For the Win (Playing for Keeps Book 1) (20 page)

I’ve wanted to write a baseball romance for awhile. Mostly because I come from a baseball family. Pretty much every guy on both my mom’s and dad’s side has played baseball. Some even at a professional level, and many have coached into their adult years. But mostly I wanted to write this story for my brothers. Matt and Kagen are exceptional baseball players. Matt played third base all through high school and now coaches at the high school level. Kagen was a pitcher all through high school and is now playing professionally for a minor league team.

Both Matt and Kagen were my baseball experts as I wrote this book. Matt re-wrote most of the scenes out on the field so that they actually made sense. And all of Cooper’s pitching jargon comes from Kagen.

The idea for the cancer portion of the story came later. At first I had planned to write this novel as a straight romance. The secrets of their parents’ deaths were the only added twist when I began. But my daughter is obsessed with ugly cry books right now, and she’s been begging me to write one. I already did with Cuts Run Deep, but she wanted one about illness. So I started outlining an idea for a story that involved a transplant. As I worked on that outline I realized that Cooper and London’s story would actually fit it perfectly. So I revamped this story to fit that idea. And I think it worked really well. I hope you think it did too.

As always I have a ton of people to thank:

Lisa Richardson, my super star editor. Without her you would read phrases like ‘care feet’ instead of ‘bare feet.’ I don’t know what I’d do without her.

Kris at C & K Creations for my fabulous cover. I love it so much. It’s perfect.

Cambria Hebert for being an awesome beta reader and catching all the crazy mistakes, and for helping me realize what needed to change for the second half of the book.

To Leanne Coulson for coming up with Fallbrook University. That was awesome!

To my kids for being so understanding when Cooper and London took over my life.

For my husband who is always super supportive and loves me so well.

To my extended family – there are too many to name but I love you all!

To all my readers, bloggers and fans, you make this all worth it! I can’t thank you enough.

And, most of all, to God, who makes all this possible. Everything I do is for you.

Amber

Amber Garza is the author of the
Delaney’s Gift Series
, the
Prowl Trilogy
, suspense novel
Engraved
, and many contemporary romance titles, including
Star Struck
and
Tripping Me Up
. She has had a passion for the written word since she was a child making books out of notebook paper and staples. Her hobbies include reading and singing. Tea and wine are her drinks of choice (not necessarily in that order). She writes while blaring music, and talks about her characters like they’re real people. She currently lives in California with her amazing husband, and two hilarious children who provide her with enough material to keep her writing for years.