Book Review: Big Girls Bite Back by Lissa Lynn Thomas

 

Book Description

A vampire, a werewolf, and a demon all walk into a bar...

Sounds like the start of a bad joke. Want another? Alright, how’s this?

They bring with them a greater demon and the most powerful vampire in all of NYC. One wants my help, the other wants me dead.

Hysterical. Too bad it’s not a joke—just a typical Saturday night for me.

I guess the upside is having sex with me hasn’t sent any of these smexy troublemakers to the hospital... yet...

Frackin’ fudge fluffers...

Contains mm interactions, bi & pansexual characters, lots of humor and sexy scenes.

My Review

Elora goes to her friend with a slight problem. Anytime she sleeps with a guy, he ends up needing the ER because she has drained him of energy and she doesn't know how or why. Her father just wants her to find a nice witch/warlock in their coven and settle down and she just wants to live her life. So when she asks her friend to make her a spell to only attract men who can handle the energy she pulls from them, the men come out of the shadows looking for her. 4 men, shifter, demon, vampire and human come looking for her when they feel a pull towards their mate. 

They all have their own problems and the guys have to get used to Elora having more than one mate which some of them don't like but they make it work for the most part eventually. 

They have to deal with a crazy bad guy coming after them so they have to run. All of them have to come to terms with the arrangement they have if they all want to have a relationship with her. They get to know each other better while on the run from a bad guy which was fun as well. It was a good story and the action was great, their relationship is complicated at times but incredibly spicy. This was a fun read. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Summer Sunrise in Vegas.

Summer Sunset in Vegas. 

My camera stopped working so I'm back to taking pictures with my phone or tablet for now. So pictures going forward might be a little blurry. Sigh.

Book Review: Alpha's Choice by Julie Ranseth

 

Book Description

Some choices are worth the risk

When Emma Chambers finds herself falling for Alpha Tobias Parker, she can't help but feel a little unsure. Werewolves take mates seriously and, as a human, she doesn’t know if she's ready for the challenge.

As their bond strengthens and love blooms between them, danger lurks nearby. An unknown creature is hunting human females, and now Emma and Tobias must protect their love and the pack.

Can their newfound bond withstand the test of time, or will they succumb to the dangers of the unknown?

My Review

When Emma's mother finds her wolf shifter mate, Emma finds out about shifters and moves with her mother and stepfather to his pack. Emma is young and Tobias the pack alpha is young so of course they act like 20-something young adults would and make mistakes along the way. But because they are so young I had a hard time relating to them at all. Emma acted childish a few times and I had a hard time liking her. When Tobias realizes that she is his mate, for a wolf shifter it's instantaneous and expects her to act like a shifter would and just accept that they are mates, but she's human. 

There are some misunderstandings and a creature hunting females that put them all in danger. I liked the drama, danger and action but could have done without all the angst in their relationship because she's so young and in her first ever relationship. I might keep reading this series just to see if it gets any better. I did like the ending of this book though. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"I got a new backpack for back to school."

"I found a Cheerio."

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

Apartment Life #330

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

This is the security for my apartment complex that I told you about a few weeks ago. Signs were put up with their phone number if we wanted to call them. They are not here all the time or even at regular times. You never know when you might see them. But the thing is, they never seem to get out of their car. They pull up on the street, sit there for 15 minutes and leave and then I don't see them again for a few days. lol Good going guys. Way to make us feel protected. 

I told you guys a while back that the painters never replaced the address numbers on the buildings after they painted my complex. So twice over the last 2 months I've sent them emails telling management that ambulances were having a hard time finding the right building and addresses and that could be a health hazard. They never responded but the building numbers are on the buildings again. At least the buildings closest to the street...

You can see the two buildings in this picture I took when the buildings in my courtyard were being painted. There are no building numbers for the back buildings now. 

There are two buildings in each courtyard and each one has a different building number. Well they didn't put up the building numbers for the back buildings closest to the alley, just the ones closest to the street. They messed up again. Good going guys, job well done, yet again. *Good grief*

---

On Friday I saw a bunch of police on my street. 

Whew boy, there was a lot of police on the street. I heard one guy say that someone got stabbed.

So I stood outside to see if I could hear anything else. Apparently 2 homeless people got into a fight and one stabbed the other in the arm.

I did see a guy be put in this police car. I never saw an ambulance but they could have come before I saw anything happening because the police weren't out here for very long. 

When I went out with the dog later after all the police had left, I found some blood on the sidewalk.

It wasn't an enormous amount but enough that you could tell someone got hurt.

Hopefully the guy is alright.

The high this week was 113F/45C

The low this week was 88F/31C

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

 

Stray Kids- CHK CHK Boom

I've told you before that I like some KPOP and this group is one of those KPOP groups that I really like. I saw that they had some new songs out and I really liked this one and wanted to share it. I hope you enjoy. 

How An Allergy To Raw Shrimp Got Worse Over Time

 

Back in 2012 I wrote a blog post about my allergy to raw shrimp but not cooked shrimp. Click the link to read it if you want. That post has over 44K views and over 100 comments from people who have the same allergic reaction to raw shrimp. That's a lot of people especially since I thought it would be a weird reaction that would be rare, obviously it's not. If I touched raw shrimp with my bare hands, I would get redness, itching and blisters.

In the past year I have noticed that my allergy has slowly gotten worse. Whenever I ate cooked shrimp, my mouth would itch and sometimes burn or sting. My throat started hurting but the reaction only lasted about 30 minutes so like with the other foods that cause this reaction (banana, avocado, cantaloupe, honey dew melon) I just dealt with it and ate it anyway. 

That is until about a month ago when I ate some shrimp that I cooked and within a few minutes the palms of my hands started burning and itching like crazy. The first time it happened the itching lasted for about 40 minutes and my back started itching too. 

I wanted to make sure that it was because of the shrimp so I ate some more a few weeks later and sure enough within a few minutes the palms of my hands started itching really bad and then so did my back. There were no hives, no visible marks, just incredible crazy itching. But this time the reaction lasted for an hour. So as of now, I don't eat shrimp anymore. I hope the other allergies for foods that I have don't get any worst. 

How weird is that, right? Do you have any food allergies?

Book Review: Claimed By The Cthulhu by Wendi Gogh

 

Book Description

MONSTER SPEED DATING—sounds fun, right?

Except my life as a marine biologist takes a slippery turn when I mistake a cthulhu for an octopus, only to find him seated across from me on date night.

Now, every time I turn around, he’s there.

Watching.

Winking.

Waiting until I succumb to his charm.

But I’m not ready for love. I have my studies, a mission to save the ocean, and a secret darker than the deepest depths of the sea.

Will Chaos claim me as his, or will I run from him like everyone else in my life?

My Review

Do you like a fun monster romance? If you answered yes, then I have the perfect book for you because this was so much fun!

Chaos is a Cthulhu and a scientist who is looking for a cure for his people so they don't have to keep suffering through the spawning instinct that they can't fight each year. Monsters are known, they are out and humans know about them. 

Marea and Chaos run into each other in the water and she thinks he might be an octopus but things get spicy between them right away. Marea thinks she won't run into Chaos again but when she goes to a monster speed dating outing with her friend, Chaos is there and he's not letting Marea get away this time. 

Along with the fun romance there's also some very deep, heavy topics going on with some of the secondary characters including child loss, spousal loss, and some scientific findings to help his people. 

But the romance between Chaos and Marea was so funny and spicy at times that I found myself laughing at them. He's such a great character and he's so sweet, I just loved him so much. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Falcor Funnies

It's been really hot here 117F/47C so I bought Falcor some booties to protect his paws. He hates them. lol 

But the videos of him getting used to them are funny. 

Book Review: Protection of A Bear by Jennifer Snyder

 

Book Description

His bear wants her, but she’s running scared from her past. Will he be able to save the woman who’s managed to capture his heart?

Hunter Shaw and his bear lead a tranquil life managing Shaw Cabins with his three siblings on their family mountain. That is until he meets a woman who stirs something in them both, causing Hunter to feel restless in his own skin. His previously content existence now feels lifeless and hollow. Hunter needs more—he needs her.

Naomi Hart recently broke things off with someone and left town. The problem is, her ex didn’t accept. Now she’s in a cabin on a mountain terrified he’ll find her. When the attractive owner of the cabins, whom she can’t seem to stay away from, offers to protect her, Naomi knows she shouldn’t take him up on it. After all, her ex isn’t exactly human.

As the attraction between Hunter and Naomi grows stronger, her pursuer catches up with her. Hunter understands in order to protect her, he may need to release his bear. But will Naomi accept what he is, or will fear of his family secret push her away?

