Review: Crimson Death by Laurell K. Hamilton

I have finally gotten to the last book so far in this series and I am excited. I wasn't exactly happy with my library because they didn't have a physical copy, only audiobooks and ebooks. I read the ebook and it was weird.

(Source: Crimson Death Goodreads Page)

I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars. My reasoning is that I really enjoyed the story actions. What I didn't like is that it's summarized all about Ireland, when in truth, the characters don't really go to Ireland until the second half of the book.

The first half is just Anita and every one else still whining about relationships and finding out which tiger they want to marry for their commitment ceremony. Edward is in Ireland because Ireland's vampires have been let loose in Dublin. There are a lot of reasons thrown around for that and we get to see a lot more of Damian because his master is in Ireland. They call he She-Who-Made-Him, and the author references Harry Potter. Damian is having nightmares and vampires aren't supposed to dream and sleep. He is not dying. Asher comes back and begs Anita, Damian and Nathaniel not to go to Ireland and basically apologizes to everyone because he is no longer happy in a monogamous relationship with Kane.

The 2nd half of the book is basically the conversation going back an forth on if you find the vampire, don't kill them. They meet the Fey, fairies. We lose another beloved tiger, who we find out some major things. Anita of course gets kidnapped and gets dressed in lingerie. Nathaniel loses his long unrealistic braid.

The one thing I love, is that the author toned down the repeat sex. There is only one sex scene and it was enough for the story. What I didn't love was the amount of grammatical errors, but the author apparently has a reason for all her mistakes and that is her dog's death.

I am ready to see what the next book is about, but I need a long break from this series.

Freebie Haul 11/21- 11/26

I love getting freebies and I love sharing them, but I have not been signing up for many freebies lately. I don't know why, but I am wanting to pick up the pace again and get more. It was another magazine heavy week and I finally got another mission from BzzAgent. I haven't gotten anything from them since June. I am excited for this new mission too.

Monday: Magazine Day!!

December 2016 issue of Men's Health

December 2016/ January 2017 issue of Seventeen

November 29, 2016 issue of Forbes

Tuesday: This was the only thing in my mailbox and it did not improve my mood any this day.

December 1, 2016 issue of Rolling Stone

Wednesday: I have been waiting for this tee shirt for a while now. I am happy that it's finally here

Thit t-shirt

Thursday: NO MAIL!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Friday: another magazine day

December 5, 2016 issue of Us Weekly

December 2016 issue of allure magazine

Saturday: My favorite freebie day this week.

cell phone camera lens' 

Grizzly metal can tops

Secret Outlast crowdkit from CrowdTap

Herbal Essence bio renew shampoo and conditioner from BzzAgent

School Week 15 Photo Diary

I wanted to get this post up on Wednesday after our school day, but I was exhausted. I tried to fit so much into this three day school week, that after the day was done, I just slumped. I was excited for a four day weekend. We have 17 more days to go before we take put Christmas week off. It starts on my birthday and then we will start back the day after Christmas.

Monday: We started the morning with our morning routine. After, we worked on Easy Peasy. We are so many days behind on that and They each got through two days worth of lessons each. OK but not what I was expecting. Ariana did hers first while Samantha read and then they switched.

After Easy Peasy lessons and reading on their own, they watched Sid the Science Kid. After every episode, they come running to me and excitedly tell me what they learned and are always asking more questions about it. To end the day, we read 3 chapters of Ralph S. Mouse.

Tuesday: Today was a big crap day. Cayce had to get up in the middle of the nigh and head to work. I got up and stayed up. That was a mistake because I didn't get out of bed till around 11. The girls were playing quietly in their room and had already ate their breakfast that I had out on the table and got dressed and cleaned their rooms and got Addy to the bathroom. I made all of us a quick snack and we started school.

They wanted to finish watching a movie we were watching last night, so we did that after they got done with their notebooks and doing the calendar. They finished watched Curious George. Before watching this movie, they never got into the books or the show but they enjoyed the movie. After finishing the movie, we watched 3 episodes of Super Why. They love that show. They usually watch it in the morning on the weekends with Adalyn. After they did their reading time together and then we finished reading Ralph S. Mouse.

Wednesday: We started at our normal time and got our morning work done. We then watched Ralph S. Mouse on YouTube and I don't think they enjoy it as much as the first two movies. They did reading time and read to each other. I had printed some Thanksgiving pages for them and they went and did those.

We then watched a video on YouTube about the real story of Thanksgiving and then we ended the day with reading Thanksgiving books from the library.

