Book picks similar to
Defenseless by Amy Jarecki
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Sacked
Jen Frederick - 2015
Warrior. Champion. And...virgin. Knox knows what he wants--and he gets it. All American Football player? Check. NFL pros scouting him? Check. Now, he's set his sight on two things. The national title. And Ellie Campbell. Sure, she's the sister of his fellow teammate, but that's not going to stop him. Especially not when he’s convinced Ellie is the one.
...but he's never met her before.
But Ellie isn't as sure. She's trying to start a new life and she's not interested in a relationship...with anyone. Beside it's not just her cardinal rule of never dating her brother's teammates that keeps her away, but Ellie has a dark secret that would jeopardize everything Knox is pursuing. Knox has no intention of losing. Ellie has no intention of giving in.
The Exchange
Jillian Dodd - 2020
I love New York. My school. My friends. And I didn’t want to leave. But after some not-so-subtle insistence about experiencing a new culture, gaining worldly knowledge, and the fact that it was only three weeks, I knew I wasn’t getting out of it. So, I decided that if I had to go, I might as well have some fun. Which was how I met Harry at a pub. His blue eyes, adorable accent, and charm instantly won me over—right after his lips did. And I started to think that London might not be so bad. But then I met Noah. He’s tall, dark, intense, and spends way too much time in the shower. I know this because I have to live with him. And did I mention that he hates me?My first day at school is more eventful than I anticipated. A boy named Mohammad takes me under his wing, declares himself my guide to the “hostile and hormonal battlefield that is Kensington School,” and lays three facts on me: He, Harry, and Noah are best mates. I’m the new girl and bound to cause drama. And I’ve already got his boys all twisted up. I’m in way over my head, and it’s only my first day!
This Sky
Autumn Doughton - 2014
She’s no stranger to disappointment but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that unfolded when her celebrity boyfriend publicly humiliated her. Now the fairytale is officially over and Gemma is determined to put the past behind her and strike out to find a new dream. Just a few teeny-tiny details to work out: she’s currently broke, homeless and unemployed. Landon Young has his own worries. Surfer by day and bartender by night, he doesn’t have the interest or the time to be anyone’s happily-ever-after. Weighed down by the memory of what happened two years ago, Landon can barely keep his head above water. This Sky is the thoughtful and often funny story about broken trust, an unexpected love and the hopes we keep sewn in the linings of our pockets.
Fighting Silence
Aly Martinez - 2015
We spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would give anything to hold on to? I've always been a fighter. With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always mine. I became utterly addicted to her and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I didn’t hear her voice. You see, meeting the love of my life at age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf at the age of twenty-one. They both happened anyway. Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life. Fighting for my career. Fighting the impending silence. Fighting for her. Every night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves her. I think that's the sound I'll miss the most.
Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.
When the Stars Fall
Emery Rose - 2020
My best friend. Fiercest ally. The most annoying boy in the world.At eighteen, the boy I loved to hate became the man I couldn’t live without.We were young. Madly in love. Invincible. Strong enough to weather any storm.Cocky enough to believe that no amount of time or distance could destroy us.When Jude finally returned home from overseas, it should have been cause for celebration. But the man I’d fallen in love with was gone, and in his place was someone I no longer recognized.𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑. 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦.Now, after six long years he’s back. Only my heart ... it doesn’t beat just for him anymore.
Pretty When She Cries
A. Zavarelli - 2020
Ours was baptized in fire.I was the new girl trying to find her place.Landon was the brooding neighbor I tutored over the summer.I didn’t know he was a legend at Black Mountain Academy.I didn’t know they worshipped him like a religion.But I fell for him before I knew those things.To me, he was just the tortured soul who drew me in like a magnet.And then he did something so unspeakable, so unforgivable, it shattered me.I ran away then because I was weak, but I’ve shed my tears.He stole my heart and my dignity, and I’m here to take it back.The only problem is… he’s not giving it up without a fight.
Hard Fall
Brenda Rothert - 2021
Louis Mavericks are having the best season in team history. On pace for a pro hockey record, the unexpected death of their captain and star player knocks them off course in ways they never expected.WestonMy world was turned upside down the day Ben Whitmer died. Best friends since junior hockey, Ben was like a brother to me. My voice of reason and a grounding force on and off the ice. But as heartbroken as I am, I don’t have the luxury of grieving his loss. Not only do I have to hold our team together, I was named guardian of the two young children Ben and his wife left behind. Well, not just me—me and his wife’s best friend, Hadley. We’ve been left with the impossible task of deciding which of us will raise the kids, but there’s no way I’m letting that uptight ball buster have them. Lines are drawn, but they begin to blur as I find out there’s more to Hadley than I thought. A lot more.HadleyI can’t take the place of my beautiful best friend in her children’s lives. But I love them so fiercely that I’ll do whatever it takes to raise them the way their parents wanted. Wes Kirby is an obnoxious womanizer, and I won’t let him take Ben and Lauren’s children from me. Deciding to temporarily live together in our friends’ home, we attempt to provide the kids stability while we figure out which of us is better suited to raising them. As we learn parenthood together, my enemy Wes slowly becomes something different. Something more. And I’m left wondering not only if I’m enough for the kids, but if Wes and I are enough to last.
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.
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.
