steps out of the shadows and tries to kill her. But Gage, one of the guys from the bar steps in and saves her. 

Gage notices the human in the bar but he doesn't have time for a human right now since he has very little time to find his mate. Gage is a werewolf shifter and he thinks that his mate would also be a werewolf shifter but when he saves Danica, he gets the surprise of his life. A human is his mate and her life just became crazy. 

At first Danica thinks she's been drugged because some of the things she's just witnessed can't possibly be true. After a little time getting her bearings back at Gage's house, she comes to the realization that it's not a hallucination and her life will never be the same. Gage has to find the crazy shifter that is trying to kill his mate but getting to him brings them both face to face with a lot of danger. The danger doesn't stop them from lusting after each other after the mate marks appear on both of them though. 

Gage and his pack are great but there seemed to be a lot of drama going on. They don't really trust Gage to be their alpha because of their last alpha and that causes some problems. Plus the fact that they have to follow some kind of ritual mating ceremony where they have to mate (have sex) in front of the entire pack was a bit weird to me. And she didn't even put up any kind of fight about it. After freaking out at first she just kinda takes everything ok after that which really didn't seem like her personality at all. 

I liked the story premise and most of the story was good but parts of it didn't work for me. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Marked By a Vampire by Angela Sanders

 

Book Description

A night of celebrating a new beginning ends in a nightmare that Grace can’t escape. When she wakes up in a strange place three days later, she realizes her life has been turned upside down. She’s been forced into a world where magic is real along with monsters of myth. The vampire who marked her is hell-bent on making her come to him—to be one of his possessions. Grace soon learns that she was born a powerful witch and with the help of some new and old friends, she learns her craft as she transitions into a vampire/witch hybrid.

It's a race against time as the crazed vampire attempts to take over Grace's mind—he’ll do anything to have her. Matthew, the hybrid who saved her life, will do anything to protect her, even if it means sacrificing his own life.

Deceit, betrayal, and new beginnings.

My Review

Grace and her friends go out to have a good time and run into vampires but they don't realize what they are until it's too late. Grace is bitten but gets away and that's when Matthew finds her and brings her back to his place. He's a hybrid and knows what's going on with her. Grace is a witch but never had any training so her powers never manifested. Now she's a hybrid witch/vampire like Matthew and needs help to keep the vampire that bit her from getting to her mind and making her do things she doesn't want to. 

Matthew and his friends come to her rescue and teach her what she needs to know but the vampire that bit her isn't giving her up without a fight. Grace and Matthew have some feelings for each other right from the beginning but they don't react on their feelings for a while because of everything that is going on. I liked their romance even if it did feel a little rushed towards the end. 

The story was interesting but the writing style didn't help me really get into the story and the characters weren't all that interesting. I wanted to like this but I really didn't.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Discovering Dani by N.J. Walters

 

Book Description

Dani O'Rourke is no stranger to hard work. She’s been raising her two brothers alone since their parents died and she owns and operates her own business, O’Rourke Cleaning Services. Spending all her time working and looking after her family means she’s never had time for men. And if she was going to look for a relationship, it wouldn’t be with an arrogant and cynical man like Burke.

A brush with death has successful businessman Burke questioning his priorities. He’s come to Jamesville for some peace and quiet to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Catching a woman breaking into his cabin certainly isn’t part of his plan, nor is being attracted to her after her finds out just how wrong he was about her.

Burke finds himself caught up in Dani’s family, but is there room in such a gentle woman’s life for a man as hard as him?

My Review

Dani has been taking care of her two brothers ever since her parents died. She owns her own cleaning company and is cleaning out a cabin when she first meets Burke. He thinks that she is stealing from him since she knocked over a briefcase and is putting all the spilled papers back inside when he comes into the cabin. He makes a big mistake telling her he won't call the police if she's "nice" to him. I hated this guy right away. 

Burke has been on his own for a long time and he's made a lot of money for himself. But he has no friends or family and that fact hit him right between the eyes when he had an accident and only a couple of business acquaintances came to see him in the hospital. He made changes after he got out of rehab and wants a family and friends which is why he's in Jamesville. His first real run in with Dani was a complete misunderstanding that made him look like a jerk but she's still nice to him afterwards. 

When Burke realizes that he's made a terrible mistake, he goes to Dani's house to apologize where she invites him in and he has dinner with her and her brothers. Her brothers are very protective of her and don't trust Burke right away. But Burke is kinda in awe of the way they all get along and react towards one another which is not something he's used to since he's never had a real family like Dani does. 

