Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of me*

"You come back later, I'm taking a nap right now"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #199

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.

Tuesday morning at nearly 1am, the lights and sirens from the police cars woke me up. I got up and looked out my bedroom window and saw there was at least 4 police cars on my street and several more were quickly driving down the street as well. 

My daughter went outside and got a couple of pictures of police on the street and one officer told her to go back inside because there was an active shooter somewhere in the neighborhood. So she came back inside after getting a couple more pictures. 

The police were on the side street, the alley, my street, the Cal Ranch parking lot and then the police helicopter started flying over. 

The police were on my street for almost 2 hours before they left. 

From the neighbors I heard the next day, it seems someone was shooting behind the Cal Ranch store in the parking lot and then ran off and they never caught whoever it was. I didn't see any news reports or anything about it so I'm not sure but the police said there was an active shooter in the area so that's enough to make me nervous. 

Life Update: 

Ken is doing good in physical therapy and might get to come home in a week or so. After that he'll be seeing an Oncologist to find out what all is going on and get treatment options. I really appreciate all the love, support and good thoughts everyone has been sending. It has really helped seeing so many positive comments and well wishes.

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

Sheets Masks- Congrats, You Look Ridiculous!

A few weeks ago I asked you guys in a post whether or not you'd like to see me do a sheet mask post where I make fun of them and myself and wear a few of them in a post. Well, you all said yes, so here you go! I think we all need something to laugh about right now.

Sheet masks are usually white cloths that have holes for eyes, nose and mouth and are soaked in some kind of liquid that's supposed to make your face feel softer, smoother, help with wrinkles ect. To me they are a waste of time because smoothing on a little moisturizer does the same thing without looking ridiculous.

On the back of the first sheet mask in the instructions was this, " Congratulations, you look ridiculous. Go with it." Ok, well here we go. 

This sheet mask obviously didn't have enough liquid in it to actually stick to my face. This is not how it's supposed to fit. 

This one had enough liquid on it and it did stick to my face. And yes, I look ridiculous. My dog was giving me weird looks and so was Ken. 

Sometimes the sheet masks are bright colors like this blue on that didn't have enough liquid on it to stick to my face. It kept falling off. A couple of my readers have said they've never seen a sheet mask, well now you have. I hope you enjoyed it. lol 

Now there's a look! While not a sheet mask these are supposed to soothe your face and lips. They are reusable too. You put them in the freezer or fridge for an hour before use and place them on your eyes and lips and it's supposed to help with eye puffiness. But for me, it really didn't do much for me. They did keep falling off though. They don't lay flat so it didn't help much. That's some look though. 

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 hair mask.
Creme of Nature hair color.
3 greeting cards with envelopes.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Favorite Photo of the Week

We tried something new. A couple of months ago Ken picked up some purple potatoes. We'd never had them before, so I was excited to try them. I made mashed potatoes with them. This is what they look like on the inside before cooking them.

I made mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, sauteed carrots and smoked pork chops. The purple potatoes taste just like regular potatoes if you're wondering, but they're purple. It made for a colorful plate of food. Oh and smoked pork chops taste just like baked ham. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Balei and Annette*

*Picture courtesy of Balei and Annette*

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

Because we all need something to smile about right now.

Apartment Life #198

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.

The picture is blurry because it was taken from about a block away. Two police cars had someone stopped in front of their car and ended up arresting him for some reason. Both police cars were there for well over an hour. 

When I stepped out my door I saw that my neighbor's homeless brother was sleeping in the chair by his door again. He was bent forward so that's the top of his head you're seeing. He and his brother got into a shouting match a couple of weeks ago and I didn't see him sleeping outside for a couple of nights but he's back. The guy who lives there told me that his brother is a meth addict and he steals from him so that's why he doesn't let him inside his apartment but let's him sleep in a chair by the door so he has a safe place to sleep and he brings food out to him too. So that's what's I've been talking about for a while when I mention the brother who sleeps outside his brother's door. 

There's been quite an increase in homeless people hanging around my apartment building lately and I've been seeing more of these signs on the sidewalk. 

Life Update: 

Ken was transferred to rehab/physical therapy to see if he can strengthen his leg and arm enough to safely come home. I don't know how long he'll be there. The hospital said he has to see an oncologist outpatient when he comes home for any treatment they want to give him. So I've been calling different places to get some sort of transportation set up for him to go to doctor appointments. 

