Tuesday, March 2, 2021

How To Overcome Insomia All By Yourself



 Practical advice and activities that you can use to heal the wounds of the past so you can enjoy a brighter future full of joy, healthy relationships, and restful sleep…


By Antoinetta Vogels

Title: HOW TO OVERCOME INSOMNIA ALL BY YOURSELF
Author: Antoinetta Vogels
Publisher: Balboa Press
Pages: 163
Genre: Self-Help

BOOK BLURB:

It’s time for bed. You’re tired, but you know you’ll be tossing and turning for hours to come. At dawn, you fall into a deep sleep, but it’s short-lived. Long before you’re ready, your alarm clock mercilessly informs you that it’s time to get up.

After decades of nights like this, Antoinetta Vogels unraveled the enigma of her sleeping problem and restored her ability to get a good night’s sleep.

In her newest book, How to Overcome Insomnia All by Yourself, Antoinetta reveals how to become a healthy sleeper through self-knowledge and her own self-healing method.

Taking examples from her own life and firsthand experience with this sleep disorder, Antoinetta explores the childhood circumstances that can lead to unhealthy motivation, approval-seeking behavior, and chronic insomnia in adulthood. She offers practical advice, tools, and techniques for healing the wounds of the past so you can enjoy a future full of joy, healthy relationships, and restful sleep.


"I was impressed by the author's story, and how she developed a method for examining deeper why sleep can elude us. For me, it was a deeper issue than I realized, that my insecurities were actually the culprit, not a monkey mind, per se. I liked that there were poems too and summaries at the end of each chapter. I bought an adorable journal to accompany my reading. I think with some practice I may just stop counting sheep and restore my body to do my best. This is worth the read. And I am now going through it again with my new journal."

-- Amazon Reviewer 




Excerpt from Chapter 1 

Insomnia wreaks havoc on your quality of life and it’s bad for your overall health, so it is no wonder that sleeping aids are a twenty-nine billion dollar market. People need to sleep. You want to get rid of this problem, but you don’t know how. No clear solution has yet been found and nothing you’ve tried so far has worked.

As an ex-insomniac, I have written this book to share with you how I managed to get rid of my chronic sleeping problems and hand you down the tools that helped me heal myself. It is my deepest wish they ensure that you will have fewer restless nights, and perhaps even free you from insomnia forevermore.

Let us first agree on how to look at insomnia.

If there is no medical explanation for your insomnia, please make the effort to understand the reason behind it. Doing so will allow you to make adjustments to your life so you can eliminate the issue. I’ve found that the best way to get started with that is to see insomnia as a type of self-sabotage. But note that I don’t use this term with the same negative implications that are commonly attributed to it. What I mean to say here is actually the opposite: What if insomnia is in fact serving an important natural purpose for you?

 



Amazon → https://amzn.to/3oN9WfC

Author’s Website → https://bit.ly/3oRUFKp













Antoinetta Vogels has a bachelor’s in French and a master’s in music. She worked in the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra as a bassoonist, has two grown daughters, and lives in Bellevue, WA, USA. In 2013, Antoinetta created the Sense of Self Method, a self-help program for people who want to get a good night’s sleep no matter what!

With her company, Healthy Sense Of Self, LLC, Antoinetta and her team provide education about what can be wrong in the way a person experiences their self and, consequently, others. Antoinetta has made it her life’s work to help people improve their quality of life by reversing issues related to a negative self-image. She wants everyone to have the ability to be their most authentic self – and have a good night’s sleep!



Website: http://www.healthysenseofself.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HealthySoS/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealthySenseOfSelf/






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Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Luke by JA Huss

Bossy Brothers: Luke
J.A. Huss
(Bossy Brothers, #7)
Publication date: January 5th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Two hot men seeking a fun, flirty girl with a sense of adventure. You in?

My life changed the day Zach Boston walked into it. And we’ve been inseparable best friends and lovers ever since. But he’s almost seven years younger than me and I remember all too well what my twenties were like – A new adventure every day, non-stop partying every night, and a new girl (or guy) whenever I got bored.

