Review: Quinn by D.B. Reynolds

Book Description

Ireland—a land of magic and fantasy, of fierce warrior kings and fairy mounds . . . and, of course, vampires who’ve been around for nearly as long as those beguiling fey.

Brilliant and ambitious, Quinn Kavanagh was aiming for the top, even before he was turned. But now, as a powerful vampire lord, he’s driven by the demands of his blood, compelled to conquer and destroy, to defeat Ireland’s criminal ruler, and make the territory a better place for all its vampires and humans alike. 

Smart and beautiful, Eve Connelly was a graduate student with life’s endless possibilities stretched out before her. She knew nothing of vampires and didn’t care . . . until she watched two of them murder her beloved brother. Now she’s driven, too. But she doesn’t want to help Ireland’s vampires—she just wants to kill them.

Bound together by love and hate, Quinn and Eve will risk everything to bring down the bloody regime of Ireland’s current vampire ruler. But in order to find revenge for Eve and the ultimate power for Quinn, they first have to learn to trust each other. And that might be the most dangerous thing of all . . . . 

My Review

Eve had seen her brother brutally murdered by vampires and she vowed that day she would get justice or revenge for her brother's murder. She finds herself going out at night and killing vampires. She's hunting down bad vampires and getting rid of them.

Quinn had plans of becoming Lord of Ireland and he was willing to do whatever it takes in order to get what he wanted. So when he notices Eve going into an alley with two bad looking vampires, his first instinct is to leave her be but he changes his mind and goes to make sure she's alright only to find that she can take care of herself.

I found the first half of the book pretty slow but things do pick up a bit after that and we find Quinn trying to take over another vampire's territory and criminal business. The battle that happens between these two vampires is crazy and I would say blood filled but when vampires die they turn to dust so it's dust filled. But I did struggle to finish this book because most of the story just didn't move along at a fast pace and I found myself a bit bored with the story and the romance that I had hoped would bloom between these two. 

While there was quite a bit of sex happening between Eve and Quinn, it was just sex. I didn't really feel a connection between these two, no real romance or deep feelings until the end of the book and even then it was meh at best. 

I've only read a few of the books in this series and while I liked one alright, the others just haven't been to my liking. I find this book to be too dark, too gruesome for my tastes. This series is categorizes as paranormal romance and to me the romance should be at the forefront of the story but I really didn't find that to be the case with this book. To me the romance takes a backseat to the danger, gore and criminal elements of this world. If this had been a horror novel I wouldn't have had a problem with these elements but it's not and that was a problem for me. I mean the book starts right off with a dead guy and a woman in shock from the horror-fest she just witnessed. 

I absolutely hated Eve's mother and was actually hoping some bad vampire might eat her for dinner, but then I'd hate to see the evil thing she would turn out to be if she were turned into a vampire. 

If you like your vampires to be likable, romantic and have a conscious then this is not the book you're looking for. Most of these vampires are intimidating, blood thirsty monsters right out of your worst nightmare. Although a few of them are likable, they are few throughout this story. 

This book was slow to start and only picked up a little towards the middle and end. If you're already a fan of the series you might like this book but I can't recommend it. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I'm just not understanding how this straw thing works."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"This is only my second banana chip. I am not becoming obsessed."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Dis needs more sugar, and yogis and chocolate chips."

Apartment Life #24

This is a new 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 20 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 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Last month I heard a series of loud popping noises behind me in the kitchen and then right afterwards I smelled a burnt odor. You better believe that freaked me out. Ken was outside but came back home soon after and I told him what I heard. He checked the electrical outlet we had problems with and it was fine and then he checked the hot water heater and sure enough he found a burnt wire, a leaking pipe going to our hot water heater and a burnt label on the hot water heater where the wire had been touching the tank and burned the label and the tank. He flipped off the breakers to the kitchen and pulled the wire away from the tank and told maintenance what he needed to fix the wires. But the manager wanted an electrician the company hired to come take a look at it and fix the leak and wires even though Ken is a maintenance man and even worked at this apartment complex for a few years after we first moved in here. But it got fixed and that's what I wanted. 

*click on picture to enlarge*

I circled in red where the wire got burned. Ken moved this wire away from the side of the tank where it had burned into the yellow label. 

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It got burned pretty bad and had to be replaced.

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I circled in red where the wire burned the yellow label. You can't really see it because it's far inside the cabinet and on the side where I couldn't get a good shot but you get the idea.

