Book picks similar to
Worth the Risk by Karen Monroe


college
sports
sports-romance
new-adult

Play the Game


Emma Tharp - 2021
    Gavin Wright doesn't have much except his scholarship and the hockey team, which is fine by him. To lose focus is to lose everything. He doesn't need friends, and especially doesn't need a girlfriend. Especially some privileged, BMW-driving princess. Her family would disown her if they knew she had feelings for a charity case, but her heart won't listen. Every cell in Stella Evans's brain tells her to steer clear of the sexy, brooding hockey player who sits next to her in Biology lab. Gavin is cold and cruel and treats her like she's the last person on earth he wants to be around. And yet she can't help the way her body responds when he's nearby. She's a distraction he can't afford. He's a sure path to her undoing. But one night, one kiss, threatens to destroy them both.

Freight Train


Sapphire Knight - 2017
    After a while, life starts to pile up though, college, football, and helping out my brothers. I just need a small reprieve, especially if she’s five foot five, brunette and has legs that go on for miles. Fun is fun... Not like anyone’s going to fall in love.KadenceStar football player..... Check.Spoiled brat..... Check.Just when I think I have Tyler Owen’s all figured out; he knocks me on my ass, literally.I wasn’t expecting him to help me up, or the little shock that I felt when we touched, but then I didn’t think I’d fall in love either.

Nightmare


Rosie Alice - 2021
    Nothing breaks through her surface, she doesn’t let anyone in – doesn’t need to.Until he comes along.Travis Monroe, dark and passionate. He refuses to let her walk away, and when her nightmares come back to haunt her, he finds himself revisiting bad habits he’s long given up – all to save her.**NIGHTMARE is an emotional romance novel that may be uncomfortable for some readers. Please read the trigger warning on page one in full before reading.

Go Long


Joanna Blake - 2016
    You don't mess around with another player's girl and you don't touch the coach's daughter. Well, I've never been good at following the rules. Belinda Carmichael is uptight, prissy and the hottest girl I've ever seen. She's also the head coach's precious baby girl. And she's entirely off limits. The trouble is, I didn't know who she was when I met her. And she had no idea I was her daddy's newest star player. It was her job to show me around campus, and I showed her a lot more than that. But we fumbled the ball – she never told a soul who got her pregnant. Not even me, the baby daddy. As the quarterback I'm not supposed to date the coach's daughter. I'm definitely not supposed to knock her up. Well, too bad. I don't just want to date her. I don't just want her in my bed. I want to score the ultimate, game-winning touchdown. Her heart. *Go Long has a guaranteed HEA and no cheating!

All Grown Up (Eden High)


Jordan Silver - 2021
    He’s surprised when he gets there to realize that she’s been hiding things from him during their daily phone calls. He whisks her away to the island where they first professed their love for each other while back on the mainland; Mandy’s been wreaking havoc from her jail cell. Now the guys are scrambling to come up with ways to deal with her, never suspecting that help will come from somewhere unexpected.

Until Ireland


T.L. Reeve - 2021
    An emotional pull that can complete a man in one second and destroy him in the next. Mack Redman doesn’t believe in the phenomenon, until he meets a caustic tongued, hot-blooded woman, named Ireland Banks. She can turn him inside out with a single look, leaving him aching for more.Bad days are par for the course when it comes to Ireland Banks. After finding out her ex-boyfriend had been fencing stolen cars, her world’s torn apart. Starting over in a new town isn’t easy, but Ireland doesn’t know the word quit. Now, as the co-owner of Banks Automotive, she prides herself on being above reproach.When she meets Mack Redman, she knows he’s the one. Throwing caution to the wind, she gives in to the magnetic pull between them—until the moment she finds out, he just like her ex.Mack isn’t willing to give up on Ireland, and he’ll prove his love for her is real. All she has to do is meet him halfway. But, when her past meets his future, the danger becomes palpable. Can Mack clear his name and take down an international car theft ring, or will he lose Ireland forever?

Touch Back


Zoey Shores - 2020
    That’s how I know I’m not falling for Cole Hampton.Empire State U’s top Running Back is a cocky alpha-hole who thinks he’s God’s gift to women. While I’m hosting all-night study sessions, he’s pulling all-nighters of a very different kind. Needless to say, our paths don’t cross.But at the tail end of Junior year, a series of chance encounters are enough to get our personalities clashing and our tempers flaring.I hate his arrogance. I hate his sense of entitlement. I hate that he has sorority girls hanging off his arms as he walks down campus, even though he treats them with total disdain.I hate how his obnoxious, arrogant jokes are starting to make me laugh …I hate how I see his piercing, blues eye when I lie down in bed at night …And when a wild coincidence over the summer forces us closer than ever, I hate how sexual this tension is starting to feel …Pfft, nothing to worry about, right? “Opposites attract” just doesn’t happen in the real world.

Bring Me Back


Jenika Snow - 2017
     The past is behind me, and now it’s time to enjoy life, or that’s what I tell myself. That’s what I’m trying to do. And then he sweeps into my life like a tornado. But he doesn’t destroy me…he helps heal me. Until Adrian I was content to let it pull me to the bottom. Until Adrian I was content enough to keep moving through life. But I’m done pretending that I’m happy with who I am, with where I’m at. I want to let Adrian show me that living doesn’t have to be toeing the line. And I don’t care what anyone says, not Alex, my brother, and certainly not my childhood crush, Holden. ADRIAN I’ve never let my past dictate who I am. Fighting has been the only solid thing that keeps me grounded, that lets me get out the self-hatred and pain I keep buried deep down. But then I see Skylar. She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. She has her own darkness, her own heaviness that weighs on her. With her, I feel like the world is right, that things make sense. She says I’m helping heal her, but she’s the one who makes me feel complete. I’ll go to any lengths to keep her by my side, even if that’s going up against the two people that have been a constant in her life… the two people who know I’m not good enough for her.

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.

Down By Contact


Jessica Ruddick - 2021
    She’s content to spend her time building up her social media business so she can take it full time after graduation. First though, she has to survive her half sister’s wedding. Just once she’d like to hold her own with her wicked stepmother and walk away not feeling like the redheaded stepchild. Step one—find a suitable date. Enter Justin Olmsted, the friend who’s stuck by her for years. He fits the job description: they’ll have fun, he’s cool with pretending to be in love with her, and he’s hot enough to shut up her stepmom.Justin had a great run as a linebacker for VVU, and now he’s desperate to get a foot in the door—any door—of a college coaching staff. That’s easier said than done, but that’s not the only thing on his college bucket list. He’s had a thing for his friend Layla since they met four years ago, and he’s tired of waiting on the sidelines for the right moment. This wedding is Justin's chance to sweep Layla off her feet. It’s time to convince her that leaving the friend zone is worth the risk.

Going Deep


Jenna Rose - 2020
    I want a good woman by my side.And it’s going to be her.

Pitching for Amalie


Hayley Faiman - 2015
    Even in another city, far away from the man who loves her, memories plague her mind. Then, one night at a club, her life takes a turn during a sensual encounter with a stranger. Jarrod Harrison is determined to discover more about Amalie, but she wears a mask, shielding herself from him. With a bit of persistence, eventually, Jarrod dominates his way into her heart. Amalie lets go a little at a time, on her way to finding happiness with this man. When the past rears its ugly head, can their newfound relationship survive? Or will it shatter their future together? Book 1 - Standalone 18+ for mature audiences due to language and sexual content.

Fighting Fate (Fate, #1)


Anastasia Austin - 2019
    And she isn't going to let anything get in her way. Until she repeatedly crosses paths with poster-child frat boy, Isaac Johnson. She hesitates when all he wants is a hook up. She pushes him away when he shows signs of wanting more. Then she's torn, when she finds him all alone and sick as a dog after his frat brothers abandon him for spring break. Katie should leave. Stick to her plan. Finish the project that could make or break her college career. But she can't leave him like this--to fend for himself when he can barely breathe--or ignore the connection building between them. The one she's not sure she can fight anymore.Fun and fluffy standalone with a happily ever after.Tropes you have to look forward to:*Injury (Our boy has the flu, poor thing)*Afraid to commit*FlingThis is a sweet and spicy novella intended for an adult audience.

Big Man on Campus


Stephanie Queen - 2021
    Paul University that label would put me at the top of the watch list for expulsion, or at least be a death sentence to my social life.But no.In truth, I should be a pariah, but I'm not.I'm the BMOC because I'm the starting quarterback of the prized football team. After last season's bowl game victory, I could be Voldemort and I'd still get the champagne treatment.But who cares? Because the one girl on this campus I want doesn't give a sh*t about football. She thinks bad boys are, well, bad.Worst of all, she's my nemesis from back home.It's messed up that I'm stuck on Joni, because she's the biggest threat to my goal of winning the Heisman Trophy. It kills me that she's also a hot tamale as my grandpa would say. If he were still alive.Losing grandpa started my trouble.Being with Joni could ruin me. Or it could save me.All I need to do is convince her she's not my enemy...

Too Intense


Rosa Mink - 2019
    My father is military and every time it seemed like I would finally make friends, we were off to another. So I stopped. I coasted through the rest of high school and was determined to stay put for four years of college. I didn’t anticipate meeting Conner. I didn’t anticipate falling in love with him without even knowing him. All the other girls say he’s too intense. That’s okay, because to me, he’s perfect. The only problem is, he’s a senior and I’m a freshman, and he’s a football player. Do I risk everything for him or do I continue to hide in the library as the world goes on around me? Do I really have a choice once Conner claims me as his? My heart’s his, let’s just hope he wants to keep it. Conner Too intense. Hell, I know that’s what all the girls say about me. Well, that and that I’m a playboy because I date a lot of girls. It doesn’t make me a jerk and I don’t sleep with all of them. I’m focused on football, going pro, and finding the one. I know she’s out there just waiting for me to find her. The second I lay eyes on Hailey I know she’s mine. She’s skittish, has a bit of a stalker, and I know I need to control myself but I can’t. She’s my woman and I’m going to claim her. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make her mine entirely, even put a baby in her so she stays with me. She’ll fall just as I have given enough time and then, she’ll be the queen beside me as I hit the pro circuit. Her parents’ lack of caring piss me off but I’ll show her what it means to be loved by someone too intense. Everything I do is now for her. I hope she’s ready for it. Too Intense is a short read around 20,000 words, with strong language, no cheating, and HEAs. It's intended for an adult audience that will leave you longing for a man that’s maybe just a little too intense.