I wanted to do Easy Peasy all this week, but I am going to make it my mission to do 2-3 Easy Peasy lessons for each of them until our Christmas break.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope all of you had an amazing day, stuffing yourselves with turkey and all the yummies. I know I took an awesome nap from my turkey coma. All of my readers be safe tomorrow if you are going out shopping. Don't run over anybody. Don't fight! Be happy and have fun with the store deals.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Review: The Tea Planter's Wife

About the book: #1 International bestselling novel set in 1920s Ceylon, about a young Englishwoman who marries a charming tea plantation owner and widower, only to discover he's keeping terrible secrets about his past, including what happened to his first wife, that lead to devastating consequences

My Thoughts: I fell in love with this story from the very beginning. I love the scenery descriptions and how the author describes the smells. The relationship with Gwen and Laurence was very bizarre and annoying to me. She is 19 when she marries an older man and she has that teenage naivety that is very aggrevating to me. The sister throughout this whole novel, I just wanted to shove off a cliff because I have one of those annoying sister in laws who expects everyone to take care of her and her child. My heart broke when after Gwen gave birth she had to do the thing to stay married.

I learned from this novel that tea and racism is universal. Racism will never go away because it is ingrained in us. It also shows me that the mothers who gave away children to save face and keep their husbands happy and to save their reputation were cowards.

I can't wait to read more from this author.

About the author: Dinah Jefferies was born in Malaysia and moved to England at the age of nine. Her idyllic childhood always held a special place in her imagination, and when she began writing novels in her 60s, she was able to return there – first in her fiction and then on annual research trips for each new novel.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Freebie Haul 11/14- 11/19

A fun little freebie week. I got bombarded with more magazines, two more books, and beauty items. I don't have much to say because I have been crazy busy all morning and wanted to sit down and get this wrote and posted in time.

Monday: I got my third book from Blogging For Books

The Tea Planter's Wife

Tuesday: Magazine day!

December 2016 issue of Marie Claire

December 2016/January 2017 issue of Redbook

December 2016 issue of Elle magazine

Wednesday: I got another book today that I can't wait to read.

Goodreads Giveaway Win: The Radius of Us

Thursday: A single lonely magazine and it's so pretty.

December 2016 issue of Better Homes and Gardens

Friday: These were the only things in my mailbox... YAY!!! NO BILLS!

November 28, 2016 issue of ESPN magazine

BioEffect EGF Serum

Saturday: Got some smell goodies that Cayce saw and signed up for all on his own. and I love two of the three scents. The Istanbul scent is not a favorite for me... too spicy! The London is my favorite.

Fictions Anthology Eau De Parfum: London, Sydney, and Istanbul

November 28, 2016 issue of Us Weekly

Not really expecting much for next week because of Thanksgiving. 

School Week 14 Photo Diary

This has been a long and exhausting week. Home life was a pain in the butt, but we had a great week and got a lot done. We are ready for our three day week next week. Monday started off late and I didn't take any pictures. I took few pictures this week, that's how hectic and frazzled we all were, that other things got in the way.

Monday: Not a great start to the week. Started an hour and 15 minutes after I usually start school. They did their morning work and then I had them watch Sid the Science Kid. They started new spelling words and we started reading another Bailey School Kids book. We also listened to more of The Mouse and The Motorcycle on audio book.

Tuesday: We started on time this morning. Morning work and their reading time was done first to go ahead and get it out of the way.

We finished the audio book. Then I found the movie on YouTube and they watched it. It was a cute little movie and they loved it.

They drew their favorite scenes from the book and the movie.

After we finished reading Leprechauns Don't Play Basketball and then we started our science lesson on learning about how predictions are important and what they are.

Wednesday: We started school 5 minutes early because I was ready to get the day over with, because this is the day in the week where all of us started getting irritated and fed up with everything. After their morning work, we watched 4 episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy and then they watched Sid the Science Kid.

After watching Sid the Science Kid, Sammy worked in her adult coloring book while Ariana did Reading Eggs.

After an hour, they switched. Ariana  read some books and Samantha worked on Reading Eggs Mathseeds.

Thursday: Today was World Prematurity Day. Since Cayce and Addy were both born premature, we take this day very seriously in our household. Because without Cayce, I would not be doing this right now, and without Addy I would be truly LOST!

They started the morning with chores and notebooks. They got their reading time done and out of the way. They had more spelling work to get done. They had to do ABC order worksheets.

To end the day, we watched a YouTube video on Mayan art and architecture. That took the rest of the day and the girls were really enjoying it.

Friday: I was sick starting the day and I was so ready to get this day over with. We read library books and they had reading time after. While they were reading on their own, I had to lay down and let them read to me.

