Review: The Vixen and the Vet by Katy Regnery

Book Description

In this modern-retelling of "Beauty and the Beast," Savannah Carmichael, betrayed by an unreliable source, returns to her hometown of Danvers, Virginia with her once-promising journalism career in ruins. Given the opportunity to get back in the game by writing a patriotic human interest piece, Savannah turns her attention to the town hermit, Asher Lee, a wounded veteran who returned to Danvers eight years ago, and hasn't been seen since.

After an IED explosion in Afghanistan took Asher's hand and disfigured half of his face, he's lived a quiet life on the outskirts of Danvers where the locals respect his privacy...that is, until Savannah Carmichael comes calling in a borrowed sundress with a plate of homemade brownies. When Asher agrees to be interviewed by Savannah, he starts feeling things for the beautiful reporter that he hasn't felt in years.

Misfits in small-town Danvers, Savannah and Asher create a bond right away, touching each other's hearts in ways neither thought possible. When a terrible mistake threatens to drive them apart, they'll have to decide if the love they found in one another's arms is strong enough to fight for their hard-won happily ever after.

** Contemporary Romance. Due to profanity, realistically depicted scenes of war and very strong sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.**

My Review

Savannah comes home after she got fired from the journalism job she loved. Her sister, Scarlet is getting married so that's a good reason to come home and help. When another journalism job gets dropped in her lap, she jumps at the chance not knowing that interviewing Asher will be more rewarding than she expected. 

Asher is a wounded warrior and came home to a less than welcome arrival. Because he's disfigured and feels like the people of the town look at him like a monster, he's kept himself locked away in his home for years. But when Savannah asks to interview him, he surprisingly agrees to it. 

The interview happens over the course of a few weeks and the more time they spend together the closer they get. First starting out as friends and then more when they find that they really like one another. 

When Savannah's article is published, it's not printed exactly as she had written it which causes a lot of problems. I don't know if a publisher can actually 'edit' an article the way this one was in real life and get away with it but I would have been more than a little mad. 

It takes them a while to get passed this bump in the road and frankly I wasn't sure it was going to happen but Asher finally finds out that she never meant to have that story published. Things happen, some things change and some things get better before we get to end of this story. Asher's story is heartbreaking and it's gruesome in some of the descriptions of what happened to Asher but this book was great and a real tear jerker. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Freebie Friday!

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

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

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

This week I received:

Garnier Fructis Sleek Shot.
Garnier Fructis Shine Hold.
2 Cure facial moisturizer samples.

I haven't used the moisturizer yet but I'm pretty sure I received these samples in the past and used them and they were alright as a moisturizer.

I've used the Sleek Shot before and thought it really didn't do much for my hair. I don't really use a lot of mousses or styling products in my hair so I'll be giving the Shine Hold to my daughter.

I also won two more Goodreads giveaways this week.

Did you  receive any freebies this week?

Review: Jurassic Pork by Stix Hiscock

Book Description

I can't even get my common-law husband to look at me these days. It's like he's so freaking busy bringing dinosaurs back to life that he can't even be bothered to look at his saucy, bodacious wife, much less to do hot sex things to me. But everything changes when he takes me along to visit his private island full of abominations to the Lord, when our helicopter crashes in the middle of the sea and my life is saved by a pterodactyl- a sexy, well hung pterodactyl at that. Now my loyalties are divided between a negligent husband who doesn't give a damn about me, and three bisexual polyamorous dinosaur studs who want nothing more than to bury their bones in me. It's a problem that every woman faces at some point in her life, but I'm so unsure whether I truly have the nads to handle it...

My Review

You know when you sign up for authors newsletters they will sometimes send you free books? Well I absolutely had to download this freebie from the link in the newsletter of Mary Auclair because the cover was hilarious and the blurb was even funnier. C'mon, tell me you didn't read that description and snort!

Dr. James Hardon and his wife Gina Moyst hadn't been intimate for a while and Gina was getting perturbed about it. But James is a dinosaur scientist and would rather work on his new experiments. James makes time to take Gina on a helicopter ride to a little island called Cretaceous Cay where most of his lab experiments lived. Now think Jurassic Park about this place because there are a bunch of dinosaurs here but there's also more. 

