USA Today Bestselling Author
Guess who got invited to appear on the Harlequin Blog?
That’s right! Little old me. What a great opportunity to reach new readers. I assume people are short of time, like me, so as always I tried to keep it short. I talked very little about the book and instead reviewed a terrific movie that had something in common with Across the Line.
Here’s a link to the blog. Check it out!
It’s Release Day for Across the Line, book two of my In the Zone hockey romance series! It’s been so encouraging to see the book being pre-ordered. It makes me grateful for that anonymous back cover copy writer at Carina and the artist who gave me this sexier than sin cover. I am so excited.
Here are snippets from some early reviews:
“Willoughby’s second In the Zone contemporary sports romance (after On the Surface) is a real charmer.”All you readers who pre-ordered, you should have already received the book. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting I would tell you a good story. (Is the bird thing a stretch? Sorry. LOL)
Today, Tim Hollander will no longer be the only Barracuda swimming in the literary seas. (Sorry for the horrible metaphor. I’m a little tired from trying to make my deadline for book three.) He has a brother standing beside him. My plan is to keep writing hockey romances as long as it’s fun and I have new stories to tell. (Here are four guys from the LA Kings who are/were like brothers: Mike Richards, Drew Doughty, Dustin Penner who sadly is no longer a King, and Jeff Carter, recently married.)
In the pipeline is Alex Sullivan’s story, OUT OF THE GAME, book 3 of my In the Zone series. After that, I have ideas jotted down about Jason Locke’s story, and a few thousand words written about Dustin DeVries.
In the meantime, check out Calder Griffin and see how he makes it work (any Tim Gunn fans out there?) with Becca Chen. She’s an Asian restauranteur. He’s an NHL player returning to the ice after being injured. Committed to their jobs and with thousands of miles between them, they don’t stand a chance.
Photo credit: Tatiana Gerus and Prayitno via Wikimedia Commons
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the publication, Publisher’s Weekly is a well-known, respected publication. Here’s how they describe themselves:
Publishers Weekly, familiarly known in the book world as PW and “the bible of the book business,” is a weekly news magazine focused on the international book publishing business… Its best known service is pre-publication book reviews, publishing some 8,000 per year.
Recently, they reviewed Across the Line, book 2 from my In the Zone hockey romance series! This is a huge deal. Never in a million years did I expect to see a review of my book in PW. Now, because I don’t subscribe, the amazing Shannon Stacey sent me a scanned PDF of it, but here’s what they said.
Willoughby’s second In the Zone contemporary sports romance (after On the Surface) is a real charmer. Pro hockey player Calder Griffin is aboard a nonstop flight from San Diego to New York when he encounters Rebecca “Becca” Chen, owner of Cups, a popular cafe in his hometown of Ithaca, N.Y. He dubbed her “Braceface Becca” in elementary school, but as adults the two are immediately drawn to one another. Despite the distance, the two start a passionate relationship–and after tragedy strikes in Ithaca, Becca moves to San Diego. But will that move draw Calder closer, or push him away? Meanwhile, when Calder’s estranged brother, Hart, joins Calder’s hockey team, he drops a bombshell that will change the brothers’ relationship forever. Willoughby skillfully seeds the story with compelling secondary characters as she leads Calder and Becca toward a happy ending.
Booksellers, librarians, literary agents are going to see this. I am still in shock that my little hockey romance caught their eye. Wow.
Across the Surface is available for pre-order at Carina Press and Amazon. Do it and the book will be yours on August 11.
I am in the middle of copy edits for Across the Line, Book 2 from the In The Zone series. This is when my editor–the fabulous Melissa Johnson–points out the small stuff that I may have missed, including any typos I may have made.
I come across a comment from her in the sidebar that says “LOL.”
I look at the manuscript to see what was so funny. I love to see what makes her laugh. I want to know if it’s something that made me laugh too.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see an intentional joke. The hero, Calder, is talking to his girlfriend, Becca, about how much better he played that night. Calder thinks it may have been that the coach put him on the starting line-up.
I look more carefully at the sidebar. I see that Melissa has deleted two letters. TH.
Hm.
Then it comes to me. What I really typed. I crack up.
“Okay, but the difference between the first game and this one was like night and day. What happened?
“I don’t know. I think maybe it was because Coach started meth tonight.”