That’s why Zach and I always have a third.

Girls are how we’ve kept it fresh all year.

We’ve gone through dozens of them since we got serious and I’m not saying I don’t enjoy the dynamic of a threesome, because I do.

But when this cute girl with pink hair comes sailing into our lives and upends everything—I don’t know if we’ll survive it.

★★★★★
Bossy Brothers: Luke is the final book in the Bossy Brothers series and features a sweet and sexy MMF ménage with two hot, committed men and a pink-haired gossip reporter desperate for a scoop. But when she stumbles into more secrets than she can handle, her boys need to call on all the Boston and Dumas brothers to keep her safe.

Goodreads / Amazon

Grab BOOK ONE, Bossy Brothers Jesse, for FREE!
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

EXCERPT:

I’m studying the reef below me, trying my best to ignore what’s happening on the other side of the little waterfall lagoon with Luke, Zach, and Bart, but at the same time desperately trying to hear what they are all saying.

Bart is definitely coming on to Zach. And Luke is pissed.

Hell, I’m pissed. Zach is mine. He’s the only reason I’m here. I can deal with Luke. He could turn out to be a big, ol’ sexy bonus, even if he is kind of moody and distant.

But this Bart guy?

No. He was not part of my plan.

Suddenly Luke is below me in the water, his dark hair waving around his face, his finger pointing up.

I stop snorkeling and pull the mouthpiece out, then slide my mask up my face so I can see him better when he pops up in front of me. “What’s up?” I ask.

“We’re going to the party.” Luke nods his head in that direction. “Zach is already over there. With Bart.” He adds a little extra malice to the name Bart.

Luke’s eyes track over to the floating party platform where dozens of people are crowding. We both watch as Luke and Bart come to a stop in the shallows of the sandbar. Bart leaves his Seabob in the water and pushes Zach, making him stumble and laugh as they both wade their way towards the platform.

“Hmm,” I hum. Then I look at Luke. “Are we going to allow this?”

“We?”

“Hey, I wouldn’t be here if he didn’t want me here. And at least I’m on your side. Bart there, he’s just some random rich kid looking to get laid by the first shiny thing that catches his eye. Which would be Zach.”

Luke frowns at me. “You’re no different, Posie. Zach and I are partners. You’re his version of shiny. He’s with me.”

“He’s with Bart, Luke. And like I said, Zach wants me here. So looks like you need a little help in holding onto your man. I’m offering to be that help.”

Wow. I’m not really sure where that came from, but I like it. It’s gonna be a good quote for the article. One of those big ones in the middle of a wall of text. The kind with ginormous quotation marks framing it.

Anyway. Back to reality.

“But,” I continue, “I can just as easily stay on the yacht until we’re ready to go and you can handle things all by yourself, if that’s what you prefer.”

He glances over at Zach again. And Zach is laughing and smiling, like he’s completely unaware of the drama going on over here.

“I like him, Luke.”

Luke’s attention snaps back to me. “So? You’re no one, Posie. Just another girl we picked up in a club. Do you have any idea how many times we’ve done that? Dozens.”

“But I’m still here.”

“For today. Trust me, after we drop you off at home tonight, he’ll forget all about you and just start hunting down another girl.”

“To spice things up? Is he bored with you, Luke? Is this how you keep him?”

I’m pissing this guy off. It’s probably a bad idea. I’m hours away from the mainland, he’s like six-foot-three, almost twice my weight, and he’s my ride home. So it’s a very bad idea to pick this fight with him.

But he needs an ally. And I’m his only option. If I’m gonna position myself as a permanent fixture in Zach Boston’s life I need to jump the hurdle called Luke first.

And this stupid Bart guy is the perfect way to unite us so I can make that leap.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. Zach and I have a lot more between us than sex. Our families are connected. Our business is connected. There are bigger things on our minds than who we’re sleeping with. This is just Zach being Zach. It’s just a game. But trust me, when it comes time to go home, he leaves with me, Posie.” He pauses. Then points his finger at me. “And I’m on to you.”

I scoff. “Whatever.”

