Sportsman heroes - Kandy Shepherd

 What are your thoughts about heroes as sportsman? (Or heroines as sportswomen, for that matter.) Sports stars are physically at their peak, often young and handsome, disciplined and, for those at the top, often very wealthy. That should surely tick a few boxes for a romance hero.

Yet for a long time, it seemed sports heroes were not a good thing in romance novels. When I proposed a soccer star hero to my Harlequin Romance editor, I wondered would it fly. To my relief, she loved the idea.

A recent browse of the bookstore shows football, baseball and hockey heroes—the sportsman hero is alive and kicking (sorry!) in romance. There are also wonderful rock star heroes—another no-no in the past—but that’s a different story.

My gorgeous soccer star hero just might have been inspired by David Beckham!

 Mitch Bailey, the hero of my June release From Paradise to…Pregnant! is an international soccer star with all the fame, adulation and incredible pressure to stay on top of his game that entails. There’s no room in his life for a committed romance—he can’t afford to be distracted.

Maybe that’s why sports-star heroes were seen as difficult in days gone by. There’s all that training and travel and beautiful women throwing themselves at their idols. But when Mitch meets up again with his high-school friend Zoe Summers he begins to wonder if he’s missing out. Zoe, however, couldn’t think of anything worse than being in the constant media spotlight that Mitch lives under.

Needless to say Zoe and Mitch have a few problems to sort out before they reach that happy-ever-after ending!

Do you like/dislike a sports playing hero? I’d love to know—please share your thoughts with a comment!

I’m giving away one signed paperback copy (or an e-book if you’d prefer) of From Paradise to…Pregnant! Make a comment to be in the draw. Please include your email address if you want to be included in the draw.

North America cover

From Paradise to…Pregnant! is my June 2015 release for Harlequin Romance and is available now in print and e-book.

UK cover

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the

Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter

Photo of David Beckham by Regular Daddy from Wikimedia Commons

From Paradise to…Pregnant! - Kandy Shepherd

People often ask me where I get my ideas for my stories. The answer is from anywhere and everywhere—I’ve even dreamed the start of a book!

But I have a very clear memory of what inspired my June release for Harlequin Romance From Paradise to…Pregnant!

US cover for From Paradise to...Pregnant!

 My initial inspiration for heroine, feisty Zoe Summers and international soccer star Mitch Bailey’s story was a couple I noticed in a hotel where I was staying. (Beware—writers are always people-watching and taking notes!)

The man was drop-dead handsome, and confident and charming with it. Maybe he was someone famous that I didn’t recognise—who knows? His wife was very plain and reserved though elegantly dressed. He obviously adored her and couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She positively glowed with the aura of a well-loved woman. Just looking at them together made this romance writer smile!

It made me want to write a story about two people who seem to be total opposites with the odds stacked against them—and Zoe and Mitch came to life.

UK cover for From Paradise to...Pregnant!

 Then I thought about how interesting it might be if they had met before—say at school—but were never likely to meet again as their lives had gone in such very different directions. And then what if they were thrown together by a natural disaster—trapped in an earthquake, for instance? To make it more interesting, what if there had been unfinished business from the past between them?

So I put Zoe and Mitch on the tropical island of Bali, unbeknown to each other staying in the same resort. Then an earth tremor hits…  Maybe they seek comfort in each other’s arms—and maybe that adds a whole lot of complications they weren’t expecting that take them from one side of the world to the other!

I thoroughly enjoyed getting these seeming misfits together. 

Have you ever had a disaster happen on your vacation? Or something surprising?

I’m giving away two signed, paperback copies of From Paradise to…Pregnant! Make a comment to be in the draw. Please include your email address if you want to be included in the draw.

 From Paradise to…Pregnant! will be released on June 02, 2015 and is available for pre-order now.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the

Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter

Paradise calling

 I’m sharing the cover for my June release from Harlequin Romance, From Paradise to…Pregnant!

 I just love this North American cover, thank you, Harlequin art department. It depicts an important scene in the book, and the hero and heroine are very like how I imagined them to be.

 I also love the emotion visible between Zoe and Mitch. “They’re really into each other,” my daughter said when she first saw it. Of course they are—there’s a pregnancy involved here!

The first part of the story is set in the beautiful tropical island of Bali in Indonesia. Bali is a very popular destination for visitors from around the world and is a particular favorite with Australians.

 I spent a week in the gorgeous resort area of Seminyak last year with my husband as we celebrated our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

In fact I wrote the final words of From Paradise to…Pregnant! while lying around next to the lovely lap pool in our private villa. (Yes, I know I was meant to be on vacation, but writers never really stop!) There’s nothing quite like researching a location—especially when it’s somewhere as fabulous as Bali!

This book is a reunion, friends-to-lovers story and I loved writing it.

Here’s the blurb:

One night with consequences… 

A week in Bali was accountant Zoe Summers's dream vacation. But when the tropical island paradise is hit by an earthquake, she's trapped—alongside Mitch Bailey, sports star and blast from her past! High on the thrill of survival, they seek comfort in each other's arms… 

It was only supposed to be one night, but Zoe soon discovers an unexpected souvenir—she's pregnant! Now Zoe and Mitch will have to ask themselves…can one night lead to parenthood and a lifetime of love?

From Paradise to…Pregnant! is a June 2015 release from Harlequin Romance and is available for pre-order now.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

 www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter