Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received: 

Fix hot sauce. 

Salonpas pain relieving patch. 

Belle perfume. 

I cashed out some points on Product Report Card for a $55 Amazon gift card. 

I won a $25 Amazon gift card from a blog contest. 

And received a foam seat cushion from Walmart Spark Reviewer to review. 

The Fix hot sauce is too hot for me. It's a Siracha hot sauce. My daughter liked it though. I love the perfume and will use the Salonpas patch on my back I'm sure. 

The seat cushion fits the chair I have in my bedroom so that's a win. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: His Beloved by Anna Santos

 

Book Description

It was just a silly reality show...

Until he chose her.

Absurdly rich and gorgeous Daniel Wolfe is used to get what he wants. And he wants Jade. The powerful vampire male picks her from the crowd of screaming females willing to do anything to please him. He's convinced that she's the One, His Beloved. But he wasn't prepared for a feisty girl who loathes vampires and doesn't want to be his for all Eternity.

Jade will sacrifice anything—even her freedom—to protect her orphaned little brother. But when she's forced to join a reality show that may keep her away from him, she has to survive hell and temptation to get the money she needs to pay for her brother's treatment.

In a world that reveres vampires and reality shows rule the entertainment channels, Jade needs to endure Daniel's seductive games for a week before she can be released from her contract and go back to take care of her brother.

However, not everything is what it seems and despite her secret past and her hate for vampires, Jade may be facing a worse danger than being bitten: falling in love.

Content Warning: Explicit love scenes, naughty language, and an extremely sexy vampire. Intended for mature audiences.

My Review

Jade is talked into going to a reality show by her friend Jenna who is a bit of a ditz. The reality show is for vampires to pick humans that they will spend a week with and become the vampires pet. Jade doesn't even like vampires but her friend is really hoping to get picked so she goes there to give her friend support. Jade has a sick brother named Stevie who she takes care of ever since their parents died. 

Daniel is the head vampire in charge of the vampire reality show. He spots Jade before the contestants are chosen and she has no idea who he is. It's pretty obvious that Jade doesn't even like vampires but that doesn't stop Daniel from picking her and since she signed a contract to get inside, she can't say no without having to pay a bunch of money.

Daniel believes that Jade is his beloved, his mate but she is so stubborn and scared of vampires that she won't believe anything he says to her but she doesn't mind when he kisses her even though she kept telling him to leave her alone or not touch her. He really doesn't take no for an answer which kinda irritated me. He could have won her over without being so pushy. But there's a reason that Jade is scared of and doesn't trust vampires and Daniel doesn't find out about what happened until later. 

Even though Daniel is pushy at first, he ends up being a nice guy and Jade does finally realize that he's not like the other vampire she knew and starts to trust him a little more. It doesn't hurt that Jade is really attracted to him either. But there are two other girls on the reality show that Jade has to go against in order to win the game and be picked to be with Daniel. One of those girls ends up being Jenna, her best friend. The other is one of Daniel's ex's an she's not happy that Jade seems to be his favorite. There's a little drama that you would expect from a reality tv show but Daniel already knows who he wants to end up with. 

Towards the end of the book, danger seems to pop up out of nowhere and Jade finds herself facing some troubling realities and family secrets. We find out that there's a whole lot more to Jenna than the ditzy persona that she shows to everyone and we get a sneak peek of what the next book might be about. I'm looking forward to seeing how Jenna will react when her mate comes sniffing around her. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

My Daughter is Selling on Etsy and is an Avon Rep.

 

Yesterday was my daughter's 30th birthday so I thought I would help my daughter out with her businesses and give her shops a boost. My daughter sells stuff on Etsy and is now an Avon Rep. First I'll show you some of the products on her Etsy shop. This is a metal marijuana leaf ashtray. 

She makes Witchcraft kits and sells them on Etsy as well. 

She also has some misc craft supplies available. 

She made this pentacle wall hanger and it's for sale.

This is another Witchcraft set. 

And she makes her own soaps that she sells in the bath gift sets. 

You can find her Etsy Shop- Brought2youbyMe at this link. She has other products on there as well.

---

My daughter is also selling Avon online too. You can find her online store here- Elizabeth Post Avon

Book Review: Latent by Rae Salander

 

Book Description

The perfect daughter, the perfect partner, and the perfect medic-that’s me, or at least that’s what I have been working on for most of my life. So, what if I find my papa has a condition that has no discovered cure? I can work harder to make him proud while he still remembers me. So, what if I secretly don’t think I am good enough for Nathan? I can try harder. So, what if I have discovered I don’t have the people skills to be a medic? I can plan to go into research.

See, I am adaptable. After all, it has only been about two hundred years since the world went to hell. With the natural disasters and then the pandemic. With extra-terrestrials swooping to the rescue. At a price, of course. Nothing comes for free. The new world order is a human-eat-human one. And the hand I have been dealt is a pretty darned good one. Even Freya, my roomie, and best bud have learned to put up with my borderline OCD tendencies. Yes, life is good. And then they take it all away. Every little bit, I have built up. Every shred of what I believe makes me. But they will pay. If I ever make it out of this alive.

My Review

Arwen has her life planned out for herself. She is going to partner with Nathan, finish her schooling and become a medic. But everything changes when she meets Makhye (Mak). 

Mak is a hybrid alien who has come to Earth for a reason but he and his brother don't want anyone to know they are there so they disguise themselves. Mak and Arwen become friends but he feels more for her and wants a relationship with her. 

Things seem to be going well for Arwen and she's about to be partnered with her long time friend, Nathan. But when she meets Mak, she finds she likes to spend time with him and they get along together and like some of the same things. But Mak isn't very truthful with her and doesn't tell her what planet he's from or that he's been disguising what he actually looks like. He tells her that he has feelings for her and wants her to come back to his planet with him but she isn't willing to give up her life for an alien she just met when she has her life planned out. He doesn't know how to take no for an answer and ends up pretty much stalking her day after day, wanting to talk to her and try and talk her into coming with him. She tells him no on more than one occasion but he won't take no for an answer. No means no in my mind so this was already going badly for me. 

The last time he confronts her, he's attacked by other aliens but Arwen calls for help and hopes that he'll be ok. Mak has 8 brothers and they are out for blood because they are convinced that Arwen had something to do with the attack on Mak. So she is kidnapped so she can confess. But things go very wrong when one of Mak's other brothers, F'Xan loses his mind and attacks Arwen. He bites her during the attack and they don't think she'll survive because their venom usually kills those that they bite. But she lives and so they continue to interrogate her and on more than one occasion she is tortured. This story made me cringe so many times. First she's attacked and raped, then tortured, pretty much starved and tortured some more. It's only when Mak wakes up after he partially recovers from his attack that the entire truth comes to light. He and a couple of his brothers or pod mates feel awful for what they put Arwen through but somethings that even they didn't realize cold happen come to light and they realize that they want her in a romantic way. I don't know how she would or could ever trust any of them again after what she went through though. I'm not going to say how this ends because I seriously had to set aside any base in reality to even keep reading this. Frankly, my ending of her picking up a blaster and melting them all into a puddle of goo would have been better but at any rate I think you can tell that I was not pleased at all with this story. I liked Arwen, she's a fighter and some of the other characters are great. This story could have been really good without all the violence.

This is a dark romance. TW for rape, torture and kidnapping. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

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

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"That makes no sense! I hate math."

*App pictures today courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #257

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

I spotted another used syringe on the path where I walk Falcor. It was only a few feet from the trash can so I picked it up and threw it away. Someone asked the last time I found needles if this was the kind of needle that diabetics use and if the drug addicts use these for drugs. The answer is yes, they do. 