“I see you, Posie. I have seen plenty of girls like you over the past year. You all think Zach is a prize to win. And don’t bother playing dumb. You know his last name is Boston. That’s the only reason you’re here, isn’t it?”

For a moment I panic, thinking Luke knows who I really am. He knows about the contract I have with Buzz Hollywood. He’s figured it out.

But then he says, “You’re looking for status. Money. You want to party with him, and get your picture taken, and use him to get something better. Climb some ladder you don’t have access to. Discard your boring, pathetic life and reinvent yourself a new one.”

“Wow,” I say. “You get mean when you’re jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.”

“Stop it, OK? I’m not here to steal him from you. I just like him. And I like you too. Enough to share. And isn’t that what he and you do? Hm? Share?”

Luke doesn’t react. Like at all. So I keep going.

“If we team up, then Bart doesn’t have a chance. Zach likes you, Zach likes me. He has a life with you—as you pointed out—and I’m the new flavor of the week. One he’s barely had a chance to taste. He wants us. We don’t need to fight over this. Yet.”

I pause to see if he’ll say anything about that. But he holds his words in, so I finish.

“We need to get him out of here. Because Bart over there?” I nod my head towards the crowd. “He lives in Zach’s world. Not ours. He’s one of the ruling class. You don’t need to talk to him to figure that out. He’s dripping with privilege. Just like Zach. They are of the same kind. And maybe Zach does love you, but this is his world, Luke. He’s not Zach, one half of your yacht charter service. He’s a Boston. He belongs here in this exclusive, secret pop-up party for the rich and bored—and we don’t.”

Luke lets out a long breath. Like he was holding it in while I talked. He’s gently waving his arms in the water. And I can feel the slight current his flippers make as we tread water in the middle of this beautiful waterfall cove.

He knows I’m right. Luke has a precarious hold on Zach Boston for now. But for how much longer?

They don’t have much time left by the looks of it. I’m no expert in relationships but I’ve been in enough of them to see the signs of one winding down. The bond between Luke and Zach is based on a lot of things—but it’s not love.

Mutual attraction, sure.

Family ties and all that business junk. Fine.

But that’s not eternal partner type stuff.

So all I have to do is hang around long enough to watch it break and then be there when Zach needs somewhere to turn.

Wow. I’m sorta ruthless when I’m focused.

Who knew?


Author Bio:

JA Huss is a New York Times Bestselling author and has been on the USA Today Bestseller's list 21 times. She writes characters with heart, plots with twists, and perfect endings.

Her books have sold millions of copies all over the world. Her book, Eighteen, was nominated for a Voice Arts Award and an Audie Award in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Her audiobook, Mr. Perfect, was nominated for a Voice Arts Award in 2017. Her audiobook, Taking Turns, was nominated for an Audie Award in 2018. Her book, Total Exposure, was nominated for a RITA Award in 2019.

Website / Facebook / FB Fan Group / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Audible / Amazon / JA Huss New Release Alert


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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The Alcohol Con by Michaela Weaver

 

In this ground-breaking book, The Alcohol Con is exposed, and unraveled with insight and humour...

THE ALCOHOL CON: HOW TO OUTSMART IT

By Michaela Weaver




Title: THE ALCOHOL CON: HOW TO OUTSMART IT
Author: Michaela Weaver
Publisher: Parker Press Publishing
Pages: 148
Genre: Self-Help

Is drinking having a negative effect on your life? You are not alone!

Millions of strong-minded, capable people find themselves falling victim to the biggest con trick of our time – alcohol!

It lures us with false promises of fun and social acceptability. Instead we find ourselves caught in a cycle of drinking, hangovers, morning regret, and guilt.

Despite being successful in other areas of life, it seems difficult to change our drinking habits. In the face of alcohol it’s easy blame ourselves, and believe we are unable to exercise self-control.

In this ground-breaking book, The Alcohol Con is exposed, and unraveled with insight and humour. Drawing on her own experience, and with a background in science and professional coaching, Michaela Weaver paves the way for you to outsmart the alcohol con, break free and move forward to a bright new sober future.

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3f16YRG

 


Introduction

Thirty years after joining the merry-go-round of drinking alcohol, my thumping head, nauseous stomach, and I, finally saw it for what it was: the biggest con trick on the planet. At that point I metaphorically got off the ride, left the fairground, and walked off into a beautiful sunny day. I’m still walking around in that beautiful sunny world, where it’s calm and peaceful, and the war of wants, and shouldn’t haves, and hungover regrets has stopped raging in my head.

I don’t head for the fridge as soon as I get home from work anymore, and don’t curse when I find only a half a bottle left there from the night before. I don’t worry about going out with friends and needing to remember to stop drinking after four drinks, only to have four drinks and forget to remember. I don’t ever wake up at 3am with a dry throat, and racing heart with a feeling of dread as I try to remember what I said and did the night before. I don’t have to deal with my guilt, or feeling stupid because I decided not to have a drink last night, but come wine o’clock my body went into autopilot as my brain decided to change its mind, and I did the very thing I promised myself that I wouldn’t do.

I don’t do any of that any more because I outsmarted the con artist that had held my confidence and trust for all those years. I outsmarted alcohol, and you can too. Alcohol has no control over me, as I now realise it once did. I am in complete control of every drop of alcohol that passes my lips. I consume exactly the amount of alcohol that I want to drink, which is exactly none. 

You can get smart about alcohol, and you can get control over it. But before you can outsmart anything, you need to understand it. In the game of psychological warfare, knowledge is ammunition, and knowledge is power.

But wait a minute.

Surely, if there’s a problem with alcohol, then it’s the people who drink too much of it that have a problem. After all, isn’t the term ‘alcohol abuse’ aimed at the uncontrolled drinker and not the drink itself. 

We all know that it’s alcoholics on park benches drinking meths from bottles in paper bags who have a problem. We know it’s them who need to go to weekly AA meetings and sit in a circle proclaiming their acquiescence to a lifelong disease and affliction that they battle in misery to control because they were born with some dodgy genes. 

We know that we’re different and our kind of drinking belongs in a different world. Ours is a world of grown-up laughs, sophisticated choices, and wine o’clock normality.

We’ve all grown up knowing that drinking alcohol is the golden ticket to adulthood and more alluring than a first kiss. We spent the early years of drinking, proving we could drink like fishes, building up tolerance, and working hard for the badge of being a proper grown up alcohol drinker. 

We learned that drinking is the multi-tasking doer of all things: it relaxes, relieves boredom, gives a whoop of joy, helps get over an argument, deals with our stress, fills our hours, brings us our friends, make social occasions fabulous, helps us throw off our clothes in the bedroom, makes us happy, makes us interesting, and the life and soul of the party.

We know all these things. Or we think we do. So why on earth would we need to outsmart it, when it does so much for us, our family, our friends, and everyone we know?

Because if it really did all those things, and there were no consequences, then it would be awesome, it really would. The problem is, as we all know, that if anything seems too good to be true, then it usually is. And alcohol is no exception. Yet virtually every drinker genuinely believes in a long list of benefits that alcohol brings them. 

Since birth, we’ve been conditioned by society, media, and the people we know and love, to believe that drinking alcohol is not only normal, but expected. It is the only drug on the planet that you have to justify not taking. Because alcohol is a drug, although the fact is not widely advertised: you don’t see advertisements saying, ‘Drink Sauvignon Blanc this Christmas, it’s a highly addictive and poisonous drug.’

In terms of addictive power, alcohol sits beside heroin, cocaine and nicotine. It is second to heroin in the addictive stakes, scoring 2.2/3 where heroin scores 2.5/3. 

In a UK study by David Nutt of Imperial College London in 2010, alcohol was found to be the most harmful drug on the planet based on 16 criteria relating to harm to the individual and harm to others. In the study, alcohol scored 72/100 compared to the second most dangerous drug, heroin, scoring 55/100, and crack cocaine which scored 54/100. Alcohol is not only harmful to us physically, it harms us psychologically, and it harms our families. Alcohol hurts the people we love.

