Tag Archives: hockey romance

Release Day!

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The Puck Bunny – a hockey rom-com by Stephanie Queen

PLUS A BONUS HOCKEY ROMANCE!

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from the Some Girls Like It Cold series

What made me so self-conscious?

It was my name. Not Sara–my last name–Bellagamba. (I knew you’d understand.)

When I was young I couldn’t say it right and when I tried, the kids made fun of me.

Handy Hint: explaining the meaning of your name–Bellagamba means beautiful leg in Italian–to a bunch of five-year-olds won’t stop their teasing. In fact, I think it’s like some kind of trigger for escalation.

And I’m pretty sure if I didn’t run, they would have stoned me for being crazy. (only slightly exaggerating)

Fast forward

to my current post college career and nothing much has changed. I’m still self conscious and still have a tendency to say ridiculous things at inopportune moments.

Except now I’m working for the Boston Brawlers NHL organization, my dream job–because I’m a massive hockey fan and a particular fan of one player–Quinn James.

The Brawlers just signed him and I almost passed out with excitement over the unexpected news.

I won’t lie–I want him. (Yes, that way.) Bad.

Fat chance of that happening

Even if I weren’t so self conscious, I’m not in his league. He dates starlets and models and was last seen with a princess on his arm…

Quinn

Why did I sign a deal with the Boston Brawlers?

I was a f**ing NHL super star in L.A.. My life was perfectly scripted with fame, fortune and all kinds of women throwing themselves at me.

But a hushed up incident with a certain princess caused me to miss seeing my dad on his death bed. Now my family is pissed at me. And I need to deal with them–and the loss of my dad.

So I signed with the Brawlers, moved from L.A. to come back east and return to my roots.

Between hockey and dealing with the need to square things with my family and get real about relationships, I have plenty to concentrate on.

So why do I find Sara, the awkward little puck bunny and big f-ing distraction, so irresistible?

Why do I let Sara Bellagamba of all people, sidetrack me from what’s most important in my life, family and hockey?

The Puck Bunny, a Boston Brawlers Hockey Spin-off, is the first in the Some Girls Like It Cold Series, a funny and poignant romp where the awkward girl gets her dream guy against all the odds, scoring big for her team which includes every secret Puck Bunny everywhere. And the dream guy gets the deeply satisfying life with the dream girl he never knew he desperately wanted. HEA Ending! (duh!)

(Warning: language and sex for a mature audience.)

GET IT NOW WITH A BONUS!

*********Early Bird Bonus!*********

When you buy it or read on Kindle Unlimited, you get a link to a FREE BONUS BOOK, Hockey Heartthrob by Kat Obie.

You need to get the book by 3/31, because after that, the bonus disappears.

In the meantime, check out the blurb for Hockey Heartthrob. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

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Hockey Heartthrob

Second chances don’t happen every day. I was too focused on trying to break through with my hockey career to really make a move on Nastia Schmetinova when we were at the U together. Imagine my surprise when I learned that she was going to ref our Saint Patrick’s Day game.

I couldn’t make the same mistake twice. I had to give it a shot.

Hopefully I didn’t wait too long to make a move and I won’t sacrifice team unity by following my heart. But I can’t ignore my feelings for her.

Hockey Heartthrob is a second chance romance filled with sexy hockey players who give it their all when it comes to romance. Grab the fifth novella in the Loving the Puckers Series which makes you go “Awww.”

*****READ NOW*****

Video Book Scenarios: the New Blurb?

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First, what the heck is a video book scenario? The answer: you’ll know it when you see it and I’m sure you have if you’re on #BookTok. Basically, it’s a short video including music or sound that plays out a book scene or set up or hook or snippet of dialogue and gives you a flavor for the book. In short, Book video scenarios do the same thing as a book blurb, though very differently.

The videos have text with various backgrounds like flipping pages, a bookshelf or an aesthetic of slides depicting people and things from the book or action clips. I could go on and on about what video book scenarios are, but this is a case where a video is worth more than a thousand words.

Video Book Scenario for He Has Pluck – an enemies to lovers hockey romance

This example shows snippets from the book and related music as a backdrop to the text that spells out the premise in parts. Sometimes the video book scenarios use dialogue to tease the reader. Here’s an example of that.

Video Book Scenario of He Has Charm – a hockey romantic comedy

This is an example of a video book scenario using a book shelf backdrop and dialogue text to tease. The music adds dramatic effect and helps set the mood. There’s a lot going on in these video clips to help give the reader a feel for the story besides text.