There was a car speeding down my street and a cop quickly caught up with him and pulled him over. 

I enlarged the picture so you could see. The speeder got a ticket. I hope more of the speeders get caught because there are a lot of people that like to speed down this street and take that corner really fast so I was glad to see the police around here getting them and giving out tickets. 

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

The high this week was 116F.  That's 46C for those not in the US. 

Flowering Palm Tree's

 

Did you know that palm tree's sprout flowers once a year for a couple of weeks? I've seen it happen but never was in time to see the flower stalks sprouting from the leaf axils. They sprout so fast that it's easy to miss the tubular sprouts before they flower. 

I circled some of the tubular flower stalks so you can see what I'm talking about. Most of the palm tree's around here have them and within a day or so start sprouting flowers. Some flowers you can see already.

The flower stalks look different from the palm tree fronds *leafs* so it was easy to spot the flowers coming. 

Some of the flowers are either bright yellow like these or more of a whitish yellow.

These ones are more of the lighter whitish color.

There's a lot more white flowers than there are yellow flowers on these tree's.

Some of the flowers that sprouted are bright yellow. I'm not sure what the difference is. But so many flowers are on these palm tree's right now and the bee's are everywhere. Once the flowers sprouted from the flower stalks I don't walk under them for a couple of weeks until the flowers and bee's are gone.

I thought it was kinda cool and thought you guys would too. See, I found more flowers. lol 

Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received: 

A Pond's Chat Pack from Ripple Street. 

In the box was Pond's moisturizer, dark spot corrector, anti aging cream and a coupon for a full size free Pond's product. 

I already used Pond's cold cream so I already liked their products but I like these products as well. I've been using them since I received them. 

You can sign up for a Ripple Street account and apply to get free products. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Alpha's Prey by Renee Rose and Lee Savino

 

Book Description

The human thinks I’m stalking her. Maybe I am.

But I’m not the only one.

There’s something evil in these woods and it preys on single women.

I’m not about to let the sexy scientist fall into its lair.

Even if that means holding her prisoner in my cabin.

Keeping her where I can see her at all times.

Bending her to my bear’s will.

Just until the storm passes. Until her research is finished.

Then I’ll let her go.

I swear.

My Review

Caleb has been spending more time in his bear form than his human form since his mate and cub had been brutally murdered and he was the one to find them. He should be hibernating but there's a serial killer/kidnapper on the loose and another female has gone missing and she's not the first one.

When Miranda goes to the research station's cabin by herself, Caleb is fearful that she might be the next victim. Miranda is writing a paper on tree ring research and if she doesn't get the research done so she can write the paper, her funding will be gone.

Miranda brought her dog, Bear with her to the research cabin. The name of the dog made me laugh since I knew in short order there would be a bear shifter watching her and coming to her rescue, which I was right about. They meet when Miranda goes outside to gather some research but gets lost. Caleb finds her hypothermic, in the snow because her dog is barking like crazy. He brings her back to his cabin to warm her and the dog up. But when she wakes up hours later and he's sleeping inside the sleeping bag with her, she fears he might be the serial killer that the clerk at the convenience store told her about. 

They end up being stuck in his little cabin for a couple of days because it's snowing and the snow is really deep. There's no way that she's be able to hike through it and get back to her cabin. He's grouchy but his bear really wants Miranda and that makes Caleb even grouchier. So while Miranda has a weird habit of talking to herself like she's narrating what's going on around her, Caleb isn't making things real pleasant for her with his gruff behavior. 

The serial killer who has been kidnapping women, is actually a crazy guy who is experimenting on the women. We get a few glimpses of what he's up to during the time that Miranda and Caleb are stuck together in his cabin. And then again later. 

