Heidi Rice: On the First Night of Christmas....

My true love gave to me... A smokin' hawt cover for my next book!

Adore my bad boy hero with the lipstick-marked stubble, and my sassy heroine... Although had a little wobble over her fuscia eyeliner! That said, Son One tells me the eighties is back in, so maybe it's trendier than I think.... And of course he has no memory of ABBA's many fashion faux pas!

Can't wait now to see what my Harlequin Presents Extra cover will look like. Should be interesting to compare the two and have a little straw poll here of essential items such as Hero Hotness Factor, Unwrappability, etc.

I had hoped to post a sneak peek of this book on my website at this point, but as you may have noticed am having some problems with my website. Namely, it's vanished into thin air and I can't find it anywhere on my computer. Oops. Still am in the process of having a brand new website professionally designed for me, so it shouldn't be long before you get a little taster of my delicious, devil-may-care web design millionaire Jace Ryan, my lovelorn but game-for-a-fling book illustrator Cassie Fitzgerald and their fortuitous meeting one stormy Christmas night on Oxford Street.

My Book Recs!

Dirty Secret by Mira Lyn Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I know absolutely NADA about ice hockey, I'm a Brit after all. But when I saw my old writing mate Mira Lyn Kelly had written a series of HAWT hockey romances I hit the insta-buy button because I know what a fabulous writer she is – and I had a week-long holiday in Spain with lots of lounging-around-a-pool time to fill. I'm happy to say I was not disappointed. Because this book hit all my sweet spots hot hero, smart savvy heroine, snappy dialogue and deep deep emotion wise.... (Although I still know nada about hockey I feel I can now talk quite knowledgeably about how hot ice hockey players are at least!)

Dirty Secret is the first of the Slayers Hockey team stories (although Greg and Julia feature in Dirty Player, in another series, which I will sooo be checking out after I finish this series). Anyway Dirty Secret features team captain Greg Baxter's arch rival Vaughn Vasser and Greg's little sister Natalie, who is absolutely OFF LIMITS to the rest of the team. But most of all to Vaughn, who recently threw a punch at the cap, is not much liked by the Chicago press, the Slayers fans or nearly all of his teammates either, and has his sights set on a trade back to Oregon ASAP...

But what Vaughn does not know is that the "Allie" he had an uber hot one-night stand with eight months ago in Vancouver, and who ran out on him without leaving a number and who he cannot forget is none other than the guy he hates little sis. Natalie is so busted when Vaughn turns up at her door, after discovering who she is... And that she knew who he was all along, and that's why she was using an assumed name. To say he's pissed is putting it mildly, but the truth is he is also hurt. WTF was she thinking, leaving him in the lurch like that after pretty much the best night of his life? Ofc, it's only a matter of time before pissed gives way to provocative, because these two really cannot keep their hands off each other, or any other crucial parts of their anatomy tbf. But while the secret sex scenes are the perfect blend of explosively intense and toe-curlingly spicy, the real secret in this book is that the hard-nosed (and hard everything else) Vaughn, is actually a really sweet guy. But only Natalie ever gets to see that side of him...

Not all that surprisingly, given their explosive chemistry, it doesn't take long before their under-the-radar romance is impossible to keep under the radar (or anything else for that matter).

Once Greg finds out that his rival is secretly dating his kid sister, all hell breaks loose, leaving Vaughn's career in the crosshairs and Natalie having to deal with her big brother's ego explosion. So how is Vaughn not gonna blow up his career and get over the girl he can't have but still wants all the damn time? How is Natalie gonna get her big bro to back the hell off and give her space to figure out that Vaughn is the guy for her? Which is a big ask for her, because she spent her whole life living in the shadow of Greg's career. And she does not want to risk living in the shadow of another man's career - however right he seems....

I'll leave the answers to those crucial questions for you to find out, but I was rooting for them both throughout the fallout, even when they made mistakes. I loved the underlying theme,too, that love is never easy, that chemistry can be dangerous as well as delicious but that ultimately it's the compromises you make and the secrets you are brave enough to share about who you really are, and what you really want that give you the greatest rewards.

What a terrific start to this series, I'm already three books in and I am TOTALLY ADDICTED which is good because I'm now back in a cold and rainy London, and some Slayers Hockey heat is the perfect antedote. So thank you Mira Lyn for giving me my summer back, I appreciate it.

View all my reviews

9 comments:

Rachael Johns said...: Oh. MY. GOSH!!! LOVE the title and LOVE the cover. Can't wait to read it as always. x; 23 August 2011 at 07:01
Heidi Rice said...: Aw cheers Rach, figured you'd like it... Hero looks extra delicious I think.; 23 August 2011 at 08:48
Jackie Ashenden said...: Real nice, Heidi! Y'know, I think the fuschia eye-shadow is pretty cool. :-); 23 August 2011 at 14:00
Sonali said...: oooohh LOVE the cover!!!!...it's so naughty!; 23 August 2011 at 14:13
Lacey Devlin said...: It's gorgeous! Congrats, Heidi.; 23 August 2011 at 15:38
Anonymous said...: Ohhh yummy, a new book from you and a gorgeous hero to oggle....

Great stuff :-D; 23 August 2011 at 16:01
Heidi Rice said...: Oh cheers guys, knew you'd like it!! Love the fact that the hero looks almost comatose from lurve!; 24 August 2011 at 01:02
Alexandra said...: Lovely cover - the eye shadow too! Love Christmas romances and your hero sounds gorgeous just by his name!; 27 August 2011 at 01:50
Desere said...: The cover is so gorgeous very eye catching I love it!

Congrats on what I am positive will be another stunning tale !

Desere; 27 August 2011 at 13:43

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Tuesday, 23 August 2011

On the First Night of Christmas....

9 comments: