Book picks similar to
Punched by Jacob Chance


sports
romance
second-chance
fighter

Focused


Karla Sorensen - 2020
    requited. That day was bad enough, but things just got worse.Noah Griffin turned himself into one of the best football players in the country and a transfer to the Washington Wolves— the team I work for—lands him on my doorstep. The timing couldn't be worse, because my boss just handed me the opportunity of a lifetime. And that promotion rides squarely on Noah's big, muscular, condescending shoulders.He wants nothing to do with me, and the feeling is so very mutual. But for the sake of my career, I can ignore all those things about him that drive me insane. His eyes. His mouth. His big, big … hands. Until one day, we can’t ignore them anymore.You know what they say about the line between love and hate though? They’re so very right.

Come Home Again


Nana Malone - 2014
    She prides herself on being able to handle anything. But when she’s asked to fix the new CEO of Synth Games, she never dreams she’ll come face to face with the only man to ever break her heart. The past can't always be fixed... When a friend calls in a long ago favor, reformed hacker, Nate Williams, worries that his shady past will come back to haunt him. As acting CEO of Synth Games, he needs to make the world believe he’s CEO material. Too bad the one person who can help him is the one woman he had to leave behind. Will Nate bury his demons for good or will his past dictate his future? Can Delilah rise to this challenge or will Nate shatter her heart…again.

Hope Over Fear


J.A. DeRouen - 2014
    I don’t deserve pity or sympathy. I’ve made my bed. I left Mason and ripped his heart to pieces as I ran away. The guilt and sorrow consume me, threatening to choke me everyday.But today is a new beginning. Today is the day I will wake up with a renewed resolve and determination to do better … to be better … to be worthy. My name is Sara Preston, and this is my story about what happens after.

Collision


Evie Harper - 2015
     That day I learned cruelty wasn’t only within the walls we had just escaped. It hasn’t been easy growing up in the middle of a war. A struggle to find shelter. Fighting to protect our bodies against the corruption of the streets. Nobody cared about the street kids who had to beg and steal to eat. Now we are the Portland Street Kings – A family forged through loyalty not blood. To get through this life of broken dreams alive, we’ve become hard, uncaring and merciless. We do what must be done to keep our family safe, we will harm those who stand against us.  We have it all, feared and respected by those on the streets. Then she collided into my world, and with her came demons from my past, back to haunt us all.

Drive Me Wild


Julie Kriss - 2018
    At eighteen, our affair was wild and completely secret. Until she left town for college and a better life, and I hit the road to nowhere. Eight years later, we're both back in town. My father is in prison; Emily is selflessly helping her sister. We should be farther apart than we've ever been. But I've never been able to resist temptation, especially when that temptation is Emily. I shouldn't go near her. But I do. She shouldn't say yes. But she does. Our chemistry is hotter than ever, but she's hiding something from me. Just like I'm hiding something from her. It's hard to tell whose secrets are more dangerous, until it all goes to hell. I can save her - and she can save me. But we'll have to break the rules. We're from different worlds. We don't belong together. But in the end, Emily and I are going to have to get dirty.

Dirty Boxing


Harper St. George - 2017
    A fighter made of chiseled muscle and steel resolve who can bring a man to his knees with his bare hands. In the octagon, he always wins. But when he joins a new fighting organization, he comes face to face with Jules Darcy, the only woman who ever broke his heart. The daughter of the man who could make or break Nick’s career. And Nick knows one thing: Jules is his, and he wants her back. Jules Darcy doesn’t do love. After an unstable childhood and a front row seat to the damage it does, she’d have to be crazy to sign up for inevitable heartbreak. But a year ago, her fling with Nick quickly escalated into something more, scaring her and sending her running. Now, he’s back in her life and sexier than ever. And he wants her. In his bed. In his life. His, fully and completely.She’s as powerless to resist Nick now as she was a year ago, but even if she does give in, no one can ever find out. Revealing their relationship could end Nick’s career. But something this hot, this intense, can’t stay secret for long…

Noah


Elizabeth Reyes - 2012
    After disconnecting with the world two years ago to be at the side of her dying mother, she’s left alone, unemployed, overweight, and feeling a decade older than her twenty-eight years. When her best friend coaxes her into joining the local gym to ditch her depression and rejuvenate her life, she meets Noah. Assigned to help Veronica lose weight, Noah is everything she expected a young trainer to be—perfectly chiseled, supportive and motivating. Add to that, he’s incredibly sexy. He’s everything she’s ever looked for in a man. What she least expected was for him to fall for her, but he has. There's just one glaring problem: Noah is eight years younger.Noah Quintanilla has his eye on a boxing title—someday. Down for a few months with an injury, his maintenance-boy pay at 5th Street Gym won't cut it. He’s finally given the opportunity to train. The catch? His trainee is an out-of-shape woman with a free week pass. Taking on the challenge, Noah stumbles into one of the closest friendships he’s ever known, and before he knows it, he’s in love. But Veronica’s not having it—the age difference is too much. Their platonic relationship means having to watch her date other men—something that would make him crazy. Believing he's the man for her, Noah sets out to prove that age is but an illusion, and there's more to him than just a number.

The Hate Vow


Nicole French - 2019
    Looks like millions. Worth billions. A body like the David with a mind to match. Unfortunately for this wayward heir, to keep his money, he needs a wife. And of all the women in the world, he chooses me. Too bad I’ve hated him for five years, since he took all my tears and tossed me away. The guy slept his way through half of New England and discarded women like hotel toiletries. Been there. Done that. Still...what would you do for twenty million dollars? Would you wear the dress? Fake a smile for the man who broke your heart? Or would you run far, far away? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’ll see you at the church.

Consumed


Skyla Madi - 2013
    His arresting presence rippled through me and I felt his chaos deep in my bones as our gazes met across the expanse of my father's gym.The alluring fighter wasn't my type with his athletic torso, long, ropy arms, and powerful fists built to destroy men weaker than him, but every fiber in my being was fixated on him.I craved him.And although I knew he was the kind of guy who left a trail of shattered hearts in his wake, I wanted him.I needed him.I had to have him.For the first time in my life, I decided to take a walk on the wild side, consequences be damned.

Theo


C.M. Seabrook
    Three years ago, she walked out of my life. No explanation. Just gone. With the biggest fight of my career only weeks away, she walked back in. I'll do anything to protect her. Destroy anyone who tries to hurt her. When it comes to Mac, there isn't a line I won't cross. I've loved her my entire life, and now that's she's back I won't let her go. She refuses to speak about the past, or the secrets I know she's hiding. I know she's planning on running again. But when you love someone, you stay and fight. Even if you're fighting blind.

Unlikely Hero


Kemmie Michaels - 2013
    Never. Not with her past, and not with her fear. She never dated; she didn't even allow herself friendships. She didn't trust her judge-of-character skills enough to allow anyone close...until Marcus. With him, a deep connection happened in spite of the walls she'd so carefully constructed around herself. His self-confessed rage fueled much of his life, with the exception of her. For Erin, Marcus dares to make the step toward love…one with the potential to heal them both.This is the first book in the Play for Keeps Series by Kemmie Michaels.

The Play Book


Avery Wilde - 2016
     Hundreds of eager women are in the shared black ledger the football players of the Jupiter Suns call The Playbook. But there’s only one that I want. The one marked unf*ckable. Women fall to my feet as soon as I turn on the Jacob Maddox charm, and yet my new teammates don’t think I can get one woman into my bed? Pfft, they don’t know who they are dealing with. The Playbook says she’s unconquerable, unobtainable, and off limits, but I’ve never shied away from a challenge before, and I’m not going to start now. One look will be all it takes for her to open up her legs. Lucia will be mine for a night, then forgotten about for the rest of the season. I’ll collect my winnings and concentrate on what really matters: getting my number one spot back! But as soon as I get one addictive taste of Lucia Cortes the plan goes to shit… she’s a game changer. The play is busted and I’m scrambling to keep it together. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat… f*ck, I can barely breathe without her. She’s slipping through my fingers and it only gets worse when I find out who she really is! I don’t have a chance in hell of keeping her, but I’ll risk everything to make her mine. The Playbook is a new, full-length (70k+), standalone romance novel with a HEA.

Roots and Wings


M. Mabie - 2016
    Yet, all could think about was Mutt, or at least that’s what they called her.To me, she was gorgeous and witty ... and perfect. She knew more duty than desire, more perseverance than passion, and more acquaintance than affection, but here was no way I’d ever want to change her. In fact, I was dying to show her the life she'd been missing, but first she'd have to trust me enough to tell me her real name.I wanted to plant roots, but I refused to clip her wings. Not when she was everything I’d been looking for and all the home I’d ever need.Roots and Wings is a standalone contemporary romance. If you're looking for a good time, then you've come to the right place. Welcome to Wynne.

Blocked


Elise Faber - 2016
     Brit has the chance to make history by being the first female goalie to play for an NHL team, the San Francisco Gold. So, when she is introduced to Stefan, the Gold's captain, she is determinedly not interested. Stefan is sexy, charming, and has a publicly documented list of conquests a mile long. But Brit is unwilling to risk mixing business with pleasure, even when that business is wrapped up in a six-foot-plus, gorgeously muscled package. When management pushes Brit and Stefan together in an effort to gain good press for the beleaguered team, Brit finds that her carefully calculated disinterest doesn’t mask her body's desires. The more she falls for Stefan, the more she risks her career. Will she be able to have it all—a starting position and the heart of the captain? Or will she lose everything?

Jase


M.J. Fields - 2013
    He can't seem to get the beautifully innocent, blonde college girl out of his head. So what she's the cousin of a friend who does not approve? Jase has never exercised self-control when it came to getting a woman, and he wasn't going to start now.After tricking Carly into “fake dating," it turns out the joke's on him, as Jase falls hard and fast for her. But as painful secrets from his past come to light, Jase will have to man up and bare it all to Carly, even if the ugly truth could tare them apart forever.JASE is book 1 in the bestselling erotica series MEN OF STEEL by MJ Fields.