Book picks similar to
Play Safe by Amber Garza


romance
contemporary
young-adult
sports-romance

Pitching to Win


Carrie Aarons - 2015
    After a humiliating scandal sophomore year, she's avoided the social scene and anything having to do with boys, especially of the popular variety. But with senior year approaching, Minka decides it's time to take life back into her own hands. That is, until Owen Axel, the type of guy she's always avoided, decides he wants her in his hands.Owen Axel is the definition of popular. Good looks, all-star worthy pitching arm and a former pro-athlete father make him Mitchum's town God. Returning from college for the summer, his plan is simple. Beach, booze, and beautiful girls. But one look at Minka Braxton and he knows what he wants. He just doesn't count on her not wanting him.As the summer unfolds, both must decide how much to reveal, how deep they should fall, and what might happen if they strike out.

Cutters vs. Jocks


Elizabeth Marx - 2011
    But admission to law school is Libby’s ticket out of Indiana and her escape from small town life forever. During a night on the town, Libby beats the most competitive athlete on campus at pool and draws more attention from him than she’s prepared for.Aidan Palowski is one of those jocks your friends warned you about—the kind that never loose—the kind that put notches in their baseball bats. As the closing pitcher on the best baseball team in the Big Ten, he’s on his way to the major leagues. Aidan always gets what he wants and Libby is the final home run he wants to hit out of the park.The last thing Libby needs is to get sidetracked by a superstar jock. Afraid that she might be on a collision course with love at first sight Libby keeps her distance, but the longer she holds out the more Aidan realizes it’s a case of lust he can’t fight.What happens when worthy opponents refuse to play their hearts out?CUTTERS VS. JOCKSThe story of two lovers who put their future goals ahead of each other’s love before they were brought to the table for BINDING ARBITRATION.

Slow Burn


Nicole Christie - 2013
    For readers 17 and older.It's the beginning of senior year, and seventeen year old Juliet Somers has made the rash decision to transfer to her boyfriend's school in an effort to spend more time with him. Sexy bad boy Johnny Parker is a legend at Leclare Academy, and Juliet still can't believe that an average girl like her was able to tame his wild ways. She can't wait to start her new school with him by her side.But one night, Johnny's self-destructive habits lead to a stunning betrayal--and Juliet realizes she's made a huge mistake. Now she's stuck at a school where she doesn't fit in, and all the girls seem to hate her guts. Even worse, Johnny is determined to get her back, pulling crazy stunts to win her forgiveness. Juliet is resigned to being an outcast for the rest of her senior year, with no friends, and no clue what she wants to do with her life.Things start to look up when she gets to know some of Johnny's friends, and finds that some of them are really good guys. With the help of an unlikely ally at her side, Juliet begins to think her situation is not as bad as it seems. As the school year rolls on, she opens herself up to new experiences, makes some huge mistakes, and discovers things about herself she's not sure she likes.Juliet resolves to stay strong against Johnny's seductive tactics, but it's becoming increasingly harder to deny she still has feelings for him. Will she risk her heart to him again--or will a hot contender manage to sweep her off her feet?

Drumline


Stacy Kestwick - 2017
    Especially in the South. College football. Rivalries. Tailgating. Halftime shows. Some things just don’t change. Until Reese Holland shows up with her long legs and no-bullsh*t attitude to audition for the prestigious all-male Rodner University snare line. It doesn’t matter how much hazing she has to endure from Laird Bronson, with his narrowed green eyes and arrogant smirk. She wants that damn spot, and she’s more than good enough to earn it. She expects there to be tension. Even friction. But not sparks hot enough to burn the entire campus down. ***Drumline is a standalone college romance.

Voyeur


Fiona Cole - 2018
    Once she walked into my classroom, another smiling college freshman, I knew I should stop going. Stop watching. But I couldn’t do it. Everything about her makes me want more, and once I realize she wants me too, the temptation becomes irresistible. The worst part is that she has no idea her professor is the one watching behind the glass. I just have to hope that once she finds out the truth, she wants the same thing I do. Because now that I've seen all of her, I can't look away.Stand-alone.

