I have another one that I simply couldn’t put down! I swear, my co-worker recommends the best books for me, especially ones that keep me on the edge of my seat! This is a mix of an affair, revenge, mystery, murder, and a few spicy scenes all in one!
This book had me completely zoned in that I just didn’t want to put it down at all! I’m going to try my best not to spoil it, but the ending was not what I expected to make it all worth it, and it does end on a cliffhanger, so if the author wanted to make another one, I’m hoping she does!
So, the story begins with Veronica, who finds out her husband, Richard, has been having an affair with his 19-year-old receptionist, Olivia. Richard then wants Veronica to sleep with someone else, whom he picks out, to forget that the affair had ever happened. Pretty much, he wanted to square it out so they are “even”.
Which is crazy to me that he would even offer that to her. I have been cheated on before in past relationships, and as soon as it happened, I left. Once the trust is broken, it’s very difficult to regain it without a lot of effort. Like, he wanted her to sleep with someone else once, but he was having an affair for months, that really doesn’t cancel it out in my mind.
Richard is also a politician and is running for office again, so I can see why he wanted to pick someone for her to have an affair with that would make sure it didn’t get spread to the media to ruin his chances. Any type of drama like that would definitely blow up their career in politics.
Oh, and get this, Veronica is 25, and Richard is in his 50’s. A huge age gap between the two. She married him when she was 20, by the way. I just wanted to throw that out there because it blew my mind! Nothing against couples that do have a huge age gap, it’s just creepy to think that with his age, he could be like her father.
Anyway, Richard sends Veronica to her favorite hotel to process the information and to think about the offer she was given, and tries to give it a shot. She meets this guy, whom Richard set up the date with, down at the hotel bar where she’s staying. While she’s waiting, she sees Ronan, and they both have a moment, but don’t officially meet, yet.
Ronan is pretty much a hitman, and ironically, is in the hotel bar because one of his clients had Richard’s name on his list to end and wanted to see how to handle him. Ends up seeing Veronica and wanted her as soon as he laid eyes on her. It’s one of those “touch her, and you’ll die” type of relationships.
Their relationship does seem rushed, but given each of their pasts and the chemistry they have together, they seem like a perfect fit, for sure. Although there are a few scenes that make Ronan seem like he’s stalking her, or watching from afar. However, there were several times when he came to her rescue. There are a few spicy scenes with them that are very enjoyable, in my opinion.
I don’t want to get too much into it and end up spoiling the best parts of the book. It is from the POV of both Veronica, Ronan, and Taylor. Trust me, I know what you are thinking, “Who is Taylor?” If you keep reading, you’ll find out closer to the end.
Overall, I loved the book! It is something I would definitely buy a hard copy and put on my shelf or reread on my Kindle in general. Yes, there are some spicy scenes, but it’s not overwhelming; it’s a well-blended mix. Personally, seeing what Veronica was going to do about Richard and about Ronan’s mystery background is what kept me glued in for sure.
If you do end up reading it, the ending is the best plot twist! I really held back because I don’t want to give it away for those who truly want to read it. Let me know if this is something you’d want to read or if you have already read it and are slowly waiting for the author to release a sequel, like I am!
It has been a rough beginning of the year for us in Maine. We have had to deal with snow longer than I wanted to deal with it. I don’t mind snow for two holidays, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. At the end of January, I’m over it and want Spring!
This past week, we finally started to see temperatures in the 50s and 60s, which to us Mainers is shorts and tank top weather. That’s also when our ice cream places open up, and a few of our favorite seasonal restaurants start to open up as well.
Anyway, once my oldest daughter knows those are opening up, she starts asking the big question: “When can we order the butterflies?”
For the past 4-5 years, every time during springtime, I have ordered a butterfly kit, and we watch as the caterpillars transform into butterflies, and then we release them once they are ready to fly away. My oldest gets so excited for them, and honestly, I do too!
We used to do this in elementary school, I can’t remember what grade, but it was amazing to watch them transform. It was one of the coolest things we got to do at school. I had bought a kit for my niece years ago, and she got to do it as well, so when I found on Amazon that you can buy the entire kit, I had to try it out!
