Book picks similar to
Behind the Pitch by Eden Butler


new-adult
romance
sports
contemporary-romance

Avalanche


Cambria Hebert - 2018
     Through a bullet hole in a wall, I watch a man bleed to death. Those responsible think their crime died with the victim, until I identify them. What’s a girl to do when she’s being hunted by murderers witness protection can’t even stop? Run. My only refuge is a place I vowed to never go again. When it’s do or die, an eight-year-old heartache suddenly seems trivial. Besides, he won’t be there anyway. But he is. Turns out my old pain feels brand new the second his eyes meet mine. I can’t leave. I can’t stay. This snowy town that’s supposed to be my shelter suddenly exposes me more than before. With no one else to lean on, Liam becomes my lifeline. Now we’re both running for our lives, trying not to get swept away.

Only for You


Genna Rulon - 2013
    It also feels an awful lot like a kick to the stomach when you try to fight it!” All Everleigh Carsen wanted to do was complete her final semester at Hensley University and begin the life she carefully planned. When a wave of violent crime seizes campus, Everleigh is persuaded to attend a school sponsored self-defense seminar by her best friend, where she meets volunteer instructor, Hunter Charles. After Everleigh’s biting sarcasm induces Hunter to eject her from class, a tempestuous relationship is born. Everleigh is determined to forget the striking man, but fate—that fickle shrew—continuously intervenes. Unable to escape him, she declares Hunter an enemy combatant. The only complication…Hunter is resolutely pursuing vindication…by any means necessary. Verbal warfare ensues, and despite Everleigh’s ingenious efforts, in Hunter, she has finally found her equal.Only For You is a compelling tale of friendship, desire, and redemption—brimming with intelligent characters, witty dialogue, unexpected twists, profound sorrow, unfettered hope, and love’s unassailable perseverance.• This story is appropriate for readers 18+• Only For You is the first book in the For You series by Genna Rulon. Each book in the series can be read as a stand alone novel.

Fight for Her: Volume 1


J.J. Knight - 2014
    For four years, I’ve kept seeing her face. Maddie’s face. My one great love.After a brutal cage match that sent me to the ER, Maddie took off across the country. Six months pregnant. She left to have my baby as far from me as she could. No more violence, she said. No fighting.I had to live with it. I had no choice.But last night I got a phone call from my little girl, asking me to come to her fourth birthday party. Her friends all have daddies, she said. Would I be hers?Damn right I will.I decide that when I get to New York, I’m not going to care about Maddie. I’m not going to even look at her.But I do. And the moment I see her again, I know one thing is true.This ain’t over.FIGHT FOR HER VOL 1 is the first of a four-part serial.

Extreme Love


Abby Niles - 2013
    But when the MMA fighter meets pretty Caitlyn Moore, he seems to be striking out left and right. The more Cait denies his advances, the more intrigued he becomes by the sharp-tongued beauty. She's a challenge he cannot resist.Comfortable with the average Joe, Cait doesn't get it when the ultra-masculine Dante walks into her life and expresses an interest in her. Sure, she's shed eighty pounds and her confidence is building, but there's nothing spectacular about her. Certainly not enough to hang onto a ripped babe-magnet like Dante, whose violent profession, catty groupies, and cruel competitors are already making her life a living hell. Dante's light-hearted pursuit quickly becomes a battle to win her heart as they find themselves thrown together again and again and it's affecting his training. Cait won't let him lose the biggest fight of his career because of her, but when her plan to keep him focused lands her in the dangerous clutches of Dante's vicious opponent, there is more at stake than just the championship belt.

Heartbeat


Faith Sullivan - 2013
    Katie, just out of high school, struggles with a tortured home life she cannot escape. Everything changes when Katie hops into the front seat of Adam's ambulance. Overwhelmed by what they are feeling, neither possess the confidence to make the first move. They walk away from each other, full of regret. To find her, Adam risks his future. To be with him, Katie sacrifices her security. Little do they know, what little time they do have, is being measured by a heartbeat that is slowly dying out.

