S.B. Barnes's Blog

A Minor Penalties short story (NSFW) This just in: Tom Crowler is now a Prada brand ambassador. A weird choice for an athlete, let alone one as historically nondescript as Crowler. But a recent run of photos on Crowler’s brand new social media accounts show him in Prada’s line of loungewear, hanging out around the house and playing with his adorable dog, Artemis. So long as he isn’t looking directly at the camera, Crowler develops twice the personality, good gamble, Prada! Top comments:...

Two for Holding is now available as a paperback with all major retailers! Click on either cover to reach the book's amazon page or here for other retailers! To celebrate this momentous occasion, here comes the second bonus short story accompanying the book: "Performance Consultant", in which Tom Crowler sees a therapist. Performance Consultant   Title: Performance Consultant Job type: Full-time Job description: The San Francisco Sea Lions NHL hockey team seeks applications for the position...

A Minor Penalties short story One   [Video of several members of the San Francisco Sea Lions clinking champagne glasses together] “The Sea Lions’ annual fundraiser for the children’s ward at the St. Sebastian hospital is underway! Looking fine, boys!” Top comments: seelionssaylions: some of the boys look fine. many of the boys look like they would rather be shooting pucks at a washing machine in someone’s basement. phileastonfanclub: love East’s fits 90% of the time, but man, elbow pads?...

Tomorrow morning, when this post goes live, Two for Holding will be a published book! In celebration, here come in no particular order, some of the tie-in images I made that tell you more about the universe, sneak peaks to upcoming short stories and books, and links to all the places you can buy the book! Firstly, please once again appreciate the beautiful cover art by Tuisku Hiltunen , my amazing cover artist. She is wonderful and talented and has already agreed to my stupid idea for the...

How flawed can a main character in a romance be? Industry standards are pretty firm in that main characters in a romance need to be above...

It's finally time! I posted the cover by amazing artist Tuisku Hiltunen a while ago (check out her work here ) but here is the final...

When does escapism in romance work for you? As a lover of (queer) romance novels, today I want to talk about a very important feature:...

Little update: All four books of the Minor Penalties are now under contract, so I'm updating to include the blurbs and some other, uh,...

In late August 2024, when my husband and I finished moving into and renovating our house, a weird aspect of maternity leave finally began...

Now Second Chance is out there in the world, I'm focusing on my next project: a four-part hockey romance series. The first two parts are under contract with Nine Star Press and will be out at some point within the next year to eighteen months, so have a sneak preview here!

Book One: Two for HoldingPlaying defense never won the game—or the guy.

Tom Crowler has been captain of the San Francisco Sea Lions for a decade of failures. With no cups or trophies to show for his time in the NHL, Tom retreated into himself a long time ago, and that’s exactly where he intends to stay until he retires. But when he catches the new team superstar, Jaxon Grant, in a compromising position, Tom finds it impossible to continue hiding his deepest secret behind a bland, pleasant mask.

Jax is everything Tom isn’t: loud, flashy, the winner of multiple NHL Awards, and—oh, yeah—gay enough to get traded to San Francisco because of a potential PR scandal with his old team. At first, he thinks Tom catching him means the next trade, the next rejection for being just a little too much for other people to take. When it turns out the two of them have more in common than talent on the ice, though, Jax finds himself drawn in by pulling Tom out.

 

As animosity gives way to a partnership neither of them saw coming, Tom and Jax are left facing new challenges. Will Jax’s impulsive nature put Tom’s deeply valued privacy at risk? Or will Tom’s reticence force Jax into pretending to be someone he isn’t? And if they can’t even figure each other out, how can they save a struggling NHL team from bad coaching and internal division?

Book Two: Two for BoardingThere’s no such thing as a safe bet in hockey—or in love

With sixteen years as the San Francisco Sea Lions' top defenseman under his belt, Phil Easton is tired. After his coaches push him into playing on a bad knee and he ends up on long-term injured reserve, the chances of his contract being renewed are dwindling before his eyes. He's ready to hang up his skates when head coach Ben Morris shows up on his doorstep to help him recover. But as what starts as a short term boarding situation to help Phil get around on one leg turns into friendship and maybe more, Phil can't help noticing a few things about his coach that don't add up.

Ben Sinclair has never been a hockey fan. He's never even been a sports fan. Living in Phil's spare room, investigating a scandal at the heart of the Sea Lions' management and growing closer to Phil by the day to do a favor for his estranged family is just one of many brief interludes in his nomadic life. When his family calls in yet another favor in the form of taking in his wayward nephew Charlie, what started as a way for Ben to help Phil quickly becomes the reverse. The closer they grow, the more Ben relies on Phil for help with coaching and Charlie, going against every instinct he's trained into himself for two lonely decades.

With his own heart on the line, can Ben accept Phil's offer of a convenient marriage to keep custody of Charlie? Can Phil figure out his own sexuality in time to make the marriage real? And can both of them work together to protect the Sea Lions from a conspiracy going all the way to the very top?

Stay tuned for info on ARCs, publication dates and books three and four!