After being in this apartment for 20 years there are going to be things that stop working and need replacing. Thankfully Ken is knowledgeable enough about this kind of stuff that he knew what to do to stop it from starting a fire. But it sure scared me.

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

Favorite Video of the Week

This one has been around for a while but it's still fun to hear what he has to say.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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 $25 Macy's gift card from e-Rewards.
A sample of Whole Blends shampoo and conditioner.
RX Bar- Berry Blast.
A sample of L'Oreal Paris Age Perfect Cell Renewal Rosy Tone Mask.
A full size bottle of Best Foods Extra Creamy Mayonnaise and Best Foods Ketchup sweetened with honey from Crowdtap.
A full size bottle of Simply Saline via Smiley360.

I bought some more makeup and a set of 3 rollerball perfumes with my Macy's gift card. They also sent me 2 free samples of perfume with my order.

I love that in the past few months I've received so many of the Whole Blends shampoo and conditioner samples because it really is a good brand and they smell good.

The Simply Saline works a little on my mild allergies. I usually use a nasal decongestant when the wind picks up but this works well for the times I have mild congestion.

The Best Food Mayonnaise and Ketchup were really nice to get since I use both mayo and ketchup. The Mayo has the same great taste that I'm used to but it is a more creamier version that mixes well into dips and sauces. The Ketchup is made with honey instead of sugar which is nice for those looking to watch their sugar intake. To me it tasted the same as most ketchups.

Disclosure: I received free products but all opinions are my own. #Gotitfree

Review: Midnight Wolf by Jennifer Ashley

Book description

The eleventh novel in the New York Times bestselling paranormal romance series, Shifters Unbound.

Angus Murray, bouncer for a New Orleans Shifter bar, is sent to round up an elusive, Collar-less Shifter woman, Tamsin Calloway, who is causing trouble for Shifter Bureau, and possesses information they want. If Angus refuses, he risks losing his cub. He finds Tamsin but she's slippery and not about to be rounded up quietly. 

In fact, quiet is nothing Tamsin will ever be. She leads Angus on a wild chase, but he's determined to bring her in to save his son.

Can Tamsin convince Angus she's worth helping before she's locked away by Shifter Bureau, Collared, or perhaps killed?

My Review

I've been reading this series for years, ever since that first book came out and I found myself hooked on these shifters. The shifters in this series are known to the humans but shifters are kept in shifter towns and they are all collared. Well, they're supposed to be collared so they can't fight. These collars are magically made and they give the shifters a serious shock if they fight. The collars are to keep them controlled since shifters have not been given the same rights as humans have. They are seen as lesser beings but some shifters are fighting back with fake collars so it looks like they are wearing them and they won't get in trouble. 

Angus is sent to find the collarless female shifter and make her take a collar but she's not going along with this easily. Tamsin has been collarless her entire life and isn't about to just give herself over to the Shifter Bureau to be collared or maybe executed for what they thought she had done. 

Angus didn't really want to be there chasing her but the Shifter Bureau didn't give him a choice. When he finally does catch up to her and has a chance to talk with her, she isn't at all what he expected. 

They end up on the run and end up getting help from several other shifters. While Angus and Tamsin are hiding out from the Shifter Bureau and trying to figure out what to do next, they also get closer and he let's his guard down just enough to let her get close to him. I really liked how these two start out as enemies and slowly get closer after getting to know one another. It's a slow burn romance for sure but when they do finally come together, it's so hot and they slowly figure out how much they care for one another. She has a couple of secrets and waits until she knows she can trust Angus before letting him know what they are. 

They enlist the help of their friends to deal with her secret all the while trying to hide from the crazy guy from the Shifter Bureau who wants nothing more than to cut her open and find out what makes her tick. 

I had a lot of fun with this book. It's filled with shifters, a sentient house, a goblin and a being from another realm. it was hard to put down once I started reading but I've loved this entire series so far so I'm really not surprised that I ended up loving this book as well. 

This book releases on April 24th. If you haven't started this series, I would highly recommend it. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite Picture of the Week

*Click on picture to enlarge*

I have Agoraphobia so some days it's damn near impossible to even step outside my apartment door but I do try because I don't want there to be another 5 or 10 year stretch between times when I go outside. Yes, that has actually happened. I walk Falcor on the hiking path that is right next to my apartment complex. This day I walked a little farther down the path to this area. Yes, those are metal tree's and I know I've talked about the metal tree's before but this is a different area that has them. My neighborhood is weird. 

