Today I am so pleased to welcome Avon Gale to Joyfully Jay. Avon has come to talk to us about her latest release, Coach’s Challenge. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!
Five Hottest Hockey Coaches
Look, I still have some issues with the Sens (namely that they beat the Bruins in the playoffs, but also they didn’t beat the Penguins) but their coach is not one of them. Boucher has this super sexy scar, and no one but his wife knows what it’s from. Like, it’s probably something really banal and not that interesting, but you immediately make it cool when you don’t let anyone know why you have it. He’s like the Bond villain of hockey coaches, even if his defensive style bores hockey fans to tears.
As a team, I don’t like the Penguins at all. Not even a little. But there are individual players I like (I know that sounds crazy, but hey, sports fandom is just like that), and I can’t deny their coach is really hot. I want to, but I can’t. So I’m just not going to say anything nice about him, ha!
Yeah, literally no one agrees with me on this one. But he’s super intense and yells a lot, pulls no punches with the media and I’m pretty sure he’s been ejected from games before. I’m not going to lie, the MC from Coach’s Challenge, Troy Callahan, reminds me a lot of Torts. Intensity does it for me, okay? Also, I dig the beard.
Okay, this is kind of cheating. Brodeur, who is the best goalie to ever play hockey (I will hear no arguments), served as the goalie coach for the latter half of the Blues’ season this past year. He’s also my forever hockey boyfriend. I think he’s going back to being the assistant GM next year, but hey. He was a coach long enough to make my list! Look, here he is holding an adorable puppy!
I swear on my tried-and-true Bruins’ fandom that I attempted to find another coach, but, uh…fine, I can’t help it. The Habs’ GM is a former player (he was a former St. Louis Blue!) who wears this pair of glasses really….really…well. I know I shouldn’t say anything nice about the Habs. I even thought about opening this image in photoshop to erase those Hab logos, so the Bruins don’t chase me down and take away my fan status. But I can’t deny their general manager is a fine looking guy.
Blurb
It’s been decades since blackmail forced Troy Callahan to retire from playing professional hockey, and he’s built a successful career behind the bench. When he’s offered the opportunity to coach the Asheville Ravens—the most hated team in the ECHL—he’s convinced that his no-nonsense attitude is just what the team needs to put their focus back on hockey. But Troy is disheartened when he finds that the Ravens have signed Shane North, a player known for his aggression—especially when Shane’s rough good looks give Troy inappropriate thoughts about a player, even if Shane’s set to retire at the end of the season.
Shane’s career in the majors never quite took off. Wanting to quit on his own terms, Shane agrees to a one-year contract with the Ravens and finds himself playing for a coach who thinks he’s an aging goon and with a team that doesn’t trust him, the coach, or each other. Despite his determination to not get involved, Shane unwillingly becomes part of the team… and is just as unwillingly drawn to the gruff, out-and-proud coach. As the Ravens struggle to build a new identity, Shane and Troy succumb to the passion that might cost them everything.
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Bio
Avon Gale wrote her first story at the age of seven, about a “Space Hat” hanging on a rack and waiting for that special person to come along and purchase it — even if it was a bit weirder than the other, more normal hats. Like all of Avon’s characters, the space hat did get its happily ever after — though she’s pretty sure it was with a unicorn. She likes to think her vocabulary has improved since then, but the theme of quirky people waiting for their perfect match is still one of her favorites.
Avon grew up in the southern United States, and now lives with her very patient husband in a liberal midwestern college town. When she’s not writing, she’s either doing some kind of craft project that makes a huge mess, reading, watching horror movies, listening to music or yelling at her favorite hockey team to get it together, already. Avon is always up for a road trip, adores Kentucky bourbon, thinks nothing is as stress relieving as a good rock concert and will never say no to candy.
At one point, Avon was the mayor of both Jazzercise and Lollicup on Foursquare. This tells you basically all you need to know about her as a person.
Avon is represented by Courtney Miller-Callihan of <a href=”http://handspunlit.com/home/”>Handspun Literary Agency</a>.
Connect with Avon: Website | Twitter | Facebook | FB Group | Newsletter | Goodreads
Thanks for a fun post, Avon, and best wishes for the success of Coach’s Challenge.
I’ve gotta admit, even with all the hockey I watch, I don’t really look at coaches enough to think about them that way most of the time. (Usually, when my head is turned by one, it’s someone I’ve never seen before during an international tournament. (I remember diggin’ Uwe Krupp’s floppy hair and cute little round glasses years ago as he led Team Germany in the Olympics, though I’d totally missed his star-crossed NHL career.) Or, sometimes, I’ll be startled to see a former player behind the bench for the first time–hi, Marco Sturm! hey there, Ryane Clowe!–but that’s probably a different thing.) Anyway, I appreciate the opportunity to not freak out about free agency for a few minutes.