Some books are lighthearted and fun. While some leave a lasting impression on you for a long time after you've finished. Damaged Heart by SM Soto is like that. Her heroine is flawed, as many of us are. She doesn't believe she deserves her happily ever after and in turn sabotages her chances.

BLURB:
Happy ever after’s don’t exist for girls like me.

For the past nine years, Samantha Paisley has been playing a tiresome game of back and forth with her longtime friend with benefits, Alex Clark. Growing up in a toxic environment, Samantha never learned how to love or how to be loved.

So, when Alex tries to get closer to the fiery, foul-mouthed red-head, she cuts herself off from the only man she loves—not wanting to destroy the one stable relationship in her otherwise turbulent, troublesome life. But Alex will stop at nothing to have his woman by his side and in his bed, even if it’s the last thing he does.

EXCERPT:
“What the hell are you smiling about?”

“You.” He leans back in his chair, and I watch in pure, feminine appreciation as his shirt pulls tightly across the firm muscles of his chest. His black T-shirt hugs his bicep muscles perfectly and I get a glimpse of his delicious tribal tattoo hidden beneath the cotton material of his sleeve. “Your little show was quite amusing. Do I sense a bit of jealousy?”

I scoff and roll my eyes at him. “Don’t flatter yourself. I just need to get laid, and we all know you’re the only one who can ever satisfy my needs.”

“Would you look at that? Was that a compliment?” His plump mouth tugs into a cocky smirk that makes my lady parts trickle in anticipation.

With a groan, I slam my hand down on the table in irritation. “Are you going to fuck me or not, Alex?” His lips slowly turn up into a sinister and sexy smile that has me clenching my legs to stave off the insatiable need I feel whenever I’m near him. I glare into his thickly lashed eyes and wait for him to open his stupid fucking mouth.
​
“What’s the magic word?” A delicious smirk pulls across his lips, making me itch to slap him. I roll my eyes. “Eat me.” “Oh, I’ll be doing that too,” he says with mirth. “Please” I grit my teeth. The word is so hard to get out I practically choke on it. “Always busting my balls, Sammy,” he taunts playfully. I narrow my eyes in warning. “Don’t give me any ideas.” “Easy, firecracker,” he whispers huskily in my ear. A tremble wracks my body just as he snatches my hand and drags me out of the bar. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

S.M. Soto was born and raised in Stockton, California where she currently resides with her son. Her love for reading began when she was just a young girl, and has only continued to grow into adulthood. S.M. lives for reading books in the romance genre and writing novels with relatable characters. She refers to herself as a bit of a romance junkie. S.M. loves to connect with readers and eat copious of donuts that will surely lead to her demise (carbs are life).

Follow links:
Instagram.com/authorsmsoto
Twitter.com/AuthorSMsoto
Facebook.com/romanceauthorsmsoto
www.authorsmsoto.com
 

You can check out my review of Crazy Rich Asians on my website: Movie Reviews

​I'd love to hear if you have seen it and what you thought? Did you read the book? Of course they had to cut a lot from the book for the movie and changed a few things but I think the movie was very cute and hit all the right notes. 

I admit to perusing the magazines at the grocery store check out. I read the headlines and usually shake my head. At least, I act like I shake my head but really I wonder if any of the stories have any truth to them.

Celia Mulder's upcoming release- Celebrity Spin Doctor provides me with many laugh out loud moments but also some sweet aww's as I read the story. Who doesn't want to know what's going on behind the scenes? What the truth is about your favorite couple and if the baby is really his!

This romantic romp is sure to delight readers as they fall in love with tough-as-nails Lucille whose job it is to make sure the gossip stays hidden! Maybe the people on People need to hire Lucille!

BLURB:
Remember when country star, Christy-Anne, had the leaked sex tape?

No one else does either. All thanks to Lucille Anton, undercover PR agent for troublesome celebrities. They screw up, she covers up. Business is good and Lucille’s good at it. But all that changes when international superstar Michel Polce approaches her with the toughest case of her career—his fiancée is trying to kill him and he doesn’t want anyone to know. 

Brett Jacobs is at rock bottom of, well, everything. But he pulls himself out of his grimy apartment to attend a party with his former best friend, Michel Polce. Little does he know he’s about to be introduced to the most fascinating, unattainable woman he’s ever met in his life. And the only way to get close to her is to convince her, and himself, to help Michel.
​
The mission is clear—find the fiancée, tell her to stop trying to kill Michel, and make sure no one knows. But with an ex-boyfriend popping up at inconvenient moments, a fugitive uncle who can’t stay away, and some ill-timed sexacapades, this ordeal is more than any of them bargained for. 