But a huge water lizard jumped up from the water and grabbed a hold of the chopper and made them crash in the water. A pterodactyl scoops Gina up and fly's away with her. When she wakes up, there are several dinosaur/human hybrids surrounding her talking to her. Looks like James was doing more than just bringing back the dinosaurs. Several lonely dino's want to be intimate with Gina and she shows them a good time. Gina thinks her husband is dead but he comes back and she chooses the dino's over him. But once back at the lab, James makes a big decision that leads him back to Gina and the dino's. 

This was just funny. Getting it on with several hybrid dinosaurs that can talk to you was something new for me. I doubt I would keep reading anything like this but it sure was an interesting change of scenery. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars for the sheer hilarity it brought me.

Favorite Picture of the Week

If you've been reading my blog for long you know that I hadn't figured out how to take pictures at night without them coming out blurry, especially with flashing lights from the police or ambulance. I asked on Twitter if anyone knew and really didn't get any help and looked online ad again, no help. So I sat down with my reading glasses and started pushing buttons on my camera. LOL 

I have a Nikon Coolpix digital camera and on the back is a button that says, "scene". So I pushed it and moved the curser down to scene and on that page are a bunch of outdoor pictures. When you click on them there are modes for "Night Portrait, Landscape, Cloudy day, Rainy, " Ect. So I clicked on Night Portrait and took a picture at night and it's not blurry! I did try to take a picture at night again when the fire truck was out there with the flashing lights and it's still blurry. And I absolutely cannot take the picture from behind my bedroom window because all I get is a picture of the flash reflecting off the window. So weird, right? So I have to be outside, have flash on, put it on night portrait and not have a bunch of flashing lights. So I probably won't be taking many night pictures. I had never turned the flash on at night because then people look at you and I don't want to draw attention to myself if the police are out there. 

I was able to get this picture of the fire truck the other day though. And even though it's night time, the picture isn't as blurry as it usually is. The flashing lights still mess it up a bit though.

I started taking pictures just as the sun came up or at sunset and changing the color too. 

So now I can take a pretty good sunrise picture when it's still really dark outside.

It was really dark outside when I took this one but the moon was lighting this up just enough to be able to get a good picture.

Falcor gets me up early so when I saw a pretty sunrise, I snapped a picture.

I can change the colors too, this one was grey. 

I'm still messing around with buttons and changing colors but we had some really cool sunrises this week.

It was so dark out that the street lights were still on and the picture came out good anyway.

The sunrise between the two apartment buildings. I don't know why that one window lit up like a lighthouse but it made me laugh.

Such a pretty sunrise.

I spotted this one huge cloud out there all by itself. 

Reaper by Larissa Ione

Book Description

He is the Keeper of Souls. Judge, jury, and executioner. He is death personified.

He is the Grim Reaper.

A fallen angel who commands the respect of both Heaven and Hell, Azagoth has presided over his own underworld realm for thousands of years. As the overlord of evil souls, he maintains balance crucial to the existence of life on Earth and beyond. But as all the realms gear up for the prophesied End of Days, the ties that bind him to Sheoul-gra have begun to chafe.

Now, with his beloved mate and unborn child the target of an ancient enemy, Azagoth will stop at nothing to save them, even if it means breaking blood oaths and shattering age-old alliances.

Even if it means destroying himself and setting the world on fire…

My Review

Azagoth, the Grim Reaper is about to be a father, again. But his mate, Lilliana is the love of his life and their baby is one of a kind. When something goes wrong with Lilliana's pregnancy because someone poisoned her and tried to kill their baby, Azagoth will stop at nothing to make sure the person responsible pays for what they tried to do. 

Lilliana is rushed to a demon hospital where Azagoth cannot go but after the doctors figure out what's wrong and contain the poison, she decides not to go back home because someone in their realm tried to kill her baby. Azagoth is mad but understands that he has to find the one responsible. 

When Moloc and his minions kill a few people that they shouldn't have and kidnap Lilliana, Azagoth loses his mind and wants revenge anyway he can get it. 

Moloc wants Azagoth to release Satan from his prison but he knows he can't so when Moloc tells him he only has a limited amount of time to save his mate and unborn child before he kills them, I knew things were going to get crazy and they did. I loved that so many of the characters we've met in other books were in this one as well.

