Today we’re revealing the cover for Game of Love, a new sports romance from Ara Grigorian! Check out all the fun details about this sexy romance and enter his fantastic giveaway!!
Title: Game of Love
Author: Ara Grigorian
Genre: Contemporary Sports Romance
Release Day: May 4TH
Game of Love is
set in the high-stakes world of professional tennis where fortune and fame can
be decided by a single point.
Gemma Lennon has spent nearly all of her 21 years focused on one thing: Winning a Grand Slam. After a disastrous and very public scandal and subsequent loss at the Australian Open, Gemma is now laser-focused on winning the French Open. Nothing and no one will derail her shot at winning - until a heated chance encounter with brilliant and sexy Andre Reyes threatens to throw her off her game.
Breaking her own rules, Gemma begins a whirlwind romance with Andre who shows her that love and a life off the court might be the real prize. With him, she learns to trust and love… at precisely the worst time in her career. The pressure from her home country, fans, and even the Prime Minister to be the first British woman to win in nearly four decades weighs heavily.
As Wimbledon begins, fabricated and sensationalized news about them spreads, fueling the paparazzi, and hurting her performance. Now, she must reconsider everything, because in the high-stakes game of love, anyone can be the enemy within… even lovers and even friends.
In the Game of Love, winner takes all.
Gemma Lennon has spent nearly all of her 21 years focused on one thing: Winning a Grand Slam. After a disastrous and very public scandal and subsequent loss at the Australian Open, Gemma is now laser-focused on winning the French Open. Nothing and no one will derail her shot at winning - until a heated chance encounter with brilliant and sexy Andre Reyes threatens to throw her off her game.
Breaking her own rules, Gemma begins a whirlwind romance with Andre who shows her that love and a life off the court might be the real prize. With him, she learns to trust and love… at precisely the worst time in her career. The pressure from her home country, fans, and even the Prime Minister to be the first British woman to win in nearly four decades weighs heavily.
As Wimbledon begins, fabricated and sensationalized news about them spreads, fueling the paparazzi, and hurting her performance. Now, she must reconsider everything, because in the high-stakes game of love, anyone can be the enemy within… even lovers and even friends.
In the Game of Love, winner takes all.
Exclusive Excerpt
“We are made strong by the difficulties
we face, not by those we evade.”
~Author Unknown
Gemma’s security
flanked her, their grip tight on her arms. Bedric, her coach, rushed ahead,
slamming open the hotel’s glass doors to the roar of the French paparazzi―a
cacophony of questions, comments, and insults.
Gemma moderated her breathing, prepared for another three-second spurt
of chaos.
Three...
“―What happened in your hotel room?”
They knew.
Dozens of cameras from all directions chirped and flashed. She kept her eyes
trained on her goal: the awaiting car.
Two...
“―Mademoiselle! Gemma! One smile.”
The paparazzi bore in from her right. Only a few more steps. A knee rammed into her thigh. That one would
leave a mark. A bruise that the papers would dissect and analyze gratuitously.
One...
“―Why were you hiding for four months? Were you
going to quit tennis?”
Don’t react. Say nothing. Bedric forced the car door open, giving Gemma
the opening she needed to squeeze in. He followed.
Zero.
The door slammed behind them, and the sounds of commotion lowered to a
gentle hush. Black tinted windows offered a veil of privacy. Bodies, camera
lenses, and faces smashed against the glass. Only inches separated her from the
paparazzi. There had been a time when she used to move to the center of the
car, creating as much separation as possible. But now she knew better. Distance
was a mere illusion of safety.
The locks engaged, and the car accelerated away.
She didn’t like surprises―particularly on game day―but
in this case, her security lead’s demand to move her to another hotel had been
spot- on. It was one thing for the paparazzi to gather outside. It was quite
another when one found his way into her hotel suite... while she slept. The
French paparazzi were setting a new standard.
“This is not good,” Bedric said in stoic English.
She eyed her superstitious coach, who was always concerned with
deviations from routine. But the concern etched on his face wasn’t about
superstition. He didn’t want a repeat performance of the Australian Open months
earlier.
“You have not rested,” he continued, “and you have yet to get
breakfast.”
“We’ll be fine. We are
fine,” she said, nearly believing it herself. “As for breakfast, we’ll grab
something at the new hotel.”
The car swerved as the driver made a temporary effort to lose their
tail. Memories of another car chase months earlier inched its way into her
throat.
“There will be people. You don’t need more distractions.”
“More distractions?” She had woken to the sound of an intruder in her
suite, and now she was rushing from one hotel to another on the morning of her
quarterfinal match. How much worse could it get? “We’ll be discreet. Run in,
eat, and we’ll be off.”
The car’s tires screeched as the driver took another quick turn. It
was happening again. Another chase just before a critical match. Only this
time, the driver wasn’t drunk.
From her bag, Gemma removed a tennis ball and twirled it in her hand. One point at a time. She focused on the
soft texture. Familiar. Calming. Poking out from inside her bag, the newspaper
article from the day before mocked her. Inch-tall letters above her picture: The Great Hype―Five Years and
Still Waiting. She squeezed the
tennis ball over and over again until her fingers went numb.
She dropped the ball back inside the bag, then closed her eyes, hoping
to salvage some sleep. She crossed her arms and tried to control her shivering.
No, she wasn’t cold. She just wanted five minutes alone with the bastard who
had violated her space. Gemma almost wished the coward hadn’t bolted when she
charged him, tennis racquet in hand
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Armenian by
heritage, born in Iran, lived in Barcelona, and escaped New York until he found
his home in Los Angeles, Ara’s first eleven years were both busy and confusing.
The fruit salad of languages would slow down his genetically encoded need to
tell stories. Until then, an alter ego would be required…
He received an
engineering degree from California State University Northridge and earned his
MBA from the University of Southern California. Today, he is a technology
executive in the entertainment industry. True to the Hollywood life, Ara wrote
for a children’s television pilot that could have made him rich (but didn’t)
and nearly sold a video game to a major publisher (who closed shop days later).
But something
was amiss until his wife read him the riot act. “Will you stop talking about
wanting to be a writer and just do it?” So with her support (and mandate), and
their two boys serving as his muse, he wrote stories.
Fascinated by
the human species, Ara writes about choices, relationships, and second chances.
Always a sucker for a hopeful ending, he writes contemporary romance stories.
He is an alumnus of both the Santa Barbara Writers Conference and Southern
California Writers’ Conference (where he also serves as a workshop leader). Ara
is an active member of the Romance Writers of America and its Los Angeles
chapter.
Ara is
represented by Stacey Donaghy.
Enter Ara’s Giveaway!!
I think the cover is hot!
ReplyDeleteThe cover is attention grabbing! I love her eyes!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amanda and Janet! I appreciate the support!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Thomas! Also for the Tweet! :)
ReplyDelete