Friday, February 04, 2022

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:

4 free Covid tests. 
Macys's perfume samples. 
Estee Lauder face cream. 
Costa Brazil face serum. 
Black Rue 21 perfume sample. 

I like the face cream and face serum. 

A couple of the perfumes I received from Macy's were men's cologne but they smelled good so I gave them to my daughter to give to her guy friends. 

And if you didn't know you can order 4 FREE Covid tests from the USPS- Just click here

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Thursday, February 03, 2022

Book Review: The Dragon God's Mate by Harlow Blaze

 

Book Description

In The Beginning, Atlas Created The Dragon Shifters. He Made One Tiny Mistake.

Atlas

As the all-male dragons teeter on the brink of extinction, Atlas hatches a plan. Fragments of his divine soul could transform humans into dragon mates.

He’s missing one ingredient—someone to help cast his spell.

As soon as Atlas sees the stunning young woman in Central Park, his inner beast knows she’s the one. 

It’s a little medieval, but he is a god, after all. If he can’t kidnap the odd maiden, then what’s the point?

But Zoe’s call to his instincts is dangerously strong. Atlas longs to claim her, but he has to stay focused. Saving his race is more important than the tempting human in his lair. 

Zoe

All Zoe wanted was to experience some magic and have a family of her own. Instead, she’s left nursing a major broken heart. 

After dealing with a cheating shifter fiancĂ©, she’s done with asshole dragons. She needs to stay the hell out of his way, but when your angry ex can fly, it adds a whole new dimension to lying low.

Enter Atlas—arrogant, sinfully sexy, and in serious need of ground rules about casual nudity. 

A divine baby-making experiment isn’t a good avoidance strategy, but Zoe could never resist a little magic. Besides, a god makes a great bodyguard.

But when the spell has unintended side effects, things get hotter than she bargained for.



My Review

Zoe hadn't been treated very well by the dragon shifter she had been dating. So when he cheated on her with another shifter so his kids would be shifters like their mother, she's wasn't too happy and now he wouldn't leave her alone. 

Atlas created the shifters but they were missing something so when he decided to make some changes he needed a human's help and he happened to pick Zoe. When Atlas kidnaps her and asks for her help, it takes a few questions before she's ready to trust what he says. Atlas is a dragon shifter so she's not willing to trust him right away. 

Atlas wants to make it so that humans and dragons can mate and have kids because the dragon's numbers are dwindling so before dragon shifters become extinct, he makes it so human females can be dragon mates. But Zoe also wants him to make it so there's a little bit of human in the dragons as well and he agrees. Then he sets the plan in motion but doesn't realize that he and Zoe are going to get caught up in the magic they created and become  mates. 

Atlas isn't used to humans even though he's lived among them for so long. He's been alone a very long time and he's lonely and bored even though he didn't realize how much until he met Zoe. She shows him parts of her world and he in turn shows her parts of his, all the while their animal instincts bring them closer together. 

It was fun watching these two total opposites fall for each other. I love a good dragon or shifter romance and this was so much fun to read. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Wednesday, February 02, 2022

Book Review: Beautiful Thing by Ever Nightly

 

Book Description

Just out of college, I'm recruited for a top-secret linguistics job. Easy, right? Translate for a few foreign prisoners and I'm home free. But when I arrive at Area 51, I'm swept into a world of secrets and lies. And the prisoner? Yeah, he's not even human. His name is Specimen-One and he's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. But he's an alien, so not exactly boyfriend material. I'm not sure he agrees, though. He wants something, and I have a sinking feeling that something is me...



My Review

Ava is recruited for a secret, mysterious job that she isn't told much about. Only that the job will take about six weeks and will pay her a really good amount of money. So she and another woman are taken to Area 51 where they find out that they will be working with what the others are calling Specimen One. She finds out that three years ago an alien space craft crashed on Earth and they have held one of the aliens at their underground facility all that time. 

Ava finds out that S1 as they like to call him, has an unusual effect on some women and they aren't sure why. it might be his alien pheromones that attract the women and make them go crazy if they can't be around him. Ava turns out not to be effected as much by him in that way and an be around him without going crazy. 

