Review: Daily Goodie Box- September

 

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?

Gloss Leaf - Collagen Iced Tea Peach - I'e had this one and have to say it's not bad. I don't like peach flavored tea but this is a good tasting tea. I would prefer a different flavor though.

Moon Cheese - Cheddar Bacon Me Crazy - This was definitely my least favorite thing in the box. It has a stale taste to it and the added bacon flavor just made it have a weird, not good taste to it. The funny thing is my dog loves them. He got a hold of one of them when I dropped it and it didn't upset his stomach. So he has some crackers now.

Zolli Candy - Boss Baby Limited Edition ZolliPops - These are great and my grandson likes them. They are small lollipops but they have a great flavor to them.

Zen of Slow Cooking - Tuscan Spice Blend - I used them in a pot roast in my slow cooker since it's still too hot to turn the oven on and the spices were great, had a great flavor.

Aroma Naturals - Lavender Beauty Oil - This massage oil can be used on your hands, face, neck or wherever. It also has Vitamin E so it's good for your skin and it smells really good. 

South of France  - Orange Blossom Honey Soap - This was my favorite thing in the box. It smells so good and even though it dries my skin out a little, that's okay because soap often does that.

Natrapel® - Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent - I have one of these already and hardly have to use it because we really don't have a lot of mosquitoes around where I live. I will keep it in case anyone plans to go hiking in the mountains or desert anytime soon. 

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.

Happy Raturday! (Hamster Edition)

 

Cuddles. There was a pet store in the mall that was closing and she was the last hamster they had and so I bought her and brought her home. But I didn't know she was pregnant, yeah, she had 5 babies. That was actually fun. 

This week I told you I would show you pictures of some of the hamsters we had. I actually didn't plan on having more than one hamster but things happen...

Buster was the first hamster we had. We got buster when one of my daughters friends mother came and asked if I would take him since she didn't want to care for him anymore. So I said yes. He was a really big hamster. Big enough that a ferret harness and leash fit around him and I would put it on him and take him for a walk. I got some looks. 

Smokey was a hamster that we only had for a couple of weeks because he passed away soon after we got him. Hamsters have short life spans and sometimes they pass away out of the blue for no apparent reason. 

The babies, Cuddles babies. Remember Cuddles from the first picture? These are her babies. She had 5 babies and I kept them all. They were Chinese Dwarf hamsters, about half as big as teddy bear hamsters and really fast.

My daughter was trying to hold all of them and they kept escaping. lol They just ran all over really fast.

We ended up with so many hamsters that Ken built shelves to hold some of the hamster cages. That bottom one isn't a cage, it's a large tupperware container with a bunch of hamsters toys so I had somewhere to put the hamsters when I cleaned their cages. 

When one of the hamsters would pass away we would drive up to Mount Charleston and bury them up in the mountains somewhere. 

*Chance* Roborovski Hamster. These kinds of hamsters are the smallest and the fastest and they will run! I had to give Chance a little piece of pumpkin pie just to get him to stop so I could get a picture of him. 

 Onyx loved to come out and get a snack. Hamsters aren't as friendly as rats but he was especially friendly.

Honey and Spirit the Gerbils. I also had 2 gerbils. That was an experience because they like to hop all over you. I would take them out on the couch with me and they would climb all over me and just hop really fast all over the couch. They were hilarious. 

Cinnamon we got when another of my daughters friends didn't want to keep her any longer. When the mothers in my neighborhood found out I would take in unwanted hamsters, they brought me several. lol 

Ken found out that if he sniffed really loudly with his face down by some of them they would sniff or squeak back at him. It was so funny.

Baby was a Chinese Dwarf hamsters and fast as heck. Hamsters usually only live for 2-3 years but this little guy lived for 4 1/2 years. 

Bambi was one of those hamsters that would would sniff back at Ken. She would run over to his face and rub herself on his jaw and squeak at him. He thought it was so funny and he started doing it to all the hamsters to see if they would respond.

