Book Review: Wickedly Tainted by A E Nalle

 You may be asking where the Freebie Friday post is but since I didn't receive any freebies this week I thought I would review this book since I did get this one for free last month. 

Book Description

One brutal night in her past changed her life forever. Now, sixteen years later, Jill feels as though she is still stuck in the past as new trauma encompasses every waking and unconscious moment. One strong panic attack and a phone call later, Jill’s already chaotic mind is thrust even further into disarray as Damon Santos enters her life yet again.

The one passionate encounter they had nearly put Jill on her knees. She had wanted to relinquish her tightly coveted control for the first time in years. With his crooked grin, dark eyes, and unique brand of domination, Damon slowly breaks down every wall she has built around herself to show her what it means to be truly healed.

But when her past rears its ugly head she must find the strength within herself to fight back and reclaim her life.

My Review

Jill had been brutally assaulted sixteen years earlier. The guy got put away in prison but it hasn't been easy to get her life back on track. Now with panic attacks and an emotional wall that keeps most people away, she isn't doing great. One night she finds her window broke, locks herself in her car and while having a panic attack calls Damon for help. But he finds her after she's fainted. Thinking that she needs medical help, he breaks the car window and gets her out and when she explains what actually happened he helps her through the panic and goes to check out the window. 

She has feelings for him but doesn't want to let him get too close. But the pull between them is strong. He wants to get to know her but she just wants a one night stand to get him out of her system. One night isn't going to be enough for either of them though. Damon is a cop so she seemed to feel safer with him because of that. But she's also taking self defense classes and she's pretty good at it. Damon has a bit of a kinky side which really made this one spicy read, not that I'm complaining. I really liked him. He just wanted to help her through her panic attacks, get to know her more, spend more time with her so she would finally let him in and stop pushing him away. He was very patient with her. Gosh, I just loved him.

I can completely understand Jill being a mess after what's she's gone through and the assault is just one thing that happened. When things start moving around her apartment and her cat goes missing she thinks she might be going a little crazy. The nightmares aren't helping at all either. But what is actually happening is much worse. 

While this isn't my usual type of book, I really enjoyed this a lot. I would say that if talk of SA or assault triggers you at all, this might not be the book for you. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Amazon

Low Carb Side Dish- Roasted Spaghetti Squash

 

You will need:

1 tsp. oil

1 Spaghetti Squash- cut in half

Salt and Pepper to taste

McCormick Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning

McCormick Chipotle and Roasted Garlic seasoning

What To Do: 

Sprinkle each half with salt. Place each half cut side down in a baking dish and let sit for 1 hour to release some of the moisture in the squash. Then, get rid of the liquid and wipe out each squash to get rid of any excess moisture and excess salt. This will help keep the squash from getting mushy.

Add 1/2 tsp. of oil to each half and spread around with your fingers. You don't need a lot of oil. Then add your spices. I used the ones I listed but you can use any you like. You can always add more afterwards if there's not enough on the squash after you shred it. 

Place each half cut side down in a baking dish. Add to a preheated 400 degree oven and bake for 25-40 minutes. Check your squash after 20 minutes to see if it is getting soft. You know this is done when your pierce the inside with a fork and the fork easily slides through the squash and peel. Do not over cook or it will get mushy. 

Remove from oven, use two forks to scrape the inside of the squash to form spaghetti stands. 

I was surprised how easy this was to cook and how good it was. The spaghetti strands still have some crunch to them and it tastes so good. I know some people add pasta sauce to this but I liked it just like this. 

Have you eaten this?

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

We've had a few overcast, rainy days lately. It's been nice. I thought I would get Falcor out for a walk before the clouds opened up but as we were out, it started raining. Falcor finished up and dragged me back home. He doesn't hold my same affection for rain. He doesn't like to get his dainty paws wet. 

Another day all we got were really big clouds, no rain. 

Book Review: My Alien Prince by Reverie Harwood

 

Book Description

Hunky green aliens aren’t what I signed up for…entirely.

After my fiancé left, I impulsively joined my sister on a spaceship for an Earth-sponsored trip to Xavia, a friendly, tropical planet with handsome, alien men.

