Book picks similar to
Power Play by C.J. Cartwright


contemporary
second-chance
sports-romance
romance

No Strings Attached


Lara Ward Cosio - 2021
    Especially not random guys in my local coffee shop. I mean, I’m a single working mom, completely devoted to my four-year-old daughter. This so isn’t me. It’s just that his backside is … phenomenal.Turns out his name is Tanner and he’s been watching me right back. Not at the coffee shop, but from his construction site across the street from my apartment. After a couple of flirty encounters, our mutual attraction leads to a no strings attached bargain based purely on convenience and pleasure. This arrangement is totally uncharacteristic for me, but it’s also perfect. Or so I tell myself. Before long, we’re spending time with each other that has nothing to do with our agreement and things between us start to feel all too real. When my swoony, completely unreliable, rock star ex comes back into town begging for a chance to reunite our family, things get … complicated. Suddenly, Tanner is jealous and I’m trying to figure out where I stand and what I want, torn between what makes me happy and what’s best for my daughter. No Strings Attached is a steamy stand-alone romance with a guaranteed HEA by the author of Hula Girl.★ Author's Note: No Strings Attached is based on a previously published short story titled One More Try. The main premise is the same, but there's a whole lot more romance and story to be had with No Strings Attached!

Guardians of the Garden (Guardians Book I)


Theresa Pocock
    At least there she would be free from the garden’s magic, free to lead her own life, and free to never again think about ancient apples, or duty, or life unending. Seth Johnson's sister is losing her battle with cancer, and his parents seem to have given up on trying to save her. He cannot let her die. He will do anything to stop it including cutting a deal with a mercenary. Neither Seth nor Miriam want to be caught up in the tide of fate and feelings destined for them, but with such harshly opposing goals their worlds are bound to collide. If Miriam and Seth cannot find a way to have faith in each other this will end with the death of a beloved sister, a destroyed relationship, and the secret of immortality revealed to a pre-apocalyptic world.Pocock takes her readers to a land where myth, folklore and reality merge, where love is strong, fear runs deep, and the end of the world is coming.

A Hundred Wishes (Band of Sisters)


Marianne Rice - 2022
    She has found a sense of inner peace through her sewing, crafting, and teaching children online. Jobs that keep her at a distance from everyone but her sisters.Arson inspector Bryce Cambridge has never been shot down so quickly or so curtly as he is by the woman with gorgeous brown eyes selling quilts. Luck is on his side when he runs into her at a bowling alley the next day. He’s intrigued and turned on by her smart mouth. The chemistry is explosive between them, and even though she tries to resist, the spark between them is too hot to ignore.Those blue-grey eyes and charming smile have Gina lowering the wall she’s built around her heart. But as their relationship grows more serious, Bryce wants to see all Gina is hiding. The puckered, scarred skin and the shrapnel buried in her flesh are just the surface layers of the wounds Gina tries to keep hidden. But her deepest, darkest secret may be too repulsive even for someone as strong as Bryce.Because his fears are her reality.

Red's Peril Part 1: The Making of an MC Prez (Satan's Devils MC Vegas #1)


Manda Mellett - 2021
    I hadn’t much ambition, my main aim being to find somewhere warmer where I could ride my motorcycle all year around. I saw my future as most men do, finding a steady job, eventually getting married and spitting out a couple of kids. Fate seemed to comply, throwing into my path my soul mate only a few hundred miles from my home. But it wasn’t to be. I’d found her, loved her then lost her, all in a matter of days. I’d ridden on alone until the gods stepped in once again and put me in the sights of the Satan’s Devils MC. Despite my initial reluctance, I was soon accepting the prospect patch, and from that point on, never looked back. I rose through the ranks, eventually becoming prez of the Vegas Chapter of the club. I’ve gained respect and loyalty from my brothers, and in many ways have everything that I want.Except, I’ve never quite lost my dream of finding my own old lady and of starting a family. But while life on the whole has been good to me, it seems my destiny is to ride through it alone.

