Book picks similar to
Toxic by Serena Akeroyd


contemporary
romance
sport
forbidden-love

Ace of Hearts


Ella Goode - 2019
    High marks in all her classes are the path to being a cardiothoracic surgeon like her beloved stepdad. She has no plans on falling for anyone, especially not the hot jock who keeps staring at her. The athletes at FU High have the worst reputation and she refuses to let one climb into her jeans—no matter how nice Owen “Fast” McCoy seems. It only takes one look for Owen to know that Alice “Ace” Alister is the girl for him. He’s eighteen but he knows what he wants—a successful football season and the new transfer. He’ll do whatever it takes to achieve those goals from extra practices to joining the sewing club. He won’t give up until he becomes the ace of her heart.

Reclaiming the Sand


A. Meredith Walters - 2014
    Tormenter and tormented. Villain and hero. Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable. Particularly Freaky Flynn. Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.But then Flynn and Ellie grew up. And moved on.Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other. And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.

Binding Arbitration


Elizabeth Marx - 2011
    The undefeated defense attorney is prepared to take her fight all the way to the majors.Circumstances force Libby to plead her case at the cleats of celebrity baseball player Banford Aidan Palowski, the man who discarded her at their college graduation. Libby has worked her backside bare for everything she’s attained, while Aidan has been indulged since he slid through the birth canal and landed in a pile of Gold Coast money. But helping Libby and living up to his biological duty could jeopardize the only thing the jock worships: his baseball career.If baseball imitates life, Aidan admits his appears to be silver-plated peanuts, until an unexpected confrontation with the most spectacular prize that’s ever poured from a caramel corn box blindsides him. When he learns about his son’s desperate need, it pricks open the wound he’s carried since he abandoned Libby and the child.All Libby wants is a little anonymous DNA, but Aidan has a magical umpire in his head who knows Libby’s a fateball right to the heart. When a six-year-old sage and a hippy priestess step onto the field, there’s more to settle between Libby and Aidan than heartache, redemption, and forgiveness.

Hard to Handle


K. Bromberg - 2020
    Bromberg is back with an all new second-chance, standalone hockey romance.At first, the request seemed simple—sign a new athlete to the agency. Then I found out the new athlete was none other than the most wanted man in hockey today: Hunter MaddoxGifted. Sexy. At the top of his game. And the only man who has ever broken my heart.If signing him will help save our family business, I’ll swallow my pride and do what’s asked. But when it becomes clear his uncharacteristic antics off the ice are a hint of something deeper, keeping things strictly professional between us becomes more than complicated. But I know better than to cross that line. I’ll never date a client. Not even for him.***Win the Stanley Cup and do it before time runs out. Not a small feat, but it’s what’s motivated me since the start of my career. And time is running out.Enter Dekker Kincade.Feisty. Dogged. Damn gorgeous. The one I let get away.I have no idea why she’s traveling with the team, but hell if resisting her is going to be easy. But I have a job to do, and I refuse to lose sight of that end game. Even if she confuses me. Even if she sees parts of me I’ve hidden from the world. I can’t lose focus. Not even for her.Are you ready to fall for the Kincade sisters and the men who love them in K. Bromberg's sexy, contemporary, sports romance series? These books can all be read as standalones, but you’ll enjoy reading them as a series!Hard to Handle (Hunter & Dekker's story - hockey romance)Hard to Hold (Rush & Lennox's story - soccer romance)Hard to Score (Drew & Brexton's story - football romance)Hard to Lose (Gunner & Chase's story - baseball romance)Hard to Love (Finn & Stevie's story)

