Love and Scoring: A Sports Romance discussion
I’ve been reading a lot of sports romances in the past few years, so it was a surprise to me that when I started this discussion topic, romance readers would go, “What’s that?” But it’s not that they weren’t familiar with the stories; just that it was called a thing. “Sports romance.” Essentially a romance book that involved athletes, either as main characters or love interests, or both. Set in the world of that sport, but sometimes not that much.
We met on December 5, and traded recommendations. I pitched hard for The Year We Fell Down, by Sarina Bowen, which to me is a sports romance that also happens to be the first romance I read featuring people with disabilities. I have so much love for that book.
Others in the group recommended their own favorites. We covered hockey, rugby, American football, MMA, talked about why we liked certain characters, and what we were looking for in books like this.
Freebies! Sports-related, in a way!
We had a guest at the discussion: professional basketball player Gabe Norwood. I know him and his wife Lei, and they so generously agreed to spend time with us! (Lei would have been around too if not for another thing she had to do.) As many of the readers who join our discussions are also authors, Gabe took questions that may have been bouncing around the mind of someone wanting to write a sports romance. Like, how do you meet someone when you’re an athlete? (Common friends introduce you!) What dates do you go on? (Movies, concerts, music trivia night!) How does your relationship survive the lifestyle and the schedules? (Faith and love!)
Gabe and Lei rock, people.
Photo from Anne Plaza
These romance novel discussions that I host are open to anyone who can come to the scheduled event, or would like to participate online. I usually set up a private event page on Facebook (private because of adult content that may be discussed or posted), so just message me if you’re old enough, and want to join in. February’s book discussion will be about Laura Florand’s Amour et Chocolat series.