The Boss Prince


Alix Nichols - 2021
    Go, Lucie!The bad news? My boss, Max Delaroche, looks like a remastered Greek god, as dazzling as the alarm in my head.Whoop, whoop, whoop! Run while you can!But the man intrigues me.Wildly charismatic, he has no office savvy. He skips important staff meetings because they bore him to death. He won’t even say where he’s from!Instead, he keeps staring at me like he’s on a treasure hunt and I have the map.Who is this guy, and what exactly does he do here? Could he be an undercover cop investigating government agencies?Haha. I’m très hilarious.If a cop can afford bespoke suits, then I’m a princess.You shall call me Your Royal Highness, Lucie la Magnifique!Looking for a romantic comedy that’s laugh-out-loud funny, steamy, and full of thrills? Look no further than The Boss Prince, book 1 in Alix Nichols’s new IT’S RAINING ROYALS series!

Swipe Right to Bite


Carrie Pulkinen - 2021
    If she can ignore her demonic urges long enough, Satan will eventually forget about her, and she'll be free.Just because she isn't getting it on doesn't mean she can't help the supes of New Orleans do the pants-off dance-off.Introducing Swipe Right to Bite, the best and only hook-up app for the supernatural. Business booms from day one, and the horizontal tango becomes the most popular dance in the Big Easy.Until Gabe, the insufferable incubus, shows up and ruins everything.There isn't enough room in this town for two fornicating fiends, and Katrina is determined to send this guy packing, no matter how hot a fire he lights in her nether regions.But Gabe has a few tricks up his sleeve, and he won't make it easy on her. The question is, how hard will she make it on him?If you like sassy heroines and hot-as-sin demons, you'll love this fast, funny paranormal romantic comedy!

States of Grace


Mandy Miller - 2021
    Fresh out of jail, living in a no-tell-motel, and eating ramen, Grace has no option but to turn to the dark side, defending the types of criminals she used to relish locking up. To make things worse, she’s fighting the opioid addiction that got her in this mess in the first place.With few options to salvage her career, Grace schemes to defend a trust-fund teen accused of capital murder to pay the bills. But her plan has two flaws. One—Grace believes accused equals guilty. Two—the accused is the daughter of the beauty queen who stole Grace’s husband.Much to her surprise, Grace soon discovers her client may not be guilty after all. With the cops looking the other way and misdirecting her every step, the only explanation that makes sense to Grace is the dead guy was neck deep in the criminal underworld.When Grace discovers irrefutable evidence of her client’s innocence, the race is on to find the real killer and leads her deep inside Florida’s illegal pill mill trade. But is it too late for Grace to save her young client from the death chamber and herself from ruin?

Rock Me To The Top (Gracefall: Vicious Love Tour Book One)


Victoria Zak - 2021
    Now one of the hottest metal bands on the charts, things are looking up, until a tragic accident threatens to rip the band apart. Can the guys recapture the beat that rocketed them to the top, or will they crash and burn?He believed the lie.Uber-sexy drummer, Joe Grace, has it all, except the one woman he wants to share it with, his best friend, Melody. When he hires Mel to manage his band’s tour, hot summer nights flame into a new passion neither can deny, but their fire ignites the darkness hiding behind long-buried secrets and lies. Lies that could lose him the woman he loves unless he bares his soul and lays it all on the line.She fell for the fantasy.Melody Sterling is no stranger to rock and roll. As the daughter of a legendary rocker, she had a front row seat to the destruction that lifestyle did to her parents’ relationship. Dating a rock star after that disaster? Out of the question! Until her best friend becomes one. Down on her luck—and apparently out of her mind—she joins Joe on their Gracefall summer tour, and soon finds herself falling fast for the fantasy of his crazy world. Now she must decide if her own dreams are worth fighting for, even if believing in herself again means losing the man she loves.

The Box: A Greek Myth Paranormal Romance (Her Three Immortals Book 4)


Hazel Storm - 2021
    

Forbidden Mate


C.R. Robertson - 2021
    Now, as an outside danger tests the tentative alliance between the species, their only chance of survival is together.As every step forward takes them deeper into a web of lies and deceit that spans centuries, the secrets hiding around every corner threaten to destroy everything they ever believed. Time is running out, and the only hope left is to unravel the mystery behind lycan and vampire genetics.Evolution defined them, but it also created a monster that could annihilate them all. As Levi and Tasha’s love defies every law their species lived by, it still may not be strong enough to save them from the Hellspawn.