About the Author:
Celia Mulder hails from the lovely, yet unpredictable northern Michigan. She is a librarian, a former wedding planner, and an avid appreciator of all things campy and ridiculous. Friends-to-lovers plots are her catnip. She believes in three things— the superiority of Aquaman, the healing power of romance novels, and Buffy: the Vampire Slayer.
 
Website: www.celiamulder.com
Instragram: celiamulder
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/celia.mulder.7
Twitter: @celiamulder
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/12829781-celia
 
 

Today I have a guest post from an old High School friend. Bob is a real-estate mogul in Colorado and had recently asked friends on FB about the best coffee places. Here's his findings!!

​Coffee. Cup of Joe. Ink, Java, Mocha. All terms we might lovingly use to describe that jolt of caffeine. The Boulder community is awash with coffee shops. This list of the best Pearl street coffee shops focuses just on Pearl. There are more great cappuccino haunts around town that are not on this list. Simply because of location.

Best Boulder Coffee A to ZI thought about listing out the shops in the order I visited them. Or possibly making an advanced photo map of the best Pearl street coffee shops (that idea died a quick death, I’m no artist). What seems the most reasonable is to just list out the shops A to Z.

Downside to this is the shop with the letter closest to A gets to be at the top of the list. The upside is that when a new shop opens, I can readily add it to the list.

And for now, I also focused only on coffee shops truly fronting Pearl street.

Ultimate Best Pearl Street Coffee Shops List
​
Alpine Modern Cafe
I haven’t been yet – can you believe it? Its next on my list of Things-To-Do

​Boxcar Coffee Roasters
​My first visit to this shop was with a younger alum from my Alma Mater. Thank you Skylar, you turned me onto a great coffee roaster with a nice vibe. My recommendation: skip the To-Go cup and hang out awhile.
Cross Streets: 18th & Pearl
Phone: 720-456-7962
Hours: M-F 7 – 6; Saturday 7:30 – 6; Sunday 8 – 5
Website: https://www.boxcarcoffeeroasters.com/
My Blog: https://www.boulderrealestatenews.com/java-at-boxcar-and-cure-for-food/

Capital One Cafe
Banking meets coffee. Only in Boulder. I met a builder here last year to discuss a potential sale. Its a bank and a cafe. Great location on Pearl Street near the courthouse. Visit Monday & Friday with your reusable coffee cup for a freebie Peet’s Drip coffee.
Cross Streets: 13th & Pearl
Phone: 303-209-0017
Hours: M-F 7 am to 7 pm, Sat-Sun 9 am to 6 pm
Website: Capital One
Blog: no blog post yet. 🙁
​

Capital One, Ku Cha and Alpine are not your traditional entries on a list of best Pearl Street coffee shops. But they add character to what makes this community so neat. I mean – most banks offer coffee, but how many coffee shops offer banking?

​The Cup Espresso Cafe
​Energized scene two blocks from the pedestrian mall. Amazing selection of baked goods. Millennial work space, conversation space, lap tops welcome and they make some excellent brew.
Cross Streets: 15th & Pearl
Phone: 303-449-5173
Hours: Everyday, 7 to 7
Website: http://thecupboulder.com/
My Blog: https://www.boulderrealestatenews.com/the-cup-of-coffee-boulder/

​Jet’s Espressoria
Located on the east edge of Pearl Street, this place hums with local traffic seeking java juice, lunch or a comfortable spot to plug in and work.  Shop hawks local art and offers a large outdoor patio with inviting verdant vibe.  Power strips available to plug in & connect to the ‘net.
Cross Streets: 21st and Pearl
Phone: 303-247-0124
Hours: M-F, 6-6; Sat-Sun 7-6
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Espressoria-12507352831/
My Blog: https://www.boulderrealestatenews.com/espressoria-wired-friendly-hub/

​Ku Cha Tea House
More of a shop with a limited backroom tea house. Excellent selection of teas, pots, cups, everything you could ever imagine for brewing the perfect cup of tea.
Cross Streets: 11th & Pearl
Phone: 303-443-3612
Hours: Mon – Sat 10 am to 9 pm; Sun 10-8
Website: https://www.kuchatea.com/
Blog: No personal blog story yet. 🙁

​The Laughing Goat Coffee House
Old School coffee house reminds me of Penny Lane – once upon a time coffee shop on Pearl Street.  This space offers open mic, live music and more.  Loads of tables crowd the joint. Worker Bees with laptops in the AM share space with conversationalists.  Evenings lively with music.
Cross Streets: 17th & Pearl
Phone: ?
Hours: M-F 6 – 11; Sat-Sun 7 – 11 — Open Late
Website: https://thelaughinggoat.com/goat-pearl-st/
My Blog: https://www.boulderrealestatenews.com/laughing-goat-espresso/