My Review

Naomi is on the run from her ex-boyfriend who happens to be a panther shifter. He's not taking no for an answer and he's been sending her texts letting her know she's his and he's on his way to find her. She just wants to be left alone after seeing that the ex is not a nice guy. 

A lady Naomi has never met before gives her something at a gas station and tells her about a bakery for a better snack than what she could find at the gas station. So she goes there and runs into Hunter. Hunter is having a bad day and the fact that Naomi just bought the last sprinkle donut does nothing to alleviate his grumpiness. So when they run into each other again and he helps her during a bad thunderstorm, they stop fighting the attraction they feel for one another and get together. But her ex is still sending her texts and has no intention of letting her go. She wants to leave but Hunter tells her he can help her but she has no idea that Hunter is also a shifter. So when they showdown happens, the ex is in for a shock. 

Hunter is a big, burly, kinda grumpy dude. But he turns into a love sick fool once he and Naomi get together. Who knew that finding your mate could make that much of a difference in your personality. 

His brothers are great secondary characters and I am looking forward to seeing them find their mates as well. This was such a fun read. I liked that we got to see how things are working out in the epilogue at the end of the book too.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Just having a chocolate covered strawberry."

"I like grapes."

"We all like licking chocolate residoo off mom's fingers."

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

Apartment Life #329

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The police helicopter was flying right over my head for a few minutes while I was out walking with Falcor. No police cars showed up though.

I spotted these pretty purple flowers near someone's door across the street and just had to get a picture of them. I love purple flowers. Purple is my favorite color.

I spotted the Blimp close to my neighborhood this week. I hardly ever see it flying around anymore. I remember when I was a kid in the 70's it would fly around at night and had blinking lights on it that would turn into Pac Mac type characters that would chase each other. I wonder if anyone else remembers that?

We had some wind this week and some of the branches on the tree across the street broke and were on the ground. 

You know that PODS container that I've talked about? People keep spray painting graffiti on it. 

On Wednesday when my daughter was heading back from the store she found this bullet standing on the block wall. I don't know why someone left a single bullet on the wall. Maybe as a warning to someone? Or maybe they were loading their gun and just forgot it there? Who knows.

It says it's a .38 special. I know there's plenty of people around here who have guns, it could have been anyone. But with the price of ammunition these days according to my brother, I'm wondering why someone would leave a bullet out like this.

---

I got a video of the guy I was talking about a while back that keeps trying people's doorknobs to see if they are unlocked. For two hours on Wednesday he stood over here walking back and forth talking and yelling to himself and a few times he stood in front of that window staring into it. He's homeless, schizophrenic and I'm guessing is on drugs which makes the mental problems worse. The police won't do a thing about him trying doorknobs or looking into windows, they've been called but I now have this and other videos of him just in case things escalate.  

----

I also wanted to let you know that my daughter has been posting on her blog, Gloomy Gardens again if you want to visit. It's funny because we sometimes post about the same things. lol She laughs because I use her some of her food pictures from Instagram that she takes because they come out better than mine. 

The high this week was 108F/42C

The low this week was 78F/25C

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

Favorite Pictures of the Week

Last week the smoke from the wildfires in California gave us here in Las Vegas some great sunrises and sunsets. Here are some of the pictures I took last week.

Some of the pictures aren't great because I had to resort to taking pictures with my tablet since my camera stopped working. 

But the colors were so pretty.

The clouds on some of these days really helped make the sunsets nice and bright.

This is both from the smoke and the clouds. 

Sunset when it wasn't as smoky but still a little cloudy. 

Have a nice weekend.

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: 

I cashed out another $100 Amazon gift card from Inbox dollars for playing games. 

I also received a $25 Amazon gift card from World Winner games. I just cashed out my points on each website. 

And Falcor received a small can of wet dog food from Fur Buddies last week. He liked the food too. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

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.

My Mom's Boyfriend, Fuzzy

My mom had several boyfriends after she and my dad divorced and when I was 14 her boyfriend's name was Fuzzy, he didn't last very long but he was always at the house. Fuzzy liked to get into my room and take the food that I bought for myself. I was working babysitting and cleaning houses for two ladies on my street. My mom didn't buy a lot of food so I was buying some stuff for myself, not a lot just a few things like a couple of cans of corned beef hash and some beef jerky. Fuzzy would get into my room and go through my things and find my food and eat it. 

