Football can be exciting for some people and extremely boring for others, but what happens when you throw in a little romance? We’ve gathered 20 of the best football romance books that even the biggest sports haters may enjoy.
Vanessa Mazur is an assistant for Aiden Graves, a football defensive end who hardly ever talks to her. The job was always supposed to be temporary and Vanessa knows she shouldn’t feel bad for quitting, but she still feels a pang of guilt because of it.
After quitting, Vanessa never expected Aiden would come knocking on her door, begging her to come back. It’s safe to say she is shocked because in the two years she worked for him, Aiden hardly showed any interest. Now, he is asking something that Vanessa doesn’t know how to respond to.
You can find The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata here.
The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan
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Anna Jones wants to stay focused on her life and getting through college, but it’s hard when the star quarterback Drew Baylor is constantly staring at her. One night with him changes everything, but Anna wants it to remain casual.
Drew, however, has other plans. He wants to be with Anna, and she may be trying to turn him down, but it’s obvious that she wants more too.
The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan can be found here.
The Player by Claire Contreras
Warren Silva is one of the most famous soccer players in the world, and he’s also a real estate investor. But when Camila Avila meets him for the first time, she has no idea who he is.
Camila catches Warren’s attention, but despite his efforts, she proves hard to seduce. Warren settles on a friendship, and he has 3 weeks to convince Camila that they should be more than friends.
You can purchase The Player by Claire Contreras here.
Team Hate by Rebel Hart
Jane Panesse has been playing football ever since she was 16 and her dad died. She wanted to pay tribute to him, so she worked throughout college to prove that she was good enough to be part of the team.
Now, Jane is an assistant coach for the North Carolina Knights. One of the players, John Scepter, is particularly egotistical and rude. He’s trying to force Jane out of the team, and she hates him for it. But she also can’t help the butterflies she gets in her stomach when he’s around, and that makes her despise him even more.
Tallulah Liddell has always tried not to draw much attention to herself, feeling insecure about her weight and the way she looks. Nash Lee has been her crush for a long time and the only person who’s paid any attention to her, but when he laughs at a joke aimed toward Tallulah, she becomes determined to lose weight.
Nash is the star running back on the football team, but an injury leaves him with a permanent limp and eliminates his plans for the future. In the new school year, Tallulah has worked to lose weight and she is out for revenge. But things don’t go how she expected, and soon she and Nash are falling in love.
You can find Losing the Field by Abbi Glines here.
Sweet Home by Tillie Cole
Molly is 20 and goes to Oxford, but she decides to leave England and go to the University of Alabama to start a new life. She never expected such hot summers and didn’t realize how football-obsessed the students would be.
When Molly meets the star quarterback, Romeo Prince, she is immediately attracted to him. And soon, her life of loneliness is about to change completely.
Dusty has hated her neighbor Stone since sixth grade when he stopped paying attention to her and started paying attention to his reputation instead. Stone kept getting more and more popular, becoming the star of the football team, while Dusty kept experiencing tragedies and becoming more invisible every day.
Now, Dusty has had another horrible experience, but this time Stone is there, trying to console her. But Dusty doesn’t want his consolation, because she’s still angry at Stone. As far as she’s concerned, he will always be her enemy.
Riley has known Zeke since they were kids; Zeke was her brother’s best friend. Riley used to be friends with Zeke too, but something in high school changed the way she felt. Now, Riley and Zeke are on the same football team in college.
Riley is the only girl on the team, which can be challenging at times, and then her coach assigns Zeke as her roommate. Riley is not excited at first, but the more time she spends with Zeke, the more she remembers the good about him and the nice parts of their past together.
Blake is a coach in the NFL, and she knows that falling for the players would be unprofessional. When she gets her dream job and starts coaching the Boston Rebels, she realizes that her one rule may be harder to follow than she anticipated.
Suddenly, Blake is falling for 3 of the players on the team. Tristan, Xavier, and Colt make it hard to focus, and Blake finds her heart pulling toward all of them even though she knows she shouldn’t.
The Reverse Play by Julia Clarke can be purchased here.
All Broke Down by Cora Carmack
Dylan is an activist who fights in as many protests as she can. She ends up in jail after one of them, and it’s there that she meets Silas, an arrogant man who is there because of a fight. Despite Silas’ rude and egotistical nature, Dylan finds herself being drawn to him.
Silas is a football player who knows Dylan’s type: Girls like her always want to fix him, and Silas doesn’t think he needs fixing. But when his anger issues threaten his spot on the football team, Silas decides that Dylan might be able to help him after all.
When Delaney Shaw gets a text from “Badass Athlete” in the middle of the night, she has no idea who it could be. But the anonymous texter seems to know exactly who she is, and he’s daring her to spend one night with him. Delaney knows it’s stupid, but she is bored and decides to do it.