*Click on picture to enlarge*

That sidewalk path on the right hand side is the hiking path that I walk Falcor on and this little metal tree bench is in a little area to the side of that path. 

*Click on picture to enlarge*

This is a wider shot of what this area looks like with the metal tree's and metal bench. It's a strange place to put it because behind it and to the left of it are neighborhoods. So there are houses just a few feet from this area. But Falcor liked walking down here. 

Recipe: Baked Chicken and Vegetables

I've been looking for lower carb recipes I can use for dinner and I came up with this one night. It was really really easy to make too. 

You will need: 

4 chicken tenders or 1 large chicken breast cut into cubes 

10 mushrooms

4 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Add all of the spices to a small bowl and mix together

What to do

Add chicken to a baking dish. Add half of the spices to the chicken and mix well. Add 1 TBSP. olive oil and mix again. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes and then add all of the vegetables to the pan along with the rest of the spices and another TBSP of olive oil. Mix until everything is coated with the spices and oil. Bake for another 20-30 minutes or until carrots are tender and chicken is cooked through. 

Top with cheese and green onion and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. 

Now I served this with 2 different kinds of homemade salsa. Here's the recipes for both of them. 

Recipe for homemade Salsa

1 large tomato- diced

1/4 cup diced white onion

2 Tbsp finely diced Cilantro

1 Tbsp Lemon juice

salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together and set aside in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Recipe for Avocado Tomato Salsa

1 chopped tomato 

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 avocado, peeled and chopped

Add all ingredients to a bowl, mix well and set aside in refrigerator until ready to serve.

I served the baked chicken dish with the two salsa's and salad. This was definitely a keeper. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Rat Logic*

*Picture courtesy of Poppy's Mischief*

"Unless you have food, you come back later."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Shhh, I'm concentrating."

Apartment Life #23

This is a new 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 20 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 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

UPDATE: The neighbor has been telling everyone that it was a meth lab that got busted. 

This past Tuesday, Ken and I heard a really loud bang and Ken went outside to see what it was. It was so loud and we thought something exploded, scared the bleep out of us. He comes back in and tells me that SWAT is down the street and the bang we heard was most likely a flash bang (it was loud as hell!). So I went outside with my camera and took a few pictures. I have no idea what was going on but 2 guys were later taken out of that apartment in handcuffs. 

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

This is the original picture I took before changing it to a more close up picture so you can see how far away it was. I'm standing right outside my apartment complex and the SWAT van was about half a block away. Everyone came out when they heard the explosion. There were people in front of me, in back of me and on the other side of the street looking down the street.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I enlarged this picture so you could get a better look at the SWAT van and the police cars. 

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Again this is the original picture when I started seeing people moving around down there.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

And this is the same picture enlarged so you can make out the officer in SWAT gear and the other police down there.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

They were down there quite a while and as word spread, more and more people started coming out but no one was walking down that way.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

There were quite a few police cars driving up and down my street, parked in our alley and parked around the corner.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I stayed out there taking pictures for about 15 minutes. it wasn't until a little later that a neighbor said that police arrested 2 guys from that apartment. It was 90F that day so I didn't feel like standing around out there for too long.

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

Lots of people from my apartment complex came out to take a look. This is just a handful of the people that were out there. 

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

As I was walking back to my apartment I saw this police car parked around the corner. They were all over the place that day. It wasn't even 'my' apartment complex this week but I'm sure the people who live in that apartment complex got scared when they heard that loud bang. 

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

Favorite Video of the Week

If you've never seen The Talking Kitty Cat then here's a treat for you and you might find this funny. He has a whole series of videos that are funny.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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 sample bag of Purina Cat Chow.
A sample of Emergen C.
A box of O.B. tampons- 18 count.
An envelope of Spinach seeds from Tasty Bite The Good Seed.
And I won a book from a blog contest.
A $5 Amazon gift card from Crowdtap.

I gave the cat food to the lady across the street that feeds the homeless cats in our neighborhood. And I gave the spinach seeds to my daughter since she has a balcony where she can grow plants if she wants to. I used the other two things myself. I haven't read the book yet but it sounds good. I was also approved for 2 of the books I requested on NetGalley...woohoo books!

