Tag: sports

Uncategorized

Blocked Excerpt #NA #Volleyball #Romance

Jennifer Lane


Only two weeks till the release of Blocked on 10-21-14.


Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 3:

“Ladies!” Coach boomed as he stormed away from the men’s coach. “We’re taking over the gym. We’ve got priority here. Madison, get us started on warm-up.”

Maddie ran to the net, and when my teammates followed her, I jogged over too. I snuck a glance at Dane to find him positively murdering me with those eyes. Oops. He was mad at me again? How was it my fault our practice times got messed up?

A male voice boomed, “Hold it!” and I halted mid-step. I turned to see Dane point at the gym floor in front of me a second before he loped over, clutching his towel. Would he strangle me with it? My eyes darted to Allison at the sideline, but my Secret Service agent didn’t seem to be on alert. I braced myself as he neared, but my fear turned to surprise when he dropped to the floor and wiped it with his towel.

“Close your mouth, Ramirez,” he said as he popped back up and stood inches from me. How does he smell so yummy despite his soaked shirt? It was a manly scent, tinged with some sort of aftershave. “I sweat like a cow.” His angular body towered over me. Not a bovine in sight.

His eyebrows knitted together as I stared up at him. His eyes were so pretty, so deep. “I didn’t want you to fall and break your ankle,” he continued. “At least not because of me.” His insult barely registered over the blood rushing in my ears. When I continued to stand mute in his presence, his head tilted. “I know you can speak…” One corner of his mouth perked up. “You’re not going to call me bitch again, are you?”

When I finally wrestled my gaze from his face, I noticed everyone in the gym watching us. I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry.

“Thanks, Dane,” Maddie said as she gestured for me to join the team for warm-ups. She turned around, jumped to block at one end of the net, shuffled over a few steps, and jumped again. She had an awesome vertical leap, and I watched Nina and the other teammates follow her lead.

I looked back at Dane. Say something, idiota. “I don’t know…do you deserve to be called bitch again?” I backpedaled toward the net so he wouldn’t get me in trouble with Coach this time.

“I deserve only kindness and affection.” He smirked.



Don’t forget to enter the Goodreads giveaway for two signed print copies of Blocked! See the right sidebar.
Uncategorized

Excerpt #NA #Volleyball #Romance BLOCKED Releasing 10-21-14

Jennifer Lane


Have you added Blocked to your Goodreads shelf yet? Enter a giveaway for a signed print copy. We’re less than one month away from the launch of the New Adult volleyball romance.

Here’s an excerpt from chapter 2, Dane’s perspective.

“Lucia!” Coach Holter barked.

Ignoring him, she took a step toward me. Her long braid whipped behind her shoulder. “I have my reasons for being here, and it’s not about the election.”

“What reasons?”

“C’mon,” said the agent with blond curly hair as she put her arm around Lucia’s shoulders. Her voice lowered. “Your coach is having a cow.”

“Oh, no.” Lucia closed her eyes, turned, and made a beeline for the classroom. At the door, Coach Holter grabbed her shoulder and jabbed his finger toward her chest. I couldn’t hear his words, but he was pissed. Lucia’s head lowered as she nodded, and I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Her thick, black hair shone. She wore modest dresses on the campaign trail, but her volleyball practice uniform — a form-fitting gray T-shirt and black Spandex shorts — was far superior. The toned muscles of her arms and long-ass legs left no doubt she was a scholarship athlete. Whether or not she could really play — to earn that scholarship — was yet to be seen. She didn’t have much of a chest, but the luscious curve of her butt more than compensated. Talk about junk in the trunk. Damn. Why’d all of that have to belong to her?

Coach Holter’s lecture appeared to gain momentum and his voice rose loud enough for me to hear. “Do you think you deserve special treatment!?”

Lucia shook her head as she continued staring at her shoes. “Look at me when I talk to you!”

When her head snapped up, I could see tears in her eyes. As she stared wide-eyed at her coach, her clenched fists shook at her side. La chica looked on the verge of meltdown, and I didn’t envy her. I’d been on the receiving end of my club coach’s ass-chewing too many times to count. Thank God my college coach, Phil, was as chill as they came.

China’s stern face filled my line of vision. “Time to go, Mr. Monroe.” Her short brown hair, gelled into place, didn’t move an inch as she shook her head. “I know it must be a pleasure for you to watch Ms. Ramirez get reamed by her coach — ”

“Not really.” Sure, it was kind of fun to see Miss-Conservative- Know-it-All get her comeuppance, but I wasn’t made of stone.

“But if we don’t leave now, you’ll be late for practice.”

By the time I was able to step around China to check out the doorway again, Lucia and Holter had disappeared into the classroom.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

“This way.” Brad pointed to the opposite end of the hallway. “If ya want to avoid the media.”

Uncategorized

Cover Reveal is Coming 8-25! Blocked by Jennifer Lane #NA #Volleyball #Romance

Jennifer Lane

Julie from AToMR Tours is hosting the cover reveal for BLOCKED in three days! Over 40 blogs will participate and there will be a big giveaway–check back here for the Rafflecopter link on 8-25-14.

Heroine Lucia Ramirez is excited for you to see the cover. 

She thinks the cover is caliente!



Sign up for the release event and review tour HERE.



Blocked is a New Adult sports romance.

College freshman Lucia Ramirez has a secret crush on Dane Monroe. He’s a tall drink of water — blond, brash, and one hell of a volleyball player. ¡Híjole! Lucia hopes her volleyball scholarship to his school will make him notice her.

Too bad what’s noticeable is Dane’s obvious hatred for Lucia. Her family’s politics contradict everything he stands for. And politics are front and center in both their families. Dane’s mother is about to face Lucia’s father in the race for US President.

When Secret Service throws them together, Dane can’t deny his frustrating attraction to Lucia’s athletic curves and sweet faith in the world. Amid the intense pressure of college athletics and presidential politics, can opposites not just attract, but overcome overwhelming odds to be together? Or do their differences block their match from the start?

Uncategorized

#IWSG: Political Differences in Love

Jennifer Lane

Happy 2014 to all Insecure Writers! Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for joining us together. (Check out more HERE).


Do you wish you could write faster? I do! I’m about 1/3 done with my work-in-progress, a New Adult volleyball romance titled Blocked.

The story features the daughter of the Republican nominee for president and the son of the Democratic nominee for president. They both play varsity volleyball at a Midwestern university, and naturally, they hate each other. They think the opposing political viewpoint is idiotic and hurtful.

Ah, but that’s where the fun begins. Can love bloom among such differences?

There’s a new book launching by a famous cross-political couple Mary Matalin and James Carville:


So I guess they can make it work! I watched an interview with the couple, and when asked how she tolerates her husband’s liberal politics, Mary Matalin said “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” Then she kissed his bald head!

In your writing, do you explore politics? Do you post political views on social networks? If you write romance, do you enjoy writing aspects of forbidden love?

Uncategorized

#Review and #Giveaway: Chasing Hope by Kathryn Cushman

Jennifer Lane

Chasing HopeChasing Hope by Kathryn Cushman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Inspiring and Corny

When I saw the blurb for this new release, I loved the NA/YA sports angle and signed up to review it on my blog. This is a poignant story demonstrating the adage “When God closes a door, He opens a window.”

Sabrina is a college senior whose dream to run for Team USA in the Olympics fell short due to an autoimmune illness attacking her body. She is bitter about her loss, and angry with God for crashing her vaunted goal of becoming a missionary who spreads God’s word based on her running success.

Sabrina lives with her grandmother, who seems to disapprove of Sabrina’s revised plan to begin a competitive business internship. But Sabrina doesn’t want to hear it and continues with her busy life of classes and work, despite feeling tired and sick most of the time.

They encounter a family friend whose teenaged grand-daughter Brandy has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Brandy gets arrested for using drugs, and the only way for her to avoid juvenile detention is for Sabrina to coach her as a runner. Sabrina’s not thrilled about working with this sullen, disrespectful teenager, but reluctantly agrees to help out her grandmother and her friend. Coaching Brandy brings on nightmares of races Sabrina no longer can run.

Brandy has natural talent but doesn’t seem to care about using it. Sabrina would give anything to run again. It’s a fiery mix of personalities that keeps the story interesting.

I haven’t read many Christian novels, so if this is your preferred genre then you may love this story. Overall I enjoyed it, but I did have some quibbles. At times I found the characterization cheesy. My biggest struggle was that the characters’ voices didn’t sound authentic for their age. I work with college students, and I can’t imagine them saying something like:

”Bless your heart, I’ll just bet she has.”

“Perhaps it is time for some new ones.”

“Sabrina Rice, would you do me the honor of accompanying me on a date this Saturday evening?”

I also found it difficult to understand why Sabrina felt so ashamed of her illness ending her running career. It was frustrating when she wouldn’t tell a potential boyfriend Koen about her background. I wonder if she felt shame because she believed God caused her illness for some reason. I disagree with that notion — my beliefs align more with the message of When Bad Things Happen to Good People : God can’t stop natural phenomena like gravity or disease, but God can be there for us to heal and recover.

ARCs are not polished copies but the formatting was so jumbled that I had difficulty following who was speaking at times. And for some reason all the “ff”s were deleted, which was off-putting, or o-putting.

I do have a fondness for Brandy’s grandmother, who was there for her no matter what. Despite some aspects I didn’t enjoy, this story did bring tears to my eyes a few times — a sign of a good read, in my opinion.

View all my reviews 
***

This blog tour is hosted by I Am a Reader.

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 gift card! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway