New Book, New Sneak Peek, New Links

In all the insanity of my life in the last couple of weeks, I forgot to update my blog with the links for purchasing Taking a Shot, which is available now. You can buy it at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Kobo US, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords.

And in one more week, you'll be able to buy Double Major, the novella that is a second epilogue to all of the previous books in the series. You can pre-order it now at Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo US if you don't want to wait. :) Here's the third and final sneak peek into that book.

DANA:

We really shouldn’t have left Laura in charge of the bachelorette party, despite the fact that she was one of my best friends—and one of our joint bridesmaids—but somehow she’d finagled her way into that position, anyway. I should have tried harder to insist that Sara would be better suited to the task and had Laura deal with the bridal shower. Instead, the pair of them had ended up in charge of the exact opposite event we had been hoping for.

Laura meant well, but she’d had so much on her plate lately with Katie’s illness and graduating high school, and then also with Dave retiring and moving into a different part of his career, that she had forgotten some things—like my panic attacks. Even now, she seemed so caught up in the moment that she wasn’t aware of my extreme discomfort.

That was how I ended up in my current predicament. Not only did I have to figure out a good excuse for turning down wine and other drinks at every turn, but I also had virtually nude men shaking their thong-clad backsides in my face in the hope that I’d shove a bill in the string. That wasn’t going to happen. I’d come a long way in the last year and a half but not so far that I had any intention of touching a strange man’s ass. But because I was one of the two brides, the strippers were paying particular attention to me, no matter how many times I refused to participate. At least they didn’t touch me. They just hoped I would touch them—and at least that left me in control of the situation.

Sara would have probably found a classier bar to take us to instead of a strip club. Then I would only be dealing with the alcohol aspect of this uncomfortable night. It was too late for a change of plans, though.

Once the current stripper gave up and went to shimmy for Rachel, our waiter came over. He was wearing pants, thank God, but no shirt, just a bowtie, leaving his waxed chest bare.

“You sure I can’t bring you something, sugar?” he asked, giving me what I was sure he thought was a seductive smile. To me it only seemed smarmy. “Brides drink free at bachelorette parties here. I could get you a sauvignon blanc…a sex on the beach…maybe a pomegranate cosmo?”

Katie leaned over so she could whisper in my ear. “Get something and give it to me if you don’t want it. Mom won’t notice tonight. She’s…distracted.”

I rolled my eyes at her and turned my attention back to the waiter. “I’m sure. Just water for me.”

“Spoilsport,” Katie muttered, but she was grinning. She knew there was no chance I was going to give her alcohol with her mother sitting three seats over. She should just be glad that her father didn’t know she was here. Yeah, he knew she was with us, but I doubted Laura had filled him in on the precise details of her plans for the evening.

Katie was eighteen now, so she was a legal adult, but that didn’t mean he was any less protective of her than he always had been. Especially not after she’d just been given a clean bill of health.

The waiter worked his way through the rest of our group getting more drink orders, and a new song came on, signaling a new stripper coming to the stage. I tried to brace myself for another onslaught of naked man-flesh wobbling in my face.

“So why aren’t you drinking?” Katie asked, sipping from her Shirley Temple. She kept her voice down so she wouldn’t catch anyone else’s attention. “You never drink much, but you usually drink some.”

Her mother had asked me the same question earlier, narrowing her eyes on me as though that would give her X-ray vision into my mind. I’d managed to brush Laura off long enough for the show to start up and drive her attention away from me.

I would have thought the show would distract Katie, too. She was only eighteen, and I was pretty sure she’d never been to a strip club before. Yes, Portland was the strip-club capital of the United States, but they were almost all clubs with female strippers. I only knew of one that had male dancers, and it was a gay club that only catered to clientele with XY chromosomes.

“I just don’t want to be hungover tomorrow,” I hedged. “Not for my big day.”

“One glass of wine isn’t enough to give you a hangover.”

“But one leads to two…”

“You’re pregnant,” Katie whispered. “Aren’t you?”

Before I could answer, a naked butt cheek was waving in my face, nearly whacking me in the nose he got so close. In my haste to get away, I leaned back in my chair so far I almost knocked it over and fell onto the lap of whoever was sitting behind me. I had to close my eyes and concentrate on remembering to breathe so I wouldn’t start having a panic attack. That wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend the night before my wedding.

Katie helped to right my chair, and my eyes shot open wide. She took one look at me and then leaned across the girls between her and her mother. Laura had a fistful of dollar bills, and Katie whipped two of them free. She shoved them into the dancer’s thong and smacked him on the ass, and he went away.

“Aren’t you?” she repeated as soon as he was gone. She was acting as if what she’d just done had been no big deal, like it could have been an everyday occurrence. How could she be so calm about something like that?

“You can’t say a word to anyone,” I hissed at her. “I might not be. I don’t know yet, I just think I might be. But no one knows, no one at all, and Eric should be the first to find out about it if I am.”

I’d just realized this morning that I was almost a week late. With everything leading up to the wedding, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. Eric and I always used protection, but nothing was one hundred percent fail-safe. It could just be the stress of wedding planning that had thrown a wrench in my cycle, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath.

Katie grinned. “But you don’t want to take any chances tonight in case you are.”

“Right.”

“Our little secret. Not gonna say a thing to a single soul.” She shot her eyes over to Sara, and her lips twisted into a bit of a grimace, and I knew without her saying another word that she was thinking the same thing I was. Sara had just miscarried a couple of months ago. I didn’t know how she’d take it when she found out I was pregnant—if I was pregnant. She’d been through a lot of counseling, but this was definitely going to be a blow. I wanted to make sure I handled it well, if and when it was time to let her in on the happy news.

Things like this were just one of many reasons I really liked Katie. She was young, but she was very sweet and thoughtful.

“We should get one of those tests,” Katie said. “You should find out tonight so you can tell Zee tomorrow.”

