Book picks similar to
First and Goal by Kata Čuić


young-adult
romance
sports
contemporary

Storm Warning


E. Lee - 2013
    Look for approaching storms.Severe Storm Warning Tip #2:If you see approaching storms or any of the danger signs, be prepared to take shelter immediately.Severe Storm Warning Tip #3:They may strike quickly, with little or no warning.Situated just outside of Oklahoma City, Calumet County is divided into two drastically different communities: Hope’s Grove and Summit Bluffs. One is the small backward town where dirt roads lead the way to field parties and railroad tracks. And the other, a sprawling suburb where paved drives lead to the landscaped lawns of the wealthy and over privileged.For five teenagers smack in the middle of Tornado Alley, summer is heating up fast. The winds of change are blurring the invisible line that divides the rich and the rural.One has a secret. One has a crush.One has been lying. One will get caught.And one might not make it out alive.They’re from two different worlds…but one summer is about to change everything.

Fake It 'Til You Break It


Meagan Brandy - 2020
    He didn’t have to break me to win. But he did it anyway.

Always You


Kirsty Moseley - 2012
    To me, he’s simply my best friend, the one who has been there as far back as I can remember. Our relationship has always been easy, playful and affectionate, but after one lost bet, and one payment in the form of a kiss, the dynamic of everything changes… Note: Always You is book one in the Best Friend series; however, it is a standalone novel with a complete ending.

Love Me Never


Sara Wolf - 2015
    Declare war on him.Seventeen-year-old Isis Blake hasn’t fallen in love in three years, nine weeks, and five days, and after what happened last time, she intends to keep it that way. Since then she’s lost eighty-five pounds, gotten four streaks of purple in her hair, and moved to Buttcrack-of-Nowhere, Ohio, to help her mom escape a bad relationship.All the girls in her new school want one thing—Jack Hunter, the Ice Prince of East Summit High. Hot as an Armani ad, smart enough to get into Yale, and colder than the Arctic, Jack Hunter's never gone out with anyone. Sure, people have seen him downtown with beautiful women, but he's never given high school girls the time of day. Until Isis punches him in the face.Jack’s met his match. Suddenly everything is a game.The goal: Make the other beg for mercy.The game board: East Summit High.The reward: Something neither of them expected.

Normal


Danielle Pearl - 2014
    Starting at a new high school, in the middle of my senior year, in a new town, in a new state. I know no one. No one knows me. That's what I'm counting on.A year ago, Aurora "Rory" Pine was just a normal teenage girl - just as sweet and naive as the fairy tale princess she was named after.But this isn't a year ago.Rory is broken, and now suffering from a debilitating anxiety disorder, wrought with precarious triggers, she moves across the country to escape the source of her troubles. Her plan is anonymity, but that's easier said than achieved for the new girl having a panic episode outside of calculus. The worst part? There's a witness - and a gorgeous one at that.Sam is a walking trigger for Rory. Incredibly handsome, built like the star athlete he obviously is, and undoubtedly popular, Sam outwardly represents everything Rory despises about high school. But as the fates keep throwing them together, a connection sparks that neither ever expected, and certainly couldn't ignore.But Sam has issues too, and Rory's past won't just stay in the damned past. When friendship evolves into something deeper, can a girl utterly destroyed by the worst kind of betrayal and a boy battling demons of his own ever have a normal relationship? Is that even what they want? Find out in NORMAL, a gritty story of trust and abuse, heartbreak and salvation, and if they're lucky - love. This is not a flowery romance - not for the faint of heart.

Just One of the Boys


Leah Rooper - 2017
    But when she’s passed over at tryouts for being a girl, she’ll do anything to make her dream a reality…even disguising herself as her twin brother. With her amazing skills on the ice, Alice is sure she’ll fit in easily. That is, until she starts falling for one of her teammates…Hayden Tremblay, star of the Falcons, can’t keep himself out of the penalty box. Constantly living in the shadow of his older brother, Hayden’s losing his passion for hockey. But when he gets shown up on the ice by the Falcons’ new rookie, Hayden’s determined to teach the kid a thing or two. Little does he guess that “Al’s” surprises on the ice are just the beginning...

Win Some, Lose Some


Shay Savage - 2016
    Each task others complete without thinking is a challenge for him. Recently orphaned, he has to finish the last few months of high school and take care of his disabled sister on his own.When Mayra comes into his life, his comfortable routines implode. Matthew can’t handle change, but Mayra is unrelenting in her quest to understand him, to show him acceptance and maybe even love. When she breaks through his shell, Matthew’s world will never be the same again.An awkward boy with Asperger’s Syndrome, a persistent girl who pulls him out of his isolated existence, and a lottery ticket that will change their lives forever.

Becoming Us


Amy Daws - 2015
    The last place Finley ever want to be with college basketball God, Jake LaShae. She is losing her mind trying to figure out what this guy wants from her. Between their late night phone calls, cuddle sessions and him showing up at parties, causing a scene, his mixed signals are giving her whip lash. When a mind-blowing betrayal knocks the wind out of Finley and she thinks she can’t feel any lower, Brody stumbles into her path—barefoot and charmingly sexy. This boy next door is a breath of fresh air. And he’s not shooting her any mixed signals. But even he has a past. A past that makes him anything but perfect. When Finley begins to think she’s found the one in Brody, will Jake try to make one final play and ruin the game for everyone?~The college prequel to the London Lovers Series~

Falling for Autumn


Heather Topham Wood - 2014
    Everyone thought they knew what happened the spring night Autumn’s world fell apart. Vicious rumors about the incident circulated, and she had to be homeschooled the last year of high school to escape her tormentors. All she wants now is to get away from it all and start over at Cook University. She leaves everything but the memory behind—something she swore she’d never forget—and sets off to rebuild what was broken.Blake Preston is precisely the type of guy Autumn wants to avoid. He’s gorgeous, arrogant and the college’s beloved football star. As much as she believes he’s someone she should steer clear of, avoiding him proves to be impossible. He shows up everywhere around campus, offering her a no-strings attached friendship. Autumn can’t deny Blake stirs up emotions she thought fled years ago. But things he’s been hiding begin to emerge and collide with her past, leaving her heart ravaged in their wake.Standalone New Adult Romance-Ages 17+ Due to Strong Language and Sexual Situations

A Crack in Everything


L.H. Cosway - 2018
    Then Dylan O’Dea broke into my flat, held me against the wall and told me to stay quiet.It was like in the movies, where the universe zeros in on a single scene. I looked into his eyes and knew he was going to change me.For Dylan, the sky was always falling. He showed me how our world is a contradiction of beauty and ugliness. How we choose to ignore the awful and gloss over it with the palatable. How you need just a tiny drop of something unsavoury to create every great scent.Pretty deep for a pair of teenagers living in a block of council flats in inner city Dublin, right? Probably. But we weren’t typical. We both had our obsessions. Mine was growing things, Dylan’s was scent. He taught me how to use my nose, and I introduced him to the magic of flowers.I had no idea that one day he’d build an empire from what we started together. But before that, there was love and happiness, tragedy and epic heartbreak…My name is Evelyn Flynn and I’m going to tell you about the crack in everything.A Crack in Everything is Book #1 in L.H. Cosway’s Cracks duet.

Be the Girl


K.A. Tucker - 2019
    New postal code, new last name, new rules. But she doesn’t mind, because it means she can leave her painful regrets behind. In the bustling town of Eastmonte, she can become someone else. Someone better.With the Hartford family living next door, it seems she will succeed. Sure, Cassie Hartford may be the epitome of social awkwardness thanks to her autism, but she also offers an innocent and sincere friendship that Aria learns to appreciate. And Cassie’s older brother, Emmett—a popular Junior A hockey player with a bright future—well … Aria wishes that friendship could lead to something more. If he didn’t already have a girlfriend, maybe it would.But Aria soon finds herself in a dicey moral predicament that could derail her attempt at a fresh start. It is her loyalty to Cassie and her growing crush on Emmett that leads her to make a risky move, one that earns her a vindictive enemy who is determined to splinter her happy new world.

Elements of Chemistry: Attraction


Penny Reid - 2015
    Despite her best efforts, she can’t escape the notice of Martin Sandeke—bad boy, jerkface bully, and the universe’s hottest, wealthiest, and most unobtainable bachelor—who also happens to be Kaitlyn’s chemistry lab partner.Kaitlyn might be the only girl who isn’t interested in exploiting his stunning rower’s build, chiseled features, and family's billionaire fortune. Kaitlyn wants Martin for his brain, specifically to tabulate findings of trace elements in surface water.When Kaitlyn saves Martin from a nefarious plot, Martin uses the opportunity to push Kaitlyn out of her comfort zone: spring break, one week, house parties, bathing suits, and suntan lotion. Can she overcome her aversion to being noticed? Will he be able grow beyond his self-centered nature? Or, despite their obvious chemistry, will Martin be the one to drive Kaitlyn into the science cabinet of obscurity for good?Where to read more of the Hypothesis SeriesBook 1 ATTRACTION (ends in a cliffhanger!)Book 2 HEAT (ends in a cliffhanger!)Book 3 CAPTURE (no cliffhanger)Book 4 MOTION (ends in a cliffhanger!)Book 5 SPACE (ends in a cliffhanger!)Book 6 TIME (no cliffhanger)

Wild Cards


Simone Elkeles - 2013
    After getting kicked out of boarding school, bad boy Derek Fitzpatrick has no choice but to live with his ditzy stepmother while his military dad is deployed. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he finds out she plans to move them back to her childhood home in Illinois. Derek’s counting the days before he can be on his own, and the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone else’s family drama. Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without a backward glance. So when her older sister comes home after abandoning her ten years earlier, with her hot new stepson in tow, Ashtyn wants nothing to do with either of them. Then she comes up with a plan that would finally give her the chance to leave, but it requires trusting Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and get the future she wants?

Forever Mine


Elizabeth Reyes - 2010
    She’s forced to move, leaving behind everything she’s ever known, including her best friend Sydney. Lost and bitter in a new school, her one goal is to save money and move back home. Then she meets Angel Moreno. Enigmatic but gorgeous, Angel is almost too good to be true. Except for one thing, his archaic belief that guys and girls can never be “just friends”. The problem? Sarah’s best friend Sydney is not a girl. With their unexpected romance intensifying to places neither ever experienced, how long can Sarah keep Angel in the dark about the guy waiting for her back home?

Push the Envelope


Rochelle Paige - 2013
    Boys haven't been on her radar for a couple years after a disastrous breakup with her high school sweetheart. Her plans to focus on school hit a bit of a snag when she meets bad-boy Drake Bennett and he sets his sights on making her his own. Drake transferred to Blythe College for the rugby team, not for a new assortment of college girls. He's sexy and cocky, and he attracts women like moths to a flame. When he meets Alexa, Drake knows he's met his match. She tries to resist him, but Drake isn't used to taking no for an answer.This does not have a cliffhanger.Warning: 18+ due to sexual content