This month was a busy one. Things kicked off at work (i.e. finished my main training and started supporting customers), a bunch of family events, a work trip, and more teeth work. I don’t think I had a single week where I didn’t have something going on. So, this post is probably going to be a bit long as I look back at everything that happened in the last month.
As I’ve been talking about the last few months since May, I’ve been in training for my new job (which I’m absolutely enjoying so far… I know, who says that but it’s true). But the beginning of this month saw the end to that. I finished up the last miscellaneous pieces of training that I had left and started supporting customers. Up until that point, I hadn’t really felt like I was working. It was like I was in college all over again, but I’ve graduated (so to speak). It feels nice to be in the groove of troubleshooting and responding to customers. I know I still need to get more comfortable in some aspects of it, but I think I’m starting on a good foot.
My family has been doing as many events as possible this month to “squeeze in the last of summer” as my mom puts it. Not that summer is any different for us. We don’t have kids that go back to school or anything, so every week is literally the same in theory. But it is nice to do a bunch of things together. We went to a food truck festival (which was absolutely delicious), Canterbury Park for wiener dog and horse racing, and a Twins baseball game (which we royally lost 0-7). I also went to Valleyfair with work, which was fun. I was nervous (thanks to social anxiety) about the company picnic/day at Valleyfair as I’m still new, so I don’t know a lot of people that well and my family couldn’t join me. But I ended up chilling with some people from my new hire orientation group and had a blast.
Then to round out the month, I went on a business trip to our corporate office which is located in the Boston, MA area. It was the first time I’d ever been to the East Coast, and the first time I’d flown since college (so like eight or nine years). It was an experience. I had no idea how to pack/plan for it as it was a business trip, so it wasn’t like I had free reign over what was going on. But now that I have one trip under my belt, I have another trip (literally going to the same place) happening in a few weeks. Granted, the second trip is for a different reason. For a person who has flown in forever, I’m going from never leaving home to I’m going on an adventure. Now that I’m more freed up with this company compared to my last, I’m so planning vacations for myself. Especially since I’m going to be racking up miles.
On a total side note, I’ve been working on fixing my teeth. It’s something that has needed to be done for years. Almost every single tooth needed work done, and now I’m almost done with the top teeth. The bottom teeth are likely next year’s project since the top is concluding in November. I’m going to be glad when it’s all done, and the dentist no longer looks at me like “oh honey.” At least my current dentist doesn’t yell at me, they are very much “let’s get this fixed and we’ll be Gucci.” But I know they are silently shaking their head. But hey, I felt like I could never take time off for doctor or dentist appointments in the past, so I never went. Now I’m playing catch up and repair. I know they never said I couldn’t, but I always felt guilty if I requested any time off while everyone else around me didn’t. They constantly asked me to reschedule for other people even when I requested first. So, yeah… it’s been fun times over here.
Body Paints of the Month
Twitch
Games I played this month:
Books I Managed to Read this Month
If they have a ♥ next to them, they are available on Kindle Unlimited. If I did a review, I’ll link it outside I decided to include quick reviews of books or series. If it’s a series, the mini-review is at the end of all the books. Mostly it’s just a quick blurb about what the book/series was about.
- Haunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse Duet, Book 1) by H.D. Carlton – 2.75 stars ♥
- Hunting Adeline (Cat and Mouse Duet, Book 2) by H.D. Carlton – 2.75 stars ♥
- See my review for my thoughts regarding this series.
- Twisted Game (Filthy Wicked Psychos, Book 1) by Eva Ashwood – 3.5 stars ♥
- This book is set in the same world as Black Rose Kisses and Dirty Broken Savages. We were introduced to the brothers during the latter’s series, where they were instructed to take out a man named Nikolai, who turned out to be responsible for their mother’s death. During this job, they encounter Willow. From there, their lives become entwined as the brothers try to cover their tracks in the murder, work for their mysterious benefactor (who starts to have eyes for Willow), and expand their business. It is a reverse harem series, so she gets involved (eventually) with all the brothers. I wasn’t sure how this was going to play out as there didn’t seem to be a lot of conflicts other than the initial incident, but once Willow is forced to move in with the brothers, things take a turn. I’m curious where the rest of the series is going to go.
- Hell House (A Kildale Academy Novel, Book 1) by Dakota Wilde – 3.75 stars ♥
- Frat house possessed by the seven deadly sins in a Zodiac Academy meets Kingdom of the Wicked book. There are multiple POVs and why choose romances, though there are kind of two main couples between the two girls and the guys. Salem and Skye are forced to move in with the demon-possessed frat boys after their dorm room is mysteriously burned down, and Salem discovers she might be able to do some magic or at least sense danger immediately before it happens. There were some editing errors which were enough to take me out of the book, but overall I seriously liked it. I’m curious where this book series will go as it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I also wish some of the guys were featured more, as we saw next to nothing of Garrison.