Playing for Kinley


Melanie Munton - 2016
    He was in love with Kinley Masterson. And he was in hell. Parker Cruz pretty much had it made. Coming from basically nothing, he was at the height of his career and was now one of the best baseball players in the major leagues. He was raking in the millions just to play the game that had always been his passion. He was living the dream and could have anything he wanted. Except Kinley Masterson. Kinley always knew her camera would take her places someday. She was exactly where she wanted to be in her professional life, but her personal life…that was a long story. Because she always imagined that she’d see all of those places and share in those experiences with someone she loved. Someone she fell for a long time ago and someone who had crushed her heart and left her broken and crying in his wake. Parker Cruz. She had loved him forever and the one summer they had together was magic…before he took off for Boston and acted like she’d never meant anything to him. Parker knew he’d screwed it up bad with Kinley and he didn’t blame her for hating him. But what he thought had been the right decision at the time turned out to be the worst mistake he had ever made. And now he was determined to win her back. He was going to make her fall in love with him again and nothing and no one was going to stand in his way. Not even Kinley.

The Heartbreaker


Claire Contreras - 2021
    Unable to face the consequences of what we’d done, if we were ever in close quarters, I ran in the other direction. If we were coincidentally put in the same class, I dropped it.Avoidance was the name of the game and so far I was winning.That is, until we’re assigned the same apartment.Living with Jagger during my last semester was definitely not in my plans, but I’m determined to make it work. As long as I don’t look at him for too long or let his innuendos get under my skin, I should be fine, right? I have to be.They say hooking up with your roommate can be messy, and losing my heart to Jagger would be disastrous.100% standaloneenemies-to-loverssports romanceroommates

Beneath Your Beautiful


Tamsyn Bester - 2013
    Her name exposes her to the demons of her past but remembering her reason for moving across the country to start over is what keeps her alive. For the first time since the brutal murder of her mother, Huntley allows herself to care about the people around her.Grayson Carter has everything a 21yr old College Senior could wish for – he’s the star of Whitley University’s football team, he has a different girl willing to be in his bed every night and a supportive family. For years he has managed keep his family together and hide their dark secrets from the small town of Breckinridge, Alabama. When Huntley and Grayson meet, a force so strong pulls them together in a hurricane of feelings neither of them could have ever anticipated. Huntley and Grayson try to stay away from each other, but when Huntley’s demons seek her out, their pasts become the biggest storm of all. Will they learn to trust each other and build a new future together or will they simply do nothing to prevent history from repeating itself?“You don’t want to see beneath the surface Gray, there is a reason I only show people what they want to see.” – Huntley“You are so determined to hide your broken soul that you don’t see how beautiful those pieces make you. You have completely disarmed me Huntley, you have left my heart and soul naked and all I want is for you to see that I am in love with every goddamn broken piece of you. I don’t want anyone else.” - Grayson

The Billion-Dollar Marriage Contract


Alyssa Urbano - 2015
    Nikos isn’t ready to give up his playboy lifestyle, and Cassia is far from the glitzy socialite their elite circle expects. Events force them to live separate lives. Ten years later, Nikos is ready to make it work with his wife, whom he only sees once a year. Cassia is also ready to settle down… just not with Nikos. Will Cassia once again surrender herself to the man who scarred her forever? Or will she give up her inheritance and never look back? Will they still be able to fulfill the terms of their billion-dollar marriage contract, even when death and danger stalk them at every turn?

Mack Daddy


Penelope Ward - 2017
     They called him Mack Daddy. No, seriously, his name was Mack. Short for Mackenzie. Thus, the nickname. Perfect, right? So was he: perfect. The perfect physical male specimen. At the private school where I taught, Mack Morrison was the only man around in a sea of women. Everyone wanted a piece of the hot single father of the sweet little boy. I was riddled with jealousy, because they didn’t know that—to me—he was much more. They didn’t know about our past. He’d chosen my school for his son on purpose, because Mack and I, we had unfinished business. As my friend, Lorelai, so eloquently put it: “Unfinished business between two people who are clearly attracted to each other is like an eternal case of blue balls.” And I was suffering in pain from my case. I was still intensely attracted to Mack. I tried to resist him, immersing myself further into a relationship with another man just to protect my heart. Not to mention, getting involved with a parent was strictly against school rules. But seeing Mack day in and day out was breaking me down. And soon I might be breaking all the rules. Author's note – Told in alternating points of view, Mack Daddy is a full-length standalone novel.

My Time in the Affair


Stylo Fantome - 2015
     Now, before you judge me, hear my story. Hear how much I'm like you, how similar my thoughts are to your own. Yes, I'm a horrible person. Yes, I've done horrible things. Yes, I don't deserve forgiveness. Yes, bad things happened because of my actions. But I'm willing to bet I've done things that maybe, just maybe, you have thought of doing. Maybe, just maybe, you're not as innocent as you'd like to think. Or maybe I'm not so guilty ... Full Length Standalone Novel, 85,000+ words

Bad Boys Break Hearts


Micalea Smeltzer - 2020
    Rich. Hotter than sin. The campus’s reigning bad boy. We knew each other once upon a time, but even if I’m named after a princess, it doesn’t mean my life is a fairytale. My plan is to keep my head down, get my degree, and leave this town.But the moment Mascen Wade recognizes me all my carefully laid plans come crumbling down. He’s decided he wants to make my life a living hell. But I’m not so easy to push around and won’t put up with his bully playground antics. Too bad for me I’ve never been able to resist him.

Nothing Without You


Monica Murphy - 2019
    She puts her heart and soul into every cake she makes, especially since she’s such a believer in true love. But then Tucker McCloud rolls back into town, reminding her that love is a complete joke. The pro football player is the hottest thing to come out of Cunningham Falls—and the boy who broke Maisey’s heart back in high school. He claims he wants another chance. She says absolutely not. But Maisey’s refusal is the ultimate challenge to Tucker. Life is a game, and Tucker’s playing to win Maisey’s heart—forever. The Kristen Proby Crossover Collection features a new novel by Kristen Proby and six by some of her favorite writers: Kristen Proby – Soaring with Fallon Sawyer Bennett – Wicked Force K.L. Grayson – Crazy Imperfect Love Laura Kaye – Worth Fighting For Monica Murphy – Nothing Without You Rachel Van Dyken – All Stars Fall Samantha Young – Hold On

Hollywood & Vine


Olivia Evans - 2014
    Conceited and arrogant, he's the epitome of a Hollywood playboy. So it’s much to Josie’s dismay when he becomes the star of her sexual fantasies.Never expecting to see him again, she gives in to her desires for a night she’ll never forget. However, Josie soon learns that life is full of surprises. When their paths cross again, sparks fly. With three little words, Anders changes everything.He’s after one thing.She refuses to give it to him... again.When Josie realizes she’s falling for a man that will never let her in but refuses to let her go, she must decide if the risk is worth the reward.With a relationship shrouded in secrets and outside forces poised to tear them apart, did they ever stand a chance? Before the smoke clears and the curtain falls, Josie and Anders must distinguish between what’s fact and what’s fiction in a place where the truth is never black and white.

The Rivalry


Nikki Sloane - 2017
     He’s good with his hands, even better with his sexy mouth, and the best at making me forget my own name. His—ahem—stats are perfect. But I can’t fall for him. He might be everything I want, all rolled into a glorious package of gridiron god, but there’s one teeny-tiny problem. The vile, loathsome team I’ve spent my entire life hating—my beloved school’s arch-rival? This guy is their star player.

Double Full


Kindle Alexander - 2013
    However, interference after the play has him hiding his past and burying his future in the bottom of a bottle. While Colt seems to have it all, looks can be deceiving especially when you're trapped so far in a closet that you can't see your way out. When ten years of living his expected fast-lane lifestyle lands him engaged to his manipulative Russian supermodel girlfriend, he decides it's time to call a new play. Jace Montgomery single-handedly built the largest all-star cheerleading gym in the world, driven by a need to forget a life-altering encounter with a handsome quarterback a decade ago. His reputation as an excellent coach, hard-nosed business man, and savvy entrepreneur earned him respect in the sometimes catty world of competitive cheerleading. When Jace learns of his ex-lover's plans to marry, his heart executes a barrel roll and his carefully placed resolve tumbles down without a mat to absorb the shock. Can his island escape help him to finally let go of the past and move his life forward?