Hello everyone! I
wanted to take a moment to introduce you to my good friend and author, Sophia
Henry. I have invited her to my blog
today to share with you a little bit about her recently published romance book Unsportsmanlike Conduct, which is the 4th
book in her Pilots Hockey series.
I would classify Sophia’s books as New Adult. I’ve read the first two books in her Pilots
Hockey series and enjoyed them. They are
not overly hockey-centric. The
characters are young and the stories focus on their growth and development as
they emerge into adulthood. Henry’s
books are written in first person usually from the heroine’s point of view, but
in Unsportsmanlike Conduct she also
writes from the Hero’s point of view.
Her books lean towards sweet, not steamy romance.
As a side note, can I just say that the book covers for this
series are seriously yummy!
Finally, we are getting Pasha’s book and I for one am so
excited. Since the first book Delayed Penalty, I have been looking
forward to this!! Finally, Pasha gets
his story!
Sophia, tell us about Unsportsmanlike
Conduct! What inspired you to write this
story?
The song “I Lived” by One Republic
and Bryan Warnecke, the teen with cystic fibrosis (CF) who is featured in the
video for the song. The first time I heard “I Lived” I fell in love with the
lyrics and the message behind it. Then I saw the video. Around that same the
time, I’d been thinking about how I could write a diverse heroine—in my own
way. Bryan inspired me to write a strong heroine with CF who has the courage
and drive to live life to the fullest.
Yes, about your characters, tell us a little more about
Kristen and Pasha!
Kristen Katsaros is an upbeat,
fun-loving, free-spirit with cystic fibrosis. She has just graduated from college and works
as an event coordinator for Motor City Bar Management, a company that owns a
group of bars in Detroit. Pavel (Pasha)
Gribov is a hot Russian hockey player hiding a painful past behind his cocky
demeanor. They meet when Kristen runs
into Pasha on the running track on a cruise. *Literally* run into each other
when Kristen turns quickly to avoid the guy her parents are trying to set her
up with. Together they’re snarky, sweet,
sexy and fun. :)
What was the biggest challenge in writing Unsportsmanlike Conduct?
The hardest part was writing a
heroine with cystic fibrosis and doing her justice. All the people fighting for
their lives every day deserve a kick a$$ representation of how strong and
amazing they are, so I didn’t want to get it wrong. It was very important to me
to show how Kristen LIVES. I don’t have CF, so I don’t know what living with it
is like. I did a lot (A LOT) of research and I spoke with people who have it. I
wanted to write a strong, normal, amazing person who has to work hard to stay
healthy.
Can you give us a little sneak peak of Pasha and Kristen
from the book?
Yes! This is one of my favorite scenes because
it’s so unexpected—for the readers and the characters! :) While Kristen and
Pasha are dancing, they share details about their individual backgrounds, which
gives them common ground and allows for them to get closer in a very subtle
way. Here’s a snippet:
As I put weight on my back foot,
rocking away from one particular creepy dude, someone caught my hand and tugged
me forward into his hard chest. What kind of guy had the audacity to grab me
when I obviously hadn’t been giving off those vibes?
To brace myself, I pressed my
palms against a soft black button-down shirt. Pasha stood in front of me with
an adorably arrogant smirk on his face. Instead of speaking, he held his arms
up in a formal dance position. I took his hands and he immediately led me in a
succession of smooth salsa steps.
It wasn’t intricate choreography
that only two dancers who had practiced together would know, just a series of
basic Latin dance steps. He led and I followed. But nobody else on the dance
floor knew that. To them it probably looked like a scripted routine straight
out of a musical.
And damn! Pasha could move.
~ From UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT by
Sophia Henry
This is awesome!! If
I wasn’t chomping at the bit to rush out and get the book before, I sure am
now. Thank you so much for stopping by
Sophia!! Where can readers go to find
your book, Unsportsmanlike Conduct?
My books can be found at Amazon, iBooks, BN, Kobo, Google Play, and BAM. When someone buys a Sophia Henry book, they
are automatically supporting a charity. I donate the first $500 of the
royalties from each book before I take a penny for myself. I’m proud to say
that my generous readers have already allowed me to make the donations for the
first three books. I also plan on doing a yearly contribution based on book
sales each year.
The charity I selected for Unsportsmanlike Conduct is the CysticFibrosis Foundation. To learn more about the organizations I
chose for each book, please visit my website.
***Thank you so much for having me
on your blog! I truly appreciate it! ~ Sophia xx***
