Review: Gone Hunting by Cecy Robson

Book Description

The rest of the werewolf pack might consider Aric Connor to be omniscient and destined to save the world when evil returns to claim it. But for the most part, fifteen-year-old Aric ignores the confirmations of his powers, taking everything in stride until he meets her. 

Celia Wird wasn't supposed to awaken naked in the mountains of Colorado, not when she was just stalking her prey in a filthy alley several states away. She especially wasn't supposed to meet Aric, the handsome werewolf who comes to her aid.

As a supernatural tasked with protecting the earth, Aric sympathizes with Celia's dangerous situation. He's also struck by her beauty and kindness. Yet, as much as Aric welcomes Celia, her arrival isn't a peaceful one.

Dark forces stir in Celia's presence, resolute on killing her. Aric and his inner beast are adamant about keeping Celia safe and with them. But there's a time and a place for love, and Aric and Celia might not survive long enough to find it. 

My Review

I won this book in an Amazon giveaway and I haven't read many of this authors books but I'd heard good things so I gave it a try.

Aric is the son of the Weres leader, they live in Colorado and while out hunting Aric finds Celia in the woods. He can tell she's different but doesn't know what she is at first. Celia is scared of him and his friends at first but that doesn't last long before she is feeling safer around them. But before they can really get to know one another something dangerous comes for them and almost kills a couple of them. Celia helps a couple of Aric's friends and that seems to help his friends trust her a bit more than they had when they first met. 

Danger comes at all of them including Aric's family. They do what they can to try and stop it but even a powerful witch they know has a hard time fighting against the evil that is out to kill them and Celia. I loved how Celia and Aric get close to one another amid the danger because they are meant to be together. 

Then out of nowhere a huge twist is thrown in and everything changes. I haven't read this series but I realized after reading this that Gone Hunting is a prequel in the Weird Girls series. So even if you haven't already been reading this series, this is a good place to start since we get to see this series unfold from the beginning. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

"Is it too early for a Christmas Elf?"

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

"I'm still eating Halloween candy."

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

"I don't think we're supposed to be looking at that site."

"I know, but the candy looks so good!"

Apartment Life #53

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.

Back in June of 2016 we had several apartments that were dealing drugs from their apartment. 3 of the bad drug dealing apartments in my complex got served with eviction notices (30 day notice). After the 30 days were up they were served with 3 day notices by the Constable and were told the constable would be back in 3 days to put lock out locks on their apartment door. 

They had until Monday afternoon to pack up and leave because the Constable will be back on Monday to put lock out locks on the doors and make them leave. As soon as they got their notices fights broke out among the different residences and another fight broke out with a couple who always argue. One guy went after a guy who let his cat outside, he had a knife and almost stabbed the guy who let the cat out. We had the door open and saw a tall guy in just his underwear and slippers running across the rocks with a huge knife, going after one of the other guys that lived in the same apartment. Everyone was screaming that he had a knife and was gonna kill the other guy. But the other guy ran to another apartment and called the cops. 

The police and ambulance came but he wasn't hurt so the ambulance left. 

The police were called and no one went to jail. I'm really surprised no one went to jail for that. But since it was the weekend they decided to play their music really loud all weekend before they got evicted. Other than the loud music there were no more fights before they were evicted that Monday.

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

I don't know you you've ever watched any of the Public Freakout videos on Youtube, but some of these people are down right crazy. Even if you only watch a few minutes of this, you'll see what I mean. Cameras are everywhere. People record pretty much everything and still, people act nuts out in public.

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 free ebook in the Amazon giveaways. 

Review: Wolf Rising by Paige Tyler

Book Description

Just when he's found The One...he might lose her.

SWAT Officer Jayden Brooks doesn't believe there's a soul mate out there for him—The One. But when he saves high school teacher Selena Rosa from a hostage situation, he knows he's in big trouble. Her scent is irresistible.

Selena finds the big cop irresistible, too. In fact, the buttoned-up teacher gets a little carried away—during a steamy make-out session, she bites him. Turns out, the traumatizing events at the school triggered her werewolf gene. Fangs and claws are appearing and her aggression is out of control. The change is happening, and Selena doesn't understand.

It's going to take everything Brooks has to pull her back from the edge...and ultimately win her heart.

My Review

This is the 8th book in the series and while I've only read a couple of the books, it really didn't detract from the story. I would recommend reading in order if you want to have all of the info available but it isn't impossible to read these books out of order and still enjoy them. 

Jayden is trying to deal with the gangs when he comes across Selena who is also trying to deal with the gangs in her area. He's a SWAT officer and has seen a lot of action and been hurt his fair share of times. He would like to find his soul mate and he thinks he's found her when he meets Selena. 

