Book picks similar to
Playing the Game by L.M. Reid
sports
sports-romance
dnf
ku
Not Yet
Laura Ward - 2014
Lesson #1: Nothing goes the way you plan.Lesson #2: You can’t trust men. Especially not the pretty ones.Lesson #3: Turns out, appearances are almost always deceiving.Emma thinks she has life all figured out, and what she knows isn’t good. For years, she’s put her big sister, who was born with Down syndrome, first. Now Emma’s ready to start her own life, but fate has other plans. To do the right thing for the sister she loves, Emma’s dreams will just have to wait.She doesn’t plan on meeting Landon — a rich, flirtatious jock, who never has to wait for anything. Not for attention, not for money, and certainly not for girls. Meeting Emma marks the first time in his life that he’s had to fight for something. And Landon doesn't know how to lose.Emma has no interest in wasting her summer with a superficial guy like Landon. But very soon she realizes she is wrong about him. The question is, can she trust him? Or will he let her down like every other guy in her life? But most importantly, can Emma trust herself enough to live the life she's always dreamed of?Life has a way of sneaking in the most important lessons when you aren't looking. And once the heart gets involved, that's when the real learning begins. *** This book is intended for mature audiences. 18 and over!
Bad Boy Player
Kat T. Masen - 2017
EmersonEveryone thinks they know who I am. I'm the TV star who fell in love with her co-star, Wesley Rich. But it wasn't real. It was a life designed to entertain millions of watchers each Monday night. A life I had no control over. Until my past came to visit... All it took was one night. One night to relive my past. One night to forget my future. With someone who'd been there all along...Logan Soccer is my life--it's in my blood. I train hard, I play hard, and I win. Nothing breaks my focus. Except Emerson. Every Monday night. She's an obsession I can't seem to shake. I don't know what was harder: hiding how I feel about his sister from my best friend, or watching the woman I want live a life with someone else.
Not a Player
A.J. Wynter - 2020
This book can be read as a stand-alone or as book one in the Laketown Hockey Series.
Heartless Savage: A High School Bully Romance (Valley High Book 1)
Ivy Blake - 2021
Interference
Harlow Cole - 2019
It’s true. Ask anyone. I threw my first curveball the day I was born. The whole damn town is waiting on me. To live up to my father’s famous name. To reach for the stars. All I want to reach for is her. But Ashley is the sweet addiction I can’t afford. She’s my best friend’s sister. Hell, she’s practically my little sister. For years, I’ve protected her from guys that want one thing. What happens now that I’ve turned into one of them? Who’s gonna shield her from the way I was made, from my little white lies and from what I’m about to become?My game plan sounds simple: Pitch my way into the Major League draft and stay out of Ashley Foster’s pants. That first part may be statistically difficult. The second feels damn near impossible. Ashley: From the moment we met, I knew he was trouble. The kind my mother sent me to find. The type that ruins you for any other brand. When we were young kids, I didn’t know what to call the frogs and butterflies that danced in my belly whenever Brayden came near. Now I know they have a name. Those three little words that could heal or destroy him. Before Brayden, my life was normal. And then it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Ever again. How was I to know stealing his seat would change all our lives?Anger and forgiveness share two halves of the same coin.Our story might make you choose sides.
Assumptions
Melanie Codina - 2014
It’s simple, you work hard, enjoy life, surround yourself with friends and family, avoid jumping to conclusions … and oh yeah, don’t date college athletes. These rules have worked well and taken her down the path she wants in life. So what’s a girl to do when temptation, in the form of a sexy college soccer player, is placed right in the middle of that path? Deciding when to break the rules has never been easier for Leeann. But when assumptions are made, and more than just the rules are broken … will she be able to find her way down that path again? And what happens when it’s no longer the path she’s meant to take?Until now, Jonathan Baxter had one primary focus in his life, soccer. All decisions made, have been based on how it could affect his ability to play soccer. His grades, his choice of college, any type of extracurricular activities, were all carefully assessed. All of it has made playing college soccer possible. But when an injury sidelines him for the foreseeable future, and jeopardizes his dreams, he has to work even harder than before. Rehabilitating his injury becomes his primary objective. Until he meets Leeann, a physical therapy assistant whose touch has the ability to make him lose focus. She has him thinking there could more in his life—in his future—than just soccer. So what’s Jonathan to do when Leeann assumes he’s just like every other jock out there? He has to prove her assumptions wrong.
Dare You to Hate Me
B. Celeste - 2021
Lindon U’s star tight end.Still as attractive. Still as dedicated.With rumors of him being drafted to the NFL coming to fruition, I know it’s only a matter of time before we have to say goodbye again.But he can’t seem to let me go no matter what I say, and I don’t think I want him to.
#Nerd
Cambria Hebert - 2014
He wants to stay on the team. An awkward alliance doesn't even begin to cover Rimmel and Romeo's relationship.But that's about to change.It starts with a dare. An initiation. A challenge.Quickly, it turns into more. But when you're a victim of your status, there is no room for anything real. The rules are clear and simple.Stick to your circle.And never fall in love with anyone on the outside.
Ballbuster
Lane Hart - 2016
I’m all for women playing professional football. But what I’m not for is The Ballbuster waltzing onto my field, trying to take over my position as the Wildcats’ starting kicker. The woman dislocated my knee with her freaking Jeep, for chrissake, and yet all of my teammates love her! So what if Roxy’s…gorgeous and sweet and loves football more than anyone in the world? This is my team; and once I recover, she’s gonna have to get used to sitting her fine ass on the bench. It’s nothing personal. Football is a dirty sport where only the best survive. Now I just have to figure out how to survive a season without ending up with a busted heart; because despite how hard I try to avoid falling for Roxy, she keeps pulling me back into her bed. Forget her Jeep. With one look, the woman can bring me to my knees. And the worst part is, I keep going back for more. ***Ballbuster is a full-length standalone romance. Also included at the end of Ballbuster is a bonus novel, the bestselling sports romance, JAX.***
The Assist
Rebecca Jenshak - 2018
these are the things I knew about him. What I didn't know is that he is a seriously smart jock.Wes What's the best way to get rid of the peppy and unrelenting girl that keeps asking me to tutor her? If I knew, I wouldn't be staring at her tan legs and attempting to teach her statistics.Sorority girl, fine as f**k, determined, ball buster... these are the things I knew about her. What I didn't know is that she is all the things I didn't realize I wanted or needed.Or that one semester with her would change everything.
Logan
Violette Paradis - 2020
I don't do these kinds of things.But I would never have a chance to date him otherwise and the money is nice.Our contract says our relationship is strictly platonic.But the kisses feel so real.And deep down I wish it was something more...LoganEveryone thinks I'm a rebel, a bad boy, a guy who can't keep it in his pants...The tabloids make all their money off the disaster that is my personal life.If only they knew the real me.There's only one thing to do to get the public back on my side : put on a show.But things get too real when Riley turns out to be everything I want in a woman.She's smart, sexy, and she loves hockey.But this is all for show... right?I'm willing to risk it all to find out.
Quarterback Sneak
Baylin Crow - 2019
RUSH: I’m in love with my best friend. There wasn’t an exact moment when I fell for him. It was something that grew and evolved over time. He loves me back, but it’ll never be more than platonic. It can’t be because he’s straight. Then one night he kissed me and left me with more questions than answers. The very next morning my trust was shattered by a family secret. I’d been lied to my whole life. He was by my side through it all, offering support when I needed it most. How can I risk losing a friendship that held me together when I was falling apart? TORIN: He friend-zoned me. Four years ago, I gathered enough courage to kiss my best friend. What I’d hoped would be a pivotal moment that would start a new kind of relationship between us was over before it began. His world was upended, so I put my feelings aside and stepped back into my role as a friend he could count on. He wasn’t ready then, but now it’s time to find out if he’s willing to take a chance on us being something more. We’ve been friends, roommates and teammates, but I want him, body and heart. Quarterback Sneak is a low angst, high steam novella about childhood friends, trust and football.
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me
Mariana Zapata - 2016
She shouldn't feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary.But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she's beyond shocked.For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn't find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He's asking for the unthinkable.What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?
Cheap Shot
Brittney Mulliner - 2021
The last thing she wants when she arrives at college is to live in her brother’s shadow but that’s nearly impossible when his face is everywhere she turns. Reid’s only focus has been one thing, make it to the NHL, until he meets the one woman that has the power to distract him. The only problem, she’s his best friend’s sister.As much as she hates to admit it, Haley can’t stop thinking about the one person on campus she should avoid. Reid doesn’t seem to care about the reasons why they shouldn’t be together, and the longer she looks into his sapphire eyes the harder it is to resist him.Are they willing to risk the wrath of the team or lose each other?If you like L.J. Shen and Ilsa Madden-Mills, you’ll love this new college romance from Brittney Mulliner.
Challenge
Amy Daws - 2016
She’s his doctor. They shouldn’t. But God, do they want to. Camden Harris, the famously hot, hulk of a footballer is laid up in a London hospital. But his busted knee doesn’t stop him from running his well-practiced game on Indie Porter—his redheaded spitfire of a doctor. She’s not his type, not even close. But she could be the perfect distraction from the soul-crushing damage this injury could cost him. Indie’s tired of her naivety putting a target on her back. As a gifted child, she’s let her education take the front seat her whole life. But a fling with a footballer like Camden might be just what she needs to grab life by the balls. And he could be the perfect guy for the plan she’s been sitting on for over two years. But when feelings make a final play, there’s no amount of medicine that can heal the damage to their hearts.