Book picks similar to
The Hard Way Home by C.W. Farnsworth
sports
young-adult
romance
high-school
Chasing Spring
R.S. Grey - 2016
I didn't belong in the small town, but my dad wouldn't listen. He dragged me back home in his beat-up truck and dropped a bomb along the way: Chase Matthews was moving in with us. He was the golden boy of my high school, my former best friend, and the last person I wanted sleeping across the hall. His presence was too great a reminder of the ghosts I was trying to forget.I didn't ask for a hero. I don't want to be saved.To me, Lilah Calloway meant late nights sneakin'; out, moonlit hair, and sparklers in July. She was my best friend until the day she left and I'd assumed Blackwater had seen the last of her. Then, like a tempest, she rolled back into town for the final half of senior year. The chopped hair and dark devil-may-care attitude warned most people away, but I knew if I fought hard enough, I could find the lost girl.I didn't want to be her hero. Some girls don't need to be saved.
Cruel Prince
Ashley Jade - 2019
But four years later, here I am...back to finish my senior year at Royal Hearts Academy.And forced to face Jace Covington. My first friend. First crush. First kiss. The one I left behind.Only—he isn't the same boy I gave my heart to.This new Jace is as cruel as he is gorgeous.And he's determined to make my life a living hell. Along with the rest of his glorified family and crew of tyrants.They expect me to worship the ground they walk on like everyone else, but I'd rather eat dirt.If Jace Covington wants me gone...he'll have to try harder. Because I've never been the kind of girl to play by the rules.WARNING: Royal Hearts Academy is a New Adult/High School series of standalones filled with drama, a touch of angst, and boys who are bad to the bone. And when I say bad, I mean they are assholes with a capital A. If you're looking for a safe, sweet romance, this series is NOT for you. At all! Please don't say you weren't warned.WARNING: Royal Hearts Academy is a New Adult/High School series of standalones filled with drama, a touch of angst, and boys who are bad to the bone.This series is recommended for mature readers due to graphic language and sexual content.
Whatever Life Throws at You
Julie Cross - 2014
Now she's living in Missouri (too cold), attending an all-girls school (no boys), and navigating the strange world of professional sports. But Annie has dreams of her own—most of which involve placing first at every track meet…and one starring the Royals' super-hot rookie pitcher.But nineteen-year-old Jason Brody is completely, utterly, and totally off-limits. Besides, her dad would kill them both several times over. Not to mention Brody has something of a past, and his fan club is filled with C-cupped models, not smart-mouthed high school “brats” who can run the pants off every player on the team. Annie has enough on her plate without taking their friendship to the next level. The last thing she should be doing is falling in love.But baseball isn't just a game. It's life. And sometimes, it can break your heart…
The Charade
Judy Corry - 2021
Win-win.Plus, flirting with the hottest guy at school is kind of fun.As long as the feelings stay as fake as the show we’re putting on, there shouldn’t be a problem. Right?The Charade is a forbidden romance about the new girl and the guy who everyone sees as untouchable.
See No Evil
Ivy Fox - 2020
They have been sentenced. All that remains is their execution.No one goes unpunished. We’ll make sure of it.We are The Society and all who dare cross us will find their miserable end by our hand.Don’t be fooled. This is not their story.It’s ours.FinnAs long as I can remember, I’ve played by the rules.On and off the football field, I’ve done everything that has been expected of me.Until that fatal night.Now my life and the lives of my best friends hang in the balance, hung there by a sadistic sinister shadow forcing us to do their will.And it’s just my damn luck that I’m the first to be put on their butcher’s block.I must prove my worth by eradicating a certain pebble in their shoe.The order is simple.To save ourselves, I must ruin another—a life for a life.Meaning Stone Bennett’s life is about to be forfeited in exchange for my own.The poor girl never stood a chance.StoneHe’s all American perfection.I’m the poster child for this country’s rejects.He’s old Asheville money and privilege.I’m the Southie eyesore people stay clear from.He’s caviar dreams and champagne wishes.I’m the trailer trash his momma probably warned him about.I doubt it can get any further away from the elitist’s social spectrum than the two of us.So why the hell is Finn Walker, Richfield’s football god, suddenly all in my face wanting my attention?Nothing good can come from this.I can feel it.*The Society is an Enemies to Lovers, New Adult College Romance.*Each book can be read as standalones. However all four books in this series have an entwined subplot, that will only be resolved in the final book.*Recommended 18+ due to mature language and situations.
Impossible
Komal Kant - 2012
Especially not Luca Byron, her freak neighbor, with his tattoos, loud music, and distracting green eyes.Luca Byron has three goals in life: get through high school with a low profile, make sure his garage band becomes something more than a hobby, and try to forget about his insufferable ex-best friend, Ashton, who he can’t get out of his mind.The last thing Ashton and Luca want to do is rekindle their friendship, but when Ashton takes a tumble down the social ladder, Luca—with his new makeover—is the only one who can help her rise up again by pretending to be her boyfriend. At first, being together is unbearable and annoying, but things start to change as Ashton and Luca discover the real reasons they drifted apart seven years ago. Now, keeping their hands off each other seems impossible.
