LADIES!! Get Your New Harlequin NASCAR Romance Novel!!

[matcom]

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NASCAR's female fans already can buy everything from sterling silver heart pendants to tank tops to an orange-and-black purse with No. 20 on the side, representing famous driver Tony Stewart. Now, at this weekend's race in New Hampshire, they will be able to add another souvenir: A copy of NASCAR's first Harlequin romance novel, ``In the Groove," to learn what happens when Lance, a ``supersexy race car driver," accidentally hits Sarah, a former kindergarten teacher with a sweet smile and ``hot, hot body," with his car.

``It was bad enough to be hit by a car, but for that car to be driven by God's gift to women was the icing on the cake," Sarah says in the book. She could not miss the ``beige polo shirt that hugged his bulging strongman-arms" or ``resist peeking glances at him."

The book, written by Pamela Britton, is the first of more than 20 NASCAR-themed novels that Harlequin plans to publish in the next two years, part of its broader campaign to appeal to female fans. NASCAR, which hosts a circuit of stock car races around the country that culminates in the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup, now estimates that 40 percent of its fans are women, and fully half its new fans. It expects total sales of merchandise aimed at women to reach $250 million this year, up from $84 million five years ago.

The idea behind the Harlequin partnership is simple: Convert romance novel fans to NASCAR, and NASCAR fans to romance novels. ``In the Groove" makes this task a central theme, as Sarah, who knows nothing about racing, suffers a string of bad luck before getting a job driving Lance's RV to races around the country. She does not realize how famous he is until she Googles his name. By that point, she already has kissed him -- albeit, while dizzy from taking painkillers after he hit her with the car.

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Harlequin has printed 200,000 copies of the book since its publication in February, and it is available at races, online and in book stores. Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. publishes 115 women's fiction titles a month and is owned by Torstar Corp. of Toronto. The book is selling at twice the pace of Britton's other romance novels, which include ``Cowboy Trouble," and ``Dangerous Curves." Britton's NASCAR romance novels are available at races, at book sellers online, and in stores.

A second NASCAR novel by Britton, ``On The Edge," is scheduled to be published in September. The storyline: ``Unknown NASCAR driver Adam Drake has some of the best moves Rebecca Newman has ever seen, both on and off the track." A third novel, ``A NASCAR Holiday," comes out in November.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/07/14/ohhhh_its_nascar_and_harlequin_books_locked_in_hot_romance?mode=PF