S1 hasn't shown any interest in any of the women or any of the researchers as they have tried to talk with him as well as tortured him by doing medical experiments on him. But when he spots Ava, his interest is peaked and he speaks with her but at first only she can hear him. S1 was a great alien and I really liked how these two got along when they are thrown together. But this book ends on a serious cliffhanger with nothing at all resolved. 

I should have read the reviews for this before reading because I would have seen that people were complaining that this ends on a cliffhanger and I wouldn't have wasted my time on this. This should have been an entire book with a beginning, middle and real ending, but it was not. I really wish authors would stop ending their books on cliffhangers like this because it makes me less likely to read any of their other books. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Tuesday, February 01, 2022

Book Review: Forged In Fire by Juliette Cross

 


Book Description

She didn't know the demon world existed. Now she just wants to survive it.

Genevieve Drake has never been the helpless kind of girl. Never needed a man to come to her rescue. That is, not until her twentieth birthday when some dude nearly chokes her to death in an alley and a hot stranger splits the guy in half, rips a monster from inside, and incinerates it into ash.

The hot guy? Jude Delacroix—Master of Demons. Now her guardian, whether she likes it or not. But she’s seriously beginning to like it.

The dude choking her? One of many demons from the underworld trying to abduct or kill her. As the prime target of the demon prince, DantĂ©, who has all kinds of lascivious and sadistic plans, she has no problem accepting Jude’s protection.

Why Genevieve? She’s a Vessel, one who is born to serve the Light but can be corrupted and used as a weapon for darkness. Until that fateful night, she had no idea this world even existed. Now, she just wants to survive it.


My Review

Genevieve just turned 20 and now she's a vessel that the demons want to inhabit. But Jude comes to her rescue and explains to her what's going on. It takes a little while for her to fully believe him and understand exactly what's at stake but she does finally get it. 

 Genevieve's vessel powers start manifesting and demons can see what she is and they start hunting her, wanting her Vessel for themselves. When a demon tries to kill her, it's Jude that comes to her rescue and kills the demon. From that point forward, her life is not her own. 

Jude is the Master of Demons and when he rescues Genevieve from a demon, he takes it upon himself to train her, teach her and keep her safe from the demons who want her for themselves. 

Genevieve doesn't truly understand what kind of danger she's in after she's attacked the first time. Jude didn't really explain things very well at first and so when someone comes up to her that looks like Jude, she doesn't resist him at first. But he bites her and she realizes that he wasn't Jude. Dante is a dark prince and wants Genevieve for himself. He comes after her a few times and the danger is serious. 

This book starts off pretty good but I found myself getting a little bored towards the end. I like Jude but he was hard to get to know. I did like how Genevieve has real world problems along with learning her new powers. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Monday, January 31, 2022

Happy Raturday!

 

"Hiding in the wheat grass."


"I'll share my drink with you if you like."

"Getting ready to make breakfast."

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Apartment Life #289


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 this apartment had been broken into through the bedroom window. Well, the one next to it was also broken into. If you look really closely you might be able to spot all the graffiti on the walls inside the apartment. Maintenance didn't bother boarding this window up for several days. They broke the entire glass out of one side. I hope it doesn't rain.


Maintenance boarded this window from the apartment next to it from the inside though.



And then I took a short video of one of the tweakers across the street. He was standing there sleeping standing up and his knee's kept looking like they were going to buckle. I thought for sure he was going to fall down but he didn't. 

----

On Thursday Falcor got me up at 7am to go out. I'm walking down the street and an older homeless man walks by me and says good morning. So I said it back and notice his jeans are only buttoned and the zipper is Down... and his eh, little soldier is hanging out of his pants. I just kept walking.

----
 

Yesterday the police helicopter was flying over my apartment complex and I got a short video of it when it stopped and I guess zeroed in on someone and then flew off. 


