Trope
Clean Sports Romance Books
Sports romance is part book about an athlete, part book about the very specific person who finally sees them as a regular human. I didn't think I was a sports romance reader until a hockey series pulled me all the way in, and now athletes take up a suspicious amount of my TBR.
It's all no spice, closed door if anywhere on the page. The pull of the trope is straightforward: athletes have devotion, real stakes, a public version of themselves that doesn't match the private one, and one person who gets to see the whole picture. Clean writers do sports romance especially well because the chemistry can play out at practice, in the parking lot after a loss, at the team dinner where she's the only one who isn't a fan.
Hockey shows up a lot in this corner (I have a dedicated page for it). What you'll find here: football players who got drafted out of small towns, baseball players whose careers are nearly over and who don't know what comes after, college athletes whose love interests aren't impressed by their stats, and the rare retired pro whose second act is the actual love story.
The Lucky One
#4 in Enchanted Hollow
Betrothal Or Breakaway
#3 in D.C. Eagles Hockey
Checking Mr. Wrong
#3 in Love in Maple Falls
The Holiday Assist
#5 in The Peppermint Playbook
Fake Skating
Serving Scrooge
#2 in The Peppermint Playbook
Fumble All the Way
#4 in The Peppermint Playbook
The Kiss Class
#3 in Nebraska Knights
The Player and the Pop Star
#1 in The Vista City Kings
Runaway Bride and Prejudice
#5 in Appies Hockey Romance
Mistletoe Face Off
Catch Me If I Fall
#2 in Seasons of Sugar Creek (The Fletcher Family)
Perfectly Complicated Christmas Romance
#4 in Perfect Crush Hockey Romance
Love in Overtime
#4 in Love on Thin Ice
As You Ice It
#7 in Appies Hockey Romance
Love Catch
#2 in The Love Playbook
The Golden Goal
#1 in More Than a Game
Summer Ever After
#1 in Falling for Summer
Falling Back to You
#3 in The Reluctant Romantics
Could've Fooled Me
#1 in Georgia Jaguars Hockey
Love Between Innings
#1 in Waves Baseball
Skating and Fake Dating
#4 in Love in Maple Falls
Love on the Ropes
Fake-Off with Fate
#1 in Love in Maple Falls
My Merry Mistake
#3 in Holidays With Hart
The Safety and the Secret
#2 in The Vista City Kings
Margo and the Faux Good Luck Beau
#4 in Nebraska Knights
The Love Gimmick
The Buy-In
#1 in Love Stories in Sheet Cake
Home Run Heart
#2 in Kitt's Harbor
The Friend Face Off
#3 in Love on Thin Ice
The Ex Puck Bunny
#5 in Nebraska Knights
Love Never Happens with your Brother’s Best Friend
#3 in Love Never Happens
Goalie and the Girl Next Door
#5 in Love in Maple Falls
Love at First Skate
#6 in Love on Thin Ice
Absolutely Not in Love
#2 in Appies Hockey Romance
Redd, Whit & Blue
#2 in Nebraska Knights
Holiday Hostilities
#2 in Cyclones Christmas
The Parent Playbook
#5 in Love on Thin Ice
Jingle Blades
#1 in The Peppermint Playbook
Season's Schemings
#1 in Cyclones Christmas
Soulmates and Slapshots
#6 in Love in Maple Falls
Her Goal
#3 in Love in Hockey Town
Offside and Off-Limits
#2 in Love in Maple Falls
His Jersey
#1 in Love in Hockey Town
The Icing on the Cake
#7 in Love in Maple Falls
Green Card Christmas
#2 in Just A Guy With A Goal
Love at Teamsgiving
#6 in Nebraska Knights
The Sugar Creek Blame Game
#6 in Seasons of Sugar Creek (The Fletcher Family)
Since We've No Place to Go
The Christmas Catch
A Very Merry Matchup
Checking You Twice
#3 in The Peppermint Playbook
Penalties and Proposals
#7 in Love on Thin Ice
The Rebound Play
#2 in Love on Thin Ice
A Summer of Stars
Breaking the Ice
#1 in Love on Thin Ice
Hooked on You
#1 in A Maple Falls Romance
Presley's Christmas Catch
#3 in LA Rays Sports Romance
When Alec Met Evie
#6 in Appies Hockey Romance
A Groom of One's Own
#3 in Appies Hockey Romance
Rookie Season
#1 in Hockey Boys of Loft 3B
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