Selena is a high school teacher who gets herself in trouble with the gangs because she can see things going on that shouldn't be going on and she wants to try and help stop it. Her meddling puts her in danger and almost gets her killed. In steps Jayden who helps her. Selena can't understand why she's getting so angry all the time but Jayden knows why and intends to help her understand what's going on. 

Not only is Jayden trying to gently tell Selena that she's turning into a werewolf but he and his team are also trying to keep themselves and her safe from the werewolf hunters who see them as nothing more as animals that need to be killed. They find out that there's a mole somewhere in the police department and they are helping the werewolf hunters. They're trying to figure out who this person is as well as keep themselves safe. It's hard to imagine that you can't even trust the people you might be working with.

They also have to deal with a gang leader putting a new drug out there in drinks which has really bad consequences. This gang leader was a mystery for most of the book but I had a feeling of who he was and I was right. The twist in the story that this led to was just sad and I felt really bad for Selena when she had some things she thought she knew, go belly up and turn out to be lies.

If you've been reading my reviews for a while you already know how much I love PNR and wolves or shifters tend to be one of my favorite pnr elements. This has that as well as all the action, suspense, drama and romance you could want. I really enjoyed Jayden and Selena and loved watching them get to know one another. At times this book made me laugh because Selena was funny and I loved how she freaked out the first time she realized she was biting Jayden. But these two are hot when they get together. The lust they felt for each other right away was so much fun to watch and see how they tried to fight it for a little while with little success. 

I highly recommend this series. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was sent this ebook free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review but all opinions are my own. 

Review: Wyoming Legend by Diana Palmer

Book Description

Micah Torrance could use a helping hand. Between managing his expansive Wyoming ranch and caring for his willful little girl, Janey, Micah’s plate is more than full. Usually, it’s not in this cowboy’s nature to ask, but when beautiful Karina Carter offers her help, Micah can’t resist. With her sweet smile and her easy way with Janey, Micah wants to trust her. But he knows better than anyone that love only leads to heartbreak.

Champion ice-skater Karina Carter needs a fresh start while her body heals. Caring for little Janey is just temporary until she can get back on the ice—or so she keeps telling herself. But the longer she spends with this gorgeous single dad, the more drawn she is to him and the family they could share. Now if only she can convince him that she’s here to stay, this new life with him could be beyond her wildest dreams.

My Review

After a bad accident and break, Karina had to think of another career since she could no longer skate. In the mean time she was running low on funds so she takes an in-home babysitting job at a ranch for a 9 year old girl. Janey seemed much older than 9 years old and she just happens to love ice skating. Her soon to be step mother has been teacher her but she's been teaching her some wrong things and she has no patience for the child. So Karina starts taking her to the ice rink and giving her pointers. 

Karina almost leaves at one point because Micah is a big, grumpy man who tends to yell when he's mad. Karina doesn't like getting yelled at so it's a good thing he apologized before she quit. Things seemed to get better between them after that, but he's still dealing with a soon to be wife that likes to boss him around, which isn't sitting well with him. 

I really liked this story but the employer/employee relationship started right off with a lie and a big one. Karina never told Micah that she was a figure skater and that's how she broke her ankle. But he was more than just grumpy, he was at times a real jerk. I would have told him where to go a few times. I know I would have quit that job instead of staying there taking this guys BS. There's just no reason to talk to someone the way he talked to her a few times. Plus, he saw how his fiance was treating his daughter and how it hurt her and he did nothing. I actually didn't like either of these characters until about 75% into the book and then things seemed to change a bit. But it's hard to change my opinion of these two when I've seen the dark side of their personalities. 

Things do get better between these two and they fall for each other. It was nice seeing him change from a grumpy jerk into a romantic nice guy. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review but all opinions are my own. 

Happy Gotcha Day, Falcor

On this day in 2014 we got Falcor from our apartment manager who was moving and didn't want her 5 month old puppy anymore. Ken already loved the dog and had been asking the manager if he could have the dog for a while because she and her husband weren't treating him well. 

This is the dog pen that Falcor spent his first 5 months in. The manager said he was too hyper to let out so she had him in this all the time. Every time Ken or anyone went into her office, the dog was always in this so when she gave him to us she also gave this dog pen to us and we just used it at night until he was potty trained. He wasn't house trained and had never walked on a leash before we got him. He was scared of everything and we suspect that he was abused since he always acted so scared and would start screaming when he saw a belt, broom or shoe. 

He's a happy dog now and doesn't act the way he did when we first got him. He isn't scared of us anymore and loves going for walks, rides and getting spoiled. He even let me put this bandanna on him...for a minute. 

The looks he gives me are funny. He will just sit and let me takes pictures when he hears the camera come on. As long as he's getting some attention, he's happy.

My daughter took this picture of him. Cracks me up. He likes having his picture taken.

Now he has a bed, blanket, toys and loves to go for walks.

He doesn't even mind wearing his t-shirt. 

Again with the weird looks.