Getting paid to vacation—was too good to be true. I woke up from stasis to find we’ve been dropped off to serve as wombs for the dying Xavian race. The Xavians are just as surprised as we are and treat us with respect, despite their population crisis. Another alien race has decimated their kind, and almost all their women.

Until Earth returns for their payment, I’m hosted by the Xavian Prince, Drex. As promised, he’s devastatingly hunky, but I’m not jumping into a relationship as quickly as I jumped onto that ship. I’ve learned my lesson, no matter how the sparks start to fly.

Bursting with sexy aliens, steamy fantasy, and smart charm, Rotha Mates of Xavia is a galaxy of dreamy romance and fated happy endings. Dive in.

My Review

Katy and her sister Sara get on a space ship for what they think will be a nice vacation. Katy will get paid for taking photographs of the alien planet and her debt from the wedding that didn't happen will be paid for. They are put into statis for the journey but once they arrive they find out that their government lied to them and they are there to help repopulate the alien species in exchange for some metals that are on the planet.

The aliens are shocked that the human government would lie to the women but make sure that they know that they will be treated well and are under no obligation to mate with anyone. The aliens are very good hosts. But another alien race, are a species everyone has to hide from because they can fly and will kidnap anyone outside. Though it's not really said what happens to them once they are taken, I was under the impression that they are killed and eaten. 

Drex is the alien prince and Katy is being hosted by him in his home. She is adamant that as soon as the ship comes back, she is leaving but the longer she and Drex are around each other, the more she starts to feel something for him. Drex already has feelings for her but is the perfect gentleman until she makes a move and lets him know that she wants more. 

The sex scenes were spicy! Oh my goodness, the author made these alien men, very alien and I liked it. But there is a bit of a miscommunication or not enough communication between them and they almost don't get their happy ending. Katy's sister finds herself mated to Vance, her alien host and they are very happy together so she doesn't want her sister to leave when the ship comes back for their payment of the alien metal. 

I really liked this story, I love the alien men and how gracious and nice they were. I would definitely recommend this if you like alien worlds and alien romance. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Disclosure: I was give this book for free via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #353

 

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 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post. 

There was some loud shouting going on down at drug dealers apartment and the next day their back bedroom window was busted out. I saw they left a small hold in the board, large enough to be able to reach through so they can deal what I suspect are drugs from this window. I see people going up to this window a few times, I mean what else could it be?

---

On the path that I walk Falcor there are two places that the homeless people set up camp. One is down there in the middle of the picture on the left hand side of the police car. Next to the police car there is a Marshall's car and I didn't want to get any closer since the police were down there making the homeless people pack up their shopping carts and leave so they could bring in the trucks to clean the mess that is right in front of the McDonalds there. 

The other place they set up camp is right behind the wall that separates the alley from my apartment complex and the Cal Ranch parking lot. I took a little video of the mess they left after having stayed in this spot for about a week. After this video was taken the same homeless people that were down by the McDonald's in the first picture, came to this area and also packed up what they wanted to keep in their shopping carts and the police called a clean up crew and they used a pick up truck to load everything else up and take it to the dump. I didn't get any video or pictures of it because I knew the clean up crew would be coming really quickly but there were all kinds of spent needles in and among the debris I filmed.

There were 5 people living between the two spots and every one of them frequent drug dealers apartment a lot. If this place gave a damn about the drug dealing and evicted drug dealer, I'm sure that most of these drug addicts would move somewhere else because they seem to want to be close to where they buy their drugs. Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for the homeless people but I really don't like having to walk past this or having people shooting up around every corner around here and leaving dirty needles just laying about for anyone to stick themselves with. 

---

Friday night around 8:30PM  I heard this horrible banging against my living room window and wall. For a second I actually thought someone was trying to break into my apartment through the window. I grabbed my tazer and ran to the door, opened the inner door, leaving the metal security door locked. But no one was outside. So I went outside looking for the person but they were long gone. But one of our chairs that is right by our door is broken now. The table is all cockeyed, and the chair had been dragged a couple of feet. They must have been on a bicycle or something to have been gone that fast. They must have been moving pretty fast because my neighbor's video camera who is recording 24/7 wasn't able to catch on video who or what went by. 

