GUEST POST and EXCERPT
Defensive Mindset
by Wendy Temple
Defensive Mindset by Wendy Temple is currently on tour with Bewitching Book Tours. The tour stops here today for a guest post by the author and an excerpt. Please be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Description
Star footballer and successful businesswoman Jessie Grainger has her life set, and doesn’t need anything getting in the way. That includes rebellious rival player Fran Docherty, a burnt-out barmaid with a past as messed up as her attitude. So when the clashing pair find themselves on the same Edinburgh women’s football team, how will they survive each other, let alone play to win?
Excerpt
Click below to read an excerpt.
Praise for the Book
"Not a cookie cut out of the usual lesfic romance fair, I know this one will stick out as one to remember." ~ Shabba
"I loved the story of Jessie and Fran." ~ Sandra
"Fran is one of the most memorable and unique heroines in recent memory - tattooed, pierced, brusque - so indifferently talented, so emotionally damaged. The novel's strength is the slow-burn way in which two people, opposites in almost every way, slip past formidable walls to fall in love despite everything. It was enthralling to see Jessie, the ultimate color-between-the-lines person, helpless against her feelings for Fran, and likewise for Fran, who, in an attempt to hide away from the world, discovers herself in Jessie. This is not a glossy, superficial romance; but I think that the rich characterization makes the ending all the more resonant." ~ MW
"Where to start! I guess I'll start with Fran, my heart broke for her and all that she's had to endure in such a young life. I really applaud Wendy Temple for being able to capture that raw emotion that rages through Fran in her daily struggles with addiction too. I also loved that Jessie stuck by her and didn't take the easy way out by walking away. This is the first time I've read a book by Wendy Temple but I can't wait to read more." ~ Ozgrl
"Wendy Temple has written a fantastic story that deals with a relationship full of difficulties and turmoil but she also managed to make it joyful and incredibly sexy too. Jessie’s life is safe and ordered and meeting Fran has made her re-evaluate all she thought she knew. Fran is a complicated and apparently anti-social individual. Once we delve into her background we realise there is so much more to her and I really grew to admire her. The setting of Portobello in Edinburgh was interesting and I even found myself rooting for their team. I highly recommend it." ~ Kitty Kat
Guest Post by the Author
Check out this guest post by the author on the Ylva Publishing website: Playing Like a Girl - Breaking Down Barriers in Women's Football.
About the Author
Wendy Temple’s first love has always been sport. She kicked a football as soon as she could walk. At school, girls weren’t allowed to play football, so she played hockey instead. Hockey became her go-to sport for many years, but she played five a side football as often as she could/was permitted!
Wendy also loves music and from a young age got into punk. She remembers watching the Sex Pistols on the BBC news and her mum and granny being appalled. Wendy was ten and thought they were amazing.
Wendy believes that sport and a good family saved her from a life on the fringes of society. At age fifteen she was experimenting with drugs and skipping school. She failed all her exams apart from English. It was her love of sport that had her returning to school to re-sit exams and try again.
Upon leaving school Wendy studied physical and community education. After college she became a youth worker, running sports clubs, after school clubs and youth clubs. Working for an orthotics company inspired her to go to university to study Occupational Therapy – providing invaluable insight into physical and mental health, including addiction, which is one of the major themes in Defensive Mindset.
Wendy has spent most of her life in Edinburgh bar a couple of months in London. For her, Edinburgh is a city that can feel like a town: "It’s cosmopolitan, quaint and steeped in history, an ideal setting for any story," says Wendy, which explains why Defensive Mindset is based in Portobello, Edinburgh!
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