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

Review: Fantastic Hope by Laurell K. Hamilton

Book Description

A collection of sixteen sci-fi and fantasy stories edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton and author William McCaskey.

A child’s wish for her father comes true. The end of the world has never been so much fun. Conquering personal demons becomes all too real. It’s not always about winning; sometimes it’s about showing up for the fight. It’s about loving your life’s work, and jobs that make you question everything.

In this anthology, seventeen authors have woven together brand-new stories that speak to the darkness and despair that life brings while reminding us that good deeds, humor, love, sacrifice, dedication, and following our joy can ignite a light that burns so bright the darkness cannot last.

Laurell K. Hamilton and William McCaskey are joined by Kevin J. Anderson, Griffin Barber, Patricia Briggs, Larry Correia, Kacey Ezell, Monalisa Foster, Robert E. Hampson, John G. Hartness, Jonathan Maberry, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Jessica Schlenker, Sharon Shinn, M. C. Sumner, Patrick M. Tracy, and Michael Z. Williamson in this collection.

My Review

This is an anthology so I am going to do a mini review for each story. 

Twilight Falls by Johnathon Mayberry

When a plane is spotted flying over several villages and then people are found dead, the people in charge think someone is spraying chemicals over them. Turns out that the people in the plane weren't the problem, they were actually trying to help but other bad guys got wind of what they were doing and decided to stop them. It was a fun quick story. 

Not In This Lifetime by Sharon Shinn

What if you were to remember all of your past lives and the same guy kills you in each of your lives? That's what happens to Sasha in this story. Sasha remembers some of the people who have been in her life during her past lives and she's friends with them in this life. So when she spots the man who kills her and she knows will kill her in this life, she goes about trying to change the outcome this time.

Mr. Positive, The Eternal Optimist by Larry Correia

Chris is from the future and is sent to do things. Like if you could go back in time and kill Hilter, would you? So Chris has a mission to shoot Stanley in the heart for some reason but Stanley puts up a good fight and Chris ends up liking him but still he needs to finish his mission. This one had an ending that went in a way I wasn't expecting. Interesting idea. 

No Greater Love by Kacey Ezell

Jennilee and Anna were forced to stay in a cave Dalton left and pushed carts through the snow with their meager belongings on them but Jennilee's father had told Anna who was about to give birth, he would be back. Anna was married to Jennilee's father. When Anna dies after giving birth, Jennilee knows she can't stay there so she follows the trail her father is on only to get hurt. A woman comes to her rescue but things are not right or normal with this woman but she is able to save them both but not in a normal way. This was a really fun story. Not what I was expecting at all. 

Broken Son by Griffin Barber

Sent to a space station penal colony for a few years, Borges makes the best of his time in the mines. He must be wealthy because he is given special treatment and one of the other inmates who they refer to as the broken says he can hear a song coming from somewhere else. So when a scientist comes aboard to check something out, he introduces her to the broken and the broken makes contact with another life form who informs them what happen to them. 

Heart of Clay by Kevin J. Anderson

A dragon with a gambling problem lost the Excalibur sword in a gambling bet and now there's a bunch of supernaturals looking for it. Someone was also killing Golems and they couldn't seem to figure out why until the end of the story. With so many different supernatural creatures in this story it was fun to see what would happen next. 

Reprise by John G. Hartness

Quincy, the son of dracula watches a group of young people trying to summon a demon and spots a young woman who looks like the woman he loved and lost. He's taken with her and watches her and even talks with her. When he finds out what she and the others are up to it's almost too late to send the demon back to hell before it gets out and kills indiscriminately. But he's the son of dracula so thankfully things work out. 

Asil and the Not-Date by Patricia Briggs 

Asil was a wolf shifter and he knew that at some point his wolf was going to get free and probably kill someone. He was depressed but when the emails about going on dates started to anonymously come to him, it peeked his interest so he kept going on dates. Asil liked Tami even when he found out she was a white witch. A witch had killed his mate so his crabby wolf wasn't too happy about her being around him. Tami and Asil helped one of her clients when they found themselves in danger but then there's a big twist to this one and I liked it. 

In The Dust by Robert E. Hampson

This story took place throughout a couple's journey first as kids, then teens and then as adults with their own kids. I never knew where this story was headed until the very end which was nice. I liked this one and liked how I had to read the story and pick up on little things in order to see where this one would end up. 