Desperately Seeking Roommate
Micalea Smeltzer - 2019
That’s gross.2. Don’t be a jerk. I have no time to deal with your mood swings.3. Clean up after yourself. Is it really so hard to put dirty clothes where they belong?If you meet these qualifications, call me.Sincerely,Desperately Seeking RoommateWhen I put the ad in my university’s newspaper, the last thing I ever expect is for the star football player to respond. From what I know of him, Abel Russo is a womanizer and an absolute jerk.Sadly, he’s the only thing stopping me from being evicted by my annoyingly gleeful landlord. It should be easy enough—there’s no chance we’ll fall for each other. But then he gives me lingering looks, and I might just be looking back. All I wanted was a roommate, but I’m about to get so much more than I bargained for.
Halstead House
Aspen Hadley - 2021
Growing up under an iron thumb, she's never gone off script, yet as she stares at the candles on her twenty-fifth birthday, she determines to reach for more.Terrified but hopeful, Grace buys a one-way airline ticket to Lavender Island in order to visit Halstead House, the once upon a time home of the only person Grace had ever been safe with, her honorary grandmother Mary. When Grace arrives on the island she's immediately caught up in the warmth-filled life she'd always imagined.What she hadn't imagined, however, was John Lucas Halstead or the feelings he would stir in her – especially when he’ll do anything to keep her at arms length. Just as Grace is finding her feet, her mother arrives on the island uninvited, forcing Grace to decide where she’ll stand once and for all. Is it finally time to rip up the script? Or will she accept her role and return?Only Grace can decide.
Power Play
Alley Ciz - 2019
if they’re on your brothers’ team. The last time Jordan did that, it ended in disaster. It was easy to promise her brothers she'd never date another one of their teammates again. Until she meets Jake. The spark she feels when she spends time with him makes her promise harder and harder to keep. Surely her brothers would understand breaking this promise if it means following her heart. Wouldn't they? Never sleep with a teammate’s sister. This is the universal rule of athletes everywhere. Until he meets Jordan. As soon as Jake sets eyes on her, he wants her. The goalie's job is to see missed shots and failed opportunities on the ice. This is one shot he's not going to miss, no matter what obstacles get in his way.
POWER PLAY is a flirty, swoon worthy sexy rom-com and the first book in the BTU Alumni series. It can be read as a stand alone. If you like hockey boys, sarcastic friends, matchmaking K9’s, too-cute-to-handle kindergarteners, fierce heroines and swoony hot as puck Alpha heroes, then you want to get to know these cast of characters. One puck head and a HEA guaranteed.
Open Lanes
Mary Morano - 2021
I messed up my chance once before but now I have a second chance. Just like on the ice, I will do anything I can to win. This time I’m playing for keeps.NicoleHe tortured me through High School, followed me across the country to college, and now I am stuck in a car with him for five long days. All I want to do is get home and go back to pretending he doesn’t exist. If only my stupid hormones would get on board with the plan.
Hook Up
Bella Love-Wins - 2016
The NFL has ranked me in the top 50 overall potential draftees. I have to keep working hard to make it there. I drove home to El Paso, Texas to see my folks for a week before the start of senior year and Fall camp out in Baton Rouge. While I was back home, one of my crew threw a party for me at the Raging Bull Saloon. That's when I first met Josephine. She was a sweet little curvy redhead with a mouth wanting to be tamed. Oh, the things I could do with all those curves. We had one scorcher of a hookup in the men's restroom. Then we went our separate ways... until I saw her again beside her junkyard jalopy, broken down at the side of the highway. Who knew a random hookup could end up taking us places. Josephine (Jo) Quinn I was leaving El Paso. I had no one left alive in these parts who gave a crap about me, and no reason at all to stay. After a talk with my only sister in New Orleans, I decided to pack it up and get the hell out. The night before leaving it all behind, I took a detour at the Raging Bull Saloon to let off some steam. That's when I met a big strong football player with arms that picked me up as though I was light as a feather...which I ain't. We had one hell of a restroom hookup. Then I went home and got my stuff together. I just didn't figure on my old, piece of crap Frankencar giving up the ghost on the side of the interstate. And I sure as hell didn't plan on what came next with cornerback Chris. *Author's note. Hook Up is a full length, standalone sports romance story with a HEA ending and no cliffhanger. This story is light on football and heavy on steamy romance.
The Southern Nights Series
M. Never - 2017
All-Star athlete and resident bad boy. #7 quarterback on the field, and #1 player off. Every guy at school wants to be him, and every girl at school wants to date him. Well, except Laney Summers that is. The sassy city girl is the only one immune to Kam’s clear blue eyes and arsenal of southern charm. But when a debilitating injury sidelines Kam’s future and ability to play football, it’s Laney who is tasked to be his tutor while he recuperates at home. The chemistry between Kam and Laney is undeniable, and after months of ignoring what’s clearly evident, Laney gives in. Allowing herself one night with Kam, no strings attached, no commitment to speak of. Alone, under the stars, on the fifty-yard line, Kam and Laney set out to discover if what they have is real, or just one steamy southern night.The Southern Nights Series is a compilation of three novellas following the story of Kam and Laney, an all-star football player destined for greatness and the sassy city girl who challenges him on every level. This collection is steamy, fun, flirty and full of heart!