Wow! I can’t believe it but it’s finally release day for Love on Ice, the second book in my new Original Six contemporary romance series, about players from the original six teams of the National Hockey League and their paths to romance.
This book has been over a decade in the making (and actually kicked off my writing journey!), after I watched the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and was intrigued when I saw an Australian female athlete enter the stadium holding hands with a North American male athlete. What was their story? How could two people from opposite ends of the earth meet, let alone sustain a relationship, given the gruelling nature of elite sports, training, study, work commitments and balancing that with all the challenges of living multiple time zones apart? Despite my best efforts I couldn’t find out who they were, so I made up ‘their’ story.
The Aussie became Holly Travers, a short track skater (because I wanted to avoid the cliched figure skater, and short track is insanely tough!), and the guy became Brent Karlsson, a Canadian hockey player, who plays for Detroit in the NHL. (My original version had him play for Chicago, but I changed things to make my Chicago setting for the third book in the series, because…reasons)
Here in Australia we love our sport, but winter sports is something we really only focus on once every four years, when the Winter Olympics occur. Despite this, we’ve had more than our fair share of World Cup wins and Winter Olympic glory, which is pretty good considering we’re a country that experiences WAY more sunshine than (usually artificial) snow. I think Aussies who have a passion for these kinds of winter sports are amazingly inspiring. You have to be when you’re forced to train overseas for much of the year, and most athletes require jobs to pay their way, as government funding support is pretty limited. So Holly is someone who’s passionate about her sport, but finds her commitments to work and study eat into her training time – let alone her time for anything more.
Contrast this to Brent, one of the NHL’s hottest forwards, complete with millionaire status, sponsorship and endorsement deals galore, and a bevy of adoring fans which means he’s now trying to live down his reputation as a player. I think we all know people who have struggled to shake off poor choices and prove themselves to have changed. Brent is similar, except he’s in the spotlight, so anything he does is magnified and can easily be misconstrued – especially when it’s reported as ‘fact’ in online fan forums.
Brent is Holly’s best friend’s twin brother, and Bree (who we met in last month’s release The Breakup Project) hasn’t exactly been shy about her brother’s reputation with the ladies. Brent might say he’s changed, but Holly struggles to trust him – something made all the harder by the fact they live so far apart. How can he prove he’s a changed man when he never sees her? She knows she’s not the type of girl he usually goes for – should she even let herself get distracted when her coach just wants her to focus, focus, focus on training?
I’ve been fascinated by long distance relationships for years. My Australian sister (who lives in Vancouver) is this year marrying a South African man who lives in England – talk about a global-sized relationship! I loved exploring the ramifications of long distance relationships in Love on Ice, as well as exploring how two Christians navigate the highs and lows of sporting excellence and what this means for their faith.
I’m so thrilled by early readers saying they loved this book: “a fantastic page turner,” “I just love the characters and the conflict. Talk about a swoonworthy book,” “Absolutely loved the faith thread in this story,” “adrenaline, chemistry, romance and lots of wooing!” and “I never thought I’d give 5 stars to a book about ice hockey and speed skating!” It’s definitely been a lot of work, carving my original 155k words into a more manageable 98k, but this inside peek into what it takes to be a Winter Olympian is something I hope readers enjoy, especially with the Winter Olympics due to be held next week.
I do hope you’ll check out this story!
Here’s the back cover copy:
She’s focused on winning gold. He wants to lose the player tag. Can a fake relationship become something real?
Aussie short track skater Holly Travers has one goal – make the Vancouver Games, no matter what it takes. She has no time for distractions, even if they come in the handsome form of her Canadian best friend’s twin brother. This hockey player may say he’s not a player, but can she trust him?
Brent Karlsson has one goal – make his sister’s best friend realize he’s a changed man and she should give him a chance. When a set-up in Hawaii helps these two opposites realize they have more in common than they thought, what happens when he wants to turn their fake relationship into something real? And how can a relationship work when these two elite athletes never see each other and live on opposite sides of the world?
Love on Ice is the second book in the Original Six hockey romance series, a sweet and swoony, slightly sporty, Christian contemporary romance series.
Purchase now at Amazon.com Amazon.com.au Amazon.co.uk Apple GooglePlay Kobo Nook
Before I forget, please check out my website at www.carolynmillerauthor.com (where you can also sign up for my newsletter) where I have a bunch of special bonuses, like sample chapters, travel pics and playlists connected to this series. I’m working on my fitness this year, and enjoying listening to Holly’s Workout playlist for inspiration!
Now let’s chat! Do you enjoy watching the Summer or Winter Olympics? If so, what’s your favorite sport? Do you or any of your family members / friends enjoy playing sports? Have you ever tried to live down a reputation or struggled to trust someone? Do you know someone who has married after being in a long distance relationship?
Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of romance, Carolyn loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency and contemporary novels are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Koorong, etc
I do like watching the Olympics – summer and winter. Happy to watch it all really.
Not sure that long distance relationships are feasible.
Our granddaughters play hockey and love it. They met the Lamoureaux twins after they won Gold Medals, and it was really exciting for them to get that opportunity!
Happy release day! My husband is Norwegian and we lived there for seven years. The Winter Olympics are huge there, as you can imagine. My favourite winter sport to watch is figure skating.
My husband and I were in a long distance relationship. At first it wasn’t too far since I was in the UK and he was in Norway, just a two-and-a-half-hour flight away. But then I got a job in Kenya and lived there for two years. It worked, by God’s grace, and we haven’t been apart since we got married.
Hi Carolyn! Congrats on your new release. While I am not an avid sports fan, I do enjoy watching the Olympics, especially figure skating and skiing. My German parents were married after a long distance romance. They met on a train at the end of WW2. My mom was living in Hamburg and my dad in war torn Berlin. They corresponded by letters and my dad even proposed in a letter. Hubby and I met at college in 1971, but had a long distance courtship. He was finishing college and I taught school 350 miles away. We had a Vietnamese friend, who lived in the USA and his wife I believe was from Australia and they were married by proxy – a world apart.
I watched the winter and summer Olympics so many yrars. Now it’s too much of this hoopla of certain rivals and such.
I just enjoy just watching the figure skating and alpine skiing at the most.
This sounds like a really cool series! I love watching both the summer and winter olympics. I am really looking forward to watching figure skating next week.
I like watching synchronized swimming. Copy bought by the way.
I don’t watch any Olympics. I do like to watch baseball some, I can tolerate basketball. One of my nephews played football until he went college.
My family doesn’t have television but a few times at a hotel we have watched ice skating or gymnastics.My brothers enjoy playing basketball and pickleball.My older sister was in a long distance relationship before she got married a year ago and now they have a 3 month old baby and my siblings got to meet him for the first time at 2 months since they live in south Dakota.My brother was in a long distance relationship before he got married and he said they only seen each other 28 or so days face to face before they got married.
Congratulations on your release, the book sounds really good. I know long distance relationships can work for some people but depends on their personalities I think.
I used to watch Olympics some, never a huge favorite of any specific part. Now, writing about it as you have will catch my attention much more quickly!
Hi, Congratulations on your new release! I love watching both the summer and Winter Olympics , they are so much fun to watch . Have a great day and stay safe.
Congratulations!!!!
I love Winter Olympics and Ice Skating!!!
Hi Mary. I’m glad you enjoy watching the Olympics too!
It’s interesting to see how relationships can happen in all kinds of ways, especially these days with technology where people can meet over the internet and later marry happily.
I think there comes a point in any relationship where people have to decide how invested they want to be, regardless of distance, so if it is a long distance relationship it can work, but people need to be committed for the long haul.
I enjoy both Olympics. Its fun seeing events we don’t see a lot of. The winter ones are so different with the different events. I know with the Vancouver Olympics my friend lived near Whistler and got to watch some of the free events. I was there a year before the Olympics and they had a bob sleigh there which I got a photo with.
A friend use to host exchange students. There Son was at boarding school but when home he got friendly with the German exchange student. He also spent time over in Germany or France doing an exchange the next year and She came back to do University here and they married. they live in England now.
Another friend was a missionary in Vanuatu and feel for a girl from the Philippines also working for a mission and ended up getting married.
It’s not so much a living down a reputation its more trying to break an assumption many had of me. Like in church when you grow up and don’t get married and live at home albeit caring for an elderly parent people who have known you all your life still see you as a child or teen. Many of them don’t respect our suggestions or don’t see you as an adult who is independent of your parent. Wasn’t til mum went into care and I moved house that some saw me as an adult and for me.
Started reading Love on Ice, (didn’t get far due to the heat but will read a little more today)
We’ll watch winter Olympics & the All-Star game which when it was in Ottawa against Montreal. We are Ottawa hockey fans & Canada. We like to play hockey, basketball, tennis, & a few other games.
I will watch Winter Olympics for hockey in Canada. I’m a big hockey fan. I play hockey as much as possible no matter the season.
What a fabulous experience for them! That must’ve been so inspiring!
Some of the tricks those skaters can do are amazing, aren’t they? I think one of the things I love about the Winter Olympics is that there’s an element of risk and daring in nearly every Winter Olympics sport (except maybe curling…)
Wow, Milla – thank you so much for sharing! What a challenge that must’ve been, being so far apart for so long. I’m so glad you both persisted for your happily ever after ❤️
Wow, Renate – how special are these stories? I think there’s something truly wonderful about couples willing to persist through the challenges of distance and different cultures. Thanks so much for sharing – and our good wishes!
Hi Jessica – you’re right, it is a really cool series! 😉 (I hope you’ll check it out!) There are so many exciting sports to watch at the Olympics, aren’t there? I hope this gives people a tiny taste of what it might’ve been like (at least for an Aussie short track skater) at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
Oh, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy! Short track skating isn’t exactly the same as synchronised swimming, but aren’t those girls amazing? I can barely hold my breath underwater but the moves and athleticism is stunning to watch. Thanks for commenting – and your support!
Sports aren’t for everyone, are they? But there is still an element of drama and excitement that can draw people in. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Carolyn, Congratulations on the release of Love on Ice! I watch both summer and winter games, but if I had to choose I’d definitely pick the summer Olympics. 😊
Wow, Kendra – it sounds like your family totally understands long distance relationships can work. It’s kind of funny, isn’t it, how life and circumstances can work out so sometimes it is logistically impossible for all parts of the family to connect before a couple marry. We’re experiencing that with my sister, whose fiancé we were supposed to meet this past Christmas but couldn’t (thanks to Covid). So we’ll meet him in person mid year, after they’ve been married several months. Tricky times!
Oh, thank you Deb! I hope you’ll fall in love with the thrills and spills of short track skating – it’s pretty exciting to watch! And I agree. Not everyone would be cut out for long distance romance. (Brent and Holly however… 😉)
Oh, thank you Deb! I hope you’ll fall in love with the thrills and spills of short track skating – it’s pretty exciting to watch! And I agree. Not everyone would be cut out for long distance romance. (Brent and Holly however… 😉)
Thanks so much Alicia! (Please ignore my other reply here – typing in the car isn’t always helpful (don’t worry- I’m not driving! 😬))
Yay!! Thanks so much Natalya – I hope you enjoy reading the Winter Olympics adventures inthis book!
Oh, Jenny, people are just… people aren’t they? Even in church there can be a lot of judgements and preconceptions, which shows the importance of getting to know others.
Thanks for sharing about these long distance relationships – I admire people who persist through such challenges. And thank you so much for your support – I really hope you enjoy reading Love on Ice!
Ooh, I bet I would’ve been supporting Ottawa when Mike Fisher played there 😉 There’s a lot to love about sports, isn’t there? Thanks for commenting!
Ooh, Sylvain, dare I ask how you feel about the NHL NOT playing this year? Canada is almost always a gold medal prospect, (and I actually based my Olympic scenes on the Vancouver games, so I hope Canadians enjoy those scenes 😉) so it’ll be interesting to see how this affects the games this year. Happy viewing! (Oh, and if you read my hockey series, please forgive any mistakes. Put it down to me being an Aussie)
Hi Carolyn! It’s so nice to see your post today :-) To answer your questions: We don’t watch the Olympics, I guess we’ve never really had an interest in them. Both my husband and I were horrible at sports in school so no sports playing for us, lol! However, we do enjoy watching NFL football & are excited for the Superbowl coming up soon. I’ve struggled with trust because people in my past have broken that trust and it’s sometimes made me wary of peoples motivations. The Lord has helped me over the years to overcome some of that, though. He’s put genuine Christian people in my path that have become great friends.
And lastly, yes, I know someone who’s married after being in a long distance relationship….ME :-) My husband and I knew each other as good friends (we both were married to others at the time we met) & then lost contact for a few years. Really long story short…..he lost his first wife in a car accident, I divorced my abusive husband & moved back to my hometown to live with my mom. He somehow found my phone number & called to let me know about his wife….and well, as they say, the rest is history. We kept in contact mostly by letters because the rare long-distance phone calls were expensive (cell phones weren’t invented yet). I enjoyed getting to know him through the written word & just fell completely in love with him. To this day, we still have those letters tucked away in a shoe box :-) I get them out every once in a while to read. It’s been almost 25 years (April 5th), I still am enjoying getting to know him and he still writes me little love notes.
So there you have it! Congrats on the new book baby :-)
Oh, thank you for sharing Trixi – what a story you have about long distance relationships! I’m sure it’s easier – and less expensive- these days to connect with someone far away and develop a romance. And congratulations on 25 years! 1997 was a good year for marriage – my hubby and I celebrate 25 years in June!
Thanks so much Narelle – and congrats to you on the release of Her Tycoon Hero! There’s always something fun to watch with any Olympics, isn’t there?
Always clumsy as a child and the lack of coordination stopped me playing sport. Even though I’m a proud Australian I’ve never been into sport and until reading your post ignored stories based around sport. You’ve given me the opportunity to reconsider that! Thanks
Oh, I do hope you’ll give sports stories a go. I promise some (ahem, mine!) aren’t too sporty! Happy reading!
I have to say that no is my answer to all your questions. The only sport my husband enjoys is college football. I am one of the wives that sit in another room because the sport does not interest me. Thank you for sharing. Happy book birthday. God bless you.
I am not into most sports (except Basketball and Baseball in my youth)and have never been interested in the Olympics (except Special Olympics 💖.) My husband played American football in high school; his son played baseball and football in high school. So I kind of gravitated in that direction and found I had a wicked throwing arm for both football and baseball. Unfortunately, that was years ago (and, also, have many health issues.) However, I get excited about my two football teams: NFL New Orleans Saints and NCAA New Orleans LSU!