trueromance

Congrats to all — & if you didn’t win, try again next week! & bring your friends to www.bordersblog.com/trueromance! Please email SueG if you are a winner, sgrimsha@bordersgroupinc.com — include the day you won & your authors prize — PLUS your snail mail.

Here we go . . .

Sunday - Toni Blake’s winner: Bev Stephans

Monday - Karen’s Harlequin winners: Amanda; Joder; Erica

Tuesday - Deb’s Romcon Winner: Tori; Cherlyn Cook; CristenT; Susan Meir; Jenna Kernan; Charlston; Caridad

Wednesday - Jodi Romcon winner is Christen T

Thursday - Kris K’s winner: Karen W

Friday - Joanna Bourne - Kaetrin; Jeanette Juan; SaraC

Saturday w/Nancy Gideon -PatrishL

Wow - that’s lots - o - winners!

Now, for this week — join us with our special guests:

Sunday - Me With Virginia’s recipes!

Monday - Tessa Dare!

Tuesday - Lori Foster & friends

Wednesday - Gayle Callen

Thursday - Sheila Clover & review of Lori Fosters reader event weekend!

Friday - Helen Brenna

Saturday - Candace Poarch

Thanks for blogging with us — make sure you stop buy for a chance to win more fabulous prizes & meet new & favorite authors. Until next time,
Happy Romance!
SueG

Hockey, NASCAR and Romance Novels

A Love Story:

By Stacey Agdern

Anybody who’s spent any length of time with me is bound to discover I’m a hockey fan. A bit more discussion, and we’ll uncover my NASCAR fandom. But what’s always fascinated people, is how connected my sports fandom is to my romance reading.

I was a hockey fan before I started reading Romance, and when I read ‘See Jane Score’ by Rachel Gibson for the first time, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. A lovely mix of the genre I had just started to read and the sport I followed to almost all distraction. And my romances stayed with me through bad times (the infamous lockout in 2004-5 where reading Rachel Gibson and Deidre Martin’s books kept me sane) and good (the obsessive reading of Martin’s Chasing Stanley during the Ranger’s short playoff run in 2007 and the heralded arrival of Gibson’s True Love and other Disasters after the Rangers’ disastrous post season of last year.) In short, Gibson and Martin were able to provide me the happy endings that my dear team could not.

On the other hand, reading NASCAR romance novels turned me into a fan of that sport. Of course, I wasn’t a blank slate. I’d watched Formula One when I was in law school; the commentators had relaxing voices and it was a great thing to listen to before I went to sleep. And when I picked up my first NASCAR books, authors I’d read before, like Debra Webb and Roxanne St. Claire, were able to bring me into a world I’d never seen. They were able to describe what was going on in the garage, around the track, and in an excited, obsessive fandom that I’d never been exposed to. What they managed to do was to bring these people, and their stories, to life. And make me watch a race.

It wasn’t very long after I cracked open my first Pamela Britton book that I went to my first NASCAR Champions’ Week event. I chatted to the mechanics stationed with their cars about how my love of romance novels pulled me into the NASCAR world, and how cool it was that I was standing next to a real live race car, even though I’d never seen a race. I also visited the displays that were set up in places as varied as the Hard Rock Café and the M&M store, talking to those who shared my newfound love for NASCAR and the impact of the NASCAR romance phenomenon.

So what is it that connects sports fandom and romance? For me, it’s simply this. Romance writers, whether they’re writing thrillers about SEAL teams, stories set in small towns, or in outer space, are able to convey the emotions and actions that bind a group of people in a way that no other group of writers can. And when reading about their favorite sports, those emotions, those views from behind closed doors, are what sports fans are looking for. And, maybe once in a while, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, a Championship.

Stacey Agdern is an award winning bookseller, one of Barbara Vey’s WW ladies, and reviews Manga and Graphic novels for Romantic Times Magazine. She is a New York Rangers fan, and mourns the fact that Champions’ Week is not held in New York this year.