Today on the IF YOU LIKE series, I'm just slap-happy to have a gal here today who lives in Georgia! TRACY SOLHEIM and I met face-to-face for the first time at the Barbara Vey Reader Luncheon, and I liked Tracy so much I just wanted to hug her to pieces! Tracy's gonna give us SEP lovers some more ideas about must-reads!
When readers ask who encouraged me to write a romance novel, I always tell them that the talented Susan Elizabeth Phillips did. Not that she actually called me up and told me to write a book, mind you. She doesn’t even know who I am. But I remember being a huge fan girl of hers and cruising through her website to see when her next book was going to be released. She often responded to readers’ comments on her page and always encouraged other writers along the path of becoming published. Whenever I was having doubts about lassoing the crowd of voices in my head, I’d go back to her cheering words and get my butt in the chair—unless she had a new book out because I’ll put everything on hold to read an SEP book!
I’m especially grateful for her fabulous Chicago Stars’ books. Readers love them and those of us writing sports romance saw entre into the market because of her fun, vibrant writing. It’s hard to pick a favorite among them, but I love, love, love Kevin and Molly’s story in This Heart of Mine. While a book about a football player, much of the story takes place during the off-season so those who aren’t big football fans won’t feel intimidated. Molly is so vulnerable throughout this story, trying hard not to rely on others and to curb her impetuous nature. Unfortunately it backfires on her—more than once. Kevin is a preacher kid who’d rather be anything else, but deep down, he can’t help but be a nice guy. SEP always has a cast of fun secondary characters who keep the story rolling. There are some fabulous scenes in this book, but the pick-up softball game will always be my favorite!
Deirdre Martin
One of the first sports romance books I ever read was Body Check by Deirdre Martin. To say I loved it would be an understatement. This is the first in Martin’s series featuring the New York Blades hockey team and the book plays out throughout most of the season. Martin brilliantly captures the nuances of hockey—both on and off the ice. Ty Gallagher defines the Alpha athlete for me. Stubborn and unwilling to bend to the team’s rules, the Blades’ captain just wants to play hockey and win games. Unfortunately, the company that owns the Blades wants to remake his image and they’ve hired a petite redhead to do the job. The buildup to Janna and Ty’s relationship is both intense and poignant. And there’s a great scene involving chocolate cake!
V.K. Sykes
I’m cheating a bit here because this is actually two authors: Vanessa Kelly and her husband Randy Sykes. But together, they write some fun, hot, baseball books. Their latest release in the Philadelphia Patriots series, Scoring Position, is unique because Kate Berlin, the heroine, is a sports agent. Female sports agents have been a rarity in professional sports, but they are on the rise, so the authors are really tapping into new territory here and I for one found the storyline very intriguing. Kind of like Moneyball meets a romance novel. Okay, catcher Nick Rome is pretty fun to read about, too!
Sophia Henry
Sophia is a self-proclaimed hockey fanatic. This works out well since her debut NA series, featuring the Detroit Pilots hockey team, focuses on the sport. She is wonderful at providing accurate detail to her books. Fans of the game—and those who aren’t—will enjoy her descriptions of the action. Her books are authentic, right down to the fact that nearly half the players in the NHL is foreign born. In Delayed Penalty, Sophia combines her love of Russian culture and the game of hockey to weave a beautiful story involving a Russian born hockey star and his emotionally wounded interpreter. The high concept draws readers in from the first page.
And then there's me...Tracy Solheim
I write both sports romance and small town love stories about second chances. In my book, Foolish Games, I combined the two and dragged my football hero kicking and screaming back to his hometown in coastal North Carolina, complete with a wife and child he barely knows. There are actually four books and a novella in the Out of Bounds series featuring the Baltimore Blaze.
I’ve also set two additional books in the small town of Chances Inlet where Foolish Games takes place. The latest, All They Ever Wanted, takes place in centuries old B and B featuring a triathlete who is an aspiring politician and a woman whose secret could destroy him. I guarantee this political campaign is a lot more fun—and a lot sexier—than the one playing out in real life!
Happy reading, everyone!
Tracy Solheim
After years of writing reports and testimony for Congress, Tracy Solheim decided to put her fiction writing talents to better use. In 2013, Berkley Publishing launched her Out of Bounds series, featuring the fictional Baltimore Blaze football team. Since then, she’s published eight books with two different publishers. She also keeps busy putting her sports knowledge to the test in a weekly column for USA Today’s Happy Ever After Blog. Tracy lives in the heart of SEC country, also known as the suburbs of Atlanta, with her husband and their two works-in-progress. When she’s not at the barn with her daughter or working out with friends (i.e. lifting heavy bottles of wine), she’s writing. Except for when she’s reading, but according to her, that’s just necessary research. See what she’s up to at www.tracysolheim.com. Or, hangout on her Facebook page for great weekly contests. She’s also on Twitter, Instagram, Bookbub, and Pinterest.
All They Ever Wanted
In the new Second Chances novel by the author of Back to Before, even love might not prove strong enough to save a man’s promising future from a woman’s hidden past…
All he ever fought for…
Aspiring congressman Miles McAlister has dreamed of representing his hometown of Chances Inlet, North Carolina, since he was a boy. So when he’s asked to help run his mother’s bed and breakfast he moves home and rolls out his campaign at the same time. But political stardom isn’t a given, especially when he’s expected to compromise the very ideals he’s trying to uphold. Making matters worse is the inn’s stubborn and distractingly beautiful cook. He’s loved and lost before, so falling for Lori Hunt is not part of his plan.
All she ever feared…
Lori just wants to do her job and be left alone until she can safely move on. The last thing she needs is to get involved with her boss’s son. Miles proves to be too sexy to ignore, however. Their heated fling elicits feelings deeper than either anticipated. But everything about Lori is a lie. She’s harboring a secret that’ll destroy Miles’s career, and when the truth gets out it’s going to shock Chances Inlet to its core, forcing Miles to make the hardest decision of his life.
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