Book picks similar to
The Forbidden Groom by Sarah Gay


romance
sports
contemporary
contemporary-romance

The Posse


Tawdra Kandle - 2013
    After her husband’s death, she’s left with her family’s beach restaurant and two nearly-grown children. The last thing she’s looking for is another chance at love.However, if her husband’s best friends, the Posse, have anything to say about it, love is just what she’s going to get. The Posse is determined to take care of Jude, and when they decide the best way to do that is for one of them to sweep her off her feet, three begin to vie for her affections. But only one can reach her heart.In a story of friendship, loss and second chances, Jude will learn her life is far from being over.

When Love Comes


J.H. Croix - 2014
    Once wild and impulsive, she shut her heart off to love and adventure after her parents died. When she meets Luke Winters, their immediate attraction is overwhelming.Burned once before, Luke has committed himself to nothing but casual dalliances with women. Rugged and smoldering, he finds no shortage of women happy to oblige. When Hannah comes along, he questions what he might be missing. Both fight the depth of their feelings—love is not part of the plan.Hannah’s sense of identity is shaken when she unearths a surprising truth about her family. Meanwhile, Luke’s interfering family and complications from his past challenge Hannah and Luke to face their true feelings for each other. Can two people who don’t believe love is worth the risk find the courage to face their fears and open their hearts?

Swooning over the Football Billionaire


Ellie Hall - 2020
    He’s a football player in need of refinement.  During their lessons will they become more than friends? After a humiliating accident, Maggie leaves her position as a Disney Princess and lands a job as an etiquette coach. A tumultuous childhood leaves her wary of the rich and famous. When her first client is an obnoxious, over the top football star, she channels her cheery princess personality to endure teaching him how to be a gentleman.Declan is the first to admit that he’s quick-witted and cocky, on and off the field. When a prank gone wrong turns into a scandal, he and a few of his team members end up at the esteemed Blancbourg School of Etiquette. Lucky for him his coach is cute. Unfortunately, if the players get involved with their non-football coaches, they’re off the team.After a week-long crash course, Maggie and Declan take their lessons out of the classroom to see if he can behave in public. When tragic news takes him to his native Ireland, they each get a glimpse of who the other really is and an unexpected friendship blooms. Despite their best efforts to remain that way, their feelings for each other blur. Will they keep things in the friend zone or fall in love and wind up in the end zone? This is book 1 in the Football Billionaire Bad Boy Romance series. Each book stands alone but reading them in order provides a deeper, richer experience. It is a sweet, “clean and wholesome” romance without swearing or mature content and contains a HEA. If you like faith-friendly, heartwarming, Hallmark-style romance, you’ll love this feel-good series.

My Soul Loves


Barbara Gee - 2017
    She isn’t escaping a bad job or an ex-boyfriend, and she’s not in the witness protection program. She’s not even leaving the city in hopes of a grand adventure. Nope, her motive is as simple as inheriting a house in a place she loves and deciding to see whether life in a small town suits her. She isn’t looking for romance, either.....and then she meets the guy next door. Before long, Ava is thinking Jude Keller could be the one. She looks at him and sees forever. Until she doesn’t. When Ava discovers something that could change everything, she panics and almost loses the best man she’s ever known. And just when things are looking up again, Ava finds she had something to run from after all. Trouble has found her in Hidden Creek, in a form she never expected. But God and Grandma brought her to Jude, and trouble’s no match for that combination. Good thing, because Ava has found the one her soul loves, and she never wants to let him go.

Hooked On You


Brittany Anne - 2018
    Hers, for letting him in, and his, for letting her go. Seven years after what was supposed to be the best night of Victoria's life, she is finally ready to return home and face the memories that she spent so long running away from. She is certain she has moved on, but the minute she sees Gabe Matthews, all of the feelings she repressed come right back up to the surface. Gabe says he’s changed, but can she ever truly trust the man who shattered her heart all those years ago? Gabe Matthews was not a good man, but he had spent the last three years doing everything he could to redeem himself. When the only girl he ever truly cared for walks back into his life, he is faced with the ultimate test: do the right thing and let her go, like he tried to do so many years ago, or be selfish and make her his. He wants to be the good guy, but sometimes, chemistry just can’t be controlled, and Gabe will be damned if he lets Victoria walk out of his life a second time.