From that point forward the entire world is turned upside down. I've been reading this series from the beginning so when the real bad guy was revealed, I was shocked. I had no idea. This book ends the series with a shock wave but it was a great ending. If you've been reading this series then you have to read this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of Pippa and Neema*

"Wake me when you have more yogis"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I was crowned King of Mardi Gras."

Apartment Life #192

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Hey, the picture isn't as blurry as usual. lol

So as you can see the Fire Truck was parked right outside my bedroom window at 4am on Tuesday. I saw the flashing lights and got up to take a picture.

I found out Wednesday morning that a couple across the street got into an argument because I guess the female found out that her boyfriend had cheated on her and she went after the boyfriend with a knife and ended up cutting his arm. I guess after I went back to bed (Because I was tired) the ambulance also showed up and took him to the hospital to get stitches in his arm. She was arrested but she's already back and they're back together like nothing happened.

Some of my street was blocked off on Friday after workers across the street poured a bunch of rock in the street. It's the same kind of rock that is in my courtyard. They started shoveling rock into the courtyard over there where grass would normally be but this is Las Vegas, we don't do grass here, it's the desert and we fill in the yards with rock. LOL They already had rock over there but there's a lot of kids in those apartments and I imagine they displace the rock by throwing it at each other, the street, the cars, the windows. I wish I was kidding. Hell, a couple of years ago Ken got into an argument with a guy from over there and he picked up a couple of rocks and winged them at Ken. Ken picked up a couple of our rocks on this side and threw them right back so the guy walked over to our side and tossed his drink in Ken's face. Wheee so much fun.

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

Review: Birchbox Subscription Box- February

Birchbox is a subscription box. It's only $14 a month and this month's box came with 6 products.

What was in this box?

Acure Brightening Biocellelulose sheet mask.

Davines MOMO moisturing shampoo.

Dr. Lipp moisturizing lip color tint- made with sweet potato pigments.

R+Co Rodeo Star thickening style foam. 

The Beauty Crop Glow milk liquid highlighter. 

Davines MOMO moisturizing conditioner. 

I liked the shampoo and conditioner even though it had a strange smell. It wasn't unpleasant just strange. The style foam is just mousse and it works well but I don't use mousse unless I put my hair up in a ponytail which isn't often. 

The lip tint is a little weird but an ok pink color. It doesn't stay tinted for long though. The highlighter is nice and blends out with your finger really nicely. I don't really get the bright highlighters but I like the light subtle ones like this one. 

And Oh Joy, another sheet mask. It did exactly what the others have done, nothing. lol 

Did you get this box?

Freebie Friday!

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

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

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

This week I received:

I received a sample of Garnier Fructis smoothing hair mask.

I also won a deluxe sample of Water Rose Micellar Cleansing Water in a giveaway. 

And I won a book in a Goodreads Giveaway. 

And I won a luggage tag from Marlboro giveaway. 

____

I've used the Garnier smoothing hair mask before and it works just like a smoothing conditioner. It's a good product. I'm looking forward to getting my prize from that contest. I've been playing everyday for a few weeks so it was nice to win. The book looks interesting so I hope it's a good one. 

Did you receive any freebies or wins this week?

Review: A Valentine's Book Coupling by Trinity Blacio and Lia Violet

Book Description

Two Paranormal Valentine’s Day Novellas!

The Cupid Crush by Lia Violet

Librarian Lucy’s teen volunteer group does not want anything red or pink with cute sayings to celebrate love, and she is in total agreement. At their Un-Valentine party, they crush candy hearts with a hammer even while making cards and nice decorations for the Cupid's Dance veteran fundraiser.

Mack is helping remodel the local VFW hall after a fire before a big Valentine’s Day fundraiser, but this is the busy season for him and his Cupid shifter siblings.  When he goes to the library to ask for help for the veterans’ event, Mack is surprised to find that even Cupid can be struck by the arrow.

