Book picks similar to
Play the Game by Emma Tharp


sports-romance
arc
sports-romance-hockey
romance

Interference


Mignon Mykel - 2016
    A way to give her the meeting her boss requested, but still say ‘no’ to her pitch.Look, I’ve never wanted the extras that come with an NHL career.Sponsorships, sure.Reality television? Hard no.Except—now that I’ve met the pixie redhead—I find myself agreeing...with one stipulation.She gets to be part of the show in whatever way that allows me to see her again.Twenty female “contestants” be damned.

Talk to Me


Clare James - 2014
    The young, handsome, high-scoring player quickly became a fan favorite. He had everything going for him: fame, fortune, a promising career, and his pick of women. But when he made an abrupt exit from the NHL last spring, everything changed and he’s been in hiding ever since.Casey Scott plans to find out why.After interning for free all summer at the top television station in the Twin Cities, Casey lands an on-air gig. Trouble is, the new role is Sports Girl—which means reporting from local bars and tailgating parties to create excitement for the hometown heroes. All while wearing tiny team jerseys that are so tight they leave little to the imagination.But she has a plan. Uncover the biggest sports mystery of the decade, and she’ll be on her way. Question is, how far will she go to get the story?*Caution: This story contains explicit sex scenes with an alpha hockey player … who gives an entirely new meaning to the term Body Checking. *

The Trouble With Quarterbacks


R.S. Grey - 2020
    Kat, don’t take the long route from the subway station just so you can pass by Cute Hot Dog Guy. This is important! I’ve had THE BEST DAY. You won’t believe it. There I was in my preschool classroom, washing a bit of poo out of some soggy trousers, when this absolute babe came to collect his nephew from my class. Truthfully, I thought I’d blacked out for a moment when I first saw him. He was a proper hunk with glorious brown hair, quite tall, and he had these arms. Are muscly arms supposed to turn me on? I’m panting just thinking about them.Anyway, he told me he’s a professional foosball player. At least, I think that’s what he said. The tots can get quite loud near pick-up time. YASMINE: Foosball? What are you on about? Have you gone mad?KAT: Oh sod off. So what if I like to have a good look at Hot Dog Guy’s arse on my trek home after a hard day’s work? It’s called self-care.CANDACE: Kat, you’re hopeless. Yasmine, yes—foosball! I suppose it’s a big thing over here in the States? We must investigate and learn everything we can. By the way, he’s called Logan.Logan + Candace. I think that sounds quite nice! I can hear the wedding bells now. Dum dum da-dum.YASMINE: Oh good grief. I suppose we can do some snooping when I get home. I’ll grab wine on my way.KAT: I’ll grab hot dogs.THE TROUBLE WITH QUARTERBACKS is a hilarious romance about unlikely love found between a British preschool teacher and the professional quarterback who sweeps her off her feet.

Third Base


Stella - 2017
    Second base: above the waist. Third base: below the waist. Home run: no explanation needed. Every baseball player knows to keep their eye on the ball and swing for the fences. Each base counts, but a home run is the goal. No one wants to strike out. This is true both on and off the field. Ellie had been my best friend since we were born, and we had a plan—get out of the tiny Alabama town we’d grown up in and go to college…together. But even life’s best-laid plans could throw a powerful curveball. Rather than attend classes, I was now the starting pitcher for a Major League team. While my game-day stats were impressive, my record with women was less desirable. I was the professional baseball player who hadn’t been able to make it past third base since the one and only night I’d played hardball with my best friend. When the bottom of the ninth came to a close on my career, I had to decide if our friendship was worth more than a few extra innings.

Heart Stopper


Michelle Hercules - 2020
    He’s also the bane of my existence.Our meet-cute wasn’t exactly cute. He called me a nerd, and I accused him of slacking off on the field. Now, we have to live together. I’m supposed to try to play nice to keep a roof over my head. Not in my nature. Our arrangement could be a living hell, but slowly, I realize the worst thing he ever did wasn’t calling me names. It was making me see there’s more to him under the surface. And now, I’m screwed.*Heart Stopper is an enemies-to-lovers college sports romance filled with banter, pranks, and off the charts chemistry that will make you swoon. This is a standalone novel.