That was actually an excellent suggestion. If there was one thing that would make tomorrow more perfect than it already should be, it would be being able to tell Eric I was going to have his baby.

I nodded and winked at her now, and she turned her attention back to the stage. None of this seemed to be fazing her, even though it was shocking me to my core. I mean, there’s a difference between knowing strip clubs existed and experiencing all they had to offer half an inch away from your face. I kind of wished I could go back in time and revert to the knowing-they-exist phase.

We had more than just the women in the wedding party here tonight. Several of my former teammates from my high school and college hockey teams had joined us, as well as some of the women I’d worked with at Love Handles when I’d still lived here in Providence. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves, at least—much like Laura and Sara were. Rachel kept blushing, her cheeks turning as bright red as her hair, and Katie seemed almost immune. And then there was Noelle Payne, who had her back turned to the whole thing so she could talk to the woman behind her. I had to laugh at her ability to tune it all out. She might as well be at home or at work, or anywhere but with a bunch of almost-naked men gyrating nearby. She was oblivious to it all in the best possible way.

I made up my mind to try to be more like her for the rest of the night. Whatever it took, I wasn’t going to let any of this get to me. I wasn’t going to let it set me off. I’d been doing too well lately, and the last thing I wanted to do the night before I got married was allow something as silly as this to cause me to take a step backward.

I turned back to Katie. “So…you and Babs. When’s this going to become a real thing?” I understood all the reasons they hadn’t become an official couple before now, but those reasons seemed to have all evaporated. Katie was old enough now and wasn’t in high school anymore. The cancer was gone. Her dad was going to be one of Babs’s coaches now, not his teammate—but Sara and Jonny had already tackled that hurdle and come out all right in the end. There didn’t seem to be anything else standing in the way of the two of them becoming the couple we all knew they were destined to be.

She turned big doe eyes on me—sad eyes—and my heart ached for both of them before she even opened her mouth.

“I don’t know if we will be a couple. I don’t want to hurt him, but I just…”

I couldn’t make heads or tails of that. Those two belonged together.

“You just what?”

She shrugged and shook her head. “It’s just that Jamie should be the first to find out.” She brushed a tear away from her eye, and then she forced whatever was breaking her heart out of the way for now. “That’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to have a good time.”

I didn’t know if that was possible for me, but I grinned for her benefit. “Okay. But if you need to talk…”

“I know. But let’s focus on you for now.”

        I couldn’t stop myself. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to me for a side hug. “Just don’t hurt yourself unnecessarily.” That was something I had experience with—not my fault, of course, but still. I didn’t want to see her run away from something she ought to be running toward.



Finally, I know I've told you at least a little bit about Comeback and Dropping Gloves (the 6th and 7th novels in the Portland Storm series), but here's a working blurb (subject to change) for each of them.

Comeback:

Nicky Ericsson has had a long fight with addiction, and because of it he lost his spot as the Portland Storm's top goaltender. He's on the road to a comeback--both in his personal life and on the ice. He's throwing himself into charity work, recovery group meetings, training...all the things he needs to do to become the best version of himself he can be, and to keep himself clean. He has no other choice.

Jessica Lynch has been running the Portland office for the Light the Lamp Foundation for a few years, so she knows a thing or two about addicts. One of the main things she's learned is that even when they try to turn their lives around, sometimes the addictions get the better of them. Because of that, she takes a hands off approach, keeping her heart out of things.
Nicky's attempts to better himself puts him in directly Jessica's path more often than not, and their attraction is instant and mutual. Can he prove that he won't fall back into old habits, and complete the perfect comeback?
Jamie Babcock has done everything possible to let go of Katie, but she keeps coming back, and she keeps crushing him all over again when she leaves. There are only so many times he's willing to let his heart be trampled on. At some point, he has to draw the line. Doesn't he? Only, when it's Katie, he's not sure that's even possible. She's back, but for how long he can't be sure.
But Katie will stop at nothing to convince Jamie she's back for good--even dropping gloves--because in the game of love, all bets are off.

Available on February 19, 2015.

Pre-order links: Barnes and Noble, iBooks

Dropping Gloves:

Katie Weber left her heart behind in Portland when she left to follow her dreams in Hollywood. Now she's back to sing the national anthem for the Portland Storm during their annual Hockey Fights Cancer night. One look to the bench while she's singing is all it takes for her to know that Jamie Babcock is still hurting just as much as she is. She's done the Hollywood thing, though, and she's over it. She knows what she wants.

Jamie Babcock has done everything possible to let go of Katie, but she keeps coming back, and she keeps crushing him all over again when she leaves. There are only so many times he's willing to let his heart be trampled on. At some point, he has to draw the line. Doesn't he? Only, when it's Katie, he's not sure that's even possible. She's back, but for how long he can't be sure.

But Katie will stop at nothing to convince Jamie she's back for good--even dropping gloves--because in the game of love, all bets are off.

Available on April 23, 2015

Pre-order links: Barnes and Noble, iBooks

Delay of Game - Out Now! Plus More Pre-Order Links

That's right! DELAY OF GAME is available now!

With her father’s health in question, Sara Thomas is focused on reducing his anxiety. That’s no small feat considering his high-stress job, not to mention her own distractions. Everyone knows Sara’s single; no one knows she’s pregnant. There’s never a good time to unexpectedly get knocked up, but now is definitely not it. Regardless, she doesn’t want anyone to know—especially not her father—until she has a game plan in place. But when Jonny, one of her father’s players, seeks vigilante justice on the ice, everything gets tossed out the window.


Cam Johnson’s role as a fourth-line winger with the NHL’s Portland Storm entails more than scoring goals. He has to ensure other teams don’t take liberties with the Storm’s star players. The way Cam sees it, that’s the most important aspect of his job. His teammates call him Jonny; opposing fans call him a goon; the media calls him an enforcer. The title’s unimportant. Cam will always fight for his team—even if he has to break the rules. He’s used to taking penalties, but he never meant for anyone else to suffer from his choices.