----

The high this week was 66F/18C

The low this week was 37F/2C

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

Product Review: Daily Goodie Box- February

 

The Daily Goodie Box has been around since about July of 2016. I signed up for an account right after I heard about them. They are 100% free, you don't even have to pay for shipping. And for a free box it's a nice sampler box of products.

What was in the box?

Birthday Candles- I've used this brand of candles before and they worked great for my grandsons birthday cake. Always a good idea to have some candles around just in you need them.

Zolli Ball Popz Easter- I love this brands candy. They are sugar free but they taste great. I can eat them and not worry about it and my grandson loves them too. 

Hydrating Face Oil- I'm not big on face oil but this is one of those good ones that absorb right into your skin and doesn't leave it feeling oily. I have been using a little at night and washing it off in the morning before putting on my makeup. 

Hydration Powders- I'm not a fan of hydration powders and this was no different for me. I didn't care for the taste of this. 

Coconut Noodles- While these are low carb and keto friendly, they are a little strange. They are made with coconut water and they taste mildly of coconut but they aren't bad. I made a Chinese stir fry sauce that I found online and had this with some stir fry vegetables. It was just ok for me but not bad, I did eat it. Not sure I would buy this for myself though.

Natural Lip Balm- I like the lip balm, it works well and made my lips feel soft. 

BBQ Chicken Salt- I was hoping to like this because I sauté up some chicken breast to go with my salad most days for lunch and I'm always looking for a new spice to go on it but this was not it for me. It has Tumeric in it and I do not like Tumeric at all. Tumeric has become one of those fads that people believe has a bunch of health benefits so it's in all kinds of stuff now. No thank you. 

Maui Mango- This tea was good. Who knew mango tea would be so good. I would definitely buy this again.

Steeped Coffee Bags- I liked the coffee as well. I'm not a big coffee drinker unless it has a bunch of sweetener and powdered creamer in it. I made this and added the creamer and sweetener, I use Equal because I'm trying to cut most sugar out of my diet and this was a good coffee. I would drink this again.

All they ask you to do is try the products and leave reviews for the products you got in order to be eligible for more Free Goodie Boxes. Daily Goodie Box will send you a box of free samples and full size products and all you do is let them know what you think. Shipping is Free. No credit card required EVER! As you guys already know, I'm a fan of all these types of boxes. I love all the different subscription boxes and it's really nice to be able to try new to me products for free. This is a great box to try for.

Oh and one more thing, if you visit their FB Page, they give away Goodie Boxes to people who interact with their posts. So if you've tried before and weren't able to get a Goodie Box, there's even more ways to get one now.

Daily Goodie Box. It's more than just Free Samples!

Have you signed up? Have you received one of these boxes?

I'm a fan of subscription boxes and love trying new products for free so this was a huge hit with me. New products+free box = Fabulous!

Disclosure: I was given and free box in exchange for a review but all opinions are my own.

Favorite Song of the Week

 

I couldn't find an actual music video for this song, One More night from the band, From The Ash but the song is so good I just had to share it. The lead singer's voice is just so nice. I hope you enjoy it. 

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:

4 perfume/mens cologne samples from Givenchy, Paco Rabanne, and John Varvatos.

I like the Givenchy perfume and the mens cologne smells really nice too.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Forgiveness by Celeste Raye

 

Book Description

Valerie has a normal life that she likes. She still lives at home with her mom, they get along, and she was saving money to finish up her degree. Every day was the same and she was content in it.

She had a boyfriend that she cared for. Life was good. Bland, but good.

All of that changed when she got a mysterious package in the mail. Her aunt had died and left her a house, as well as some assets. She’d never met her aunt, but knew the stories about her. Her Aunt June was a bit eccentric, but Val thought it was time for an adventure.

She got in her car and left. She didn’t know what she was going to find when she got there, but Valerie knew that it had to be better than the same old thing. Her contentment with her life took a sudden veer to the left and she was wondering what she was doing.

Then she met Frank.

Frank changed everything at a time when a relationship was the last thing on her mind.

He wanted more than she was willing to give, but he pushed boundaries to get what he wanted. He made her fall for him and Valerie was lost from the first time that they kissed. When his arms went around her, she felt like the world was anew and everything was going to be better than before. With Frank, everything else just fell away and they were the only two left.

But Frank wasn’t at all what he appeared. He had a wild side to him that she scared her.

She had to decide if she wanted her old, dull life back, or something new. It was frightening as hell, but Valerie was drawn towards the beast, as well as the man.

My Review

Val didn't know her aunt but when she died, her aunt left her a house. She goes to check out the house and meets Frank the neighbor. He's nice and hot and seems to have known her aunt really well. So she chats it up with Frank to get to know her aunt a little better and when she realizes that she really likes it there, she decides to stay instead of selling the land and house like her mother and boyfriend wants to her. 

What Val doesn't know is that Frank has a secret and so do some of the townspeople and they are hoping she will sell most of the land back to the people of the town that have been there for generations. Things are not what they appear to be and when Val finds out that her aunt might have been killed and how it has to do with her land, she finds herself in danger as well. Frank isn't going to let anything happen to her though and they fall for each other really fast, too fast if you ask me. I liked them as a couple of but I didn't feel the romance was real for most of it. The characters weren't as vibrant and believable as I would have liked but the story ended up being good in the end. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Goodreads

Book Review: For What It's Worth by Josephine Light

 

Book Description

Koda Tucker is lying. Or at least she’s not telling the whole truth. Despite what the tests say, she’s not a beta, she’s an omega—one that doesn’t even perfume properly. For years she’s managed to hide her scent, but it becomes increasingly difficult after she catches the attention of an alpha pack.

Jenson is her professor. He makes her feel like the most important person in the world. Aidan is the gorgeous male who isn’t as self-assured as he appears. And Lorenzo is the quiet alpha who makes her feel safest when she’s in his arms. All three are pursuing her, but what happens when they find out she isn’t a beta?

What happens when the academy finds out?

Be Warned: reverse harem romance (MFMM), anal sex, triple penetration, public exhibition

My Review

Koda is an Omega but she smells like a Beta so she can do things that most other Omega's cannot. She is at college with Alpha's and Beta's but if they find out she's an Omega she'll have to go to the Omega complex. Koda is getting along fine until she comes across Enzo, Jenson and Aidan who are all part of the same pack. They make her feel things that she hasn't felt before and they know her secret. She feels comfortable around them and starts to feel more but doesn't want to give up what she has. The Alpha's want her as their Omega and after a while they just stop fighting what they all feel. I liked the lead up and getting to know one another a little bit before their hormones took over and they all ended up in bed together. It was a very hot and spicy read. 

I would have liked a little more back story about the whole Alpha, Omega and Beta thing and why Omega's are treated so differently. But it was a fun read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

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

Amazon

Book Review: The Last Blackstone Dragon by Alicia Montgomery

 

Book Description

This is a short novella that serves as a prequel to the Blackstone Mountain Series.

Brooding dragon shifter + feisty human + a marriage of convenience = sexy shifter action, hot romantic moments, and a HEA to satisfy you!

Henry “Hank” Lennox was the last of his family of dragon shifters, and heir to the crumbling Blackstone empire. In order to protect his people and his legacy, he decides on the unthinkable: buy himself a wife to produce the next generation and secure the future of his family. It was a purely business transaction, so he never thought the bride he meets on his wedding day could also be his mate.

Riva Sinclair would do anything to save her father and their family business, even going into an arranged marriage with a dragon shifter. It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, a contract that stated she was bought and paid for. Still, she never expected to be so attracted to her husband, and the sky-high walls she put up to protect her heart are starting to crumble.

The same circumstances that brought to them together are about to tear them apart. Can they learn to trust each other or will their pasts destroy the fragile feelings that are only starting to bloom?

The Last Blackstone Dragon is a paranormal dragon shifter novella that's about 30,000 words in length. It has explicit romantic love scenes, naughty language, and shifter suspense action with guaranteed HEA (happy ever after) and no cliffhangers! 


My Review

Hank is the last dragon shifter in his family ever since his brother died. He's trying to keep his company above ground and running but things are not looking good. In order to find a mate, have kids and carry on his family legacy, Hank decides to make a marriage contract with another family but the woman he signs the contract with has a few demands of her own. Her father's company is in trouble and they need the money from this marriage contract to keep the company.

Hank and Riva don't meet until they are at the alter because this is a business transaction, nothing more. Things suddenly change when Hank realizes that Riva is his mate and they are both attracted to each other. Hank doesn't know how to act around her and comes off rude which really irritates Riva and she lets him know it. I loved that she wasn't a pushover and held her own with him. 

There was a person who was backstabbing behind the scenes and trying to make problems for Hank and Riva right from the very start. I had a feeling I knew who the bad guy was and I was right but I didn't know to what extent they had made some really bad choices to get their way. It was nice to see them get what they deserved. The ending was great as we got to see what their future looked like and who would be in the next book. I had a good time with this novella. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #352

 

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 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post. 

My daughter took these pictures as she was walking down the street one night and said they police had some guy out and was giving him a field sobriety test. 

She didn't see anyone get arrested do maybe he passed the test was let go. I'm not sure but she say the guy lived in the apartments across the street. 

----

I told you last week that a white dog was roaming around the neighborhood and attacking people and other animals. So my daughter's ex has been calling animal control every day to try and get them to do something about the dog. But the owner of the dog has been hiding and has not been at home or answering the door. The ex said he's seen the dog with several other people but he doesn't know where most of them live so he can't send animal control to their apartment. The ex went to the doctor and he is indeed going to have to have surgery on his hand for nerve/tendon damage. So if the owner keeps hiding the ex might not ever be able to sue him for damages.

Update: I just found out yesterday from someone that lives down there near the dog owner that the dog owner packed up his stuff in a truck in the middle of the night and took his dog with him when he left. At least the dog is out of the neighborhood but that means the ex probably won't be able to find out who he is to sue him for medical damages. 

___

Someone with a gun has been seen in our alley twice so we are keeping an eye out for that.

The high this week was 67F/19C

The low this week was 29F/-1C

It was cold this week.

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

I heard this song, Terrified from Versus Me on Tiktok and liked it so much I had to find it and add it to my list on Youtube. I hope you enjoy it. 

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:

Lip color samples. 

A perfume sample. 

The lip color samples are not my colors. But I love that perfume. It smells so good. Kinda like flowers. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Favorite Picture of the Week!

 

This week I have some dark clouds and crazy cloud formations. It barely sprinkled from all these dark clouds and I was surprised. I was hoping for some rain.

The cloud formation just looked interesting to me. 

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. 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. 

Our House In Enumclaw, Washington 1977

 I'm gonna tell you a true story about this house we lived in for a year in Washington State and why it still gives me the creeps. 

Back in 1977 when I was 7 years old we moved into a huge house in Washington State. We moved there because my mom had a bunch of family there and she wanted to spend some time with them. We still had our house back in California and my parents planned on moving back after a while. I loved the house we moved into because it had so many rooms and places to play hide and seek with my brother. One day my brother and I were playing in the huge basement where the washer and dryer was and noticed a door in the back of the basement. It was locked but it had one of those big keyholes below the door knob and we were able to look into the room. We saw hospital beds with bloody sheets, medical cabinets with medical instruments and old medicine bottles in that room. 

We ran upstairs to tell our parents but at first they didn't believe us. So my mom came down and had a look through the keyhole and ran back upstairs to get my dad who was able to get the door open easily. We all went into the room and my dad was shocked, my mom was scared and then they saw the long, dark tunnel that led from that room to somewhere. There were light switches on the wall and my mom turned it on and that long tunnel lit up with dim lights. 

They turned the lights off and ushered us out of the room, shut the door and made us go upstairs. My dad called the owner of the house who we were renting from and was yelling at him.  I later found out that the house we were renting used to be the mortuary and funeral home for the old folks home that was right behind us a little ways down the street. The tunnel led back to the basement of the old folks home and when one of the residents passed away they used the tunnel to transport the body over to the funeral home (my house). 

To make matters worse, the house had a caretaker that had keys and he would come and go especially from the basement where the lawn care stuff was kept. The basement had a door that led outside and he would come in and out through there. My mom would be heading down to the basement where the washer and dryer was to do laundry not expecting anyone to be there and he would be down there. The first few times he scared her and my dad almost beat the hell out of him when he heard my mom screaming. But he quickly told them who he was. Dude was lucky, because my dad was not a nice guy.

The owner never did clean up that room and my brother and I used to go peek inside the room through the keyhole all the time until we moved back to California. 

My brother keeps telling me that I should write a book about our lives. Instead I'll just share these crazy stories. 

Links to the past stories. 

January 2023

Book Review: Kingdom of Blood (Complete Series 1-3) by Callie Rose

 

Book Description

I’ve dedicated my life to slaying vampires. Now I’m about to offer up my blood.

When my brother gets into some serious trouble with the Vampire Clan of Baltimore, there’s only one thing I can do to save his ass.

I decide to offer myself up as a blood tribute, infiltrate their underground palace, and find a way to get him out. But playing the part of a simpering blood bag is harder than I expected, especially when my first impulse is to put a stake through the heart of every vamp I meet. To make matters worse, I’ve somehow caught the eye of three dangerous vampire men:

Bastian, an ancient prince with features as cold as ice and eyes that burn like fire. Rome, a darkly sexy rebel who just returned from a hundred-year banishment. And Connor, a newly turned vampire whose lopsided grin is so devastatingly human that I almost forget he’s the enemy.

Even though I want to hate them all, they keep getting under my skin in ways I can’t explain. But if I let myself lose focus for even a second, it won’t just be me who pays for it. My brother will suffer too. I’ve danced with the devil plenty of times…

But this time, the dance might kill me.

The Kingdom of Blood series is a paranormal vampire romance. The heroine is tough but flawed and the three (anti)heroes are sexy and dangerous.

Books in this set:

Blood Debt

Dark Legacy

Vampire Wars

My Review

Mikka's brother, Nathan owes bad people a lot of money. So in order to pay them back and get out of their reach, he decides to offer himself up as tribute to the vampires. Meaning, he just signed a contract to became a blood bag and stay at their palace for the terms of the contact. Mikka finds out about this and is out of her mind, not only worried but angry beyond belief because she's a vampire hunter. Ever since her parents had been killed by vampires when she was younger she's hated them all and is determined to save her brother.

Mikka's plan is to go in under cover and offer herself up as tribute to the vampires, get her brother out and go on with her life. But things are a lot different than she thought they would be once she gets there and sees how things work and realizes her brother is in real trouble. While a few of the vampires treat their tributes gently and civilizes, there are others who don't see humans as more than food and aren't gentle about feeding, not caring whether they survive at all. 

Mikka is seeing all of this and has caught the eyes of three different vampires, one being the Prince who should be in charge but really isn't as he defers to the elders instead. I really liked that we got a crash course in vampire hierarchy as well as vampire politics. While I liked the trilogy, I really think that these three books could have been cut down to two books because some parts were really boring and it felt like there was a lot of filler added that didn't need to be there and that slowed down the flow of the story for me. 

I had the complete three book series already and I would strongly suggest buying the complete series if you start this series because the first book ends in a place that really would have made me mad enough not to get or read the second book if I hadn't already had it. The first book starts slow and even though I had a hard time with the flow of the story in the first book I went ahead and kept reading. Things do pick up in the second book and the story does get better but it wasn't until the third and last book that I really started enjoying this series. The ending was great and I really liked how Mikka, Rome, Bastian and Connor all ended up together. 

The twist that happens to usurp Bastian's throne and throws them all together was one of the highlights of this story and really got me more invested in reading this to see what would happen next. So while I had some problems with this series, it was well worth the read. 

I give this series as a whole, 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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