It’s become a tradition of sorts for me to put up a new sports romance recommendation list this specific week every year, when everyone’s got the big game on their minds. It’s certainly not a hardship; sports romances are popular for a reason – it’s a versatile sub-genre that incorporates many, many different tropes. From college romances to professional athletes to retired players, there are so many different directions that sports romances can go. Add in some love lessons, fake dating, forbidden tension, hurt/comfort, or a second chance situation, and sports romances come in every flavor. They can also be anything from light and sexy popcorn reads to angstier, more insightful journeys, and that’s its own kind of fun.
Some of my favorite romance books are sports romances, and they are often incredibly bingeable, so I’ve had no trouble filling up four of these lists over the years. So bonus recommendations are available if this is your first time checking out the list!
From alpha jockholes to cinnamon roll sweethearts, there’s a hero for everyone on this list – and there are plenty of tropes at play too. Each of these contemporary romance novels was a 4 or 5-star read for me. I’ve included the blurbs, links to my book reviews when available, and links to Amazon for easy addition to your collection. Happy reading!
Links to my other sports romance recommendation lists below!
The Right Move by Liz Tomforde
RYAN
She’s a distraction, that’s what she is.
I’m the newest Captain of the Devils, Chicago’s NBA team, and the last thing I needed this year was for Indy Ivers, my sister’s best friend, to move into my apartment. She’s messy, emotional, and way too tempting.
But when the team’s General Manager vocalizes his blatant disapproval of my promotion to Captain, referring to me as an unapproachable lone wolf with no work-life balance, I can’t think of a better way to convince him otherwise than pretending to date my outgoing roommate.
The only problem? Faking it feels far too natural.
Having a fake girlfriend wasn’t supposed to be messy but having Indy under my roof and in my bed is complicated, especially when she wants all the romantic parts of life that I could never give her.
INDY
I never imagined I’d be living with my best friend’s brother, NBA superstar Ryan Shay. Even more unbelievable? He needs me to act as his loving girlfriend who’s suddenly changed him into a friendly and approachable guy.
Because, well…he’s not. He’s controlling of his space and untrusting of others.
Our arrangement isn’t one-sided, though. I’m in a wedding coming up, one where every one of my childhood friends, including my ex-boyfriend, will be in attendance, and there’s no better date than my ex’s celebrity hero.
Blurred lines make it almost impossible to separate real from fake. Falling for my roommate was never part of the deal, especially when Ryan is quick to remind me that he doesn’t believe in love.
I’m a romantic and can’t help fantasizing that he’ll change, but soon enough, I find myself questioning if sharing a roof with my best friend’s brother was the right move after all.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3XtnLlz
Hard to Handle by K. Bromberg
New York Times bestselling author K. Bromberg is back with an all new second-chance, standalone hockey romance.
At first, the request seemed simple—sign a new athlete to the agency.
Then I found out the new athlete was none other than the most wanted man in hockey today: Hunter Maddox.
Gifted. Sexy. At the top of his game. And the only man who has ever broken my heart.
If signing him will help save our family business, I’ll swallow my pride and do what’s asked.
But when it becomes clear his uncharacteristic antics off the ice are a hint of something deeper, keeping things strictly professional between us becomes more than complicated. But I know better than to cross that line.
I’ll never date a client. Not even for him.
***
Win the Stanley Cup and do it before time runs out.
Not a small feat, but it’s what’s motivated me since the start of my career.
And time is running out.
Enter Dekker Kincade.
Feisty. Dogged. Damn gorgeous. The one I let get away.
I have no idea why she’s traveling with the team, but hell if resisting her is going to be easy.
But I have a job to do, and I refuse to lose sight of that end game. Even if she confuses me. Even if she sees parts of me I’ve hidden from the world.
I can’t lose focus. Not even for her.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/31sFj7b
Consider Me by Becka Mack
Carter Beckett is the NHL’s resident bad boy, top player both on the ice and in the bedroom, and quite possibly the sexiest man to ever grace my field of vision. But worst of all? He knows it.
He’s arrogant, self-centered, and the man doesn’t seem to know what a filter is, let alone how to use one. He’s had everything served to him on a silver platter, including endless strings of women, and apparently, I’m up next.
His only problem? I have no intention of falling for his shi—um, charm.
I have the solution to all my sexual frustrations in a drawer at home, and it’s far less complicated than Carter Beckett. Sure, he may be pretty, but he’s also a walking, talking reminder for you to wrap it before you tap it.
But then I start letting my guard down, and he starts showing me pieces of himself I had no intention of seeing. The bricks surrounding me may be tumbling down one by one, but I’m not sold yet, which means for the first time in his life, Carter’s the one begging.
For my time, my trust, for a single chance.
For me to just…consider him.
Consider Me is book #1 in the Playing For Keeps series, a series of interconnected standalone mature hockey romance stories that contain lots of heat, swoon, laughs, and a ride on an emotional rollercoaster!
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xQXGlx
Jock Blocked by Pippa Grant
She can’t let him score…
Call it superstition, but when a guy bats as hot as Brooks Elliott, you don’t mess with what’s working. And what’s working is him keeping his pants zipped and doing all of his scoring on the field.
So when I hear he’s planning to ditch his V-card now that he’s been traded to baseball’s lovable losers—aka my home team and my reason for living every March through October—I do what any rational, dedicated, obsessed fan would do.
I make a plan to stop him.
But the thing about stopping him is that it requires spending time with him.
Lots. And lots. And lots of time.
And the more time I spend with him, the more I like him. Not as the guy who’s going to help save my favorite team and finally bring home a championship ring, but as the guy who’s helping me in my quest to bring back the team’s old mascot. Who also loves making pancake and bacon sandwiches. And who would do almost anything for his love of the game.
But after all this time of jock-blocking him…do I even have a chance?
And if I do, are we both destined to a life of celibacy in the name of winning?
Jock Blocked is a home run of a feel-good romantic comedy featuring the world’s most superstitious sports fan, baseball’s oldest virgin hero, a rogue meatball, an adorable puppy with a cussing problem, and the best lovable losers. It stands alone and comes with a happily ever after more satisfying than a game-winning grand slam.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2WMPVuW
I Promise You by Ilsa Madden-Mills
Dillon McQueen: Babe. I promise. You want me.
Serena Jensen: Um, who are you?
There’s a legend at Waylon University: the first girl you kiss freshman year at the bonfire party is the one you’ll never forget. She’ll crawl under your skin and never leave. She’ll spark a passion so fierce you’ll burn the world down to possess her.
You might even put a ring on it.
As in all things with fate, timing is everything. That kiss can go horribly wrong. She might run in the opposite direction. And boy, did Serena run.
Dillon is Waylon’s hotshot quarterback with something to prove. All he wants is to graduate and make it to the NFL. What he doesn’t need is to finally meet the mystery girl he kissed at the bonfire freshman year. Isn’t it enough that she’s haunted his dreams for more than a thousand nights?
Fate laughs in his face when he runs into the quirky girl at the Piggly Wiggly. Surrounded by his entourage, he’s got all the Oreos in his cart; she gets revenge by buying every six-pack of his favorite beer.
Obviously, that legend is a curse. She’s not his type and hates him. Worst of all, how can she not remember him when she left a Serena-shaped hole in his heart for the past three years?
So why can’t he stop trying to win her?
Will this quarterback score the girl or make the biggest fumble of his life?
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3lBdZuh
The Change Up by Meghan Quinn
BREAKING NEWS: The Bad Boy of Baseball, Maddox Paige, is totally and utterly whipped.
Okay, that might not be the headlines in the newspaper this morning, but it’s the reality of my current situation.
It all started a month ago when I received a call from my best friend, Kinsley. She got a new job in Chicago and needed a place to stay. I’ve known the girl since I was five, what harm would it be to have her stay at my place for a while?
Ha! Total disaster.
Now instead of going out every night with my teammates, I’m couch surfing and sketching endless photos of my best friend . . . but that’s the least of my concerns.
The disaster, you ask? I’m rapidly falling head over cleats in love with my best friend, my roommate, and my number one fan.
And she has no idea . . .
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2MQVdzT
Wildcat by Max Monroe
You’ve never heard this version of the Mile High Club…
I’m the nerdy, book-loving, small-town flight attendant, and he’s the hot, talented, completely unattainable quarterback who just magically ended up on my plane.
If my life had a historically set, third-person narrator, this would be one of the things that “shan’t ever happen to this maiden.”
But it’s happening.
Quinn Bailey, one of the best quarterbacks in the country—the man who has millions of women fantasizing about him on the regular and a football record that woos most men—is now in full pursuit of winning me.