When Cam’s actions cause Sara’s worst fears to be realized, he blames himself. He’s screwed everything up; now he has to set things right. Mutual attraction leads to lust, and suddenly Cam is taking penalties at every turn…at least where Sara is concerned. He’s got to think on his feet or he’ll end up with a Delay of Game.

You can buy DELAY OF GAME now at Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords.
At Amazon only, and through tomorrow only, you can purchase it for $0.99 since it was not available as a $0.99 pre-order there.

You might have noticed that Barnes and Noble is missing from this list. And you might have placed a pre-order for DELAY OF GAME through Barnes and Noble, and be wondering where it is. Well, pre-orders at Barnes and Noble have to go through Smashwords, and there was a hang-up between when Smashwords processed the complete file, and when they sent it to Barnes and Noble for processing. That hang-up has caused it to be delayed. I am SO SORRY for this. It's a situation that is out of my hands, but that doesn't make it stink any less for any of you who are affected.


If you placed a pre-order through Barnes and Noble and don't want to wait for them to finish processing it (I can't guess how long it will be!), please forward your email confirmation of the pre-order to me at catherinegayle.author@gmail.com, and I will send you the ebook.


TAKING A SHOT, the novella initially included in the SEDUCED BY THE GAME anthology, is releasing separately on September 4, 2014.

You can pre-order it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo. (There shouldn't be any problems with any of these pre-orders, as this title is complete and fully edited, so there will not be any late changes.)


Katie Weber has lost her health due to leukemia, and now her chemotherapy treatments have taken her hair. She’s not about to show up to her senior prom bald and let her classmates steal her dignity, too. Prom is no place for a girl who looks more like an alien than a high school student, especially when her so-called friends all dropped her like she had the plague at the first mention of the word cancer. Katie could never get up the courage to ask Jamie—her crush for almost two years, ever since he joined her dad’s pro hockey team—to take her. Not with the way she looks now. Besides, her dad would absolutely murder him.

Jamie Babcock knows its bad news to fall for his Portland Storm teammate’s daughter, but he’s had a thing for Katie since the first time he met her when he was just a wide-eyed, eighteen-year-old rookie. Now cancer might take her away before he ever grows the balls to do anything about it, though. Her father won’t be happy about it, but Jamie has to take a shot and ask to take her to her prom. It seems like Katie has just about given up, and he can’t let her go without giving her some good memories…something to hold on to. She’s still got her whole life ahead of her—she just has to keep living it. If he can convince her of that, nothing her father might do to him will matter.

DOUBLE MAJOR will release on September 18, 2014.

You can pre-order it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo.
This is a novella of second epilogues to books 1-4 in the Portland Storm series. It is approximately 35,000 words long.

It’s the NHL’s draft day, but the whole Portland Storm team is back together for an entirely different event. Complete with a double wedding, an unanticipated guest, overdue apologies, unexpected goodbyes, and fresh starts, this big day has the potential to get them all called for a Double Major.

You can pre-order it at iBooks and Barnes and Noble. Pre-orders for Kobo and Amazon will be available sometime in September or October.

IN THE ZONE, the fifth full novel in the Portland Storm series, will release on November 20, 2014

**Please note, this is not the final blurb. Just something meant to give you a taste of what the book will involve.

It was supposed to be one night of fake names, half-truths, and anonymous sex. Neither of them was prepared for it to turn into so much more. Keith Burns, star defenseman for the NHL’s Portland Storm, was just looking for a way to pass the time and ease the loneliness of his lavish lifestyle. Brianna Hayden wanted to find herself again after health issues changed everything. That one night turns out to be so much more than either Keith or Brie expects, but anonymity is the name of their game, and the rules were laid down at the outset. Pushing for the truth might land Keith a permanent spot in Brie’s penalty box, but it’s a chance he’s willing to take. Once he gets In the Zone, he’ll be on the forecheck—but Brie’s heart is the goal he’s seeking.

More Pre-Orders

Taking a Shot, the novella originally published in the Seduced by the Game anthology, will release on its own on September 4, 2014.

Katie Weber has lost her health due to leukemia, and now her chemotherapy treatments have taken her hair. She’s not about to show up to her senior prom bald and let her classmates steal her dignity, too. Prom is no place for a girl who looks more like an alien than a high school student, especially when her so-called friends all dropped her like she had the plague at the first mention of the word cancer. Katie could never get up the courage to ask Jamie—her crush for almost two years, ever since he joined her dad’s pro hockey team—to take her. Not with the way she looks now. Besides, her dad would absolutely murder him.

Jamie Babcock knows its bad news to fall for his Portland Storm teammate’s daughter, but he’s had a thing for Katie since the first time he met her when he was just a wide-eyed, eighteen-year-old rookie. Now cancer might take her away before he ever grows the balls to do anything about it, though. Her father won’t be happy about it, but Jamie has to take a shot and ask to take her to her prom. It seems like Katie has just about given up, and he can’t let her go without giving her some good memories…something to hold on to. She’s still got her whole life ahead of her—she just has to keep living it. If he can convince her of that, nothing her father might do to him will matter.

You can currently pre-order it at iBooks, Kobo, and sometime soon at Barnes and Noble.

Add it to your Goodreads bookshelf now.

There's also a box set of the first few books in the Portland Storm series on its way. Portland Storm: The First Period, will be available on December 4, 2014. You can pre-order it through iBooks, Kobo, and sometime soon at Barnes and Noble.

BREAKAWAY

She’s reaching for a breakaway pass.

Dana Campbell has spent the past seven years in self-imposed isolation for a crime she didn’t commit. The danger is well in the past, but her panic attacks make it impossible to have a normal, healthy relationship with a man. Even her counselor has given up on her. She has to find someone she trusts to help her fight through the panic, or her seven-year ordeal will become a lifetime sentence. There’s only one man she feels safe enough to ask.