The high this week was 68F/20C
The low this week was 36F/2 C

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

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Favorite Song of the Week

 

Last week I told you I was going to share other kinds of music I like and this week it's 2 of my favorite KPOP songs. Yep, I like KPOP. I listen to all kinds of music. I hope you enjoy these.


Friday, January 28, 2022

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:

I was able to snag this Little Freebies Box from Bloomingdales when I spotted the ad on Instagram. 

Inside the box were 3 mini candles and a scent stick. 


These candles are so cute and they smell so good. The scent stick is infused with essential oil and came with a string so you can hang it in a room. It smells really good.


The candles are so pretty. This was a very nice freebie.

I received:
Voluspa Gilt Pomander & Hinoki Mini Votive.
Apotheke Charcoal Mini Candle.
L'or De Seraphine Mini Candle. 
Nest Fragrances Amalfi Lemon & Mint Scentstick. 

Thursday, January 27, 2022

Book Review: Banished Wolf: (Fated Mates of the Underworld, Book 1) by Lily Winter

 

Book Description

Shifters mysteriously disappearing. A plot to open Hell. A hunky pack leader insisting she’s his mate.

Lone wolf shifter Paldon Harper lives a typical bounty hunter's life, kicking ass and taking names. So when council ask the exiled woman to help investigate recent disappearances, she's willing to experiment with the frightening magical talents that led to her banishment. But the domineering, hunky local pack leader seems determined to throw a wrench in her plans.

Dealing with demons and trolls getting in the way of her work, Paldon has no time for romantic entanglements, but Ryker is always showing at the right time. And when the Devil himself shows up with instructions, Paldon realizes she might already hold the secret to unlocking the gates of fire and brimstone.

Can she balance unfamiliar magic and the mating pull before she accidentally kick-starts the end of the world?


My Review

Paldon was exiled from her pack, her home because she broke the rules. So she and a human that she became friends with opened a PI business and Paldon is also a bounty hunter so she can afford to buy the Prada shoes she loves so much. So when the vampire king comes to her office and tells her that shifters have gone missing and the Supernatural Council thinks she is somehow the key to opening the underworld, she finds herself in danger. When Ryker shows up out of the blue and tells her she's in danger and he wants her to move in with him to keep her safe, she's not into it but does move in with him eventually. That's when her real father shows up out of the blue and let's her know that she has been lied to and she has to find out who her real mother is in order to stop the end of the world. 

Not only does her father show himself but so does one of her sisters. Wrath, her newly found sister  wants to help her find her birth mother and find out why the woman wants to use her to cause the end of the world. Her father didn't help much even though he could have but they have three women that they need to check out who could be her mother. Along the way She and Ryker get closer and he's not gonna let her go this time because he knows she's his mate. 

When they finally end up figuring out what's really going on, it's not what they thought it was at all. There's a pretty good twist at the end which I liked. Secrets are revealed, and I liked how it ended. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 


Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Book Review: Barista and the Bear by Rebel Carter

 

Book Description

Of all the coffee shops in the world, he just had to walk into hers…

In Oak Fast, there are mates and then there are fated mates, and fate just delivered Teresa Ruiz’s fated mate to her doorstep, er, coffee shop. After losing Aunt Mary, the center of her world, Teresa made work and the people there her life. They are her heart, but in the quiet moments Teresa knows it's not enough—even if it is safer, which is all she longs for. After all, safety is key in a world full of magic, shifters, and the fey folk.

When Cash Strongheart, her fated mate and all around giant pain in her ass, appears claiming her as his mate, it’s anything but magic. Determined to do things her way, Teresa refuses the bear shifter.

Will Teresa learn to trust the magic of mates? Can Cash prove that for all the risk, life with a fated mate is just sweeter? Find out both in the first book of the Oak Fast Fated Mates Series! This is a sweet, whimsical, and grin-inducing PNR shifter romance set in a small town with plenty of found family vibes, smart-mouthed heroines, magical realism, and cinnamon roll heroes.



My Review

Teresa was heart broken when her Aunt Mary passed away and now she feels a little lonely even though she has the people she works with at the coffee shop.