​Ozo Coffee Company
Prime Pearl Street Mall location delivers.  Plenty of seating, packaged coffee for sale, baked goods.  Ozo fuels a number of businesses around town, such as home grown natural grocer Alfalfa’s. 
Cross Streets: 10th & Pearl
Phone: 303-645-4885
Hours: M-S, 6 to 7; Sunday 7-7
Website:  https://ozocoffee.com/
My Blog: https://www.boulderrealestatenews.com/ozo-coffee-downtown-boulder/

Spruce Confections
Lovely coffee shop and fresh baked goods.  A line out the door in the morning is no surprise. Tables dot the sidewalk.  Skip the to-go urge and relax in conversation at quiet end of mall before residential area begins.
Cross Streets: 8th & Pearl
Phone: 303-449-6773
Hours: M-F, 6:30 to 6; Sat-Sun 7am to 6pm
Website:  https://www.spruceconfections.com/
My Blog: https://www.boulderrealestatenews.com/spruce-confections/
               ______________________________________________________________________
​
Starbucks
​Multiple locations.  Reliable national chain with the Secret Menu, but no drive through in either of these locations. Nestled near eateries at grab & go 28th Street location. Next door to local burrito maker Illegal Pete’s and close to garage parking at west location.
Cross Streets: 28th and Pearl
Phone: 303-449-1881
Hours: M-T-W, 5 to 8 pm; T-F 5-9 Sat 5:30 to 8:30 Sun 5:30 to 7 — Opens Early
Website: Starbucks
My Blog: No blog yet. 🙁
Cross Streets: 14th & Pearl (beginning of pedestrian mall)
Phone: 303-245-9368
Hours: M-Th, 9 pm; Friday 5:30-10:30; Sat 6 – 9:30; Sun 6 – 8:30
Website: Starbucks
My Blog: No blog yet. 🙁

​Trident Booksellers and CafeIn the heart of excellent dining along Pearl Street, Trident is a strikingly Locals respite.   They get some tourist business on weekends, but frequently know their customers by name.  Grab a latte and hit the ‘Stacks.
Cross Streets: 9th & Pearl
Phone: 303-443-3133
Hours: M-S, 6:30 to 11 pm; Sunday 7-11 — Open Late Daily !!!
Website: https://www.tridentcafe.com/
My Blog: https://www.boulderrealestatenews.com/trident-cafe-cappuccino/

A Ghost Walker’s
Love Story
​
First, allow me share what a Ghost Walker is.
Ghost walkers are a much higher skilled level than the normal people who experience out of body experiences. They can will molecules into what appears to be a clothed, or naked human body, depending on what they wish to do. Most can lift small objects, such as a cell phone and use it as well as any normal human. The strongest ghost walkers can even port heavy items over long distances by their ability to absorb massive amounts of molecules and lock them into place for long durations.
 
If a ghost walker wishes to focus intense strength on another person’s body, she or he can cause bones to shatter.
 
If a ghost walker wants to make love to a normal human, she or he will pull more molecules so the body both looks and feels like a human body down to creating nerve-endings, so they can feel. However, retaining such a form for long isn’t easy, thus, the typical ghost walkers tend towards ‘quickies’. Some are known to be amazingly accurate in the detail, but often larger, when it comes to certain body parts.
 
Ghost walkers are NOT ghosts. They are living, breathing humans who can leave their bodies.
However, there is risk in doing so. If a neighbor happened to come upon the body of a ghost walker, they might believe they are dead and call an ambulance. This would NOT be good. It is, in fact, the biggest fear that a ghost walker has.

BLURB
Alice is a ghost walker: an ordinary person capable of separating her soul from her body. Unlike her fellow ghost walkers, she uses her ability trying to help protect the world from terrorists and madmen. Finding an FBI agent that she trusts, she supplies the information needed to stop several atrocities from occurring.

She believes she is safe from discovery. However, agent Jack Callaghan finds her with clever sleuthing and romances her with pure intent. Unfortunately, their unexpected union brings wrath down upon them from all sides. Her fellow ghost walkers believe she has betrayed their code of secrecy; the director and fellow agents question Jack’s commitment to the agency, and want Alice brought in so they can discover how she disappears at will. In this maelstrom of betrayals, Alice uncovers the truth about the three men who claim to love her and discovers which one holds true.

Warning: Alice is so dedicated to stopping terrorists that she will let nothing get in her way, not even when she discovers her body is being used against her will. Since she's not in her body when this happens, saving lives remains far more important!
 
 
EXCERPT
Blowing up Yankee Stadium

Mohammed Hussain was greatly disturbed as he descended the Yankee’s stadium steps and spied a pretty blonde woman next to his seat. He had a fondness for American blondes.

When he sat down, she smiled at him. Not a sexual smile, but a smile of friendship, letting him know that she did not mind sitting next to a Muslim after 9/11. He did not return her smile. It angered him that she must die. Had he only met this woman a year before, he might not be sitting here today, wrapped in explosives. However, he had not met anyone so gentle and accepting. Instead, the racial prejudice and mistrust he received turned him against Americans and eventually led him to volunteer to be a martyr for his people.

His hand clasped the ripcord that would detonate the plastic explosives embedded in the prostheses potbelly he wore. Security had patted him down, but only briskly on the sides. No one would even think about prodding into a man’s fat belly. The only way they could have known he carried explosives was if they noticed the cord that poked from the skin near his hip bone, but that was safely hidden beneath his stretch pants.

His attention returned to the woman. She held out her popcorn to share. He shook his head and admired her sky-blue eyes. Perhaps he could wait until she stepped away to the restroom. Then, if Allah allowed, she might be spared. No specific time had been set for him to strike against the infidels. He saw no reason to do it during the anthem. The strike would be just as powerful later in the game. Nothing could stop the inevitable now. If someone approached, he would pull the cord, but unless that happened, he would wait and see if the girl would leave.

As the starting time neared, the stadium filled to capacity.

Yes…many will die today, and fear will strike at the heart of America once again. No longer will they feel safe: not at their work, not at their play.
​

amazon
FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED

 
About the Author
Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.
 
 
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
LIZA O'CONNOR
Investigate these sites:
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Check out Liza’s Many Books
 
 

A Ghost Walker's Love Story is not what you might expect. A ghost walker has nothing to do with ghosts. A ghost walker is someone who can leave their body and still interact with the world around them. So if you have picked up this book expecting to be about a woman who is a ghost... keep reading, I know you will find this just as entertaining!

Alice is special. She's not only kind and caring in a world which seldom is but she can leave her body and does so many many times in order to save the world. At first, she'd simply providing information to the police so they can save innocents and bring about justice, but then she sees that she can do more.

Ms. O'Connor has written a compelling tale of one woman and what she is willing to do in order to protect others. She's truly a saint, Alice, not Ms. O'Connor- although she's pretty amazing too.

When Alice finds out that she's not as unique as she thought, she's dealt a blow. She's asked to walk away from helping others. But she can't do it. However, it's not the only blow she is dealt. Alice must come to terms with how others are willing to use her in order to get ahead and that everyone isn't as honest and compassionate as she is. 

This book has some moments which will have you biting your nails as you read to find out of Alice is safe. As well, some of the horrible things which happen in this story will frighten you, but don't worry... there's still a happy ending.

So many great romantic movies are set in Africa. It's a place which exudes danger and sensuality. From the large roaming animals to the heat, there's certainly a dangerous side. However, the music and people are warm and welcoming. You want to visit and then stay.

Audrey Flynn has written a wonderfully timeless romance of two adversaries who need to find some common ground. Set in Africa, the tale weaves the danger and sensuality of the amazing place and people.

BLURB:
The Nights are Hotter in Africa…

When Erica Knight arrives in Lebombo Game Reserve for her first African safari she has no idea that her life is about to be changed forever. As an executive for a mining company she believes that negotiating the mining rights for the Lebombo Reserve will be a slam-dunk, but she didn’t count on locking horns with the reserve’s enigmatic owner, Jean-Luc de Graaf.

In the heart of a wild African landscape full of beauty and danger, Erica and Jean-Luc both stubborn and passionate find themselves on opposite sides of an escalating conflict. With the Reserve threatened by vicious poachers and runaway fires, they are thrown together unable to contain the scorching attraction between them.
​
Far away from the rat race of New York Erica feels the stirring of a different drum, ancient and irresistible. But surrendering to the wild would mean she would have to submit to the powerful attraction to Jean-Luc and she isn’t ready to give up control just yet…

About the Author:
As a rock singer Audrey has toured with the likes of Bryan Adams and Roxette. As a magazine writer she penned columns for ELLE magazine and Cosmopolitan and published a best-selling memoir. She has had a lifelong love affair with spicy romances and classic whodunits. Based in the turbulent city of Johannesburg she shares her home with her highly -strung husband and two ridiculously awesome kids.

Since moving from Canada to South Africa as a child she has been entranced with the people and landscapes of this magnificent part of the world. Serving up steamy African themed romances is far more exciting than the school run and Audrey is happiest on safari, at sunset with a Gin & Tonic in hand.

Audrey loves interacting with readers via Facebook and Instagram. She doesn’t mind being contacted as Audrey Flynn or as she is also known; Nadine Raal.
​
You can find her at: safari_romance (Instagram) and audreyflynnbooks.com (Website)