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Lady Bug Larvae

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

So it's bug day again. For some odd reason I like to take a few pictures of the weird bugs I find in my apartment before I take them outside so I can show them off here. I've seen these weird looking creatures that seem like they just emerged from the ninth circle of hell, for the past few years when it warms up. I had no idea what they were, all I knew is that they were unlike anything I've ever seen. So I took a picture of it. lol 

I finally found a picture of them after searching Google for black and red bugs. It turns out they aren't demons from the pits of hell after all, they're just baby lady bugs, or as the science type websites like to call them, Lady Bird Larvae or Lady Beetle Larvae. Think of butterflies and how they are worms first, they form a cocoon and then emerge as butterflies. Same thing with these things. This is their 'worm' stage. lol 🐛🐛

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I enlarged the photo so you could see more detail. Now do you see why I thought these things were some sort of evil minions?

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

In this picture you can make out some of the red spots on it and even some of the little hairs on it. Now that I know what they are, I'm not scared to pick them up and take them outside. So when I saw this one on my kitchen floor, I took him or her (Are all lady bugs, ladies? I dunno.) outside after getting a few pictures. 

Would you have known what this was if you saw it? 

If you want to know more about Lady Beetle Larvae, this is the website I found on them. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

I don't think I've talked about this before but that tall wall is actually the sound wall for I95. Directly on the other side of that wall is the freeway. This walk way is called the Bonanza Trail, it's actually a hiking and biking trail and this part of it is mostly sidewalk and rocks. This is where I take Falcor for a walk and it's quite noisy because the freeway is just a few feet away. 

*Click on picture to enlarge.*

That tan building ahead on the right is actually my apartment building. With this picture you can see how close we are to the sound wall and the freeway. It's a noisy neighborhood, especially if something happens right here on the freeway because we can hear it all. We've heard car accidents, backfires from cars, tires blowing out and police and ambulances racing down the freeway with their sirens on. I believe that sound wall is about 30-40 feet tall. It's quite large. It might keep some of the noise from us but not much. But I'm glad it's there with all the different car accidents we've heard on the other side of it. And this is a nice little place to walk to take the dog out. A lot of people walk their dogs here.

Falcor likes to walk over here in the rocks.

Review: Target Beauty Boxes- April

This month I was surprised and thrilled that Target released the 4 Beauty Boxes for sale online that they had previously released for in store purchases only. I took a look at them and decided to buy 3 of them. Each one was $7 and to me, they were each well worth the price. These boxes go fast and are first come first get and when they're gone, they're gone.

The Wakeup and Makeup box contained: 

Dove Dry Shampoo Coconut

Sonia Kashuk Brush Cleansing Wipes

e.l.f. Beautifully Bare Blending Brush

e.l.f. Beautifully Bare Face Palette

Dove Dry Spray Invisible Sheer Fresh

COVERGIRL Peacock Flare Mascara 785 Extreme Black

Honest Beauty Refreshingly Clean Makeup Remover Wipes

This is the box I was most looking forward to and it didn't disappoint at all. There's a full size Covergirl mascara and a full size Dove Spray Deodorant as well as an elf bare face palette and other items. All for $7. 

The Be You(tiful) box contained:

OLLY Beauty Vitamin 

e.l.f. Gotta Glow Lip Tint in Perfect Pink

Simple Water Boost Micellar Makeup Remover Eye Pads

Nexxus Keraphix Shampoo

Nexxus Keraphix Conditioner

L’Oreal Pure Clay Cleanser – Detofixy and Brighten

Sinful Nail Color in Galac Sea or Wondermint

Honest Beauty Younger Face Deep Hydration Cream

Unfortunately this box was a mess when I got it. The shampoo and conditioner had both tops off and some of the shampoo and conditioner had leaked out into the box and all over the products. At least each bottle was still about half full so I did get to try both of these products. Thankfully each box was wrapped in plastic so even though the box had torn open inside the bigger box with the other two beauty boxes, the shampoo didn't get on either of the other two boxes. After washing off all the products in this box I was pretty happy with everything. 

The Treat Yourself box contained:

ME!Bath Bath Bomb

Bodycology Free & Lovely Coconut & Rose Body Butter

Dr. Teals Pink Himalayan Foaming Bath

Luxe by Mr. Bubble Bath Meltaway

Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Red Dahlia

Olay Regenerist Whips

Honest Beauty Refreshingly Clean Gel Cleanser

There was supposed to be a Burt's Bees lip balm in this box but it was missing from my box. I did enjoy these other products though and I love that good size Olay product. 

Each box also contained a few coupons for the products that were in each box. Did you buy any of these boxes?

I love getting these boxes because for the money, and this time I spent a total of $22, I get a lot of sample size as well as full size products to try. Most of this stuff is new to me products so I really like being able to try these products out. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Dis bed is berry comfortable."