Blog Tour: Skin in the Game by Jackie Barbosa. Author interview and review

Title: Skin in the Game
Author: Jackie Barbosa
Date of Publication: May 27th 2013
Genre: Romance


Blurb:
Angela Peterson was always the quiet, shy kid growing up in Harper Falls, crushing on the high school quarterback and honing her football strategy skills. Now grown up and coaching the high school team, she’s shocked when that same sexy quarterback returns to Harper Falls asks her back to his hotel room. And then tries to steal her job.

Injured NFL quarterback Cade Reynolds is in Harper Falls to take over as interim head coach, and he never thought the tall, blond bombshell he propositioned would offer up any resistance. Not to a repeat of the amazingly wild night they shared and certainly not to his coaching position.

But the Harper Falls High Eagles are Angie’s team, and even the hometown hero won’t take that away from her, no matter how hot he is. As the two engage in a battle of wits and wills, this is one game neither is prepared to lose.

Author Bio:

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer when I grew up, but there were plenty of times when I wasn’t sure I ever would be. As it turns out, it just took me about twenty years longer to grow up than I expected!

On the road to publication, I took a few detours, including a stint in academia (I hold an MA in Classics from the University of Chicago and was a recipient of a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities) and many years as a technical writer/instructional designer for a data processing company. I still hold my day job in instructional design, but my true passion is writing steamy romances–both historical and contemporary.

I learned to believe in love at first sight when I met the man of my dreams twenty years ago and to believe in happily ever after when I married him. I live in Southern California with my husband, our three children, and an ever-changing menagerie of pets.

Goodreads

Website

Interview

Jackie was nice to answer a few questions for us. And I must say I love her answers, so thank you Jackie for doing this awesome interview. :)

1. What inspired you to write this book?

Honestly, it’s all Cade and Angie’s fault . Once these two characters popped into my head, their story just had to be told. I love it when that happens, too, because it doesn’t always!

2. What, do you find, is the hardest part of writing?

The part where you have to sit down and get the story on the page (or the computer screen, as the case may be). It’s very, very easy to waste time on the Internet and, before you know it, all the writing time you have is frittered away. 

3. Your book involves a lot of football references, do you have a previous interest in sports or did you do research for it?

I’m a pretty devoted NFL fan—I watch almost every game that’s on over the weekend, whether my home team (the Chargers, by the way) is playing or not. Watching both Sunday and Monday night football is kind of a ritual in our household. And seriously, who doesn’t like those tight pants the players wear?

I did, however, have to do some research, specifically about the workings of high school football teams. Fortunately, one of my oldest son’s best friends plays football at their high school, so I was able to pick his brain. Of course, not every team operates the same way, I’m sure, but I did model the team in Skin in the Game on what I learned from him.

4. Is there any place you like to write in particular?

Lately, the best place for me to write is an airplane. (Don’t laugh, I’m serious!) I just find that when I’m on a plane, with no Internet (unless you pay for it, and I’m terminally cheap, so I won’t) and not much else to do, I can write like a fiend. Other than that, I usually write in bed, sitting up with the pillows tucked in behind me. I can’t write anywhere else in the house because there’s nowhere else that I can close the door! 

5. Have you always wanted to be an author?

Oh, definitely. I started writing when I was very young, and when I was in my teens, my mother made me take a typing class. After that, she gave me a manual typewriter (yes, I grew up in the days before personal computers and word processing), and there was no stopping me. Well, until I got into college and graduate school and then got married and had kids. I gave up writing for a long time for sheer lack of time and brain space. I picked it up again in about 2005, and got my first contract from a small digital press in June of 2007.

6. You write a lot of Romance books, have you ever thought of writing in a different genre, or are you happy to incorporate different genres in your novels instead?

I’m about a third of the way through a historical-set urban fantasy book, which is probably as far away from romance as I’ve ventured so far (though it does have a romantic sub-plot). I’m also toying with a middle grade and a YA book (neither of them romances, per se). My kids want me to write something they can read . But mostly, I think the story ideas I have fall into the romance genre. I’d be hard-pressed to write a thriller or a mystery, and I can’t even consider reading horror—it gives me nightmares, lol.

7. This is your debut novel with Entangled Brazen, how much do you love the cover?  (I love it! :) )

Oh, I love it a ton. The best thing, IMO, about it is that it pretty much replicates an actual scene in the book.

8. Do you have a favourite character, from any of the books that you have written?

Well, my favorite male character is probably Walter Langston, the hero of one of my historical novellas, Hot Under the Collar. Walter is the reluctant vicar of a parish in a small English village. He falls in love with Artemisia, a former courtesan, and you can imagine that might not go over well. What I love about Walter is that he’s my idea of an alpha—someone who leads by example, not just by ordering folks around.

My favorite female character so far is Elodie Capshaw, the heroine of the urban fantasy novel I mentioned earlier. She’s a ghost who’s capable of assuming solid form, and she’s fun to write because she’s smart and snarky and kick-ass in a decidedly intellectual way.

9. Do you like to hear from your readers?

Does Beyonce like a ring on it? Um, yeah! I love to hear from readers. Every single email from a reader makes my day.

10. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Patience and perseverance. Those are the qualities that matter most in this business. Sure, there are a few overnight successes, but most of the time, what seems like an overnight success is something that author has been working up to for years.

Oh, and don’t procrastinate. (That’s advice for me, too!) Speaking of which, I have another Play Action book to deliver . I hope you’ll be looking for it early in 2014!

Thank you again for that amazing interview!!!

My Review

I feel like I've been saying this a lot with my reviews but it's true: This is a perfect summer read.

It's fun, flirty and most important of all downright passionate. I requested this book on NetGalley before I found out about the blog tour and immediately started reading it. It just caught my eye instantly, between the steamy cover and the blurb I instantly wanted more. 

Angela is this beautiful, high-school teacher who has been left coaching the football team but she was once the shy and awkward high-school girl, Angie, who focused on helping Cade, the football star, with strategy. But Cade has now returned to town after his stint in the NFL is temporarily paused due to an injury. However, now he's come to steal Angie's job and seduce her without knowing who she is.

From the beginning this book captured my interest because Cade had no idea who Angie was and did not realise that she was the girl who had helped him in high-school with strategy for his team after spending time watching the team play, religiously. Instead, he just believes that she does not know as much about football as he does. Of course things get heated when he asks her back to his hotel room after their meeting in a coffee shop. She knows who he is and he doesn't suspect a thing. I love this kind of plot in a book, the deception.

As the two battle it out for the right to coach the football team, sparks fly. A battle of wills ensues and of course when two people want the same thing that's when things get interesting :)

5/5

-Tia