Book picks similar to
The Sleeping Arrangement by Neva Bell


romance
contemporary
sports
contemporary-romance

Hate to Love You


Jennifer Sucevic - 2018
     Brody McKinnon is Whitmore University's star defenseman destined for NHL greatness. He made a name for himself playing juniors before gracing us with his esteemed presence. As much as it pains me to admit it, he’s exploded at the college level. While other girls fall all over themselves trying to gain his attention, I do my best to steer clear just as I would a particularly nasty case of crabs. For reasons I can't fathom, Brody takes great pleasure in messing with me. And I, in return, enjoy slicing him to ribbons with my razor-sharp tongue. You'd think after three years, he'd learn to keep his distance. No such luck. Unfortunately for me, I’m about to experience the worst week of my life. It starts with my ex-boyfriend announcing at a party that I’m a lousy lay. He’s the hockey-playing jerk I dated last year who left a bad taste in my mouth (*eyeroll* seriously…get your mind out of the gutter). Want to guess who rides in on his trusty white steed to rescue me? Or should I say, opens his big mouth? Yep, you guessed it. Brody freaking McKinnon, the guy I love to hate. He only makes matters worse by telling everyone that we’re together and then punching Reed in the face. The first…I plan on strangling him for. The second…I’m only sorry I didn’t get to Reed first. Now I’m stuck fake-dating Brody, the one guy who makes me feel like a rabid dog on a choke chain, for the foreseeable future. I guarantee we won’t last more than seventy-two hours without me killing him. *This is a mature New Adult novel with strong language and sexual situations intended for readers over the age of 18*

Moonlight & Whiskey


Tricia Lynne - 2019
    Successful businesswoman Avery Barrows likes her dips and curves, but she’s sick of the haters telling her that she should be ashamed of her body instead of embracing it. Determined to send them a big f*** you, Avery resolves to cut loose during a girls’ trip, hightailing her quick-mouthed, plus-sized self to New Orleans. So, what’s a smart woman with a little extra gotta do to get laid in this town? Not much if you ask Declan McGinn, the lead singer of BlackSmith. Tall, dark, and tattooed, with a body made for sin, Declan prefers his women as curvy as his guitars. Avery’s sharp tongue and keen mind makes him want her even more. As they burn up the sheets, Avery and Declan realize this is no one-night (or even one-week) stand. But for all of her bluster, Avery isn’t sure she can handle any more rejection. Besides, Declan has demons of his own. Now Avery has a choice to make: play it safe, or place her trust in the hands of a man who’s as tempting as the devil himself. This ebook includes an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Drive Me Wild


Julie Kriss - 2018
    At eighteen, our affair was wild and completely secret. Until she left town for college and a better life, and I hit the road to nowhere. Eight years later, we're both back in town. My father is in prison; Emily is selflessly helping her sister. We should be farther apart than we've ever been. But I've never been able to resist temptation, especially when that temptation is Emily. I shouldn't go near her. But I do. She shouldn't say yes. But she does. Our chemistry is hotter than ever, but she's hiding something from me. Just like I'm hiding something from her. It's hard to tell whose secrets are more dangerous, until it all goes to hell. I can save her - and she can save me. But we'll have to break the rules. We're from different worlds. We don't belong together. But in the end, Emily and I are going to have to get dirty.

Parental Guidance


Avery Flynn - 2019
    Right to someone my mom picks out on some new dating app.Then my salvation walks into the restaurant.Zara Ambrose.The five-foot-nothing redhead with more freckles than inches that I convinced to go on five dates with me for all the world to see.She's got her own reasons for our set up--and her own rules.But somewhere between the couples' obstacle course, wrestling matches with her Great Dane, and fights over mashed potatoes, Zara went from means-to-an-end to something so much more.What happens when you start to fall for the one girl you can't have...on live TV?

Gym or Chocolate?


Stuart Reardon - 2019
    She has curves and doesn’t care.She’s shocked when a raffle ticket bought to support a veterans charity means she’s won a year’s membership to Body Tech, an exclusive Manhattan gym, where all the top athletes train and all the A-list actors go to get in shape for their action roles. She’s also won a personal trainer in the shape of far too tantalizing Rick Roberts.Rick is less impressed when Cady’s arrival leads to a media circus. The retired British rugby ace runs a serious training facility, and he definitely doesn’t have time for anyone who doesn’t want to work hard.When curvy Cady challenges him to train her to run a marathon by the end of the year, it seems a solution to both their problems. If … when she drops out of training, his gym will go back to normal.But Cady isn’t planning on losing the bet—she just wasn’t counting on any complications. And surly Rick is very complicated. And as tempting as the tastiest treat...

Someone Old


Lacy Williams - 2018
    Instead, her groom splits just before they’re supposed to walk down the altar at her hometown bed & breakfast. Cue her old flame and college sweetheart Jax Morris—the man who walked away when things got serious between them. Seeing her ex-boyfriend is the last thing she needs... until she needs his help to track down her missing groom.Jax has it all. His dream of being a MLB pitcher kept him alive during a tragic childhood. Now he’s playing baseball for the Major Leagues, expected to be Rookie of the Year, and life is golden. Except for the one that got away. There’s still a Claire-shaped hole in his heart. He’s never forgotten the sweet, small town girl who was his first love. But Claire’s no runaway bride. She’s not interested in a second chance with him—and he can’t blame her. He wants redemption. He just isn’t sure he deserves it.Will Claire open her heart to Someone Old?Jilted in Sawyer Creek: Four couples. One crazy wedding weekend.

Puck Me Secretly


Odette Stone - 2018
    I’ve never had an orgasm, but I’ve faked plenty. I want to experience love.  Real, passionate love. I don’t want to die. It’s funny what blurts out of your mouth when the plane you’re on is going down, and I didn’t hold back with my seat mate when my plane decided to crash. My hysterical confessions didn’t faze the muscular stranger that sat beside me.  In fact, he promised if we survived, he’d give me my first orgasm.   We survived. I came. And then he left without telling me who he was. On the first day of my job, I stood in front of the Vancouver Wolves hockey team and called out a number.  #33. Imagine my shock when he skated forward. Max is an incredible hockey player, whose wild, out-of-control antics have almost derailed his career.  So many secrets shroud his past and continue to threaten his future.   Now he’s my secret.  And that secret could ruin everything.   Puck Me SECRETLY.  Some secrets are too big to keep. Intended for adult audiences only.

What Are Friends For?


Sarah Sutton - 2020
    Seventeen-year-old Remi Beaufort learns this the hard way when she plays a blindfolded kissing game at a party.She thinks she's kissing Jeremy, the totally hot basketball player she's been crushing on. And the kiss...it's amazing. Heart-stopping, world-changing, toe-curling. The kiss makes her forget about her overbearing mother, the next-door neighbor's drama, and the probability that she'll fail her senior year. The best kiss of her life makes all that fall away.Until her blindfold falls off, and she realizes that instead of kissing her crush, she's kissing Elijah, her best friend since third grade.Though she manages to convince Elijah that he was kissing his girlfriend, Remi can't get the thought of his lips on hers out of her head. As things between them grow more and more complicated--because it turns out her fantasizing about his mouth is more of a problem than it sounds--Remi has to make a choice: does she live the rest of her life loving her best friend in secret? Or does she tell the truth and risk ruining their friendship forever?Heart-melting and romantic, What Are Friends For? is a swoon-worthy best-friends-to-lovers story that will leave you crushing hard.

Lucky Leap Day


Ann Marie Walker - 2022
    A whirlwind trip to Ireland is supposed to end with a suitcase full of wool sweaters and souvenir pint glasses—not a husband you only just met!After one-too-many whiskeys, fledgling screenwriter Cara Kennedy takes a page out of someone else’s script when she gets caught up in the Irish tradition of women proposing on Leap Day. She thought she might have dreamt everything until she woke the next morning with a hot guy in her bed and a tin foil ring on her finger. Her flight is in four hours, her clothes are all over the room, and she has the most important meeting of her career in exactly two days—and on top of everything else, her husband has a dog who thinks Cara is a perfect surrogate mother, despite the fact that she has never been much of an animal lover…Deciding to work things out stateside, Finn and her new fur baby accompany her to LA, where Finn spends his days going on auditions and his nights charming his new bride, leaving Cara to wonder whether this is real love, or if Finn is another aspiring actor just after her Hollywood connections? With limited time on his tourist visa, will Finn be able to convince Cara that she’s the right girl for him, or will time run out on their Hollywood ending?

Penalty


Jacob Chance - 2017
    As the son of a former NFL player, he’s showered with attention and praise twenty-four-seven. One flash of his smile and all the girls fall at his feet - or should I say to their knees? And then there’s me. Brady Lincoln is the last person I want attention from. He’s the kind of guy my father warned me about. His play on the field is legendary and his play with the ladies, even more so. I’ve managed to stay off his radar until recently. What happens when the cocky quarterback breaks all the rules to win my heart?

