Grace on the Rocks


Heather C. Myers - 2017
    Her father drags her to the beach for a Newport Beach Seagulls' event, something he's done with her since the team was first created in 1993. In fact, he's had season tickets for the same amount of time, and since Emma's mother left them when Emma was three, she has been her father's date ever since.Kyle Underwood is a first line right winger for the Newport Beach Seagulls. He's an instigator on the ice, the type of player who rubs his mouth, gets under the skin; the kind of player who is hated unless on the team. He's happy being single, dating around, and focusing on his passion: hockey. Up until he decides to talk to Emma Winsor, daughter of one of the Gulls' season ticket holders. He thinks she'll be like every other puck bunny who attends these fan events but she doesn't even know his name.She's different. He has to have her.Will Emma take a chance on a notorious bachelor hockey player? Can Kyle convince her that he's just as different as he is?

The Franchise Babe


Dan Jenkins - 2008
    Lately he’s been bored out of his mind writing about the PGA Tour, which he says has become “Tiger and a bunch of slugs playing pushover courses.” So he decides to check out what he calls “the Lolitas,” a new breed of young chicks on the LPGA Tour. Jack chooses as a magazine subject Ginger Clayton, a fiery eighteen-year old with flowing blond locks, legs up to here, and a personality that combines mischief with confidence. With her killer looks and killer game, Ginger looks very much like the kind of star who can take the LPGA to the next level of excitement and acceptance. She is, indeed, The Franchise Babe, and everyone seems to want a part of her.Jack’s interest in Ginger’s career might have something to do with her mother, Thurlene Clayton, a knockout herself who looks plenty okay in a jacked-up mini-to use Jack’s description of her outfit. As Ginger shows her grit on the ladies’ tour, the greedy hordes looking to benefit from the kid’s talent and personality aren’t the ones who worry Thurlene-and Jack-the most. Someone is trying to knock Ginger out of the competition-permanently.Jenkins captures the growing buzz around the Franchise Babe and all the insane and hilarious things that happen when the sports world anoints someone new to the throne of super-stardom. Along the way, Jenkins issues bawdy, dead-on takedowns of selfish sports moms, gasbag corporate sponsors, adventurous promoters, sleazy sports agents, point-missing magazine editors, and all the other modern annoyances that make life hard for a guy who, as they say in Texas, is just tryin' to get by without gettin' hurt.

Quiet Genius: Bob Paisley, British Football's Greatest Manager


Ian Herbert - 2017
    The man whose Liverpool team won trophies at a rate-per-season that dwarfs Sir Alex Ferguson's achievements at Manchester United and who remains the only Briton to lead a team to three European Cups.From Wembley to Rome, Manchester to Madrid, Paisley's team was the one no one could touch. Working in a city which was on its knees, in deep post-industrial decline, still tainted by the 1981 Toxteth riots and in a state of open warfare with Margaret Thatcher, he delivered a golden era - never re-attained since - which made the city of Liverpool synonymous with success and won them supporters the world over. Yet, thirty years since Paisley died, the life and times of this shrewd, intelligent, visionary, modest football man have still never been fully explored and explained.Based on in-depth interviews with Paisley's family and many of the players whom he led to an extraordinary haul of honours between 1974 and 1983, Quiet Genius is the first biography to examine in depth the secrets of Paisley's success. It inspects his man-management strategies, his extraordinary eye for a good player, his uncanny ability to diagnose injuries in his own players and the opposition, and the wicked sense of humour which endeared him to so many. It explores the North-East mining community roots which he cherished, and considers his visionary outlook on the way the game would develop.Quiet Genius is the story of how one modest man accomplished more than any other football manager, found his attributes largely unrecorded and undervalued and, in keeping with the gentler ways of his generation, did not seem to mind. It reveals an individual who seemed out of keeping with the brash, celebrity sport football was becoming, and who succeeded on his own terms. Three decades on from his death, it is a football story that demands to be told.

If These Walls Could Talk: Michigan Football Stories from Inside the Big House


Jon Falk - 2010
    Falk s encyclopedic knowledge of Wolverines football traditions and history make him a vital component of the staff that transforms talented college football players into true Michigan Men. And in his nearly four decades on the job, Falk has become one of the most beloved figures in team history. In If These Walls Could Talk, Falk shares his stories, memories, and friendships established in the locker room, on the sideline, and on the road with one of college football s most storied institutions. From legendary tales of Bo Schembechler s epic gridiron chess matches with Ohio State s Woody Hayes to the memorable day Falk introduced freshman phenom Anthony Carter to two-time All-American Ron Kramer, Falk s recollections connect the past and present to underscore the importance of building the relationships that drive the Wolverines to success. Win or lose, a game only lasts 3-1/2 hours, Falk said. Friends last a lifetime. He s an extra arm to the coaching staff. He s a shoulder to lean on for the players.... All players eventually have to leave the University of Michigan. But no one ever leaves Big Jon. Tom Brady, former Michigan quarterback, from his foreword [Falk] can tell stories going all the way back to Bo. That s a good feeling for a former player. That s what Michigan is all about. When you play football for Michigan, you never really leave. It will always be part of your home. Mike Hart, former Michigan running back Nobody knows more about Michigan tradition than Jon. Paul Jokisch, former Michigan wide receiver

Lindsey's Angel (Cuyamaca Mountain Series, #1)


Katina Gavin - 2016
    Her husband’s death had broken her; her life for the past eight years had been void of emotion. Her family and her job as a Park Ranger were the only things that had kept her going, but sometimes that wasn’t enough. The peaceful mountains had recently been tainted with a double homicide that occurred not far from her cabin. Lindsey knew there would be an investigation, but she never thought the handsome DEA agent would ask her to be his guide. Angel Running Deer was working his last undercover assignment for the DEA. He wouldn't have taken the risks he did if he'd had a family. He had never been in a relationship with a woman, because his code wouldn’t allow it. Now he was ready to settle down and start a family, he just hoped it wouldn’t take ten years to find the right woman. The sizzle they both felt upon their first handshake could not be denied. Angel is certain he’s found the perfect woman. Lindsey feels the connection, but has doubts about the possibility of finding love for a second time in her young life. Strong subplots.

What Pharaoh Wants


Marcelle Sixx - 2016
    Hopefully he was the last one that she tried to sleep with. If not..." He slid into his car and gripped the steering wheel. "I feel bad for the next jig and her too. I'm done with the games. I want my wife and the power that comes with her." David Pharaoh was a vicious man. A truce between his father and another gentleman included a promise of young Robyn. After mastering the art of Dark Magic, Pharaoh decides that it's time to take his prize. However, when Robyn rejects him, he stops at nothing to make any man who comes close to her suffer for even so much as looking, and to prove to Robyn that she only belongs him. He would make her temperature rise with his invisible touch, or when he disturbed her dreams. Robyn’s loins ached as if he had truly invaded her in the wee hours of the morning. He would make sure to save the painful part of the first stroke, and only made her feel what his slow and meaningful penetration was like. It would always make Robyn wallow in passion and squeeze at her erect nipples before she would realize that she was being manipulated. Pharaoh was becoming much better at forcing himself inside of her dreams and make love to her before he would dissipate into nothing. Robyn, held in the clutch of something that she hadn't known she was involved in, is determined to get away and stay away from Pharaoh and his mischief. But at what cost? Anything can happen in the city of New Orleans when the son of Voodoo wants the princess of White Magic.

The Best American Sports Writing 2018


Glenn Stout - 2018
    Each year, the series editor and guest editor curate a truly exceptional collection. The only shared traits among all these diverse styles, voices, and stories are the extraordinarily high caliber of writing, and the pure passion they tap into that can only come from sports.

Eli Manning The Making of a Quarterback


Ralph Vacchiano - 2008
    But the drive, which also included a remarkable escape and pass completion to unheralded receiver David Tyree, was the culmination of years of promise and development. After all, champion quarterbacks aren't made overnight.With Manning, the Super Bowl MVP, as its focal point, New York Daily News Giants beat writer Ralph Vacchiano's 'Eli Manning The Making of a Quarterback' is a fascinating insider's look at the National Football League, how stars are made and crushed, and how fortunes are won and lost on the performance of one man: the quarterback. From the bold draft day trade that brought Manning to New York, through his dramatic ups and downs on and off the field, his first training camp to his last-minute heroics in Super Bowl XLII, Vacchiano takes a candid and revealing look at the people and events that made Manning's and his 2007 Giants' success one of the greatest stories in modern sports history. Complete with exclusive interviews with NFL stars, coaches, and executives and a foreword by former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, Vacchiano uses his unfettered access to the world champion Giants to present a true, behind-the scenes look at the quarterback and team that defied all of the experts and oddsmakers to pull off one of the most phenomenal upsets in pro football history.