Cash knows as soon as he spots her in the coffee shop that Teresa is his fated mate but she wants nothing to do with him at first. All of her friends are very protective of her so he has to show them that he's a good guy before they will trust her with him. 

Teresa grew up thinking she was human but once she and Cash start getting to know one another, he tells her something that she can hardly believe. He's a bear shifter so he can smell that she is more than just a human. She wants to take things slow and get to know him but because she's fighting the bond between them, she and Cash start to have weird symptoms because magic will not be denied. So she agrees to bond with him because she really does like him. 

The magic between them makes itself known and at that point it's hard for Teresa to keep things slow and stop herself from falling for cash. 

This was a great shifter, fated mates story. It was also a quick read because it was a novella but we got an entire story and I didn't feel like I was missing anything. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 


Tuesday, January 25, 2022

Book Review: Savage Road by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

When Savin “Savage” Pajari and Seychelle Dubois first met, their connection was instant, their attraction undeniable. Their relationship has been full throttle since day one.  Even though months have passed, the passion and love between them has only increased.

Savage completely owns what he is: a sadist in the bedroom who can only get off on his partner’s pain. He believes he’s not a good man, but he loves Seychelle with a fierceness that shocks him. He wants all of her, but only if she gives herself freely with eyes wide open.

Seychelle never imagined the lure of mixing pain with pleasure, or how much she’d crave Savage’s darkness. She’s been shaken to her core, but Seychelle is committed to Savage and their life together—even though he’s keeping a piece of himself back. And to truly make their relationship work, he has to give her everything that he is, just as she is doing for him.

Savage knows that what he really needs could break his woman if she isn’t ready. She agreed to come into his world, and he’s not about to give her up. He has to find a way to let her see the monster inside without pushing her away. But the real Savage might be more than Seychelle can bear...and he knows he wouldn’t survive losing her.



My Review

This is the second book about Savage because this man is so complex and his story is so compelling that one book, Annihilation Road, was not enough. This book takes place a few months after the last book, so Seychelle and Savage have gotten to know each other better but she still hasn't seen Savage at his worst yet. Savage is a sadist but he made sure that she knew that before bringing her into his life. The fact is, Seychelle likes the pain he brings her with the whips but he hasn't let himself really show her what he considers, the monster inside him when he's taken too much of his friend's pain, rage and anger inside himself. 

Savage has a psychic gift that helped him and his family stay alive when they were children being held captive and abused. He can take some of their pain, anger and rage into himself but if he takes too much, his way of releasing it is to release the monster inside himself and use the whips he's so good at using. It's either that or go to a fight club and beat the crap out of his opponent but his family has had to pull him off of the other guy too many times before he killed someone. So it's no wonder he's afraid to let Seychelle see the monster inside him, he's not sure she'll ever be ready to be with him when he's in that kind of mindset even though she likes some pain mixed with their more intimate times. 

Savage is a control freak and wants to control Seychelle all the time but she's also no pushover so it was fun to watch as they try to navigate their new relationship and Savage has to try and figure out how to give Seychelle the freedom she needs while still holding onto the control that he needs. 

Brandon from the last book is still trying to influence Seycheele because he has a psychic gift that let's him influence people with his voice but because Seycheele has the same gift, he can't influence her and he's take that as a challenge. He is mad because Seychelle was able to break the psychic hold he had on a couple of women and now he wants revenge on her for interfering. 

When a hit is put out on Savage and a body is found murdered, Savage is the first person that the police suspect but they have no case because he has an alibi. But that just makes the person setting him up madder and out for revenge even more. As Seychelle uses her gift on several people to see who is and who isn't influenced by Brandon's gift, it becomes apparent that Brandon isn't the only other one with a psychic gift. Someone else has been putting thoughts into people's minds for one reason or another and because of this, more than just Seychelle and Savage are in danger. 

It was fun to watch them figure out who is behind the problems and how it all fit together. I like Savage and Seychelle even though I knew going into these books that Savage was a sadist and I might be reading scenes in this book and the last that would make me uncomfortable and let me tell you, this book made me uncomfortable. Much more so than the last book. Savage let's loose his monster a lot more in this book and the only reason I was ok with it was because Seychelle is all in, it's completely consensual between them and Savage really does love her. 

I wasn't sure I was going to like this series when I first started reading it, but this is the 7th book and I'm looking forward to see who find's their mate next. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

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

Sunday, January 23, 2022

Apartment Life #288

 
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.

The 2 end apartment in the building across from me have been vacant for a while and one of the apartments used to have a board on the door as well as the window. But then maintenance started working in there and the floors were being replaced and the walls were being painted so they left the board off the door I guess thinking that the security door would be enough to keep the crackheads out. 

They were wrong. People broke into the apartment after they had worked in there for days. Me and a couple of other neighbors got sick of seeing the crackheads freely walking in and out the door so we emailed the manager on a Wednesday. They didn't respond to any of us and didn't send maintenance out to kick them out and cover the door with a board until Monday. 

A few days later my daughter saw the same crackheads slithering through the bedroom window of the same apartment. Me and my neighbors decided not to email again and instead let the crackheads tear the place up in the hopes that the hit in the pocketbook of the management company when they have to fix everything that the crackheads break in there and re-paint over all the graffiti that will obviously be there will teach them to board up the windows as well. 

I mean, the residents who emailed the manager didn't even get a, "Hey thanks for letting us know" or anything. No response at all. 

----

For weeks now the guy 2 doors away from me *Bam Bam* has been slamming all of his doors inside and out. He slams his door and screen door. He will stand there and slam it several times sometimes. We can hear him slamming his bedroom door over and over inside his apartment. He points his bluetooth speaker outside and plays music for the courtyard and laughs maniacally. He used to say hi when he saw me or my daughter, now he just stares all crazy eyes half the time O.O. 

This week has been especially bad. He's been slamming either the bedroom or the bathroom door repeatedly in a row all night long. One of my other neighbors was talking to us about it the next morning. He said that when he did it around 8 times in a row that is scared the crap out of him because it was loud through the walls and kept waking him up. The guy is 2 doors away from me and I can hear it through the walls really loudly. That gives you an idea how hard he is banging this door shut over and over again.

My daughter walked by one day while he had his blinds and door open and saw he was just pacing back and forth in his kitchen talking to himself. Tuesday night he came and sat down next to my daughter outside and was talking normal like he used to for a minute and then told my daughter the government has tapped his phone. Then he started making weird hand gestures and said he doesn't like his fingers. Fingers! He was acting very paranoid too. So I think he might be schizophrenic and is either off his meds or is never took meds for it. 

We thought about the calling the police but the only thing they will do is come do a welfare check on the guy. The noise won't actually stop and we are afraid if the cops show up it will make him mad and he'll do it even more or he'll become even more paranoid. 

Then Friday night he threw bottled Jalapeno peppers all over the sidewalk, lined hotdogs by his door and tossed a flat of water bottles out into the courtyard. 


I had to wait until the next morning to get pictures. But there are jalapenos all over the sidewalk in front of his door.


And here are the hotdogs he lined up next to his door. The water bottles got picked up soon after he threw them out in the rocks. Drug dealer and Jessica (who I've talked about before) gathered up the water bottles and took them back to drug dealer's apartment. I have no idea what he was thinking but he came outside and was yelling and screaming when he threw all this stuff outside. And yes, I have nicknamed him Bam Bam.

-----


Someone I know at the Dollar Tree just down the street took these pictures. Last week a woman walked into her store and told her she was depressed and felt like killing herself and others. So my the worker asked her if she wanted her to call for help and she said yes because she was thinking of killing the worker and the other people in the store. So she called and told them that. While they waited the worker brought out a chair for her to sit on and bought her some candy and they waited. The worker called 2 more times over the next 2 hours. The operator just kept telling her they were busy. It took 2 hours for the police and an ambulance to show up but they finally did. 

---

Covid Update: 
We're feeling much better. I think we're over it now.