After her night with the mysterious man, Delaney finds out that he’s Maverick Monroe, an extremely famous football player. Delaney has sworn off dating athletes after her last horrible relationship, but Maverick is determined to change her mind and show her that things can be different.
I Dare You by Ilsa Madden-Mills can be purchased here.
Wrecking Ball by P. Dangelico
Cam DeSantis has lost her husband, job, and money all at the same time, and it seems like her life is falling apart. When Calvin Shaw, the starting quarterback for the New York Titans, asks her to be a nanny and teacher for his 8-year-old nephew, Cam has no choice but to accept.
Calvin is extremely focused on his career, aiming to win another Superbowl before his expected retirement. But having Cam in the house makes it difficult, and he finds himself distracted whenever she’s around.
Joanna has just been through a breakup, so when she becomes Knox’s English tutor, she is wary of him. Knox is the star offensive tight end on the football team at their college, and everyone loves him.
Joanna knows she has to keep things professional with Knox. On top of her recent breakup, she’s also seen the dynamic between her mom and athlete father all her life, and she knows to stay away from athletes. But something about Knox is drawing her in, and Joanna is finding it hard to stop thinking about him.
You can find Playing Hard to Get by Monica Murphy here.
Fumbled Hearts by Meagan Brandy
Kalani doesn’t want to move to Alrick Falls, but she finally gives in to her family’s pleads and ends up there. She tries to make the best of it, avoiding the person she wants to see the least and sticking to her plan.
When she meets Nate, a quarterback, she finds him immediately obnoxious. Always in Kalani’s space and trying to talk to her, she doesn’t want to show him affection. But Nate has a way of luring her in, and soon it’s hard for Kalani to stay away.
You can purchase Fumbled Hearts by Meagan Brandy here.
The Upside of Falling by Alex Light
Becca is 17 years old and when her ex-best friend makes fun of her for not having a boyfriend, Becca finds herself in the middle of a lie. Having to prove the lie that she has a boyfriend, Becca gets help from Brett, the quarterback of the football team.
Keeping up their fake relationship is challenging, especially because they both have personal things that they are dealing with on top of it. But as Brett and Becca talk more, they realize just how much they have in common, and they start falling for each other for real.
The Upside of Falling by Alex Light can be read here.
Broken Knight by L.J. Shen
Knight has a haunted past that has broken him, but he hides all of his hurt behind a mask. He spends his days being a social butterfly, athletic and popular.
Luna is a shy and quiet girl, but that doesn’t mean she is weak, and she doesn’t need protection.
Luna lives across the street from Knight, and he is drawn to her. When they meet, the two are immediately interested in each other, and it starts a story that changes their lives forever.
When Harper first sees the new kid, Andrew, she knows he will be a perfect starter boyfriend. He’s in a band with her, and he’s not out of her league.
Then Harper starts tutoring Ridley, the school’s star football player, and Harper’s life completely changes. Now she’s caught between two boys and she has everything to lose.
You can read I’ll Be Yours by Jenny B. Jones here.
The Fantasy League by Meg Reading
When Scarlett resigns from being Abel Abbott’s personal chef, she definitely doesn’t think he will ask her to become his pretend girlfriend. She is going to turn him down, but then he makes an offer that she can’t refuse.
The lines between the true and false start to blur, and then something from Abel’s past threatens them, having the potential to tear them apart for good or bring them closer than ever.
The Fantasy League by Meg Reading can be purchased here.
Misadventures of a College Girl by Lauren Rowe
Zooey is a college freshman who doesn’t want a boyfriend, but she does want to lose her virginity before classes start in two days. So she goes to a party and finds Tyler, a football player who she makes out with but nothing more.
When classes start, Zooey finds out that she has two classes with Tyler, and things are about to get more complicated than anything she bargained for.
You can find Misadventures of a College Girl by Lauren Rowe here.
One by Jewel E. Ann
Lake Jones has a fine life, but she is slightly unhappy. When she meets Cage Monoghan, Minnesota’s NFL starting quarterback, she is transported back to the past. 3 years prior, Lake and Cage kissed each other, but it wasn’t the right time for them to be together.
Now that they’ve met again, it still doesn’t seem like it’s the right time. But it seems like fate is trying to tell them something, and they might just have to take their chances and see where things end up.
Football romance books are basically what they sound like: Books involving romance and football. One or more of the main characters in the book will be affiliated with football in some way for it to be considered a “football romance”.
What is the highest-selling romance book?
The highest-selling romance book as of right now is Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, with over 150 million copies sold since its publishing in 2011.
Freya grew up in Portland Oregon and still resides there now. She has been reading for as long as she can remember, and loves that books allow you to escape into someone else’s reality for a little while. When she is not writing or reading she enjoys playing piano, baking, and going outside.