So I went to a veterinarian's office bought two cans of the high priced wet dog food that looked like it could substitute for corned beef hash because it had the little chunks of potato in it. And I replaced the label from my corned beef hash with the label from the dog food. And then I hid them in the same place in my room. I also bought some dog jerky it was like begging strips or something like that and put it in the bag of my jerky. He found both of those and was eating a bowl of corned hash when I got home from babysitting one night, and he kept making a weird face while he was eating it and I just looked at him and said are you okay. And he said the corned beef hash doesn't taste right. I think it might have gone bad. And I was like oh okay, but he kept eating it. And then he found the other can and he did the same thing a couple of days later and after he was all done with the bowl of corned beef hash, I looked at him and said I hope you liked the dog food. 

He didn't pay any attention to me at all. And he ate a couple of strips of the supposed beef jerky and said that it wasn't good that whatever I had gotten he didn't think it was good anymore and that's when I told him that he should stay out of my stuff maybe, go buy your own stuff and he just laughed at me. And of course my mom said nothing she just didn't care. 

So I bought another can of the good dog food and hid it in my room and this guy was so dumb that he didn't look at the label he just picked up the can, opened it and started eating it. So I picked the the can up out of the trash and set it on the counter when he was just about done with the bowl of "corned beef hash" and said did you even read this? And he just looked at me and smiled because he thought he was you know, eating my corned beef hash and I started reading what was on the label and it said something to the effect of wet dog food, veterinary recommended. 

And he stopped and he jumped up and he grabbed the can off the counter and he started reading it himself and it finally dawned on him what I had done. And he started laughing about it but not the usual belly laugh that he had when he was eating my stuff. It was more of a oh yeah you got me, I'm going to get you back for that one. And he just kept looking at me and giving me dirty looks all day but I stopped buying anything and hiding it in my room. 

If I wanted to use my money for a snack or something I would just go to Wendy's that wasn't too far away and buy myself a hamburger and eat it before I got home because I knew nothing in my room was safe from my mom or any of her boyfriend's. They didn't last long after that and I was really glad to see him go.

Links to past stories

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January 2023

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April 2023

May 2023

June 2023

July 2023

August 2023

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December

2024

January 2024

February 2024

March 2024

April 2024

May 2024

June 2024

July 2024

Recipe: Crunchy Air Fried Chickpeas

 

I've been looking for things I can make in the air fryer that are either low carb, low calorie or both. I came across a recipe for air fried chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) and thought why not. I've used chickpeas in my salad as an add on so I already had a can of them. 

You will need: 

1 can of chickpeas (Drained, rinsed and dried)

Spices of your choice. 

Paper towels to dry the chickpeas.

No calorie cooking spray.

What to do: 

Drain the can of chickpeas and rinse them well. Lay out a few paper towels and place the rinsed chickpeas on them. Let the chickpeas air dry for about an hour. You want them completely dry or they won't crisp up really good. You can change and replace the bottom paper towels if they are too wet and the chickpeas aren't getting dry. Use another paper towel to pat them on top and move them around on the paper towel over the hour so the entire surface gets dry. 

Once dry, place the chickpeas into the air fryer. Do not add any oil or spices at this time. The spices will just burn if you do. Take the basket out and shake the chickpeas every 5-10 minutes while they are cooking so they don't burn on any one side. Cook for about 15 minutes on 375. Check them often so they don't burn though. If they aren't crispiness after 15 minutes, cook for a few more minutes. 

Add the cooked chickpeas to a large bowl and add whatever spices you like to them. Spray them with just a little no calorie cooking spray before adding the spices to the bowl so the spices stick better to them. I added smoked paprika, salt, roasted garlic and herb seasoning and steak seasoning. Mix well while they are still hot and let sit in the bowl for 10 minutes before using. 

For each 1/2 cup (Before they're roasted) there's about 120 calories. 

7 Grams of protein. 

3 Grams of fat. 

24 Grams of carbs. 

They shrink up quite a bit after they're roasted so I use a little less than 1/2 a cup for a serving in my salad.

These crunchy chickpeas are great on salad. You can also just snack on them if you aren't counting calories or carbs. Store them in an open bowl or put a loose lid on a jar. If you seal them up they tend to lose their crispiness. They stay good for a couple of days but they don't last long here since I use them in my salads. They start to taste stale after 3 days to me. I leave mine in an open bowl on the counter. 