Bubbles just wanted to sit on top of the couch and be left alone. She was the most laid back hamster ever. She just wanted to sit up there alone and look around.

A bunny that Ken found in the parking lot. Ken was talking with a friend in our parking lot and this bunny just came up to him. He picked it up and brought it home. We were going to keep it but my daughter who is holding him in this picture was really allergic to him. So we found him a good home with people who had other rabbits.

Cuddles. Some Chinese Dwarf hamsters will live together unlike Teddy Bear hamsters who will fight to the death if you house them together. But once she had the babies and they were weaned she wanted nothing to do with them and she would fight them so she got her own cage. She also became a biter and we had to wear thick gloves when we handled her. I have no idea why but I still took her out and let her play on the couch. When she got older she couldn't bite very hard and I didn't have to wear the gloves but she would still try to bite me if I got too close to her. 

Sniffy was from another of my daughters friends in the neighborhood and Ken would sniff at him and he would run over and rub himself all over Ken while sniffing really loudly back at Ken. We never did figure out why some of them would respond like that to him but Sniffy would run over to Ken and rub himself all over him. It was so cute. He was such a friendly little hamster. 

So those were the hamsters that we had before we had rats. I hope you enjoyed seeing their pictures.

Apartment Life #269

 

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 24 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 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

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In the ongoing License Plate Thief Chronicles... Another neighbor told my daughter that she was approached by the thief and another woman who were selling stolen license plates in the strip mall parking lot next door and wanted to know if she wanted to buy one. O.o What? Yeah. I could hardly believe it either. 

Then the next morning my daughter spotted the thief's car with a *new* license plate. But I don't know if you can tell from this picture, the plate is all bent to hell. LOL She sure as heck didn't get this plate from the DMV. First off they give you 2 license plates and they are not bent all to hell looking like they've been through a trash compactor. Then the next morning I realized that the license plate was gone again. She only puts the license plate on her car when she's driving it. Otherwise she takes the plate off and leave her car backed into her spot in the alley. Not strange at all. 

She probably knows that the police have been driving up and down our street and the alley and she doesn't one of them running her plate. I mean, it's just so obvious and she'll get caught eventually. Plus as you can see, there's no registration sticker on this license plate. She'll get caught...again. What an idiot.

Maybe I shouldn't have posted the plate number but I don't care. It's not like it's her actual plate. It's so obvious it's stolen.

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I spotted the fire truck at the end of my street this week. Not sure what was going on but no police or ambulance showed up and they left a little while later. 

---

I did see the police in front of my apartment building at 5am one day but my stupid phone wouldn't take a picture because it said the SD card was full and by the time I got my camera, the police were already gone. So that's why there's no picture. 

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The high this week was 101F/38C

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

Book Review: A Mate For The Dragon by Zoe Chant

 

Book Description

A curvy woman with a broken heart + a hot dragon shifter with a haunted past + a deadly clan of evil dragons = one sizzling and suspenseful romance!

Dumped by her boyfriend and out of a job, curvy Holly Edwards just wants to forget about her troubles for a while. A peaceful vacation in a cabin in the woods seems like the perfect way to get some alone time and mend her broken heart. She thinks she can do without love in her life - at least until the drop-dead gorgeous Stefan walks into her life.

Dragon shifter Stefan Novak is the last of his clan - and unless he finds a mate soon, his lineage will die with him. But Stefan knows that even if he finds his mate, she too will be in deadly peril from the rival dragon clan who is hunting him. He's made up his mind he won't seek out his mate, even if it means he'll be alone forever - but he doesn't expect his mate to come looking for him.

The connection between Holly and Stefan can’t be denied, but old foes resurface, threatening to pull them apart. Can they survive the battle between rival dragon clans? Stefan's enemies will stop at nothing to defeat him - even if it means threatening Holly's life. Can he keep her safe and win her heart?

A Mate for the Dragon is an action-packed standalone paranormal romance. No cliffhangers!