He got caught with his head down.

As the captain of the NHL’s once elite but now fading Portland Storm, Eric Zellinger knows a thing or two about keeping his focus on the job. Questions are flying about his ability to lead the team back to the playoffs. If they don’t make it, he might be shipped out of town. It’s the worst time possible for his best friend’s kid sister to divide his focus. How can he give her what she needs without jeopardizing both the Storm’s playoff hopes and his future with the team?

It’s her only chance, but it’s his last shot.

ON THE FLY

Injury after injury has put Brenden Campbell’s NHL career on hold for years. Now he’s playing for the Portland Storm and determined to make it stick. Few things in life drive him more than being told he can’t have something he wants, and what he wants most is to prove he belongs. Brenden also wants Rachel Shaw, the cute, little redhead who just got hired as the general manager’s new assistant. But then she went and made herself off-limits, telling him: “I don’t date.” Those three words pretty much guarantee that he’ll do everything he can to change her mind.

Rachel is changing things up on the fly for her family, moving them somewhere she can be the kind of mom her kids deserve. Allowing anyone else to be in their lives is out of the question, at least until her instincts get back on track. How else can she be sure who to steer the kids clear of? Right now she trusts no one, including herself, and especially not a man like Brenden Campbell. He’s way too handsome and a little bit cocky. Falling for a guy like him is a mistake she can’t afford to make twice.

TAKING A SHOT

Katie Weber has lost her health due to leukemia, and now her chemotherapy treatments have taken her hair. She’s not about to show up to her senior prom bald and let her classmates steal her dignity, too. Prom is no place for a girl who looks more like an alien than a high school student, especially when her so-called friends all dropped her like she had the plague at the first mention of the word cancer. Katie could never get up the courage to ask Jamie—her crush for almost two years, ever since he joined her dad’s pro hockey team—to take her. Not with the way she looks now. Besides, her dad would absolutely murder him.

Jamie Babcock knows its bad news to fall for his Portland Storm teammate’s daughter, but he’s had a thing for Katie since the first time he met her when he was just a wide-eyed, eighteen-year-old rookie. Now cancer might take her away before he ever grows the balls to do anything about it, though. Her father won’t be happy about it, but Jamie has to take a shot and ask to take her to her prom. It seems like Katie has just about given up, and he can’t let her go without giving her some good memories…something to hold on to. She’s still got her whole life ahead of her—she just has to keep living it. If he can convince her of that, nothing her father might do to him will matter.

LIGHT THE LAMP

Life’s been rough lately for Noelle Payne, but she’s not one to let negativity rule. So, she lost her job? She’ll find another one. The bank foreclosed on the house? Well, she can live out of her car for a while. There’s always an upside to be found…but now Noelle needs to find something to give her life meaning. She owes it to the universe to figure it out, too, because a stranger just saved her life.

When Liam Kallen’s wife died, his goal-scoring ability died with her. After a trade from the only pro hockey team he’s ever played for, he’s now playing for the NHL’s Portland Storm. Everyone said he needed a change of scenery, but nothing changes until he rescues Noelle. All of a sudden, the world once again looks bright and he’s lighting the lamp like he used to.

Noelle’s cheerful disposition is just the bit of sunlight Liam needs in his life. He wants to give her everything she needs because she’s everything he wants. The problem? She doesn’t believe she needs anything…at least nothing material. The one thing they both know she truly needs—a real purpose—also happens to be the one thing he doesn’t know how to give her. If he can’t help her find that, she might walk away and take all her sunshine with her.

Book 4, Delay of Game, will release August 21 (iBooks, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads). Book 4.5, Double Major, releases on September 18 (iBooks, Goodreads). Book 5, In the Zone, will release on November 20 (iBooks, Goodreads).

I will have more pre-order links for Double Major and In the Zone when it gets closer to their releases. Amazon does not currently allow for pre-orders for most indie authors, and therefore I can't give you links to purchase for your Kindle until the books are live. I'm sorry!

Babs and Katie FAQs

Ever since SEDUCED BY THE GAME was released, I've been getting asked a ton of questions about
Babs and Katie.

Is TAKING A SHOT the only story they'll get?

Do I have to read TAKING A SHOT to understand the other books in the series?

Why do I have to buy a whole anthology with all these other stories by other authors just to get Babs and Katie's story?

So...let me try to answer your questions.

First off, TAKING A SHOT is not the only story Babs and Katie will get. It's not their happily ever after. It's a brief moment in time that lets you see where it all begins. They will get a full novel, with a true happy-ever-after ending like you expect in a romance, somewhere down the line. The problem is they both have a lot of growing up to do between the time of TAKING A SHOT and whenever that will be. Think of this novella as a prequel. It's just a taste, and there's a lot more to come.

Second, no, you don't have to read TAKING A SHOT to understand the other books in the series. Ever since BREAKAWAY, which got it all started, you've been seeing bits and pieces of their story going on in the background. That's going to continue in the other books. In fact, initially, TAKING A SHOT was not going to exist as a separate entity at all. The events that take place in that novella were only supposed to be going on in the background of the rest of the series.

(As a side note, TAKING A SHOT is where the hero for the third book, LIGHT THE LAMP, is introduced. That said, you'll meet him when you start reading LIGHT THE LAMP anyway. It isn't necessary to read TAS in order to understand what's going on in LTL. LIGHT THE LAMP will release on June 12, 2014.)

This novella, TAKING A SHOT, would not have existed at all if not for me learning about the SEDUCED BY THE GAME anthology. When I learned about it, and that the authors involved were going to donate our stories and all the royalties we earned from sales to Hockey Fights Cancer, I decided that this was a brief story that I could pull to the forefront instead of allowing it to happen in the background of someone else's story like I initially intended. The only reason I wrote it at all was for the opportunity to raise money for a good cause. Period.

So why do you have to buy the anthology just to get this story? That's why. It wouldn't exist if not for the anthology. If you don't want to buy an anthology with other authors' stories and have the money go to charity, that's fine. You don't have to do that...you just have to wait. In 2015, I will get the rights to TAKING A SHOT back, and I will then be able to publish it separately. Until then, the only way to purchase TAKING A SHOT is to buy the SEDUCED BY THE GAME anthology.

I hope this answers all your questions about Babs and Katie. If not, feel free to contact me through Twitter, Facebook, or the email address found on my website or in my books!

Out Now - Seduced by The Game

SEDUCED BY THE GAME is out now! You can get it today at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks, and Smashwords. It's making its way to the other ebook retailers out there, too, so hopefully you won't have to wait long.

This anthology features my novella, TAKING A SHOT, which is book 2.5 in the Portland Storm series. Best of all? The authors are supporting a great cause with this anthology: Hockey Fights Cancer. Go get it today, and help us in the fight against a disease which affects us all in some way or another.

It’s time to drop the gloves and fight! Support the Fight against cancer, that is. This anthology of 8 brand new novellas is hot enough to melt the ice these players skate on. Featuring stories from popular New York Times & USA Today, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble bestselling authors, including Toni Aleo, Cassandra Carr, Cindy Carr, Jami Davenport, Catherine Gayle, Jaymee Jacobs, V.L. Locey, Bianca Sommerland, and Nikki Worrell

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author – Toni Aleo TANGLED IN THE LACES

In Tangled in the Laces, Karson King is on the fast track to the pros and Lacey Martin is coming back from a hard fight against cancer and is terrified of him but their love is too much to ignore. Will Karson prove that he will protect her heart at all costs, or will he leave Lacey to pick up the pieces of her life once again?

Cassandra Carr and Cindy Carr – HOOKING HANNAH

When Hannah attends an all-star game, she doesn’t expect a hockey player of all people to turn her world upside down. Her sister is married to a player and Hannah never wanted that life. But Scott could change everything. For Scott’s part, he has to know the woman who stirred his blood with just a look, and once he does, he realizes he wants Hannah to be his forever. Now to convince her…

Jami Davenport – CRASHING THE BOARDS (Seattle Sockeyes 1.5)

Professional party crasher Izzy Maxwell needs the cooperation of reluctant party guest Cooper Black, the team captain of Seattle’s new hockey team, but Cooper can’t get past his anger over the team’s relocation to Seattle. Can Izzy melt Cooper’s frozen heart or will this party crash along with her fledgling business?

Catherine Gayle – TAKING A SHOT (Portland Storm book 2.5)

Katie Weber has had a crush on Jamie Babcock for almost two years, since he joined her father’s pro hockey team, the Portland Storm as an eighteen-year-old rookie. When cancer takes her health, her hair, and even her friends, she can’t bear to go to senior prom…until Jamie intervenes.

Jaymee Jacobs – A VALUABLE TRADE

Bryan’s life gets turned upside down when he gets traded to the Dallas Comets, and things get even messier when he meets Georgiana, the Director of Team Services. He’s got a lot of work to do to prove his worth to his new team, but Georgiana’s sure he’ll prove to be a valuable trade.

V. L. Locey – HEIR APPARENT

Superstar Cam Evans is fighting to climb out of a slump that’s growing worse with each day of living in denial. Fresh from the minors, Jacobi Neal is hungry for the chance to play back-up for the legendary goalie. Can two men battle each other, their inner demons, and the sizzling attraction building between them?

Bianca Sommerland – BLIND PASS (Dartmouth Cobras 0.5)

Nothing could stop Tim Rowe, the assistant coach of the Dartmouth Cobras, from falling in love with Madeline, but love alone can’t satisfy every need. Sometimes, to reach the goal, you have to take the chance with a … Blind Pass.

Nikki Worrell – CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN (Prequel to the Scorpions Series)

Keith Lambert is the captain of the Flyers—until he’s not. To everyone’s shock, he’s traded to the San Diego Scorpions. As if that’s not bad enough, Phoebe, his girlfriend of two years, decides she doesn’t love him enough to follow.

All alone in a new town, Keith is drawn to Kelly, his take-out delivery girl. When she shows up at ice girl tryouts, he’s lost. She’s all he can see. Can he convince her to forget her past and take a chance on him or is he destined to be alone in a new town a little bit longer?

**Proud Supporters of Hockey Fights Cancer

Seduced by the Game - Coming Soon

It's coming next month! SEDUCED BY THE GAME 2014 is not too far away. Publication will take place in mid-to-late April, 2014.

I'm thrilled to be one of the authors involved in releasing Seduced by the Game, an anthology of hockey romance novellas written by a number of bestselling authors.

Not only will you get 8 novellas for the price of a single book, but all of the proceeds from the sale of this anthology for a full year will be donated to Hockey Fights Cancer **. After that year is up, each author will get her story back to re-release as she sees fit. Then the 2015 version of SEDUCED BY THE GAME will be released to take its place.

This is the first in what is planned to be an annual release of anthologies with proceeds being donated to the charity.

The authors all donated our novellas for this project, but it went so far beyond just the authors involved. We also got cover art donated, a logo designed, editing and proofreading was donated, marketing support is being donated--it's been a huge team coming together all for this one cause.

You can add SEDUCED BY THE GAME to your Goodreads bookshelf now!

I'll share more details as they are available, but for now here's a little more about my part in the anthology.

My novella is TAKING A SHOT, which is book 2.5 in the PORTLAND STORM series. What's it about?

Katie Weber has lost her health due to leukemia, and now her chemotherapy treatments have taken her hair. She’s not about to show up to her senior prom bald and let her classmates steal her dignity, too. Prom is no place for a girl who looks more like an alien than a high school student, especially when her so-called friends all dropped her like she had the plague at the first mention of the word cancer. Katie could never get up the courage to ask Jamie—her crush for almost two years, ever since he joined her dad’s NHL team—to take her. Not with the way she looks now. Besides, her dad would absolutely murder him.

