Book picks similar to
The Hardest Cut by Jamie Bennett


sports-romance
dnf
contemporary-romance
single-parent

The Perfect First


Maya Hughes - 2019
    Math genius. Lover of blazers. The only girl I know who can make Heidi braids look sexy as hell. And she’s on a mission. Lose her virginity by the end of the semester. I walked in on her interview session for potential candidates (who even does that?) and saw straight through her brave front. She’s got a list of Firsts to accomplish like she’s only got months to live. I’ve decided to be her guide for all her firsts except one. Someone’s got to keep her out of trouble. I have one rule, no sex. We even shook on it.I’ll help her find the right guy for the job. Someone like her doesn’t need someone like me and my massive...baggage for her first time. Drinking at a bar. Check. Partying all night. Double check. Skinny dipping. Triple check. She’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. The walls I’d put up around my heart are slowly crumbling with each touch that sets fire to my soul. I’m the first to bend the rules. One electrifying kiss changes everything and suddenly I don’t want to be her first, I want to be her only. But her plan was written before I came onto the scene and now I’m determined to get her to re-write her future with me.

Fake Fiancée


Ilsa Madden-Mills - 2017
    They say nothing compares to your first kiss,But our first kiss was orchestrated for an audience.Our second kiss . . . that one was REAL.He cradled my face like he was terrified he'd f*ck it up.He stared into my eyes until the air buzzed.Soft and slow, full of sighs and little laughs,He inhaled me like I was the finest Belgian chocolate,And he'd never get another piece.A nip of his teeth, his hand at my waist . . .And I was lost.I forgot he was paying me to be his fake fiancée.I forgot we weren't REAL.Our kiss was pure magic, and before you laugh and say those kinds of kisses don't exist,Then you've never touched lips with Max Kent, the hottest quarterback in college history.Three months. Two hearts. One fake engagement.

All Lined Up


Cora Carmack - 2014
    My life has always been ruled by both.Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It's obliterated.Dallas doesn't know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn't know that Dallas is his new coach's daughter.And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.

The Bombshell Effect


Karla Sorensen - 2018
     Not one she wants, and definitely not one she's prepared for. She hadn't seen her dad in years, so the last thing she expects upon his sudden death is to inherit the thing he loved more than anything (or anyone) ... the professional football team he owned for the last twenty years. Luke Pierson does not want a new boss. What he wants is to be a good father to his daughter, the best quarterback possible for his teammates. What he doesn't need is a blonde bombshell ruining the team's chances at another championship. Especially when that bombshell turns out to be his new neighbor. The neighbor he was a complete jerk to the first time they met. For the sake of the team, they treat each other like complete professionals. In public, at least. Behind closed doors, it's a different story. And the fallout of giving in to that heat is something neither one of them can see coming.

Touchdown: Surprise Baby Romance (Sharks Football Book 3)


Leslie North - 2021
    He’s got his life and career carefully laid out and his focus is entirely on football. But the deaths of his sister and brother-in-law leave him as sole guardian of their triplets, throwing all his plans out the window. If he’s going to make this shift in his life work, he needs a Hail Mary pass. And he finds it with Gillian Collier, the triplet’s aunt, who just happens to stir Max’s blood in a way that’s completely unexpected. And unwelcome—at least at first…The last thing Jill needs in her life is a hot football player whose idea of commitment is going on a second date. She’s been burned by a cheater before and has no interest going down that road again. But she just can’t help falling for Max. He’s kind, intelligent, and the sexiest man she’s ever known. Still, it’s hard to trust a guy who’s happily surrounded with women. Who seems to miss his carefree days as a single guy. Who just might break her heart…

Even the Score


Beth Ehemann - 2016
    No parent likes being sidelined, so Andy decides to hire someone to share the workload. But when one of the hottest agents in the industry applies, Andy knows that this deal is definitely trouble.Danicka Douglas works her butt off, but being an attractive woman in a testosterone-heavy industry isn’t exactly a cakewalk. She guards her professional reputation fiercely, which means no crushing on her gorgeous boss. But the more they ignore that sexy little spark, the more it sizzles…Just when it looks like romance might be in the game plan, Dani is threatened by a stalker with dark intentions. To keep her safe, Andy must cross the line between professional and very personal…because this time, he’s playing for keeps.

Broken


Mia Ford - 2018
    She thinks she has everything planned out and is excited about her trip, though little does she know that she has no idea what this trip will entail.Johnathan lives alone in the mountainside. He is a loner, who has written off humanity, but when his path ends up crossing with a woman who needs his help, he will have to force himself to rekindle a sense of decency, at least for the woman, if not for anyone else.However, things take an unexpected turn when the two starts to enjoy each other's company and that company eventually heats up.Can Carrie help Johnathan break through his trust issues to regain his life and carry on within normal society?OR Is this simply a fling for two people brought together by unlikely circumstances?  70,000+ words in this steamy mountain man romance. HEA guaranteed. Kindle edition includes exclusive bonus content for your reading pleasure (including a never before published forbidden romance - "Claiming Charlotte").

Red Card


Carrie Aarons - 2016
    He spent five years trying to erase a past he can’t forget. London is Leah Watson’s fresh start. When she secures the perfect internship during her study abroad semester, with an infamous celebrity public relations firm, she is determined to forge her own path - one that is nothing like her life back in Oklahoma. That plan is tested when British football’s bad boy, Killian Ramsey, decides that she's the one he wants and he's playing for keeps. Will she put her future on hold - again - for the type of man she swore she'd stay away from? Killian is one bloody good football player. After a tragedy shattered his entire world, the cocky and arrogant face he puts on for the media is a complete lie. When he meets Leah, his heart starts to beat for the first time in years. But when the feelings get too real, his perfectly constructed facade starts to slip. Will he risk it all to be with her - taking whatever penalties are thrown his way - or will he play it safe?

Hate the Game


Winter Renshaw - 2019
    Obsessed with scoring, refuses to play by the rules. Cruel. Relentless. Brilliant. Intoxicatingly attractive. Despite his demanding reputation and propensity for being the most arrogant a-hole ever to strut Pacific Valley University’s picturesque campus, everyone wants a piece of him: coaches, scouts, and pretty little fangirls with pouty lips and perfect top knots. But Talon … he only wants a piece of me. And four straight years of infuriating rejection means I’m almost positive he’d take a night with me over a national championship trophy. But I’m no fool—he only wants me because he can’t have me. And with graduation approaching, time is running out. He’s more desperate than ever, pulling out all the stops and doing everything in his power to get in my good graces. They say, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” But to that I say, “Why not both?” I have my reasons ... Sorry, BMOC. This victory? Not going to happen.

Change of Hart


M.E. Carter - 2014
    As the best defensive lineman in the country, I eat, sleep and breathe football. And I like it that way. I’ve only got a few more years before I’ll have to retire, so expending energy on anything other than football seems like a waste of time.That is, until I have a random meeting with a little boy who just lost his father. We have more in common than you might think and it creates an unlikely bond. As our friendship grows, so do my feelings for his mother.I know Addison, as a recent widow, isn’t ready to date again. But I want to get to know her better, in spite of all her rejections.Is it possible that I, a self-proclaimed bachelor, could be having a Change of Hart?

Change on the Fly


Maren Moore - 2021
    keeping it a secret for years.Ridiculously charming, a total player and a hockey super star... Reed Davidson has been the boy next door who's had my heart for as long as I can remember.He was the ultimate bad boy, and I was just his sister’s shy best friend.But when Reed's world is suddenly flipped upside down and he gets custody of his nephew, I'm the only one who can help.I shouldn’t have offered to come on the road with them, but Reed wasn’t cut out to be a single dad and I knew he needed help. I tried to hide my feelings for him, but the two of us, the cutest kid on the planet, and a long hockey season were a recipe for disaster.Reed was used to getting everything he ever wanted, and this time... He wanted me.Only now, the stakes are higher and my heart is the one on the line.

Blitzed


Lauren Landish - 2016
    I brought her back to meet you.” I’m normally not into jocks, but when Troy Wood asks me out, I feel like I’m the Chosen One. After all, he’s hot as hell and Silver Lake’s best athlete, practically the King of Campus. God’s gift to women—that’s what they call him, but I’ll make a gentleman out of him. Everything is perfect, and he already practically has his ticket to the Big Leagues. There’s just one little problem . . . I’m hiding a secret that could destroy him and his future. I can’t tell him . . . I can’t tell him that I’m pregnant with his baby. **Blitzed is a full-length romance with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger!

Finding Alexei


Kendall Ryan - 2018
    He’s also a pro athlete who needs to focus on winning games and staying out of the headlines.I’m fiercely independent and need a man like I need a second period each month.So when our worlds collide, I never expected him to be the one to jump in and save me. Especially not when my roommate disappears, leaving me with her baby.I’m clueless about babies—and it shows. Good thing Alexei isn’t. With six nieces and nephews and an apparent hero complex, the dude is both sexy and more than capable. It’s a combination that makes it easy to forget we’re just playing house.

Slow and Steady Rush


Laura Trentham - 2015
    As a librarian in Atlanta she lives a fine life far away from the football-obsessed town of her childhood. But when her beloved Grandmother needs help, Darcy takes a leave of absence and heads back to the home and past she left behind. He knows how to play the field—and is in no rush to settle down. Robbie Dalton knows a thing or two about painful pasts. After bouncing around in foster care and the Army for years he is finally ready to move on and make a home for himself in Falcon, Alabama as the newest high school football coach. Sparks fly when the sexy new coach and the sharp-tongued librarian meet, but neither of them is looking to make ties. But when it comes to love, sometimes you’ve gotta throw away the rule book to cross the finish line… Everything changes when Darcy falls in love, not only with the gruff, protective, and smoking hot man who's sharing her days and nights, but also with the complex tapestry of people who weave Falcon together. Could this be where she belongs - and who she belongs with?

Jock Blocked


Shae Sullivan - 2020
    Finish my senior year, then my PhD, and then it’s on to teaching just like my grandmother.There isn’t a single roadblock in my way… until he shows up at my tutoring center.Carter Jenkins.Football star. Arrogant Jock. All around brutal bastard.He may be everyone else’s favorite quarterback—but to me, he’s just the dick that ruined a naïve girl’s first days in college.And now here is he, with his smug face and penetrating eyes, demanding my help.Yeah right.I’ve heard the stories. He’s going all the way to the NFL, so long as he’s not put on academic probation for failing classes. Which is where I’m supposed to come in. And if it wasn’t for my boss/secret crush pleading with me to take Carter on, I’d drop him like a bad habit.So reluctantly, I agree.I’ll do this favor and help the guy I really can’t stand, for the guy I really want to be with.It should be no sweat…because I hate football players.And no matter how much time Carter and I spend together, or how different he may seem, there’s no way in hell I’d ever fall for one…From Bestselling author Shae Sullivan comes a new, deliciously tension filled enemies to lovers sports romance about the quarterback who has it all and the girl who refuses to fall for him. Standalone romance. HEA.