My body is telling me to go for it, but my brain knows better…
Because there’s nothing simple about falling in love with a superstar.
Especially when the whole world is watching.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3jOg8re
Flawless by Elsie Silver
The rules were simple. Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble.
But now I’m stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken.
I’m the face of professional bull riding—the golden boy. Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face. Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”
But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter, especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running.
A mouth I can’t stop thinking about.
Because Summer isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run—she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.
She says this means nothing.
I say this means everything.
She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross. That my reputation can’t take any more hits—and neither can her damaged heart.
I say I’m going to steal it anyway.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3onzLoK
Everything for You by Chloe Liese
Gear up for an all-the-feels, steamy slow-burn in this enemies-to-lovers sports romance about fighting for love when life’s taught you it’s a losing game.
Gavin
We’ve been teammates for two years, but it feels like a lifetime that Oliver Bergman’s been on my last nerve. A demanding captain and veteran player, I’m feared and friendless, while he’s the beloved rising star, all sunshine smiles and upbeat team spirit. To make matters worse, he’s obscenely attractive. In short: he’s genetically designed to get under my skin.
Avoiding Oliver has been my survival tactic on and off the field. But when Coach drops the bomb that we’re now co-captains, avoiding him becomes impossible, and keeping the truth from him–let alone my distance–is harder than ever.
Oliver
Life was great until soccer legend Gavin Hayes joined the team and proved he’s nothing like the guy I grew up idolizing. Instead, he’s a giant–albeit gorgeous–grump who lives to rain on my parade. I’ve sworn off pranks since entering the public eye, so rather than settle our differences the Bergman way, I’ve had to settle for killing Gavin with kindness. There’s just one problem: killing him with kindness is killing me.
To make matters worse, Coach gives us an ultimatum: put an end to our enmity or say goodbye to being captains. I’m prepared to be miserable while we meet her demands and make nice, but the last thing I expect is to discover an explosive attraction we can’t help but act on, and worse yet, to realize the man hiding beneath Gavin’s gruff exterior is all I’ve ever wanted.
Everything for You is a grumpy-sunshine, enemies-to-lovers, age gap sports romance about an upbeat rising soccer star with anxiety and his curmudgeonly veteran teammate who lives with chronic pain. Complete with nosy senior citizens, nosier siblings, and a meddling coach, this standalone slow burn is the fifth in a series of novels about a Swedish-American family of five brothers, two sisters, and their wild adventures as they each find happily ever after.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Mm1YX2
Shenanigans by Sarina Bowen
What I meant to do in Vegas: Let my hair down for once and celebrate winning a medal at my first women’s hockey all-stars competition.
What I actually did: Got senior prom drunk and woke up married to Brooklyn’s star winger, the great Neil Drake.
He’s the heir to a billion dollars, and I barely survived my childhood. Our friendship is based strictly only on hockey, takeout food and smack talk.
And now holy matrimony. Although we both know it can’t last, especially once his evil family gets wind of our Vegas shenanigans…
Contains: Meddling teammates, meddling parents, ugly jewelry and a pretend-kiss that nearly sets the world on fire.
Read the audiobook review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LE6ZdY
Sin Bin by Teagan Hunter
I should stay away.
Emilia Anderson is the team’s social media manager, and there are strict rules about not fraternizing with the staff. It doesn’t matter that we already accidentally broke them—we can’t let it happen again.
Besides, my time in the NHL is winding down, and this is my last shot at winning the Cup. I need to focus on the game, not some girl I have no business chasing.
She’s ten years younger than me.
She’s the assistant coach’s niece.
And she works for the team.
She’s off-limits…and too hard to resist.
I know better than to play this game…
But it looks like I’m heading to the sin bin.
SIN BIN is a standalone age gap/forbidden hockey romcom with lots of steam, wit, and fun!
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3BNwtTU
Dear Roomie by Kate Meader
Reid Durand isn’t here to make friends.
Coming from a legacy of hockey greatness, he has games to win and things to prove. With his focus during his first season as a Chicago Rebel purely on his drive to succeed, every vice is off the table. No booze, no sugar, and definitely no women.
Kennedy Clark is the master of the side hustle.
She’ll walk your dog, brew your espresso, and pick up your dry-cleaning, all while rocking it in Warrior pose. Standing still is impossible for her, because the moment she starts to slow down, it’ll come rushing back in a torrent. The memories. The pain. The heartbreak.
