Heidi Rice: The Way We Were

Friday, 15 October 2010

Book Comp, First Kisses and Robert Redford in Navy Whites

I'm over at the PHS today, getting all goose-pimplely about the classic weepie The Way We Were... Does anyone look better in Navy Whites than Robert Redford in that movie? I guess Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentlemen gives him some serious competition... You decide.

Now, you can pop over and comment there to win a copy of my new Modern Heat novel, Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger, which isn't actually due out until November 17th in the UK... But as I've just received a whole box of them, and I'm super proud of this book, and the gorgeous new cover design for Modern Heat - plus as this is going to be my last Modern Heat book (little sniff of sadness here), with the line morphing into Riva in January - I've decided to give away a copy here too. Simultaneously. How cool and astrologically aligned of me is that!!

All you have to do is email the answer to this simple question to heidi@heidi-rice.com! You may have to scroll back through this blog to get the answer as the details of this book won't be on the M&B website till November 1st. I'll also be posting a sneak peek on my website this weekend so watch out for that. I'll pick the lucky winner next Friday.

Q: In which British coastal county does Maddy rescue Rye from the waves.

Now in other news, I send thru the revisions on Cal and Ruby's story on Tuesday night.... Late on Tuesday night, and am currently keeping my fingers crossed that my ed likes them. I've also been super-busy mentoring my two fab entries in the New Voices competition. So if you want to check out any of the top ten second chapters which are now up, you can here.

And I'm over on I Heart Presents today talking about First Kisses, Second Chances and Unfinished Business with the Duke... Accompanied by this photo of me as a scruffy tomboy (I take no responsibility for that mess of a hairdo, my mother didn't believe in hairbrushes and came from the just-lop-off-the-fringe school of haircuts).

So if you have a great first kiss story - either good, bad or ugly - then come share.

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.

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Friday, 15 October 2010

Book Comp, First Kisses and Robert Redford in Navy Whites