Untamed


Victoria Green - 2014
    That is, until she spends one hot night in the arms of sexy, unbridled Dare Wilde.She's a girl trapped in a rigid world she desperately wants to escape, and he's an untamed artist with an attitude, hell-bent on freeing her—body, mind, and soul. But Reagan's life is not her own, and Dare is not welcome in it. She can't include him in her carefully-controlled, extremely public lifestyle...and yet she cannot give him up.Will a shared passion for art—and, increasingly, each other—be enough to keep them together? Or will it be the thing that ultimately tears them apart?

Scoring Her Heart


Marquita Valentine - 2017
    As infamous as he is attractive, Dallas has all the equipment necessary to bring home the win.The first time I met him, I was in handcuffs.The second, he saved me when I fell off a ladder.Now? Now we’re working together to plan a charity event.I may not be interested in what Dallas has to offer, but as the game goes on, I’m becoming more open to his passes.Is he looking for the win, or just determined to score?Scoring Her Heart can be read as a standalone.

Sneaking Candy


Lisa Burstein - 2013
    Of course, secretly I already have made a name for myself: as Candy Sloane, self-published erotic romance writer. Though thrilled that my books are selling and I have actual fans, if anyone at UM found out, I could lose my scholarship…and the respect of my faculty advisor, grade-A-asshole Professor Dylan.Enter James Walker, super-hot local barista and—surprise!—my student. Even though I know a relationship is totally off-limits, I can’t stop myself from sneaking around with James, taking a few cues from my own erotic writing…if you catch my drift. Candy’s showing her stripes for the first time in my real life, and I’ve never had so much fun. But when the sugar high fades, can my secrets stay under wraps?

The Player


Claire Contreras - 2016
    With flashy cars and enough media attention to put the Royal Family to shame, I’m the definition of Most Eligible Bachelor. I've never met a man who doesn't want to be me or a woman who doesn't want to tame me. Until I meet Camila. From the moment I lay eyes on her, I know I have to have her. She wants to keep me at arm's length.I want her naked in my bed. She thinks our worlds are too different.All I want her to think about is screaming my name. She says I’m bad news. I have three weeks to prove her wrong.

Love Hurts


Mandi Beck - 2015
    I’m at home, in my element, inflicting pain onto men trained to hurt me just as badly. Making them submit, knocking them out, maiming them, because it’s them or me. And I choose them. Outside the Octagon, my only weakness is a five-foot-two, classy as fuck woman that I’ve loved for most of my life. She’s the one that brings me to my knees, fills my arms, my heart, and one day soon, my bed. She makes me reckless. Volatile. I drink too much and try too hard to fuck my way out of feeling—all because of her.Frankie De Rosa is my girl, my best friend. I haven’t earned her yet, but I won’t stand by and let anyone take her from me. She will be the greatest fight of my life, but she’s worth the battle. Love hurts, but anything worth having does, right? I’m Deacon “The Hitman” Love — Welcome to the Cage.

Fight


Clarissa Wild - 2014
    Scolded. Smeared. Betrayed. From an early age, shy nerd girl Autumn Blakewood didn't know how to fend for herself. Teased and bullied her whole life, she's withdrawing more and more. Not even her broken family can help her get through high school.Her only friends, Brody and Evie, are both social recluses too, and they seek comfort in each other's support. However, Autumn's friends can't always protect her from her malicious classmates who seem set on destroying what's left of her heart.When Autumn thinks her life can't get any worse, devastating news rips her family apart. It's up to her to pick up the pieces of her life and find a way to fix everything. Will she find the courage to fight?Fight is a short story prelude to the Fierce series and contains about 8500 words.

