Book picks similar to
False Start by Marianne Rice


contemporary-romance
sports
contemporary
romance

Teach Me Love


S. Moose - 2013
    Losing Katherine, the love of his life, makes a once gentle and kindhearted man into someone dark and miserable. Abigail Anderson, single mother, second grade teacher, is tired of living her life alone. But the only man she's ever loved betrayed her and left her in the dark. Now, three years later, their paths cross. A rocky beginning soon turns into something more. Real. The feeling is mutual and their feelings grow. But secrets always have a way of coming out. Will Jacob and Abigail be able to learn how to love again or will they suffer alone for the rest of their lives?This will be a stand alone.

A Real Cowboy Never Says No


Stephanie Rowe - 2015
    When a friend calls in a favor, Chase opens his home to a sassy, sexy mom-to-be who needs his protection. But he's not prepared for the sizzling attraction that threatens the shield around his heart.Mira is single, pregnant, and on-the-run. When a distractingly handsome cowboy offers her a marriage of convenience, it's the lifeline she needs. But when she starts to fall for the grumpy bachelor, she realizes that her heart might also be in danger.Can a rugged cowboy who doesn't believe in love fall for a spunky city girl with a baby?If you like sexy cowboys, sassy humor, and heart-melting romance, you'll adore Stephanie Rowe's captivating modern-day marriage-of-convenience story!

The First Word


Isley Robson - 2017
    Her job as a pediatric occupational therapist is the perfect distraction from the unspeakable tragedy she experienced as a child. But when she meets alternative-energy magnate Rhys Griffiths and his autistic toddler, Will, she quickly realizes her heart will never be the same. Especially when her name becomes Will’s first word.After accepting a position as a live-in therapist for Will, Andie steels herself against the appeal of the disconcertingly attractive—and attracted—Rhys. But their chemistry can no longer be denied, and their heated affair seems destined for happily ever after. A destiny Andie’s terrified to embrace.When Andie’s guilt, Rhys’s awkwardness, and the abrupt appearance of an erratic ex threaten to dismantle their delicately blooming relationship, they must decide if love is worth the challenge. Can Andie and Rhys find their way back to each other? Or will the demons of the past simply prove too strong?

Chasing Trouble


Joya Ryan - 2014
    Too bad the townsfolk of Diamond, Kansas, have a hard time forgetting that she wasn’t born on the right side of the tracks. The only way J.J. can land her dream job is to keep her wild side buried and her reputation clean. But when she finds herself in another town, one without prying eyes, she allows herself one fantasy-filled night with her best friend’s bad boy brother. Professional bull rider Colt McCade is grounded for the summer with an injury. After their sizzling night together, he finds himself wanting to pick up where he and the prim and not-so-proper Ms. Justice left off. Problem is, she isn’t interested in his idea of “healing,” which involves ice cubes and a whole lot of heavy breathing. But the closer he gets, the more he sees that his fast-and-loose reputation could cost her the job of her dreams. He wants to do the right thing, but walking away from her could cost him everything…

Tangled Up In You


A.L. Vincent - 2015
    Surrounded by the love and support of a group of old friends—collectively known as The Boonies—she’s determined to change her life and open her own catering company. Contractor Noah Devereaux wants to help Emily rebuild more than just her family home… Noah is an Iraq war veteran and fighting his own battle with PTSD, and he feels he has little to offer anyone. His nightmares and panic attacks leave him exhausted and on edge, yet he can’t help but find solace in Emily’s quiet presence. Everyone has dreams, but it takes more than a wish to make them come true… Emily struggles night and day to scrape together the money to start her business, but this doesn’t stop her friendship with Noah from blooming into something much more. He’s always there to cheer her on, and she’s his bit of tranquility for untangling his troubled mind. It turns out starting over isn’t easy. Was coming back to Bon Chance a horrible mistake, a sign of failing to make it in the larger world? But all her friends have returned as well, so maybe—just maybe—having the courage to go back to the beginning will prove the ingredients for a life of love and happiness have been waiting here all along…

Love at Sunset Lake


Sally Bayless - 2018
    An artist who's withdrawn from the world. A property battle that just might heal them both.When struggling caterer Tess Palmer inherits her great-aunt's home at Sunset Lake, Missouri, she thinks she's found the way to save her business. Selling the property can provide just the infusion of capital she needs to pay off her debts and move to a larger commercial kitchen.Wildlife painter Jack Hamlin, who lives across Sunset Lake, wants the area kept exactly as it is--a place where waterfowl can thrive and where he can find peace and solitude to ease his troubled heart. Although he's drawn to Tess's honesty and beauty, he's appalled to learn she would welcome a deal with a developer, and he vows to stop her.As Tess discovers the reasons why Jack is so passionate about protecting the lake, she finds him more and more attractive. She takes a tentative step past her own emotional pain to risk her heart again. But there seems to be no solution to the impasse over the property. As a sale becomes imminent, can Jack and Tess trust God--and each other--and finally find a love that will last?

