When you think of hockey, Stroud, Oklahoma, is probably not a place that comes to mind.
But it is the home of romance writer Elysia Wages, who happens to love the sport.
“I love going to hockey games, the semi-pro games in Tulsa… When I was younger, like when I was in middle school, I watched a lot of hockey. Dallas Stars was my favorite,” she said.
And while she admits that she knows hockey players aren’t actually like how they’re depicted in romance books, there’s something about those hockey book boyfriends. Which is probably why she created one of her own.
Wages’ debut sports romance “Fall Wherever They May” was launched on Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited on Jan. 25.
It tells the story of Aspen, who learns of a family secret that takes her from Stroud to New York for a new job working with a professional hockey team, The New York Blaze. Her path crosses with Callan, the center for the team, who is struggling with his own past. It does have spicy scenes, but the novel is about the budding romance between two people with a lot to overcome. It has themes of abandonment and loss, which are prevalent throughout.
Wages is an indie author, though she admitted that if a publishing company wanted to pick her up tomorrow, she’d let them. But going indie makes sense for a romance writer.
“I feel like, especially if you’re doing romance, especially if you’re doing sports romance, especially if you’re doing spicy sports romance, people tend to do really well with self-publishing,” she said. “I also didn’t want to give up a part of my pay whenever I’m doing all the work anyway, you know?”
Wages said she started four books and scrapped them before settling on this story. She had been bouncing plot ideas around with her husband when she got this idea. It resonated with her.
“There’s a lot in this book that’s happened in my life, and I could actually… I guess empathize with the character and portray that in the way it should be,” she said.
For example, the story of Aspen reflects much of Wages’ own story. In the book, Aspen struggles with the abandonment of her father. In Elysia’s own life, she hasn’t spoken to her father in 20 years. Yet, just as she approached writing a particularly vulnerable scene where Aspen tells her story to Callen, Wages had her own heartbreaking moment.
Her father reached out to her, saying he wanted to be a part of her life again. But once Wages told him that he couldn’t “mooch” off her and her husband, he changed his mind and said he wanted nothing to do with her.
“I told my husband… ‘I can’t write this.’ And he was like, ‘You’re going to put all your emotion into this and write,” she said.
She admitted that without his encouragement, she would have quit because she couldn’t handle the emotion of reliving that abandonment in her real life and then telling it in Aspen’s.
Wages said she wanted to write when the Twilight series came out. She didn’t read a child—being neurodivergent with ADHD, her comprehension was “terrible.” But when her sister passed away, she wanted to escape her reality.
“And after that was like, ‘Oh, I think I want to write a book cause this is kind of fun.’ Like, just getting lost in something,” she said. But it wasn’t until this past summer that she started working on “Fall Wherever They May.”
Wages threw herself into the project, quipping that some characters like Callan wrote themselves.
She had the help of friends for editing and as beta readers, though she admitted she got a bit nervous when it came time for them to edit some of the spicier scenes.
Wages doesn’t plan to stop at one.
She has more books planned in the universe she’s created. They’ll focus on side characters from the first novel, and she’s very excited to dive into Carter, Callan’s best friend, next.
“He’s like a golden retriever. So he’s like the super goofy guy. But then again, he’s like the serious guy. He’s got himself together. He knows what he wants. Like he’s very sure of himself. And so I am just looking forward to writing Carter’s story. I cannot wait,” she said.
A public debut release party and book signing is planned for Feb. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at Fourth and James in Stroud, with another book signing on Feb. 16 at 1 p.m.
The audiobook with duet narration by Leanne Blade and Brandon Francis will be out this spring.