Since I’ve done this for a few years, I can sort of consider myself a pro, but I do buy extra caterpillars since we had a year where only 3 out of the 10 I got survived. Plus, I always read the instructions, just in case they changed or added anything new.
The best part about doing these kits is that there isn’t much you have to do for them, which, for us moms, is a score! Don’t worry, I’m going to include previous photos of last year’s butterflies and how easy it is!
Please Note: I’m not sponsored to promote this kit. I wanted to share one of my kids’ and my favorite activities to do once the weather gets warmer!
What’s Included In The Kit:
If you are getting the kit I have left the link for, this is all that’s included:
–2 Cup of Caterpillars (Each of them will include 5 caterpillars)
–Butterfly Pop-up Tent
–2 Cover Stands
–1 Butterfly Feeder with Dispenser
–2 Sugar Packets (They aren’t for your coffee!)
–Manual and an Observation Journal
I honestly love the fact that there’s an Observation Journal included, especially if you have kids in school. It gives them something fun to be excited to fill out when they first wake up or when they get home from school.
Stage 1: Caterpillar Stage
I didn’t have a picture with them really small in the cups, but they pretty much chill in here until they start forming their chrysalis. In this stage, you just have to sit back and watch them grow! You don’t have to worry about feeding them, as the brown stuff on the bottom is their food.
Once they get big and fat enough, they will slowly start to go to the top of the cup and start forming their chrysalides. Don’t open the container until all of them have completely formed their chrysalides!
I usually give them about a day or two; it honestly depends on the caterpillars. I’ve had some that were quick to get up there, others that took their sweet time, and then others died while upside down, and I couldn’t do anything until the rest of them had formed.
Don’t be alarmed if something like that happens or if some of the caterpillars stop moving completely! It sometimes happens!
I think the one tip that helped me when it came to that was making sure you are ordering them when the temperatures are what the caterpillars need in order to survive. I think the one that we lost almost all, but 3 of them were when I jumped the gun and ordered them too soon, and it was too cold.
Since I live in Maine, I wait until the temperatures are above 50 degrees. Usually, the best time I will order them is when it’s 60 degrees. Check the temperature for the week in your area first, before you order!
Stage 2: Chrysalis Stage/Moving into the Butterfly Tent
Once all your butterflies are completely in their chrysalis, give them an extra day or two because you don’t want to move them when they are in the middle of forming that. If they fell off the top of the cover, that’s okay! I’ve had it happen at least once or twice.
Don’t pick them up with your fingers if they fell off the cover! The best way I’ve moved them was by taking the cup and putting it upside down on the bottom of the butterfly tent.
This is when those handy-dandy cup cover stands come into place! Carefully, remove the cover. It will be a pain to remove. I advise not to let the kids do this part because caterpillars WILL move when you slowly remove the cover, and you don’t want them to move a lot, but don’t be surprised or shocked if they do!
There will be netting, or webbing, that might make it a little bit of a challenge, too. Just be slow and steady as much as you can. Then, carefully stand the cover standing upright into the cover stand. I sometimes have to rotate my cover so that the caterpillars won’t get in the way when placing the cover on the stand.
Now, this is where the butterfly pop-up tent comes into play. Let the kids have it pop-up and ready while you get the caterpillars on the cover stands. Then, carefully place the stands inside the pop-up tent.
After they are inside, make sure to keep the tent away from the little ones and animals. You want to make sure they don’t have a lot of movement when they are transforming!
You might have impatient kiddos when waiting for them to finish transforming, but have them check the net every day to see any changes!
Stage 3: Transformation Stage/Feeding and Releasing
Now, the picture above is the one year we had all, but 1 that made it. The one on the very bottom that’s lying upside down, it was alive, but struggled to get out of the chrysalis. I tried my best to help him, but I wasn’t able to get his wings completely out of the chrysalis.
This is also the fun part of watching them transform! My oldest was so excited to see that once one came out, she would go to school and find another one or two had come out of their chrysalis, transformed!