Young Annabelle
Sarah Tork - 2013
Someone should have told me sooner…that falling for a guy like that…was not a good idea. At all. Just past the halfway mark on her summer from hell weightloss journey, seventeen year old Annabelle Simms has lost a grand total of nine pounds. Which should have been great, but not where her mother was concerned. According to her, nine pounds wasn’t good enough and ridiculously slow considering she counted every calorie Annabelle ate and burned. Already a star on the Royal Heights High School Baseball team, James Lawson wasn’t your average transfer student. Even with his ‘new guy’ status, he quickly becomes one of the ‘Kings of the Hallway’ and that alone should have been the red flag Annabelle needed to stay away from him. He’s arrogant, intense, rude and worst of all he seems like the kind of guy that usually gets what he wants. But the more time they spend together, it becomes difficult to stray away from those beautiful green eyes, especially with all the stress her mother is causing her. Will Annabelle wake up and see James for what her ‘common sense’ declares him to be or will she ignore everything and open her heart, allowing James to capture her…care for her…..body, mind and soul? Warning Contains Mature Scenes Recommend for ages 17+ This is not a standalone novel. Book 1 in Y.A Series
Somethin' About That Boy
Lani Lynn Vale - 2020
Especially when his reputation follows him all the way to Kilgore, Texas.***Perry Street hates school. She hates her peers—most of them anyway—and she hates her classes. All she wants to do is finish her senior year, graduate, and find a place that will give her a full scholarship so that she doesn’t have to be stuck here forever.That’s her goal, anyway.Then she walks into first period, on her first day of her senior year, and sits down. Seconds later, he walks in and changes every single plan she’s ever made.It isn’t long before Perry starts to fall for the bad boy who doesn’t care who he does and doesn’t impress. The boy makes her heart flutter. The boy makes her want things that she’s never wanted before. Not ever.The boy brings trouble with him that nearly kills her.
Devil May Care
Angel Lawson - 2020
They wanted me to leave, too, but I refused. I’m sticking around to make sure they follow through on the deal the snobby, elite crew of jocks made with the administration.The arrangement is simple. No one ever speaks about what happened to Skylar again, and no one gets punished.But that's not exactly true, is it? I still get punished, each and every day that I walk down the halls. No one speaks to me. No one looks at me. No one even admits I exist.It doesn’t matter. I know what they did. And I know who’s in charge; Hamilton Bates.Handsome, smart, and ridiculously privileged.He’s the lead Devil, and my hatred for him is all in the details.All it takes is one slip, one heated argument, one mistake, and everything gets even more complicated.We get complicated.Is this love or has the Devil found a new plaything?Devil May Care is the gripping, angsty, enemies to lovers, bully romance, by USA Today Best Selling Author, Angel Lawson, you’ve been waiting for!
Interference
Harlow Cole - 2019
It’s true. Ask anyone. I threw my first curveball the day I was born. The whole damn town is waiting on me. To live up to my father’s famous name. To reach for the stars. All I want to reach for is her. But Ashley is the sweet addiction I can’t afford. She’s my best friend’s sister. Hell, she’s practically my little sister. For years, I’ve protected her from guys that want one thing. What happens now that I’ve turned into one of them? Who’s gonna shield her from the way I was made, from my little white lies and from what I’m about to become?My game plan sounds simple: Pitch my way into the Major League draft and stay out of Ashley Foster’s pants. That first part may be statistically difficult. The second feels damn near impossible. Ashley: From the moment we met, I knew he was trouble. The kind my mother sent me to find. The type that ruins you for any other brand. When we were young kids, I didn’t know what to call the frogs and butterflies that danced in my belly whenever Brayden came near. Now I know they have a name. Those three little words that could heal or destroy him. Before Brayden, my life was normal. And then it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Ever again. How was I to know stealing his seat would change all our lives?Anger and forgiveness share two halves of the same coin.Our story might make you choose sides.
Pretty When She Cries
A. Zavarelli - 2020
Ours was baptized in fire.I was the new girl trying to find her place.Landon was the brooding neighbor I tutored over the summer.I didn’t know he was a legend at Black Mountain Academy.I didn’t know they worshipped him like a religion.But I fell for him before I knew those things.To me, he was just the tortured soul who drew me in like a magnet.And then he did something so unspeakable, so unforgivable, it shattered me.I ran away then because I was weak, but I’ve shed my tears.He stole my heart and my dignity, and I’m here to take it back.The only problem is… he’s not giving it up without a fight.
Perfect Little Flaws
Jennifer Ann Shore - 2021
Even my parents mention him in hushed, angry whispers, fearful he’s going to shatter my brother’s records and destroy the legacy left behind when he died.However, I avoid Vince Novak at all costs, hiding from him and the rest of the world behind my camera lens. But my best laid plans—and photos—are nearly ruined when my tangible disinterest in his existence intrigues him.The more time we spend together, the more his little flaws peek out beneath the layers of perfection and break down the walls I’ve built around my heart.
Broken Wings
Jaymin Eve - 2019
There used to be five, but one of them died, leaving a fifth position that I now fill. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want to be part of this billionaire-boys-club. But no one cares about what I want.Sebastian Beckett is the worst of them. Their leader. He draws me in, and strips me of every defense I have. He calls me Butterfly, but it's not a pet name, it's a threat. Beck wants nothing more than to break my wings, pin me to a board and watch me writhe.He wants to see me broken. Body, heart and soul.And what these elite want, they get.Only they've never met Riley Jameson.Let the battle begin.**This dark romance features four sexy, dangerous boys but is NOT a reverse harem.**
Frayed
Laura Pavlov - 2021
Innocent girl next door. Two different worlds. One small town. A million reasons why they should have stayed away from one another.My life was mapped out for me before I even entered the world.Who I'd date, where I’d attend college, what I'd be when I grew up.But there was a time in everyone's life when they'd face a fork in the road.Should I go left, or should I go right?It didn't matter as long as I didn't remain stagnant any longer.Jett Stone opened me up to a whole new world.Reminding me that it was okay to find my own way.I could have roots in Willow Springs and still spread my wings and fly.What I didn't expect was to fall in love with the broody football player.The boy I’d known since kindergarten.The boy who had somehow become my everything.