Working Stiff


Blair Babylon - 2016
    Now, three years later, she’s kind of accidentally living with him, and he’s being a perfect gentleman, dang it. Everybody in the office said that Cash was a heartbreaker, that he’d bump her and dump her, so Rox decided not to become a statistic. She went out and bought herself some rings of the finest cubic zirconia so that she could work with Cash, who was several inches over six feet tall, emerald-eyed, ripped, gorgeous, his tailored suit clinging to his athletic body, sporting a British accent, and loaded. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. But now, three years later, she and Cash have become friends. They travel together for work often, and they’re the best of buddies. When Rox gets thrown out of her apartment, Cash insists that she come live with him until they can find her a place because that’s what friends do. Now, even though everyone insists that Cash never goes after married women, something about him has changed. There are little touches, little slips, and Rox is more and more tempted to tell hunky, gorgeous Cash that she never was married. And then he’ll take her and break her, and then he’ll walk away, and then she’ll lose her job, and she still hasn’t found a place to live. And yet, every time he looks at her with mischief in his dark green eyes, every time they’re teasing and it somehow turns into tickling, every time she swats at him and somehow ends up in his arms, she wants so much to risk everything. What’s a working stiff to do when she falls in love with her friend, the boss?

Dating the Billionaire's Granddaughter


Remi Carrington - 2018
    Logan Cooper is the guy that fixed her Jeep. Falling for the blue-eyed mechanic is easy. Telling him she’s rich is a bit harder. Convincing her grandfather that status isn’t everything is impossible.

Forward


J. Saman - 2016
    But when I woke up to find Levi gone without a trace, he broke that promise. Lara Gould finally has everything going for her. Amazing job, great apartment and a boyfriend who loves her. That is, until one night when her past and present collide. The man she thought she’d love forever vanished without a trace seven years ago, breaking her heart. Suddenly Levi has returned and is making some big waves in Lara’s life. But can she trust him? Why did he leave all those years ago?Her new boyfriend Tom, is perfect. Smart, sexy and adoring with a British accent Lara can’t help but love. When Tom asks her for a future in another country, Lara finds she has a big decision to make. Who does she move forward with? The man of her past or the man of her present.Warning: Strong language and moderate sexual content

Love at Sunset Lake


Sally Bayless - 2018
    An artist who's withdrawn from the world. A property battle that just might heal them both.When struggling caterer Tess Palmer inherits her great-aunt's home at Sunset Lake, Missouri, she thinks she's found the way to save her business. Selling the property can provide just the infusion of capital she needs to pay off her debts and move to a larger commercial kitchen.Wildlife painter Jack Hamlin, who lives across Sunset Lake, wants the area kept exactly as it is--a place where waterfowl can thrive and where he can find peace and solitude to ease his troubled heart. Although he's drawn to Tess's honesty and beauty, he's appalled to learn she would welcome a deal with a developer, and he vows to stop her.As Tess discovers the reasons why Jack is so passionate about protecting the lake, she finds him more and more attractive. She takes a tentative step past her own emotional pain to risk her heart again. But there seems to be no solution to the impasse over the property. As a sale becomes imminent, can Jack and Tess trust God--and each other--and finally find a love that will last?

Wait for Me


Samantha Chase - 2013
    Tired of waiting for the time to be right, she takes advantage of her boss’s generous offer for a little weekend getaway to thank her for helping out with a difficult business deal.Former NFL superstar Lucas Montgomery is still suffering from a career-ending injury. His self-imposed exile from life is exactly what he wants; a sanctuary where there’s no chance for disappointment or distractions and that’s exactly the way he likes it. While his family has been patiently waiting for Lucas to come around and embrace life once again, they don’t realize that it wasn’t just his career that was lost, but his sense of identity.Lucas thought everything was fine until sweet, sexy and completely off-limits Emma Taylor comes crashing into his carefully constructed world one snowy weekend and turns his entire life upside down.Montgomery Brothers Series: Wait for Me (Book 1) Trust in Me (Book 2) Stay with Me (Book 3) Return to You (Book 4) Meant for You (Book 5)

