Own Goals by D. S. Dehel
Sometimes You Just Know by D.S. Dehel, author of OWN GOALS.
Often, very often, writers have no idea where their ideas come from. Generally, this is me. Oh, I can point to a moment when an image or character popped into my head, but usually that’s all. Penalty Kicks and Own goals are different. Honestly, it’s one of the few times I’ve gotten revenge in writing. [Insert demonic laughter.]
I am a “sports widow,” more specifically, a “soccer widow.” I know I’m not alone in this, but it doesn’t really help. For those who aren’t familiar with the term (You lucky creatures), it’s when your SO becomes obsessed with a sport (or hunting or refurbishing cars or…you get it.) you are left alone, ignored, and faced with all the responsibility for home, children, and pets.
Sometimes You Just Know by D.S. Dehel
Often, very often, writers have no idea where their ideas come from. Generally, this is me. Oh, I can point to a moment when an image or character popped into my head, but usually that’s all. Penalty Kicks and Own goals are different. Honestly, it’s one of the few times I’ve gotten revenge in writing. [Insert demonic laughter.]
I am a “sports widow,” more specifically, a “soccer widow.” I know I’m not alone in this, but it doesn’t really help. For those who aren’t familiar with the term (You lucky creatures), it’s when your SO becomes obsessed with a sport (or hunting or refurbishing cars or…you get it.) you are left alone, ignored, and faced with all the responsibility for home, children, and pets.
My husband not only watches soccer, he plays it, too–and for those who don’t know: it’s a year round sport. Some weeks he plays four nights a week, then he’d watch the English Premier League AND Major League Soccer on the weekends. We joked that I better not go into labor during the World Cup. At least I joked about it. He might have been serious.
Soccer is the soundtrack of my life. In an effort to relate, I learned about the sport (Though to be honest, that offside thing still confuses me.) I even have my favorite teams– Derby and I can identify many players besides David Beckham.
Did you know that many players are quite good looking when they’re not all kitted up and sweaty? Seriously. Check them out.
Eventually, it all seeped into my consciousness, and when I saw a call for a May-December story, I thought, “Why not?” And the tale that became Game of Two Halves: Penalty Kicks and the sequel Own Goals was born.
So while the Spirit may not exist, it’s based on things I have seen and participated in, and I had a great time coming up with the Spectors supporters and their rituals. And adding the steamy parts. You gotta have steamy parts when hot guys in shorts are involved.
Blurb for Penalty Kicks
Love is a beautiful game.
India Roberts can’t wait until her divorce is final, then she’ll be Ms. Jackson. At 40, she’s waited long enough to pursue her goal of becoming a fashion designer, and a chance encounter may just be the beginning of a new career.
What she doesn’t need is a new romance.
When soccer player Matt Bettony rescues her from a bad date and makes her rough night oh-so-much better, she discovers that she is ready for something, even if it isn’t too serious. Thirteen years her junior, he’s the perfect fit for a no-strings love affair that won’t interfere with her dream…until Matt gets other ideas.
Both India and Matt have goals they’re chasing and are seeing some success, but soccer is a game played in two halves, and their time is just beginning. They have to withstand the scorn of others and pressure that comes with fame to win the game called love.
Excerpt from Penalty Kicks:
Life begins in the second half.
Blurb: India Jackson’s star is on the rise. It’s taken forty years and a drawn-out divorce, but she’s finally proud of who she is and how life is treating her. Now, she’s setting her sights on the future. There is big snag, though — how people react when they find out her boyfriend Matt is only twenty-seven. Most everyone thinks she’s gold-digging by dating one of the year’s hottest soccer talents, and she wonders how long it’ll be before he’s had enough of the gossip and call it quits.
Planting more seeds of doubt in her mind is wunderkind designer Rémy Stirling who wants to launch more than India’s shoe line, but she’s focused on proving to the world—and her ex-husband—that she can be a major force in fashion.
The second half of any game is fraught with tension and errors are likely. In soccer—and in life — an Own Goal happens when you screw up and score for the other team. When Matt racks up a personal one, India wonders if her future is with a different man…or if she’s making an unforced error of her own.
Excerpt from Own Goals:
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About D. S. Dehel
S. Dehel is a lover of literature, good food, and the Oxford comma. When she is not immersed in a book, she is mom to her kids and spoiling her rather pampered feline, Mr. Darcy or her equally pampered puppy, Jameson, and her slightly psychotic Australian Shepherd, Piper. Having finally retire, she spends her days dreaming up new plotlines. She adores literary allusions, writing sex scenes, and British men. Actually, make that hot men in general. Her devoted husband is still convinced she writes children’s books. Please don’t enlighten him.
Contact: https://linktr.ee/dsdehel