Fallen by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

I had a hard time figuring this one out at times. It was hard to tell where Estafen was, where he had been and what was going on. He wanted to change the way things were where he was but everyone and everything around him was making that difficult. When I was done, I finally figured out that this was a religious piece and that's probably why I had a hard time deciphering it for it to make sense to me.

Working Conditions by Patrick M. Tracy

Sam had recently been turned into a vampire and Delia owned the convenience store he worked at. She was a little afraid of him but he was just a lonely, young man that she was still friends with. When he bit her to save her life from terminal cancer, she knew he was one of the good guys and she made sure he had a place to work. This was a short, sweet story. 

Last Contact by M.C. Sumner

When an alien ships hovers over a city, a detective shows up and tells Samuel that they want him to meet with them. Samuel is a paleoichthyologist or someone that studies extinct fish. He was taken to where the ship was a a kind of transport box was there to take him to the ship where he met and talked with the alien. The alien talked and answered questions and then had a question for him. This was interesting and thought provoking. Definitely one of my favorites. 

Ronin by William McCaskey

This story is told from the vantage point of a stuffed teddy bear. I liked this story. The bear had fun with a boy that grew up to have a child of his own but the man had a lot of problems that the bear really couldn't understand. The bear can enter dreams and see what their nightmares are and help them through their fears. This story broke my heart but it was really good. 

Skjoldmodir by Michael Z. Williamson and Jessica Schlenker

A mother of a son who was born not quite right, living in a village where the villages grew to fear and ultimately hate Grendel, the son, the monster as he was called after he got older. A mother who could do nothing but move on after her husband was killed in battle and try to keep her son safe even though nothing could keep them safe from the hateful villagers. This was such a sad tale. 

Bonds of Love and Duty by Monalisa Foster

The Donai were genetically engineered soldiers but in her lab they were just children or soon to be children in the gestation pods. She escaped with Andret, the oldest Donai soldier and some of the babies still in tubes. They landed on a far away planet and he kept the tubes filled with his kind safe until other Donai came looking for him. 

Zombie Dearest by Laurell K. Hamilton

Anita Blake was in her office when a man and woman walked in and accused her of getting their daughter pregnant. Turned out a zombie that Anita raised had sex with their daughter and when she put him back in the ground, the woman found out she was pregnant some time later. She gave birth to a normal baby but now she was laying in a hospital room dying from something the doctors couldn't figure out. So Anita finds out what's was wrong with the young woman and goes about fixing it. This is actually the story that I was most wanting to read. I got the book because of this author and am glad that I read this and the other stories. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Balei and Annette*

"Why you wake me up? Was having good dream."

*Picture courtesy of Mary Kirkland*

"My arm might be missing but I'm still faster than you." 

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Because we all need something to smile about right now.

Apartment Life #197

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.

There are about 6 homeless people that are constantly at the drug dealers apartment in my courtyard. During the day they set up camp with their cart, chairs, blue tarp and signs right near the McDonald's or Del Taco. This day they were parked directly behind one of the 4 wheeler trucks that was parked in the parking lot. But with the Coronavirus outbreaks and social distancing taking place right now, my apartment manager posted a letter on the office door that the office will be closed until further notice and no manager will be on property until further notice. 

Well these homeless people decided to break into the old maintenance shop that's right around the corner from my apartment. My daughter saw it busted open first and later when I walked by it was wide open and there were two mattresses on the floor. Wednesday night I saw a couple of them pulling their carts in with them and shutting the door. There's nothing in the old shop which is why it was nailed shut. There's an email we can use if we have emergency maintenance problems but I was having a problem setting up my resident portal so I could pay my rent online and they never responded to my email. But I got it figured out. I'm not saying a thing to them about the people in the shop. They should have had someone on property to make sure things like this didn't happen. I'm a little irritated and just can't bring myself to give two sh!ts about it. 

Then I saw a police car across the street. I have no idea what went on since I'm not getting close enough to anyone to find out. lol 

On my walk with Falcor, I saw that someone had deposited a used tire in the rocks. How does that happen. They pulled over right here, put a spare on and left the flat here? Who knows but I wasn't expecting to see an old tire right here. 

----

I didn't get this picture posted in time last week since the police showed up twice late Saturday night last week. The police helicopter was up as well. The police were in this spot twice, 4 police cars in all and arrested 2 different people. My daughter took this picture with her new phone but it came out blurry too. 