Watching Caleb and Miranda tip toe around each other at first was fun because they both are lusting after each other. So when Miranda pokes the bear, so to speak and Caleb decides to act on list lust, these two are hot enough to melt the snow piled up around his cabin. He's all but given up on life and is pretty much just living to find the evil thing that killed his family. But Miranda is a breath of fresh air and just what he needed in his life. What happened to his family is heartbreaking but finding Miranda gives him anther chance at life. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Review: Daily Goodie Box-June

 

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

What was in the box?

Vit Health - Beyond Gorgeous Vitamins- I got the Hair, skin and nail vitamins and started taking them right away. I love these kind of vitamins. They usually make my skin nicer.

Flathau’s Fine Foods - Raspberry Snaps- These were my favorite thing in the box. They were so good. I love shortbread cookies and thought these were great. Loved the mild raspberry flavor they had.

Nature Nut - Shampoo for Normal Hair- I've received this before and I'm not a fan of the scent but my daughter and grandson who live with me love it so it was a win for them.

Bare Republic - Hand Sanitizer Spray -  This is a good hand sanitizer. Works as well as the other one I have. It doesn't smell bad and made my hands feel the same way all the other hand sanitizers do. Always good t have around.

Honey Belle - Seaweed Spirulina DIY Detox Mask- I used this a couple of times so far and it didn't break my face out so that's a plus. My face felt clean after using it. 

Eco-Dent - Dental Gum, Tooth Powder & Daily Rinse- The toothpaste sample was just ok to me. It did work well though. Not a fan of the flavor though.

We Are Rugged Beauty - Long Lasting Nail Polish- I got a pretty purple color that I liked and it lasted 5 days before it started chipping.

ShiKai - Healthy Glow CBD Night Cream- It's a good night cream but I don't know what benefits the CBD really has if any.

I was also sent a small round paper with wild flower seeds embedded inside it. I just have to plant and water it and see if I have flowers later on.

All they ask you to do is try the products and leave reviews for the products you got in order to be eligible for more Free Goodie Boxes. As you guys already know, I'm a fan of all these types of boxes. I love all the different subscription boxes and it's really nice to be able to try new to me products for free. This is a great box to try for.

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

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

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

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

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

Review: Notorious by Diana Palmer

 

Book Description

Trusting him is dangerous.

But resisting him is almost impossible.

New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer’s Long, Tall Texans series returns with secrets…and dangerous seduction.

Gaby Dupont knows some men shouldn’t be trusted. Ever. Especially not high-profile lawyer Nicholas Chandler. How can she trust the man who might be helping her greedy relatives steal her family fortune? To get the inside scoop on Nicholas’s dealings—and protect herself and her beloved grandmère—Gaby must take a job with the devil himself. Of course, she can’t tell him who she really is…

Nicholas Chandler knows there’s more to Gaby Dupont than delicate beauty. She’s sweet and clever—but just too young and secretive. Yet even as they clash, Gaby gets under his skin as no other woman ever has. When Gaby comes under fire, Nicholas risks his career and reputation to keep her safe. But can he protect Gaby without losing his heart?

My Review

Gaby had something bad happen to her when she was younger and she and her grandmother are scared that Nick might take the case and defend the guy who is responsible. She goes to his apartment to make a plea to him not to defend the guy but when an opportunity arises to take a job for him instead, she takes it hoping to get to know him better and then ask him not to take the case. 

Nick is a high powered, successful attorney. But he's got a lot going on at home and at work. His teenage niece is a handful and he has some crazy court cases that are stressing him out. So when Gaby is knocking on his door, he thinks she's from the temp agency to catalog his bookshelves that his niece knocked over in a rage. 

 Nick really had his hands full with his niece, Jackie. Her mother, his sister isn't much of a mother and is more concerned with her new boyfriend than her daughter which really messes with the teenagers head and makes her hard to live with. She and Gaby butt heads right from the very beginning but Gaby is really good at finding out what is really bothering a person which makes it easier for her to talk to them and that's what she did with Jackie. After a while, Gaby was able to break through to her and show her that someone really cared about her. Which wasn't easy because she gets herself in over her head with an older boy who is really bad news and makes things dangerous for Gaby as well as Jackie. 

Because Gaby is scared of men and hasn't ever had a boyfriend, she's a little leery of Nick at first but he's a good guy even if he has a little bit of a temper. Nick is also the way he is because of a heartbreaking secret in his past. It broke my heart when his secret was revealed but it truly brought Nick and Gaby closer when they were able to talk about the bad things in their past. There's only one problem, Nick has no idea that Gaby is a very wealthy woman or what she is really doing there. 

There's a bit of a disagreement when Nick realizes who Gaby is and why she was really at his door that first day but losing her only showed them both that they cared much more about each other than they knew. 

I liked the whole mob connection that got thrown in the mix and the conclusion to Nick's case that was causing him a lot of stress. This story came together just the way I knew a Diana Palmer story would. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Raturday!

 

"I need help wiff my homework"

"Mmm pamcakes" 

*All pictures today courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #256

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 23 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 23 years here in a weekly blog post. 

----

I found out that my frail, elderly neighbor *the one with the homeless brother who broke his cheekbone a few weeks ago* passed away. I hadn't seen him outside for a few days and I had a bad feeling. He lived with another brother in that apartment and I gave him my condolences. I haven't seen the homeless brother around since he busted out their bedroom window some weeks ago.

---

This week we have the tale of Jessica and Mikey...the local homeless meth heads that argue all the time. They are also the couple that broke into the shop a couple of years ago and broke through the wall to get into the vacant apartment next door. Yeah, these are great people. They are always getting into trouble around here. So while I was out walking Falcor, I noticed Jessica checking out this truck with the large tarp in the back that was across the street. So I came home and set up my camera and waited...

And then it happened. She got up in the back of the truck and dove under the tarp. She climbed down and went back up a couple of times. 

She was looking around and pulling stuff out of the back of the truck but it was small stuff so I don't know what all she stole off the truck. 

And then her boyfriend walked up and she started yelling at him like she always does. I seriously don't know why he puts up with her abuse and she is abusive. She is always calling him a fat b*tch, or a stupid little b*tch. And she hits him, I've seen her punch him right in the face. He'll try to hold her in a hug and she'll start screaming about how he's hitting her and for someone to call the cops. She screams at him that when the cops come they'll believe her and he'll go to jail and then she'll start hitting him or biting his arm. This has been going on for years. 

After she yelled at him and called him names, he left. Then I watched her dive under the tarp again and she stayed there for about an hour. I think she fell asleep because she looked all out of sorts when she finally jumped down from the back of the truck. I was just surprised that the owner of the truck didn't come out and see her in the truck while they were loudly screaming at each other. It would have been kinda funny if the owner had started the truck and took off with her asleep in the back. Would serve her right. 

I saw them 'making their bed' by pulling the plastic tarp to the sides and securing it. But one side kept coming undone and they were getting so mad about it. 

Jessica took a break and let her man secure the tarp but he failed too. LOL But they dived under the tarp for a little while but that didn't last long. I saw them out walking around a little while later and were jumping in and out of the laundry room across the street where they do their drugs. Most times they don't even shut the door and I can watch them hitting the crack pipe from my bedroom window. 

And no I didn't call the police because every single time these two get arrested, they are out right away. I would have had to write a voluntary statement about what I saw and then testified, which isn't happening. So instead, I called the constables office and reported an abandoned vehicle. They came out and took a look at the truck and then left. "someone" I'm assuming Jessica or Mikey who have been using it as a drug den, moved the truck later that night to right in front of my bedroom window. Good grief. I'm just guessing that when the truck was maybe stolen and abandoned, the thieves left the keys in the car and now these two have them? I'm just guessing though. See that window with the window AC? That's my bedroom window. Why does everything happen right by my window? lol I don't know but these idiots have been waking me up at night when they start to argue. I'm waiting to see if the truck gets towed away at some point. But I won't hold my breath. 

One of the arguments went like this...

Jessica: You're just mad you can't have this *points at her crotch* because you're a fat pig. 

Mikey: I've had it. It wasn't that good. 

Jessica: *loses her damn mind and starts screaming* You know you want it, but you ain't getting it. 

Mikey: Calmly walks away. 
Jessica: Lays down in the back of the truck and starts scream/crying. 

They finally settled down later and went to sleep in the back of the truck.

---

The high this week was 103F

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

Book Review: Determined Prince by Michelle M. Pillow

 

Book Description

Dragon-shifter Prince Kyran has studied the Earth people and is ready to assimilate. Female shifters are all but going extinct on his planet of Qurilixen, and his people are desperate for mates—so much so they’re taking matters into their own hands. What better place to find a mate than Earth? After all, dragon-shifters had come from there centuries ago. Surely a human female would be honored to be selected by one as fine and fierce as himself.

While on Earth, Kyran stumbles upon the most beautiful woman he’s ever imagined, singing something the natives call rock ’n’ roll. His blood simmers and he knows Eve is the one for him. But taming this feisty female is going to take much more than his training prepared him for.

My Review

Females slowly stop being born to the people on Qurilixen so they decide to open the portal and go back to Earth to find females that they can mate with. 4 males from Qurilixen go to Earth and it's Kyran that finds a female first to bring home and mate. But because things have seriously changed since the last time his people were on Earth, he and the other guys are dressed really weirdly and speak even more strangely. The guys end up in a bar where Eve is singing on stage and when Kyran spots her, he's taken with her. They end up talking but she's doing a lot of drinking because it's her birthday, so she doesn't understand that Kyran is pretty much proposing to her and in her drunken state she accepts. 

The next day Eve finds herself on an alien planet with Kyran in his tent where he tells her they are now married. He makes a mess of things because he isn't very good at explaining what happened and just expects her to accept or understand somehow what is going on and that's not how she reacts at all. 

Because he doesn't understand everything she says, there are some hilarious misunderstandings. But not everyone on the planet are happy to have a human there. There are two species on Qurilixen, the Draig who are dragon shifters and the Var who are cat shifters. Some of the Var made it clear that they don't want human females polluting or diluting their gene pool. I look forward to see where this series takes me.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received: 

A multi position, adjustable pillow from Walmart Spark Reviewer.

A box of sample from Pinchme. 

I love the pillow. I have sleep apnea and don't use the sleep mask so I like to use pillows that keep me propped up a little for sleeping. Walmart Spark Reviewer is by invitation only so I don't have a link to sign up. 

I received a box of samples from PinchMe. 

Falcor loved the Bella dog food sample. He was happy to get a sample of food that he can eat. 

The plant based ranch is fine but I like the original better. 

The shampoo and conditioner samples were great. 

The Airborne natural energy shot was just nasty tasting. I didn't care for it at all. 

I will tell you something about PinchMe though, I don't try for those "Bonus" samples that they make you sign up with a credit card for things. That's too many hoops to jump through. I only try for the 100% free samples. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Nicodemus by D.B. Reynolds

 

Book Description

It was a time when gods walked the earth, when armies fought not for bits of land, but for the very existence of humanity. On such a battlefield, five formidable warriors stood against an evil greater than any the earth had ever seen. But evil is not an honorable foe. Betrayed by someone they trusted, the warriors were cursed, one by one, tossed into the maelstrom of time, imprisoned in stone, their freedom resting on nearly impossible conditions. Alone of the five, their leader, the sorcerer Nicodemus, was left free. His curse? To know that his fellow warriors remained trapped forever out of his reach, condemned to an eternity of searching for their stone prisons and the keys to their freedom.