Even though everything seems to be going well for the two of them, Burke once again ends up acting like a complete jerk and emotionally hurts Dani, which made me hate this guy. I really wanted her to erase his memory from her brain and find something worthy of her because his bad temper, irrational behavior and the way he treated her, like picking up and leaving without telling her a thing for over a week was more than I ever would have put up with. But they do get back together more than once and things seem to be working out for them. It ended well but I can't help think that she is going to have nothing but problems with this guy in the future and I still don't like him. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Viking rats, invading to take your snacks."

*All pictures courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #258

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 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

 

The police showed up at 10 PM last week. I only knew because my daughter had just gotten home from work and was outside talking to one of her friends and what she thought was an undercover detective asked her if she lived around here. So she told him she did and he asked what apartment so she told him and he just said ok and then headed down to the drug dealer's apartment that's a couple of doors away from me. My daughter came in and told me what happened so I looked out front and saw three cop cars parked out there. Then looked out my door and saw 2 cops hiding right around the corner of the building and they kept peeking around the corner. They did that for about 20 minutes before knocking on drug dealers door. There was a bit of an argument before drug dealer was told he had to open his security screen door or they would open it themselves. The cops were at his apartment for hours. 

I found out a few days later that police raided his apartment because of all the drug activity and they found heroine and a bunch of other drugs. Drug dealer was arrested but his wife wasn't for some reason. This is the same guy that was arrested over a year ago for attempted murder when he shot a guy that was in his apartment. I was hoping he would be gone for a while but he was out in a week. I waited a week to post this to see if he would be back and sure enough he's back home. I just don't understand how.

The wife was right back at it though before he even got out. There's a bunch of people going to her apartment, staying a few seconds and leaving. This happens all day and all night. It's so obvious she was still selling drugs from her apartment. Maybe the police will raid it again.

Oh and I was able to take a pretty good picture late at night with the phone my daughter gave me because the lights over the freeway have been changed and they are bright as hell! That's why it looks so lit up out where the police cars are, because it is. The light that is right there on the other side of the sound wall is close enough to the wall and taller than the wall that it lights up my street and my courtyard. The drug dealers around here really don't like that. 

Oh and On Thursday drug dealer's car was towed off the street. He's had the car for a couple of months and never put a license plate or tags on it so the cops finally saw it and towed it away.

---

On Sunday night around 10pm when I took Falcor out for the last time, I was walking back in my courtyard and watched a guy and girl come out of drug dealer's apartment and walk down the street. About 20 seconds later this woman storms out of drug dealer's apartment yelling after the guy. She kept screaming, "Where are you going?" But then I noticed that she was completely naked. Nothing on at all and she's just walking around outside not giving one f*ck about it. 

She walked back into the apartment and I walked to my apartment and told my daughter what I just saw. So we are standing outside and naked woman comes outside still naked but holding a towel in front of her. She goes back in and a few minutes later comes out with clothes on and starts screaming for that guy that is long gone now. She left and I didn't see her again until the next day when she was sitting in front of drug dealer's apartment with a couple of luggage type bags. WTH is going on in that apartment?

---

On the 16th someone *probably maintenance* changed my mailbox lock. The mail carrier said he didn't do it so it had to be the maintenance guy. I couldn't go to the post office because they wouldn't have had the key since the mailman didn't change it. I emailed the apartment manager and she said the maintenance guy said he didn't do it. Me and the mail carrier both think he did it and probably changed the wrong lock and didn't want to fess up about it. So on Tuesday the 22nd the mail carrier put the old lock back on my mailbox *because whoever changed it left the old one inside my mailbox*. So at least I can get my mail again. It only took a week this time. I really hope this is the last problem I have with my mailbox for a while. 

The high this week was 108F/ 42C

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

Book Review: The Master Shark's Mate by Zoe Chant

 

Book Review

He's the most feared shifter in the sea.

She's a middle-aged grandma from Arizona.

He may have finally met his match...

Hated and mistrusted. Feared and misunderstood. For decades, the Master Shark has protected the underwater city of Atlantis. Now, his Empress has set him his most difficult mission yet:

A relaxing beach vacation.

Coyote shifter Martha Hernandez doesn't want to take a vacation. She doesn't want to sit around in some fancy all-shifter resort when her pack could be getting up to who-knows-what mischief in her absence. And she definitely doesn't want to bang this mysterious scarred, silent stranger like a screen door in a hurricane.

Nope nope nope. No matter that he's her one true mate. She's a respectable widow with no call to be having such fool notions at her time of life. What would her family think?

But he is the Master Shark. And he has never failed in the hunt...

