BOOK COVER
BOOK DETAILS
Pub Date: August 15, 2023
Genre: Commercial Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Page Count: 280
Format: Paperback, eBook
ISBN: 979-8-88645-086-6 Price: $16.95
Appearing in:
“Mom Talk: The Pressure to Have It All”
ABOUT THE BOOK
From former sports anchor and award-winning sports journalist Brooke Bentley comes Sideline Confidential – a behind-the-scenes peek at the obstacles and double standards facing women in the male-dominated space of sports journalism.
When young sports journalist Blake Kirk lands her dream gig – working as a reporter for her hometown’s pro football team – she anticipates many of the challenges that accompany the gig – long hours in the office and on the field, many days of travel, immense pressure to succeed as a woman in sports journalism. What she doesn’t expect are the double standards and old-school entitlement that trip her up at every turn. From day one, Blake faces off with her boss who does everything in his power to make her job difficult—from forcing her to ride a separate bus to the games; to blocking her from interviewing players in the locker room; to pushing her to “network” with colleagues at a strip club. As suggestive notes appear on her desk and a consensual celebrity hookup is weaponized against her, Blake’s dream devolves into a nightmare, and she is forced to choose between her dignity and her career.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brooke Bentley is a former television anchor and award-winning sports reporter. After graduating with a master’s in journalism from the University of Southern California, she spent two years working for the Houston Texans as a media personality and over a decade working in sports journalism. Brooke now devotes her time to championing local nonprofits, including Homemade Hope, where she served as the development director. She and her husband live in Houston and are raising two young boys.
Sideline Confidential is Brooke’s debut novel, where she shares her firsthand knowledge of the challenges women professionals face in the male-dominated world of professional sports.
SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
- It’s obvious from the start that gender plays an important role in this book. What inspired you to write such a pointed story? Why now?
- How has your own experience with gender and discrimination informed the contents of Sideline Confidential? Was it painful to relive these experiences?
- You’re a seasoned sports journalist, so your connection to Blake’s character is clear. What other aspects of her character do you identify with?
- Who was your support system in your time as a media personality? Did you have someone like Sheridan to look up to as a mentor? Or people like Hal and Emily who had your back?
- How do you think it would have affected Blake to not have that support system?
- Blake makes it her goal to empower other women in professional sports using the platform she’s been given. How does this relate to your personal mission?
- What would you like readers to know about you?
- Besides you and your uncle, Grammy-nominated country music artist Dierks Bentley, is there anyone else in your family involved in the creative arts?
- Is there anything you didn’t get to say in Sideline Confidential that you wish you could say now?
BOOK DETAILS
Pub Date: May 17, 2022
Genre: Memoir / Christian Inspirational
Publisher: She Writes Press
Page Count: 304
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1647429003
Price: $15.99