My Review

Stefan has been in hiding from a ruthless dragon shifter who killed the rest of his clan, he's the only one left. He wasn't looking for his mate because he knows getting close to someone will put them in danger but he can't walk away once he finds Holly. 

Holly has lost everything in a short amount of time. Her boyfriend left her, and she quit her job because she thought she was going to be with the guy who left her behind. 

Holly decides to rent a cabin in the woods to try and relax and regroup after her life changes. But she meets Stefan out in the woods when she hurts her ankle and he helps her back to her cabin. He even stays with her and gets her some ice for her foot but she isn't used to someone being this nice to her and isn't sure what to make of it. So when Stefan shows her that he might be interested, she jumps at the chance to lose herself in this gorgeous man even if it's only for one night. But Stefan can't say goodbye to her once he starts to get to know her and they form a bit of a bond since they are mates and he doesn't want to leave but staying could put her in danger. 

Once the crazy dragon shifter finds them and puts both Holly and Stefan in danger, all hell breaks loose but secrets are reveled and so are the motives to the family feud that has been going on for years. 

I really liked the ending and will be reading more of this series. 

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:

Water Wipes. 

CeraVe lotion. 

Think Bar. 

$30 Amazon gift card. 

Santa treat bowl with lid from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

The Water Wipes are wet wipes. These kinds of things always come in handy when my grandson is over. Why are little boys so messy. LOL 

I already use the CeraVe lotion and like it. The Think bar was actually pretty good. 

I got the $30 Amazon gift card when I cashed out my points from Product Report Car survey site. It's a good site to do surveys and get paid for them. 

The Santa treat bowl is cute and will be nice for Christmas. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Jaxson by Alisa Woods

 

Book Description

hree brothers. Three Secrets. One hope to save the shifters of Seattle. Former SEAL Jaxson River would give his life for his brothers and his pack, but if he doesn’t claim a mate soon, he’ll be forced to step down as their alpha. There’s only one problem: Jaxson’s dark secret would kill any mate he claimed. With someone kidnapping shifters off the street—and only Jaxson and his brothers, Jace and Jared, to stop them—now is not the time for his secret to come out.

Curvy Olivia Lilyfield is a half-witch orphan with a dark secret of her own. She wants to atone for it by doing good in the world, so when she finds a wolf being tortured in an alley, she doesn’t hesitate to help… even though wolves and witches mix like matches and TNT.

Olivia’s dangerous magic means she can’t let anyone get too close—but Jaxson can’t keep his hands off her, and his kisses are more than she can resist. As they race to save the disappearing shifters of Seattle, the true danger lies in loving each other. They’re playing with magical fire… and their secrets could end up destroying them both.

Jaxson is a complete novel with HEA, the first in the Riverwise Private Security trilogy.

My Review

Olivia doesn't love her job as a reporter for a sleazy celebrity stalking paper but it's paying the bills for the most part and with her so far behind on the bills after a set of bad occurrences happened including getting hacked, she can't afford to drop this job. But that's exactly what she does and on her way home she spots a couple of guys torturing an animal, before she can think about what she's doing, she tries saving the animal from more abuse. 

Except the wolf wasn't just a wolf, it was a shifter. Once the bad men ran off the animal shifted and thanked her for trying to save him. 

Jaxson had sent Olivia off after she tried to save him. He hasn't had much luck getting her out of his mind since then but since he was the alpha of the River Pack, he had a lot on his plate to keep himself busy. 

Jaxson needs an an office assistant and Olivia needs a job so they come to an agreement and since they both seem to have the hots for one another it works out well for both of them. 

Shifters are going missing and Jaxson and his wolves are trying to figure out who is behind it. So when another shifter goes missing he and the other wolves go out to find her and that's when a lot of things start happening fast. This story is filled with secrets, twists and so many hot male wolf shifters that seem to be keeping secrets of their own. The three brother's all seem to have some deep dark secret of their own and I'm looking forward to finding out what they are. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: A Mate For The Christmas Dragon by Zoe Chant

 

Book Description

Jasper Heartwell has five days to win his mate's heart.