The high this week was 66F/18C
The low this week was 38F/3 C

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

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Favorite Song of the Week

 

By now you already know that I like bangers. I like metal and rock. This will be the last metal/rock song for a few weeks. Starting next week I'm going to share some of the other kinds of music I like to listen to. I had to share this one this week because the lead singer can really belt out those lyrics. I love his voice. 


Friday, January 21, 2022

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 new kitchen trash can from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I really needed another one so I'm glad that I was able to get this one. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Book Review: Bad Santa by Mina Carter

 

Book Description

She’s finally free… if she can stay alive.

Freed from marriage to a brutal pixie warlord by his death, Joy knows her life could be counted in weeks… days probably. her husband’s death put a price on her head as every pixie warrior in the city plots to claim her and take her husbands place as Lord. Surviving long after that… yeah, she’s not that stupid. Her only chance is to take down her late husbands criminal empire before they can stop her. Behind bars, she can make sure none of these bastards hurt anyone ever again. But for that, she’s going to need some help…

Help that arrives in the form of PPA operative Nick, a panty-wetting, ripped… actually, she’s not sure what he is. He’s strong, ruthless and might just be her only chance at making it to Christmas alive.

Frost killed his wife, so now Nick’ll take what belongs to him: His daughter.

Since the death of Mrs. Claus thirty years ago, Nicholas Claus has been hunting down Jack Frost to make him pay. The original Santa, he’s not always been the guy in the red suit and working for the PPA allows his… other side out to play. The side that is far older and way more dangerous than the chocolate box image.

hen a new case drops Frost’s daughter right into his lap, he can’t believe his luck. All his has to do is put the girl in danger and wait for daddy dearest to show up. But Joy is different, unlike any woman he’s ever known before, and Nick finds putting her in danger is harder than he thought. Posing as her lover is the easiest thing he’s ever done. The hardest? Telling himself that it’s all for show.

But when his enemy finally shows, will Nick take his vengeance for the woman he loved… and lose the woman he loves forever?


My Review

There will be spoilers.

Nick is the original Santa but after Jack Frost killed his wife, all his time has been spent tracking Jack down so he can get his revenge. Nick's family has taken over the cheery Santa duties and Nick now works for PPA (Paranormal Protection Agency), where he can put his other abilities to work. So when his next job comes through and Jack Frost's daughter is the woman he has to keep safe, he plans on using her to lure Jack out of hiding...until he starts having feelings for Joy. 

Joy just got out of a bad marriage when her crime boss husband died and is on the run from her husband's people because if they find her she's not sure what they will do. Joy is now the head of her Pixie clan but she'll have to prove that she can stay on top since other Pixies want the top spot and aren't wanting to have a female boss, so they aren't going to make it easy for her. 

Nick had been hired to keep Joy safe but she wasn't helpless and had defenses because of who her dad was. When Jack Frost does finally show himself to his daughter, Nick is furious and there's a huge fight between them. Once Joy realizes that Nick used her as bait to get to her father, she leaves with her father. 

Now for what I didn't like about this book. Jack Frost didn't have anything to do with his daughter because he knew Nick blamed him for Mrs. Claus freezing to death but it was an accident that Jack had nothing to do with. So when Joy forgives Nick and they get back together, it just made no sense to me. She spent her entire life being treated badly and sold into a marriage that she hated all because her father couldn't show his face around her because he knew Nick would try to kill him or his daughter if he did. The story and the secondary characters like Rudolph and the other reindeers being shifters was fun but there were too many things that bothered me about this story for me to like Joy and Nick's relationship. Santa was a jerk and that didn't sit well with me. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 



Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Book Review: The Texts Before We Met by Matilda Swinney

 

Book Description

Tilly dreams of becoming an oscar winning actress. She also dreams of something far less family-friendly. She has always longed to be dominated. During an acting course in Brighton, she decides to embrace her desires and makes a risky decision. She agrees to meet the stranger she has been talking to online for a mere few weeks.

As the acting course progresses and Tilly begins to make friends, her texts with her online mystery man accelerate too. She worries whether she has made the right decision. Should she listen to her heart’s desire or pay attention to the warning signs? Is she in over her head?

