For the Love of the Game
When I fell in love with the romance genre I was a runty, asthmatic, bookish pre-teen who was so good at finding excuses to skip gym that at one point my attendance was so infrequent I got an ‘incomplete’ for the semester. I hated the competition, I hated the spherical objects flying at my head, and if you’d told me I would one day write a romance novel focused on sports, I would’ve laughed you out of the room.
Fast-forward a couple of decades, and guess what? On Monday, I celebrated the release of my debut, The Striker’s Chance – a contemporary sports romance.
It took me a decade and a half, but eventually I learned that romance and sports are a lot closer than they seem. I’d always had a passing interest in soccer, but when I moved to London in 2007 I saw the game like I never had before – through the eyes of hardcore British fans, including my soon-to-be husband. Have you ever watched a grown man go from excited chanting to furious swearing to joyful tears in the space of ninety minutes? At first I couldn’t understand why someone would enjoy what seemed like such a stressful experience – but then it occurred to me that it was not so different from investing hours into the fraught, burgeoning relationship between two fictional characters. I know the hero and heroine will get together, just like the sports fan knows that eventually the clock will count down to victory for someone – but it’s the journey that keeps us interested.
Now I understand how romance and sports go hand-in-hand. Whether it’s on the pitch or on the page, both are riddled with emotional highs and lows, both pivot on high-octane drama, and both are fuelled by a single, underpinning emotion: passion.
Are you a sports fan as well as a romance reader? Which sports are your favorites – and which do you avoid at all costs?
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In The Striker’s Chance romance and sports collide with scintillating results when Holly Taylor lands the PR contract for North Carolina’s new soccer team, an assignment with the potential to take her career to the next level. Her task? Make Kepler “Killer” de Klerk, an athlete with a party-hard reputation, a star. But revamping the sexy footballer’s image while battling her unwanted attraction to him is easier said than done. She finds herself falling for the real man behind the tabloid persona, but when she’s offered her dream job for a price, she’s torn between the career she’s spent years building and the man she doesn’t want to give up.
Rebecca Crowley inherited her love of romance from her mom, who taught her to at least partially judge a book by the steaminess of its cover. She writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense with smart heroines and swoon-worthy heroes, and never tires of the happily ever-after. Having pulled up her Kansas roots to live in New York City and London, Rebecca recently relocated to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Her debut contemporary sports romance, The Striker’s Chance, is available now from Carina Press.
Buy links:
Carina Press | Amazon | Amazon UK | ARe | Barnes & Noble | Audible
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I’m new to the romance genre, but I’m a die-hard soccer fan, and like my husband, I have been a player and coach of the sport for most of my life. But you’re right about the effect of moving out of the U.S., where my love of soccer was a bit odd. Now that we live in Europe, we have plenty of company in our addiction! Also, no one here cares that baseball puts me to sleep:)
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I enjoy cheering for and swearing at the local NFL football team (American Football). No one else here is interested, so I can blow off some steam and enjoy the scenery.
I also follow the HSBC Sevens Series (rugby) when I can get them on the television. Sevens Rugby is one of the few things I’ll really be looking forward to for the Rio Olympics.
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Thanks for the info on your new release. I really like sports romances; there seem to be a lot out there with hockey as the focus.
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J: Not only is the quantity of soccer better in Europe, the quality is so much higher! Now I live in South Africa and although passions are as fervent as ever, the lack of technical skill can be hard to watch. I hope you’re enjoying the autumnal return of the beautiful game. 🙂
Virginia: Admittedly I only ever really watched Six Nations, but here in South Africa rugby is so ubiquitous I’m sure I’ll be a big fan in no time. Even some of the high school matches are nationally televised!
Thanks for stopping by y’all!
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I’m actually not a big fan of watching sports, though I do like to play most all of them myself. However I definitely like to read romance books with athletes. 😀
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How fun, Rebecca–to be honest, I’m not much of an athlete, but it’s fun to watch sports. And the Olympics? Don’t get me started! If that happens to be on TV, I can sit there and watch coverage the entire day… doesn’t matter WHAT random event/sport it might be! 😉 Congrats on writing your sports romance debut! Sounds fabulous!
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I do not know a whole lot about soccer but I would rather watch a soccer game than a baseball game (except for World Series) because the game is more exciting to watch. I do like exciting romance books also. I am married to a non-sports watcher (who does watch the globetrotters and women’s beach volleyball). So if sports happens to be on, I’m the one who is watching.