After, they had spelling review for 20 minutes, then they had their test. They both did well. Sammy made a 100 and Ariana got a 95 because she had to re-do one word that she had wrote twice and she wrote one letter wrong. She was upset over it.

After the spelling test, we started reading the last book in the Ralph S. Mouse series. We read about 3 chapters and then they both ended the day and their Ancient Mayan unit with coloring pages.

Next week, Monday and Tuesday we will be doing a lot of Easy Peasy computer work and then on Wednesday we will be doing mostly Thanksgiving work.

Repeat: Baked Ziti

I am repeating a recipe I haven't made in a few years. I have been making variations of this the past 3 years, but decided to re-share and probably be motivated to make this variation again soon.

Ingredients:

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 gloves garlic, sliced

1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes

1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce ( I used manwich sloppy joe sauce)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 can (14.5) ounces basil and oregano diced tomatoes, drained

½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Ziti and Cheese:
1 box (16 ounces) ziti

1 bag (8 ounces) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

½ cup grated Parmesan or cheddar cheese.

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375F. Coat a 13 X 9 X 2 inch dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2.SAUCE: Heat oil in a 3- quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. Stir in whole tomatoes and their juice, breaking tomatoes apart with hands or wooden spoon. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, salt, and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

3. Remove pan from heat. Stir in diced tomatoes and basil.

4. ZITI AND CHEESE: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling. Add ziti, boil, drain after 10 minutes, stirring. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add half of the sauce to bowl with ziti. Stir to coat. Pour ziti mixture into prepared dish. Top with remaining sauce and then sprinkle with the cheese. 

5. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

Review: Dead Ice by Laurell K. Hamilton

Almost done with this series and I am happy. This is book 24. I have mixed feelings about this one. I liked it because it kept me interested. Anita was back to her roots, doing zombie work. But, this story had so many plot lines. I also got irritated that when it was at a really good scene, the author ruined it by deviating and going on tangents by describing clothes and hair lengths in great detail and then getting back to the point.

The start of the book, Anita is called in by the police because someone is putting out zombie porn videos and the zombies look life like. That's the first 5% of the book. A good chunk of this book, is all about her relationships and marriage and her being a pain in the ass. Showing her ass and having sex once or twice. Anita is no longer a realistic character for me. The author is wanting to put all these ideas in, but has forgotten to make her realistic. Anita going on two hours of sleep and only eating a protein bar or two and then working out in the gym, having rough sex, police work. Over and over, we know that Anita is not "human" because the author stresses it about 500 times in every book. The lycanthropes are more normal than she is.

I am just about sick of Asher and wished that Anita would just end him already. I want her to stand up to Jean-Claude and give him an ultimatum about Asher. Get rid of him, punish him or I will and you will not be happy. She claims to be a bad ass but she is powerless against Jean-Claude.

I also want to know why so many of the good characters from the beginning of the series are no longer being written. Like Dolph or the were-leopard Cherry. We don't hear zilch about Anita's munin or about Raina. There was a brief mention of it in this one and realized they were just gone out of the equation.

Laurell K. Hamilton is adding so many characters that it is getting out of control, and I would just like to have one book where we have some more of the leopard pard other than just Micah and Nathaniel. I want to know something new about the were wolf pack. I want to know what happened to Rafael at the end of this book because all we know is that he was still in the hospital recovering and that's it. We have no idea who was trying to take him out, it was just left there like so many open plot holes this series has and has never been closed.

Freebie Haul 11/7- 11/12

It was a good short freebie week for me. Two days, the mail didn't run to observe holidays. I would have loved having mail on Tuesday to break my anxiety over the election results. I love everything I got this week.

Monday: UPS made me angry because I didn't get my package until 7PM, and its ridiculous.

December 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan

Blogging for Books: The Fir Tree

Tuesday: NO Mail.

Wednesday: I had another delivery from UPS that took until 7Pm to reach me. I got some more goodies to send to my pregnant friend.

28 Remedy Balancing Day Moisturizer from 0.8 Liter

Goodreads Giveaway win: The Fifth Petal

Gray cashmere scarf from Virginia Slims

Ella's Kitchen printouts for babies

redplum coupons

Fall 2016 sample source box

ProNourish Vanilla nutrition drink

Thursday: small freebie day. more stickers for Shamika and soon to be baby boy

Miss Maple's Seeds from Dolly Parton Imagination Library

Enfamil months stickers

Friday: No Mail. Happy Veteran's Day

Saturday: magazine day

December 2016 Taste of Home issue

November 21, 2016 issue of Us Weekly

December 15, 2016 issue of Wine Spectator

It was a great freebie week and I am ready for this coming week.