Cupid Hits the Local VFW by Trinity Blacio

Red Riding had heard it all. At 58, been married with kids and was now widowed. She wasn’t done with life, but she also wanted to make a difference. However, the little weasel at the Volunteer agency’s sick sense of humor really pissed her off, sending her into the local Wolf VFW to help organize a Cupid’s Dance for a bunch of Veteran Wolves.

General Zack Danger had done his duty to his country for over 20 years, trying to forget his mate that had been killed so long ago. Their kids were all grown now, so he spent most of his time at the club, trying to help others after stepping down as Alpha of the pack, now Alpha for the VFW-Wolves International.

My Review

There were two novellas in this book so I'm going to do mini reviews for both of them here. 

The Cupid Crush by Lia Violet

So Cupid is actually a bunch of shifters. Ha! Who knew? So Mack and his siblings are Cupid shifters and they go around throwing arrows at people with their bows which I thought was so darn cute. Lucy and her friends are making decorations for their un-valentine's day party and for the VFW Cupid's Dance Veteran Fundraiser. Mack spots Lucy and it doesn't take long before he knows that she's his mate. She finds out what he is when his wings sprout from his back when he has to save her from danger. Things really take off from there. This was a sweet, quick read. 

Cupid Hits the Local VFW by Trinity Blacio

Red Riding was 58 years old now and widowed with adult kids. She wants to volunteer for something but is caught off guard when the guy at the volunteer agency sends her to volunteer at the local VFW...for retired wolf shifter veterans. I mean, how fun is that! Red Riding and the big bad wolf! Ha! So when Red Riding meets General Zack Danger, he knows right away that she is his mate and gets possessive right away. But Red is no push over for a wolf shifter. There's danger because of some idiot and Zack knows he has to keep Red and her kids safe until the criminal is found. Red could be in real danger so she takes the help and finds that she is more than a little attracted to Zack and can feel the pull of the mate bond between them. This was such a fun novella. I had such a good time with this one. The story premise just made me laugh. Red Riding falls for a wolf shifter. Too fun. 

I give this book 4 out 5 stars. 

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

Review: Unforgotten by Cassie Laelyn (The Fallen Guardians Book 2)

Book Description

Fate offers no mercy. Especially not to those who betray her.

Lethal Guardian Aric's loyalty never falters. Not even when Fate exiled him and his brothers from the Heavens, separating Aric from his soulmate. He'll do anything to reunite with her. But when Willow suddenly appears in the mortal realm, Aric's greatest fear comes true—she's no longer the angel he left behind.

Since Aric abandoned her, the Heavens have become Willow's personal Hell. Centuries of bitterness and hurt is a toxic combination. It even affects her angelic powers. When a Fallen offers Willow a chance to escape, she accepts. But shunning her connection to the Heavens comes at a cost.

In a twisted battle of loyalty, trust and hope, what price will two soulmates pay for a second chance at love?

My Review

Blaine spent his time trying to syphon the heavenly powers from angels since he fell from heaven. Once he had enough he could challenge Zath for the throne. Then he could get back to the angel he loved. 

Aric, Raven and the other Guardians had been sent to save Blaine but Aric had left his soulmate in heaven and he planned to return to her at some point. Willow got tired of waiting and Blaine talked her into becoming a Fallen as well. Blaine said he would be at the gates of Hell to bring her back to the mortal realm before Zath could get to her but when she got there, Blaine never showed up and Zath got a hold of her. Zath found Willow and tortured her, taking her wings. 

This is the second book in the Fallen Guardians series and maybe I should have read the first book before this one because I was lost. But I don't know if it was because I hadn't read the first book, there are so many characters and so many things have already happened that weren't thoroughly explained. So I did feel a little lost but I liked the story so I kept reading and hoped that things would become more clear, which they did a little. 

Something was clearly wrong with Willow after she became a Fallen. When Aric and Blaine figure out what the problem is and how to fix it, this story picks up pace and became a lot more interesting. 

This was an interesting read about angels, fate, guardians and the fallen. The romance was sweet and the storyline was an interesting one but the pacing was a little slow. It might have been better had I read the first book so I recommend reading this series in order. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for a review but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review: Disease X by N.J. Croft

Book Description

A plane carrying a Russian biochemist crashes in the Alaskan wilderness with no survivors.

A dying billionaire launches a final fight against death amid whispers of a now defunct military bioweapon: Project Snowcap.