Jasper is a dragon on a mission. If he doesn’t find his mate by his twenty-fifth birthday, he’ll lose his ability to shift, and be stuck as either a human or a dragon forever. Luckily, his birthday is on Christmas Day. What woman could resist the spark of romance during the most wonderful time of the year?

Abigail George hates Christmas.

Most wonderful time of the year? Abigail knows that's a lie. She hates the fake snow, the cheesy carols, the hordes of shoppers that save their Christmas cheer for everyone except shop workers—and most of all, she hates going home to her empty apartment on Christmas Eve.

Jasper knows Abigail’s the one for him the moment he sees her. But can the Christmas dragon win his mate’s heart, when Christmas is the one thing she hates the most?

A Mate for the Christmas Dragon is a steaming hot standalone dragon shifter romance. HEA guaranteed!

My Review

Jasper has been traveling the world in search of his mate but has had no luck. With his 25th birthday just a few days away, he'll have to make a choice to either give up his dragon half or his human half. But then he spots his mate while visiting his sister and he sets out to make her love him. 

Abigail dislikes Christmas and just wants to get through the holiday season. Her luck seems to be about to give out when she finds herself falling from a roof of the store she works at but Jasper is there in a blink of an eye to catch her as she falls. 

Abigail finds herself very much attracted to the man that caught her when she fell but she doesn't think she has any chance with him until he asks her out and wants to spend time with her. She really dislikes Christmas and he loves it but he does everything in his power to make her comfortable on their date. When one date leads to another and they end up spending the night together, he thinks she might fall for him and things are going really well until there's a bit of a misunderstanding. 

Watching Jasper try his hardest to be the funny, gentle, romantic man that he hopes she can fall for in a short time was really fun. Jasper's nephew was such a fun secondary character. He was such a rambunctious toddler who just happened to also be a dragon shifter. He was so full of life and his antics just made me laugh. 

Watching Abigail go from Scrooge to wanting to have a nice Christmas with him was very satisfying to see. This was such a fun book. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: Edge Of Darkness by Lara Adrian

 

Book Description

Hunters. The most lethal Breed vampires in existence--and Knox's cold heart thaws for no one . . . until a strong-willed beauty enlists his help in protecting an innocent child from a powerful, small-town family and a chilling evil that knows no bounds.

As a survivor of the horrific Hunter program, Breed vampire and former assassin Knox is a solitary man, closed off to the pain of love--and loss. A loner by choice, Knox deals in death and dark justice, expecting nothing in return. Until one snowy night he drifts into a remote town in northern Maine, where a determined beauty enlists his lethal assistance, tempting not only his hunger, but his wounded heart as well.

Lenora Calhoun has lived in tiny Parrish Falls all her life. Owner of the local diner that’s been in her family for generations, Leni’s as stalwart and stubborn as the tall pines that surround her. That unshakable resolve doesn’t sit well with everyone, least of all the most powerful family in the logging town. Leni’s been the target of their animosity for years, but with their escalating threats now putting an innocent child’s safety at risk, she takes a desperate chance on a dangerous stranger--a man who is something more than human. Knox’s deadly skills and turbulent gaze should be warning enough for Leni to guard her heart, yet she cannot deny the yearning he stirs in her blood. For the merciless Breed male is the only man she can trust in a town full of secrets, and where taking a stand could rip away everything she holds dear.

Book 3 in a brand-new Midnight Breed spin-off series of standalone vampire romance books that can be enjoyed in any order. Complete HEA and NO cliffhangers!

My Review

Knox has been on the road ever since he lost someone close to him. He doesn't want to get close to anyone else at this point but when he meets Leni in her diner, he's drawn to her. 

Leni is in her diner when Knox comes in from the cold just to warm up a bit. She knows he's a Breed when he takes off his gloves and spots the glyphs on his hands. He's a vampire Breed from the Hunter program. He's a trained killer but she's not scared of him. 

