Once A Champion Review

The Writing

The review for Once a Champion is now available in the June edition of RT Book Reviews: 

ONCE A CHAMPION
by Jeannie Watt

RT Rating

ONCE A CHAMPION (4) by Jeannie Watt: Physical therapist Liv Bailey is surprised when calf roper Matt Montoya arrives at her family’s ranch, looking for the horse his ex-wife sold while he was away. She can’t deny she still finds him as attractive as she did in high school, when she tutored him. But Matt’s unwilling to accept the fact that a knee injury means he’ll likely never rope competitively again, and Liv isn't sure she can have another relationship after breaking things off with a controlling ex-fiancé. Watt brings her complex, wonderful characters to life. Both Matt and Liv are likable and warm, in spite of Liv’s insecurities and Matt’s reluctance to realize he can no longer compete in rodeos.

Reviewed By: Alexandra Kay

This encourages me to soldier on with the revisions for my next book, which has yet to be assigned a title. For now it’s called Ryan’s Story. 

Titling a book is a joint effort. I send in to my editor a list of 15 to 20 possible titles.  Those titles are reviewed and used as a brainstorming springboard by several  editors and then the final title is assigned. 

My first book, A Difficult Woman, retained its working title, but that never happened again—probably because I tend to call my working manuscripts things like “Ryan’s Story”. The next book I’m contracted to write is called “Shae’s story.”   Speaking of which, the first three chapters of Shae’s Story are due mid-May, so I need to get cracking on those. Shae is the bridezilla in Once a Champion and now I have to redeem her. I think it'll be fun turning a self-centered bridezilla into a sympathetic character.  I do love a challenging character arc.