The world's leading CRISPR virologist, Doctor Elijah Vance, hovers on the edge of a breakthrough that will alter humanity at its most fundamental level.

And in a remote village in Mexico, an unknown disease is spreading.

Following the death of his missionary parents to an ebola outbreak when he was a young child, Eli has dedicated his life to finding a cure for all viruses. Drafted onto the WHO Fast Response Team sent to lock down a possible outbreak in Mexico, he realizes that this is the big one they've been waiting for. Disease X: the unknown pathogen with the potential to destroy mankind.

It's a battle of man against virus. And we're losing. As the deaths mount and civilization breaks down, the team must race against the clock to connect the clues and uncover patient zero. But Eli is unprepared for the shocking secrets he exposes when the truth is finally revealed.

My Review

While this isn't my usual genre of book, I like the disease outbreak type of books and movies and with the Coronavirus in the news right now it seemed like a good time to read this type of book. 

This book starts off with a plane crash ten years before and then in present day there are small outbreaks of some virus all over the world and people start dying. Doctors and scientists start getting more worried as more and more cases of this new virus start turning up. This book shows that a virus that spreads really fast can take over an entire village and if one person gets out after spending time with someone in the village and travels back home by plane, the results can be disastrous. 

I thought I knew where this story was going but then we get thrown this huge twist and it just went in a totally different direction. Eli is a scientist and Riley works for the military and they meet in Mexico where they try and figure out how this village got infected and why once you're infected, you die. 100% mortality rate is bad, really bad and when people all around the world start showing up infected, it only gets worst. These two end up working closely together and there's even a little romance between them which I wasn't expecting in this book but I liked. Eli and his team have to find out where this virus started and how to stop it but while searching for answers, they uncover secrets they never saw coming.

This book was one of those keep you on the edge of you seat type stories and made my heart break at certain times. It's been a while since I read a book like this but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"The Kissing Booth is now open"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

Apartment Life #121

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Here's another picture taken from my bedroom window. I must have the exact right apartment to get all the pictures I do. lol So this week 2 police cars showed up across the street from my apartment building. We had heard some yelling going on across the street earlier and then some woman started screaming when one of the guys that lives over there came out with a gun. He didn't point it at anyone that we saw but he held it down by his side as he was screaming back and forth with the screaming woman's husband. Someone yelled they were calling the cops and he went back inside. No one was arrested that I saw and the police left a little while after they got there.

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

Review: Target Beauty Box- February

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

First up is the Self Love box which included: 

Que Bella Radiance Boost Shimmering Cream Face Mask. 

Pacifica Island Vanilla perfume hair and body mist. 

Aveeno moisturing CICA balm. 

Yuni My OM World Calming Body Mist. 

Village Naturals muscle relief mineral bath soak. 

Masque Bar silver foil peel off mask. 

TwelveNYC bright eye cooling gel eye pads. 

The eye gel pads are reusable. You put them in the fridge or freezer for an hour and put them on your eyes. I will say that it felt good. It didn't do anything for the puffiness under my eyes, I think that's a permanent fixture for me but I am now 50 years old last week so puffy eyes is is just something I'll have to deal with n my old age. lol 

I actually really liked everything else. The vanilla perfume spray smells so good and the calming body and pillow mist is so clean smelling. I'm pretty happy with everything. 

The second box is the Pucker Up box. Here's what was in it: 

TwelveNYC Perfect pouting cooling lip mask. 

Dr. Bonner lip balm in peppermint. 

Burt's Bees moisturizing lip mask. 

Milani matte lipstick. 

Burt's Bees lip shimmer. 

Soap & Glory lip plumper. 

Let's talk about that lip plumper first...I put it on and immediately I felt like I had just smeared hot sauce all over my lips. Whew buddy! But I kept it on to see if it plumped my lips since I normally have thin lips and I didn't see any difference. So if you're looking for a little pain with your lip gloss, this is the one for you. 

The Milani matte lipstick is great, I loved that color. Another lip balm is always ok with me. One day I might show you all my lip balm collection. lol Is there a 12 step program for lip balm hoarders? 

