Sport

Allen Jackson is a superstar basketball player from the north side of St. Louis. As a young boy, his dream was to play in the NBA, take care of his family, and give back to his community. Raised in a single-family home, his mom took him to church every Sunday. This is where Allen learned to have faith and trust in God. After announcing he would be attending George University, Allen made his way to Washington DC to continue his dream. As a freshman, Allen was leading his team in every category and being a leader on and off the court. Midway through the season, Allen was considered to be the number one pick in the NBA draft. He didn't get too excited, but he continued to pray and put his faith and trust in God. Allen's focus was getting to the NCAA tournament and bringing the trophy back to DC.During the NCAA tournament, the team played their best basketball of the season and made their way to the final four. During the semifinal's game, an unexpected incident happens that leaves the team in shock.Will Allen's faith be tested during this time? Will Allen help his team win a NCAA championship? Will Allen's dream of making the NBA come true?

The year is 1948. Twelve-year-old Robert Christy's father and his Uncle Jack, two years younger than his dad, had been superb football and baseball stars in high school. When WWII was declared, both served in the Marines. Jack had made it home safely. Robert's father hadn't. Jack was now a sportswriter for the Columbus Dispatch, which Robert thought was the most exciting job in the world. Although Robert loved the game of baseball, nobody in his school wanted a mediocre player on their team, so he sat on the bench, and imagined calling the games. Sportscasting absolutely fascinated him. With his voice, he'd probably be a natural. Uncle Jack presented Robert with a short-wave radio and broadcast quality microphone for his birthday, which led to a chance encounter with Smokey, the Christy men's old high school coach. The combination might turn Robert's entire life around.

I chose a championship over love.When Nova smashed her way into my hardened heart, she showed me there's more to life than basketball.She taught me patience and forgiveness. With her help, my Kodiak teammates became brothers instead of rivals. For the first time, I cared about more than a game.But one mistake sent me crashing from all-star to rock bottom.Broken inside and out, there's no one to blame but myself.I won't let the people I love suffer for my mistakes, on or off the court. I'll win back the brothers who trusted me, the city that backed me, and the woman I don't want to live without.Unless I'm too late.I have one last shot. One last chance.Countdown's on, and I'm playing for keeps.Play Maker is the third and final book in the King of the Court series. Clay and Nova's steamy, addictive grumpy sunshine sports romance begins in Game Changer and continues in Shot Taker.

Man stellt sich das so schön vor, so ästhetisch, so eins-mit-dem-Ozean. Die Wirklichkeit sieht anders aus und so stelle ich mir es auch aus der Sicht von meinem Surflehrer vor. Wieviel Mitleid, Sorge und Scham muss man aushalten können? Frage ich mich zunächst, dann sehe ich es bildlich vor mir. Kurzbeschreibung: Man läuft mit einem sehr sperrigen Gegenstand auf das tosende Meer zu. Dabei bammelt einem eine Strippe um das Bein, deren Zweck sich wenig oder noch nicht mit der Koordination des Gegenstandes unter dem Arm und der Vorwärtsbewegung der Füße in Einklang bringen lässt. Das alles ist schon schwer zu ertragen. Was dann kommt, hat nicht viel mit den schönen Surffilmen und den hübschen Menschen zu tun, die sich göttergleich über die Wellen gleitend, dem Universum so nah befinden. Es ist eher mit einem Torkeln zu vergleichen, bei dem man versucht sich nicht in einem achtarmigen Kraken zu verheddern und gleichzeitig vorwärtszukommen, während man einen riesengroßen, beim Schwimmen eher ungewohnten Gegenstand versucht davon abzuhalten, einem die Fresse zu polieren. Gleichzeitig soll man dabei gut aussehen und es irgendwie schaffen das Zeit-Raum-Verhältnis zu überlisten, welches man maximal nutzen muss, um sich nicht an der Leash aufzuhängen, während man das Board im Bruchteil einer Sekunde so unter sich schiebt, dass sich mit der nächsten Weißwasserwelle die physikalische Finesse einer Vorwärtsbewegung erreichen lässt.

"The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O'Leary's life. He can't manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he's living out of a suitcase, and he's homesick. When the team's owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he's ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he's already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree. Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he's barely even managing to do that much. He's had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he'd never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York's obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers. Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he'll never be someone's secret ever again, and Eddie can't be out as a professional athlete. It's just them against the world, and they'll both have to decide if that's enough"--

A drunken promotional after party involving unlimited vodka, several social media influencers, puck bunnies for miles, and the goalie from an opposing team, leads to a massive mistake. No, not a surprise pregnancy. I was drunk but not that drunk. No, this mistake was worse because even months later, I can't get it out of my head and it's effecting my performance. My coaches are on my case because I'm dragging ass on the ice. My friends are all worried because I holed up in my hometown for the entire off season. There's only one thing to do, and there's only one person who can help me. Juniper. My best friend and the social media manager for the IceCaps. Sure, she'll give me her disappointed face. That sighed, "Dammit, Ludo," that I've heard at least once a month since we were fourteen. But in the end she'll help me, because she's my June Bug and she wants me to be happy. I just needed her to commit to my schemes before I had to face "The Norse God" on the damn ice again and all my carefully controlled mistakes spiral out of control.

When their true selves and the identities that have been imposed on them by the game collide, both young men are forced to make life-changing choices.

My whole life, I have only dreamt of being one thing.A ballerina.From the age of three, I was obsessed with tutus, leotards, pointe shoes and everything that dancing had to offer.After years of hard work, sweat and tears, I finally was able to make the dreams of the little girl in me come true.Years later, I'm dancing for one of the most respected companies in the world, leaving out a dream and living the best life that I could have ever imagined.Everything was going according to how I'd mapped it out.Except...I hadn't mapped out two little blue lines skating into my life after a one night stand.Now, there's a possibility of me losing the dream I worked so hard to achieve.And it's all thanks to a professional hockey player with pretty eyes and a nice smile.Skating The Blue Line is Book 1 of the Chicago Dark Knights Series. It can be read as a complete standalone.

Il était mon obsession. Il hantait mes rêves, me rappelait lepassé.Je lui avais brisé le coeur.Pierce Lykaios était tout ce que je pouvais désirer : captivant,rusé, et maître de lui-même. Il comprenait mes désirsles plus sombres et prenait plaisir à satisfaire toutes mesenvies.Et quand je suis revenue dans son univers, j'ai fait l'erreurde laisser un premier contact mener à un deuxième.Puis un troisième. Je n'aurais pas dû le laisser réveiller mesdésirs.À présent, je suis captive de son emprise, sans espoird'en réchapper, incapable d'oublier, incapable d'arrêter.Il dit que cette fois, je ne le quitterai pas. Que je ne l'oublieraipas. Et j'ai peur qu'il ait raison.

"Compelling and driven. Markle's lean prose is perfectly matched to his exploration of the possibilities of coming back home." --Wyl Menmuir, Booker-longlisted author of The Draw of the SeaAn understated but fierce novel of family, sport and growing up, Adrian Markle's debut tells the story of an injured MMA fighter who returns to his coastal hometown.Arriving on the Greyhound, six months late for his father's funeral, Jamie Stuart is injured but unwilling to declare himself retired from the MMA fighting career that has kept him away from his coastal hometown since he was a teenager. His attempts to reconnect with his now-alcoholic older brother, Sid, are thwarted both by Sid's mysterious disappearances from the house and his unwillingness to discuss the death of their younger brother fifteen years earlier.In the absence of the training schedule that has governed his adult life so far, Jamie sinks into a routine of drinking with Sid and arguing with the regulars at the bar owned by his high-school crush. Then, when he's at his lowest, he is handed an opportunity that offers the money and security he needs. But with it comes the risk of Jamie never finding his way back out.Set on quiet streets and beaches choked with childhood memories, haunted by the highs of an international athletic career cut short, Bruise is an understated but fierce novel of family, sport, homecomings, and growing up.

Two soldiers. One American. One Japanese.One thing in common - baseball!World War II is coming to a violent close.As the Battle of Okinawa rages on, American soldiers seize Shuri Castle and find a single survivor: Yuujin Miyano. The U.S. private put in charge of watching this prisoner is Eugene Durante. Although enemies, the two men find they have a common multi-generational bond: baseball. Their grandfathers bore witness to, and helped shape, the extraordinary birth of the game. When the fighting ends, the two men return to their homes to face a postwar world neither expected. Then both receive unexpected messages that will change their lives forever. Once more, the veterans will face off in a final dramatic clash.Order your copy of THE DEVIL IN THE DIAMOND today!