Winter Olympics Dream Comes to Life

Wow. It’s hard to believe this day is nearly here – the release of the very first book I ever wrote!

Years before any of my historicals were published, I was watching the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, when I noticed an Aussie female athlete holding hands with a North American male athlete as they entered the stadium. I was intrigued about how two elite athletes from opposite sides of the world could meet, let alone sustain a relationship, especially considering all the challenges of training, competition, and time zones. Despite my best researching efforts I couldn’t find out who they were, and still to this day don’t know who they were. Regardless, this couple took hold of me. I’d dream about them at night, imagining conversations, imagining settings and locations, getting to a point where I’d scribble thoughts down in the middle of the night then try and decipher my writing in the morning.  And thus Love on Ice began. My Aussie heroine became Holly Travers, a short track skater (because hello: awesome bravery and toughness right there!) and ‘he’ became Brent Karlsson, a Canadian ice hockey player (bc: tough, skilled, and handsome), and their story explored the difficulties of long distance love.

            I’ve always been intrigued with long distance relationships, and how couples can maintain a romance when apart. Relationships can be hard at the best of times, but add in distance and 14 hour time zone differences, and other commitments (like training and study and work) I can imagine that finding time to really connect with someone on the opposite side of the world would be extremely challenging. And yet it happens. One of Australia’s gold medal-winning athletes Lydia Lassilos married a man from Finland. My own sister (an Aussie) lives in Canada, and has recently become engaged to a South African man who lives in England – their journey to romance definitely hasn’t been easy!

            I loved exploring how Love on Ice’s fictional couple (Holly Travers and Brent Karlsson) could meet, because I knew it couldn’t just be a ‘met at the Olympics’ kind of deal. So I gave Holly a backstory of being an exchange student, who became best friends with Brent’s twin sister, Bree, who gets her own romance in last month’s release The Breakup Project, which is where we first get to meet Brent.

            Brent Karlsson has allowed success to go to his head, and as he’s gained endorsements and hordes of screaming female fans he’s also let go of some of his godly grounding, resulting in a string of girlfriends that suggest he’s not just a player on the ice. Holly’s down to earth attitude means she’s unimpressed by his celebrity, and when they’re partnered at Bree’s wedding sparks soon start to fly.

            After The Breakup Project’s intervention, Brent is now keen to prove he has changed and that he’s living God’s way now, attending the online Bible study group that connects Christian hockey players in the NHL. But Holly remains unconvinced, Brent’s reputation proving hard to get past when pictures on the internet suggest he hasn’t really changed. This is where the tyranny of distance proves problematic, as it’s one thing to prove yourself faithful when you live in the same town, but trust is a lot harder to earn when you live far away.

            Their relationship develops as Holly starts to see his good qualities, especially during his care for her during a family tragedy, and Brent learns that real love takes grit, patience and grace. I always enjoy working these real qualities of love into my stories – I want my books to provide more than just warm fuzzies – and it’s wonderful to see readers responding with messages and reviews that reflect their appreciation for these things.

            I’m so happy that Love on Ice releases next week, just in time for next month’s Winter Olympics, and I’m excited to give readers a sneak peek into some of the behind-the-scenes details of this sporting event. For those readers who might be worried that there is too much sports readers have told me that it’s way more romance-focused than sporty, so if you are someone who enjoys sweet and swoony Christian contemporary romance, then I hope you’ll consider reading Love on Ice, and enjoy this story of how two people from opposite sides of the world can connect and find romance that leads to a God-given happily ever after.