Book picks similar to
Day One by Lauren Runow


romance
contemporary-romance
favorites
sports

Heartless


Winter Renshaw - 2016
    It was raining sideways that morning, and my plan was to return it the next day; safe and dry. Only I kept it. I kept it, and I read it. A week later, overwhelmed with curiosity and feeling guilty for harboring secrets that didn’t belong to me, I tried to return it. Only I wasn’t expecting to meet him. Unapologetically heartless and enigmatically sexy, he claims he knows nothing about the journal I found outside his place, but the reticent glint in his blue-green gaze tells me otherwise. There’s something different about him; something damaged yet magical, and I’m drawn to him; pulled into his orbit. There’s just one problem. The more I get to know him, the more I’m positive the journal belonged to him... ...and the more I find myself hoping, selfishly, that I’m wrong.

Good Boy


Sarina Bowen - 2017
    Already the family screw-up, she can’t afford to fail. And nobody - absolutely nobody! - can learn of the colossal mistake she made with the best man during a weak moment last spring. It was wrong, and there will not be a repeat. Absolutely not. Even if he is the sexiest thing on two legs.Blake Riley sees the wedding as fate’s gift to him. Jess is the maid of honor, and he’s the best man? Let the games begin. So what if he’s facing a little (fine, a lot) of resistance? He just needs to convince the stubborn blonde that he’s really a good boy with a bad rap. Luckily, every professional hockey player knows that you’ve got to make an effort if you want to score.But Jess has more pressing issues to deal with than sexy-times with a giant man-child. Such as: Will the ceremony start on time, even though someone got grandma drunk? Does glitter ever belong at a wedding? And is it wrong to murder the best man?Caution: May cause accidental aspiration of tea or coffee. Do not read in a public place where loud laughter is inappropriate. Contains hot but hilarious hockey players, puppy cuddling and a snarky pair of underwear.

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.

Rocket Science


Emily Mayer - 2020
    Oh, you haven’t? Too absurd to be true you say? I agree. Throw in my terrible social skills and it’s a disaster in the making. Why my current neighbor and former friend Paige thought it would be a good idea to set us up will forever be a mystery. Sure, it would be great to have a life partner, but I’m kind of killing it out here being Miss Independent. I have an amazing job. I build rocket ships! Okay, yes, they recently have a pesky habit of exploding at lift off, but we’ll get that tiny bug figured out soon. Probably. Who needs sleep anyway?I work with one of my best friends who set up a profile for me on a dating site. I now have a phone filled with unsolicited pictures of a certain piece of male anatomy which is honestly pretty unsettling. I have a cat who likes me. Sometimes. Attempted murder is just his love language. Oh! And I have an entire wardrobe of elastic waistbands. Elastic waistband. I think that one sells itself. So, things are great, thank you very much. Except now I have a problem. A very muscled, attractive problem. Despite the disaster at the club, Sebastian Kincaid seems determined to bulldoze his way into my life. I don’t understand what his motivations could possibly be and it’s starting to make me a little crazy. Even worse, I can’t seem to get my head and my heart on the same page. I can make this work. As long as he keeps his shirt on and hands to himself. I mean it’s not exactly rocket science.

Roots and Wings


M. Mabie - 2016
    Yet, all could think about was Mutt, or at least that’s what they called her.To me, she was gorgeous and witty ... and perfect. She knew more duty than desire, more perseverance than passion, and more acquaintance than affection, but here was no way I’d ever want to change her. In fact, I was dying to show her the life she'd been missing, but first she'd have to trust me enough to tell me her real name.I wanted to plant roots, but I refused to clip her wings. Not when she was everything I’d been looking for and all the home I’d ever need.Roots and Wings is a standalone contemporary romance. If you're looking for a good time, then you've come to the right place. Welcome to Wynne.

Until It Fades


K.A. Tucker - 2017
    It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has saved: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling.Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works.For a time.But when she finds the man she saved standing on her doorstep, desperate to thank her, all that changes. What begins as an immediate friendship quickly turns into something neither of them expected. Something that Catherine isn’t sure she can handle; something that Catherine is afraid to trust.Because how long can an extraordinary man like Brett be interested in an ordinary woman like Catherine…before the spark fades?

Hands Down


Mariana Zapata - 2020
    Including those your once loved ones might have unintentionally given you. (Those just take longer.)She thinks she’s ready when a call has her walking back into her old friend’s life. Or at least as prepared as possible to see the starting quarterback in the National Football Organization. Before the lights, the fans, and the millions, he’d been a skinny kid with a heart of gold. Waltzing out of Zac Travis’s life should be easy. Just as easy as he walked out of hers.

Double The Ache


Alexa Riley - 2018
    She’s ready for the change of scenery, but she’s unprepared for the two hulking football players who want to make her theirs. Wes and Dean have been inseparable since the day they met. They even went to the same college and were drafted to the same team. They’ve known their whole lives that they wanted one woman to share. And the day they lay eyes on Amelia they know she’s the one. Warning: These guys are over the top but head over heels for the one they love. This ménage is filled with double the alphas, double the possession, and double the ache. Come play with us!