Book Review: Princess broken by Mara Leigh

 

Book Description

Are the four sworn to protect me the real danger?

Born Anastasia Romanov, I was turned by a vampire king when my family was massacred. As a newly turned vampire, I remained a virgin, secluded in the vampiric palace for over a hundred years.

Finally out in the world, I long to see everything, to do everything, to feel everything I've long-suppressed, but someone, or something is hunting me. And when a diplomatic meeting goes horribly wrong, I’m taken by four massive vampires, ruthless killers with a strict code, who claim they're duty bound to protect me—forever.

My captors are undoubtedly handsome, but also huge and scary and obsessively protective. Captive in their luxurious lair, I'm tempted by newly awakened passions and long dormant needs. Deeper feelings develop, but forming connections—physical or emotional—goes against my bodyguards' strict code. And my royal duties are far more important than my personal desires—or the possibility of love.

**Princess Broken is Book 1 in Her Psycho Vampire Bodyguards, a steamy, vampire romance series where the heroine has four devoted love interests who together fulfill her deepest desires.**

My Review

Anastasia (Ana) is set to met with a crime boss but when she's almost kidnapped and her blood donor is killed, 4 vampire bodyguards save her and take her. She's been hold up in the vampire castle since she was turned into a vampire about a century ago after her entire human family was murdered. She's been very sheltered and now with her freedom, she's wanting to live a little so to speak. Her vampire bodyguards are willing to do whatever she wants even though she's supposed to be hands off for them. They end up falling for her and she falls for them. 

When the vampire bodyguards think that her blood donor is actually alive, they have no choice but to bring her back to him because they think he's Ana's mate even though he was just her blood donor. He had feelings for her but she never loved him. 

There was a lot going on in this book. There was a lot of danger for Ana and the twists just kept coming. I never knew where this story was going to end up. The storyline was good for the most part but it was rather wordy and lagged a bit in parts.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #328

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The maintenance guy was in my apartment "fixing" my stove. One burner didn't work at all and one burner gets red hot *too hot* even on low. There's just one temperature for that burner and it seems to be stuck on "my coils can melt lava" and I tried telling the maintenance guy this. But he doesn't speak much English and chose to ignore what I said when he turned that burner on and it "Worked". 

I'm tempted to take a hammer to the damn thing so it doesn't work at all and call him back out to "fix" it again. I hate calling maintenance out to my apartment.

A couple of weeks ago I took a walk with Falcor down to the end of the street one of the days where it was overcast and cloudy and a bit cooler out because of it. I spotted these flowers in the grass and caught a picture of them. No idea what they are. 

On Friday morning my daughter noticed that water was dripping from my AC unit on the inside of my apartment and right onto the electrical outlet. She put some paper towels up there to catch the water because that could cause a fire. So I had to put in another maintenance request and he came out right away. Then this dumb a$$ proceeds to tell me that I need to turn the AC off for 2 hours because the condenser is frozen and it needs to thaw and dry out and that's where all the water is coming from. 

It is 110F/43C and NO I will not be turning the AC off for two hours. My husband was an AC technician so I know that if the condenser was frozen the coils would have white frost on them and would be frozen and it wouldn't be blowing cool air. I'm not an idiot. Do your damn job and fix it. So I said no, to get some tape and seal where it's leaking on the inside, right on top of the electrical outlet so it drips through the hole on the outside of the unit like it's supposed to. But he wanted to argue with me until I got a little loud and then he just stopped and said, "Ok, I'll go get tape." LOL 

He went and got some tape, taped it up, and I was hoping that would be the end of it...

Whenever he's done with a maintenance job he has to take a picture of it and send it to the office. He did nothing to take a picture of!

The very next day on Saturday I had to call maintenance out again for the dripping A/C. When I went out early in the morning I saw a different maintenance guy on property so I told him that I put in a maintenance request and what for. He said they hadn't sent it to him yet but he would be right over. I was hoping this guy would come and not Juan from the day before. So it was a different guy this time who seemed to know what he was doing. 

He took a wet vac and sucked the water out, cleaned the coils, blew out the pan the water drips on, in case there there was sludge blocking the hole to the outside where it's supposed to drip out. Then he used a different tape to tape it back up. Hopefully this finally helps.

Oh and he had to use my step ladder because he said someone (most likely the homeless people) broke into the maintenance shop and stole all the ladders.

The high this week was 110F/43C

The low this week was 89F/31C

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