Spotlight & Giveaway: Dirty Hit by Livy Hart

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Livy Hart to HJ!

Hi Livy and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Dirty Hit!

 
Greetings readers!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

Forbidden sparks fly when the first female NHL coach enlists the help of her brooding, secretly-injured captain to turn the worst team in the league in winners.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

The neon paint won’t budge from my cheek no matter how hard I scrub.
Perfect. Just what I need when I’ve got a six-foot-four bruiser waiting for me upstairs who, if history is any indication, will not be thrilled to see me.
Assuming Leo even remembers who I am.
A few hours ago, the general manager of the Portland Fury—my boss, Jax—acquired the league’s broodiest defenseman, igniting a media frenzy with less than a day until training camp.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The idea was inspired by my obsession with the show Ted Lasso. I wanted a sushine-y coach but I wanted it to be a woman.
• It’s the first in a series and I keep mentally increasing the number of books in the series because I have so many characters I want to showcase!
• The singing clock bit was inspired by a vintage store I worked in as a teenager on the historic St. George Street in St. Augustine, Florida. We sold those clocks and I heard them sing all day long. It evokes a very specific, nostalgic feeling in me and I know my heroine, Sadie, feels it too when she hears her clock, as it is the last real item she has from her childhood home.
• The team name “The Fury” is a running joke in the book because no one knows what it truly means or what the mascot should look like and are afraid to ask.
• It takes place in Portland, Maine because I wanted that coastal charm and proximity to hockey powerhouse states. Also: lighthouses. I am a lighthouse enthusiast and we will certainly see more of those as the series progresses!

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

Leo was attracted to Sadie’s hockey talent and the chatty mouth she is forever using against him.
Sadie was attracted to Leo’s competence, on and off the ice.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Forbidden, consuming, provocative, symbiotic, enduring.
 

The First Kiss…

…takes place in costume. Sort of.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

Sadie and Leo put up a good fight, but they can only deny their mutual feelings for so long. Here’ s a snippet where they almost risk it all in a rooftop hot tub in downtown Miami, all while Leo quietly panics that she’s caught on to his hidden injury:

“Your posture was different.” Her gaze lingers on my shoulder. “Are you sore?”
She’s so close we could be dancing. “I play hockey. Of course I’m sore. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Her lips tip down into a frown. The longer she doesn’t speak, the faster my heart beats.
“Okay,” she finally says. “But if ever you feel—”
“I’ll ‘feel’ in the off season. We’ve got games to win, Coach.”
“I worry about you.” She swallows, drawing my gaze to the smooth skin of her neck. “All of you, I mean. Some injuries don’t leave room for second or even third chances. If things go sideways, you’re just…done.”
My cells seem to move faster under the spotlight of her gaze. Is she speaking broadly, or about me, specifically? Or maybe she’s speaking from her own experience. “What took you out?”
“Labral hip tear.” She dusts a hand over her right hip and lets it fall away. “I felt like something was wrong, but my coach made me…”
Her voice breaks off as I close my hand over her waist and guide her closer.
“You told him something was wrong and he put you in anyway?”Thunder cracks overhead as she stares down at my hand on her body.
“Our, um…backup goalie was out,” she says softly. “I threw myself into a save and…I felt it. I felt the moment my life as I knew it—”
My thumb brushes the front of her hip.
“—changed.” Her gaze locks with mine.
Fuck, I’ve got to stop.
But as I retract my hand, her fingers find mine.
She moves my touch an inch lower to her scar, holding it there. “Here.”
I trace the raised sliver of tight skin, pulse pounding in
my ears. “Does it still hurt?”
Her breathing has synced with mine, fast and hard. “It aches sometimes.”
My fingers splay over the front of her hip, my calloused palm sliding on the top of her thigh. She exhales sharply, even as she cants her hips forward as if to welcome the touch. Her expression shifts, revealing the banked heat in her eyes.
Her gaze moves to my lips.
My mouth burns as her attention lingers there. The window of time where we can pretend this is a harmless touch is rapidly closing.
I can’t do this to her, no matter how badly I want to.
And oh, do I fucking want to. It’s killing me not to jerk her closer, bring her chest flush against mine, taste her pretty lips.
But what kind of man would I be if I, a lowly player, threw everything she’s worked for—is actively working for—into question because I’ve been struck with an unbearable need to touch her?
Self. Control.
It’d be easier to have it if she weren’t looking at me like she was waiting for something.
For me to cross the line first, maybe?

