Lori, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today!
Your new release, LOVE OF THE GAME is the third in the Stardust, Texas Series, which features some very handsome baseball playing heroes. What kind of research goes into writing a new series, especially a series with professional sports involved?
Hi, thank you for having me. Whenever I start a new book, I do some preliminary research on the setting, the background, and the characters’ occupation. Then I dive into writing. If something comes up during the writing that I don’t know the answer to, I’ll stop and do some quick research. Then once I finish the first draft and jump into revisions, I’ll look for plot hole and missing pieces of research at that point too. Research can involve Internet searches, talking to people in the professions I’m researching, watching TV programs, going to the library, attending an event, or even hands on learning.
You are probably most well known for your Twilight Texas Series, along with the Jubilee Texas Series (my favorite) and the more recent, Cupid Texas Series. Do you have one series or set of characters that was your favorite to write? Even a couple? Or one title that took the most out of you emotionally to write?
The most taxing title for me to write was CHRISTMAS AT TWILIGHT, which features characters struggling with mental illness. Several members of my family have struggled with mental disorders. This book took an emotional as I had to put myself back into heart-wrenching situations I’d experienced. But, it was also very cathartic.
What many readers might not know about you is that you taught a romance course online, which was not only so informative but very personal when it came to feedback and critique. (I took the class and LOVED IT). If you have ONE piece of advice for aspiring romance writers, what would that be?
Thanks for the compliment. I love to teach writing. I’m actually teaching a class like that again in October through Writers University. https://writeruniv.wordpress.com
My one piece of advice is to get the book done. Just write it. Then write another one and another one. That’s what it takes. Consistent production.
I read that you are newly certified as a yoga instructor. What have you found to be the biggest benefit by doing yoga? Do you think that it has helped with your creativity when it comes to writing?
The benefits of yoga have been nothing short of life altering. Yoga has given me my health, sanity and creativity back. I’d lost myself in work and forgotten who I was. Yoga brought me back to me. I’m calmer, healthier, more balanced. It helps me lead a better life.
What are you working on next? Another Stardust Romance or are you venturing into a new series? Visiting an older series?
I’m going back to Cupid, Texas to write about four brothers from a ranching dynasty and the four Native American sisters they fall in love with.
Thank you again for taking the time to chat!
Love of
the Game
Stardust, Texas #3
Stardust, Texas #3
By: Lori Wilde
Releasing April
26, 2016
Avon
Avon
Blurb
A sexy sports superstar discovers his body isn’t the only thing that needs healing in this newest Stardust, Texas novel from New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde…
With major league good looks and talent, Dallas Gunslingers relief pitcher Axel Richmond was living the good life. Even if the roar of the crowd could never distract him from the loss of his young son. But now with an injured shoulder and his career on the line, Axel is stuck recuperating at a ranch in Stardust, Texas . . . striking out only with his gorgeous physical therapist.
Kasha Carlyle has one week to get Axel back in action or she can kiss her much-needed job with the Gunslingers goodbye. And any chance to seek custody of the orphaned half-sister she never knew existed. She quickly learns that Axel’s guarded heart also needs healing . . . requiring all kinds of sneaky plays and sexy moves in extra innings.
A sexy sports superstar discovers his body isn’t the only thing that needs healing in this newest Stardust, Texas novel from New York Times bestselling author Lori Wilde…
With major league good looks and talent, Dallas Gunslingers relief pitcher Axel Richmond was living the good life. Even if the roar of the crowd could never distract him from the loss of his young son. But now with an injured shoulder and his career on the line, Axel is stuck recuperating at a ranch in Stardust, Texas . . . striking out only with his gorgeous physical therapist.
Kasha Carlyle has one week to get Axel back in action or she can kiss her much-needed job with the Gunslingers goodbye. And any chance to seek custody of the orphaned half-sister she never knew existed. She quickly learns that Axel’s guarded heart also needs healing . . . requiring all kinds of sneaky plays and sexy moves in extra innings.
Excerpt:
Trying to find the right words for Love of the Game is not the easiest thing to do. I mean I enjoyed
the story, and there are quite few elements to the story that make it complex.
One them is the Kasha Carlyle. When we first meet her, she gives off this untouchable
vibe. Getting to know her is a bit of a challenge, because she doesn’t want to
feel passion. It’s fine to a point. I liked when Axel pointed out
“Life hurts, Kasha. We can’t stop the pain or insulate ourselves from it. … That’s what you’re so afraid to take a chance on us. You’re scared of losing it all.”“But if we let pain keep us from taking chances, then we’re barely alive, and what’s the point?”
Axel had a valid point, and it takes a long time for Kasha’s
wall to come down. I love how patient Axel is with Kasha. Yes, at first he was
totally lusting after her, but something changed inside and found something
special in Kasha.
Kasha’s fear of being out of control stems from her
childhood, which was volatile to say the least, and she had a deep-seated fear
of becoming like her mother. So, it was better to be stone and unmovable. Yet
she couldn’t be that way, because she had a half-sister that she wanted to
bring into her life. It was interesting to watch this dynamic, because her
sister did have Down syndrome. Kasha thought she needed to save and protect
her. I did admire her desire to take her sister in, but I didn’t believe had
truly thought the implication fully. Of course, I wanted to shout at Kasha
“Dude! Get to know her first before me make some rash decisions.” I like how
Lori made the situation between Kasha and her sister workout.
Overall, I did like Love
of the Game. I did like the relationship dynamics between Axel and Kasha.
They could read one another so well, and I think that scared Kasha a little. I
did get a little worry with Kasha and her somewhat unrealistic expectations
when it came to her sisters. Fortunately, she had a strong family support
system. The flow of the story was fantastic and I found myself getting to the
story. Love Axel, because he was too cute at times with trying to break Kasha’s
stone. There were times I just wanted to shake Kasha, but it might be her I
don’t need anyone attitude, and everybody needs someone. One of my favorite
quotes has to be
“You think if you stay above the fray of life, keep your emotions contained you won’t feel any pain. I got new for you Sphinx. You might not feel any pain, but you won’t feel any joy or ecstasy either.”
A hard concept for Kasha, I think that can apply to
everyone. Yes, an enjoyable read.
Copy provided by Avon via Edelweiss.
Excerpt:
Excerpt:
It starts like this: an unexpected spark,
instant attraction, the jolting jab of oh-so-you-feel-this-too? Flash fire in
the belly. A corkscrew twist in the center of the chest. A physical ache that
punches low and heavy and spreads out hard and fast through muscles and
tendons, blood and bone.
Heady.
Erotic.
Thrilling.
Physical
therapist Kasha Carlyle had felt it before, this hot flare,
runaway-mine-train-express that stirred fear in the dark recesses of her mind.
She’d resisted it then. Resisted it now.
But
this? This here? This was something
more.
Stronger.
Bolder.
Scarier.
Coal
black eyes melted her resistance, seared it to ash. In that stopwatch moment
when her gaze struck, and stuck to the steely stare of the Dallas Gunslingers’
most valuable pitcher, Axel Richmond.
He’d
just completed a physical therapy session with his trainer, Paul Hernandez, and
he was sitting on a bench wearing nothing but red workout pants, his bare chest
on display. Every glistening muscle was finely etched. Not a drop of fat on
him. He was a splendid specimen of adult male in top physical shape, life and
passion oozing from his pores.
The
only thing that seemed out of place was the black tattoo over his heart that
spelled out
“Dylan.”
One
look and everything and everyone blended and blurred as white-hot need
transported them into their own little world far from the sports medicine
facility in North Dallas, where baseball coaches, managers, administrators, and
sports medicine specialists surrounded them.
For
a split second.
Then
pure panic set it.
It
was Tuesday, May seventeenth, and the second week of Kasha’s three-month
probationary period at her new job working with injured major league baseball
players.
And
she was already falling in lust.
No.
No. This simply would not do. Keeping her job was essential.
Now
that she had Emma to consider, she urgently needed the bump in salary to pay
off the student loans that had gotten her through her PhD. Not to mention the
excellent health insurance coverage. Finding out about Emma had changed
everything.
Quickly,
Kasha peeled her gaze from Axel’s and studied the insignia on the wall above
his head—the blue and green Gunslingers crossed dueling pistols logo—but she
didn’t see a darn thing. Purposefully, she slowed her breathing, and forced
herself to listen to the conversation.
“I
wish we had better news,” Dr. Tad Harrison, the lead physician on the team,
said to Axel.
Dr.
Harrison had been the one to hire Kasha, and the one to caution her that only
thirty percent of probationary employees made it past the first three months.
“It takes a special breed to work with these ballplayers. They’re long on
arrogance and stubbornness and always think they know best.”
“I
have a lot of patience,” she’d said because it was true.
“I
heard they call you the Exorcist in your current job,” Dr. Harrison had said.
“Why is that?”
She
couldn’t keep from smiling. “My colleagues say I have a talent for taming
difficult clients.”
“And
do you?”
“I
consider physical therapy a calling.” She folded her hands in her lap, and said
without a hint of ego. “I was born for this work.”
Dr.
Harrison stroked his chin. “That’s what Rowdy said too.”
Rowdy Blanton was the field manager for the
Gunslingers. He was also Kasha’s brother-in-law, married to her younger
adoptive sister, Breeanne, and he’d recommended her for the job.
“If
I hire you,” Dr. Harrison had continued. “It will be on your own merits, not
your relationship to Rowdy. He got you this interview, but that’s as far as
nepotism goes.”
“As
it should.” Kasha bobbed her head.
The
uncertainty of the job was why she hadn’t yet rented an apartment in Dallas.
Every day, she made the one hundred and thirty-five mile, one-way trek to the
stadium from her hometown of Stardust.
While
she was optimistic, she was also practical. She’d learned that fate could
derail even the best intentions and you had to be ready to flow whichever way
the current took you. For the next three months, until she solidified the job,
she would keep making that drive.
For
Emma.
Her
thoughts took off in a hundred different directions at once. Stalled. Spun.
Gathered momentum like an encroaching hurricane. Realizing her mind had
wandered, she forcefully shut down the unproductive thoughts and directed her
attention back to the patient.
Axel
Richmond.
One
more look and Kasha was on fire and she hated it. The last thing she wanted
right now was to meet a guy, especially this guy. Whose stark dark hair was
drenched in the heady sheen of sweat.
He
was as sexy as ten kinds of sin, and twice as handsome, and he was studying her
through heavily lidded eyes as if she was the most fascinating creature he’d
seen in years.
Um
. . . yes . . . that’s why her mind had wandered. To keep from dealing with the
feelings his hot-to-trot gaze churned inside her.
She
let out such a long sigh that everyone in the room swiveled to stare. She kept
her face blank and examined her fingernails, pretending she’d discovered a
ragged cuticle.
From
the moment Axel had strolled into the therapy room with his pro-athlete swagger
and princely sense of entitlement, she’d been mesmerized.
Spellbound
by the way his fitted T-shirt hugged his intricately muscled body. Then he’d
stripped off the shirt, giving her an even more arresting view. A thick head of
lush brown hair curled around his ears, and those powerful thighs strained at
the seams of his workout pants.
Whew.
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Author Info
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Lori Wilde has sold seventy-eight works of fiction to four major New York Publishing houses.Her first NYT bestseller, the third book in her Twilight, Texas series, The First Love Cookie Club has been optioned for a television movie. The town of Granbury, Texas, upon which her fictional town of Twilight, Texas is loosely based, honors Lori with an annual Twilight, Texas weekend each Christmas.
A popular writing instructor, Lori is a two time RITA finalist and has four times been nominated for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award. She's won the Colorado Award of Excellence, the Wisconsin Write Touch Award, The Golden Quill, the Lories, and The More than Magic.
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