Comments on: REVIEW: Game for Anything by Bella Andre

By: Contemporroneous: 5 Biggest Mistakes Writers Make About Lawyers (or why I rarely read romances featuring lawyers) - Dear Author

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:19:12 +0000

[...] given a C- (maybe should have been lower); a C+ to a book that put the Yankees in the NL; and a C- for another football book. Obviously given Bella Andre’s big success with her self published football books, not many [...]

By: REVIEW: Thin Ice by Liana Laverentz | Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:00:24 +0000

[...] I read one of Jane’s reviews of a sports themed novel (using football instead of hockey). You use the world of the NHL as the background for your hero, [...]

By: Caffey

Caffey — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:03:58 +0000

I haven’t read much with sports heroes. I don’t watch sports, except for racing, but really haven’t seen much with racing heroes (except a few years back of Kimberly Rayes series). I don’t read the Harlequin series of them, they were too sweet for me. I think if I read these, I wouldn’t have caught anything because of not being familar with the sports. I still love to get this one, I enjoy Ms. Andre’s books.

By: Lil

Lil — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:52:45 +0000

For a contemporary author, I recommend Christina Jones. Some of her early books had a horse racing setting which somewhat fits with the sports theme we are discussing here. One I liked particularly was Jumping to Conclusions in which the heroine moved to a new town and opened her own bookstore, learning after she got there that it was a racing hotbed. Because her father was a serious gambler, she did not want to be around people enamored of that lifestyle – so who does she fall for? Well, you will have to read it for yourself…

By: Jill Sorenson

Jill Sorenson — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:04:49 +0000

I love football, love SEP’s Chicago Stars series, and have wanted to read a Bella Andre book since I heard about the plus sized heroine in TAKE ME. Did I mention that I have a jock strap fetish? That cover works so well for me I keep trying to click on it for a better view.

By: Ann Bruce

Ann Bruce — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:50:59 +0000

Most players (at least the group that I hear about) don't fit that.

I can definitely confirm this one.

By: JolieDreyson

JolieDreyson — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:07:35 +0000

I’m not a reader of romances with “sports star” heroes. Yes, many do wonderful charity work and support great causes. But hero worthy? For a romance to work for me I need to truly believe that by the final page the hero wants only one woman… and can remain faithful to her. Most players (at least the group that I hear about) don’t fit that. Call me cynical. LOL Oh, and I don’t read race car drivers either. ;)

By: Kristie(J)

Kristie(J) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:01:52 +0000

Jane: yes, he is/was owner/coach – but not the year after he quit as a hockey player. It was a number of years later before he became a coach. A player they are actively grooming to become a coach is Steve Yzerman formerly of the Detroit Red Wings. But he still has to pay dues for a few years in other positions before he can become coach.
And Karla – I was pretty sure it was Nolan Ryan who holds the record. I didn’t know it was 7 – but it’s still a long way from 30!
Bernita: they may have been player/assistant coaches – but were they head coaches? And if they were, that was years ago before hockey was the business it is today.
I suppose it’s possible – but rare enough that it took me out of the story altogether.
And another interesting player/owner was Mario Lemieux. At the time the Pittsburg Penguins didn’t have enough money to pay his salary so they gave him part ownership of the team instead.

By: Bernita

Bernita — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:24:37 +0000

I believe George Armstrong was both player and then coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs.Bernie Geoffrion for the Montreal Canadiens

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:04:58 +0000

Really, KristieJ? Wasn’t Gretsky at one time a player/coach? I know that there were a couple in Basketball.

By: Karla

Karla — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:40:30 +0000

Actually, Nolan Ryan holds the record at 7 no-hitters, and the next guy has 4.

Maybe we are tougher about inconsistencies in sports because so many of us are familiar with that world.

Karla

By: Kristie(J)

Kristie(J) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:27:39 +0000

LOL that happened with me and Dierdre Martin. In her first book, which I quite liked, the hero was the captain of the team. In the next book, he was the coach of the team. Now this was supposed to be an NHL team. That would NEVER happen in RL and it ruined the book and the author for me.
If you’re going to write a sports book – at least KNOW sport! And I once read a baseball romance where the hero was a pitcher who had pitched 30 no hitters in his career. Most pitchers never even get one! And I’m not sure about exact statistics, but I think the most ever pitched by one player is 3.

By: katiebabs

katiebabs — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:24:16 +0000

Well Jane, since I am an old lady I shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts about jocks in high school locker rooms :P
Right? Erm…

By: Samantha

Samantha — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:20:47 +0000

I read a baseball romance last year and it was very obvious that the author had no idea about the sport. Baseball is my favorite sport so I just got more irritated as the book went on. I finished it but will probably never read that author again and I stay away from sports themed romances because of it.

By: SonomaLass

SonomaLass — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:25:14 +0000

Hey Karmyn, I’m a Manning fangirl too!

I think sports heroes could make great romance heroes, much as upper-class rakes and billionaire playboy tycoons do. Lots of romance novels draw their heroes from classes of people who are stereotyped as immoral and dissipated, but we love them anyway. Yes, we expect them to be pampered, and to treat people badly. But in romance novels, some of them learn to be better (reformed rake, anyone?), while some turn out to have been decent human beings all along. Many professional athletes give to charity, raise funds for great causes, and do their best to be positive role models for young people. As for “spoiled brats who thing they can do or get whatever they want because they can play a sport,” I don’t think they are much worse than the dukes and lords we love in our Regencies, who are waited on hand and foot and can buy pretty much whatever they want because they happen to be the first born legitimate son.

By: Karmyn

Karmyn — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:30:06 +0000

I love football and totally fangirl the Manning brothers, but I have never really read a sports themed romance. And I agree with Kristie. Most of these guys I wouldn’t touch. They’ve got questionable women throwing themselves at them all the time, many of them have drug problems or serious brushes with the law. Or they’re spoiled brats who thing they can do or get whatever they want because they can play a sport. But one day they’re going to get injured or too old to play and have to grow up.
There are some good, decent sports stars out there. But they tend to already be taken.

By: Kristie(J)

Kristie(J) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:38:39 +0000

I’m not sure sports heroes would make the best heroes. Call me cynical and more of a sports fan then a lot of romance readers, but I wouldn’t touch a superstar athlete with a ten foot pole!!! While some of my best reads are sports books – they tend more towards hockey stars then baseball or football. I can’t get past the fact that in RL, good athletes are pampered and babied their whole lives. Yep I know I’m generalizing things a good deal and not being necessarily fair to the more upstanding ones.
Then there’s the whole ‘away for half of the year’ thing. And the groupies. I wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with a guy who is constantly having women throw themselves at him.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:14:52 +0000

This is so unfortunate! I love sports. A good sports romance would be perfect in almost every way, if I could find one!

Football, baseball, hockey, you give me a hot guy at the top of his game, and I’m there! But they all get them so wrong!

I wonder why I’m less willing to suspend my disbelief on the diamond, rink, or field than I am with, say, police procedurals? The errors seem to throw me out of the story more when it’s a sports story.

I guess I’ll give this one a miss, too. *sigh*

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:51:52 +0000

LOL. But the locker behind him looks like a high school locker room.

By: Jill Myles

Jill Myles — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 02:47:21 +0000

No complaints here!

/dirty