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

The heart of the story is Sadie and Leo’s romance, but it can’t be separated from their relationship to the team and their deep desire to win. Hockey is their shared obsession, so this scene feels like a symbolic moment and turning point where their hard work and teamwork pays off:

“Trust me.” That’s all I can say without getting into the nitty-gritty of my decision making. We don’t have time for that.
Jax seems to hesitate before nodding. He trusted me to lead his team. I need that trust to pay off like I’ve never needed anything in my life.
We need this win.
The invisible thread that connects a coach and a player has been weak between me and these men the last two games, a cable too frayed to conduct any sort of electricity.
Tonight is different. I felt that Nic was going to score both times before it slid in. I knew Leo was going to shy away from his usual play style and stay back so that Callum could play an aggressive defense.
Jetty will put that puck where it needs to go. Jax gave me a chance when he hired me, and now I’m giving Jetty a chance to show what he can do when the pressure’s on.
Glide. Deke. Snap.
Applause and stomps rattle the ground.
I drop to a squat, pretending to fix my shoe as adrenaline floods my every vein.
3-2.
All we have to do is protect.
But protecting is the hardest thing to do.
Composed, I rise to my feet, ready to face it.
Anders readies his stance.
He’s got this.
I feel it in my bones. It’s goalie to former goalie ESP. He’s capable of being an absolute
wall, which we saw all night. He can do it one more time.
He’s had enough of the losses. We all have.
Miami’s first-line left winger charges from the center line, keeping tight control of the puck, faking right, drawing back, firing—
Anders drops into a split, throwing himself on the ice, arms outstretched—
Sprawl save.
He did it. It can’t have felt good, throwing his body on the ice, but he freaking did it.
My hands brace my face as the arena erupts in a thunderstorm of noise and claps.
The scoreboard flashes two words this team hasn’t seen in far too long.
FURY WINS!
Vivi nearly tackles me from the side and we hug. The men skate out, pumping fists and smacking each other in affection. Nic does a little dance. Jax stares at the scoreboard, his closed fist pressed against his mouth like he’s in shock.
Leo, though….
He doesn’t hit the ice. He turns around on the bench, searching.
His eyes meet mine, two bright emeralds in a sea of ice.
He smiles. An actual, honest smile.
And for a searing, supercharged second, I feel like I won twice.

Readers should read this book …

If they love to see an underdog win.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m working on books 2 and 3 in this series. I can’t wait to share more Portland Fury fun with the world!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A signed paperback copy of Dirty Hit!

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: How do you find between your career and your personal life?

Excerpt from Dirty Hit:

