Congratulations to Louisette Lépine and Ali Spooner, the winners of this drawing.
Jen Silver is with us again! She’s celebrating the release of Running from Love by giving away two copies (ebook or paperback). Drop a comment below to enter the drawing. We’ll pick the winners on Friday July 21.
Good luck!
The first time someone suggested I take up golf I laughed. No, golf wasn’t for me. I didn’t think I had any interest in playing a game that involved hitting a small ball around a field. Then one year, while on holiday, my partner and two other friends were going out to play and I tagged along.
Shortly after that I bought my first club, a second-hand 7 iron. A friend took me to the driving range and showed me the basics on how to hit the ball. Imagine my surprise when I actually hit it and it went up in the air and landed, oh, ten feet away. But I was hooked. That was over twenty years ago. Sometimes, in my dreams, I think that if I had learned to play as a youngster I might have been playing on the professional tour. Then I wake up and realize how much dedication and hard work that requires.
So I wrote a story instead. Running From Love was published in June but it had its genesis many years ago when I was sitting in an office with not much work to do, so I would spend part of the day writing. I could pretend I was writing a report if anyone came into the office. The story was a fantasy involving a pro golfer having a liaison with another golfer on the LPGA tour that I fancied at the time.
Plotting a story out before starting work on a novel isn’t something I do normally. When I began writing Running From Love, I had three characters in mind, the love triangle of Sam, Beth and Lydia. (And a Siamese cat called Hermione who chases fish on the aquarium app on Sam’s iPad.) But after the first chapter it became clear that this wasn’t working out as a novel length story.
Then I remembered the hand written pages lurking in a drawer and the character I had created back then…a Canadian pro golfer called Andrea Mihajlovic, the dream on paper. And I thought, why not resurrect her? She’s older, but possibly not any wiser when it comes to committing herself to long-term relationships.
This led to forming an actual plan for the novel. I now had a structure I thought would work. There is a prologue, which sets up the conflict between Sam and her wife Beth. Chapters one and two then take the reader back six months to find out what led them to the brink of divorce. It’s not really a spoiler to let potential readers know that the Sam, Beth and Lydia are destined to end up at the same place, learning to play golf. As I couldn’t resist using some golfing terms in the table of contents, Part One is named, Practice Round.
Parts Two and Three take place at the golf resort in Cornwall and are named, Temperley Cliffs – Front Nine and Temperley Cliffs – Back Nine, respectively. The final and fourth part is called Match Play. Although these titles may not mean much to non-golfers, they fit the story nicely, in my opinion.
My pro golfer is sexier than I had originally imagined her. She still hasn’t settled down with anyone but her current lover has lasted longer than most. This is the owner of the golf resort, Lady Freya Temperley. Andi thinks she’s safe from making a commitment to Freya as they are both tied up in marriages of convenience and only meet up when her tour commitments allow. She can enjoy their time together with no fear of having to say “I love you”.
So, here’s a short excerpt to show that although golf is an integral part of the whole story, there’s plenty of romance involved:
Andi watched the ball as it flew past her and landed softly in the bunker.
“Fuck! That was supposed to land on the green.” Freya’s language deteriorated the more frustrated she became when her game was off.
“You lifted your head. There wasn’t anywhere else it would go, once you did that.”
“I hate you.” Freya slammed the pitching wedge back into her bag.
Andi glanced around to make sure they were out of sight of anyone else on the course before pulling the smaller woman close and kissing her. Freya’s lips parted readily to let her tongue explore. They broke apart to come up for air and Andi grinned down at her. “I love it when you hate me.”
“I’ll show you just how much I hate you when we’re finished here.” Freya’s teasing tone was accompanied by a squeeze of her buttocks, and Andi wanted to finish the round then and there.
“How about we skip the next few holes? I think there might be a storm front moving in.”
Freya looked up at the blue sky with only large fluffy cumulous clouds drifting slowly above their heads. “I think you might be right.”
Andi moved quickly out of her grasp and ran over to the bunker. She retrieved the ball, gave the sand a cursory once over with the rake and raced back to their buggy.
“Let’s get a move on before we get wet.”
Freya started the cart moving forward. “I’m already wet.”
“Can’t this thing go any faster?” Andi slid her hand up Freya’s thigh.
Whether or not you enjoy knocking a small ball around a field, I hope you’ll check out Running From Love. As the back of the book blurb says—“Find out what happens when this diverse group of people find themselves together—sport, betrayal, jealousy, and love form an unforgettable fusion of emotions.”
And don’t forget to enter the draw for the giveaway.
Running From Love is available from Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes
Jen lives in West Yorkshire with her long-term partner whom she married in December 2014. Reading, writing, golf, archery, and taking part in archaeological digs all form part of Jen’s everyday life. Her novels, published by Affinity Rainbow Publications, include the Starling Hill Trilogy: Starting Over, Arc Over Time, and Carved in Stone. The Circle Dance, Christmas at Winterbourne, and Running From Love are standalone books.
For the characters in Jen’s stories, life definitely begins at forty, and older, as they continue to discover and enjoy their appetites for adventure and romance.
- Blog: https://jenjsilver.wordpress.com/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/jenjsilver
- Twitter: @jenjsilver
Photos: Book cover / Golf course / Jen at golf course / fish
Romance and Sports, even better together!!! I’ll be sure to check out Running from Love, I thoroughly enjoyed Christmas at Winterbourne so I know Running from love will certainly be a winner!
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Now I want to run out and play putt-putt! … and find love.
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one of my favourite authors – look forward to reading her newest book
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Great blog Jen!
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I love your stories…and I miss playing golf. Some work colleagues got me interested several years back. I played until I broke my right hand in a motorcycle accident and, after two surgeries to repair it, found I couldn’t grip a club properly anymore. Sigh. I sold my clubs and stayed away from courses…to painful.
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Sounds like a good read and an even better way to experience golf from the comfort of my reading chair 🙂
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Romance shmomance, I didn’t realize your new release involved golfing! I’m excited to read this. We don’t have many golfers in our Lesfic reads. Hope it’s a hole-in-one success for you.
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Any delusion that I might enjoy golf is destroyed every time I try to play miniature golf… So frustrating! But I do admire people who have the talent for it, or any other type of sport.
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I loved the book. A lovely interweaving of different women’s experiences set against the backdrop of a golf break
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Just bought this book at GCLS from Jen got it signed Jen was amazing I don’t normally read books I prefer to read on my kindle but Jen was very nice so I got Running From Love ❤️ I started reading it today and can’t put it down it’s an awesome story can’t wait to get to the end. Thanks again Jen for persuading me to buy your amazing book 📚
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I’m not a golfer myself, rather played tennis and racquetball while younger but always love a good romance story. So you can count me in for the draw. Thnaks!
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Love my golf and stories about it. Good luck with the new book. Count me in please!
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Sport and Love, maybe the best combination. Please count me in. Thank you
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Hi Jen,
It was great seeing you in Chicago. I hope this novel does really well for you and I’d love to win a copy!
Alison
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Sounds like a good read. I’ll have to check it out 🙂
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Jen’s books never disappoint. This sounds like another winner!
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I love golf so this sounds like the book for me. Please enter me in the drawing.
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I loved meeting you earlier this month.
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Nice seeing you in Chicago, Jen. I’d love to win a copy of the new book.
Dian
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Running From Love sounds great. Looking forward to reading it.
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Not much of a golfer myself (besides mini golf), but I like girls who play golf, lol. Sounds like a great read!
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I’ve never understood the allure of golf but your description and excerpt look interesting. I’ll be sure to read the book.
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I’d love to learn more about golf… Grin…
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Sounds like my kind of book. Please count me in.
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Sounds like a great book.
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Goodness sakes!! I haven’t played since I dislocated my elbow but that could change after reading that little ditty. Count me in!
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I’d love a sand wedge! Looking forward to reading this as I thoroughly enjoyed Starling Hill. Hope to get to meet you at one of these uk shindigs!
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After that book blurb I am going to have to own this book whether I win or lose this contest!!
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I’m not a golfer myself but have read & enjoyed several lesfic romances centered around the sport. Yours sounds like it’ll be good.
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Lesbians and golf – sounds like a winner to me!
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Didn’t know I could be interested in a story about golf:)
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Ooo this sounds great. Need to check it out when I have some pennies again.
Good luck with the books release.
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Sounds like a fun read. I appreciate older characters.
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Golf is a wonderful game and I’m glad that you have added it into the plot. Looking forward to this one.
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I can’t play anymore due to a bad back… I would love to read your story! Thanks for offering a chance to get this book!
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I enjoy reading about almost any sport even if I know nothing about it. Thanks for a chance to win what sounds like a really good story.
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Congrats on the new release, Jen! It sounds like the kind of story I like reading, although, I am not a golfer. But my wife is. Nice to meet you in Chicago!
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I always think of learning how to play golf – maybe this book will inspire me to get out there and just do it! Can’t wait to read it anyway!
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I haven’t been to the driving range since I moved to the desert. This makes me want to get back to it.
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