Book picks similar to
Shopping for a Turkey by Julia Kent


sports-romance
rom-com
romance
contemporary-romance

Blindsided


Amy Daws - 2019
    Midfielder Maclay “Mac” Logan is a loud-mouthed, tattooed ginger content with focusing on football. But when an adorably-freckled seamstress comes barreling into his life, he finds Netflix-And-Bickering with her to be his new favorite pastime. Freya Cook is used to being the invisible woman with a needle and thread, offering cheeky punchlines as she helps dress London’s finest. She’s plus-sized in body and spirit, and other than her friendship with Mac, talking to the opposite sex is one skill she never mastered. However, after one innocent game of Never Have I Ever, Mac offers to play Love Coach for Freya. What neither of them see coming are the feelings that develop when the clothes come off. Now they’re both about to learn the biggest lesson of all: Don't fall in love with your best friend.Blindsided is a full length (97,000 words) contemporary rom-com standalone with a sports theme.

The Wedding Game


Meghan Quinn - 2021
    So it’s only natural that Luna would convince her brother and his husband-to-be to compete on The Wedding Game, a “do-it-yourself” TV show, for the title of Top DIY Wedding Expert.As a jaded divorce lawyer, Alec Baxter scoffs at weddings and romance. But when his recently engaged brother begs him to participate in The Wedding Game, Alec grudgingly picks up a glue gun and prepares for some family bonding.Both fierce competitors, Luna and Alec clash on national TV as harsh words and glitter fly with abandon. But as they bicker over color swatches and mood boards, they find themselves fighting something else: their growing mutual attraction. While Luna is torn between family loyalty and her own feelings, Alec wonders if he might have been wrong about love and marriage all along…

Lessons from a One-Night Stand


Piper Rayne - 2019
    Get details. Details are crucial.Lesson Four: don't alter her bio in front of an auditorium of high school students unless you know she has a sense of humor for that sort of thing.Lesson Five: if you ignore Lesson Four, apologize instead of flirt when you're sent to the principal's office.Lesson Six: NEVER sleep with her again.Lesson Seven: pay attention to this one, it's the most important of them all.Don't fall for your one-night stand.Class dismissed.

Special Delivery


Lauren Blakely - 2019
    Yep, brilliant, strategic me who raised her hand and said yes I’d love to hang mistletoe with that hot former sports star. (Note to self: Mistletoe leads to toe-curling, knee-weakening kisses.)And I’d love to get snowed in with the one guy I shouldn’t fall for. (Addendum to the note to self: You know exactly where eight inches of snow leads to. Ahem, eight inches.)As long as I can make it through the holidays I’ll be on my merry way, fa la la la la. But the holidays have a surprise for me.

Best Friends Don't Kiss


Max Monroe - 2020
    *Faints*I’m kidding. Well, kind of. I mean, I’m not going to attempt a shotgun wedding or try to get knocked up by some guy I met on the internet, but there is no doubt that, this year, home for the holidays takes on a whole new, terrifying meaning. I have to travel from New York City—my home and safe haven for the last fifteen years—to my tiny hometown in Vermont for Christmas, my baby sister’s wedding, and my high school reunion.Talk about a trifecta of single-doom. Throw in Callie Camden—aka my high school class’s version of Regina George—and it’s a recipe for certified disaster.Especially since my mouth ran away from me when she asked me if I’d be bringing someone to our reunion, and I told her to put me down for two. Gah. Now I can’t go alone.But the online dating world is a cesspool of bad manners, speedy hookups, and outright weirdos.Handsome, single, successful—that’s what I’m looking for.And it just so happens that my best friend Luke London fits all of the criteria.The only problem is best friends don’t kiss…But maybe it doesn’t count if it’s pretend?