Reed's Resolution


Natalie Ann - 2019
    Eight Unique Stories. All Stand-alone Novels. On November 30, 2016, Hurricane Nina hit Bali, Indonesia. In the aftermath of death and destruction, eight strong sexy men will realize it’s time for a change in their lives. A resolution of sorts. A contractor, personal trainer, a millionaire, a stuntman, a rock star, a thrill-seeker, an army veteran, and a trust fund prodigal will all find a way to conquer their loss and learn to love. This is Reed’s story. Resolution: To be the man he used to be. To find a way to be happy once again. Reed Chapman thought he had the perfect life. A beautiful fiancée and a successful business. When tragedy struck, his perfect world imploded like the Titanic hitting the iceberg, making him realize his life had been anything but wonderful. Though his business is still thriving, his personal life and outlook on women are still sinking deep to the ocean floor with no life vests in sight. Taylor Winston never had much in life so when prince charming entered her life, she figured she had it made. She thought wrong. Now she’s a single mother relocating so that she doesn’t lose custody of her daughter. The last thing she has time for in her life is a man. Then why is her new sexy boss popping into her dreams so frequently and unexpectedly, making her wonder why she’d even consider accepting the proposition he so neatly laid out for her?

Promises to Keep


Nikki Sex - 2014
     When he’s unable to save the life of his wounded medic, the soldier's dying request is for Jack to personally deliver his wedding ring to Laura, his newlywed bride. He vows to do so the moment he returns home. Jack’s been through Hell on earth, while Laura’s a feisty, stubborn survivor of her own personal Hell. She's got a mind of her own, and she’s no victim—but what is she so afraid of? Despite their growing attraction, there’s just one thing the young widow doesn’t know about her husband’s death: Jack Curren is the one who got him killed.

Flowers for Mama (Lakeside #1)


Serafina Lyndon - 2015
    Working for low pay as an aide in a special needs classroom, she is flattered when the handsome guardian of a student asks her out on a date. The chemistry between them is intense. But she can’t be fully honest with Chalton, scared that he’ll back off fast once he knows how out of control her brother is becoming. And what she doesn’t know is that Chalton isn’t being fully honest with her either . . . and the truth is worse than anything she could imagine.

Small Town Hero


Kim Koby - 2018
    Rebecca is saving herself for marriage. After a crushing betrayal, she spins out of control when she catches her fiancé and best friend in bed together. Grief-stricken and desperate, she finds herself stranded in Tennessee and forced to rely on the kindness of a stranger.Ryan knows heartache. The only woman he loved walked away the day he proposed to her. He knew in that instant he'd never trust his heart to another. At least he has his dog to keep him company and a good job as a local firefighter.When Rebecca ends up in Ryan’s path, they blend like oil and water. While he’s content with what life gives him, she escapes by seeking her identity in expensive things. Can two broken souls find salvation with their complete opposite?

Season of Romance


Alexa Verde - 2019
    A small-town paramedic in need of healing... Will a season of romance bring them together or pull them apart? Businessman Andrey Sergeyev's organized life changes in ways he never planned when he becomes guardian of his orphaned nephew. He moves to small town Rios Azules to care for grieving Ilya in the boy's familiar environment. Andrey's fiancée breaks off the engagement because of Ilya's health challenges. Another romance is not on Andrey's agenda, no matter how much paramedic Melinda Macalister attracts him with her sweet smile, kindness, and neighborly support for Ilya...Melinda isn't looking for love, either, especially after her last boyfriend left her because of her health issues. She'll just have to hide her crush on her new neighbor. He's going back to Houston soon anyway. But she can't refuse to help him with Ilya, who needs her more than ever. Problem is, the more she gets to know Andrey, the more she realizes he might be the one for her.Will Andrey and Melinda choose to keep holding on to old hurts? Or will they find love in Rios Azules, Texas?This book, Season of Romance, was first published as Love's Ransom, as part of the First Street Church Kindle World. The book has been revised, improved, and greatly expanded in length, so it's nearly twice longer.