Alcohol may be harmful, but we all know that in small doses it’s good for us. We’ve been told that it’s good for our heart to have a glass of red wine each day. Sadly, as medical knowledge expands, this is another bubble in the alcohol con to burst. The good stuff in red wine is resveratrol, which you can find in strawberries, grapes and blueberries to name a few sources, and these don’t come with increased risk of cancer to the neck, head, breast, colon, oesophagus or liver. 

A study published in The Lancet in 2018 concluded that the level of alcohol consumption per week that minimises health loss is zero. Put another way, this means that for us mere mortals, the safe amount of alcohol to consume is none. The study used 650 data sources, and over 590 studies in reaching its conclusion. Alcohol consumption has now been linked to 60 acute and chronic diseases, and just one glass of wine per day has been linked to a 15% increased risk of breast cancer.

We may know that something is bad for us, but our minds have an amazing ability to convince us that inconvenient facts which stand in the way of us doing what we want to do don’t apply to us. The mild inconvenience of the negatives pale into insignificance compared to the enormous benefits that we’re convinced that we’re getting. 

And then one day something changes. Some crisis occurs that affects us personally, and we decide that we have to do something different. 

Right now, you probably believe that alcohol is an important part of your life. But you’ll also know that supping those glasses of wine or beer each night, or partying hard at the weekend, is causing a problem. Alcohol may be affecting your health, your work, or your relationship, or maybe all three. 

You may be realising that the hangovers are feeling worse, or that you feel tired all day until a drink in the evening miraculously wakes you up. 

Waking up full of remorse and anxiety, with a thumping head, and a questionable or even nonexistent recollection of last night’s events is far from fun, relaxing or stress-free. In fact, it’s diametrically opposite. And vowing never to do it again only to pour a glass of red wine at dinner isn’t good for long term self-esteem, either, as you find yourself in a constant cycle of internal mental battles, over which reaching for a glass always wins. 

The result is that the real you, the conscious-minded part of you that doesn’t want to drink, fails. Always. And I know, because I always failed too. If I’d had a particularly boozy Saturday night with friends and felt hellish the next day, I’d be proud of myself that I didn’t have a glass of wine that evening. The fact that I was still feeling queasy from the night before didn’t enter my head as being the reason for my evening of abstinence.

When I decided to stop drinking for a while, like on a hungover 1st of January having decided to do a dry month, I’d start off feeling amazingly positive and determined. All my resolve and positive vision of self, drinking green tea every evening, was primed and ready for action. I would spring open the fridge and give the bottle of wine a ‘Ya boo,’ scoff before putting it firmly in the back of the cupboard, with a ‘See you in February,’ smile.

I’d go to the pub and loudly order a diet coke, telling the bar tender that I was doing Dry January. I might as well have stood on the bar, grabbed a microphone, and shouted to the room, ‘Look at me with my diet coke everyone! Look at me controlling alcohol. I’m not drinking Chardonnay or Merlot here today my friends, so I DON’T HAVE AN ALCOHOL PROBLEM.’ Thou doth protest too much.

By around the 20th of January I was usually bored with Dry January and poured myself a large chilled glass of white wine to celebrate my abstinence. A week later and I had my nose back in the fridge at wine o’clock, waking up on Saturday morning with a remorseful hangover.

For someone who is fundamentally a smart person, none of that made me feel very smart. And that’s the problem, drink makes a fool of everyone, even the most successful and well educated of us. 

What you’re about to find out is that the whole package that is wrapped up in the glass in your hand is the result of a very clever and long drawn out confidence trick. It’s a confidence trick that has drawn you in, like it did me, and millions of others, and one that you have completely trusted. 

All con tricks work because the con artist gains your trust, implicitly. You believe in them, who they say they are, and the benefits that you believe they can bring you. 

The psychological brainwashing of addiction happens in the subconscious mind, and this is the part of your mind that says, ‘Oh go on then,’ when your conscious mind is sitting there with its arms crossed and a large banner with the words, ‘I’m not going to drink today’ emblazoned in bold lettering. This explains why we feel stupid when we’ve gone to such lengths, just to cave in five minutes later.

If you knew for a fact that you had been a victim of a con trick that had trapped you, would you want to get out?

Alcohol is the basis of a confidence trick of pandemic proportions, with millions of people across the world being caught out and being caught in the trap. Alcohol is embedded in every crevice of our society and for many it’s a trusted friend. It has won the confidence of people like you and me who genuinely believe (as I used to) that it adds value to their lives, and that life without it would be deficient. Alcohol is also the cause of inordinate suffering and misery for millions of people who find they can’t live with it and can’t live without it.

Alcohol is the con trick that is fooling the world. Intelligent, successful, strong-minded people are amongst the most common group to fall for the con and give their trust to alcohol. It’s only when you try to get out that the rope tightens, and you realise that you’re trapped. With minds yo-yoing between wanting a drink, and trying to stop having one, or just having less, most drinkers mistakenly blame themselves for being weak, and unable to control alcohol. People don’t realise that they are victims of a con.

Unless you’ve read a library of books on addiction, drugs and alcohol lately, then there’s a ton of stuff about alcohol that you are completely unaware of, just like I was. And you’re a bright person. You’re smart. I am too. I’ve got degrees, I’ve written books, run businesses and I’ve raised kids, but I was drawn in by the alcohol con, just like the millions of smart, intelligent, successful people who are still in the trap.

When people try to get out, the con trick keeps them trapped by adding layer upon layer of false confidences and beliefs. 

People think they can’t live without alcohol, and life would be dull. A few years ago, the very idea of going to a party and not being able to drink would make me feel deprived, even before I got there. 

Recently a friend came to stay, and twice before she arrived, I went to my local shops to get some last-minute supplies. Both times I had ‘buy wine’ on my mental list, because my friend is a drinker. Both times I completely forgot the wine. I ended up texting my partner to ask him to pick up some on the way home from work. A few years ago, I would have gone to the shop to pick up some milk and would have come through the door with two bottles of wine, and completely forgotten the milk.

I’m now free, and it feels great.

People talk about ‘giving up’ alcohol as though there’s something to lose, and I appreciate that right now that’s what you believe. It’s the reason that people are so fearful of facing the problems that alcohol is causing. It’s like the abusive partner who beats someone up only to hug them better. We all know that person is manipulative and can’t be trusted. The alcohol con is cleverer though, because whereas an abusive lover may shower someone with tangible gifts and benefits, there are literally no benefits to taking alcohol, and you’ll get smart to that later in the book.

I use the word ‘take’ in relation to alcohol interchangeably with the word ‘drink’, because drinkers drink to take the drug which is alcohol. Heroin is mostly injected, or smoked, and nicotine is smoked, or vaped. I know that you won’t like to think of it that way: taking alcohol, but that is what it is. If it makes you recoil, or feel aggrieved, that’s okay. You’ll find out later that’s just your subconscious mind, and it’s your subconscious mind that is the real victim of the confidence trick.

Alcohol, and everything that it embodies, is the con artist who has lied and continues to lie to you. Alcohol is the Pied Piper of Hamlyn who plays happy music full of promises of joy. And just like the piper it lures the followers, reeling them in, slowly, subtly, until the point when it’s got them, and it’s too late. It’s not too late for you though, and if you are prepared to get smart with alcohol then you’ll be in full control very soon. 

Alcohol traps educated, capable, strong-minded people. The only abuser in the alcohol equation is the alcohol itself. It is not us who abuse alcohol, it is alcohol that abuses us. 

Alcohol is the loan shark who lends you $20, then demands $30 in repayment, who lends you the $30 to then demand a repayment of $40. It is the loan shark who gives with one hand and takes with both, taking you ever further in debt while you try to get back to being where you were before you started. 

It’s time to delve into the confidence and trust that we have put in alcohol and to unravel the greatest confidence trick of our time.

 











As a TEDx speaker, author, masters qualified coach, science graduate and professional woman, you would think that with all that I’d know better than to find myself addicted to alcohol and stuck in a ‘wine o’clock, weekend binge’ drinking cycle.

But I have since learned how and why we become addicted to alcohol, and how to change that.

I now help women to learn about alcohol, revolutionize their relationships with alcohol and skip, run and jump into a thriving life without alcohol dragging them down.

You’re not weak, incapable or out of control, but maybe like millions of others you were lured in and fell for a highly addictive and insidious drug.







http://www.pumpupyourbook.com

Monday, November 2, 2020

Then He Happened by Claudia Burgoa

Then He Happened
Claudia Burgoa
Publication date: May 6th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Jason is a cynical rich playboy.
He doesn’t take life seriously,
He doesn’t believe in settling down.

Eileen’s thirtieth birthday is almost here.
But as always she’s her parent’s afterthought.
Her family is too busy planning a shotgun wedding for her older sister—and she has to help.
It’s just another year where she’s overlooked.
But the best man is smoking hot and actually notices her and makes her feel special.

Jason doesn’t believe in commitment, but Eileen intrigues him.

She’s not the kind of girl he usually hooks up with.

She doesn’t even fall for his charm.
He’s made it his task to convince her that he’s not the shallow man she thinks he is.
But can Jason give up his playboy lifestyle to become what Eileen needs?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo

Only 99¢ for a limited time!

EXCERPT:

It’s a perfect day to take one last trip to Steamboat before the season closes.

But where am I?

Racing from Boulder to Colorado Springs to look at a wedding venue for my cousin. Marek fucking owes me.

When I heard they would extend the ski season this year, I was so excited. But how well that worked out. Saturdays are supposed to be fun days.

I don’t ask for much. I just need a place, a plan, a beautiful companion, and a bottle of liquor. See? Straight forward, nice and easy. That keeps me satiated for an entire weekend. It really doesn’t take much to keep me happy and satisfied.

What’s abso-fucking-lutely not satisfying, is touring the grounds of the Broadmoor to scout the perfect place for a shotgun wedding.

“So what’s wrong with Vegas again?” I suggest, half joking.

Eileen shrugs. “Nothing. It’s a great town, really weird. Lots of movies take place there. I don’t know why people hate on it so much.”

“But for a shotgun wedding or maybe eloping?” I clarify. “My assistant can make the reservations. I’ll get a plane. We’ll be there before six. There are plenty of venues. We could probably pick one on the spot.”

She laughs. Like seriously laughs for about a minute like I just said the funniest, most amazing joke in the history of jokes.

When she finally sobers up, she asks with that curious voice, “Did you run that idea by Charlie already?”

I rub the back of my neck sheepishly. “No.”

“Well if you do, I want to be right there. I’ll have my camera ready.”

I shoot her an unimpressed frown. “I’m not joking.”

“Me neither.” She shakes her head, laughing once again. “She’ll try to kill you right on the spot. That’s worth taping.”

“Oh come on, it’s a great idea,” I insist.

“You’re talking about my sister,” she says, waving her journal in my face. “She thinks the only wedding worth having is a wedding that’s as glamorous as a royal affair.”

“We could make Vegas glamorous,” I grumble.

“Mom wouldn’t like it either. What about the guests? Would you fly all of them, pay for the accommodations and their expenses?”

Well, I can’t argue with that. I shrug. She smiles and looks back at the horizon.

“I think either here or the Mountain View Terrace,” I say because I’m done exploring the grounds.

“What do you think?”

She hums. “I think the Mountain View Terrace would be perfect at sunset. Especially if we take this place up on that discount for doing Friday instead of Saturday.”

That sounds reasonable. “Okay, but will her royal obnoxiousness, Princess Charlie agree to that?”

Eileen snorts. “As long as it looks amazing on her Instagram account, I’m sure she’ll agree to that.”

She seems so sure of herself. But with all the bullshit we’ve been through and all the crap her sister’s put her through, I don’t want us to fuck this up.

“But is this the place?” I ask earnestly.

She looks around for a bit. Her eyes comb over every inch of this place so meticulously.

“What do you think?” I ask while she studies the landscape and compares it with the pictures.

She stands on the middle of the gazebo looks left right and then toward the mountains.

“Does it make you want to say I do?” she asks curiously.

I shake my head. “There’s nothing that would make me stand up in front of a bunch of people and say I do.” Again, I don’t say.

“So a smaller setting?” She doesn’t even look at me as she talks. She’s admiring the mountain view. “This isn’t too big. They said up to a hundred and thirty guests. We don’t have to invite everyone to the ceremony. We’ll take whatever they have for the reception.”

It’s still too many people, I think.

She turns back to me, as if reading my fucking mind. “You’re being weirdly quiet. Still deciding about your ideal wedding?”

Instead of responding, I ask a question of my own. “Does this place make you want to tie your life to another person?”

She squints, craning her neck to look up at me. For a few beats she remains quiet.

“I don’t know if this is the place,” she says. “First I’d need the right guy. I’m not getting married to just anyone.”

“So you’re still looking for him?”

She turns to look at me and flashes this smile she has on her face so fucking much. There’s such tenderness in those eyes. That face just soothes me.

“I’m too busy to get a haircut let alone date someone who isn’t worth my time. But you know, I wouldn’t marry someone just because I got pregnant.”

“Like your sister,” I say what she’s trying to avoid.

She shrugs.

“I look at her and Marek and I’m just not feeling it” she says, taking the scene in one more time before walking toward me. “Wouldn’t you want to organize the most important day of your life?”

“I think they’re busy trying to score a house,” I say.

“When I find a guy worth shit, I don’t want to be worried about a wedding or where we’re going to live.”

The air is thin here. It goes well with the crisp afternoon air. Eileen is cool, but calloused when it comes to love. Wonder if it’s a family trait and she’s just a gold digger.

So I prod a little. “What if he can only afford a studio, doesn’t have a car or can afford to pay for the wedding of your dreams?”

“Maybe that’s why 50 percent of marriages end up in divorce,” she says. “People get married all the time for all the wrong reasons. You do it because you’ve come to realize that someone cares enough to see your bullshit and love you anyway. If you’re too concerned about her looks, her job…where she lives…you’re wasting your time.”

She sighs. “I don’t think that many weddings are about love. They’re a convoluted status symbol. If you want it so badly, just elope.”

My eyebrows shoot up. Well fuck, I wasn’t expecting that. “What if you can afford the wedding?”

She gives me an impish smile. “Then, I’ll think about inviting a few people and do something small. Ten, fifteen people from each side of the family. You seem like the kind of guy that would let her do everything pay for it. You like to please people.”

“And why the fuck would I do that?”

“Middle child, we have the tendency to make everyone happy, right?”

“Maybe I would help her organize it.” I let my gaze wander around, anywhere but her direction. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

That last statement doesn’t sit well. We don’t know each other, and she just assumes—not that she’s wrong about it.

“Come on,” she says inviting me to stand right by the gazebo. “Let’s try this out.”

“Try it?”

“Duh, we need to test drive this place.” She extends her hand wiggling her fingers as she calls me to her. “What do you think?”

I take her hand. It’s warm. Her grip soft yet firm. She feels so familiar. I don’t know what it is that I’m waiting for as I stand right in front of her. She squeezes my hand, kinda like she’s saying, “chill the fuck out.”

Reluctantly, I take a deep breath. This place smells like pine with hints of hazelnut and cherry? Warm and bright, just like her. Her eyes stare at me curiously. Then, she nudges me to stare at the horizon again.

“Could you?” she whispers with a chuckle. “Doesn’t it make you want to fall stupidly in love?”

The sky goes on forever. Just like her laugh.

I swallow thickly, terrified of how she made my heart beat fast.

“Yeah,” I mumble, holding her tight because I don’t want to fall.

Author Bio:

Claudia is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author. She lives in Colorado, working for a small IT. She has three children and manages a chaotic household of two confused dogs, and a wonderful husband who shares her love of all things geek. To survive she works continually to find purpose for the voices flitting through her head, plus she consumes high quantities of chocolate to keep the last threads of sanity intact.

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