If you have animals, especially cats, BEFORE the butterflies come out, I would make sure you have a place that is high enough to hang your butterfly tent. I know this from the experience of putting them on the top of my fridge, thinking the cats wouldn’t get to them, and they did. We now hang them from the ceiling on a hook where they can’t get to them.
Once you see that one has come out, I would get the sugar water ready and the feeder set up before more get in there, and then risk having one escape into the house. The mixture is pretty simple, just sugar and water. Then you take the dropped, fill it up with the sugar water, and squeeze it onto the yellow sponge that’s in the middle of the feeder.
Remember: Don’t oversoak the sponge, you want there to be enough to keep the sponge wet. You don’t want to fill it up to the top since the butterflies could get their wings wet again.
Let the kids do this step! My daughter always gets excited to do this step, but she refuses to put her hand inside the butterfly tent since she doesn’t want to let them go, or she’s afraid the one that is in there will touch her when she does!
Usually, it doesn’t take them long to come out of their chrysalis, but once they all do, I go in there to grab the stands, since they aren’t needed, and it gives the butterflies some extra room to dry their wings and practice flying.
I also give them a few days to dry their wings before releasing them. This is also the only time you would need to check on them, especially making sure they always have enough sugar water.
Then, once they are ready or when your kids are ready to set them free, you just bring them outside, open the top, and watch them go! Some might just be ready to book it outta there, but others will take their sweet time. I will take out the feeder before letting them go so that they don’t get their wings wet. (I usually put the butterfly net on its side to let them go if they are taking their time.)
The picture above is one of the first butterfly kits we did. I got lucky enough to get a really good picture of this one just chilling on our driveway! It was definitely bittersweet to watch them fly off, but I know my oldest loved watching them grow and transform!
Although I was really grateful towards the end of having butterflies, because once they started coming out, my cats went crazy for them! Especially, when they were flying around the butterfly tent, they were meowing and hoping one of them would come out to play!
They even get excited once we pop up the butterfly tent because they know it’s coming! I’m not sure how dogs will react to it. I don’t see them getting as crazy as cats would, but if anyone has done this kit with other animals, it would be awesome to know what their reactions are!
Overall, this was definitely worth getting, and I plan on getting another kit in the next week or so, once the temperatures are in my favor to do so!
If you aren’t a fan of butterflies, Insect Lore also has kits for both ladybugs and ants! I haven’t tried those ones yet, but the ladybugs one is something I definitely want to try out for sure!
Let me know in the comments if you want to try this kit out or have already done so!
You guys would be proud of how on a roll I’ve been with the book reviews, two weekends in a row! I’m definitely proud of myself with how much I’ve been reading lately, so let’s get onto this review!
So, I’ll be honest, I never heard about this book if it wasn’t for a Facebook reel showing me a clip of the movie, and when I looked it up, I saw that there was a book for it. I haven’t seen the movie yet, since I wanted to read the book first and see what the movie missed versus the book.
Apparently, this is also a series, so I’m not sure if the movie is all of the books combined or if it’s just this first book. I honestly am unsure if I will read the others in the series, but I haven’t made a sure deicison or not.
Anyway, the book is about a sophomore named Jaine Johnson, who happens to find herself looking at a younger version of herself on the back of the milk carton. She then goes down this rabbit hole to find out why her parents kidnapped her and to see where she truly is from, while also being a teen in high school.
Without trying to spoil it, there are a lot of secrets that she ends up uncovering and holes in her parents’ story when she confronts them about it that definitely made the book interesting. At the end of the first book, it leaves it on a cliffhanger when Jaine ends up meeting her biological parents, which makes you want to read the second one to find out.
I did have a hard time getting into it because of the fact that this is in third-person POV. I normally only like first-person POV, but it honestly depends on how the writer writes it. Some I have no problem with, and they do a really good job, but others not so much.
This one was kinda in the middle, in my opinion. I will say the twists and turns did help make it not too bad to read, but some of the other parts sort of dragged or just seemed to be repeated too much.