Jamie Babcock knows its bad news to fall for his Portland Storm teammate’s daughter, but he’s had a thing for Katie since the first time he met her when he was just a wide-eyed, eighteen-year-old rookie. Now cancer might take her away before he ever grows the balls to do anything about it, though. Her father won’t be happy about it, but Jamie has to take a shot and ask to take her to her prom. It seems like Katie has just about given up, and he can’t let her go without giving her some good memories…something to hold on to. She’s still got her whole life ahead of her—she just has to keep living it. If he can convince her of that, nothing her father might do to him will matter.

Want a sneak peek? Here you go, but go grab some tissues first--just in case.

The team started to leave the ice after the morning skate, so this was my best chance, at least to just get it done and over with without Mom crying. I’d had enough of crying for a while—hers, my own, and everyone else’s, too. Dad wouldn’t cry over this—not in front of his teammates, at least—so I should be safe from tears for a bit as long as I could escape Mom’s hovering and get to him.

Dad played for the National Hockey League’s Portland Storm. Game-day skates weren’t open to the general public, but Mom and I didn’t count as part of the public around here. We were family.

Ever since I’d started chemotherapy treatments for my leukemia a few weeks ago, the Storm’s general manager and coaching staff had been allowing me to come and watch the closed practices in addition to the off-day practices.

Mom always came with me. Sometimes it seemed as though she believed she could make me better just by being with me, which was ridiculous. Even these awful drugs might not make me better, so how could she? I wasn’t exactly going to keel over and die while she wasn’t looking, but she didn’t like to let me out of her sight these days, as if she needed the physical reminder to know I was still alive. The only things I needed to remind me that I was alive were the aches and pains I’d been having.

I’d thought radiation was bad right up until the chemo started. Then I discovered that radiation was just the warm-up. Cancer treatments weren’t for the faint of heart.

I figured the bigwigs with the Storm were just allowing me to tag along because I didn’t have a whole lot to do these days. Maybe a little bit because they felt sorry for me, too, but this was one instance where I was more than willing to take advantage of some pity.

Plus, I thought it helped Dad not worry too much, and that could only help him to perform in games the way he needed to. Some days I thought my cancer was harder on my parents than it was on me. Not physically, so much, but emotionally. I didn’t want to die, but I’d just kind of resigned myself to the fact that it might happen. They hadn’t. Not yet, at least. And so they hovered. And worried. And cried.

I wished they would just accept that it might happen. That would be a whole lot easier for all of us.

With my treatments making me so sick, the school district had assigned me a laptop and had given me access to online coursework and a tutor who came to my house once a week for two hours. All I did other than my online classes and tutoring sessions was sleep, puke, try to imagine myself healthy again, and follow the Storm. Everything else had been put on hold—indefinitely.

That last bit, getting to follow the Storm, was the only part of my life keeping me sane, at least now in the early stages of chemo. I’d been going stir-crazy without school and Glee Club and all the other regular teenager things filling my days, and going to their practices and games gave me something to focus on other than how sometimes I wished it would just end, whatever that meant. They gave me something to believe in, and there hadn’t been much of that lately.

My eyes followed my dad as he skated off the ice, gave me a brief wave, and headed down the tunnel with the rest of the guys. It was now or never. I didn’t want to lie to Mom, but if I was going to go through with this, I didn’t have much choice because of her hovering-to-keep-me-alive thing.

Cancer sucks and it kills a lot of people, and there was no question I might die, but it probably wasn’t going to happen today. I was pretty sure I’d feel a lot worse than I did before it was all over. Not that I wanted to feel worse. I just wanted it to end.

I turned toward Mom and tried to look green, which wasn’t all that hard these days. “I think I might be sick.”

“Oh, Katie, today? You don’t usually get sick so many days after a treatment…”

I put my hand up to my mouth, as though I was trying to hold back some puke. “Yeah. Today. I’ll meet you by the parking garage when I’m done.”

I didn’t give her a chance to argue. I took off at a run, bolting up the stairs away from the Moda Center’s ice with my hand over my mouth the entire way. I left my jacket, purse, and the throw blanket she’d brought with us to keep me warm behind with her. That way she’d have to gather it all up before she could follow. That should give me enough time to get to the bowels of the arena instead of making a beeline for the bathroom without her seeing where I was heading.

Sure enough, I got onto the elevator and the doors closed behind me without Mom appearing in the concourse.

I got off at ice level, and I made my way along the concrete walkway toward the Storm’s offices and locker room. When I got to the double doors I was looking for, Daniel “Hammer” Hamm, one of the assistant coaches, was just making his way out and preparing to let the press in. They were standing just outside the doors, three men who’d become increasingly more familiar to me over the last few weeks.

I needed to get in before the press. They would be in there too long. I couldn’t wait for them to finish and leave or else Mom would really freak out. If they beat me inside, I’d have to just go meet Mom and forget all about talking to Dad without having her around.

“Hammer!” I called out, still from some distance away. I was proud that I only sounded a little panicky, not like I was in a full-fledged freak-out.

He looked at me with his eyes squinting into a funny expression. I jogged the rest of the distance even though it left me winded so he wouldn’t have to wait too long for an explanation, and so I wouldn’t have to keep shouting. All three of the media guys spun their heads around to stare at me, too. I wished they would back off.

“Can I get in there for a minute?” I asked. “There’s something I need my dad for. It should only take a few minutes.”

He frowned. “What do you need that can’t wait until he gets home, Katie? We have to let the media in…”

I reached into my pocket and showed him what I’d placed in there before leaving home this morning, keeping it hidden from the reporters who were craning their heads to see while trying to pretend that they weren’t doing exactly that.