The backdrop can give clues to subject matter and the music can give you the tone and some idea of the subject matter as well.

One more example of the page flip version of a video book scenario where you can see that just the movement of the pages, though giving no clue about the particular book’s subject matter, it does tell you it’s about a book and adds a dynamic element to move the reader forward.

Video Book Scenario of Big Man on Campus – an enemies to lovers college football romance

As you can see, this book video scenario is from TikTok and like all these clips, have been developed for that platform. The form has evolved and diversified and also grown to have applicability elsewhere besides #booktok or #romancebooktok.

These are different than the traditional book trailers in that they’re shorter and quicker. However they’re in the same category of using more than words or text to catch a reader’s eye.
When you see a video book scenario tell me how it catches your eye:
What draws you in first? The visual, the music or the words/text?

Summertime Reading: It’s a Beach

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I’ve been to the beach a few times this summer, but there was no reading involved. Heresy you say! (Or that’s what Myren, my chauffeur is accusing me of. Ignore him.) Aren’t we supposed to always bring a book to the beach to read as we lounge in the sun, you ask?

Summertime Reading: It’s a Beach

Well, I don’t know about you, but glare is a big problem on my iPad–which is the keeper of all my books these days–so things have changed–a lot. In the past 15 years, the tide has turned to more people reading on ebooks—aka electronic books—than print books.

Good for e-reader companies everywhere, bad for beach reading. I know, I know, this is not big news. Myren is asking me if I think my readers have all been living under a rock, but I tell him that’s not the point.

The point is, the diminishing of the grand old summertime passtime of reading on the beach is a consequence of the (not so) new electronic reader revolution. Sure, there are screens that eliminate the glare, such as the Kindle paper white, but those are expensive and not largely adopted alternatives.

A New Release Beach Read you might want to try… if you enjoy romantic comedies featuring bad boy hockey players with that glint of mischief in their eyes.

So can we still call a book a beach read if no one actually reads it on the beach anymore?

I say YES! Absolutely yes! The beach read is more an idea, a type of book that latches onto the connotation of the ultimate liesure activity, the summer vacation, the escape from the hum-drum daily life, like… well… like going to the beach.

That’s my $.02 on the subject of beach reads. What do you think?

Know of any great beach reads I can NOT take to the beach with me? (But I’ll read them, rest assured, when I’m relaxing and need an escape from the world.)

He Has Charm

a Boston Brawlers Hockey Romance

What readers are saying: “Loved the characters of Maddox and Harper. They are such a great couple and the chemistry between them is off the charts”

—-JeanP, Amazon Reviewer
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Read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited

Have a Little Steam With Your Hockey

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Hot hockey playerSteamy hockey romance, that is. Because of course. Who ever heard of a sweet hockey romance?

That was a serious question asked of me the other day by a writer who wondered if there were any readers out there who might want to read her books. She’s writing sweet hockey romance. Frankly, my answer to her was that I have no idea.

But I DO know that readers love a little steam with their romance when it involves a hunky hockey player.

Because that’s the payoff with a hunky athlete for a hero, right?

But I felt bad about not having a better answer for this author, so I did a quick survey of the top 100 sports romances on Amazon to see if I could find a sweet hockey romance book on the list anywhere.

The answer: a big fat ZERO

Which makes sense to me. We all have our reasons for choosing what we love to read, but there are those universal fantasies that hold true for many of us and one of them is to be ravaged by a big strong man–in no uncertain terms. These romances come in many tropes and subgenres from dark mafia to motor cycle club stories. And somewhere in there fit the sports heroes.

And within the sports romances, hockey romance reigns supreme. And by that I mean, the readers are dedicated and the books sell like hotcakes–or hot hunks.

If you have that fantasy about a rich rugged hunk who could have anyone choosing you, then steamy hockey romance will check that box. Every time.

You’ll know from the opening lines from He Has Charm that it’s a steamy one:

“Being blind isn’t a problem, sugar. I can smell and feel my way around you.” She giggles as I sit up in bed and rip the blindfold off.

That’s when I realize being blind actually was a problem. A big problem. Because I’m faced with three lovely naked ladies—and one of them has a camera…

Check out the Boston Brawlers hockey romance series today.

He Has Charm Cover

He Has a Baby cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Check out the book trailer for He Has Game- a steamy fake fiancee hockey romance!

He Has Game – Read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited!