Love All – A Tennis Romance
Have I mentioned I have a new book coming out at Women’s Week this year? Have I mentioned that Love All will be available exclusively from Bywater Books even before then?
Of course I haven’t, at least not lately. Between back-to-school time for my wife and son, and being on a deadline for both writing and edits, and being in total denial that summer had ended, it sort of slipped my mind.
That is to say it slipped my mind until this past weekend, because holy crap did you see the US Open? That women’s final is something we will be talking about for years!
I won’t rehash all the details. If you want my take on the ins and outs of the explosion inside Arthur Ashe Stadium this article from Sally Jenkins and the Washington Post is actual pretty close to how I feel.
The reason all that reminded me that I have a book set for wide release in less than a month is that book, Love All , actually ends at the US Open! Yeah, way to whiff on the cross marketing there, Rach.
If I were better at keep up with these things, I would have made that connection here much sooner. I should have been running all sorts of ads all through the tournament. Now it looks like I’m scrambling to catch up, which, in fact, I am. Though not just because everyone is talking about tennis right now, and my book happens to be about tennis. The connections go much deeper, and I hope you’ll indulge me in listing a few of them.
- My main character, Jay, is veteran tennis star in the midst of a tumultuous come-back. Despite being cool and controlled off the court, she has a bit of a temper when losing. There are multiple rackets broken and fines levied throughout the book. It even happens in the first chapter.
- There is a history of player-, media-, and fan-abuse of said player, some of which was brought on by her own temperament, but the vast majority of which was heaped on her by others (sorry, you have to read the book to find out more!).
- There is an younger, biracial, upstart player in the picture. She is not the love interest, mind you, but she’s a major side character who pushes our main character on and off the court. Their relationship is at times contentious and at times caring, but always complex.
- There is a super-hot, and all around wonderful tennis mom. Okay, this doesn’t actually relate to Saturday’s match (Or, I mean, maybe it does. I don’t really know either players’ moms). Still, Sadie is a woman trying to raise a well-rounded daughter in a competitive world that would much rather eat them both alive. She is fierce and determined. She has faced every stereotype imaginable with her head held high, and she refuses to let anyone short-change her or her daughter. Okay, actually that last part absolutely relates to the US Open match.
- Love All showcases an epic match at a major tournament (Wimbledon), and while it doesn’t involve any sexist chair umpires, it does have a massive misunderstanding, a bloodthirsty crowd of spectators, and a media maelstrom. Seriously, you could have taken my players out of that scene and dropped them in Arthur Ashe stadium Sunday, and they wouldn’t have batted an eye at anything other than the court surface.
- There’s some hot sex. Okay okay, maybe this isn’t an exact parallel to the match we all saw, but it’s worth mentioning when promoting a romance, right?
So there you have it. A ripped-(sort of) from-the-headlines tennis romance featuring action, competition, and two wonderful women trying to find to find love in a cut-throat world we’ve all read so much about lately. What do you say? Want to give it a shot?
If so, you can pre-order your copy Love All today from www.Bywaterbooks.com
