The sports romance continues to have its moment and we’re loving it. Sometimes though, we get a little tired of the NFL and NHL and are looking for something, well, not that. We’ve put together this list of terrific athletic (*wink) romances that feature other teams and sports. Go team go!
The Long Game by Elena Armas
Adalyn Reyes has spent years perfecting her daily routine: wake up at dawn, drive to the Miami Flames FC offices, try her hardest to leave a mark, go home, and repeat.
But her routine is disrupted when a video of her in an altercation with the team’s mascot goes viral. Rather than fire her, the team’s owner—who happens to be her father—sends Adalyn to middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, where she’s tasked with turning around the struggling local soccer team, the Green Warriors, as a way to redeem herself. Her plans crumble upon discovering that the players wear tutus to practice (impractical), keep pet goats (messy), and are terrified of Adalyn (counterproductive), and are nine-year-old kids.
To make things worse, also in town is Cameron Caldani, goalkeeping prodigy whose presence is somewhat of a mystery. Cam is the perfect candidate to help Adalyn, but after one very unfortunate first encounter involving a rooster, Cam’s leg, and Adalyn’s bumper, he’s also set on running her out of town. But banishment is not an option for Adalyn. Not again. Helping this ragtag children’s team is her road to redemption, and she is playing the long game. With or without Cam’s help.
Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner
Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.
Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.
As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?
Fangirl Down by Tess Bailey
Wells Whitaker was once golf’s hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his “promising” career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life. Josephine Doyle believed in the gorgeous, grumpy golfer, even when he didn’t believe in himself. Yet after he throws in the towel, she begins to wonder if her faith was misplaced. Then a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild be his new caddy, help him turn his game around, and split the prize money. And considering Josephine’s professional and personal life is in shambles, she could really use the cash… As they travel together, spending days on the green and nights in neighboring hotel rooms, sparks fly. Before long, they’re inseparable, Wells starts winning again, and Josephine is surprised to find a sweet, thoughtful guy underneath his gruff, growly exterior. This hot man wants to brush her hair, feed her snacks, and take bubble baths together? Is this real life? But Wells is technically her boss and an athlete falling for his fangirl would be ridiculous… right?
The Dixon Rule by Elle Kennedy
Diana Dixon has a lot going on this summer. She’s rehearsing for a ballroom dance competition, juggling two jobs, and dealing with an ex-boyfriend who can’t take the hint it’s over. Yet despite all that, she still has plenty of time and energy to tell Shane Lindley to screw off.
Shane just moved into her apartment building and seems dedicated to sleeping his way through her entire cheerleading squad. Sure, he’s a tall, gorgeous hockey player, but he’s messing with her turf. This calls for some ground rules: no parties in her apartment, leave her teammates alone, and—most importantly—leave her alone.
What Diana doesn’t realize is that Shane’s sick of hookups and tired of being on the rebound after his long-term girlfriend called it quits. He wants a relationship. And when his ex comes back into the picture, he pretends he has one to make her jealous…and who better to play the girlfriend role than his sassy new neighbor?
Despite Diana’s reluctance to break her rule, a fake relationship is the perfect solution for her own ex issues, and soon she can’t deny something is sizzling between her and Shane. Something hot and completely unexpected.
And it might just be getting a little too real.
Playing for Keeps by Jennifer Dugan
June is the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team—with an ego to match—and she’s a shoo-in to be recruited at the college level, like her parents have always envisioned. That is, if she can play through an overuse injury that has recently gone from bad to worse.
Ivy isn’t just reffing to pay off her athletic fees or make some extra cash on the side. She wants to someday officiate at the professional level, even if her parents would rather she go to college instead.
The first time they cross paths, Ivy throws June out of a game for grandstanding. Still, they quickly grow from enemies to begrudging friends . . . and then something more. But the rules state that players and umpires are prohibited from dating.
As June’s shoulder worsens, and a rival discovers the girls’ secret and threatens to expose them, everything the two have worked so hard for is at risk. Now both must choose: follow their dreams . . . or follow their hearts?
Night Shift by Annie Crown
A sweet encounter between a bookworm and a basketball player turns steamy in the stacks after hours . . .