---

I woke Ken up at 3am on Tuesday because I heard something weird like far off gunshots. He assured me it wasn't gunshots. So when I go out this morning with the dog...paintball platters all over the metal tree, rocks and wall right next to our apartment complex. Now I know what that noise was. Paintball gun.

I hope no one was outside when they did this. They might have gotten hit too.

__

Life Update:

Tuesday morning my daughter went to the ER for a severe asthma attack. Later that day I had to call 911 for Ken when he had a seizure. My daughter came back home Friday night and is ok now.

Ken is still in the hospital. You might have seen my post a few days ago about all of this. Well as of today they told Ken that he has Metastic brain cancer. Meaning the cancer started somewhere else, most likely the lungs and has traveled to other parts of his body including his brain. They are still testing to see where the cancer is but it looks like it's all over. They haven't discussed any treatment options yet so it's just wait and one day at a time for now. 

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

Review: Walmart Beauty Box

The Walmart Beauty box is a subscription box that comes out 4 times a year. You sign up for it and it comes automatically every 3 months. These boxes are free and you just pay $5 for shipping.

What was in the box?

Colgate Optic White Toothpaste. 

NYX Makeup liquid lipstick-2. 

Degree dry deodorant. 

Curel hand lotion. 

Color- nail polish in blue. 

I love blue nail polish, I already have several blue and green colors. So that was great. Toothpaste and deodorant are always good things to get, they will be used. 

I love NYX and these two liquid lipsticks are matte and dry down nicely. They don't stay on all day but they do last a long time. 

I already had a tube of Curel hand lotion so I already know that I like that. All in all this is a great box. I'm very happy with it. 

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:

A few samples of perfume from Macy's.

Did you receive any samples?

Review: Her Dragon's No Angel by Julia Mills

Book Description

Book 11 in the Dragon Guard series. The books can be read as stand-alone stories, but it is advisable to read them in order to get the most enjoyment from the series.

Take one snowbound dragon, combine with one Christmas Angel, throw in a healthy dose of an attraction only the Universe could have conjured and top with the largest blizzard in a hundred years.

Now sit back and enjoy the show! This one's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Fate Will Not Be Denied but Heaven’s Got A Plan of Its Own!

This book contains explicit sexual material and violence. It is only suited for mature readers 18 years of age and older.

My Review

This is the 11th book in the Dragon Guard series but this is the first book that I've read. I got this book for free so I figured why not. 

Tomas is a dragon shifter and while out he gets stuck in a snow storm where he has to take shelter in a cave for a while. He doesn't know it but Holly has also taken shelter in the cave and when he finds her there she knocks him out with her light. They both feel the attraction right away and he knows she's his mate right away but it takes her a little longer to accept it. She's an Angel and thought her mate would also be an Angel not a dragon shifter. 

Holly has been sent on a mission but she doesn't know what it is and she can't seem to make contact with the other Angels in heaven. When she and Tomas can feel that there's someone in need of their help, they both work together to save the little creature not knowing what or who she is. While involved in that they really get closer and realize that they really are mates. 

I don't usually like a lot of religion in my books but there was just a little in this one. With her being an Angel and them going to heaven for a brief time, I kinda expected it to be more religiously involved but it just had a little, just enough to get the point of her being an Angel across. 

I really enjoyed this light novella, it was a quick read and a fun story. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Life Update

I'll be updating this as I find stuff out.

I just wanted to update you all about things that are going on with me right now. My husband and our daughter are both in the hospital right now. My daughter had a severe asthma attack yesterday and I had to call 911 for her at 6am. She's doing better now but might have to stay there another night. 

Then at 1pm yesterday I had to call 911 again, for my husband. He had right leg and arm weakness that got worst over a couple of days to where he couldn't walk yesterday. Then he had a seizure and they took him to the ER and did a CT SCAN. They found some spots on his brain so they think he might have a brain tumor. And then this morning he told me that they also found a spot on his lungs and they are going to do an MRI of his stomach because they saw lesions on his stomach. So right now we don't know what's going to happen, if they can treat it, or what all of the spots are. It's all just up in the air and I'm stressed out. Because of the Coronavirus they aren't allowing visitors so I can't even go see him. 

So I wanted to let you all know that's what's going on. I'll still be around but I might be a little late in getting around to everyone's blog for a while.

Update: I talked to Ken this morning and they said he has lung cancer that traveled to his brain. They are going to run more tests before they talk treatment.

