Time to Shine (and to update my blog)
By now you may have heard that I have new a book coming out in September called TIME TO SHINE. Hopefully you have also seen the beautiful illustrated cover, which I think perfectly captures the vibes of the story. I absolutely love it.
As of last week, TIME TO SHINE is 100% finished and I am enjoying a much needed break from writing (while also being harassed by several new story ideas that won’t leave me alone). I’m really excited about this book.It’s not part of the GAME CHANGERS universe, but it is a hockey romance between two men, and has a similar sense of humour and heat level to that series. Tonally, I’d say it’s closest to ROLE MODEL, especially the dynamic between the MCs. Where it’s very different from the GC books is that it’s set in a fantasy world where hockey culture is WAY less toxic. Homophobia isn’t a source of conflict in this book, internal or otherwise.
TIME TO SHINE is definitely a vibes over plot sort of romance novel, in that it’s quiet and domestic and mostly just very sweet and nice. It has big Frog and Toad energy. It does deal with some fairly heavy themes, like grief and regret, but it’s not a heavy book. It’s also the first hockey romance I’ve written about teammates falling in love, and I can’t believe it took me this long. It’s so much easier to write hockey romance when the characters aren’t constantly being torn apart for long stretches of time!
The main characters in this book are Landon Stackhouse and Casey Hicks, who both play for the Calgary Outlaws in a fictional version of the NHL. Landon is 24-year-old goaltender who has been called up to the NHL from the AHL farm team for the first time. He’s a quiet loner who doesn’t easily make friends, and he generally doesn’t like to be touched. Casey is already an NHL superstar winger at age 23, and is effortlessly charming, chatty and fun. The only thing he isn’t relaxed about is being alone, especially at night. Why on earth did he just buy a giant house for himself? Obviously, Casey invites Landon to live with him during his time in Calgary, Landon accepts, and mutual crushes ensue.
The trope of this book is: There were SO MANY beds, but they share one anyway.
The other thing of note about this book is that it’s a Christmas romance. I will say that it’s not a full-on Christmas romance. It’s set mostly during the holiday season, and Christmas is celebrated in the book, but to me a proper Christmas romance builds to some sort of Christmas climax. This book does not do that, so manage your festive expectations.
I spent the first part of 2022 writing a completely different hockey romance that wasn’t working at all. In September I was struck with the idea for this story, so I abandoned my original idea and started writing the book that would become TIME TO SHINE. It was a really good decision because this book was a blast to write. Casey especially was a very fun character to be in the head of. He’s the most “himbo” character I’ve written: a cheerful airhead who loves everyone.
TIME TO SHINE is an appropriate title not only for the story, but for how I feel about this book! This will be my first book with a wide paperback release, which means you might see it in stores! Like, big stores! I felt that pressure as I wrote it, but I think it pushed me to write something that I am really happy with. It will be released on September 26 in ebook, trade paperback and audiobook. Cooper North will be narrating this one, which I am thrilled with because I absolutely loved his narration for COMMON GOAL, ROLE MODEL and THE LONG GAME.
I’m very excited about potentially seeing my book in stores, but I would never have a big release book like this if it hadn’t been for the amazing and overwhelming support readers have given the GAME CHANGERS series. I truly appreciate everyone who has read my books, talked about them, and recommended them. Every piece of fan art I see is thrilling, and though I haven’t read the fic, knowing it exists is also staggering and extremely exciting. Thank you everyone for your support! The past few years have been a wild ride and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Click here to preorder TIME TO SHINE now!
In other news…
The HEATED RIVALRY paperback is now available. Huge thanks to Love’s Sweet Arrow in Chicago and Happily Ever After in Toronto for their pre-order campaigns for that, and thank you to everyone who has bought the paperback. Hopefully the rest of the series will be released in paperback soon. For now you can buy mass market paperbacks of GAME CHANGER, HEATED RIVALRY, and THE LONG GAME.
The short story, MY DINNER WITH HAYDEN, is included in the paperback and has been added to the ebook as well. Like with GAME CHANGER, I made small changes and edits to this edition of HEATED RIVALRY. Mostly it was cleaning up typos, continuity errors, and fixing up a few things that bothered me. Nothing major, and nothing that changes the story.
One new thing I am doing this year is attending the RARE London event in July. This will be my first in-person author event, and only my second time leaving North America. I can’t wait! I hope to do more in-person events. My understanding with RARE London is that there will be a bookseller on site for trad published authors, but of course if you already own the books I am very happy to sign them. I’ll be bringing some swag to give away too.
My online store is still open if you want to order an Ottawa Centaurs T-shirt or a sticker pack. I have the shirts in stock and I try to ship them out within a couple days of the order being placed. I’m getting low on unisex Rozanov shirts but I have a lot of the other ones. This will likely be the last round of these shirts that I print. Thanks to everyone who has ordered one, and especially to people who’ve shared photos of themselves wearing the shirts. I love it. Huge thanks again to my husband, Matt, for designing the incredibly silly Centaurs logo.
By the way, Briarwick Candles is selling Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander candles and they smell amazing. I love that Ilya’s candle has a “setting the mood for sex” scent and Shane’s is more of a “I just cleaned the house” kind of scent. Very appropriate.
That’s it for now! I’ll be figuring out my next books soon! Stay tuned.