Like when Jaine talks to her boyfriend/friend, Reeve, about her finding all this information going on, I don’t blame him for being annoyed with it because that’s all she wants to talk about. I get it, it’s a lot of information to really process as a teen, but with how caring her parents are with her, I don’t understand why she didn’t bring all the information she had to them sooner.
The sooner they knew, the sooner she would get better answers and find out what their real daughter, Hannah, actually did when she had Jaine versus her thinking the people that has raised her just straight out took her away from her family.
I honestly don’t think her parents thought about the fact that once Jaine started to get older, she would need her important papers to get her license, apply for college, get a job, etc. I think they should’ve told her as soon as she was old enough to understand, because if I found out that my parents weren’t my biological ones, I would resent them for not telling me that information.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad read, but it’s not something I would reread again. Again, I’m not sure if I will want to continue the rest of the series; it didn’t pull me in as I had hoped. However, the whole mystery about Jaine finding her face on the milk carton and realizing her entire life is a lie that she’s uncovering is a very interesting concept to write about.
Let me know down in the comments if you have read this and what your thoughts are!
Sorry I am a few weekends overdue on a book review, but as I was going to finish one of the books on my list, Reno R. Mist came out with another book that tagged along with the one prior and I literally dropped anything I was reading to read this instead.
So, if you haven’t seen my review for the first book, One More Chance, I highly recommend it! I’m still going to give like a quick overview since the first one gives you a brief understanding of what it starts out.
Levi, is the man character of One More Chance, which he wakes up after 12 years of reliving his life when he chose his mistress over his wife. He gets a “rebirth” or “second chance” to get his wife back and to see if he can change some other stuff that happened when he did leave to be with his mistress, such as his son getting into drugs and his daughter being taken from a stranger online to never be seen from again.
Levi, Charlie, and Charlies adopted son, Rowan, all have been “rebirthed” and this is a little bit of a spoiler, but Violet, Levi’s daughter has been as well and she mentions it to her dad in One More Chance. The reason why I’m mentioning these characters, is because they tie into the Fated Rebirth.
Fated Rebirth is in the POV of both Violet, Levi’s daughter, and Rowan. Which I love it when it goes back and forth from different characters and their POV’s, especially if you do it right, which Reno for sure does!
Now, this one is about Violet, she is “rebirthed” from the previous life, which you find out she was taken by a stranger from an online game she used to play and met up with this stranger where he takes her, sells her to another man, Edward, and she pretty much is a sex slave until Edward kills her when she turns 32.
She starts getting this previous memories towards her beginning of college and that’s when she tells her dad and thanks him for being more protective with her. However, she doesn’t mention what happened in the previous life, which I don’t blame her for doing.
Then, you have Rowan, which is Charlie’s adopted son, and he also has been rebirthed, but you only get bits of pieces that he mentions. From what I have gathered, the veil between the living and the supernatural has been broken and seems like supernatural’s have taken over the human world. So, vampires, were wolfs or shifters, demons, etc.
Anyway, the story is based on Violet wanting to find Edward, the guy that enslaved her in the previous life, and wants to get revenge on him for what he did to her. The only place she knows she’d find him is this club, but tries to get her father to let her get the money from her trust, which Levi denies and that’s when they send Rowan to keep an eye on her while she’s away at college.
That’s when it starts to get interesting because Violet and Rowan grew up together since they were kids, but picked on each other. Rowan starts becoming overprotected with Violet, especially since she gets hired at the club that he knows is bad. The kind of team up to find Violet’s abuser.
There is some very spicy scenes between them two after you get past chapter 20, which the way this author does it, its a perfect amount spicy, just like she did with the One More Chance.
Overall, it got me sucked in like One More Chance. She also has another one out there that is called Captured Prey, which talks more about the Second Circle, which is mentioned in Fated Rebirth, but doesn’t go into detail. However, this book ended on a major cliff hanger so I’m hanging on the edge of my seats now waiting for the next one.
Although, this will give me time to read Capture Prey and see if I can get more answers about this Second Circle!
Let me know if you have read this book or what you thought about it! I have definitely added Reno R Mist onto my favorite authors list! I will keep you posted on Captured Prey here soon!
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