Playing For Keeps


Liz Matis - 2011
    Fresh from the battlegrounds of Iraq, reporting on a bunch of overgrown boys playing pro football is just the change of scenery she needs. If trying to be taken seriously in the world of sports writing wasn't hard enough, Ryan, her college crush, is only making it harder. As a tight-end for the team she's covering, he is strictly off limits. Ryan Terell is a playmaker on and off the field, but when Samantha uncovers his moves, he throws out the playbook. Just as he claims his sweetest victory, Samantha's investigation into a steroid scandal involving his team forces him to call a time-out to their off the record trysts. But then a life threatening injury on the field will force them both to decide just how far they'll go to win the game. Winner of the NERWA First Kiss Contest A Kindle Bestseller.

Charming the Cheerleader


Maggie Dallen - 2020
    But only if he doesn't fall for her first.Conner and his stepsister are new to town, new to Talmore High, and very new to this whole step-sibling situation. As of three weeks ago they were only children...and now? Well, now their parents' newly wedded bliss is wreaking havoc with both of their lives. Not that Conner is worried. He might be the new kid but he's never had a problem being the big man on campus. Until now. No one at this school seems to have gotten the memo that he's beloved. The girls aren't swooning and the guys are looking for any excuse to kick his butt back to California. When his stepsister throws out the challenge, it's a no brainer. If he can make head cheerleader Rosalie "The Ice Queen" Farlow fall at this feet, he'll have it all.But then again, if he wins the bet...he'll lose her. And what's the use of having it all if he loses the only thing that matters? Author's Note: Though this is the first book of a duet, the romance is standalone and features a satisfying, swoonworthy HEA. The timelines of these two books intersect, however, so be sure to read book one first to avoid any spoilers!

Adorkable


Cookie O'Gorman - 2016
    For reference, see Sally Spitz.Seventeen-year-old Sally Spitz is done with dating. Or at least, she's done with the horrible blind dates/hookups/sneak attacks her matchmaking bestie, Hooker, sets her up on. There's only so much one geek girl and Gryffindor supporter can take.Her solution: she needs a fake boyfriend. And fast.Enter Becks, soccer phenom, all-around-hottie, and Sally's best friend practically since birth. When Sally asks Becks to be her F.B.F. (fake boyfriend), Becks is only too happy to be used. He'd do anything for Sal--even if that means giving her PDA lessons in his bedroom, saying she's "more than pretty," and expertly kissing her at parties.The problem: Sally's been in love with Becks all her life--and he's completely clueless.This book features two best friends, one special edition Yoda snuggie, countless beneath-the-ear kisses and begs the question:Who wants a real boyfriend when faking it is so much more fun?

For the Love of Friends


Sara Goodman Confino - 2021
    To her friends, she’s reliable and selfless, which is how she winds up a bridesmaid in five weddings in six weeks. Anything for her three best friends and two (younger) siblings, right? Even if her own love life is…well, she’d rather not talk about it. To keep her sanity, Lily needs a safe place to vent.And so her anonymous blog, Bridesmania, is born. The posts start pouring out of her: all the feels about mom-zillas, her vanishing bank balance, the wicked bridesmaids of the west, high-strung brides-to-be, body-shaming dress clerks, bachelorette parties, and Spanx for days, not to mention being deemed guardian of eighty-eight-year-old Granny (who enjoys morning mimosas in the nude) for her brother’s destination wedding.So far the blog has stayed anonymous. But as everyone knows, few things online remain secret forever…When all is said and done, can Lily help all five couples make it to happily ever after? And will her own happy ending be close behind?

Sweet, Tart


Jamie Bennett - 2019
    “You wrote that? I want to know what happens. Tell me what happens.” “Well, I’m not totally sure yet. What usually happens is that they fall in love despite themselves…” Maggie lives in a world of aliens, dragons, cowboys, and Happily Ever Afters. As a (slightly—maybe more than slightly) pornographic romance novelist, she’s able to escape everything in her writing. Almost everything, even though her life before coming to northern Michigan will not let her go, no matter how far, or how fast she’s running from it. Mostly, she's too busy hiding from the world to meet people, and certainly she isn't looking for anyone to sweep her off her feet like one of the stern cowboys or hard-bodied aliens in her books. But then, suddenly, there's Mason, who's sweet, and funny, and damn, is he handsome—and they end up taking a trip together that will change both their lives. For everyone who remembers Mason Whitaker from THE CHECKDOWN, here's his story!