When You Need a Superhero and Mr. Hockey Shows Up

Well, it has been a minute since I’ve come on here and shared with you. I always have good intentions to do a blog posting but I am easily distracted. Obviously. The post prior to today was when I posted Ethan Blackstone’s Final March to pay my respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II upon her passing in early September exactly one year ago.

But alas, I have good news to share. Mr. Hockey published today and I think it’s my favorite in the VEGAS CRUSH eight-book series. The hero is brooding and awesome in a non-smiling way, kinda like another hero of mine who lives in London and wears purple ties.  Mr. Hockey is also what I like to call a #GentlemanAlpha…very much on brand with the way every one of my heroes ends up portrayed on the pages of the kind of books I write.

He’s also a hockey player on a team in Vegas with a bit of a superhero complex, and gratefully for the heroine in this story, ready and willing to step in and save her from some seriously bad dudes. It’s also about friendship and kindness, and finding someone who gets you just the way you are. It’s about fighting for your people and never giving up on them. It’s about falling in love hard and fast when you least expect it. It’s a beautiful story about finding your voice and the strength to keep going. Mr. Hockey is all of those things and that’s why it’s my favorite.

So, I hope you’ll give it a read and enjoy my hockey playing superhero, Mikhail, and his warrior princess-in-trouble, Reagan. Mr. Hockey is a complete standalone within the Vegas Crush series so you don’t have to read the other books to enjoy it. Books can be read in any order (with minor spoilers of course, like who gets married, engaged, etc. if that’s considered a spoiler for you).

Photograph: Graham Nation by Justin Forsyth. Design by Jena Brignola.

You’ll get these tropes below, plus a treasure trove of VGK Easter Eggs and even some from my other books sprinkled throughout the pages as I love to do. I can’t seem to help myself with my favorite hockey team and current NHL champions, the Vegas Golden Knights by putting in little mentions of the team in my Vegas Crush books to honor them because I love them so much. I’m already smiling because there’ll be preseason games to watch this month. Hockey Season is nearly here!!

➜ hockey player🏒🔥
➜ steamy sports romance 🏒🥅🖤
➜ friends with benefits 🔥💋
➜ he falls first 🧍💙
➜ only in Vegas 🎰⁉️
➜ he’s a superhero 🦸‍♂️
➜ brooding man 😠
➜ Gentleman Alpha 🤵

A hotheaded winger with a superhero complex trying to live up to his father’s great legacy rescues a desperate damsel-in-distress with ninety-nine problems and discovers he wants to be so much more than just her “friend” in this friends-with-benefits, he falls first, superhero hockey romance.

“When people say I have a superhero complex I take it as a compliment.”
—Mikhail Zelenka, VEGAS CRUSH

I met her on my way home from the gym one day.
It was really more like she accused me of stalking her and other things that made no sense to me at the time.
Reagan Marlowe was under the impression I was working for a Vegas crime boss about to give her the shakedown.
I was under the impression she was straight-up crazy.
Gorgeous AF, but crazy all the same.
So later, when I came upon her with said shakedown in progress, I knew she wasn’t crazy at all, just terrified and in trouble.
I didn’t hesitate to step in and rescue her from the real criminals in this story.
She told me I was her own personal superhero and I probably saved her life.
I told her I was just a hockey player who happened to be in the right place at the right time and we should probably be friends.
So, we did that…we became friends.
Our friendship even grew to include the occasional naked sleepover.
But it was when she gave me the cool superhero name that I knew I wanted to be a lot more than just a friend who makes her see stars on one of our naked sleepovers.
Yes, she’s got ninety-nine problems and a Vegas crime boss on her tail, but I can make it all go away.
If she would just let me help.
Did I mention she’s also stubborn AF along with gorgeous?
Mr. Hockey (that’s what she named me) has one more challenge before my mission is complete.
Convincing Reagan Marlowe I’ll be her superhero forever.
***

Until next time, my loves, and Happy Reading.

R

Hockey in the Desert?

This is partly a confessional post, and partly a welcome back to blogging after more than a year away from it.  Sorry about that.  It is my goal to do better in the future.

Confession:  I am a hockey addict.

And since the hockey season has just been paused in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic (feels freaky even writing that word) and I’m feeling bereft at the possibility of no playoffs or Stanley Cup Finals, a toilet paper shortage, and having to cook all the meals…yes, I’m a wee bit on edge.  If indeed this season is now OVER until September when the preseason begins?  *Gulp*  Because that’s a lot of months with no hockey to watch.

But there is a silver lining to all of this.  I do have my fictional team to tide me over until then.  Yes, my addiction to the sport has filtered over into writing books about it.  “Hockey Love Stories” to be exact.   I have a series about a fictional Las Vegas team named the CRUSH, written as my alter-ego, Brit DeMille.  I did that to help separate my sports romance from my other books because Brit DeMille’s books are lighter with more of a romantic comedy feel than what readers are used to getting from Raine.  *winky wink*  I am loving writing these books.

My Vegas Crush series is made of up STANDALONE books about different couples and there are now four books available for your reading pleasure.  The fourth book, Puck Money, just released a few days ago.  You can check out the whole series right here.

I hope you’re being cautious, washing hands, social distancing, and all the rest of the recommendations floating around out there. But most of all, may you find some fun things to do in lieu of our usual daily routines.  I know I have about fifty books on my TBR pile right now, but I’m also taking this quarantine time to reorganize and downsize possessions–something that isn’t so fun while I’m doing it, but sure feels fabulous once it’s done.

Be well and many blessings, my friends,

Raine

P.S.  Yes, I am a superfan of the Vegas Golden Knights.  GO KNIGHTS GO!