Game Play


Lynda Aicher - 2015
    That's all it was supposed to be. They'd agreed their first night together would be their only night together—and Minnesota Glaciers defenseman Dylan Rylie was fine with that. Giant hickeys and claw marks on his ass had never been his style, even if the very memory of Samantha Yates's merciless sexual energy gets him hard within seconds. He needs to focus on getting a better contract, not mind-blowing orgasms.One night, one time, nothing more. Fresh off representing the US at the Games and with nowhere else to play, Samantha gave in to one night of frantic passion with the Glaciers' brawny hotshot. She couldn't get hurt—not if she controlled the outcome. And she planned to leave Minnesota soon, anyway. She didn't expect to be recruited to coach Dylan after they'd gotten down and dirty.When brutal on-ice workouts lead to kinky locker room sessions and "one night" falls by the wayside, Samantha insists on keeping things casual, despite Dylan's quiet hope for more. But when Dylan goes down—hard—and his career is in jeopardy, Samantha is the first one by his side. What will it take to keep her there after he's healed?

See No Evil


Ivy Fox - 2020
    They have been sentenced. All that remains is their execution.No one goes unpunished. We’ll make sure of it.We are The Society and all who dare cross us will find their miserable end by our hand.Don’t be fooled. This is not their story.It’s ours.FinnAs long as I can remember, I’ve played by the rules.On and off the football field, I’ve done everything that has been expected of me.Until that fatal night.Now my life and the lives of my best friends hang in the balance, hung there by a sadistic sinister shadow forcing us to do their will.And it’s just my damn luck that I’m the first to be put on their butcher’s block.I must prove my worth by eradicating a certain pebble in their shoe.The order is simple.To save ourselves, I must ruin another—a life for a life.Meaning Stone Bennett’s life is about to be forfeited in exchange for my own.The poor girl never stood a chance.StoneHe’s all American perfection.I’m the poster child for this country’s rejects.He’s old Asheville money and privilege.I’m the Southie eyesore people stay clear from.He’s caviar dreams and champagne wishes.I’m the trailer trash his momma probably warned him about.I doubt it can get any further away from the elitist’s social spectrum than the two of us.So why the hell is Finn Walker, Richfield’s football god, suddenly all in my face wanting my attention?Nothing good can come from this.I can feel it.*The Society is an Enemies to Lovers, New Adult College Romance.*Each book can be read as standalones. However all four books in this series have an entwined subplot, that will only be resolved in the final book.*Recommended 18+ due to mature language and situations.

Blitzed


Lauren Landish - 2016
    I brought her back to meet you.” I’m normally not into jocks, but when Troy Wood asks me out, I feel like I’m the Chosen One. After all, he’s hot as hell and Silver Lake’s best athlete, practically the King of Campus. God’s gift to women—that’s what they call him, but I’ll make a gentleman out of him. Everything is perfect, and he already practically has his ticket to the Big Leagues. There’s just one little problem . . . I’m hiding a secret that could destroy him and his future. I can’t tell him . . . I can’t tell him that I’m pregnant with his baby. **Blitzed is a full-length romance with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger!

Team Player 2: A Sports Anthology


Charleigh RoseRochelle Paige - 2019
    Passionate tennis pros. Sexy soccer stars. All sorts of alpha hotties, on the field and off. Have no fear! The team is back again, and this time...it's thicker. You'll get your sports romance fix with brand-new stories from eleven bestselling authors. Need one last summer fix? Dive into this anthology. *This anthology contains original, never-before-seen stories from Ella Fox, Mandi Beck, Teagan Hunter, Ilsa Madden-Mills, Sara Ney, Rochelle Paige, Meghan Quinn, Charleigh Rose, Kennedy Ryan, Emma Scott, and Kate Stewart. We still aren’t responsible for melted devices.