Noah


Elizabeth Reyes - 2012
    After disconnecting with the world two years ago to be at the side of her dying mother, she’s left alone, unemployed, overweight, and feeling a decade older than her twenty-eight years. When her best friend coaxes her into joining the local gym to ditch her depression and rejuvenate her life, she meets Noah. Assigned to help Veronica lose weight, Noah is everything she expected a young trainer to be—perfectly chiseled, supportive and motivating. Add to that, he’s incredibly sexy. He’s everything she’s ever looked for in a man. What she least expected was for him to fall for her, but he has. There's just one glaring problem: Noah is eight years younger.Noah Quintanilla has his eye on a boxing title—someday. Down for a few months with an injury, his maintenance-boy pay at 5th Street Gym won't cut it. He’s finally given the opportunity to train. The catch? His trainee is an out-of-shape woman with a free week pass. Taking on the challenge, Noah stumbles into one of the closest friendships he’s ever known, and before he knows it, he’s in love. But Veronica’s not having it—the age difference is too much. Their platonic relationship means having to watch her date other men—something that would make him crazy. Believing he's the man for her, Noah sets out to prove that age is but an illusion, and there's more to him than just a number.

The Kiss: An Anthology of Love and Other Close Encounters


C.A. NewsomeBen Cassidy - 2014
    It can also be an exchange, a betrayal, an assault, a promise, a hope...or it could be a goodbye. The intimacy of a kiss cannot be denied. Whether shared, stolen or simply dreamed of, its recipient will be affected. Thirty-one stories by authors from around the world will tease your imagination as you anticipate ‘The Kiss’ in each weird or wonderful tale. This cross-genre anthology contains stories by Kate Aaron, Saxon Andrew, Jacques Antoine, Alison Blake, E. B. Boggs, Shirley Bourget, Ben Cassidy, Jason Deas, Sharon Delarose, Meghan Ciana Doidge, Suzy Stewart Dubot, Corrie Fischer, Brandon Hale, Traci Tyne Hilton, Colleen Hoover, Mona Ingram, J. L. Jarvis, Elizabeth Jasper, Anna J. McIntyre, Jess Mountifield, C. A. Newsome, S. Patrick O'Connell, Suzie O'Connell, Jeanette Raleigh, J. R. C. Salter, Molly Snow, Holli Marie Spaulding, Cleve Sylcox, Robert Thomas, Chris Ward and George Wier. 130,000 words

Shadowboxer


Cari Quinn - 2014
    I’ve faced the darkest parts of life and survived. But now I’m starting a new life with my baby sister. And that means I need cash.Quick. To get the money I need, I’m going to beat the reigning king of the male fighters in New York’s underground MMA circuit, Tray “Fox” Knox. Tray refuses to fight a woman, until he learns I’m not what he expected. At all. Then he makes me a bet I can’t refuse. He’ll fight me, but if he wins, I will spend the night in his bed. All night long, his rules. No tapping out. I agree, certain he will lose. Because I have to win. I have no choice. What I didn’t realize is that Tray loves to fight dirty…and that this match may end up being the most important one of our lives.Author’s note: Shadowboxer is a full-length MMA novel and is book 1 in the Tapped Out MMA series. It has a happily ever after ending and no cliffhanger, though it contains violent material that may be triggering. It was previously published by Cari Quinn in 2014 and has been lightly re-edited.

All Lined Up


Cora Carmack - 2014
    My life has always been ruled by both.Dallas Cole loathes football. That's what happens when you spend your whole childhood coming in second to a sport. College is her time to step out of the bleachers, and put the playing field (and the players) in her past.But life doesn't always go as planned. As if going to the same college as her football star ex wasn’t bad enough, her father, a Texas high school coaching phenom, has decided to make the jump to college ball… as the new head coach at Rusk University. Dallas finds herself in the shadows of her father and football all over again.Carson McClain is determined to go from second-string quarterback to the starting line-up. He needs the scholarship and the future that football provides. But when a beautiful redhead literally falls into his life, his focus is more than tested. It's obliterated.Dallas doesn't know Carson is on the team. Carson doesn't know that Dallas is his new coach's daughter.And neither of them know how to walk away from the attraction they feel.