Reckless Hate


Thandiwe Mpofu - 2019
    The results? Reckless Hate & Catastrophe."Westbrook had four boys that ruled my life once.They were hell raisers.Cunning Athletes.Skilled Manipulators.Hateful Assholes.Gorgeous gods.Heartbreakers. . .Only I never counted on them breaking my heart as savagely as they did, sending me away when I needed them the most. Making me spiral into a vicious abyss of darkness where I'm haunted by a pair of frosty blue eyes filled with hate.But now I'm back and this time around, for a reason that makes breathing almost completely impossible.And if they think I won't get revenge for my brother--one of the Blue Boys--then they have another kind of hell to face.Because I'm no longer their little Blue girl from four years ago. . .

Getting Lucky Number Seven


Cindi Madsen - 2015
    While every other college student is out having fun, Lyla is studying. With her cat. Well, she's played it "safe" quite enough, thank you. So she creates a "College Bucket List"―with item #7 being a night of uninhibited, mind-blowing sex...But she needs some help from her man-whore best friend.Hockey player Beck Davenport thought Lyla's transformation would be subtle. Man, was he wrong. With every item she ticks off, Beck finds himself growing seriously hot for his sweet, brainiac best friend. And if he's not careful, he'll end up risking their friendship in order to convince Lyla that he might just be her lucky #7...

The Player Next Door


K.A. Tucker - 2020
    With a teaching job secured and an adorable fixer-upper to call home, things in her life are finally looking up.That is, until she finds out that Shane Beckett lives next door.Shane Beckett, the handsome and charismatic high school star quarterback who smashed her heart. The lying, cheating player who was supposed to be long gone, living the pro football dream and fooling women into thinking he's Prince Charming. Shane Beckett, who is as attractive as ever and flashing his dimples at her as if he has done no wrong.Scarlet makes it abundantly clear that old wounds have not been forgotten. Neighbors they may be, but friends they most certainly are not. She won't allow herself to fall for the single father and firefighter again, no matter how many apologies he offers, how many times he rushes to her aid, or how hard he makes her heart pound.But as she spends more time with him, she begins to fear that maybe she's wrong. Maybe Shane has changed.And maybe this time she's the one playing herself—out of a chance at true happiness.

Long


B.B. Hamel - 2016
     Gibson Evans is the best college football quarterback in the country. He’s tall, broad, tattooed, and so incredibly handsome. And he got me pregnant. It was supposed to be just one night, but a broken condom changed all of our plans forever. People treat him like a hero, but I think he’s a total prick. Gibson gets whatever he wants, and now suddenly he wants me. But I have enough to deal with. I have to stop daydreaming about his hands between my thighs and concentrate on having this baby while still managing to graduate on time. He wants to make a deal. If I promise to spend time with him, he’ll help me with my final biology research. That means an entire semester of studying Gibson’s body. I’m not sure I can do this. One second I can’t stand to be around him, and the next I’m touching his ripped muscles and trying to suppress my excitement. I’m terrified he’ll ruin everything if I let this become more than just work. Long is incredibly steamy and features some very dirty language. It’s only recommended for audiences 18+. Long is a standalone, full-length novel. No cliffhanger. Guaranteed HEA. **For a limited time, Long includes Smash: A Stepbrother MMA Romance**

Cards of Love: The Sun


Stevie J. Cole - 2018
    The glamorous prom queen gets knocked-up by the swoon-worthy tattooed god who smells of leather and exhaust from his motorcycle.That is not how this story goes.Elias Black may have had a sleeve of tattoos and grown up on the wrong side of the tracks, but he didn’t have a true bad bone in his body.Until he fell for me. Then he was terribly bad.