“Come on, Leo. Let’s see ’em,” Andy says, rubbing his hands together.
I place my cards face down on the table, mucking the hand.
“Damn. Thought you had her,” Eric gripes.
“Nope. Congrats, Rivers.” I shove back from my chair. “Well played.”
She pauses. “Wait. What did you have?”
I avoid her eyes. “Couldn’t compete.”
After blinking at me for three seconds, she turns to Jax. “Take my chips. Turns out I’m not really a fan of games.”
“Says the head coach,” Eric mutters into his drink with a self-satisfied smirk.
Her attention snaps to him, the tension rolling off her in droves. For a split second I think she’s about to say something. ‘Fuck you’ would be a fun start.
But she turns and walks fast in the direction of the door.
My stomach twists uncomfortably. She’s clearly upset.
I shouldn’t follow her. That would be a dumb idea.
With a sigh, I’m hot on her heels. I follow her all the way out the door and down the long hall until we reach a door that takes us outside into the rapidly cooling night. “Rivers—”
She whirls around, eyes wild. “I know you had a better hand than me.”
It’s not like she can prove that, even if it’s true. “Then why would I drop out, if that were the case?”
“I don’t know why you did it. But if you didn’t have a better hand, you would’ve shown your cards.”
I’ve always known this girl is smart. But I could do without being reminded of it every day in new and surprising ways.
My mind goes blank as I try to summon a reason.
She looks past me as if to make sure we’re really alone out here.
We are. The awareness of being alone with her feels like a blanket stripped off my arms when I’m cold. A heavy gust of wind blasts us. I step closer out of instinct. Her perfume punches me hard. “Are you okay—”
“Eric is always like that.” She smooths the front of her dress primly. “You don’t have to feel sorry for me.”
“I don’t. I feel sorry for his wife.”
Her gaze snaps up.
“He’s fixated on seeing you fail,” I say. “You should be careful of him. He’ll throw you under the bus at the first opportunity.”
“A lot of people wanted my job.” The slow cadence of her words tells me she’s choosing them carefully.
“I bet.”
“I know how to handle him.”
“I have no doubt. You handle bigger dicks at work every day.”
She gapes at me.
“You know what I mean,” I add hastily, welcoming another gust of cold air as it cools my skin.
“So why did you throw the hand and then follow me when you should be soaking up face time with those guys, who basically determine your whole career?” She blinks too fast and hugs herself. “What do you want?”
I chuff a laugh. This less put-together side of her is amusing. “Clearly not the pleasure of your company.”
“You’re no treat yourself,” she deadpans.
“Couldn’t agree more.”
A flicker of a smile flirts with her lips, and her shoulders drop. The stranglehold the last twenty minutes seemed to have on her fades as she exhales. Coming outside was the right move.
For her.
Not for me.
I’m not sure why I followed her. And I think she wonders, too, because she’s regarding me with a curiosity that prods at my chest.
In my effort to avoid getting trapped by her sea-blue gaze, my attention wanders to more dangerous places.
The ends of her hair flirt with the top of her breasts. I follow a pink flush as it creeps up the delicate line of her neck. My pulse is a full-on firing squad in my ears as I trace
the kissable line of her jaw—
“You’re staring,” she murmurs.
“Hard not to.”
Fuck.
I might as well have dropped a piano off a seven-story building with the way those words land between us.
They came out before my better judgment could catch up. I exhale slowly through my nose, racking my brain for a way to take it back. Something about a distracting smudge of dirt on her cheek or some bullshit lie to absolve her from what I’ve said.
But she doesn’t back away or slap me in the face. In fact, I think I broke her, because she goes completely still. The only hint that she heard me is the way her gaze latches on to mine.
“Hey!”
Coach Vivi’s voice startles me to turn around.
Sadie snaps out of her trance and takes a step backward.
“There you are.” Vivi approaches with a drink in each hand. “I was about to hand-deliver this to your table, but the guys said you went on a walk.” She lifts a champagne flute.
“Am I interrupting something?” She eyes her friend up and down. “Hockey talk, I mean.”
A rolling tide of discomfort rises in my throat and my mind goes blank. “You’re not interrupting. I came outside to catch an Uber.”
Sadie fiddles with her hair so it lies just right over her shoulder. “I was making sure it came.”
My lungs contract uncomfortably. There was no reason to lie.
But there was even less reason for her to go along with it.
And judging by the fleeting look she gives me, we both know it.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Gender-bent TED LASSO meets THE DEAL in a new grumpy/sunshine hockey romance from bestselling author Livy Hart.

When a career-ending injury forces hockey superstar Sadie Rivers to hang up her skates, she never expects to be the NHL’s first female coach. The Portland Fury are the league’s worst team—and Sadie has one season to turn the franchise around. Critics of her “soft touch” coaching style make no secret of their skepticism, but Sadie has never bucked a challenge, on or off the ice.

Defenseman Leo McLaren is hockey royalty. Or he was, until a dirty hit last season left him with a shoulder injury and migraines that have destroyed his game. When he’s traded to the Fury, it feels like the end of his hockey dreams. That is, until the new head coach names him captain—and asks for his help getting to know the team, who resist her personal approach.

Secret coach-captain meet-ups lead to a tentative friendship that quickly turns into sizzling chemistry hot enough to melt a hockey rink. But with the season and both their careers on the line, Sadie and Leo will have to decide if love is a risk worth taking when the game they’re playing demands all they have to give.

Perfect for fans of Elle Kennedy and Emily Rath, DIRTY HIT is an emotional, super-spicy sports romance and the start of the Portland Fury series!
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Romance author Livy Hart has two children, too many Funko Pops, and a husband who’s workin’ on the railroad—literally. She currently resides in Dallas, Texas where she enjoys long walks on the concrete and people-watching at malls so big they have their own zip codes. When she’s not writing, she’s bickering with her KitchenAid stand mixer, road-tripping to her sleepy Florida hometown, or sipping espresso on her Nonna’s porch.
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