Book picks similar to
The Bust by Jamie Bennett


romance
3rd-moon
contemporary-romance
unlikeable-character-s

Waking Olivia


Elizabeth O'Roark - 2016
    She's trouble of the devious, manipulative, too-f***ing-hot-for-her-own good variety. She's the kind of girl who causes trouble merely by existing, and then makes sure to cause more. And the last thing I need right now is more trouble."A failing farm.His father’s debt.And a struggling college track team. Will Langstrom has too many responsibilities, and the last thing he needs is Olivia Finnegan, a beautiful but troubled new transfer student.A smart mouth. A strong right hook.And a secret that could destroy her. Olivia is her own worst enemy, with a past she can’t seem to escape, and the last person she wants help from is a cocky track coach she can never seem to please.Refusing to be pushed away, Will is determined to save her. And determined to resist an attraction that could destroy them both.

Fake Out


Eden Finley - 2018
    And I have to bring my boyfriend—the boyfriend who doesn’t exist because I’m straight.At least, I think I am. Meeting the guy I’m bribing to be my boyfriend for the weekend makes me question everything about myself.DAMONWhen my sister asks me to pretend to be some straight guy’s boyfriend, my automatic response is to say no. It’s because of guys like him people don’t believe me when I tell them I’m gay.But Maddox has something I need.After an injury that cost me my baseball career, I’m trying to leave my playing days behind and focus on being the best sports agent I can be. Forty-eight hours with my sister’s best friend in exchange for a meeting with a possible client. I can do this.I just wish he wasn’t so hot. Or that he didn’t kiss like he means it.Wait … why is the straight guy kissing me?*Fake Out is a full-length MM novel with no cliffhanger.*

The Blueprint


S.E. Harmon - 2018
    He has friends, a wonderful family, and a great job. But his love life has reached a new level of pitiful. Why? Well, his heart decided to break all the rules. Don’t fall in love with a straight guy. And definitely don’t fall in love with your best friend.NFL standout Britton “Blue” Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides. From his father, who’s only interested in Blue’s football career. From his coaches, who just want him to play without getting injured again. From the fans. From his agent. And from his mother, who has popped up on the radar after leaving his family years before. And now his relationship with Kelly is on shaky ground, and that frightens Blue more than anything.When Kelly admits he’s in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what’s really important. He doesn’t want to lose the number-one person in his life, but the cost to keep Kelly close might be more than he’s willing to pay.It’s a good thing his nickname is the Blueprint—it’s time to draft a new set of plans.

Sacked


Jen Frederick - 2015
    Warrior. Champion. And...virgin. Knox knows what he wants--and he gets it. All American Football player? Check. NFL pros scouting him? Check. Now, he's set his sight on two things. The national title. And Ellie Campbell. Sure, she's the sister of his fellow teammate, but that's not going to stop him. Especially not when he’s convinced Ellie is the one. ...but he's never met her before. But Ellie isn't as sure. She's trying to start a new life and she's not interested in a relationship...with anyone. Beside it's not just her cardinal rule of never dating her brother's teammates that keeps her away, but Ellie has a dark secret that would jeopardize everything Knox is pursuing. Knox has no intention of losing. Ellie has no intention of giving in.

Only When It's Us


Chloe Liese - 2020
    Why she hates me, I don't know. What I do know is that Willa is the kind of chaos I don’t need in my tidy life. She’s the next generation of women’s soccer. Wild hair, wilder eyes. Bee-stung lips that should be illegal. And a temper that makes the devil seem friendly. She’s a thorn in my side, a menacing, cantankerous, pain-in-the-ass who’s turned our Business Mathematics course into a goddamn gladiator arena. I'll leave this war zone unscathed, coming out on top…And if I have my way with that crazy-haired, ball-busting hellion, that will be in more than one sense of the word.  Willa Rather than give me the lecture notes I missed like every other instructor I’ve had, my asshole professor tells me to get them from the silent, surly flannel-wearing mountain man sitting next to me in class. Well, I tried. And what did I get from Ryder Bergman? Ignored. What a complete lumbersexual neanderthal. Mangy beard and mangier hair. Frayed ball cap that hides his eyes. And a stubborn refusal to acknowledge my existence. I’ve battled men before, but with Ryder, it's war. I’ll get those notes and crack that Sasquatch nut if it’s the last thing I do, then I’ll have him at my mercy. Victory will have never tasted so sweet. Only When It’s Us is a frenemies-to-lovers, college sports romance about a women’s soccer star and her surly lumberjack lookalike classmate, complete with a matchmaking professor, juvenile pranks, and a smoking slow burn. This standalone is the first in a series of new novels about a Swedish-American family of five brothers, two sisters, and their wild adventures as they each find happily ever after.

Fighting Silence


Aly Martinez - 2015
    We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to? I've always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I didn’t hear her voice. You see, meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one. They both happened anyway. Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life. Fighting for my career. Fighting the impending silence. Fighting for her. Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her. I think that's the sound I'll miss the most. Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.

A Change in Tide


Freya Barker - 2017
    Retreating to the wilderness helps her cope with a world that is suddenly too loud, too turbulent. Her existence safely contained to the small cottage on the lake, she is unprepared for the neighbor that moves across the bay A career-ending injury has Jared permanently benched. His reputation as The Enforcer won’t survive the unanticipated responsibilities awaiting him. Away from the public eye, he adjust to his new reality, under the quiet observation of the intriguing hermit on the other side of the water.