Nicodemus stood on the battlefield, magic a storm of power surrounding him, his army on the cusp of victory against his lifelong enemy, the sorcerer Sotiris, whose death would finally bring peace to their world . . . until everything changed. The four warriors who’d stood by him through endless wars were struck down by a curse, gone in an instant, and spun into the sands of time. And Antonia, the woman he loved so fiercely, was bespelled into an unknown world, captured by the sorcerer she’d betrayed.

Following Sotiris’s vanishing trail, Nicodemus searches through worlds and centuries until finally, in a universe a thousand years from where he was born, his freed warriors seek him out and stand with him once more. But what of Antonia, what of her fate at the sorcerer’s whim? And if she still lives, how will he find her? With his warriors’ help, Nicodemus untangles the twisted reality Sotiris has contrived to hide his beloved. Together at last, Nico and Antonia will rediscover the love and trust they once held for each other, wanting only to share the life they’ve been denied for so long.

But Sotiris is still a threat--one that must be eliminated if there is to be peace. With Antonia and his warriors by his side--as well as an unexpected, but deadly, ally--Nicodemus prepares for the final battle. And this time, only one sorcerer will walk away.

My Review

This book starts out showing Nico's life before his friends were encased in stone and how the battle between he and Sotiris happened and how Sotiris won against him. We get to see how and why he and Antonia got to know one another and what happened to her. While I've been reading this series out of order, it really didn't take away from this book but this book did start out really slow for me. 

Nico searched for many, many years before he finally found out where Sotiris had sent his friends and Antonia and he made sure that they would be able to find him once they escaped their prisons. We get to watch his life as he makes friends, battles vampires and even make friends with one and starts to accumulate wealth that will hep him later on. He still has some of his magic even though he traveled to another world where he followed Sotiris so he could find his friends. But Sotiris knows he's looking for him and leaves him little notes about the curses that surround his friends and how he doesn't think they will ever escape. 

It isn't until I'd read almost 65% of this book that we get to present day where all of his friends have escaped their cursed prisons and he finally finds Antonia. All the back story just bored me to death, it was really slow going to even get to a part of this book that kept my attention for more than a couple of minutes. It's actually not until the end of this book that it finally starts to get interesting because Nico is allies with Raphael and Cyn from this author's Vampires in America series and Raphael helps bring down Sotiris in a fight that was a little anti-climatic to say the least. With Sotiris being this mega-powerful and smart sorcerer that has kept Nico on his toes and searching for his friends and lost love for a millennia, I thought the battle would be...more. But it seemed to end a little to fast for me and wasn't the huge, exciting thing that I was expecting. I've somewhat liked some of the other books in this series but this one just didn't do it for me at all. 

I give this book 1 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

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

Review: Walmart Beauty Box- June

 

The Walmart Beauty box is a subscription box that comes out 4 times a year. You sign up for it and it comes automatically every 3 months. They did increase the price of the box a little bit. So instead of $5 it's just a couple of dollars more. These boxes are free and you just pay for tax for shipping, mine came to $7.48.

What was in the box?

Cetaphil Mineral Sunscreeen. 

Cetaphil Gentle Daily Face Scrub. 

Listerine Ready Tabs. 

Sauve Pink 3 step hair regimen. 

Dollar Shave Club Shave Butter. 

NYX Bare With Me Cannabis Primer. 

The NYX cannabis make up primer works well. I don't know what the cannabis is supposed to do but it works as well as my other primer's. 

The Listerine Ready tabs are strong. You chew, swish and swallow. Fresh breath. I mean they work. 

The shave butter works great. I don't use shaving cream on my legs, I buy those disposable razors with the lubricating strip on them and they work well. This works really good though too. Loved this. 

I'm gonna have to buy the Suave Pink shampoo and conditioner. I really liked it and it smells so good. 

The Cetaphil face scrub and sunscreen work well. I've used both before and like both of them. 

I think for the price, this month's box was really good. I love being able to try new to me products and this is a great way to do that.  

Did you get this box?