Kendall Holiday spends her Fridays exactly where she wants to be: ensconced in a romance novel in an empty college library working the graveyard shift. The quiet of the library is dependable, and gives Kendall an excellent excuse for skipping out on the loud, raucous start to the weekend. Lost in the pages of her favorite love stories, Kendall blocks out the world—until Vincent Knight, the school’s star basketball player, turns up.
Handsome, tall, and extremely popular, Vincent’s a standout on the court, but he’s out of his depth in the stacks: he’s got an urgent assignment due and doesn’t have a clue where to start. When his meet-cute with Kendall turns into a steamy make-out session, neither are quite prepared for what comes next.
Opposites might attract in romance novels . . . but it takes a lot more truth than tropes to make it work in real life.
Stealing Home by Grace Reilly
Series Name: Beyond the Play, # 3
Sebastian
It’s my final season to prove myself before the MLB draft. The last thing I need is a distraction—and especially not one as tantalizing as Mia di Angelo.
She’s the drop-dead gorgeous astrophysicist-in-training who ditched me the moment I wanted to take us from casual to committed. Yeah. Ouch. But when she needs somewhere to stay for the summer… well, I offer her my place.
Being roommates shouldn’t be so hard. Not distracting at all. Not the least bit challenging…
Mia
I have two goals this summer: get into a study abroad program and get over golden baseball god Sebastian Miller-Callahan.
Doesn’t mean it’s easy to stop thinking about him, but he deserves better than a prickly, career-focused girl like me. Our futures can’t be more different. The last thing I need is to play roommates with the only man who can set my body ablaze.
And all the feelings I’ve tried to pretend I never had? They come rushing back far too strong for either of us to ignore.
Off the Grid by K. Bromberg
Series Name: Full Throttle Series, # 1
Spencer Riggs is sexy, intense and driven in his pursuit of all things racing.
That pursuit now includes me.
The cocky bad boy of racing struts onto my father’s team like he owns it. One look from him and I can tell he thinks he owns the boss’s daughter too.
I’m determined to resist that panty-melting smile he keeps flashing my way. I have no time for distractions. Fulfilling a last promise to my father is my only goal.
Race after race, city after city, I do my best to keep it professional. I swear I do. But one night after a hard-fought win, we’re celebrating, and Riggs claims his own sweet victory. Me.
His sizzling touch owns my body, but it’s the broken man beneath the public façade who slowly wins my heart.
Before I realize it, Riggs is the one I’m willing to risk everything for. Even if it means breaking a promise. But with our hearts on the line, will he risk everything for me?
Flawless by Elsie Silver
Series Name: Chestnut Springs, # 1
The rules were simple: keep his hands off his agent’s daughter and stay out of trouble.
But now he’s stuck with her. There’s only one bed. And well, rules are made to be broken.
Rhett Eaton is the face of professional bull riding. The golden boy. Or at least he was until it all blew up in his face after a public brawl. Now his agent says he has to clean up his image, and sticks Rhett with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as “full-time supervision.”
But Rhett doesn’t need a goddamn babysitter―especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk, and a mouth she can’t stop running.
A mouth he can’t stop thinking about.
And he quickly learns that Summer Hamilton isn’t just another conquest. She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run―she pulls him closer, even when she shouldn’t.
She says this means nothing.
Rhett says this means everything.
She says there are boundaries they shouldn’t cross. That Rhett’s reputation can’t take any more hits…and neither can her damaged heart.
Rhett says he’s going to steal it anyway.
Out of His League by Caroline Richardson
Sometimes you’ve got to leave your heart on the field
Gretchen Harper has always been practical. Dependable, solid, predictable. She’s never taken risks, and she’s especially never bought coffee for gorgeous professional athletes in airports. That is, until she meets her favorite baseball player on the worst day of his career.
Being sent to the minor league is just the first of Joshua Malvern’s many worries―he’s got an injury that won’t heal and his entire career and future are on the line. When a beautiful woman offers him coffee, that simple kindness is exactly what he needs to lift him out of his funk. He asks her to join him in first class, not expecting to end up joining her in bed.
What starts as a one night stand ends up holding the promise for so much more. And while stepping out of her comfort zone has never been Gretchen’s style, for a chance at true love she’ll have to decide whether she’ll swing for the fences, even if it means striking out.