Update: They're still doing testing on Ken to see what all is wrong with him. But my daughter came home last night.

Review: Badger to the Bone by Shelley Laurenston

Book Description

She’s the woman he’s been hired to kidnap. But ZeZé Vargas has other ideas . . . like getting them both out of this nightmare alive. Just one problem. She’s crazy. Certifiably. Because while he’s plotting their escape, the petite Asian beauty is plotting something much more deadly . . .

Max “Kill It Again” MacKilligan has no idea what one of her own is doing with all these criminal humans until she realizes that Zé has no idea who or what he is. Or exactly how much power he truly has.

But Max is more than happy to bring this handsome jaguar shifter into her world and show him everything he’s been missing out on. A move that might be the dumbest thing she’s ever done once she realizes how far her enemies will go to wipe her out. Too bad for them Zé is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her alive . . . and honey badgers are just so damn hard to kill!

My Review

Max is crazy and a honey badger shifter who is trained to kill. She's just about as lethal as you can get. So when she finds herself kidnapped, it's not really a problem for her to escape but she wants answers first. 

Ze is one of Max's captors but when Max starts calling him a cat shifter, he just thinks she certifiable. Max is something different though and he's not sure just what kind of crazy she is.

Max saves Ze and brings him back to her home where her sisters and other shifters live. Then she tries to make Ze understand that he too is a shifter but it took a little time for him to finally believe her. Max says things that just made me laugh out loud, she can be so funny. But she's also lethal and doesn't seem to feel bad about hurting or killing someone. Most shifters don't seem to like humans and they tend not to mingle with other animal shifters. Each group of animal seems to keep to their own group. 

Of course there are government agencies that want to use the shifters for their own resources and one of Max's sisters have told one such group to keep away from her and her sisters. So when a group comes and wants Max and her friends to work for them, her sister, Charlie is not happy about it and lets them know it. All I can say is, don't piss off Charlie. Seriously, don't piss her off. 

Then there's one of Max's cousins who tends to come after her and wants her dead, just because. These sister's seriously have some messed up family. Max and her sister have family that hate them, Ze has family that lied to him and the government agencies just keep coming back to get them to work for them. 

This book had so much butt kicking action, but it also made me laugh out loud so many times. It was a lot of fun to see what would unfold next, what new character would pop up with some kind of emergency or who would come around sniffing for Charlie's baked goods. This was such a fun book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Review: Bears Behaving badly by Maryjanice Davidson

Book Description

These social worker bear shifters give the term "mama bear" a whole new meaning! Bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson is back with this brand-new paranormal romance series featuring a foster care system for at-risk shifter babies and teens.

Werebear shifter Annette Garsea is a caseworker for the Interspecies Placement Agency. When a selectively mute and freakishly strong teen werewolf is put in her custody, Annette has to uncover the young girl's secrets if she's to have any hopes of helping her. And not even the growling of a scruffy private investigator can distract her from her mission...

Bear shifter David Auberon appreciates Annette's work with at-risk teen shifters, but he's not sure if her latest charge is so much a vulnerable teen as a predator who should be locked up. All that changes when he, Annette, and her motley band of juveniles find themselves dodging multiple murder attempts and uncovering a trafficking cartel that doesn't just threaten the kids, but risks discovery of the shifters by the wider world of homo sapiens.

My Review

Annette works at a shifter placement agency and helps shifter kids when they get in trouble or need a home. She's been lusting after David who works in her office but they've never dated. 

David works in the same building as Annette and has feelings for Annette so when they work on the same case and it seems that someone is after them for some reason, they get closer and get to know one another. 

When teenager, Caro mauls a guy and ends up in custody but won't speak, it's up to Annette and David to find out what's going on. Once Annette and David start their investigation and find out that Caro was tortured and abused and that's why she went after the guy, they find themselves in danger more than once. 

They find themselves in the middle of a bunch of bad guys, child abuse, and maybe officials who are in on all of it. 

The romance between David and Annette was a slow burn throughout the book but they are so cute together because neither of them knows the other likes them. It was fun watching them get to know one another and see who makes the first move. 

The secondary characters and the kids in this story really had big parts and made the story what it was. While a lot seems to happen in this book and there's a lot of dialogue, it's quite drawn out and a little boring at times but it was a good story. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of 'Me' Mary Kirkland*

Apartment Life #196

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.

There were 6 police cars across the street for some reason. I don't know why they were there but it was a big show of force for something. 

----

The grass and weeds have started growing and while no one will be picking the weeds out, my dog happens to love it. He likes sticking his nose down in the grass and weeds and sniff it. 

So on a happier note, here's a few pictures of my dog enjoying the wild weeds and grass on his walk. 

-----

On Thursday I took the dog for a walk and as I'm coming around the corner there's 2 guys sitting in the bushes. One says, "Hi, how are you doing today?"

So I said, "Good, how are you?"

This guy holds up a meth pipe and says, "I'm doing better now."

Are you kidding me. They did not give two shits that they were sitting out in the open smoking meth. Just as happy as could be sitting there. Unbelievable. That's definitely a first for me.

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

Review: Pivot by Kat Martin, Alexandra Ivy, Rebecca Zanetti

Book Description

As girls, they bonded over broken homes and growing up in foster care.

As women, they’re fighting for their lives, and loves, once more . . .

MERI

When Meriwether Jones takes her young daughter and runs from trouble in L.A., that trouble follows. By the time Meri reaches Spokane, she’s out of gas, money, and ideas. Luckily, ex-cop Ian Brodie hires her to help him with his father’s farmhouse, and they seem like the answer to each other’s prayers. But Meri is keeping a dangerous secret—and Ian is in danger of losing his heart . . .

MELANIE

That secret explodes when Melanie Cassidy spots two men trying to kidnap a young boy she tutors and responds by ramming them with her car. The last thing she expects is for the man she once loved, Detective Gray Hawkins, to appear and rescue them both. Now she has no choice but to trust him as they investigate the truth about a conspiracy of dirty, drug trafficking cops—and the truth about their relationship . . .

MICHELLE

After a rough youth, Michelle Peach was finally content in Portland—until two men broke into her home, threatened her, and sent her mentally unstable mom on a blackmail spree that Michelle has to stop. The last person Michelle wants to see is her ex, Evan Boldon, a former marine turned sheriff. But Evan misses the woman who walked away instead of letting him help years ago. This time he’s not asking permission; he’s going to put a stop to the trouble stalking Michelle and her friends—and win her heart for good.

My Review

Against The Heart by Kat Martin

Meriwether tries hard to keep her jerk of an ex, Joey away from her and her daughter. While on the run she gets help from Ian who is an ex-cop. He knows something is going on with her but doesn't want to push her away so doesn't push her too much too fast but he's quickly becoming attached to her and her sweet daughter. Ian's father is a sweet old man who was lonely after his wife died five years earlier and he'd let the house go to hell. Ian hired Meri to cook, clean and keep the house his father lived in working. It was nice to see the way Ian's father changed once he got used to Meri and her daughter being in the house. But when Joey goes to one of her friends and smacks her around until she gives up Meri's phone number, things get dangerous. 

Shaken by Rebecca Zanetti

Michelle is a friend of Meri's from the first story which I really liked having this tie-in to make these stories connect in some way. Meri's ex, who is an absolute jerk assaults Michelle to find out where Meri is. Later Michelle's mother comes to her and tells her she needs a lot of money but Michelle only had a couple of thousand she can give her drug addict mother. Joey and one of his goons took her tablet when he left and hew newest comic was on it. She needed the tablet back because there were other things on her tablet as well. Evan came to make sure she was ok after the run in with Joey. Her and Evan had been a thing until he joined the Marines, then they broke up. But now he was back and he wanted her but she wasn't sure she could trust her heart with him again. With the help of Evan's friend, Wolfe they go after her tablet, try to save her mother and keep from getting killed from the drug dealers chasing them.

Echoes of the Past by Alexandra Ivy

Gray helped take down Joey and Ski when they had tried to kidnap Meri's daughter, Lily from the first story. Ski now wanted to make a deal to testify against a couple of dirty cops who were selling drugs for the local drug cartel and Gray was there to make sure things went smoothly so when Ski starts getting threatening letters not to talk or his kid will be dead, Gray has to help him. Donny had escaped a kidnapping attempt and ended up at the youth center where Melanie was his tutor. Melanie saves him from being kidnapped again and then Gray comes upon the scene. Gray asks Ian from the first story to take Donny until the danger blows over. Melanie stayed with him to identify the guys who tried to take the boy. 

All three stories tie in with each other since so many of the characters are friends. I liked how each story was it's own but it also included bits of the others. I really liked these stories and how the entire thing concluded. There was enough action, danger and romance to keep me reading. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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