Oh and he had a potato fetish. We have to keep them up away from him or he'll toss them all over the living room. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #51

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.

I got up early last week to walk Falcor and saw a police car on my street. I found out later that they were there for a reported robbery and break in to some guys apartment in the next courtyard. 

The guy later told everyone who would listen to him that he started selling marijuana out of his apartment last month *he didn't tell the police this* and everyone around here knows he works nights. So while he was at work that night someone broke into his apartment and stole all his marijuana, his tv, stereo, game system and all his prescription medicine. He's so pissed off, omg. He said he's not selling marijuana anymore because the coughassholescough around here can't be trusted. lol 

One more thing. 

9pm last night I heard a bunch of yelling. My neighbors had about 8 people at his apartment and they were fighting. Someone broke the living room window, someone was kicking the door and the woman who was involved yelled at everyone that she called the cops so they better leave. So of course everyone left except for the 2 people that live there. The police show up in about 5 minutes. The woman who lives there was outside telling the police that the guy who broke the window had a sledge hammer and broke a bunch of stuff in her apartment. She stood out there writing out a statement. Hopefully the little idiot gets arrested. 

UPDATE:

I snapped a picture of their broken window this morning. All is quiet over there now and I didn't see anyone get arrested last night. Hopefully the drama from that apartment will be gone for a while now. 

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

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:

I won a pillow and hand cream in the Amazon giveaways!

And I won a book in a Goodreads giveaway.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Target Beauty Box- October

Each month Target releases a new Target Beauty Box but supplies are limited and it's first come first serve until they run out. These boxes go fast so I try to grab one as soon as I see it being talked about on Twitter or fb. This month Target released 2 different Beauty Boxes and I bought both of them. They were both $7 a piece and were well worth the price. 

This box contained: 

Acure Radically Rejuvenating Under Eye Hydrogel mask. 

Lumity Eye Drops. 

Covergirl Get In Line Liquid Eyeliner. 

Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara Mini. 

Sonia Kashuk Essential Brush Brow & Spoolie. 

I can always use more eye drops. This time of year my allergies act up and my eyes get itchy so I can always use that. 

The eyebrow brush is going to my daughter since she fills in her eyebrows and I don't. I did try a few times but I end up looking like caterpillars are sitting above my eyes, so I'll just stick with what I've got for now. lol 

I tried the under eye hydrogels and didn't really see any difference in puffiness from allergies but it did make my skin there feel soft, so still a win. 

The liquid eyeliner is always welcome. I do like it when these boxes contain makeup and this eyeliner goes on easily and stays on. 

This second Box as just $7 as well and I was excited when I saw the contents of it. So many great things that I will actually use. 

What was in this box?

Tom's Luminous White Toothpaste with Flouride. 

Love Beauty and Planet Coconut Water & Mimosa Flower Shampoo. 

Love Beauty and Planet Coconut Water & Mimosa Flower Conditioner. 

Bliss Makeup Melt Dry/Wet Gentle Jelly Cleanser with Rose Flower. 

Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion. 

Olay Total Effects Whips. 

I love the Olay products so when I saw that this box had that in it, I snatched this one up fast. I love the Whips products. They really are a great moisturizer. 

Cetaphil products are really good and this is a nice big sample of that, so I am pleased with that. 

The shampoo and conditioner smells really good and left my hair feeling so soft. it smells so good. I just had to add that again. I'm really big on good scent and I love this one. 

This is the second bliss product that I've received and I am loving these products. The last one smelled so good, like candy. Not even kidding and the scent lasted a long time. This one has a more subtle scent but works really well at cleaning my face and leaving it soft. So I am pleased with this. 

The toothpaste is just ok. I've tried this one before. I've never really liked Tom's toothpaste but I keep getting samples of it that I end up giving away to others. 

So all in all, I really liked both of these boxes and for $7 each, it was a great price. I love these boxes and highly recommend them. 

Did you get either of these boxes?

Recipe: Pork Fried Rice

I made a bowl of Pork Fried Rice with peas, carrots, broccoli and onions. It came out really well. 

Fried Rice

1/2 cup diced Yellow Onion

3 cups day old Steamed White Rice

1/2 cup Peas and Carrots - Sauteed (You can use frozen but fresh is better)

1/2 Cup broccoli- Sauteed

1 Pork Chop

2 beaten eggs

4 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp powdered Chicken Bouillon Cube dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water

3 Tablespoons of soy sauce

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

Cook your pork chop over med. heat until done. Set aside and chop into small pieces. 

On medium high heat add 1 TBSP oil to pan and saute peas, carrots, onion and broccoli. Cook until fork tender. 

On medium high heat, heat the remaining oil in a large skillet. Add the pork, broccoli, peas, carrots, onion and rice. Stir fry until heated through. Lower the heat to medium low and push the mixture off to one side, then pour your eggs on the other side of skillet and stir fry until scrambled. Now add the spices and soy sauce and blend all together well. Stir fry until thoroughly heated. 

Review: Dark Thoughts by Cynthia Sax

Book Description

Can love redeem a monster?

The Refuge is home to some of the most violent beings in the universe. Kralj, its leader, reigns over the remote outpost with terrifying ease, ruthlessly squashing any rumors of rebellion, killing anyone who breaks his rules. Primitive, deadly, powerful, he’s a monster, scarred both on his face and his soul. He has never met a being he couldn’t control.

Until he meets her.

Dita has one mission—to kill the three targets claiming sanctuary within the Refuge. Or so she claims. For the first time in his long lifespan, Kralj isn’t certain of another being’s intentions. The tiny assassin is immune to his powers, her thoughts unreadable. He can’t predict her movements, can’t control her, can’t stop wanting her.

Dita is rare, as unique as he is, and, to keep the residents of the Refuge safe, Kralj will have to kill her. But first, he’ll touch her, taste her, show her how passionate the beast inside him can be.

Dark Thoughts is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance.

The hero might be tall, dark, and scarred but don’t be fooled by his appearance.

He’s truly a monster.

This story is not for readers with delicate sensibilities. 

My Review

I won this ebook earlier this month from an Amazon giveaway. I was excited because it has the same title as my blog. I thought it was fitting to get this one for that reason and to read it this month since it's Halloween month and this seemed like it would be a very dark romance from the description. 

Kralj is such a weird character. I wanted to refer to him as the hero but I can't think of him as that, the lead male character, yes but hero...no. He eats people. He. Eats. People. That fact should have stopped me from reading this but that just made this book have enough of a crazy edge to it that made me want to read this and I'm glad that I did. Kralj is part beast, and part human so it's really no wonder that his appetite calls for something a little different. His human half had been enhanced and now he was practically unstoppable and vicious. 

He had made the refuge that he lived in and saw to it that the residents that also lived there were safe. His beast half was a Beta Taurian Shadow Beast and they mated for life. He didn't think he would ever have a mate but when his beast smelled the woman who was hiding just outside the walls of his refuge, he knew she might be his mate. He found her and she didn't seem scared of him which was strange since most everyone was. 

Dita was an assassin and not afraid of Kralj, in fact she found him attractive. Their first meeting knocked him off balance but he knew he couldn't lose control or people would die. So he sent her away but she didn't stay away for long. He knows she's his mate so when she shows back up, he allows her to stay for a while. They get to know one another and it turns out she is as crazy as he is. She's a killer and so is he but both of them have hearts neither of them knew they had. They end up caring for one another and for others. 

I was worried this was going to be all about his crazy killer beast side and while that did make an appearance more than once, it was also nice to see the softer side of both of them. This book surprised me quite a bit because I ended up really liking this story. There's a lot more to both of them than being killers. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

"Why does this pillow smell like poo?"

*Courtesy of Cindy Rogers*

"Take them off, I want to try them on."

*Courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

"I'm just doing a little shopping."

Apartment Life #50

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.

A few years ago we had a neighbor named Chuck. He was a sarcastic jerk and was always doing things to irritate me. I was standing outside one day trying to get a good picture of all the hail we were getting that day and this fool starts gathering up handfuls of hail and throwing it at me. So I started snapping pictures of him since he hated to have his picture taken for some reason.

I just wanted a picture of the hail. 

He also had this plaque in his window that said, National Sarcasm Society. He was definitely sarcastic.

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

Recipe: Malanga Root Mash

Ever since the Mariana's Mexican Market moved in next door to where we live, we've been trying all kinds of foods that we hadn't tried before. Case in point this root vegetable called Malanga Root. Ken saw people picking these up and buying them and asked me if I wanted to try it and I'm always up for trying something new. So he brought one home for us to try. It was only .69 cents for this and it's about as big as 3 medium size potatoes so one of them was enough to have as a side dish for dinner. 

I looked up a few ways to cook it and mashed was my preferred way to try it the first time. So all you have to do is peel it and make sure to peel off any dark spots or discolored spots and then rinse it really well so you can hold on to it while cutting it into chunks because it will be slimy and hard to hold on to if you don't rinse it. 

Then just boil it for about 40 minutes until fork tender, drain and mash. Add milk, butter, salt and pepper just like you would with mashed potatoes. It tasted so similar to mashed potatoes but it's a bit creamier when mashed than potatoes are. My daughter said that she wouldn't have even known it wasn't potatoes if I hadn't told her. 

This is easy to make and it tastes really good. So now you have something new to try if you've never had it before. 

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:

I won a $5 Amazon gift card from a blog contest.
I won a book in an Amazon giveaway. The title of it is Dark Thoughts just like my blog!
And I won a book in a blog contest.