On the day they are due to meet, she races to the five star London hotel her date has arranged. She's running late, but she's ready to finally find out who he is. Will he live up to her expectations and be the sexy dominating guy she has always wanted.


My Review

Tilly wants to be an actor so she's taking a course to make her dreams come true. But she's also talking to a guy online that seems to have the Dom qualities she's looking for. Their texts back and forth make her feel more and more comfortable as well as excited to finally meet him. It was obvious during watching her through her acting course that Tilly was a very nervous person and had some anxiety. It made her so much more likable to me since I have the same type of personality. 

Tilly did the sensible thing and told her friend Amelia that she was meeting a stranger from the internet and where she would be. They had a code that Tilly could text her in case she ran into trouble so that Amelia could send help to her. Not that Tilly really thought that her dominating, dream date was dangerous or anything but you can't be too careful. 

This book is the prequel to, The Girl Who Jumped. It was only 58 pages long but we get to read the texts between Tilly and her online stranger before they meet at the hotel. It was a fun read and made me look forward to reading the book where they meet in person.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Book Review: Badgering the Bear: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Mate in a Minute Speed Dating Agency Book 1) by Flora Dare

 

Book Description

Meet her mate in minutes? Ha! Oh, wait...look at that hottie over there...

Curvy badger shifter Jolie is nagged by her best friend to check out shifter speed dating (okay, she might have lost a bet). It's pretty boring, though, until she sees...him. Gabe is big. He's burly. And just the touch of his hand on hers sets Jolie's body aflame with need.

Insecurity sends Jolie scurrying for the cover of the forest. Good thing a bear like Gabe loves a good hunt. And what Gabe wants? Gabe takes.

The Mate in a Minute Speed Dating Agency short stories deliver a happy ending before bedtime.


My Review

Jolie is talked into going speed dating and really isn't holding out hope of anything coming from it until Gabe sits at her table. She's totally smitten with him and she doesn't know it but so is he. 

Gabe goes speed dating but after being hurt in a past relationship, he's chosen to keep a few things about himself a secret. 

So when the speed dating agency calls them both to let them know they're a match and they go on a second date, he doesn't tell the whole truth about himself and when Jolie finds out that he lied, it almost destroys what they could have. They are both shifters and they're both hoping to find their mates one day. Because this is a short novella, the pace was fast and things happen fast between them.  

This was a short (72 page), sweet, novella that was just the right length when I only had a little time to read one night. Plus it was a great introduction to the Mate in a Minute Speed Dating Agency series. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 





Monday, January 17, 2022

Happy Raturday!

 




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

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Apartment Life #287

 

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.


I know you can barely make out the police car there behind the van but it's there. The police were back over here with the homeless shelter van trying to convince the homeless people around here to go to the shelter. 


A few people did actually get in the van but there are still quite a few homeless people around here that wouldn't go. 

But in my pictures you can also see the street and where the street maintenance crews come by about a week ago and sealed the cracks in the street. 
----

Now that I figured out how to download old videos from fb, here's another one. 


Back in 2012 this guy lived in that apartment he's in front of. He kept his motorcycle inside his apartment instead of in the parking alley, and would start up his motorcycle in the courtyard every morning at 6am to go to work. And would ride it into the courtyard at night when he got home. He would ride right by 4 bedroom windows and didn't care he was making so much noise. How rude is that? Everyone hated this guy and were glad when he moved out.

---

Covid Update Day 24: 

We are all still coughing but we are doing better. My back muscles hurt from all the coughing. My sense of smell is really muted. I can smell just not strongly. My daughter and grandson are still coughing a lot. Me and my daughter still get mild headaches but my grandson is feeling better. Really, if we could get rid of this cough we would be fine.

Thank you for all the well wishes, we appreciate it.

The high this week was 65F/18C
The low this week was 32F/0 C

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

Saturday, January 15, 2022

Favorite Song of the Week

 

If you already listen to a band called Disturbed, then you probably recognize David Draiman who is the lead singer for that band. But for a while he sang for this band, Device as well and this is one of my favorite songs from them.