Hustle


Ashley Claudy - 2015
    College was supposed to be Brook's chance to escape the rumors and the harassment that plagued her at home, but she hadn't planned on meeting Andrew Fayden. Now, she's finding it hard to think of anything else or anyone else. She's determined to wipe him from her mind though because he is the definition of unavailable. He's got an on and off again girlfriend always on the sidelines and a flood of girls willing to take over that position.And his popularity makes it hard to keep a low profile, something she needs to do if she doesn't want to be pulled back into the drama of her past.Despite all the warnings, she's finding it hard to resist—and he's making it hard to say no.

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!

Dash


Shantel Tessier - 2015
    But when you find yourself behind bars and being offered the opportunity of a lifetime, you take it. I agreed to race motorcycles for Johnny Knight. A very powerful man who wanted me on his team, even knowing I was a liability. But will he still feel that way once he finds out that I had a one-night stand with his daughter? I didn't mean for it to happen. I didn't even know who she was until she walked into his office wearing my shirt from the night before. Too bad that was all she wanted-one night. It really didn't matter who she was, I wanted more. So when she ran, I followed. I should have let her go. That would have been best for both of us. But I have never done what was right, why start now? I've always been willing to take a risk, no matter what it would cost me. And I knew she was worth it all. I'm Erik Dashling, you can call me Dash. This is my story of how I willingly risked one dream for another. But everyone knows that now all dreams come true.

My Lucky #13


Piper Rayne - 2021
    I prefer to call it hard work, at least I did until my game went to complete crap. I haven’t scored in eight games and my team owner is talking about trading me. I’ve never believed in superstitions. Never needed one. I suppose I was “lucky” in that way. But now the best way to refer to me is desperate. I’d wear the same socks for an entire year just to be the high-scoring center I used to be. Imagine my surprise when after spending New Year’s Eve with a woman, I score a hat trick in the next game—that’s three goals in one game for you non-hockey lovers. Now, I have to track her down and bribe her to do it again before every game. Get your mind out of the gutter, I’m not talking about it.I find her and when I get to know her better, I end up spending more time thinking about her than my game, but she’s made it clear she wants no part of me. She’s going to learn that I didn’t become a professional hockey player without having to fight for what I want.

Finding Me


Stephanie Rose - 2016
    . . Abandoned by a father who didn't want me. Cherished by a stepfather, though I wasn’t his. Shattered by a boy who swore he loved me. But I belonged nowhere, to no one. Then I met Owen, the sweet-talking hockey player who made me love him. He gave me the courage to trust in someone besides myself. He showed me a love I longed for. When an unwanted ghost comes knocking on my door, my heartbreaking history threatens to repeat itself. But where do I turn if I lose everyone? And how do I find where I belong, when I’m still Finding Me? Finding Me is a spinoff from the Second Chances series and can be read as a standalone.

Poisoned Paradise


Lucy Smoke - 2021
    The worst mistake I could have ever possibly made. I fell in love with the wrong person and … I told him.Ryan’s always been with me ever since I can remember. It’s been the two of us—side by side. Through every new beginning, every new ‘family’, and every failure. Is it any wonder that the love I had for him turned into something different—something deeper? Something utterly rotten?And is it any wonder that he hates me for it now?RyanI’m a damaged soul, and she’s the only thing that’s ever held me together. But the one woman I want is the one woman I can never have.She thinks I hate her for her confession, and maybe a part of me does. What I hate more, though, is that I have to push her away to keep her safe. That I have to pretend like I don’t fucking want her when she’s all I’ve been able to think about for the last six years.We’re no fucking Romeo and Juliet. We’re much worse than that.A love like ours was doomed from the start.**NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Alright guys, I’m gonna need your trust on this one. This might seem like a crazy idea and I assure you, it is. But I’m here, on my knees now, for you―asking you to trust me. TRUST. IN. ME. It’s gonna be fine. Just get to the end and you’ll understand why I had to do this. This is a STANDALONE book.**