Today on the blog we have USA Today bestselling author Alexa Aston, who’s interviewing West Sutherland, the hero from Heartstrings and Helmets, Book 1 in Hearts in Hawthorne, her latest small-town contemporary romance series. It releases June 17, with a new Hawthorne romance coming every month from June through October.
Glad to have caught you in Hawthorne, West. How does it feel to be the MVP for the Dallas Cowboys recent Super Bowl win in New Orleans? And what’s this crazy idea about retiring from the NFL?
It was Co-MVP. Gotta give my quarterback the love he deserves. Yes, I’m hanging up my cleats after a decade playing wide receiver for the Cowboys. I’m ready for a quieter life, which I can find in my hometown of Hawthorne.
Seriously? You’re one of the most recognizable pro athletes, whose Instagram is filled with pictures of places around the world and famous dates on your arm. How can Hawthorne, Texas, compare to that?
While I enjoyed my playing days, I wanted to walk away on top, while I still had my health. That knee injury I rehabbed and came back from had me rethinking my priorities. I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do in football. Now, I have new career and personal goals.
You made good money in the NFL, and you have numerous, lucrative endorsements. Why would you even need to work for a living?
During the time I was injured and feeling I let my teammates down by not playing, I started seeing a therapist, and that turned out to be a great life lesson. Dr. Linda may be a Green Bay Packers fan, but she has helped me learn a lot about who I am and what I want to achieve in life outside of playing football. My mental health is something I plan to keep an eye on, and I FaceTime therapy sessions with Dr. Linda to keep my head straight.
Because of her guidance, I know I want to give back to my community—and that community is Hawthorne. A small town is a terrific place to grow up. I’ve been best friends for three decades with Chance Blackstone, my buddy from pre-school days. And I’m happy to tell you that I will be coaching at the high school where I played, working under Coach Markham, my mentor and the man who knows more about football than anyone I’ve ever met. A high school coach can make an impression on a teenager and really help him not only learn the game of football—but impart important life lessons. Coaching at the high school level will bring meaning to my life, even as I help others.
So, you’ll be a big fish in a little pond again, living in Hawthorne. Besides coaching, what other priorities are you lining up?
Funny you should ask. The last few weeks of high school, I took Kelby Blackstone, Chance’s sister, to a bunch of social activities. The sports banquet. Prom. Graduation parties. We shared one powerful kiss and then went our separate ways, me to Texas A&M and her to UT, but I’ve never forgotten that kiss. Ever.
The thing is, Kelby’s just returned to Hawthorne. I’m ready to see if we still have chemistry together. If she’s willing to give us a second chance. I’ve had a lot of great sex and changed women more often than some people change their clothes, but it was all surface level. I’ve matured. I’m ready for a different kind of life, one with a wife and kids, here in Hawthorne. My gut tells me that Kelby Blackstone is the woman for me. I’ve just got to convince her that I’m the right man for her after all the heartache she’s experienced.
So, the golden boy of Hawthorne has returned, ready to coach and settle down.
I’ve lived my dreams as a professional athlete. Now, I have new goals. I want to be a head coach someday. I want to touch the lives of the athletes I coach. And I want to make babies with the love of my life and live out the kind of love story my own parents have shared.
Best of luck to you, West. I hope your dreams come true.
You’ll meet West and Kelby in Heartstrings and Helmets and see their love story play out. West’s two little sisters also return to Hawthorne, as well as two of his cousins, and they’ll also find their soulmates. West and Kelby will play a role in each of the other books in Hearts in Hawthorne.
Book 2 – Heartbeat Harmony – releases July 22
Book 3 – Agent of the Heart – releases August 12
Book 4 – Hearts and Hooves – releases September 16
Book 5 – Hoops and Hearts – releases October 14
Want to know more about Heartstrings and Helmets?
Welcome to Hawthorne, Texas, a place where many former citizens return, drawn to their hometown’s slower pace and family values, finding lasting love and happiness.
A man who’s gained fortune and fame. A woman who’s known heartbreak and despair. A second chance for a couple who went their separate ways years ago . . .
As a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, West Sutherland walks away at the peak of his career, ready to find a quieter life in his hometown of Hawthorne, Texas. He’s hired by his former high school coach and mentor and will have a place on the Hawks’ coaching staff next year. He’s surprised to find Kelby Blackstone in town, the girl he’s never forgotten.
Kelby Blackstone married her college boyfriend, who was drafted into the NFL. Injury-prone, he turns to alcohol and drugs, and Kelby divorces him. She moves to Dallas and forges a new career path and life, until she receives devastating news that her father has suffered a stroke.
Although as teenagers, West and Kelby maturely agreed to go their separate ways after high school, running into one another in Hawthorne fourteen years later causes unresolved feelings to surface for them both. They decide to explore what they missed out on the first time, finding their shared past and old friendship soon grows into deep feelings for one another.
The road to love is never easy, however, and they must deal with obstacles in their professional lives, even as they find strength in their shared passion for their hometown and each other.
Will a second chance at finding lasting happiness be in store for West and Kelby?
Find the answer in bestselling author Alexa Aston’s Heartstrings and Helmets, the first book in Hearts in Hawthorne. This romance contains no third-act breakup!
Each book in the series is a standalone story that can be enjoyed out of order. The entire series is available in Kindle Unlimited.
Meet Alexa Aston:
Award-winning, internationally bestselling author Alexa Aston lives with her husband in a Dallas suburb, where she eats her fair share of dark chocolate and plots out stories while she walks every morning. She loves reading, watching movies, and attending sporting events when she’s not watching Survivor, The Crown, or The Great British Baking Show.
A former history teacher, Alexa’s historical romances are set during the Regency, Medieval, and American Old West Eras—where she brings to life loveable rogues, dashing knights, and rugged cowboys and lawmen. She also writes contemporary romances which are light and flirty and sometimes contain a bit of suspense.
You can find Alexa on her Website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Threads, Bluesky and BookBub. If you’d like updates sent right to your inbox, sign up for her newsletter!
