Next week sees the release of my eight Christian hockey romance title, The Love Penalty. This is the second book in my new hockey series Northwest Ice, and follows the success of the Original Six series, which was based on the cities where pro hockey was first played in North America.
In the past year or so I’ve noticed that hockey romance, that is, contemporary romance books featuring hockey players, has become a Thing. Whether it’s thanks to TikTok, or some ‘clean’ romance authors jumping on the hockey romance train, suddenly something that traditional publishers only a few years ago told me wasn’t viable is producing a lot more books and gaining a lot more readers. Maybe it’s the appeal of handsome, strong, athletic heroes, or the romance of a successful guy (in a manner not dissimilar to what you find in a royalty or billionaire book) who falls for a (usually) more ordinary girl. Whatever the reason, as a writer of Christian hockey romance I think it’s great for the genre. And because I see a lot of Christian bloggers and Instagrammers who seem to love hockey books, I’m hoping this results in a few more readers heading my way. ;)
So why do I love writing Christian hockey romance?
- Because hockey is exciting! I know sports romance isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like some action with your romance, and don’t want the dead bodies you might find in a suspense novel, then sports romance is fun to read. I have to admit that there are numbers of hockey authors who don’t put much of the game in their books, which is a shame as it’s one of the most adrenaline-laden sports to watch. The players have to skate so fast, then stop, pivot, hit and be prepared to be hit, even drop the gloves and fight sometimes. Hockey is not a wussy sport! I’ve been lucky enough to see a few games, and it’s incredible how the players even see the puck let alone have enough nous to know where to hit it.
- Because sports amplifies our own issues. Whether it’s concerns with finances, fear for our future, comparison, rejection, the challenges of family or relationships, it’s magnified when there is a degree of perceived celebrity attached to it, which lends itself to all kinds of speculation and gossip. And for a Christian pro sports player to have to contend with such things makes the story even juicier. How do you contend with fame and stay humble? How do you balance a multi-million dollar contract with giving to the poor – but also not being a doormat and ensuring you’re paid what you’re worth? How do you have a God-honoring relationship when your teammates aren’t saved? Lots of fun aspects of life to consider…
- Because hockey is real! As an avid hockey fan (go the Jets!) I’m reading all kinds of real life stories from real players and some of the things they’re facing. Things like OCD, repercussions of concussion or career-altering injuries, cancer in loved ones. The realness means it can be relatable, and allows for some realism among the romance. And the fact there are *some* Christian hockey players means I have licence to explore some of these scenarios.
- Because hockey players are fun! Like with many sports, good teammates make for good teasing and banter, pranks and humor. A number of hockey books market themselves as rom coms because of this, and while I don’t consider mine as rom coms per se, there is a healthy amount of humor and banter, between the guys in the Bible study, and between the players and the women they fall for. And while there are serious themes in some of my books, having the side of humor helps to balance that and make it even more enjoyable.
- Because Christian hockey players are out there! The premise for the Original Six series began as I came across an online Bible study for Boston Bruins players run by a sports chaplain. I loved watching their interactions, and figured this would be a great set up for my series, but with players from various clubs, allowing for focus on different teams / scenarios each book. One of the more famous Christian hockey players was Mike Fisher, who just so happened to marry a certain country singer named Carrie Underwood – so there are plenty of good stories out there!
I really enjoy writing books that feature realistic characters facing relatable scenarios mixed with faith, romance, humor, and a little bit of adrenaline, so if you haven’t had a chance to read then check them out today. The Breakup Project is on sale this weekend, so that’s a great place to start – think friends-to-more, misunderstandings, missions, sweet romance, and more!
And if you’re ready for something new, then The Love Penalty comes out next week. Here’s a bit more about the story:
Sometimes there’s a heavy price to pay when two opposites attract…
With her fondness for tattoos and spider jewelry Sylvie Miles is used to being pre-judged and misunderstood. She has friends and connections but she still feels alone, and works several jobs while daydreaming about finding a guy who sees further than skin deep and won’t shy away from her battered heart. So when a hot pro hockey player with a smile as vast as his skills takes a shine to her what’s a poor girl to do but fall in love?
Ryan Guillemette sure wasn’t looking for romance in a bookstore in his hometown but quickly becomes intrigued by the sassy Goth-like assistant with a snarky way with words. When an accidental kiss proves dangerously addictive she soon becomes embedded in his heart. But even as the romance heats up he’s torn as she’s not following God. Can these two opposites make a match or should he call a permanent time out?
These two are about to learn that those who play with fire get burned, and there’s a hefty price to pay for forbidden attraction. The Love Penalty is the second book in the Northwest Ice Christian hockey romance series, and can be read as a standalone, and is perfect for fans of Becky Wade, Courtney Walsh, and Susan May Warren.
Out January 25. Preorder Amazon. Apple. B&N. Googleplay. Kobo.
Now let’s chat:
Have you read any sports or hockey romance? What did you enjoy about it? What aspects of sports would you like to read about in a book? What sport would you like to read about?
One commentator will receive an ebook copy of their choice of a published Original Six or Northwest Ice book (The Breakup Project, Love on Ice, Checked Impressions, Hearts and Goals, Big Apple Atonement, Muskoka Blue, or Fire and Ice). Giveaway closes January 23 5pm EST.
Ellie says
Your hockey books look good and I have one on my Kindle waiting to be read. The Love Penalty looks especially good. I like to watch figure skating so I’d be interested in more books featuring that sport. Maybe even a figure skater/hockey player romance… 😉
Kristina c says
I never thought I would like a sports romance but I loved The Original 6 because of it…. Being from Michigan I was pleasantly surprised to see it taking place on NYE.
I think it’s a terrific read for the new year. Although, it’s hard to pick a favorite in that series; they were all so good. Of course, I am now working my way through Muskoka Hearts series.
I absolutely love your book and I hope you continue to write more. The characters you write and the storyline are the best! I love their banter.
I really hope one day you write about a Vegas Golden Knight. I think it would be so interesting to see a Christian hockey player in Sin City and our team is so new!
Big Apple Atonement was 100% my favorite book in the series. I love TJ’s character arc. That book was absolutely perfect.
Thank you for writing faith filled stories with characters who your readers can relate to.
I am currently reading a clean romance called Better Watch Out with an ex NHL player. I want to see how it compares to yours, because I love your series. Although, I haven’t branched out to other sports yet.
What I enjoyed the most about your Original 6 series is that you included the hockey games in the books, the banter, the tropes you used, and that the characters seem like people I’d be friends with!
I think the aspect that would be interesting to travel with the team for home and away games and see what it is like for them to be on the road. What do their partners do? Similar to Love On Ice. It was interesting to see how long distance worked for the characters!
I think hockey might be the only sport I want to read about. I’m never going to watch basketball, football, baseball or soccer. Although, rugby might be interesting!
Trudy says
I have read a lot of CCCR with sports players, and I have your Original Six in my TBR stack. I also remember one from waaayyyyy back, the late 80’s or early 90’s that had a hockey player in it that mainly took place in Canada, as he played for a Canadian team. I don’t remember the author, or the name of the book, though I remember bits and pieces! It was an old one published by Zondervan, about the size of a Harlequin, but before Harlequin did it’s love inspired line.
Carolyn Miller says
Ooh, I wondered about a figure skater when I wrote my first book, Love on Ice. But I’d seen that scenario a fair bit in books and movies, so I made her a short track skater instead – a super awesome adrenaline charged sport! (& Love on Ice is on sale right now!)
Carolyn Miller says
Aww, thank you so much Kristina – I truly appreciate your kind words!
If you enjoyed TJ’s arc then I think you’ll love Sylvie’s in The Love Penalty, just quietly ;)
I like the sound of the home and away scenario – that definitely sounds like a great plot for my next one I’m writing. Thanks for the suggestion!
Carolyn Miller says
Ooh, now that sounds like a good one to hunt down! Thanks, Trudy!
RuthieH says
I’d never really read much sports romance or hockey romance (I’m from the UK where although I believe there are some pro hockey teams, it’s not really a big thing) but I’ve read some of the Original Six series and also some by Jean Oram and really enjoyed them – as you say, they have a lot of story elements of other tropes I enjoy, and despite knowing nothing about it the hockey games can be really exciting. I would probably try other sports romance now I think.
Shelene Wilhelm says
I’ve read all of your hockey books.
Whenever I looked for a new book, I would look for historical western Christian fiction. Today’s stresses just got me down and I didn’t enjoy Christian fiction set in this day and age. I wanted to escape.
One day, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed reading Jane Austen and wished there were more. I hadn’t thought to look for Christian regency era. A search online had me looking at books by Carolyn Miller. I fell in love with the regency books and binge read as many as I could, in between being a launch team reader for another author. Then somehow I was blessed to join Carolyn Miller’s ARC team. The first one I read was regency but then she had a new hockey book coming out. No way was I going to miss out on the opportunity to stay on the team. So, I read the hockey book. It was amazing. The burdens of this day and age were there. But the characters took those challenges and turned to God. The stories gave me hope. I was encouraged and excited. I immediately started binge reading all her books. I thank God for Carolyn Miller as through her books, I was convicted in some areas and very much encouraged. He used her books to soften my heart. I was dealing with a very hard situation and each book gave me hope. I especially look forward to the next Muskoka book.
Carolyn Miller’s books are a blessing to me.
Margaret Bunce says
I have enjoyed your hockey and Regency books! The hockey ones were very interesting as I knew next to nothing about the sport. Kimberley Rae Jordan had a hockey player in one of her stories, a few years ago, before I read yours.
Carolyn Miller says
Yay! That’s awesome! I think people can sometimes get scared off by the ‘sports’ and think it’s all that, when that’s usually a minor part in the book. Unless it’s an Olympic skater, and their whole identity is wrapped up in their sport, and… that sounds familiar :)
Carolyn Miller says
Oh, God bless you Shelene! I’m so glad that you have found these books encouraging! I needed to read this today. Thank you :)
Carolyn Miller says
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed these books! It’s fun to learn of other hockey books by authors. I think I’ve read that one by Kimberley Rae Jordan too!
Jeanette Durkin says
I just read Love on Ice and I loved it! This is a new genre for me and I’m thankful that I found you via a Facebook group!
Jen G says
I love your books! I love hockey and faith. Your books are exciting and loving and still clean! Thank you!
Alma Blinn says
I loved Love on Ice and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series because we are a hockey family!
Debra Pruss says
Thank you so much for sharing. I am not really a sports fan. It is hard for me to get interested in reading a book where sports is involved when I am not not interested in the sport. God bless you.
Jeanettte says
I love watching hockey and hadn’t seen many christian based hockey romance books so I picked up the complete original six series when I saw it and am working my way through them. I’ve read The Breakup Project and Love on Ice so far, I plan to get your others once I finish this series.
Jcp says
I’ve read several CCF books with football. I do have several of your books on my TBR pile though.
Lilly says
I like that many Clean and Christian authors are jumping on the sports romance bandwagon, there are many narrative tropes (like sports, the romance between a player and a cheerleader, college setting or millionaires or celebrities) that are popular and Christian girls like them too but it turns out that we can’t even touch with a twig an 90% of the books on the secular market not classified as “clean and healthy” so I’m glad 🤣.
In fact there are many topics that Christian authors tend to hate (with reason) such as the romance of thugs or with gangsters or ex-gangsters however curiously…I believe that a Christian is the only one who can write about real repentance, authentic redemption and changes from the heart where the person changes because it is the right thing to do not just because they “fell in love” I don’t think Christian authors should copy secular ones in how they do romance or build relationships but certainly some tropes are worth the risk.
Carolyn Miller says
Oh yay, Jeanette! I hope you’ll check out the other books in the series too. (The next one is only 99c until tomorrow!)
Carolyn Miller says
Oh, God bless you Jen! So glad you enjoy ❤️
Carolyn Miller says
Yay! Happy reading to you!
Carolyn Miller says
Thanks for commenting, Debra. I think the thought that there might be lots of pages devoted to the sports side of things can scare some people off – when that’s usually quite a small amount. Maybe it’s better to describe it as ‘romance with sports elements’
Carolyn Miller says
Oh yay! I hope you enjoy the rest of the series
Carolyn Miller says
I hope you’ll enjoy them!
Carolyn Miller says
Lots of good points here, Lilly. I love to write books with a solid redemption arc. You’re right – it’s an area that Christian authors can really speak into it, and remind us that God loves the whole world and is working in the hearts of all people to bring them into relationship with Him.
Dianne K says
I’ve read one series, but I can’t recall the name, where the players were a hockey team. It seemed the play on ice was very violent which didn’t attract me much. I didn’t know if that was “normal” or not as I don’t even know if we have hockey teams in Australia and don’t know much about it. I do love your and some of the other Inspy readers passion for it though.
Carolyn Miller says
Yes, it can be a pretty rough sport at times, which then can add another layer of drama to a story – especially if it’s a Christian player involved (because how do you balance that?). I love that sports romance is never quite as black and white as it may first appear.
TexasMomma says
I recently read the first 2 books in you Original Six series, and plan to read the rest! I also recently read the Appies books from the Sweater Weather series from last fall. I don’t know much about hockey, but I’m loving the books! I like learning about new things, even though I don’t understand all of it. Google has been my friend 😆
Carolyn Miller says
Thank God for Google, right? I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed The Breakup Project and Love on Ice! I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of the series – and the new Northwest Ice series – soon!
Betty Armstrong says
My experience watching ice hockey is pretty much limited to watching Team USA win the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics! I did enjoy watching the games, though I didn’t understand everything that was going on.
The only hockey romance books I’ve read so far are three of the books in Susan May Warren’s Christiansen Family series. Two of the daughters marry pro hockey players on the same team, and the youngest son also plays for that team for a while. I really enjoyed reading them and thought there was a great balance of hockey action (including training and practice) and their lives off the ice, including struggles and challenges.
I recently acquired your Original Six series, and I’m looking forward to reading them!
Angeline says
I have read a couple of sports romances and some of my favorite parts of them are the family aspects that these books often have. The teams become families and they interact as such
Carolyn Miller says
I’ve read the Susan May Warren books, too – they’re really good. And yay, Betty! I hope you enjoy the Original Six books!
Carolyn Miller says
Yes, that’s so true! It’s another reason why these types of books are so good.