Knox is sitting in Leni's diner, just trying to warm up a little before moving on when a couple of guys come into the diner and give Leni a hard time. Leni is raising her 7 year old nephew and his father is getting out of prison soon. Her sister was brutalized by Travis but then pressed charges against him when she found out she was pregnant. But she went missing after she gave birth and Leni hasn't heard from her sister since. The father's family doesn't like Leni because she's keeping the child away from them. Knox tells the guys to leave and then he walks away only to find that someone attempted to kill her later that night by pushing her car off the road. Knox saves her and goes back to her house to make she she and her nephew, Riley are safe. But he finds as he looks around that her house isn't very secure and he takes it upon himself to install new locks on her doors and windows. Leni let's him stay in the room in the attic and they find themselves getting closer after he finds out that she has the Breed mate mark. 

But when Riley's biological father, Travis gets out of prison he lets Leni know that either she let's him be in the kids life or he'll take her to court and take Riley away from her. Since Travis's family has a lot of money and pull in that town, she knows that she'd lose Riley if it came to that. After that Knox does whatever he has to in order to keep her safe. We meet a couple of the other Breeds that come to help when Knox calls to enlists the help of The Order. 

Travis and his family are even worse than I could have ever imagined and when the horrible secrets they and others in the town have been keeping come to light, we get what I can only describe as a satisfying conclusion to this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

 

Since a lot of my readers are new-ish and weren't around several years ago when I had rats, hamsters and gerbils. I thought I would show you some of the rats that I've had over the years. I'll show you the hamsters next week.

This was Lucky. He was my 3 legged rat that I adopted after a pet store employee called my daughter and asked her if I would take him because they were going to euthanize him because he had 3 legs. You can read Lucky's Story.

Lucky was the sweetest rat and not having a front right paw didn't slow him down one bit. 

Romi was my very first rat. She had a little bald spot on her face and was so affectionate. She always wanted to be out of her cage sitting on the couch with us. I got her from a neighbor who no longer wanted her. 

You guys know Flower from my post a couple of weeks ago. She was my only hairless rat.

I also had, Ares, Hades, Brodie and Jasper. They are eating cereal in this picture. They had a big cage and I would open the door next to the couch and they would run onto the couch and run back and forth from the cage to the couch and play with us. They were big rats. Brodie, the one in the back was the smallest of them. They were all cage mates.

This was Dusty and Oreo. They were both so sweet. They loved to be out of their cage and just sit on us. They were cage mates.

This as Scribbles. He was not as friendly as some of my other rats. He did not like to be picked up and held so I would move his cage to the couch and let him come out on his own. He would come out and sit by us and let us pet him but he wasn't as affectionate as some of my others. In the morning when I would clean the cages, he would come out to the table his cage was on and look for a treat while I cleaned his cage.

I bought a lot of toys for the rats so they had something fun to do when they were out of the cage. Scribbles liked this ball pit. He would toss the balls around. 

This was Marbles. He was my grumpy boy. He even looks grumpy. He loved treats but didn't like to be held or petted so I let him come out and run around on the couch and let him do his own thing. He would sit next to me as long as I didn't try to pet him. The fact that he always looked so grumpy made me laugh.

This was Fang. He was cage mates with Bandit, Marbles and Patches. Fang was the only rat I had that ever bit anyone. I got these 4 rats from one of my daughters friends who no longer wanted them and they were not socialized much at all. But especially Fang, hence the name. He never bit me and always wanted me to hold him and I do mean always. But he bit Ken 4 times. Once Ken bent down too close when Fang was laying in my arms and Fang jumped up and bit his nose. Ken kept trying though and would feed him bits of food through the bars of the cage and eventually they became friends. Fang would sleep like this all the time. His little arms would just dangle over the sides of the hammock and he would sleep like this.

Patches and Fang were a bonded pair. Patches and Fang were always together, laying on each other. Poor Patches was sick when I got him and even though I gave him antibiotics and medicine from the vet, he only lived a few months after I got him. After Patches passed away, Fang became very clingy to me. If I opened their cage door, Fang would jump on me and either lay down in my arms or crawl inside my shirt and want to stay there and cuddle. So I held Fang all the time. He wasn't very friendly with Marbles and Bandit but he tolerated them. 

This was Bandit. He was the friendliest of the 4 cage mates. He loved to come out and play with us and be petted. I had their smaller cage on the couch and the big cage is in the background. I put them in the big cage and Ares and Hades in the smaller cage since they were older and were having a harder time getting around. I didn't want them to fall from the upper level so they got a single level cage and these guys got the big cage.

This was the big cage. 4 rat were very comfortable in this cage. I changed up all the hammocks and cubes each week.

I didn't have all of these rats at the same time. But when my rats would start slowing down as they got older, I would adopt more rats. Sometimes I got rats from my daughter friends when they realized they didn't have enough time for them. 

And if you want to see how Ken wired two extra cages together that we had to make Flower a 2 level cage, you can find that post here. 

Apartment Life #268

 

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 24 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 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

Last week I told you that my neighbor got caught stealing another neighbors registration sticker. The police were called and they took the entire license plate because it was also stolen. 

So on Sunday, the thief walks down to where me and my daughter are and says that someone stole her license plate. *Eyeroll*

So I say, Didn't the police talk to you a few days ago about the stolen plate and sticker? She of course acts shocked and says no. When I know damn well they did. So my daughter and I inform her that the police got called because "someone" took the registration sticker off of someone else's car and put it on hers. The other lady called the police, they came out, took a report and told everyone who was standing around watching that they were also taking her license plate because it was also stolen. The thief then says someone is setting her up that the sticker and license plate were hers. 

Two days go by and my next door neighbor catches my daughter outside and he tells her that the thief was talking all sorts of trash talk about me and my daughter telling him that we called the police and are telling everyone that she stole a sticker. LOL Ok, I already knew she was a crazy woman and loves to gossip but wow. So we're just waiting to see if she steals another plate or tries to go to the DMV to actually register her car. I don't know what will happen if she actually goes to the DMV. 

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Sunday afternoon and evening I spotted the police by the managers office. I have no idea what they were doing but they stayed out there for about 4 hours. There were also 2 unmarked cars with police officers sitting in them like they were all waiting for something but I have no idea what. Nothing happened, no one else showed up and then they left. Maybe they were waiting to see if someone got home. Not really sure but it was weird.

The high this week was 102F/38C

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

Book Review: Fears in the Dark: A Darkest Needs by S.H. Timmins

 

Book Description

I was always searching for something - something I couldn't name. I didn't fit the mold I was born into. There is a secret place I harbor that is restless and hungry. I thought I had found someone to feed the darkness lurking inside of me.

But I was wrong.

While I was searching for a potential mate, he was searching for potential prey. Bound and naked, I am now in the clutches of a man with hungers that extend beyond what I could have fathomed, yet true fear eludes me.

Why am I not afraid?

Maybe because for the first time my own demon can be free. Maybe because I haven't been searching for someone to feed my darkness, but for someone I can feed theirs.

* Warning - This book has mature content. *

My Review

I'm going to start by saying this is a very dark romance. TW (Trigger Warnings) for Rape, Kidnapping, Murder, Torture. If these things bother you, don't read this book. 

Blake has a tortured past that left him emotionally broken. He finds people that run child sex trafficking rings and he tortures and kills them. I could have understood that but then we find out he has a cabin outfitted for kidnapping women and raping them. He's not a good guy. 

Julia owns a book store with her friend Kyle. But she finds herself drawn to Blake when he walks into her store over and over again. Kyle tells her that this guy is dangerous but she doesn't listen and ends up being kidnapped and chained to a floor in Blake's cabin along with Kyle. But Kyle has some dark secrets that Blake uncovers as well and that was an interesting twist to say the least. 

But Julia has some secrets of her own that most of her family and friends don't know about them. She also has a tortured past that has made her broken just like Blake. 

This was a hard read and I really didn't want to feel sorry for Blake or Julia after we find out what kind of person she really is but I did and I found myself rooting for a happy ending for the both of them. 

Blake and some others used to work for a mob boss who let all of his sociopathic people go, Blake being one of them. He has a friend named Loki and Loki is in a relationship with Beth who is the mob boss's daughter. Loki is one scary dude and even more deranged than Blake. So when Blake asks Loki for a favor, we get to see just how crazy this guy is. But at the same time Blake and Loki only go as far as they need to in order to get Kyle to do what they need in order to bring down a child sex trafficking ring. So you can see my dilemma here. 

When Blake and Loki go to stop the sex trafficking ring, they get more than they bargained for and there's a huge twist as to who is actually running the ring. Things go from bad to worst in a short amount of time but Blake and Loki do what they have to in order to bring the ring to a halt. 

There was a lot wrong with this story. The depravity, as well as the horrors that Kyle and Julia went through. But I couldn't put this book down. I found myself being pulled into the story to see what would happen next because I wanted to find out about everyone's past, a past that made them who they are now. There were so many twists and turns, so many secrets come to light and a dark romance of two broken people finding comfort in each other, that this ended up being a really good read. It's definitely not for the faint of heart though, so keep that in mind if you decide to read this.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

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 box of push pins from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I won a $50 Amazon gift card from a giveaway contest I entered. 

Dolce & Gabbana perfume sample. 

Essence dog food sample. 

Dove Dry Spray deodorant. 

Snuggle Scent Boosters. 

Valentino Face Base. 

My daughter plans on putting up Halloween decoration by the end of this month so I'm glad I have more push pins for that. They always come in handy. 

I was pleased and surprised by my gift card win. 

The perfume smells really good. It was a small, one time samples but it was nice. I've tried the Dove deodorant and the Snuggle scent boosters before and like both of those. I have't used the Valentino face base yet. 

I was surprised that that dog food didn't upset Falcors stomach but it's nice to know that there's another dog food he can eat. He seemed to like it. I mixed a little bit in with his regular food for a few days and he ate it just fine. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Make sure to visit the 2 sites that I post links to each week, that's where I find most of these samples at. I always keep a look out on Instagram too because free samples pop up on there for me all the time. 

Book Review: Stealing The Dragon's Heart by Kiersten Fay

 

Book Description

A tormented dragon shifter encounters his greatest temptation in this sizzling new Dragon Lords novel from USA Today bestselling author Kiersten Fay.

Aidan never intended to enter Phase Nine, a deadly race through the universe that had once cost him everything, but he’d made an impossible bargain. While gearing up for the challenge, he is surprised to find two extra crew members aboard his ship, one of them a mysterious female named Onnika who tempts him beyond reason.

Onnika’s special brand of magic has always been the key to her survival…and the reason she and her sister Caryn are constantly on the run. While escaping a ruthless band of outlaws bent on exploiting her powers, she entangles herself with a dangerously handsome dragon shifter named Aidan and an infamous race that could ultimately lead her home. With everything on the line, she must use every devious trick in her book to gain Aidan’s trust while concealing her true identity.   

My Review

Onnika and Caryn are on the run from people who have been keeping them as slaves. They sneak aboard a ship and hope to get away from the bad guys. But they end up on the ship of a guy who's credits Onnika stole and he's not happy. The captain and a few others want to throw them off the ship but another member of the crew has already registered the sisters as members of the crew so they are there to stay at least for now. 

Aidan has entered his ship and crew into the deadly Phase Nine race. So while they are trying to beat the other entrants, he starts to get to know Onnika and they get closer. 

I really didn't like Onnika at all. She's a liar, deceiver and uses her charms to get what she wants. Yes, I kinda understood why she was doing what she did in the end but she wasn't much of a likable character at all. 

The race was dangerous and there were many times that I had no idea where this story was heading or what would happen next. It held my attention but at the same time I found it slow at times. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given an e-ARC via NetGalley but all opinions and thoughts are my own.