The Last Guy


Ilsa Madden-Mills - 2017
     But one look at Cade Hill, the sexy new sports director, and uptight reporter Rebecca Fieldstone is daydreaming about other things. Sex in his office… Sex in the on-set kitchen… Sex in the supply closet… She can’t stop thinking about the former NFL quarterback and how perfect he’d look between her sheets—except he’s an arrogant jerk with a huge… ego. He’s the last guy she’d ever have a one-night stand with. Cade Hill draws a thick professional line on office romance—until it comes to the hyper-focused Rebecca. He wants her, and he gets his wish when a chance encounter has them having the hottest sex of their lives. It’s just a hook-up, she says. When can we do it again? he says. With Rebecca determined to keep Cade in the friend zone, it’s going to be an uphill battle for Cade to convince her he’s the last guy she’ll ever want. THE LAST GUY is the first white-hot CONTEMPORARY ROMANTIC COMEDY from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills and Tia Louise. It features Fireball-fueled hookups, Doritos Locos Tacos, attack monkeys, toddlers in tiaras, and one fabulous drag queen. Prepare for frantic clicking (or page flipping!) and smoking-hot sexytimes all the way to the out-of-this-world happily-ever-after.

Plain Jayne


Laura Drewry - 2014
      Worn out from the long drive back home, Jayne Morgan can only smirk at the irony: Of course the first person she sees from her old life is Nick Scott. Once best friends, they lost touch when Jayne left town at eighteen, but nothing could keep them apart forever. Jayne has returned to take over her grandmother’s bookstore, determined to put all her bittersweet memories and secret disappointments strictly in the past — until, that is, Nick insists she bunk at his place.   Nick never did care what people thought about having a girl for a best friend — or the “scandal” she caused by showing up to his wife’s funeral four years earlier — so he’s got no problem with the gossips now. Jayne was always the one person he could count on in his life. Now Nick is starting to realize that he never wants her to leave again... and that being “just friends” isn’t going to be enough anymore.  Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.

Christmas Cliche


Tara Sivec - 2019
    She fled to the mountains with a hostage in tow, hoping to sleep through the holidays, which were a shit-show. A crash in a blizzard, and a hot mountain man, definitely wasn’t part of her evacuation plan. Santas, and stockings, and creepy nutcrackers too, everywhere she looks, it’s a crazy Christmas zoo. But there are hugs, and smiles, and a beautiful view,kisses and laughter, and no time to be blue. Maybe this family, with their hot mountain man, will make this a Christmas Allie can actually stand.

Getting Schooled


Emma Chase - 2018
    He has good friends, a great house on the lake, and the best damn sidekick a man could ask for: Snoopy, the albino beagle.Then...Callie Carpenter comes home.And knocks him right on his tight end zone.Back to school...Callie has a pretty sweet life herself...on the other side of the country. But circumstances—that she'd prefer to never speak of again—have brought her back home, helping out her parents and substitute teaching at her old high school.Now she's facing bickering, raging hormones, constant gossip, awkward weirdness, and drama galore...and that's just the teachers.Just like old times...When Garrett offers to show his former high school sweetheart the secrets of his winning teacher ways, Callie jumps at the chance—and then has to stop herself from jumping him.Good friends are all they can ever be.Or...these teachers just might end up getting schooled—hard—by love.

Anaconda


Lauren Landish - 2017
     Football star and internet sensation Gavin “Anaconda” Adams is the biggest celebrity our little town has ever seen. But I had no idea who he was when I accidentally walked in on him naked.   I was shocked, seeing all of him, a cocky grin on his face. I didn’t know what to do. So I ran. Now I’m in a world of trouble. No matter what I do, I can’t get that image out of my head. His strong muscular thighs. His washboard abs. His big, throbbing, toe-curling… Jesus! To make matters worse, Gavin wants a date with me. He’s seen the lust in my eyes, and he’s not taking no for an answer. I should tell him to get lost. He’s nothing but trouble, and he’s only here for a week. But with one look, I go weak in the knees. And whenever I hear his deep, rich voice, I feel my defenses crumbling. It’s only one night. What could it hurt? Anaconda is a full-length Sexy Romantic Comedy with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger!