On a Tuesday


Whitney G. - 2017
    Became best friends, then lovers, on a Tuesday. And everything fell apart on a Tuesday... Charlotte Taylor has three automatic strikes in my book: 1) She hates me. She also claims that I'm a "domineering jerk with a huge, overbearing ego." (I do have something huge. It's not my ego, though.) 2) She takes our mandatory tutoring sessions way too seriously. 3) She's sexy as hell...And a virgin. At least, those were her strikes before our study sessions started lasting longer than they were supposed to. Until one innocent kiss became a hundred dirty ones, and until she became the first woman I ever fell hard for. Our future together after graduation was supposed to be set: Professional football for me. Law school for her. But she left me at the end of the semester with no explanation, and then she completely disappeared from my life. Until tonight.We met on a Tuesday. Became everything, then nothing, on a Tuesday. And now it's seven years later, on a Tuesday... **This is a full length second chance romance, inspired by Adele's "When We Were Young"**

Fumbled Love


Lila Rose - 2018
    While Reagan knows Carter from her high school days, since he was her past crush, she wasn’t ready to see him again. At the time, she hated being invisible. But right now, she wished she could simply disappear. Carter Anthony is keen to give back to his hometown, but what he doesn’t expect is getting something in return. When a chance encounter with Reagan, the shy girl from his past, happens, he knows instinctively this woman is supposed to be in his life. With an embarrassing ability to blurt out whatever’s on her mind, Reagan doesn’t understand Carter’s attention. She has no doubt, though, he’ll soon realize his mistake when he discovers just how crazy she and her family are. But no matter what he sees, what he hears, or how her looney family behaves, he doesn’t run. In fact, Carter’s family seem just as unique as hers. Through dog poop, naked yoga, and the paparazzi’s, can Carter and Reagan have any hope in love, even when it’s fumbled?

Fake It 'Til You Break It


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

Next to You


Daisy Prescott - 2016
    I’d never let you go.” I added Sage to my rugby club’s annual list of women who are off limits thinking I could protect her from the gorillas I play with. Aspen's a small town in the off season when the dating pool shrinks to the size of a melted snowflake. Never did I think I’d be the one to break the code and date her. Even if it’s all for show. A wager between friends. An excuse to hang out with her more. Nothing more than that. Right? *** Who agrees to date their best friend over a green smoothie? Apparently this girl right here. Now the man-bun-sporting South African rugby god next door is my fake boyfriend. I need to rebuild my confidence after some poor dating decisions. Who could be better to fluff my ego than Aspen’s hottest bachelor? This situation is a win-win. Right?Next to You is a standalone Romantic Comedy/sports romance about a rugby player and an heiress in Aspen. Next to You is book one in the Love with Altitude series of standalone romances set in the small town of Aspen.Stan and his man bun first appeared in the Modern Love Story Short, Take for Granted. This is a full-length novel told in dual POVs.

Most Valuable Playboy


Lauren Blakely - 2017
    Touchdowns.Don't let the fact that I'm the leading pick in the Most Valuable Playboy charity auction fool you. These days, I'm only a player on the field. I've kept my pants zipped all season long — and it has been long — because nothing's more important than leading my team to victory every week. Except maybe escaping from the team owner's recently-widowed and handsy-as-hell sister who's dead set on winning more than a date with me.Enter Violet and a well-placed Hail Mary.She's my best friend's sister with a smile as sweet as cherry pie and a mind that runs quicker than the 40-yard-dash. After Violet saves the day with the highest bid, I don't even give her a two-minute warning before I kiss her in front of the whole crowd and then announce that she's my girlfriend. Which would be fine except my agent tells me we've got to keep up the act while he's negotiating my contract.What happens next when faking it starts to feel all too real?

Power Play


Maria Luis - 2017
    She's a (struggling) sports journalist looking for her big break. Charlie Denton has been handed the most impossible assignment from her stick-in-the-mud boss: get an exclusive interview with the NHL's golden boy, Duke Harrison. The catch? She's got eight days or she’ll be demoted. Fired. Kicked to the curb - No way is she letting her future rest on the broad shoulders of a goalie who is at least three seasons past his prime. She has eight days to convince Duke that the loyal fans of The Cambridge Tribune (annual circulation: 1,000) are dying to know about his life, on and off the ice. Eight days to stand toe to toe with a man who is pure sex on a stick. Eight days to remember that every mind-blowing kiss is nothing but a power play. What could go wrong?

The Bombshell Effect


Karla Sorensen - 2018
     Not one she wants, and definitely not one she's prepared for. She hadn't seen her dad in years, so the last thing she expects upon his sudden death is to inherit the thing he loved more than anything (or anyone) ... the professional football team he owned for the last twenty years. Luke Pierson does not want a new boss. What he wants is to be a good father to his daughter, the best quarterback possible for his teammates. What he doesn't need is a blonde bombshell ruining the team's chances at another championship. Especially when that bombshell turns out to be his new neighbor. The neighbor he was a complete jerk to the first time they met. For the sake of the team, they treat each other like complete professionals. In public, at least. Behind closed doors, it's a different story. And the fallout of giving in to that heat is something neither one of them can see coming.