The cooling lip mask is reusable. You just put it in the fridge or freezer for an hour before you use it and it's supposed to be soothing. It was soothing, ice cold gel mask on the lips does feel good, not gonna lie. 

The Burt's Bees lip shimmer is just a touch of shimmer with a touch of pink color. I like it. It's a nice color. I haven't used the moisturizing lip mask yet. 

I liked most of everything that was in this box with the exception of that lip plumper. 

Freebie Friday!

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

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

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

This week I received:

Samples from Pinchme including ...
A Slimfast bar.
Quewel eye patches.
2 Airheads candies.

The Slimfast bar was what I expected it would be. Not very tasty.  The eye patches are the eye gels that go under the eyes. They don't do anything even though I know this kind of thing is popular right now. I don't see why.

I had just bought some airheads so this was a ice surprise.

Last Friday I told you that I won a Macy's gift card. Well here's my Macy's haul. It was all free since I got the gift card by cashing out my points on a survey site. 

I bought....

Nyx Professional Makeup Mineral Finishing Powder. 

NYX Professional Makeup 3-Pc. Best of Prep + Set Vault Set. The set included NYX Professional Makeup Pore Filler. NYX Professional Makeup Matte Setting Spray. NYX Professional Makeup HD Setting Powder. 

NYX Professional Makeup Bare With Me Multitasking Spray.

Tarte Cue The Confetti Eyeshadow Palette.

Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner, Trial-Size. 

3 samples of perfume. 

Aromatique Holiday Wax Melt Cubes

FREE Trial-Size Haleys BB Drops With Any $50 Select Beauty Purchase!

Everything except for the eyeshadow palette are things that I've bought before and liked. I like to just buy the things I use the most with these gift cards that way I don't run out. 

I've bought a few Tarte Palettes and have been loving them so when I saw this one, I had to get it too. Tarte eyeshadows blend so easily and the colors are so pretty. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Gray Wolf Mate by Dianna Love

Book Description

New York Times Bestseller Dianna Love has created a unique shifter series with immortals, mages, witches and ... sexy badass shifters.

Shifters came out to the public eight years ago and, since then, the world has never been the same for many.

Tess Janver and Cole Cavanaugh fell deeply in love in college ... then he disappeared without a word. She feared the worst, or thought she had. After seven years, he returns as a beefed up version of his former self. That’s not the only thing different. As someone working in a preternatural criminal investigation unit and the daughter of a senator determined to rid the world of dangerous shifters, Tess is caught between performing her duty to humans, protecting the only family she has left and risking her heart to a man who once destroyed it.

Cole had no choice in becoming a Gallize shifter, a secret group of apex predators at the top of the food chain for their kind, and now faces a deadline from a fatal mating curse he can’t stop. The only woman he’s ever loved is human and wouldn’t survive bonding with him. He never planned on Tess finding out he was a wolf shifter, but she’s in danger from a rogue pack. He’s not leaving until she’s safe ... and he has a chance to redeem himself in her eyes before his time is up.

Enjoy a fast-paced, high-action romantic tale. Each book in the series is a stand alone.

My Review 

Cole found out when he was still a teenager that he was a wolf shifter. Now he works for a secret organization to keep people safe. He ended up leaving the only woman he's ever loved but he had plans to go and tell her the truth before his wolf took over and he had to be put down for good. 

Tess has always been a bit strange because of a secret she has. But things really start to go south when Cole leaves her without a backwards glace and shifters come out to the human population that they exist. When her mother is killed by shifters, her whole world changes. 

Cole is running out of time because of the mating curse. If he doesn't find his mate and have her accept him, his wolf will take over for good and he'll have to be put down because his wolf is too dangerous to be let loose. But when he gets held by an organization that wants answers from him that he can't give, he finds that Tess works for them. When he escapes with the help of his teammates he finds out that Tess is in danger from some shifters so he now has to go to her and try to keep her safe. 

This book had the most ridiculously romantic ending and I loved it. Cole's teammates are great and so is their leader. I'm really looking forward to getting to know more of the secondary characters in the next books because there are some really interesting ones. I loved the world building so that we got a good picture of what was going on in this world and the people in it. I'm really looking forward to reading the next book now. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Review: Sixx by Cara Bristol

Book Description

Single alien dad needs a mate with some moxie.