The Pilot & the Puck-Up


Pippa Grant - 2018
    Tough? Damn right. Smart? Don’t let the hockey uniform fool you. Large and in charge? Honey, I’m the biggest, baddest, mother pucking-est machine to ever own the ice. I shoot. I score. In and out of the rink. I don’t come early, but I come often, if you know what I mean. And I always leave the ladies wanting more. Until that chick last night. I’m no one-thrust wonder, and you’re damn right I’m going to prove to her I can do better. But every time I think I’m finally on my way back into her pants, she one-ups and out-balls me. I should cut my losses, lick my wounds, and walk away. But Zeus Berger doesn’t walk away from anything. Especially when she's the only woman in the world who might be able to handle me.

The Seat Filler


Sariah Wilson - 2021
    That’s the hiccup in a warm and witty romance by the bestselling author of Roommaid.The meet-cute award goes to dog groomer Juliet Nolan. It’s one of Hollywood’s biggest nights when she volunteers as a seat filler and winds up next to movie heartthrob Noah freaking Douglas. Tongue tied and toes curling in her pink Converse, she pretends that she doesn’t have a clue who he is. It’s the only way to keep from swooning.She’s pretty and unpretentious, loves his dog, and is not a worshipping fan. No way Noah’s giving up on her, even if his affectionate pursuit comes with a bump: Juliet has a pathological fear of kissing and the disappointments that follow. What odds does romance have without that momentous, stupendous, once-in-a-lifetime first smooch? Patient, empathetic, and carrying personal burdens of his own, Noah suggests a remedy: they rehearse.The lessons begin. The guards come down. But there’s another hitch they weren’t betting on. As for that cue-the-orchestra-and-roll-credits happy ending? It might take more than practice to make it perfect.

Bad Boy Bachelor Claus


Ali Parker - 2021
    Our sprawling chain of department stores are a cash cow like the world has never seen.And it’s all mine.New York’s hottest bachelor is on the hunt, dressed up as Mr. Claus and he’s looking for an elf that’ll hop off the shelf and entertain him.Just my luck that she’s cute, spicy, and doesn’t put up with me. Thankfully she looks stunning in a tutu and elf shoes.Too bad she hates my guts.My playboy ways and smart-mouth remarks haven’t won me any favors with her over the last ten years and that’s not ever going to change.Or is it? It is Christmas after all.The world thinks I’m calling the shots, but they have no idea my little elf has me wrapped around her pointed little finger.

Hot as Puck


Lili Valente - 2017
    We're talking my last date went home with our waitress kind of failure.But I have an ace in the back pocket of my mom jeans--my sexy-as-sin best friend, NHL superstar forward, Justin Cruise.Justin owes me favors dating back to seventh grade, long before he became a hotshot with a world famous...stick. So in return for my undying platonic loyalty, all I want is an easy-peasy crash course on how to be a sex goddess.How hard can it be?***I have never been so hard in my life.The things I want to do to my sweet, kindergarten-teaching, mitten-crocheting best friend Libby Collins are ten different kinds of wrong. Maybe twenty.But I'm a firm believer in teaching by example, and by the end of our first lesson, we've graduated to a hands on approach to her education: my hands all over her, her hands all over me, and her hot mouth melting beneath mine as I prove to her there isn't a damned thing wrong with the way she kisses.Give me a month, and I'll transform Libby from wall flower to wall banger, and ensure she's confident enough to seduce any guy she wants.Problem is... the only guy I want her seducing is me.Hot as Puck is a sexy, flirty, friends-to-lovers Standalone romantic comedy from USA Today Bestseller Lili Valente.

Hard Code


Misha Bell - 2020
    Yup, that kind.Well, technically, it’s to test the app that controls the toys remotely.One problem? The showgirl who’s supposed to test the hardware (as in, the actual toys) joins a nunnery.Another problem? This project is important to my Russian boss, the broody, mouthwateringly sexy Vlad, a.k.a. The Impaler.There’s only one solution: test both the software and the hardware myself... with his help.NOTE: This is a standalone, raunchy, slow-burn romantic comedy featuring a quirky, nerdy heroine, her hot, mysterious Russian boss, and two guinea pigs who may or may not be into scissoring each other. If any of the above is not your cup of tea, run far, far away. Otherwise, buckle in for a snort-water-up-the-nose-funny, feel-good ride.