Their meet-cute is more of a freeze-cute. Besides, they already know each other. He’s the rude, entitled customer at her coffee shop, or what used to be her coffee shop since she just got fired–because of Mr. Extra Shot Americano himself.
Reid didn’t intend to get Kennedy fired.
He didn’t intend to rescue a dog after the poor thing ended up in the lake.
And he definitely didn’t intend to acquire a new roommate.
A curvy, chatty, tempting roommate.
Now this perfect storm of events are about to wreak havoc on his neatly-ordered life.
Reid Durand isn’t here to make friends, and he’s certainly not here to lose his heart to a puppy, a team, or a chaos agent like Kennedy. But then we don’t always get what we want …
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3hTUMFP
Jock Row by Sara Ney
I have always the sensible one: The sober driver. The planner. The one holding my friends hair back while they’re worshiping the porcelain gods. Week-after-week, I visits Jock Row with my friends—the universities hottest party scene and breeding ground for student athletes. And if keeping my friends out of trouble–and guys out of their pants–was a sport, I’d be the star athlete.
Being a well known jock-blocker gets me noticed for all the wrong reasons; just like that, I’m banned from Jock Row.
NO GUY WANTS A GIRL AROUND WHO KEEPS THEIR JOCK FRIENDS FROM GETTING LAID.
“Rowdy” Wade is the hot shot short-stop for the universities baseball team—and the unlucky bastard who drew the short straw: keeping me out of the Baseball House. But week-after-week I return, determined to get inside.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HNNeQ4
First and Tension by Tara Sivec
It all started with a dare.
Emily Flanagan has been living her dreams the last four years as a professional cheerleader for the Los Angeles Vipers, thousands of miles away from her tiny hometown of Summersweet Island, Virginia. She’s got the world at the tips of her pom-poms… until she tells her boss to shove those pom-poms where the sun doesn’t shine.
After spending her last night in California with her biggest crush, Emily flies back home to Summersweet, resigned to her boring fate of running her parents’ business, never to be heard from again. Besides, there’s no use crying over a man who lives on the other side of the country, who she’ll never see again.
“Secret love affair for the new quarterback of the Virginia Beach Sharks, or a shocking tale of infidelity, leading all the way back to a birthday party Quinn Bagley threw at his previous home in Calabasas five months ago? New photos of the mystery redhead from the party surface, leaving fans to speculate all over social media, “Who is this woman who convinced Quinn Bagley to quit the Vipers and go to one of the worst teams in the league?”
Quinn Bagley is finally playing for a team that feels like a family, after years of playing with nothing but egos. Following an announcement that shocked the world—one he’d been wrestling with for months, if not years—it felt good to have that weight lifted off his shoulders. What he’s not happy about is that the woman who rocked his world the night she literally fell into his life turned out to be like every other crazy redhead he’s ever encountered, spreading lies all over social media and wanting to use him for something. He just wants to look her in the eyes and hear her admit it was all a game.
Except Emily Flanagan isn’t the hotheaded, rude woman he thought she was, out to screw him over. She’s sweet, sexy, and fun. Even if she does try to banish him from her island. She makes him feel normal, she makes him laugh, and she makes him want more.
He’s going to win her heart, even if he has to do it in overtime.
Let the real games begin, Miss Flanagan. I dare you.
Read the review here
Amazon: https://amzn.to/35aJLbs
Pucked by Helena Hunting
***The 1st standalone novel in The Pucked Series***
With a famous NHL player for a stepbrother, Violet Hall is well acquainted with the playboy reputation of many a hockey star. So of course she isn’t interested in legendary team captain Alex Waters or his pretty, beat-up face and rock-hard six-pack abs. When Alex inadvertently obliterates Violet’s misapprehension regarding the inferior intellect of hockey players, he becomes much more than just a hot body with the face to match.
Suffering from a complete lapse in judgment, Violet discovers just how good Alex is with the hockey stick in his pants. Violet believes her night of orgasmic magic with Alex is just that: one night. But Alex starts to call. And text. And email and send extravagant—and quirky—gifts. Suddenly, he’s too difficult to ignore, and nearly impossible not to like.
The problem is, the media portrays Alex as a total player, and Violet doesn’t want to be part of the game.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3IcOPQL
Want more sports romance recommendations? Check out my other lists!
15 Sexy Sports Romance Novels
15 Superb Sports Romances
15 Sensational Sports Romances
I’ve got lists for plenty of other themes here
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