My new release IT STARTED WITH A CRUSH features a superstar soccer player hero named Ryland James, who winds up coaching a team of third grade boys. I never thought I’d write a romance with a soccer setting until two years ago when my then-ten-year-old son decided he wanted to play competitive soccer.
One of his U11 coaches also played professionally for the Portland Timbers. The coach was young, attractive and oh-so-enthusiastic about the game. My son was excited to have a professional soccer player as a coach and couldn’t wait to watch his coach’s matches on television. I knew there had to be a story there.
As I filled in my soccer knowledge gaps with help from Finn’s U11 coach as well as his U12 coach and a dad from that team, one part was still missing…my hero. I was getting to know Ryland, but I still couldn’t picture him. I needed to find inspiration, visual inspiration. So I did what any romance writer would do—I turned to YouTube.
Want to know what you get when you type in Hot Soccer Player? Over 6000 results. I didn’t watch all of them, but I watched quite a few including “The 10 Sexiest Football Players.”
Here’s one for you to watch so you can see how rough a job this was. The video is titled “Hottest Football Players Around.” The song is perfect because my hero Ryland is one of soccer’s bad boys. This clip also confirmed I’d found the inspiration I was looking for—French footballer Yoann Gourcoff!
I’ve never seen Yoann Gourcoff play soccer, but what gorgeous eyes that man has, among other things! I must admit this was some of the most fun “research” I’ve ever done for a story! I love my job.
Are you a soccer fan? If so, do you have a favorite team? Or a fave hottie player?
This time of year is awards season, and Harlequin Romance has made a great showing in several contests.
Congratulations to Barbara Wallace, who won the NECRWA Beanpot Award for THE HEART OF A HERO!
Three cheers for Fiona Harper, who is a double finalist in the Golden Quill Awards with MILLIONAIRE’S BABY BOMBSHELL and SWEPT OFF HER STILETTOS!
Donna Alward’s HOW A COWBOY STOLE HER HEART won the Short Contemporary Category of the Colorado Award of Excellence. Her book, A FAMILY FOR THE RUGGED RANCHER, was also a finalist.
Romance Writers of Australia announced the finalists for the R*BY Award (Romantic Book of the Year) and in the Short Sweet category, Romance author Marion Lennox finalled with ABBY AND THE BACHELOR COP and Barbara Hannay finalled with MOLLY COOPER’S DREAM DATE. Way to go! The winners will be announced at the RWAus conference later this summer.
The National Reader’s Choice Award finalists were announced, and HOW A COWBOY STOLE HER HEART (Donna Alward) is shortlisted for Contemporary Series. The awards are handed out at RWA Nationals in Anaheim this July.
And the Booksellers’ Best Award nominees are listed and congrats to Jessica Hart for THE SECRET PRINCESS and Donna Alward for HOW A COWBOY STOLE HER HEART – both books got the nod in the Traditional category. This award is also handed out at RWA Nationals.
So what do you think? Should we pop the champagne or what?
One of the neatest things about writing fiction is the ability to make up settings. I had great fun creating Larch Valley, where I set several books, and when it came to writing this duet, I chatted to my editor and we decided that it might be fun to break out and create something new.
And so Cadence Creek was born, and the Cadence Creek Cowboys duet: THE LAST REAL COWBOY and THE REBEL RANCHER.
Cadence Creek is a small Alberta town – a town with ranchers, some oil and gas money, a fully-functioning grapevine and lovely people. I knew that the duo of stories I was writing were going to feature two “brothers” (biological cousins raised together) and that one would be serious and sexy and the other would be the family bad boy. Falling for Sam and Tyson was easy. And I had a great time developing Diamondback Ranch, the place they call home, and meeting their parents, Virgil and Molly Diamond.
Enter an outsider – Angela Beck, who has chosen this town, not far from Alberta’s capital, Edmonton, as the site for her first women’s shelter, Butterfly House. The Diamond family are benefactors of the project, throwing her squarely in Sam’s path. Butterfly House is designed to provide support for women who have left abusive situations and are in the position now of starting over. But Angela’s got secrets of her own. Secrets that she has to move past in order to truly make Cadence Creek her home, too.
Ty’s story is coming next month in The Rebel Rancher. But there’s an extra treat for readers this month – I’ve written a short story called Second-Chance Mother that is out in THE GREATEST GIFT: A Mother’s Day Collection from Harlequin. It’s also set in Cadence Creek and stars Sgt Ben Rogers, head of the RCMP detachment and Cami Sanchez, a local lawyer and Ben’s closest friend.
Will there be more Cadence Creek stories? I don’t know, but I hope so. I’m already quite taken with this town, and I hope you will be too.
Happy Reading,
Donna
I wish I had an engrossing and fascinating tale to tell you about the genesis of TheMan Who Saw Her Beauty. I wish I could amaze you with the startling leaps the synapses in my brain made in the service of creating the story. I’d love to make you gasp in awe at the brilliance of my inventiveness and imagination.
But I can’t.
In fact the development of this story is all rather boring. It emerged at a snail’s pace while I was busy writing other books. No lightning flashes, no thunderbolts and no serendipitous epiphanies.
And yet I love this book and I loved every moment I spent writing it. I even enjoyed reading it again when my author copies arrived (and, believe me, that’s a rare occurrence.).
Why, you might ask? Excellent question!
First of all it is a story about hope and encouragement. Blair my heroine is recovering from a mastectomy, and I fear we all probably know someone who has been touched by breast cancer. As frightening as it is, though, there are also many, many stories about women who have fought and defeated breast cancer. Stories to kick despair to the gutter. I don’t think we can have too many of those.
Secondly, one of the main themes of this book is about not putting off your dreams—they’re too important to put on hold. How many times do we say, “When I’ve done x, y and z then I can pursue my heart’s desire?” This prompted some interesting discussion between the DH and me. Upside—we’re planning a trip to Europe early next year…and then we’re getting a dog. (Hey, dreams come in all shapes and sizes!)
And finally, Nick Conway my hero is the biggest honey on the face of the earth (not that I’m given to exaggeration or anything). Happy sighs just thinking about him.
The Man Who Saw Her Beauty is released in North America in May. If you’d like a chance to win a free copy, leave a comment
below—perhaps you could tell me if you have a dream or two that you’re working towards too.
