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: 

$10 Amazon gift card when I cashed out my points on MyPoints. 

I received samples of Xyzal, CeraVe, and Aquaphor. 

 I received an 18" Pikachu plush stuffed animal from the Spark Reviewer Program. 

I plan on giving the Pikachu to my grandson. I've tried the Aquaphor and CeraVe before and both are good products. The Xyzal is a new allergy medicine and it seems to work pretty good. My nose isn't running constantly and I'm not sneezing incessantly. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: The Dragon Tale by Jaydn Chase

 

Book Description

As a reporter, Sandra thought she just turned in the most important story of her life.

Now relishing in her latest triumph, she has just caught wind of a huge story she’s being told to stay away from.

She should have listened.

Malick is an enforcer with a dark secret that he shares with the rest in his clan.

Between work, and trying to live with the beast within, he’s sure that he’ll never be able to fall in love and lead a normal life.

When they are finally thrust together, they quickly come to realize that the world wants to tear them apart.

Will everything come crashing down?

Or can their love conquer all?

The Dragon Tale is a stand-alone short story with a guaranteed HEA, no cheating and steamy scenes intended for a mature audience.

My Review

Hearing tidbits about dragon sightings has Sandra looking deeper into the story even though she knows that it can't be dragons. But being a reporter, she can't let it go. 

Malick works as an enforcer for his father and they're dragon shifters. His father might have a real estate business but he's no straight laced businessman. 

Sandra drives to where people have spotted dragons and right away she spots one flying off. Instead of driving off and staying safe, she goes into the building and gets caught. Malick's father and the others there want to kill her so he gets her out of there. Later he finds her at her apartment and the lust takes over and they fall into bed together. They fall for each other really fast. 

Since this was a really short novella I wasn't expecting there to be a lot of story but I expected there to be more than there was. It ended fine but I really think the story needed just a few more pages so we could see how Malick smoothed things over with his father or if he did. I just would have liked a little more story. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Xavier by D.B. Reynolds

 

Book Description

Vampires in America, Book 14

Barcelona--exquisite architecture, masterful artists, and just down the coast, an ancient fortress where an old and powerful vampire lives. . .and rules all of Spain.

Tall, dark, and deadly, vampire Xavier Prospero Flores waded through blood to destroy his enemies and reach the pinnacle of vampire society--Vampire Lord. He has only one regret in his long life, and that’s the day he rejected the advances of Layla Casales. She’d been too innocent, too naïve, and far too young. But she’d also been his.

Layla Casales was only nineteen when she left Spain, brokenhearted and humiliated by Xavier’s rejection. But now, ten years later, the ties of family are pulling her back, not only to Spain, but to Xavier’s fortress. Her father, the vampire lord’s military commander, is critically ill. Layla has spent years fighting on battlefields around the world, so when her father asks her to come home, she can’t say no.

Though Xavier’s rule began on the ashes of his enemies, it’s not vampires trying to kill him now--it’s humans. He needs to eliminate his enemy before more of his people die. Layla arrives just in time to help, but while she came for her father, the minute she and Xavier see each other, desire burns as hotly as if they’d never been apart. Xavier isn’t going to let her go this time. But before they can rediscover the love they walked away from, they must first keep each other alive.

My Review

Layla's heart was broken by Xavier years before but now she's come home because of her father and wants to keep things all business with Xavier. 

Xavier had thought Layla was too young and innocent for him when he broke her heart and turned her away years ago. Things have changed now and he wants her but she isn't willing to let him hurt her again. 

I didn't like Xavier at all at first because of the way he treated Layla but I thought he would become a little better as the book went on. Frankly, I was wrong, he's not a likable person at all and makes no excuses for the way he initially treated her which I really thought was wrong of him. 

Xavier finds himself the new lord of Spain when his sire is killed by an old enemy they had thought was no danger to them. Layla comes back because her father, Xavier's military commander is really sick and she feels like she needs to be there for him. While she's been gone she has made a name for herself and trained to be a fighter and has an elite mercenary unit that Xavier needs to help keep his enemies away. The enemies are human led by the same person that killed his sire so he might well be in some real danger. The fact that Xavier is in real danger is the only reason that Layla agree's to help find and kill his enemies. 

There was a betrayal that happened while Xavier and Layla were trying to bring down the bad guys and while I understood why Xavier was mad, I thought that his punishment of the person who betrayed him was extreme. I mean the person had a good reason and he tried to make it right in the end. It was just one more reason that I couldn't like Xavier throughout this book. I tried to like Layla and Xavier as a couple but for me they just never clicked at all. Sure they ended up getting close and she forgave the way he treated her when she was younger and the sex was hot, but I couldn't see them as a couple. I really didn't think that they belonged together. Maybe it's because I didn't like Xavier at all and thought she could do better, I'm not sure. It's hard to enjoy a book when you don't like all of the characters. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

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

Helpful Blogging Hints for the New Blogger Interface

 

I know so many of you are learning the new Blogger Interface. I've been seeing a few helpful hints around some other blogs that I thought I would share with you. 

On the new blogger, the word 'normal' comes up at the top when you first open the post-draft page. When you click in the body of the draft page it switches to 'paragraph'. You have to switch it back to 'normal' in the drop down menu to get single space at the top of the page instead of the double space I had been getting when adding pictures at the top of the page.

For things like Youtube videos. Switch to HTML, I have to use the HTML format to change the size of the Youtube videos that I sometimes put on my blog. It's the pencil icon on the far left top area when you are on the draft page. This the size that I like my videos. I'll show you how I did this. 

On the Youtube page, click share and then embed. Copy the embed code and come back to the Blogger page. Click on the pencil icon and switch to HTML and paste the embed code on the page. 

The code circled in the big red circle is the embed code. The small red arrow is pointing at the width number that you can change to make the video narrower. It's automatically starts with 560 but I erased that number and added 350 instead. That makes the video the right size for me but you can change it to whatever number works for you. 

Now you can see that I changed the number. When you are done, you just go back to where the pencil icon was, it now shows this symbol ( < > ) instead of the pencil. Just click on the drop down menu and click on "Compose view" to get back to the regular draft page. 

Pictures seem to be giving a lot of people problems and I can see why. They keep changing things. Now when you click on a picture on the draft page it turns blue and has dots around it. This is so you can resize it. But you can also click on that middle button that comes up on the picture with the drop down menu and pick from small, medium, large and extra large. I usually pick large for my pictures. But I don't click on that until I have added any words I want to under the picture on the page because it sometimes messes up what I'm writing. It's turned my paragraphs blue and the whole thing was underlined. So now I wait until I've added all the commentary about the pictures and then click on them to resize them or to right align or left align a picture. To get rid of the blue on the picture, just click away from the picture anywhere else on the draft page and it will disappear.

If you want to delete a picture, just click below the picture, not on it and backspace until it's gone. I used to be able to click on the picture and delete it but I can't do that anymore. 

So those are a couple of things that I have seen on blogs that have been problems for people and I found fixes for them either from other blogs or just from clicking around and figuring it out.  I hope this helps. 

Happy Raturday!

 

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Happy Halloween month"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #222

 

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 21 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 21 years here in a weekly blog post.

Last Sunday night my daughter was standing outside enjoying the cooler weather as the sun went down and all of the sudden some guy in the apartments across the street in this picture started screaming, "Help, help" and then the police pulled up right in front of where my daughter was standing, got out and ran upstairs. So she started snapping pictures for me to share here. 

After the police arrived, more police came, ran upstairs and arrested someone and then the ambulance pulled up.

So she stood there for a while and took pictures. She said that one person was arrested and one person was taken away in the ambulance. 

The police were up in that apartment for a couple of hours though. 

We're not sure what happened but there sure was a lot of activity on my street that night for a while. 

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

Review: Eternity Embraced by Larissa Ione

 

Book Description

Desire...

Demon slayer Andrea Cole has always taken down the demons and vampires she hunts without mercy. But when a fellow slayer is captured and turned into a vampire by a sadistic monster, she must choose between loyalty to her family and the man she loves.

Versus Instinct...

Kaden Quinn has dedicated his life to slaying vampires, so when he is turned into one, his greatest nightmare comes to life. And when the woman he loves is thrown into a dungeon with him ― as food ― he must battle new instincts and old desires, and choose between his life, and hers.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a short novella that originally appeared in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 and the anthology Vampires in Love. It has been expanded for its stand-alone digital release. In the Demonica timeline, it falls between book 3, Passion Unleashed, and book 4, Ecstasy Unveiled, though it can easily be read without having read the Demonica novels.

My Review

Kaden had gone in to find the bad guy who was harboring vampires in his home. But instead of getting the bad guy, he was captured, tortured, and turned into a vampire against his will. 

Andrea heard Kaden get caught and knew he was either dead or now a vampire when she and the others go in to check out the building. 

When Andrea did find Kaden he's already been turned into a vampire and Kaden quickly realizes that it's a trap but not soon enough for Andrea to get out of danger. Kaden seems like the same guy he was, just with needle sharp fangs now. He's hungry and she's there stuck in the cell with him. Because Kaden loves her and she loves him even though he's now a vampire, they come up with a plan to escape. 

The people they work for don't see paranormals are a good thing so he can't go back to work for them and Andrea isn't ready to let him go. So they have some changes to make in their lives but they have to find the right people to help them. I really liked the end to this book and even though it was a quick novella, it was packed with story. If you'e been reading this series anyway like I have then you should read this as well because it was really good. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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 tube of deodorant from Seventh Generation. 

It's smells pretty good and works pretty good so I'm happy with it. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Fated For The Bear by Mina Carter

 

Book Description

Girl meets boy = classic love story. Girl meets bear... Wait, what?

Kacie has always known there was something odd about the small town of Beauty, but she doesn't expect that oddity to almost claim her life or land her in the arms of her long-term crush; hot veteran Dean. Okay, he's nuts but she can't argue with that, not with a body like his or when he's whispering things like 'fated' and 'destiny'. Even if he does claim to be a werebear...

She's his mate, but she's human. He's so screwed...

Leader of the Beauty bear clan, Dean is between a rock and a hard place. His fated mate is human but he daren't claim her. The elitist asshats in the clan would have kittens. But when an attack brings her over into the bear world, he's out of time and out of options. Even worse, the town has an rogue bear problem and internal clan politics that put Kacie in the crossfire.

Forced to fight battles on all fronts, Dean must bear up or risk losing her forever...

PLEASE NOTE: This title was previously released as 'BEAR UP' in the More than Mated Kindleworld. 

My Review

Dean knows that he can't have Kacie because she would never love him if she knew he was a bear shifter. So he keeps his distance even though it kills him to see her with anyone else. 

Kacie has had the hots for Dean since they went to school together. She doesn't think he even knows she exists but when she and her friends get hurt, he's right there to make sure she's alright. 

Kacie is out one night with her best friend who happens to be a female bear shifter when they are attacked. Kacie gets badly hurt and Dean is called to help her get better. The funny thing is when she wakes up she thinks she's dreaming because Dean is there and is being nice to her. 

I loved the action and adventure that was packed into this short novella. I really liked Dean and Kacie because she ended up being more than ok with who and what he was. I liked most of the shifter people but one of their laws is kinda crazy. I can understand the need for secrecy but it was a little over the top. 

For a quick novella, this had a lot of story. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Blood Legends: Undead by Kim Petersen

Book Description

What if saving humanity meant facing your deepest fears?

A deadly virus has claimed the lives of millions and ravaged the earth. Human survivors spend their days and nights fighting to stay alive in a world now owned by vampires.

Jett's plans to get further off-grid fall apart when his woman suddenly disappears at the hands of the hawkers - the most deplorable and dangerous humans to survive the apocalypse.

Now, Jett is forced to confront evil head-on as he faces choices that he never dreamed possible.

Can he survive long enough to retrieve his woman before she is slaughtered? Or will he succumb to the bloody wrath of the Undead?

Undead is a new urban fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic world from bestselling author Kim Petersen, the first book in the Blood Legends series. 

My Review

Now that vampires rule the world, humans have to fight to stay alive. Jett is fighting to get to his girlfriend and daughter. Humans are dying because of a virus and now not only are vampires after us but so are evil humans who are taking advantage of the situation. 

Jett loses his girlfriend to hawkers who are humans that are taking advantage of the situation. They kidnapped his girlfriend and want a certain kind of blood in exchange for him to get her back. So Jett and his daughter go looking for it and get caught by some vampires. Jett has to leave his daughter and get the blood away from a certain vampire because he can use it and become more powerful. 

An unexpected ally comes to his rescue but now he has to find a way to get not only his girlfriend but his daughter back too. That's where I thought this story was going but real quick it headed in a totally different direction and my heart was left in my throat as I kept reading. I felt bad for them and at the same time I was kinda rooting for them and especially Jett when I realized what he was doing and why. 

I got this book because of the cover. I mean look at that cover! I'm so used to reading about romantic vampires that it was a little jarring when I realized this was not one of those kinds of vampire books. These vampires are ruthless, blood thirsty, demons. I did enjoy the story though because Jett loved his girlfriend and daughter and ended up having to make several tough calls. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Christmas Kisses With My Cowboy by Diana Palmer, Marina Adair, Kate Pearce

 

Book Description

This Christmas, the best kind of trouble comes in threes: Three bestselling authors. Three stories of holiday romance. And three cowboys who are ready for love—whether they know it yet or not . . .

 

MISTLETOE COWBOY * Diana Palmer

Horse whisperer Parker doesn't drink, smoke, or gamble, and he doesn't have much to do with women, either. Until he meets winsome widow Katy, and her sweet child. Could Christmas kisses under the mistletoe bring the handsome wrangler the gift of his very own family?

BLAME IT ON THE MISTLETOE * Marina Adair

To claim his slice of the family ranch, Texas Ranger Noah is forced back to Tucker’s Crossing. All he expects to find is a tractor load of painful memories—until a holiday storm, a power outage—and perhaps the magic of Christmas—deliver him to rescue an intriguing woman named Faith. But just who’s rescuing whom?

 

MISTLETOE DETOUR * Kate Pearce

When Morgan Valley rancher Ted Baker gets out his tow truck to pick up a snowbound driver, he doesn’t expect to find his old school friend Veronica on the lam with her pet pig—much less true love—just in time for Christmas . . .

My Review

I read this because I love Diana Palmer but I like finding new authors to read as well so the other two stories in this book sounded good, but all of the stories in this book were great. But I especially like Mistletoe Cowboy by Diana Palmer. Parker was hard to get to know at first but Katy and her daughter seem to bring him exactly what he needs. Parker is more than he seems because he's not just a horse wrangler, he's smart and has the schooling and military time behind him to prove it but people still think of him a certain way because of his mixed heritage. Of course there's a small misunderstanding that they have to work through before the end but I loved this story and I knew that Diana Palmer would bring me this kind of story and I was right. 

Blame it on the Mistletoe by Marina Adair is the first story I've read by this author and it was great. Noah comes back to town and runs into Faith but she's busy trying to make sure her brother has a good holiday and isn't made to feel bad by the townspeople. Watching these two trying to get to know one another was fun. But when someone is accused of theft, there's a rift in the budding relationship until things are all sorted out.

Mistletoe Detour by Kate Pearce was so much fun. Ted goes to help a stranded passenger and finds his old friend Veronica needing his tow truck help. She's running from something but it's her pet pig (Bacon) that really stole the show for me. Veronica stays with Ted while waiting for her uncle to get back from vacation and they decide to celebrate Christmas together which brings them closer as they get to know one another. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I'm a pirate, arrrr."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #221

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 21 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 21 years here in a weekly blog post.

I woke up one morning to take Falcor out and saw that someone had emptied a whole bunch of cans onto my street. It was a mess but the street sweeper came by a little while later and cleaned it all up. 

On Tuesday the police were in my alley. They arrested one of the homeless people because he's been trespassed from every apartment complex on this street and he's not even supposed to be in this neighborhood the police said. But he also had a warrant for his arrest and he ran from the police so he was arrested. 

I also found out that me neighbor who had the shooting at his apartment a couple of weeks ago turned himself in and was charged with 2 counts of attempted murder. So I don't think I'll be seeing him around here any time soon. His girlfriend is back in their apartment and is obviously selling drugs again since all the traffic to their apartment has started back up. But the police have been back at their apartment several times because I keep seeing them in my courtyard going to her apartment. More investigating I guess. 

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

Review: Bat's Got Bite by Alexa Gregory

Book Description

Can a vampire runaway groom and the bat shifter bounty hunter hired to bring him back find common ground? Or will centuries of misunderstanding stand in the way of their happily-ever-after?

When paranormal bounty hunter Ecaterina’s life is threatened by an old mark, she’s ordered to return home and lie low. She intends to follow orders until she’s ordered to track down the vampire prince who fled his wedding.

Valerian knows his arranged marriage won’t work. He needs to find his true mate if he wants to avoid the same fate of his ancestors.

When Ecaterina catches up with Valerian, they discover they have more in common than they once thought. They both love adventure and hate archaic traditions, and they’re extremely compatible in bed. Too bad a royal vampire prince and a bat shifter are forbidden to be together.

Can the two of them work together and thwart the renowned killer who’s after Ecaterina? And even more challenging, can they make their clans accept them for who they are?

This steamy romance novella is part of Milly Taiden’s Paranormal Dating Agency (PDA) world. 

My Review

Ecaterina is a bat shifter and works as a bounty hunter. When one of the guys who she brought in escapes jail and wants her dead, her boss makes her take a leave of absence. She goes home but her family is driving her crazy because they want her to follow the family traditions and she's not. 

Valerian fled a wedding that he knows would never work and even though he wants to find his true mate, he doesn't think there's any chance of that ever happening until he meets Ecaterina. She's been sent to find him and bring him back to his wedding but he has other plans. 

Ecaterina's family are servants to the royal family and so Ecaterina was in the castle for the Prince's wedding and when he fled, she was asked to go find him and bring him back by his family. 

The fact that the matchmaker, Gerri Wilder is in this book made it that much better for me because I love her. She really knows how to match a couple together and have things work out. Ecaterina's family had sent her to this matchmaker some time ago and she knew she wasn't ready to be matched with anyone so even though her family wanted her married off, Gerri didn't find a match for her...yet. 

Now that Valerian had escaped marrying someone he didn't love, he was on his way to Gerri Wilder in the hopes of finding someone he could love. She tells him that he'll find his soul mate at some point and he goes about his business not knowing that Ecaterina is about to enter his life and make things more complicated. 

When these two do meet, it's pretty funny. I didn't expect her to be able to get the drop on him as easy as she did. She's one of the best bounty hunters out there and it shows but even she was a little surprised it was so easy. I liked that these two seem to like each other right away. Valerian is lusting after her almost right away which I found funny. These two make a pact that she'll hold off his family for a week before bringing him back so he can figure out how to let his fiance know that he's not going to marry her. But right as they are getting along and getting to know each other better she gets a message from the guy who wants her dead. Things take a complete opposite direction at that point because Valerian feels protective of her and now wants to help her catch the escapee. 

While he is hiding from his parents and helping Ecaterina find the bad guy, they find themselves in danger for a while but it only brings them closer so they can no longer deny their feelings for each other. The ending was great and so was this story. I think these two will be great together.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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.

I won a Goodreads contest for a Kindle ebook. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Axil by Ava Ross

Book Description

En route to meeting her alien fiancé for the first time, Julia gets lost inside the lower corridors of the alien starship. When she slams into a grease-spattered alien and he grabs her, she does what any self-respecting Earth girl would do—she stabs him. He flings her over her his shoulder, hauls her to his room, and tosses her onto his bed. Then he kisses her.

No puny Earth female should dare to assault him, yet this one challenges him at every turn. He wants her, and he’s used to taking whatever he wants. When she signals for him to kiss her, what’s a hot-blooded alien to do? He climbs over her and captures her mouth with his own.

An Earth woman and an alien male collide on a starship bound for the planet Crakair. Will the seven foot tall mass of pissed off alien release her or make her his bride?

Axil is book zero in the Mail Order Brides of Crakair Series. This standalone, novella-length story has on-the-page heat, a guaranteed happily ever after, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.

My Review

I received this book for free after signing up for the authors newsletter. 

Julia meets her intended mate all by accident after she gets lost on the alien spaceship. When he grabs for her, she stabs him and he lifts her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carries her back to his room. She thinks he's some sort of mechanic because he has oil on him so she's shocked when she finds out his identity. She and Axil both have translators implanted behind their ears but hers hasn't quite started working yet while his is working just fine and he knows exactly what she's saying to him. 

Axil knows exactly who she is when she stumbles into him in the hallway. He never meant for things to go quite as far as they did but he found her quite amusing since she had no idea he could understand everything she was saying to herself. 

They fall for each other really fast even though they're supposed to court for a year, they decide to speed things up and head off for a short trip to another planet to get to know each other better. Not everyone is agreeable to this and they show their displeasure about it, really aggravating Axil. But things don't go according to plan and they find themselves in danger for a while where Julia shows that she's not just some fragile human. 

I really liked this story and I loved Axil's personality. These two were made for each other and now I'm looking forward to reading more of this series. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Burning Ash by N.J. Walters

 

Book Description

No one is more surprised than Asher, one of the oldest vampires on Earth, that he's attracted to vamp hunter Jo Radcliffe. She's smart, a talented slayer, and she's gorgeous. Something about her pulls at him, like no one ever has before. For a man, whose name strikes fear in everyone—this is something new and intriguing. And quite possibly deadly, if she discovers his secret.

Jo has two things in common with the handsome Asher—they are both slayers and someone is messing with them in a very-much-trying-to-kill-them way. She's not so happy about joining forces with a dude she doesn't know. But he's sexy as hell and really good at his job as one of the Forgotten Brotherhood, whose business it is to execute misbehaving paranormals.

She knows she's bait in a larger plot to harm Asher and the Brotherhood. And there is nothing he won't do, no line he won't cross, to keep her safe—which may be the weakness that destroys them both.

My Review

This is the third book in the Forgotten Brotherhood series and after really loving the first two books I was excited to read this one. 

Asher (Ash) gets an anonymous email telling him that a vampire is killing people and while he doesn't usually check these things out, he does this time. While he hides in the shadows watching the vampire, a hunter walks in and attacks the vampire. Asher isn't your average vampire since he's thousands of years old and very powerful. Things don't usually intrigue him after having lived so long but the female hunter sure grabbed his attention right away. Asher is a member of the Forgotten Brotherhood and he gets sent out to deal with paranormals that cause problems and break rules. 

Jo is a vampire hunter and wants all of them eliminated. She got the same anonymous email that Ash did and that's how they met. Jo hates vampires but Asher tried to help her kill the vampire that was killing innocent people so they end up hanging out a little bit. 

These two are polar opposites but little by little they realize that there's something between them. Ash doesn't understand why he feels such a pull to protect her but there's no fighting it or the attraction he feels for her. Jo doesn't realize right way that he's a vampire because he can walk in the sun for one thing and he eats regular human food. I wasn't sure that a vampire hunter and a vampire could have a strong relationship but once Jo realizes that they are fighting for the same thing, she let's her guard down a little. 

Jo can kick as much bad guy butt as Ash and I loved how strong she is. We get to see some of the people from the first book which I loved. It's always nice to see how the people in the previous books are doing. There's a little bit of a twist and a little danger but Ash wasn't going to let anything happen to her if he could help it. I like that we get someone new in this book and I really hope we see more of him soon because he's intriguing. Once again I ended up loving another book in this series. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Review: Immortal Angel by Lynsay Sands

Book Description

For almost a century, Ildaria Garcia has been on the run, a trouble magnet with a knack for taking down bad guys. Lately, her vigilante tendencies have drawn unwelcome attention to her fellow Immortals. Forced to relocate, Ildaria is supposed to lay low in a new town. Instead, she quickly entangles herself with six and a half feet of muscular, tattooed trouble.

Joshua James Simpson Guiscard, aka G.G., knows a lot about Immortals—enough to make him wary. Yet from the moment Ildaria walks into his club, he feels desire stronger than anything he’s known. Accepting the fact that they might be life mates is disconcerting. But when her past catches up to them, G.G. faces a choice—confront his demons at last, or lose a passion that’s hot as hell.

My Review

Ildaria is a vampire who gets herself in trouble more than once because she has a habit of playing vigilante and saving humans. She's supposed to stay out of trouble and not bring attention to herself so that humans ask questions, but trouble seems to finds her. 

Ildaria meets G.G. and when his dog doesn't try to bite her like he does everyone else, he hires her to dog sit and be his accountant. She really needs the job so she's happy to have it. 

G.G. owns a bar that immortals frequent so he knows about them but doesn't want to be turned into one like his mother was when she found her lifemate. This is problematic when Ildaria realizes that G.G. is her lifemate and he's not going to be thrilled with that. They have shared dreams where he just thinks that he's dreaming about her and doesn't realize that she's actually really there with him. 

When he realizes that he's her lifemate, they sit down and tell each other about their lives, start dating, taking things slow because of the brutal way she had been turned and get to know each other really well. Things are going really well for them and their relationship when the guy who turned her starts sending enforcers to bring her back to him even though the guy in charge where she lives tells him to back off. It turns out the guy that's after her for revenge is an important person in the immortal council which governs the enforcers. The enforcers are like police for the immortals sent by the immortal council, sent to hunt down rogue immortals who misbehave and break the rules. 

But things aren't always the way we think they are and that's the case for Ildaria too. So when her nemesis comes to town and she has a chance to face him once and for all, things don't go as she thought they would. 

I loved this book. Just when I thought I knew what would happen, I was thrown a huge twist that changed the end of the story but it really gave this book a great ending. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #220

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 21 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 21 years here in a weekly blog post.

I walked outside with Falcor and saw two police cars and the two white vans. The police were across the street rounding up the homeless people that had made a camp over there and were sleeping. Ever since the new law about the homeless went into effect, the police have been rounding up the homeless when they see them on the streets. The new law states that it's against the law for the homeless to sleep on the sidewalks or streets as long as there are beds available at the shelters. I saw the police making them get into the vans. 

You can't see it very well but there are two police officers behind the palm tree and by the police car. They are standing with 2 homeless people that they made get into a van. The funny thing was, once the police left with the 5 homeless people that they put in the vans...several more homeless people ended up being in the same place for the rest of the week. 

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

Review: Given To The Beserkers by Lee Savino

Book Description

Captured to be a prize in the brutal Berserker Games...

My life changed forever when the Berserkers took me. These fearsome warriors must find women to keep their lethal rage at bay...and I am an ideal mate.

The Alphas decree that all warriors must compete in a series of Highland Games for my hand. Of all the giant warriors, two have caught my eye, but I have no choice. When the final match is over, I will belong to the ruthless victors. They will possess me fully. I can only hope they will be the two I could come to love...

Given to the Berserkers is a standalone, full-length MFM ménage romance starring two huge, dominant warriors who make it all about the woman. Read the whole best-selling Berserker saga to see what readers are raving about...

My Review

Muriel and her sisters were captured by the Lowland Berserkers and were to be handed off to a warrior to be their mate. She has come to accept her fate but wishes she could pick her mate.

Fergus is from the Highland Berserkers and while she is caged he slips in close to the cage to talk with her. 

When Muriel is informed by her sisters mates that she is to be the prize at the berserker games, she's furious because she gets no say in who wins her and she has to mate. I hated how this started out but I had faith when her sisters mates told her that whoever won her would treat her well or face consequences because she and her sisters are highly prized. 

There was a bit of a twist after she met who won and she would be mated to but I really liked the twist. It made it easier to enjoy the story from that point for a while. But then her mates start telling her that she needs to obey them, submit to them, and then there was so much sex. I'm not a prude and have no problem with a lot of sexy times in a book but this just seemed overdone especially since I really didn't get a serious sense of of the three of them clicking in that way. 

It was more like she wanted to do her duty and obey them even if she didn't want to at first. She did come to start caring for them after getting to know them a little better and I like that they were both there to care for her, and did really seem to care about her happiness but I needed something more. I also didn't like the fact that the males thought it was ok to punish Muriel when she didn't do what they told her to. I did end up liking this book in the end even though there were a couple of things that bothered me.

I hadn't read the previous books but this told enough of the back story that I never felt lost and had a good grip about why the sisters were so prized as mates. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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 new Android Tablet and reusable food storage bags from The Spark Reviewer Program. 

I cannot give you a link for the Spark Reviewer Program because it's by invitation only. But the Tablet is probably the neatest thing I've received from them so far. The reusable food storage bags are big and easy to close which I really like. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Favorite Photo of the Week

My daughter brought some little friends home. lol These are Cicada skins from after the nymph cicada has shed its skin to turn into an adult Cicada. 

She found them on one of the trees. You can see here that there were quite a few of them on the tree. 

They were all over the trunk of the tree.

This is how my daughter came back from walking the dog. She was wearing the skins like jewelry on her shirt. lol