I met Danica Flynn over our mutual love of hockey, books, and hot hockey players. Fortunately, Danica has found a way to combine all three of these passions into a lovely hockey-themed romance series. In TAKE THE SHOT, main character Dinah’s struggles with being a writer with a separate full time job was so very meta and on the nose, love interest Noah is a big goofy gentle giant, and the on-ice snippets made me feel like I was watching a game. Don’t tell anyone, but I was actively rooting for the Philly team in this adorable hockey-themed love story!
Guest Blogger: Danica Flynn
You’re my heart, my home, and my love
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Hi! My name is Danica Flynn, and there’s probably three things that come to mind when you think about me: Hot Bearded Dudes, Hockey, And having absolutely ZERO Chill It’s true, this is basically my author brand! If you didn’t know me yet, welp, that’s pretty much all you need to know! I’m from the Philly area and I’m a huge fan of both the Philadelphia Flyers and The Metropolitan Riveters. Gritty for President! TAKE THE SHOT is available now in paperback, eBook, and audio. Danica Flynn can be found at DanicaFlynn.com. Ah yes, Gritty. If there are Hockey Gods (and there most certainly are!) then Gritty is the Loki of the hockey pantheon. As for the rest of the Philly team, they can go pound ice. #ALLCAPS! Just kidding – I’ll make an exception for the Philly Bulldogs. |
What do you primarily write?
Contemporary/Sports Romance.
I LOVE hockey and I actually started reading romance a couple years ago looking for books about hockey. I was still writing super tame YA hockey romance at the time. I discovered Kelly Jamieson and Helena Hunting and I kinda never looked back. I think I’ll write some non-hockey romances down the line, but for now I’m sticking with the hockey ones.
Hockey is life. Life is hockey. But what inspired you to write a contemporary romance series based on hockey and hockey players?
Umm this is embarrassing, but I think I talked about this before. I saw Nolan Patrick of the Flyers doing an intermission interview during a game and I just thought, “Hmm, he’s kinda cute.” And then I got the first kernel of an idea for TAKE THE SHOT. I didn’t think I was actually gonna pub it, I wrote it for one of the camp nanos just to see if I could do it. Then the characters for the next book DEMANDED I write their story. And then I had four books written?? So I decided to start this whole author thing. I always thought I was gonna be a YA author (those YA WIPS are also about hockey though!) so writing steamy hockey romances was not something I ever thought I would do.
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“Sometimes, you just need a book that you just fall into, losing all around you, and reading about 2 people falling in love. And this is such a book.” – Goodreads reviewer TAKE THE SHOT is the first book in my Philadelphia Bulldogs hockey romance series. It’s about best friends who slowly become lovers. My heroine Dinah has suffered a lot of grief prior to the book. She lost her husband two years ago and she hasn’t quite moved on yet. She doesn’t feel like she’s really ready to move on. My hero Noah has been pinning for his friend and next door neighbor for so long that his teammates have to give him a little nudge. Noah is a true gentleman. He’s kind and cautious and he wants to make sure Dinah feels comfortable with everything. I’d call him a “cinnamon roll” hero, but one of my other characters calls him a “sweet baby angel” and that is probably accurate too. He’s like too pure for the world! I wrote him that way, because I would read hockey romance after hockey romance where the guy was just supremely a jerk face. I get wanting to have a cocky alphamale athlete but, some of those writers go way too far in my opinion. So I wanted to flip the script a little bit. If anyone’s the alpha in this book, it’s Dinah. |
I loved TAKE THE SHOT. It was fun, sweet, sexy, and full of hockey. PLEASE tell me that you have more coming for the Philly Bulldogs.
And oh yes, there are more books coming! Each book will center around a member of the Philadelphia Bulldogs hockey team, so you will see familiar characters as you progress through the series. I’m intending for them to be interconnected yet stand-alone so readers will be able to jump in at any point and enjoy that couple’s story.
Up next is the second book in the series, SCORE HER HEART. You met my next couple, Riley and Fiona, in TAKE THE SHOT, and this book will tell you their story. It’s currently being edited, but I hope to bring it to you all in 2021. There are definitely more books coming too…eventually! I’ve even got book three in with some critique partners and betas, and I’m drafting the fourth book. So I have a lot more coming down the line.
(Updated 3/7/2021): SCORE HER HEART is out and it’s steamy goodness! This best-friends-to-lovers, marriage of convenience burned a hole in my Kindle.
I’ve noticed that you work with incredibly tight deadlines and you juggle multiple books at once. In addition, you self-pub. How DO you do it all? Do you have any free time at all?
In addition to being a writer of super steamy romance books, I’m a media buyer/planner by day. AKA I don’t sleep! In addition to being a big reader, I also love playing video games. I love a good RPG! I am a BioWare and elder scrolls fangirl through and through.
Where can we find you and your books?
I’m pretty active over on Twitter and Instagram, but you can see all my contact over on my website. But be prepared, I’m pretty annoying on twitter! Especially if it’s during hockey season.
- Website: DanicaFlynn.com
- Twitter: @DanicaFlynn10
- Instagram: @danicaflynnauthor
- TAKE THE SHOT can be found in paperback, multiple eBook platforms, and audio book at: https://books2read.com/u/3JD8kE and on Amazon.
My favorite season is hockey, and this fun romantic hockey romp is a game winning goal!