Force of Gravity


Kelly Stevenson - 2014
    I don’t want to be thinking about him and analyzing every detail of first period. It makes me feel like a young, foolish girl, and I’m embarrassed that I can’t control the way my body reacts every time his eyes meet mine." In a quiet town in the East Valley of Phoenix, Arizona, everything in life is seemingly perfect for eighteen-year-old Kaley Kennedy. She has loving parents, loyal friends, and is dating the hottest boy in school. With only a few months left of her senior year, she’s looking forward to an epic summer before heading off to Los Angeles for college. Without warning, a gorgeous new math teacher interrupts Kaley’s predictable little world, challenging who she is. Suddenly, parties, dates, and Friday nights with her friends seem empty and unfulfilling as she finds herself obsessing over his every move. Desperate for something more, but determined to ignore her fierce attraction, every single relationship in her life begins to crumble by forces beyond her control. Struggling to transition from adolescence to adulthood, Kaley must choose between playing it safe or risking more than just her heart. . . .

Puck Me Secretly


Odette Stone - 2018
    I’ve never had an orgasm, but I’ve faked plenty. I want to experience love.  Real, passionate love. I don’t want to die. It’s funny what blurts out of your mouth when the plane you’re on is going down, and I didn’t hold back with my seat mate when my plane decided to crash. My hysterical confessions didn’t faze the muscular stranger that sat beside me.  In fact, he promised if we survived, he’d give me my first orgasm.   We survived. I came. And then he left without telling me who he was. On the first day of my job, I stood in front of the Vancouver Wolves hockey team and called out a number.  #33. Imagine my shock when he skated forward. Max is an incredible hockey player, whose wild, out-of-control antics have almost derailed his career.  So many secrets shroud his past and continue to threaten his future.   Now he’s my secret.  And that secret could ruin everything.   Puck Me SECRETLY.  Some secrets are too big to keep. Intended for adult audiences only.

Falling for Ben & Other Impossible Things


Yesenia Vargas - 2020
    the one brother who does not date.The second Scarlett (literally) runs into Ben, she knows she’s in big trouble. Between those serious green eyes and a body made for the football uniform he rocks on Friday nights, she can’t help but fall hard for Ben.But why would Ben ever look twice at her, the new girl? She’s nothing special, and he may as well be on the cover of a teen magazine.Little does Scarlett know… she and Ben are about to get a lot closer than she ever could’ve dreamed… for the most mortifying reason.Get ready to fall hard for this sweet, funny young adult romance. Grab your copy now!

All About You


Joanna Mazurkiewicz - 2014
    I drag him down a road of humiliation and pain to try to cope with what his brother did to me. A few months after Christian’s passing, Oliver leaves town, and for the next two years, he is absent from my life. The demons claw their way back in, and I must learn to live with the secret that has destroyed me. Now I’m starting a new life, away from Gargle and away from my past, but everything crashes when I see Oliver the first day at university. It’s clear that many things have changed since we’ve been apart. Now he is captain of the rugby team and the most popular bloke on campus. Then he makes a bet and gives me an ultimatum: I leave Braxton forever and start somewhere else, or I stay and play his game… because he’s never forgotten that it was me who ruined his life two years ago.

The Space in Between


Brittainy C. Cherry - 2013
    Andrea Evans is traumatized and guilt-ridden by the death of her fiancée. Tired of the gossiping small town, she travels to New York City to pursue her dream of dance.He’s uncertain of his future. Cooper Davidson is a famous photographer and reality television star trying to flee from his own life filled with paparazzi, mental health clinics, and a cheating wife who is pregnant. When Andrea and Cooper’s paths cross, they realize how damaged and in need of escapism they both are. The two create an arrangement to explore the space in between chaos and order with one another. The rules are simple—no emotional connections, no talking about the past, no speaking of the future, and when one finds order, the other walks away. All is well until Cooper accidentally falls in love with Andrea.Warning: The following story contains mature themes, strong language, and sexual situations. It is intended for readers 18+ older.