Guest Author: Pamela Aares & Giveaway!!

Pamela

Most of my readers know that, in addition to my historical romances, I write contemporary sports romances with my husband under the pen name of VK Sykes.  That’s why I’m thrilled to welcome award-winning film maker turned romance author Pamela Aares to the blog today – she writes baseball romances, and historical romance too!  As you’re about to find out, she’s a very interesting person.

Vanessa: Welcome, Pamela! I love the concept behind your new series, Heart of the Game: All-Star alpha males and the strong women they come to love. What inspired you to write about baseball heroes and heiresses?

Pamela: Thanks for having me Vanessa!

I don’t know about you, but sometimes characters show up and start talking. I was in the middle of drafting the sequel to Jane Austen and the Archangel, riding back from LA in the car with my husband and we were discussing the baseball season. Within minutes Alex Tavonesi, the hero of book one in the Heart of the Game series, showed up. I’d been toying with the idea of writing a story of a vintner who fell in love with a feisty woman who was a world-class marine mammal vet, but the hero wasn’t supposed to play baseball in addition to all his work trying to keep his family’s vineyard going. Pretty soon Alex Tavonesi had a team of amazing men surrounding him and I knew they’d each have their own story in the Heart of the Game.

Love Bats Last

The heroines in the first four books of the series are all heiresses who have chosen to have careers– one’s a vet, one owns a major league baseball team, another inherits an internationally famous olive ranch. They are women who want to make their own way in the world. The feedback from readers has been amazing — they love the fascinating women (and of course the hunky, All-Star heroes). All of the stories take place in the Bay Area of California and the characters from each book reappear throughout the series.

Vanessa: I understand that you have an insider’s view into the game of baseball.

Pamela: My husband played in the major leagues for eleven years and yes, he was an All-Star. I’m lucky that I can ask burning questions over breakfast– and that he has a sense of humor. Living with a writer can be strange. I’ll come into the kitchen and ask about Alex, or Matt, or Ryan and he pauses, takes a sip of coffee and realizes I’m asking about what a character in the series might do in a strategic baseball play or the like. You don’t have to be a sport fan to understand the stories, the details of the game come alive in the characters.

Vanessa: What is it that you most love about writing romance?

Pamela: I love books that entertain, transport and inspire dreams. Romances are captivating and tug at the heart. I like to write books that take readers on a journey with complex characters in both contemporary and historical settings who are thrown in situations that tempt love, adventure and self-discovery.

Here’s a peek at the third book in Pamela’s Heart of the Game series, Fielder’s Choice. Pamela will be giving away a copy of Fielder’s Choice as well as a copy of the first book in the series, Love Bats Last.   

Fielder's Choice

All-Star first baseman Matt Darrington has more than a problem. His wife died, and now he’s juggling a too-smart-for-her-britches six-year-old and the grueling pace of professional baseball. Worse, his daughter is mom shopping. When they explore a local ranch, she decides the beautiful, free-spirited tour guide is premium mom material. Matt thinks the sexy guide looks like Grade-A trouble.

Alana Tavonesi loves her cosmopolitan life in Paris. But when she inherits the renowned Tavonesi Olive Ranch, she has to return to California and face obligations she never wanted. Selling the place is her first instinct, but life at the ranch begins to crack her open, exposing the dreams hidden inside her heart.

On a lark she leads a ranch tour, where she meets Matt Darrington. His physical power and a captivating sensual appeal fire her in a way no man ever has, but he has a kid—and being a stepmom is a responsibility Alana will never be ready for. Still…she can’t keep her mind or her hands off him.

When Matt’s daughter goes missing from a kid’s camp at the ranch, Alana organizes the search effort, knowing from experience the areas a bright child would be drawn to explore. As she and Matt work together to search for the little girl, Alana discovers that father and daughter have won her heart. Yet it may be too late for love…

About the Author

Pamela Aares is an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance novels and also writes about fictional romance in sports with her new baseball romance book series titled Heart of the Game. Her first book a historical romance, Jane Austen and the Archangel, released in 2012.

Before becoming a romance author, Aares wrote and produced award-winning films including Your Water, Your Life, featuring actress Susan Sarandon and NPR series New Voices, The Powers of the Universe and The Earth’s Imagination. She holds a Master’s degree from Harvard and currently resides in the wine country of Northern California with her husband, a former MLB All-Star and two curious cats. If not behind her computer, you can probably find her reading a romance novel, hiking the beach or savoring life with friends. You can visit Pamela on the web at http://www.PamelaAares.com.

 

22 thoughts on “Guest Author: Pamela Aares & Giveaway!!”

    • Thanks Mary– it launches on April 22nd, Earth Day, appropriate since it takes place on an organic olive oil ranch (as well as the baseball diamond!)
      Do let me know if you check out any of the books, I loe to hear from readers!

      Reply
    • Hi Erin– I’m working on book 5 in the Heart of the Game today. Sabrina’s story ( Alex Tavonesi’s sister from book one) is turning out to be hot and powerful with lots of adventure.

      The hero is a sixteenth generation Samurai turned Major League pitcher. Kaz knows more about bodies than one can imagine but when Sabrina lands in his life all his careful, focused training can’t save him from the power of love!

      Reply
  1. I enjoyed this unique post. Baseball is my favorite sport and your books look wonderful and memorable. best wishes and much happiness.

    Reply
    • Baseball is a game that the more you know about it, the more fascinating it becomes. And the lives of the men who devote themselves to such a near impossible game are fascinating!

      Reply
    • Hello bn100! glad you stopped by. I’m wrestling with a chapter right now and writing to you gives me a sanity break. Some days scenes in chapters can nearly break a writer! But if we stick with the characters, their lives and their voices, the books come alive!

      Reply
  2. It’s definitely an different combination of having romance in with what is often a male dominated field. Pretty great to be able to do research first hand over the breakfast table. Good questions definitely brought out some interesting answers.

    Reply
    • Hi A.K! Missed you at the signing last Saturday and hope you are feeling so much better!

      Speaking about male dominated fields, in book #2, Thrown By Love, the heroine, Chloe McNalley inherits a base ball team and has to make her way in the very male world of baseball owners. It doesn’t help matter that before he died, Chloe’s father bought the man she’d been dating for the team. Players and owners don’t really fraternize– imagine the trouble she’s in!

      Reply
  3. I have not read this author before. Always looking for new books to read and this one sounds like it’d be a fun read. 🙂

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  4. Congratulations on your new release!
    I’ve only started reading sports themed romances a few months ago and I’m really enjoying them. This series sounds really good. I will be adding the books to my TBR pile. 🙂

    Reply
    • Hi Tina! I’d love to hear what you think when you do dip into Love Bats Last or any of the other books in the Heart of the Game series. Email me through my website– I love hearing from readers!

      Reply
  5. I’ve just been getting into sports romances and it’s good to see a baseball themed series as that’s my favorite professional sport to watch. FIELDER’S CHOICE sounds like my kind of book!

    Reply

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