On April 14, Carina Press is publishing six brand-new sports romances. Today Allison Parr is here to tell us about her football novel, Imaginary Lines. It was a TV show that did me in. The heroine wouldn’t stop mooning over the hero, who never gave her the time of day. For God’s sake, I wanted to shout, get over him. Figure out your own life and he’ll eventually see what he’s missing. That was when the plot bunnies for Imaginary Lines came hopping. It’s not easy to be madly infatuated with a guy, especially not if the crush lasts years and if the feeling remains unrequited. But there’s only so much you can do. After Tamar, heroine of Imaginary Lines, tells Abraham’s Krasner — family friend and boy-next-door — that she likes him, that’s that. He doesn’t return the sentiment, so she’s taking off. So long, and thanks for all the fish. So of course it doesn’t take Abe very long to realize he’s madly in love with her. When they run into each other four years later, they’re professionally at odds: he’s a football star and she reports on his team. And Tamar’s given up unrequited love for good:…

Recently, we were at the house of a friend of a friend. Beautiful building, gorgeous gardens, even a stream running through the bottom of the garden. Inside, they had lovely furniture and interesting stuff in their bookcases, on their shelves and hanging on their walls. But their décor was all white. And I do mean all white. Walls, carpets, sofas, lamps, curtains. Every main room and bedroom was white. White on white. Strangely, their bathrooms were all black and white. Now, it was effective and stunning. I’m sure it photographs beautifully. But, to us, it was cold. We won’t mention that we thought it wasn’t really the place for pets or kids or clumsy adults (yes, I was nervous that I’d spill something or make a mark somewhere!) So, for all that we liked their house, we didn’t feel at home in it because of the lack of colour. We love colour! All the rooms we’ve decorated so far have coloured walls. I will admit that they’re plain colour – no wallpaper – because we have a lot of art and memorabilia hanging on our walls and it would be too busy otherwise. And we haven’t gone nuts – like…