Software developer Moxie Maguire has a BIG dream—save enough money to start her own video game company. That’s why she logs fourteen hours days working for an obnoxious boss. But when life seems to be passing her by, she sets another goal—meet Mr. Right, a man who can support her dream. She joins the Intergalactic Dating Agency and is matched with a hot and horned alien named…Sixx. Sexy as heck, a good listener, family-oriented—he’s the perfect man to share a life with.

If only that life was on Earth.

Sixx has a dream, too. Find a mate, settle down, and raise kits. With females in short supply on his planet, this single dad heads for Earth to get a female and get back to Dakon and his young son. The instant he meets Moxie, he recognizes she’s his Fated Mate. They’re meant to be together.

But he won’t abandon his child. And, unfortunately, his planet has even fewer computers than females. One for the entire planet, to be exact.

Will two Fated Mates have to part? Or can they find a way to work it out?

My Review

Moxxie is a game designer and since she spends most of her time at work and doesn't spend a lot of time going out, she decides to sign up at the Intergalactic Dating Agency.  

Sixx had been in a relationship on his planet that produced a child but his ex left him for someone else and since Dakonians usually mate for life, there was no chance that another female would consider him now. So he decides to come to Earth and be matched with a female that will come back to Dakon with him.

They seem to hit it off right from the start which is good but things get awkward when she finds out he wants her to come back to his planet. Their dates kept getting interrupted by her boss constantly calling her. When weird things start happening at work and she keeps finding herself in danger, it's Sixx that comes to her rescue. But even though she and Sixx hit it off really well when they meet and get to know one another, Sixx can't stay on Earth because he has a son back on Dakon. With only one computer on Dakon, Moxie can't see herself living there when she wants to be a game designer.

I really liked Sixx, he's such a great guy so I was sad when it looked like things weren't going to work out for them. But thankfully they do come to a compromise and they find a way to make things work. I can't imagine going to another planet to live but Earth women keep jumping at the chance to go there even though it's really cold. The guys are hot and nice so they do have great reasons to take the chance. 

This was a fun story with a bit of a mystery as to what was going on at her work that put her in danger. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Review: The Demigod Complex by Abigail Owen

Book Description

When Lyleia Naiad was head-hunted by Brimstone, Inc., for her job as Executive Assistant to a high-powered billionaire demigod, she was given one directive—do NOT fall in love with Castor Dioskouri. Doesn’t matter if he’s the son of Zeus and can electrify a room with a single glance. As an ex-nymph, she possesses a unique ability—a gift from the goddesses to protect nymphs from the randy gods—to resist her boss's charms.

Or so she thought.

He insists she accompany him to an alpha wolf shifter mating ceremony, an event where the pheromones fly, and so do clothes...and inhibitions.

Goddesses save her, because Castor has stolen into Lyleia’s heart, and she’s not so sure she can hold out much longer...

My Review

Lyleia is Castor's executive assistant and she's also a nymph but she lost her spring (powers) because she was betrayed. She still has the power to resist the pull of any supernaturals but she still feels attracted to Castor who is a demigod. 

Castor needs Lyleia to accompany him to a mating ceremony and be a buffer for him since these things end up making all involved, even the guests feel very much like having sex and he's hoping that having her there with him will keep the females away. 

Castor is a demigod, son of Zeus. He's been sorta lusting after Leia which is weird since he hasn't felt much in the love department in a while, but his heart is telling him that there's something real between them, he just has to make her believe it too. 

Going to the mating ceremony proved to be a bad decision as someone from her past was there and he wanted her dead. She thought she had a stalker, someone who had been breaking into her apartment and now she knew for sure who it was. When Castor finds out who is after her and why, his protective instincts take over and he helps her. He's a demigod so he pretty powerful and if she's to fight this person and win, she'll need his help in the end. 

Because of the danger, the pheromones at the mating ceremony and the lust they already felt for each other that they've held back for so long, when they finally give into what they feel it was quite powerful. Their romance is sweet and hot. I laughed so many times during this book because of something that one of them would say and I love when a book can make me laugh. This was a fun book to read and a great way to start off a new series. I look forward to reading more now. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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