War of the Roses


Iris Morland - 2019
    It didn't matter, until Jacob West walks back into my life. This Jacob is no boy, though: he’s all man now—confident, charming, and so sexy my metaphorical blossoms are getting scorched. I can almost forget I’m supposed to hate him forever. Almost. War of the Roses is a prelude to Petal Plucker and shouldn’t be read as a standalone.

I Love The 80s


Megan Crane - 2011
     Her fiancé dumped her, and she's lacking the drive that might lead to a promotion at the eighties-themed cable station where she works. The only thing keeping her sane is her obsession with a brooding rock star, and an era, that died twenty-odd years ago. But then lightning strikes—literally—and sends her back to the year and the man she’s loved her entire life. Jenna has no choice but to take action to save Tommy Seer, lead singer of The Wild Boys, from the tragic accident that only she knows will claim his life. But the real Tommy Seer is very different from the one who's spent all this time starring in her favorite fantasies. As Jenna falls deeper into Tommy’s world—under his spell all over again, only this time without the schoolgirl crush—she realizes that his death was no accident. Can she find a killer, prevent a murder, and save the man she loves without everyone thinking she’s crazy? And who thought shoulder pads were a good idea, anyway?

The Best Man, Claiming Abigail


Vanessa James - 2020
     Working as a freelance photographer, she sets out across Europe looking for a place to call home where she can discover who she really is, and stand on her own two feet. After a passionate encounter with the handsome Alejandro that ends sourly, she settles in Edinburgh, putting thoughts of the arrogant Spaniard out of her head and focusing on her new exciting life. Then her world is turned upside down when her brother calls her to come home for his shotgun wedding, pulling her back to the world she swore she’d left behind her and the influence of her notorious father. And on top of that, the best man is a familiar, sexy man that she would rather forget as opposed to standing with him at a wedding. Find out if this rich girl finally surrenders to the bad boy when meeting him again.

Hooked (A New Adult Romance)


Alison Heart - 2015
     Champion MMA fighter Jake Bishop has it all: cars, women and piles of dirty money. Too bad something’s missing…and she’s about to stumble into his life. In the throes of despair Ruby Cain is lost and broken. But when her life crashes into Jake’s after eight years, an old flame she swore she would never rekindle suddenly bursts anew. She’s already teetering on the edge—one touch from him would certainly push her over the brink. She knows it’s wrong, she knows there are dark consequences for getting involved with a bad boy like him; nevertheless, there’s no way she can resist his charming good looks. Now Fate has other plans for the star-crossed lovers, and Jake is in for the fight of his life: to win Ruby’s heart. Can he keep his eye on the prize? Can he go the distance? Or will she deliver a knockout blow that will close the door once and for all?

That Girl


H.J. Bellus - 2014
    My looks, personality, even my style is…simple. I’m the kind of a girl who easily disappears into the background becoming nothing but a nameless face. But that’s okay. I prefer it that way. It makes it easier to shed the skin of every identity I use to hide who I really am. While I drift from one town to the other, constantly looking over my shoulder I never allow anyone to get close…because I’m that girl. The girl with a tainted past. The girl who left everything behind, including her name so the devil won’t find her. The girl who never falls in love because she’s too busy running from an identity she vowed would never claim her again. See, I’m that girl. Hopeless. Ruined. Lost. Until one man manages to give me a name. Why? Because he wants to keep me.

Love at Coco Bay


Kirsty McManus - 2021
    With a recent promotion from receptionist to co-assistant manager—not to mention the ongoing opportunity to live and work with her best friends—everything is perfect.Well, except for one tiny thing. Sasha has never had much luck in the boyfriend department, and the only guy she’s ever been interested in is event planner Dash, a Channing Tatum lookalike who is oblivious to her affections.But when a resort guest insists that Sasha work with Dash on an upcoming wedding, they are suddenly thrust into a three-month-long high-pressure environment. Sasha can no longer hide from Dash, and Dash has no option but to get to know Sasha.As expected, things get off to a rocky start, and when a mystery investor arrives at the island, the situation only gets worse. Sudden changes in the corporate hierarchy and bizarre managerial decisions mean that not only the wedding, but the entire resort’s future is in jeopardy.Can Sasha survive the chaos, make the wedding a success, and end up with her dream guy?She’s going to try.

Burnout


Shauna Allen - 2014
    A perfectly, imperfect, suffocating life.Or I did, until I met Blake Travers—the tortured bad boy with the painful past I can only glimpse.But there’s just something about him that makes me yearn to break free and embrace the hurricane that is him. I need to know him, I can’t stay away. He makes me feel, he makes me want, me just . . . makes me. ~~~~~ I’ve always known what I am. I’ve been branded, stained, my entire life.Hopeless, lost, angry down to my core.Until I met Delilah. A tiny piece of perfect in my messed up world.I’ll do anything to touch her, hold her, keep her . . . but it’s impossible.I’m a lost cause.***All books in the Jack 'Em Up series are standalones with HEA but if you'd like to enjoy them in order... Burnout (Prequel - Blake & Delilah: The Beginning) Crank (Book I - Blake & Delilah) Torque (Book II - Jesse & Rachel) Hitched (A Jack 'Em Up Wedding - Jesse & Rachel) Throttle (Book III - Trace & Tori) Rev (Book IV - Micah & Jewel)