My Review

Master Shark is just that, the biggest, baddest shark to have ever lived...a megalodon shark shifter. He's now working for the Pearl Empress of Atlantis and everyone either fears him or respects him. He's on vacation by order of his Empress when he spots Martha and knows right away she's his mate. 

Marta is a coyote shifter. I mean could she be any more different from a shark shifter? She's also a middle aged grandmother and alpha of her pack. She had a good life with the father of her kids even if he wasn't her mate. She feels bad for even thinking about Finn, but she knows her husband who is no longer alive would want her to be happy.

First let's talk about Master Shark's name...Finn. A fish named Finn, that's the funniest thing ever. 

Martha doesn't want anything to do with Finn at first but she can't fight her attraction for long and Finn pursues her which makes it harder. So they end up spending time together and it's funny because he doesn't understand everything since he lives most of the time in the sea. 

They wanted to be together but didn't know how that would work since she couldn't leave her pack and he couldn't leave Atlantis since he was second in command. But each knew that the other probably wouldn't be happy giving up their life to live with the other. I loved how when they finally thought they had it all figured out, they get special gifts from someone special that makes everything even more fun. This was so fun to read. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

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: 

Fix hot sauce. 

Salonpas pain relieving patch. 

Belle perfume. 

I cashed out some points on Product Report Card for a $55 Amazon gift card. 

I won a $25 Amazon gift card from a blog contest. 

And received a foam seat cushion from Walmart Spark Reviewer to review. 

The Fix hot sauce is too hot for me. It's a Siracha hot sauce. My daughter liked it though. I love the perfume and will use the Salonpas patch on my back I'm sure. 

The seat cushion fits the chair I have in my bedroom so that's a win. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: His Beloved by Anna Santos

 

Book Description

It was just a silly reality show...

Until he chose her.

Absurdly rich and gorgeous Daniel Wolfe is used to get what he wants. And he wants Jade. The powerful vampire male picks her from the crowd of screaming females willing to do anything to please him. He's convinced that she's the One, His Beloved. But he wasn't prepared for a feisty girl who loathes vampires and doesn't want to be his for all Eternity.

Jade will sacrifice anything—even her freedom—to protect her orphaned little brother. But when she's forced to join a reality show that may keep her away from him, she has to survive hell and temptation to get the money she needs to pay for her brother's treatment.

In a world that reveres vampires and reality shows rule the entertainment channels, Jade needs to endure Daniel's seductive games for a week before she can be released from her contract and go back to take care of her brother.

However, not everything is what it seems and despite her secret past and her hate for vampires, Jade may be facing a worse danger than being bitten: falling in love.

Content Warning: Explicit love scenes, naughty language, and an extremely sexy vampire. Intended for mature audiences.

My Review

Jade is talked into going to a reality show by her friend Jenna who is a bit of a ditz. The reality show is for vampires to pick humans that they will spend a week with and become the vampires pet. Jade doesn't even like vampires but her friend is really hoping to get picked so she goes there to give her friend support. Jade has a sick brother named Stevie who she takes care of ever since their parents died. 

Daniel is the head vampire in charge of the vampire reality show. He spots Jade before the contestants are chosen and she has no idea who he is. It's pretty obvious that Jade doesn't even like vampires but that doesn't stop Daniel from picking her and since she signed a contract to get inside, she can't say no without having to pay a bunch of money.

Daniel believes that Jade is his beloved, his mate but she is so stubborn and scared of vampires that she won't believe anything he says to her but she doesn't mind when he kisses her even though she kept telling him to leave her alone or not touch her. He really doesn't take no for an answer which kinda irritated me. He could have won her over without being so pushy. But there's a reason that Jade is scared of and doesn't trust vampires and Daniel doesn't find out about what happened until later. 

Even though Daniel is pushy at first, he ends up being a nice guy and Jade does finally realize that he's not like the other vampire she knew and starts to trust him a little more. It doesn't hurt that Jade is really attracted to him either. But there are two other girls on the reality show that Jade has to go against in order to win the game and be picked to be with Daniel. One of those girls ends up being Jenna, her best friend. The other is one of Daniel's ex's an she's not happy that Jade seems to be his favorite. There's a little drama that you would expect from a reality tv show but Daniel already knows who he wants to end up with. 

Towards the end of the book, danger seems to pop up out of nowhere and Jade finds herself facing some troubling realities and family secrets. We find out that there's a whole lot more to Jenna than the ditzy persona that she shows to everyone and we get a sneak peek of what the next book might be about. I'm looking forward to seeing how Jenna will react when her mate comes sniffing around her. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon