Kathy Lyons | Guess how SLIDING HOME was born!

Yeah! Sliding Home releases to the world August 13. I’m so excited for this book, you have no idea. My editor likes this hero best because… (guess)

1. He’s a fireman. Or he was until he became a hot baseball shortstop.
2. He’s got family issues and who doesn’t?
3. He seduces good girl Ellie in a really unusual balcony scene.
4. She’s always had a thing for baseball players. In her words, “They have the best butts of anyone professional athlete.”

Answer: All of the above! Yes my editor loves this book for a variety of reasons, all of which include the sexy hero, baseball yumminess, and his realistic family issues. The chemistry just worked right in the book. Plus, she loves how the book came to be.

Guess where I got the idea for the heroine’s “Rejection Therapy”

1. A backyard barbeque when every single person said a hard “No!” to my potato and avocado salad
2. On the side of a tube of toothpaste. Some of us read everything including whatever’s hanging around the bathroom. So there it was on the side of a tube of Sensodyne.
3. TED talks. It was a very learned (and fun) piece about wanting Olympic ring donuts and expecting to be told no. Except the manager said yes, and voila, cool donut!
4. I’ve been shopping innovative story ideas to various publishing houses. When yet another editor rejected the idea of sunflower shifter romance (you know, sunbathing beauties who hang out by day, find romance at night)—I decided to call it a therapy name as a soothe my wounded my pride.

Answer: C – it was indeed a TED talk. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/-vZXgApsPCQ I found it absolutely fascinating and decided to see what naughty places I could go with it in a Brazen. Sliding Home was the result! [Secret note: I’m still shopping my Weird Were-Creature idea complete with a blood-sucking mosquito-shifter. If you know of an editor interested in the unusual, let me know!]

So there’s the true story of the idea behind Sliding Home. Leave a comment below on what you think of Rejection Therapy. And be sure to enter the contest. One lucky winner will get a signed copy of book 1 in the series Hitting It and a limited edition Locker Room Diaries café mug!