Hammer looked down at my hand and swallowed hard a couple of times. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, like Dad’s did when he was trying not to get emotional. Then he nodded, and I put my hand back in my pocket.

“Let me go back in and make sure all the boys have clothes on so your dad doesn’t have to kill anyone,” he said. “Stay right here.” He looked over to the press, who were waiting for their chance to go in and interview some of the players. “It’s going to be a few more minutes, guys. Sorry.”

A moment later, he opened one of the doors and let me in, closing it firmly behind me so no one else could follow. I made my way straight for my dad’s stall.

He shook his head when he saw me, a slight frown turning down the corners of his lips. His eyes looked tired, with red streaks and bags under them. He’d only started looking like that and showing his age recently. I hated that I was the reason why.

“What’s going on, Katie?” he asked.

I took a deep breath for courage. Then I emptied my pocket again and held the clump of my hair up for him to see. “It’s starting to fall out. I don’t want to wait and have it leave me with bald patches. I just want to shave it off.” My voice kept cracking over the words, which sucked. I didn’t want anyone to know how scared I was.

I’d woken up this morning and had nearly gotten sick when I found this big wad on my pillow. Heck of a way to wake up. Some more had come out when I’d brushed my hair, leaving a bald patch in the back that I’d had to hide with strategic barrette placement. I hadn’t wanted Mom to see it. Or Luke and Dani, my younger brother and sister. They all worried so much, and this would only make the fears more real—bring them closer to coming true. As long as I had hair, we’d been able to pretend that I was just a little sick. This was going to shoot that idea out of the water, though.

It was unnaturally quiet in the locker room. The team had been playing well lately, winning more than losing, so that meant they were usually laughing and joking with each other when they were all together, keeping things loose. So I knew the guys were listening, even if their heads were turned away and they were pretending to keep busy with other things. It didn’t matter if they heard, though. They could handle this—a lot better than Mom could, at any rate. Maybe better than I could.

Dad stared at the hair in my hand for a minute and then kissed my forehead. “Does your mom know you’re down here?”

“No. I told her I felt sick and I’d meet her at the garage.”

“She’s going to kill me.” His jaw was tight, like he was grinding his teeth, and his Adam’s apple bobbed hard a couple of times.

I nodded. “It’ll be better this way.” Maybe not better, but at least easier.

“I know.” He turned to Cam Johnson, one of his teammates, who was a few stalls down. “Jonny? You have your hair clippers here?” Jonny had kept his hair buzzed short, like a military cut, for as long as I’d known him.

“Yeah, gimme a sec.” He reached overhead and took out a shoebox. He brought it over to us. “You want me to do it?”

“No, I’ll do it,” Dad said. His voice kept getting heavier, deeper. He was barely keeping it together. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked him to do this with his teammates all around. Maybe I should have just kept trying to hide it with barrettes until I couldn’t hide it any longer.

“Use one of the guards first until you get most of her hair off,” Jonny said. “Then go back over it without a guard. That’ll help keep it from pulling and hurting her.” He winked and gave me a kind smile before he went back to doing whatever he’d been doing.

“Okay.” Dad sorted through the guards in the box. He selected one and settled it over the cutting mechanism.

“Here, Katie,” a deep voice said from behind me.

I turned to see Eric Zellinger, the team captain, holding a folding chair and a towel. “Sit down,” Zee said. “We’ll put this over your shoulders to catch the hair.”

I nodded, biting down on my lip. A lot more of the guys were getting involved in this than I’d counted on. This was turning into something bigger than I’d expected, and it made me wish I’d thought it through better. All I’d been thinking about was Mom and her hovering.

He set the chair on the floor, and I dropped onto it. Dad put the towel around my shoulders. I removed the barrettes from my hair and stuck them in my pocket, not that I’d need them again anytime soon. I held the ends of the towel together in the front, staring down at my lap so he should have easy access. My hands were shaking, so I pressed my fingers tight to my chest so maybe the guys wouldn’t notice how worked up I was.

The clippers buzzed to life by my ear, but then nothing happened. I lifted my head. At least half the team had stopped what they were doing to watch, some of them shifting uncomfortably. I didn’t mean to make them uncomfortable. I just didn’t know what else to do without upsetting Mom.

“You sure you’re ready?” Dad asked. His voice cracked just like mine had.

I wasn’t even close to ready and I couldn’t make my body stop shuddering, but I said, “Yes. Do it.” I tilted my head back so I could see him, and I gave him a big, fake smile before lowering my head again. I’d always been a good actress, but based on the way his eyes were shining, he hadn’t bought it this time.

My attention shifted to Babs—Jamie Babcock, the youngest guy on the team, and the one I’d had the hugest crush on for forever. Or at least since I’d first met him when he’d started playing for the Storm. He looked as green as I’d tried to be in order to convince Mom I was sick. I didn’t want him to see me bald—he might turn his back on me as fast as all my school friends had—but I couldn’t kick him out. I was the intruder here, not him. Besides, I was going to be bald one way or another soon. Unless I was planning on hiding out in my bedroom for the next several months, chances were he was going to see me like that.

“Okay,” Dad said finally, his usually steady voice shaking as hard as I was. He trailed his fingers through my hair in the back, as though he needed to touch it one more time in case it never came back.

I couldn’t look away from Babs, and he didn’t look away from me. He was sitting on the bench at his stall, his hands fisted at his sides, as the cool plastic guard touched down against my forehead. It glided back along my scalp, and large clumps of my hair rained down onto the towel over my shoulders. I caught a piece of it in my free hand. The long, brown strands still felt vibrant and alive.

Not like me. I hadn’t felt vibrant in so long I almost didn’t remember what it was like, and I didn’t know if I wanted to be alive anymore if it had to hurt this bad.

I let the hair slip through my fingers and fall to my feet.

It didn’t take long for Dad to finish the first pass with the guard, even with being careful around my ears. He powered the clippers off and removed the guard, tossing it back into the shoebox behind him. A moment later, the now-familiar buzzing sound filled the room again.

