Book picks similar to
Second Half by Monica DeSimone


dnf
sport
romance
contemporary-romance

Brave


Natalie Gayle - 2015
    Beauty, pain and tragedy.Xander “Pretty Boy” Todd was a demon in the ring. A professional MMA fighter with a career that had the world a buzz—but now it’s gone. Or is it?Eden Sommers had her dreams of an international modelling career within her grasp—and lost it. Gone within a few seconds, leaving nothing but pain.How do you go on, when the one thing that defines you is suddenly ripped away—only to leave scars and a hollow shell in its place? Has the beauty gone forever? Or has it just retreated—to now be hidden, and dormant; guarded by the inner demons?Can these two wounded souls find the inner strength to fight back the demons together and find the beauty in their lives once again?To do this, they must first accept—The hardest demons to defeat are the ones inside. They’ll have to be BRAVE.

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!

Keeping Score


Dee Lagasse - 2021
    Which also meant, I could no longer run from a past I’d been so desperate to forget. Jake was my best friend.Keyword: was. He was the first freshman in the history of Fox Hollow High to make the varsity team. I was the team’s photographer.And…I’m the one that broke his heart.

Rookie in Love


Zoe Beth Geller - 2021
    If I wanted winter, I'd work in New York City location, not the Miami office.I prefer to represent clients for movie roles and commercials but no, I'm sent to Maine, which is more like freaking Siberia in winter. And to top it off, I have to track down this punk kid with an attitude.I'd rather be sipping a Cosmo on South Beach where I live but I have to rethink this when I meet Wyatt over the burn bin at the hockey pond. The wood isn't the only thing sizzling when he bedazzles me with his pearl-white smile, and the way he fills out those jeans, well... did I mention that I hate the cold weather? And the minute he takes to the ice with his buff body has me second-guessing my love for football? And my hatred for a committed relationship?

Steady


Danica Avet - 2016
    I went from Shaun Decker, NFL star, to being forced to retire and finding out my wife’s having an affair. Coaching for the Sauvage Spartans' football program will be perfect for getting my life back on track. Then a delicious woman named Katie literally falls into my lap and then, after the best sex of my life, disappears. I’m Katherine Frost, band nerd turned band director and, oh, apparently a magnet for married men. Discovering I’m the other woman already had me rethinking my life, then my one-night stand turns out to be married too. Gah! I want nothing to do with men ever again. Especially tall, handsome, bearded men named Shaun. I thought taking up a teaching position at Sauvage State was a strategic exit, stage left, but it’s looking more like going from the frying pan into the fire. Hey, Shaun again. Don't let her kid you. Fate puts people in the right place at the right time because they're meant for each other. Football and marching bands go together, just like me and Katie. I just need to convince her of that.

Smash


B.B. Hamel - 2015
    Arrogant, cocky, and sexy as hell, I couldn't resist falling into his orbit. And then one night, we made the dumbest decision of our lives.We got married. We thought it was just a game but we were oh-so-wrong.Cole Redson is an MMA fighter. His whole life is fast and hard, violent and dirty. He's the complete opposite of me, and everything I shouldn't want.I never thought I'd see him after that. But when our high powered CEO parents get hitched, suddenly we're stuck living in the same house.He's my stepbrother and my husband. He's my dirty little secret sleeping in the room next door.Then again, secrets never stay hidden for long.When I find pictures of Cole kissing me tucked under my pillow, I'm thrown into a world of blackmail and excitement like I've never known before. Meanwhile, I'm trying to balance Cole's filthy comments and his toe-curling hot body with my need to finally get divorced.The stakes are huge. Our parents' careers are on the line, not to mention Cole's whole life as a fighter. I'm stuck between a marriage I don't want and my stepbrother's rock hard abs, trying to stop the truth from coming out.Smash is heart-thumping violent, shiver-inducing sexy, and features a hero with a filthy mouth. It's only recommended for audiences 18+. Smash is a standalone, full-length novel. No cliffhanger. Guaranteed HEA.For a limited time, BB's bestselling stepbrother novel Rock Hard is included!

Game, Set, Match


Nana Malone - 2010
    On the court, he's down forty-love. A knee injury is shutting down his game, and the paparazzi are splashing his love life on every magazine. A comeback is in order, but the makeover he needs to save his faltering career is in the hands of the woman he loved and left fifteen years ago.While single-mom, Izzy Connors, sees people for who they really are through the lens of her camera, even without it, she knows Jason isn't the star he appears to be. Although his charm and good looks haven't dimmed since he broke her heart, all she sees is his wasted talent and playboy lifestyle.Can Izzy put the past behind her and help Jason get his game, and his image, back on track? Or will the click of her camera shatter his world as well as his heart?Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ASIN B0090QWA1M.

Revel


Alison Ryan - 2016
    REVEL, a second chance summer romance. Declan DeGraff is old money, turned no money, turned new money. He's fresh off the deal of the decade; he's just sold his tech firm for over two billion dollars and he should be on top of the world. But he's still missing what he lost, long ago. And every time success comes his way, he's reminded of how he would trade it all to have her back again. Charlotte Sanders is running from the past. Again. Years ago she fell deeply in love with the last man she should have allowed into her heart and near her body. After a summer of passion, he ended it abruptly, tearing Charlotte apart and making her swear off ever letting anyone in again. But now she's come back to the city where it all happened, Charleston, South Carolina, determined to find answers to the questions he never wanted her to ask. A chance encounter takes them right back to where they started. But can they get past the secrets they’re keeping? Or are they destined to repeat the mistakes of a past they’re both desperate to forget? Previously published under the serial episodes WILD, REVEL, and TAMED. This edition includes an epilogue not previously published. For a limited time only: Two bonus books! NEED and CRAVE, parts 1 and 2 of For the Love of the Billionaire.

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.

Playing to Win


Stacey Lynn
    Nothing more than a couple of college kids having some fun, but then I did the stupid thing and fell for Jude Taylor quicker than he can score a goal on the ice. And after one beautiful night together, he left for the pros before I could make my first cup of coffee. I thought I’d put him behind me. I thought I’d moved on. Then he hobbles into my physical therapy office and I realize how absolutely wrong I’ve been—there’s no getting over Jude Taylor. But now things are complicated. Jude lives half a country away and his career is in direct opposition to my need for stability. Most of all, getting involved with him could mean losing my job and everything I’ve worked so hard for. Jude doesn’t seem to mind one bit and he’s all in. He might be a patient in my office, but he’s no longer the patient guy I remember. This time, he’s playing to win, and the prize he’s looking to score is me.

The Right Swipe: An Online Dating Romance


Amanda Horton - 2019
    The hot-as-hell footballer Veronica had crushed on in high school. And that he’d ask her out on a date... Veronica Damn Joel Marketis was hot! So why was he asking her out through a dating app? The super hot Patriots footballer didn’t exactly need a dating app to meet women. And if he was like all the rest of the men on those dating apps — players with no manners looking for quick sex — then she wasn't interested. Besides, she was just using the app to prove her point: dating apps have created a terrible hookup culture. But as the dates get hotter, the clothes come off and the sex gets heated, Veronica may just lose track of her goal…but is Joel as nice as he seems? Or is this just an act to promote the dating app. Joel Veronica. His high-school crush. A firecracker lawyer to be. A hot-as-hell woman. He hadn’t planned on meeting her through the app. He hadn’t planned on meeting anyone. He has his sexual needs taken care. Thank you very much. So why is he so attracted? Life of a sportsman with its highs and lows is bringing him down. He is done with one night stands and wants a real woman. Someone he can have a real conversation with. Veronica seems like that person. Except Veronica is nothing like he expected…and what she does to him between the sheets…ahh…. ***The Right Swipe is a standalone online dating romance novel, with plenty of steam, a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhanger ***

The Hard Way


Katie Ashley - 2016
    Because of his talent at football, coupled with his father’s wealth, he’s always gotten his way. But when a night of drunken debauchery lands him in hot water with the college athletic board, neither his influential father nor his charming grin can save him. He finds it a total buzz kill when he is sentenced to community service with troubled youth at an inner-city shelter. But his nightmare is only beginning when his greatest high school regret is the very one in charge of the program, and she has him by the balls in more ways than one.For Avery Prescott, senior year was a nightmare of epic proportions, and Cade Hall played the lead villain. After she fled her small town for college in the bright lights of Atlanta, she thought she had escaped the painful memories of her past. She never could have imagined Cade would waltz through the door of the outreach program she presided over. But Avery has news for Cade--she isn’t the same shy, doormat of a girl she was in high school. Since she holds Cade's football future in her hands, she’s more than ready to make payback a real bitch.Will the two stay in the defensive zone or discover that sometimes life's greatest lessons are learned the hard way?

Moving to Love


P.J. Fiala - 2014
    Despite raising her son on her own and building a successful business she still can’t bring herself to believe in love. Even after meeting the sexy bike builder who turns her head.After losing his best friend in Iraq, Jeremiah Sheppard spent his life making sure his friend’s family was taken care of, usually at his own detriment. Despite that, he’s managed quite well.A chance meeting with a beautiful graphic designer has him taking stock in his past decisions and has her threatening to run for the hills as the family he’s protected his entire life works to keep them apart. Just when it looks like they might make it, a terrible accident threatens to destroy it all.Moving to Love is the first book in the exciting Rolling Thunder series. If you like sizzling sex scenes, adventure and triumph, you’ll love PJ Fiala’s page turning series.

Set the Pace


Kim Karr - 2016
    He protected me. Shielded me. Kept me safe. And I would have done anything for him.Fate tore us apart—leaving a world between us, and both our hearts broken.Now Jasper is Detroit's white knight, a reckless rogue turned sexy savior, pulling the city and himself out of destitution.Everything he does is fast. He talks fast, f*cks fast, and drives fast.I know I should keep my distance. That I should stay away. There's too much history between us. Too much left unsaid.Yet I can't resist him.Just being near him is a thrill—his perfect body, our incredible explosive chemistry, the enticing danger that follows him everywhere he goes.But then the city turns against us, and we can't hold on. When it’s us against the world—will our love survive?

Playing by Her Rules


Amy Andrews - 2016
    The catch? She’s stuck doing a six-part series on her ex. Still, there’s no way she can turn down a promotion… or the chance to dish the dirt on the guy who so callously broke her heart.…could win it all!Tanner Stone wants to be involved in a feature series about as much as he wants to snap an Achilles. But the thought of seeing Tilly again is a bonus — and has him more worked up than he wants to admit. Only he’s not prepared for how different she is — all cool and professional. His Tilly is still in there, though… and he still wants her, now more than ever. All he has to do is charm her into giving him a rematch. And this time, winner takes all!