Kate Willoughby | Welcome to the Secret World Of Men
Some language in following excerpt may be uncomfortable.
On April 14, Carina Press is publishing six brand-new sports romances. Today Kate Willoughby is here
to tell us about her hockey novel, ON THE SURFACE.
Wow, I'm so excited to be here today! How many of you are hockey fans? *looks
around* Okay, not too many. Wait. There's a Canadian contingent over there with
their hands raised. Awesome.
When I decided to write a hockey romance a couple of years ago, I was inspired
by Rachel Gibson's SEE JANE SCORE. Great book, a classic. I
recommend it. One of the things I loved most about her book was seeing her
players uncensored in the locker room, on the team charter, wherever.
Now, if you're any type of sports fan, you've seen players being interviewed.
They are usually composed and thoughtful, but sometimes they're wooden. Their
answers can feel scripted. If you're like me, you've wondered what they're like
when they're not on camera. What kinds of things do they say off the record?
What goes on in that locker room when the reporters aren't there?
That's the type of stuff I've tried to show in my In the Zone hockey romance
series, because as a woman, I want a backstage pass to the Secret World of Men,
and not just your ordinary men—professional hockey players. Yum. These
guys are intense, dedicated, and so full of testosterone that, as one of my
heroines says, if you licked their skin, you'd probably sprout a moustache.
Here's a scene from chapter one in which the hero, Tim Hollander, is working out
with his teammates. Tim just got traded to San Diego and he wants to treat this
as a fresh new start. While trying to help Tim find a new jersey number, the
three friends got sidetracked talking about how old they were when they lost
their virginity.
Jason got onto the stationary bike. "You know, I appreciate a stroll down Memory
Fucking Lane as much as the next guy, but I thought we were trying to find Tim a
new number."
"I do want a new number," Tim replied. "I told you, I don't want anything from
last season to haunt me now and that includes my number."
"Wait a second," Alex said, grabbing the handles of the machine and starting to
work. "Let me get this straight. You're getting rid of that butt-ugly polka-dot
tie?"
Tim scowled. Like a lot of players, Tim had a preference for particular items of
game day clothing. "First of all, it wasn't butt-ugly, and yes, I got rid of
it." He looked at Jason. "Did you think it was ugly?"
"Hell, yes."
Tim scoffed. "Well, let me know the next time someone nominates either one of
you fuckers for a fashion award."
They all chuckled.
"So, what about the number twenty?" Alex asked. "You have good memories of your
first fuck, right?"
Tim nodded, increasing the resistance on his bike. "Sure I do. Twenty would be
okay."
"Unfortunately," Jason said, "the pussy inaugural number twenty is out. That's
Carpenter's number."
"Shit." Tim looked at Alex. "Does your number have a special
significance?"
Lol, interesting conversation... thanks for sharing a piece of your book with us! (Colleen Conklin 1:22pm April 8, 2014)
This looks awesome! Thank you for the giveaway.
divyasriramn@gmail.com (Divya Sriram 5:01pm April 8, 2014)
sounds really good thanks denise226@verizon.net (Denise Smith 10:42am April 9, 2014)
Sounds like an interesting book...great giveaway!!!! (Bonnie Capuano 11:30am April 9, 2014)
*raises hand*
Hockey fan from California over here. Though, I'm sorry to say, I hate the Kings. Can we be friends anyway? ;) #GoSharks
jeayci AT gmail DOT com (Jess Candela 2:16pm April 9, 2014)
I've worked with athletes and their speech is this salty. Do you have personal experience with them?
acm05atjuno.com (Anne Muller 3:16pm April 9, 2014)
Sounds great! deniseaustin59@yahoo.com (Denise Austin 4:24pm April 9, 2014)
Sounds like a very interesting read. Email address is kathybeale1@juno.com. Thanks for the giveaway. (Kathleen Beale 7:16pm April 9, 2014)
Thanks you for the free copy of On the Surface.
kmccandle(at)yahoo(dot)com (Kai Wong 11:24pm April 9, 2014)
I really liked the blurb I read about this book before I clicked over to this blog entry. There is a difference between how men think and how a female thinks. Went ice fishing with my brothers/cousins/uncles once. They all were dressed in grubby green/cammo/miss matched gear. I was dressed by my mother in pastel matching out fit with a white fir trimmed hat. Needless to say I stuck out in the truck and on the ice. ll_gee at hotmail (Laura Gullickson 11:57pm April 9, 2014)
That was fun to read through thank you. (Mary Preston 5:03am April 11, 2014)
Whoa! Didn't realize people were commenting! Howdy!
Seriously, I respect the Sharks. They're an awesome team. I'm proud of all three California teams! However, we WILL be beating them in the Playoffs. LOL
I do not have personal experience with them, although I met and interviewed ex- NHL player Jim Fox. I watched lots of YouTube video and shows like 24/7 and NHL Revealed. I also notice on Twitter, the guys are generous with the cuss words. Oh, and at a party with co-workers once, I really watched the guys' interaction and listened to how they talked to each other. It was really interesting. I'm really excited to hear that I portrayed their speech patterns accurately. :)
Girls will be girls and boys will be boys. I try really hard to think like a man when in the hero's point of view. Especially when describing the heroine. He's not going to use beautiful descriptive language or notice a lot of detail about her clothes and accessories. He's going to narrow in on body parts probably, with only a vague awareness of anything she's wearing. Ice fishing sounds like a total blast! (Kate Willoughby 9:07pm April 13, 2014)
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