This time, I could feel the metal against my flesh. It was warm from the motor and a little scratchy, but it was oddly comforting. My scalp had been sensitive for days—a sure sign, according to my oncologist, that the hair loss would start soon. Dad went over some spots multiple times, then he rubbed my bald head to feel if he’d missed anything.

He turned the clippers off again, picked up a few strands of hair from the towel, shoved them in his pocket, and kissed the top of my head.

“You’ve got to tell me,” I said. “Do I have any weird bumpy spots?” I needed some warning about things like that before I looked in a mirror. It was going to be enough of a shock to see myself without any hair. I’d always had a full head of long, thick brown hair, ever since I was really little. Even in my baby pictures I had a lot of hair. Mom said I’d come out that way.

“No weird bumpy spots,” Dad said. He sounded gruff. I knew this wasn’t easy for him. None of it was.

“Okay.” I carefully took the towel off, looking down for the first time to see the mound of brown hair at my feet and surrounding the chair.

Jonny brought over a damp cloth and handed it to Dad. It was warm when he wiped it over my head, neck, and face to pick up any loose hairs.

I got up and kissed Dad on the cheek. “Is there a mirror around? I need to see.”

Zee jerked his head to the side, toward another part of the room. “Over here.”

I went to where he’d indicated and stared in shock at my reflection. It was still me—still my blue eyes, even though they seemed tired and sunken in, still my nose and my dry lips, still my slightly hollowed out cheekbones. But I looked like an alien. If my friends hadn’t already dropped me, they definitely would now. Who would want to hang out with the weird alien girl? The lack of hair only seemed to emphasize the features that made it obvious I was sick. I let my hands run over my head as I turned to see myself from every angle.

No weird bumpy spots. Dad hadn’t lied.

The clippers buzzed to life again, and I raced back into the main part of the locker room. My dad was in the chair. Jonny was shaving Dad’s head.

“Oh, Daddy.” I’d been able to get through losing my own hair without crying, but this time I couldn’t hold my stupid tears back. “Mom really will kill you now.”

He winked and reached for my hand. I held it, watching as his salt-and-pepper hair joined mine on the floor around the chair. Jonny finished shaving Dad’s head a lot quicker than Dad had done mine.

“No weird bumpy spots?” Dad asked me.

I brushed away a tear and shook my head. “No weird bumpy spots.”

He got up and left without saying another word, heading toward the mirror.

Jonny started to put the clippers away, but Babs got up and said, “Not yet. Do mine next.”

“No!” I couldn’t believe I’d just shouted at him, but I couldn’t let Babs do that, even though the thought that he was willing to made my belly flip.

I loved his hair. It was this perfect blondish-brown shade, and he had it cut in a faux hawk lately that made me want to run my fingers through it. I couldn’t do anything like that. Dad would kill Babs if he even looked at me funny, whether he’d done anything or not—not that he ever would. I was just another girl with a crush on him. He had more than enough of those to choose from. There was no reason he should choose me over any of the rest of them.

Babs was only a couple of years older than me—only twenty—but I didn’t think age was really the issue for Dad when it came to the thought of me and a guy. He was stuck on the fact that I was still in high school, and he seemed to think I shouldn’t even date until I was about sixty or seventy, or maybe not even then.

It didn’t seem to matter to him that I’d already turned eighteen and was old enough that I could make my own choices. It happened two and a half weeks ago, actually, on the day that I’d started my first chemo treatment. Happy birthday to me. Here’s some cake you can puke up later.

Babs stood in the middle of the locker room, his hands still balled into fists at his sides, staring at me. “I want to,” he said. “I feel like it’s the only thing I can do.”

There wasn’t anything for him to do. I shook my head, this time feeling like I might actually get sick. “Please, don’t. I can handle losing my hair, but I don’t think I can take it if you shave yours off. Plus, all of Portland would hate me.”

He laughed, but it was an angry sort of laugh. Hurt. Like I’d hurt his feelings, which made no sense at all. He clenched his jaw, and it made his dimples come out. “Okay,” he said finally. “But only because you asked me not to.”

I took a couple of steps until I was standing right in front of him. “Thank you, Babs,” I whispered.

“Jamie,” he said. “Call me Jamie.”

As he spoke, I could smell the sweet-and-spicy cinnamon scent on his breath from the mints he was always popping in his mouth. I was that close.

I stretched up on my toes and kissed him on the cheek, right where his dimple always showed up. “Jamie…thank you.” I don’t know what made me kiss him like that, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

He brought his hand up, and I thought he might touch my cheek or my head. My pulse thundered like a wild stampede, and I couldn’t breathe for wanting him to touch me in some small way, even though it was a crazy thought in the first place.

“You’d better back away from my little girl, dipshit,” Dad said from right behind me.

Jamie dropped his hand to his side so fast you would have thought Dad had shot it.

I took a step back, almost bumping into my dad. “It’s my fault. He didn’t do anything.” I turned to face him, and Jamie backed away to busy himself with something else. “Really, Dad.”

“Your mother’s waiting for you,” he said, but I knew he was pissed. His eyes were more bloodshot than before, like he’d been crying. That was probably why he’d left for a minute—not so much to look at his own bald head.

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m going.”

“Are you two coming to lunch with us today?”

“If I can get her to stop crying once she sees me like this. I’ll text you to let you know.” I raced out of the locker room before either of us started crying again and hurried past the reporters before they realized I didn’t have any hair left.

**While all proceeds from the anthology will be donated to various charities through Hockey Fights Cancer, the authors claim no connection to the NHL or the NHLPA. All stories contained within the anthology SEDUCED BY THE GAME are the property of the authors. The cover and the logo for SEDUCED BY THE GAME are the property of the artists. Credit will be given to those who've contributed in promotion or marketing with the permission of involved parties.