Behind The Covers

Love triangles can only end badly.

Last post, I unveiled my new covers. But more importantly, what lies behind those flowery covers? Flowery prose?

Nope. Hockey Is My Boyfriend presents one fantastical question. What if, when you were ready to settle down, you got to choose between the only two guys in your life you had loved?

As a reader, I hated those books that had two guys fighting for the heart of a heroine, but one was all rich and smarmy while the other was all handsome and virtuous. Because then it’s not really a choice is it? Every reader is yelling at the heroine to pick the good guy, and then she does. It’s not really a choice and it’s kind of boring.

So, when I wrote this story, I created two characters that were equally good matches for our spirited heroine. I’m not going to say anything about these guys right now, you can discover them for yourself and make your own choice. All in good time, my little pumpkins.

I am clearly someone who writes long. How the Cookie Crumbles was 147K words, to the delight of some readers and the consternation of others. And right now, Hockey Is My Boyfriend is weighing in at a scale-tipping 290K words! Phew.

So faced with the option of editing out half the book or dividing it up, I choose division. Hockey Is My Boyfriend is the story of Kelly Tanaka. She’s a regular person, but she does love hockey. She plays hockey, watches hockey, and fantasizes about hockey. (She fantasizes about playing high level hockey, not whatever you might have been thinking!) Not surprisingly, she ends up dating hockey players. Even though romance has never been her priority, she seems to end up with some pretty interesting guys. And they’re hot, if that sort of thing matters to you.

And it’s a long story because it spans a long period of time, from her first kiss to her last. Well, not her last kiss in that she dies or anything, just when she decides that this is the guy she’d like to kiss for the rest of her life. The series is divided into three individual stories, each of which has an ending, but not necessarily a happy one. Part One is the story of Kelly and her first love, Phil Davidson. Part Two is the story of Kelly and her second love, James Friesen. Part Three is about Kelly and her career. Oh, and also that little choice I mentioned.

I have finished my seventh millionth rewrite of Part One, and it’s now in the hands of my editor. After that, polishing, formatting, and publishing will follow in short order.

By the way, only the lovely Myan commented on those covers in the last post. So after taking her comments into consideration, I have redone the first cover. See how much power commenters have around here? You could have suggested I add sparkly rainbow unicorns and I would have redone the covers! Anyhoo, you can choose your favourite in the poll. (Apologies to everyone who tried to vote before, the Blogger polls are apparently not working right now. I added a new poll now.)

I still kinda like the new one, but the new "old" one looks good too. I could be swayed by a majority of readers. Or Myan voting multiple times for her choice. Like EA Sports and the cover of NHL15, whatever the results I maintain the final say. But, I'm listening to you. Really I am.

Option A

Option B