This is my stop during the blog tour for A League of Her Own by Karen Rock. This blog tour is organized by
Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 1 till 14 December, you can view
the complete tour schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.
A League of Her Own
By Karen Rock
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 1 December, 2014
Blurb:
He was attractive, talented…and way off limits.
Heather Gadway may have been a world-class college pitcher and a top university coach, but she's a rank amateur when it comes to managing the Falcons, her father's struggling minor league team. And when it comes to managing her aggravating attraction to Garrett Wolf, their talented new pitcher. It's going to be difficult enough to make it as the first female manager in the league and prove to her overly critical father she's worthy. No distractions. No missteps. And certainly no romances with players. Everything stands between them—including their troubled pasts—even as Heather's world falls apart and Garrett's the one who's there to catch her…
You can find A League of Her Own on
Goodreads.
You can buy A League of Her Own here:
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Amazon (Kindle)
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Barnes & Noble
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Kobo
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eHarlequin
About the Author:
Karen Rock is an award-winning YA and adult contemporary romance author. She holds a master’s degree in English and worked as an ELA instructor before becoming a full-time writer. Currently she writes for Harlequin Heartwarming and her first novel for the line, WISH ME TOMORROW, has won the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the 2014 Golden Quill Contest and a finalist in the Published Maggie Awards. The first novel in her co-authored YA series, CAMP BOYFRIEND, has been a finalist in the Booksellers Best and Golden Leaf awards.
You can find and connect with Karen here:
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Website
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Facebook
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Twitter
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Goodreads
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Tumblr
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Quarterly Newsletter
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of A League of Her Own. These are the prizes you can win:
- a 100$ Amazon gift card (INT)
- a set of signed paperback of Wish Me Tomorrow, His Hometown Girl, Someone Like You and A League of Her Own (US only)
For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Interview of Karen Rock
by TC Booth
(Author of A Writer's Devotion)
What inspired you
to become a writer?
Thank you so much for
having me on A Writer’s Devotion! Growing
up reading books, I was swept away to amazing places, captivated by plots that made
me think and feel, and got to know characters who felt like friends. The world
of books inspired me to want to write my own novels and give readers the joy I
always feel when I begin a new story. Although I love and read all genres, I
quickly realized that contemporary fiction drew me the most as a story-teller.
I’m interested in other people, their relationships, how they interact with and
make their place in the world… I was inspired by books that spoke the truth about
life and love. Whether it’s in my Young Adult novels or my Adult romances, I
always strive to tell a compelling, emotional story with relatable characters who
will touch my readers.
What book(s) have you written that would you like to tell
us about?
I’ve written five books in the past year and a half for Harlequin
Heartwarming and tackled realistic issues while creating stirring romances.
WISH ME TOMORROW has won the 2014 Golden Quill award for Sweet/Traditional
romance and the 2014 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence for Contemporary Series
Fiction. I’m especially proud of this
book as it featured the true-to-life struggles of a single father recovering
from cancer. His path to lasting love touched me deeply as I wrote it and I’m
glad that it moved others as well. I’m draw to complex characters and issues
such as Jodi, the heroine in HIS HOMETOWN GIRL, who battles to find a way to
pay for the high-level care her autistic son needs and comes to realize that love
and acceptance is what they need most of all. I was also inspired by my grandfather’s
experience with PTSD when I wrote my September novel, SOMEONE LIKE YOU. I
wanted to feature a wounded war hero who doesn’t believe himself worthy of the
life he’s been spared or the love that’s waiting for him. Addiction was a
central issue in my December baseball romance, A LEAGUE OF HER OWN, in which a
young woman finds it hard to entrust her heart to a recovering alcoholic on her
father’s baseball team because of her addict-mother’s struggles and betrayals.
Finally, I’m thrilled for my April 2015 novel, RAISING THE STAKES, as it’s set
where I live, The Adirondacks. I got to incorporate so much of our gorgeous
nature and wildlife, the perfect place for my heroine to come to terms with a
traumatic attack and to heal in the arms of a strong, good man.
Do you have any favorite childhood books?
I have read the entire ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
series at least five times! It’s such a beautiful, moving story… and who
couldn’t love Anne with an “e” J
Do you have any
advice for aspiring authors?
My advice is
to write what moves you and not worry about trying to chase after trends, what’s
selling or what’s “hot”. If you write with conviction, from the heart, you will
have a career that fulfills you and fans that will love your unique stories.
A League of Her Own by Karen Rock
Excerpt-The First Kiss
“I liked working with the kids today,” he said into
her ear, his mouth so close to her flesh that the fine hairs on the back of her
neck rose. She relished the sweet brush of his knuckles against the side of her
throat as he flipped her ponytail over her shoulder.
“I know how hard that must have been for you,” she
said, doing her best to appear cool on the outside. Inside she was a web of
conflicting emotions.
“You’re getting me do a lot things I promised
myself I wouldn’t.”
When she pulled back, he met her look with grave
intensity. “Like what?”
Then came the silence. The long, long silence.
Their eyes met until she dropped hers, her heart thumping faster. Red lights
flashed. Stop! Leave! Retreat! But her tangled emotions wouldn’t let her
wriggle free.
His hand caressed the sensitive spot beneath her chin,
and with a gentle pressure, Garrett raised her head until she stared into his
deep blue eyes again.
“This.”
Without waiting for permission, he brushed his
lips gently over hers. Ohhh…a shiver went through her entire body. The gentle
caress melted the last of her defenses into a gooey heap.
His fingers slid along her jawline, and the warmth
of his touch radiated past her skin and into her bloodstream. Goosebumps rose
on her arms and legs, and her ears rang with the staccato thrum of her heart.
He slipped his hand from her jaw to cradle her head. His fingers pulled her
ponytail loose and tunneled through the hair that fell down around her
shoulders.
He pulled back slightly, his eyes heavy-lidded.
His lips hovered above hers, tantalizingly close. The blood pounded so wildly
in her veins that she feared he’d sense the vibration. A magnetic pull took
over the small distance between their lips. An energy she couldn’t resist. So
why was Garrett holding back? Her fingers were wrapped around the back of his
neck, running through his hair.
And then it hit her. He was giving her a chance to
return his kiss. To show him that she wanted him, and the truth was…more
complicated than that. Cold reality doused her, and she leaned back.
She’d kissed Garrett. A player. And worse, a
recovering alcoholic who might one day relapse. Someone she could, if she wasn’t
more vigilant, become addicted to herself. She couldn’t let that happen.
Scrambling to her feet, she saw the wounded look
in his eyes before he covered it with a coat of indifference.
“That was wrong,” she blathered, backing away. “I
should never—we should never— We’re not right for each other, I—”
He held up a hand as he got to his feet in his
fluid way that was stunning to watch. “I get it. We’ll pretend this never happened.”
His gaze roamed in every direction but hers.
It was obvious from the way he braced his body,
his tense face, that he was taking this wrong. It wasn’t as though she didn’t
want him. She just didn’t trust him with her heart. It was too bruised to take
another beating. Even if she wasn’t his manager, his past alcoholism and his
uncertain future sobriety were things she couldn’t look past.
She opened her mouth to explain, but his mouth
twisted, and he held up a hand.
“Really. It’s fine,” he said, the gravel in his
voice denying his words. “Would you like me to take you home?”
She shook her head, wishing his eyes hadn’t turned
into mirrors, reflecting only what was outside, keeping her from seeing what he
was thinking or feeling.
With a small salute, he turned. “See you, Skipper,”
he called over his shoulder as he took off farther down the path, leaving her
slumped against the tree in the gathering gloom.
There it was. The respectful address she’d wanted
from him on and off the field. Only now she knew that she no longer deserved
it. Not after how she’d behaved.
The chaos in her mind cleared. She was under a lot
of pressure, thinking with her body instead of her head. In other
circumstances, she wouldn’t have let Garrett get that intimate with her. He was
a member of her team, nothing more.