Baby Maker


P. Dangelico - 2018
    Problem is, she doesn’t believe in marriage. Not after watching her mother be treated like garbage by her father. Nope, marriage is not for her. All she wants is a baby. All she needs is a man to agree to her terms.Dane Wylder, recently retired NFL tight end and future Hall of Famer, wants a baby.Naturally, marriage is off the table. He’s not the marrying type. Women are great––as long as they’re trying to get into his bed and not his heart. But after years of living only for himself, he’s ready to be a father. Sparks fly when a successful financial manager and a legendary football player enter into a legal agreement to have a kid together. They planned on everything––they just didn’t plan on each other.

The Groomsman


Marcia Lynn McClure - 2018
    Although she had not had a good, solid look at him, she could sense he was very handsome. His voice alone revealed he was—the deep, rich nature of it. In truth, his voice made her feel—well, it somehow whisked her back—whisked her back four years, bathing her in memories of another supper and a voice she’d heard that night—a voice as deep and rich, as warm and wonderful as molasses taffy. “It seems we cross paths again, Miss Ambria Blanchard,” the man said. And she knew then. Ambria knew that the voice and the man were not simply similar to the voice and the man that had changed her life four years before—but that the same man himself was sitting next to her. Thinking of the worn photograph she still cached in a secret space in her wallet, Ambria turned and nearly fainted with euphoric shock when she found herself gazing into the blue, blue, bluest eyes of the most gorgeous, beefcaked, super-stud lady-killer she’d ever seen.

Dirty Player


Stacey Lynn - 2016
    He's cocky. He's filthy rich. He's also loaded with a sizeable package below the belt that drives women crazy.Plus, he's focused. The prize--a football championship ring on his finger.His concentration on getting that ring is unwavering--until Shannon Hale walks into his life. Now the only game he wants to win involves getting her into his bed. Shannon thought she had everything she wanted in life. One cheating fiancé and one shredded wedding dress later, she skips town desperately in need of a do-over. Now, she's inRaleigh, starting her own business and living life by her own rules. She wants nothing to do with NFL's resident playboy.But Oliver's determined both on and off the field.For him to win everything he wants, there's only solution.It's time to play dirty.

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!

Bump and Run


Tabatha Kiss - 2016
    Check.A heart of gold and a smile that turns me stupid? Double check.My father is the new football coach and he’s made it clear that he doesn’t want me dating anyone on the team. So, I’ll just keep my head down and focus on my theater degree. Easy enough, right?Wrong.Enter, Junior Morgan. Exit, my panties. But I don’t want to be just another notch in his bedpost. If Junior wants me as badly as his bulge tells me he does, then he’s gonna have to earn me. Win a game. Win a night with me.Game on, quarterback. We’re just getting started.A handsome playboy. The coach’s forbidden daughter.College football’s Most Valuable Player has met his match! The Bad Baller Books: Bump and Run (Junior and Eliza’s story)Go Deep (John and Rose’s story)Home Run Baby (Hunter and Daisy’s story)This title was originally published as Whiplash.

Bad Boy's Baby


Sosie Frost - 2015
    Trouble-maker. Baby-maker? Star professional quarterback Jack Carson has the worst reputation in the league. He’s arrogant and gorgeous, and if he’s not in bed with a new woman, he’s sleeping off the party in a jail cell. But now he’s gotten in trouble too many times and needs my help to protect his career. As his publicist, I’ve hidden his dirty exploits and silenced the sexy rumors…but I missed the hottest scandal of the year. Apparently, Jack and I are dating. When the trouble-maker lies to the league and claims we’re in a committed relationship, he jeopardizes both our jobs. I can’t trust the tattooed bad boy, but now I’m stuck defending him. I have to make him seem respectable—no matter what. But his shameful reputation isn’t fixed with a few photos of us on a date. With the league determined to expel him for bad-behavior, Jack has only one option to convince them he’s wholesome, dependable, and responsible. Jack Carson wants to start a family. And he’s chosen me to give him the baby. This super steamy, bad boy romance is a standalone with no cliffhangers and a guaranteed happily-ever-after. For a limited time only, HARD is also included with this novel. HARD is a bonus full-length, bad-boy Navy Seal romance. Enjoy!

Just Playin'


Shandi Boyes - 2019
    Number one draft pick, engaged to an up-and-coming model, and voted best player of the decade his first year on the field. Things were golden. . . until an accident saw everything important torn from his grasp. He’s determined to get his life back, though, and with a strict regime, and no time for a life outside of the game, the last thing he wants is the attention of a curvy college student whose only motto in life is to not take it too seriously. Can an Australian expat show the struggling sports star there’s more to life than the next win? Or has Willow Underwood chewed off a chunk of man-meat too thick for her to swallow? Just Playin’ is a standalone sports romance RomCom that will give you all the feels. It has sexy scenes and several laugh-out-loud moments. This is not tied to any of my other books, and can be enjoyed by itself. AKA: No cliffhangers!

Penalty Kiss


Annie Dyer - 2021
    Problems that could score her an own goal.She’s meant to be my penalty, but will she let me be her kiss instead?Penalty Kiss is the first standalone in the Manchester Athletic series. Meet the team in this grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lovers, bad boy athlete romance.