- Lords of Pain (Royals of Forsyth University, Book 1) by Angel Lawson and Samantha Rue – 3.5 stars ♥
- Lords of Wrath (Royals of Forsyth University, Book 2) by Angel Lawson and Samantha Rue – 3.5 stars ♥
- Lords of Mercy (Royals of Forsyth University, Book 3) by Angel Lawson and Samantha Rue – 3.5 stars ♥
- The first three books in the series follow Killian, Rath/Dimitri, Tristian (The Lords, aka head of their fraternity), and Story. She’s looking for protection against a crazed stalker, after having been on her own for three years. She left following her step-father molesting her and her step-brother and his friends assaulting her one night after they called out the fact she had a “Sugar Baby” (like OnlyFans in a way) account. They agreed to have her be their Lady, a contracted position (whore) that lets them do whatever they want to her for the remainder of the school year (where she sleeps, what she wears, who she talks to, when she can have sex/masturbate, etc.). Only they decide to play a game on who gets to take her virginity with a points system. This leads to a lot of problems over the course of their relationship, not to mention that Story’s stalker doesn’t take things regarding her lightly, and her stepfather has plans of his own. It’s fairly dark (bullying, assault, stalking, etc.), not to mention there’s a bit of not quite incest as Killian and Story are siblings through marriage. Granted, they didn’t grow up together and only lived under the same roof for a few months before she ran away. But they call each other ‘big brother’ and ‘little sister’ a lot, even during sex. So, you know, there are those vibes there. And it is a reverse harem as the guys end up sharing Story, each with their own kinks involved. I won’t spoil their segment of the series, but it ends with a long epilogue (like the last 100 pages), so you get an in-depth look into their future.
- The Fae King’s Curse (Between Dawn and Dusk, Book 1) by Jamie Schlosser – 3.25 stars ♥
- The Fae King’s Dream (Between Dawn and Dusk, Book 2) by Jamie Schlosser – 3.25 stars ♥
- The Fae King’s Prize (Between Dawn and Dusk, Book 3) by Jamie Schlosser – 3.25 stars ♥
- The Fae Warrior’s Princess (Between Dawn and Dusk, Book 4) by Jamie Schlosser – 3.25 stars ♥
- The first-born children of the Fae kingdoms are cursed to be blind until they can find their fated mate. If they so much as kiss the wrong individual, their fate is sealed and they will be blind forever. But if they can find their mate based on a clue they were given, and can consummate the bond, then they are free of the witches’ curse. But those same clues also tell the witches who cursed them who to look out for. It’s a race on both sides to find and either protect or destroy the mate before the bond can be completed. And then there’s the last book, which follows the relationship of the daughter of one of the couples and her father’s best friend.
- A Duel with the Vampire Lord (Married to Magic, Book 3) by Elise Kova – 3.75 stars ♥
- See my review for my thoughts on this book.
- The Deal (Off-Campus, Book 1) by Elle Kennedy – 3.5 stars
- I’m not usually a sports or college romance reader. But The Deal was free on Kindle (not just Kindle Unlimited free), so I decided to give it a shot, especially because Angelika Oles had mentioned this series and how much she enjoyed it. It was a quick read that I enjoyed. Would I go so far as to claim it’s the best thing I’ve ever read? No. But I enjoyed it and will most likely read the rest of the Off-Campus series because it will focus on each of the four guys who live together on the hockey team. I felt the timing of my reading this novel was extremely amusing because it takes place in Massachusetts and I had just returned from my first trip to Boston. Anyway, it’s a fun read with a fake dating trope that has the two falling for each other to the point that. After a temporary breakup, he informs the entire university that there’s a hands-off policy with her, so she can’t see anyone else and has to talk to him about what actually caused her to break up with him. The plot wasn’t really complex, and it was quite predictable. But, after a week of traveling, it was the ideal book to unwind with for a few hours.
- Flor’s Fiasco (Icehome, Book 17) by Ruby Dixon – 3.25 stars ♥
- Read my thoughts on the series for my general opinions. It was a cute, quick read and incorporated the illegal clones from the Corsairs series. I’m curious to see how that’s going to pan out in the future as the females outnumber the males, and there are still natives apparently under the fruit cave. So, I’m interested in how that plays out as this series spins off into Ice Planet Clones, or whatever Ruby Dixon is going to call this next chapter of the planet.
- Dukes of Ruin (Royals of Forsyth University, Book 4) by Angel Lawson and Samantha Rue – 3.5 stars ♥
- Dukes of Madness (Royals of Forsyth University, Book 5) by Angel Lawson and Samantha Rue – 3.5 stars ♥
- I debated not reading the rest of this series as I had enough SA-related content for the month. But somehow I ended up back on this boat. This section follows the Dukes and Lavinia, a girl who was held captive by the King of the Lords in the previous section. Consent is questionable constantly in the first book, but compared to seeing how the others were, it somehow didn’t seem as bad. Maybe it was the way it was framed, but unlike the first three, the Dukes at least make serious progress in personal growth in the second book. That didn’t happen until the third of the Lords, and Story had to knock all of them down to do that. Lavinia only had to do that with one. Granted, there’s a lot of other messed-up stuff that happens in these books (suicide, neglect (like her father locks her in a small chest if she does something he doesn’t approve of), manipulation of someone with a mental illness, murder, etc.). While the Lords had to deal with a stalker issue, the Dukes had a double-homicide (almost triple as Remy was almost killed that night too) investigation to figure out. I’m curious how the Dukes’ tale is going to wrap up in the last book when that comes out.
My Rating System
Check out this post to see how my rating scale works, but the quick version is:
- 5 stars = Masterpiece. Nothing can literally be better than this. Not to mention, a major book slump happens afterward where I am unable to pick up another book for quite some time.
- 4 stars = One of the best books I’ve ever read, I couldn’t put it down and found little fault in it.
- 3 stars = A good book but there were some flaws, from editing to plot to you name it.
- 2 stars = Liked the book, but wouldn’t say it was something that was memorable.
- 1 star = Book wasn’t for me.
I almost never give a 5-star rating. Some books have come close, but something always held me back from giving it to those books. I also use .25 increments with the ratings, so there’s a range in each of those levels.
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
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