True Bastard (Dark Sparrow #4)


India Kells - 2020
    His one goal is to bring his father down and despite his brothers’ desires, Liam wants him to face justice for all the wrongs he’s committed. Faced with the insurmountable task of going through his father’s financials, he’s thrown a lifeline when a mutual friend sends novice nun Sister Catriona Walsh to help.Catriona is a wizard with numbers and Liam could definitely use her expertise. There’s only one problem—he’s deeply attracted to the angelic nun. Her beauty, compassion, and intelligence are an almost irresistible combination.Confronted by his own scars, and his resolve to do the honorable thing, Liam is forced to reconsider everything he thought was right and acknowledge that maybe Catriona is the one that holds the answers.A bastard in the truest sense of the word, he’s covered in sin, but for his angel of mercy, he’s ready to go through the fires of hell to keep her safe, and make her his forever.

Holiday Hope


Shanna Hatfield - 2021
    She arrives in town to be greeted by her future father-in-law with her betrothed nowhere to be found. When it becomes obvious her reluctant groom-to-be has no intention of showing up at the family ranch where she’s staying, Cora Lee must decide if she’ll follow her head or heart.Jace Coleman has loved trains since the first time he rode on one as a boy. Now, he spends his days as an engineer driving the Holiday Express line on a new engine named Hope. When a mail-order bride turns up at his father’s ranch to wed his brother, Jace has an idea his meddling father has tried his hand at matchmaking. The longer Cora Lee stays at the ranch, the harder Jace works to keep from falling for his brother’s intended bride.Will Jace and Cora Lee discover the gift of hope? Find out in this sweet holiday romance full of memorable characters, warmth, and Christmas cheer.Holiday Hope is the first book in the Holiday Express series, a collection of heartwarming, wholesome, holiday romances brimming with the spirit of the season.

Run to the Sea


K.G. Fletcher - 2019
    The very last thing he expects is the inheritance of his famous grandfather’s beach cottage on the sandy shores of Florida where he spent his childhood summers. Emeline Fischer is an aspiring artist trying to make ends meet, working an assortment of odd jobs while painting her dreams on canvas in hopes of landing her own gallery show someday. When she is Thomas’s waitress during her shift at the local beach diner, she immediately recognizes her sensitive childhood friend who promised long ago to protect her from her unstable home life when they were teens. The two friends take a journey into their past through a box of photos left behind at Cap Cottage and rediscover their mutual passion for art - and each other. Thomas doesn’t plan to fall in love with Emmy - but maybe he’s always been in love with her. Can he forgive himself for his past mistakes and start over in the only place that ever felt like home? Or will his guilt and the demands of his cutthroat, big-city career prevent him from following his heart and reuniting with the only woman he ever truly loved?

Finn (Adorkable Love, #6)


Brynn Hale - 2020
    Specifically, old cars. His company restores and modifies classics, especially muscle cars, to their former glory.Too bad, there's one thing from the past that can't be brought back, even if he wishes she could.But on a Friday drive home, a car off to the side of the road returns dreams and wishes to his head.She's back.This time he's not letting her go, even if it means fixing the one thing in life that might change the past.Shelby's life never turned out to the way she wanted, but not for lack of trying.There was always something missing. Something not right.But when her car breaks down and her past steps from a pickup truck, she's nineteen again with all those feelings rushing over here.Is this second chance the one chance she has to make things right and can she let go of fears of not being enough to take the chance?Find out in this adorkable love story of an alpha geek and a curvy woman, today!

No Way Out


Amy McKinley - 2021
    I share their bloodline. They just don’t know it yet. In time, they will. My goals were clear: punish those who have wronged me while protecting Liliana Brambilla, my mentor’s granddaughter. Then everything changed when we came face-to-face, and I knew I would never walk away. She thinks I’m her enemy. The truth is, I’m her savior.