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The Gabbers  JMC"JMC is fascinated by the politics of romance reading and writing, and by the genre’s position in the publishing and media worlds." read more...
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Sports (or sport?) in romance
« Reading Doldrums | Home | Reading Slump 101 »  In the past couple of weeks, some amazing things have happened in the world of sport. Leads have been lost by the Greatest of All Time…in two sports! A future NFL Hall of Famer has wibbled about whether he’s actually retired or not. World records have been broken on the track and in the pool. And the Premier League football season kicked off. After watching Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro chase tennis balls around center court in Montreal on Sunday, I went looking for a good romance that is set in the sporting world. And could not find any new ones. (Yes, Jill Shalvis’s Double Play is a recent release, but I’ve already read it…and enjoyed it, despite some nitpicky issues with some of the baseball details.) Several years ago, I posted a question about romance novels with heroes and/or heroines who were professional athletes or perhaps serious amateurs. Several recommendations were made, but there was not an extensive list. It seems (to me) that heroes and heroines are often athletic, but that talent or skill is seldom their profession. In historicals, the gentlemen nearly all box with Gentleman Jackson; the ladies and gentlemen ride to the hounds or are “bruising riders”; the ladies are proficient archers. In contemporaries, the men and women are almost uniformly in excellent physical shape, often without mention of any sort of work out to earn the muscles or shape. The perceived lack of sport-set romances makes me wonder: is there an unwritten romance rule about athlete heroes and heroines? Are they the equivalent of rockstars? Verboten? Are there any sport romances that you would recommend? This entry was posted by JMC on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 6:02 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 7 Responses to “Sports (or sport?) in romance”Leave a Comment |
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August 20th, 2009 at 7:32 am
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August 20th, 2009 at 9:08 am
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August 20th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Wild speculation – perhaps the kind of people who play sports don’t – generalise, generalise – also write books. Because that’s a sedentary kind of thing to do. So then there are fewer sports people in literature, because relatively few authors have that experience to draw on.
Thinking about it though, I’ve just read a Kipling that came free with my Sony, and the description of deep sea fishing sounded so real, it made me suppose he had experienced it – and I’ve also been rereading John Buchan, whose characters never stop bounding energetically up mountains – in a way that makes me presume he did the same in real life.
Which would seem to show that authors are not necessarily sedentary beings, and that my theory sucks.
August 20th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
There are surprisingly a lot of sports related romance out there. Destiny Blaine has a football wives series, Kate Angell has a baseball series. Deirdre Martin has a hockey series. Heidi Betts alludes to a sports related romance in her new knitting series. Harlequin has the NASCAR series. Erin McCarthy is doing a NASCAR themed series. Francis Ray wrote a book based around NASCAR. And someone else has done some sports stuff, but I forget who right now. The author of Blind Date and other disasters or something like that.
August 21st, 2009 at 6:35 am
I enjoyed Laney Cairo’s m/m about Australian Rules football, ‘One Way Street’ (review here:)
http://unique.logophilos.net/?p=445
And adored the baseball-themed hilarious gay romance, ‘Almost like being in love’ by Steve Kluger (review here:)
http://unique.logophilos.net/?p=724
M/m is a genre where sports are certainly not forbidden for the heroes, though the above are the only two I can call to mind with any pleasure right now.
I don’t follow or participate in sports, but I find any book where an author is passionate about their subject and can convey that passion – whether it’s sport, horse racing, or butterfly collecting – fascinating. I adore learning while I read!
August 22nd, 2009 at 6:55 am
Susan Elizabeth Phillips- Nobodys Baby But Mine started her Chicago Stars football series also has a golf pro.
Rachel Gibson-True Love & Other Disasters & See Jane Score- Hockey
Carly Phillips-”Hot Zone” series baseball
Bella Andre -Game For Anything-football
I enjoy all of Jill Shalvis’ books!
April 11th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
I opine that to get the loan from banks you must present a good reason. But, one time I have got a student loan, because I was willing to buy a bike.