the ask@AAR: What’s your favorite sports romance?
Over the past weeks, like vast swaths of America, every Sunday night, my family watched ESPN’s The Last Dance documentary series featuring the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time) Michael Jordan and his 1990s Chicago Bulls teams. We love basketball–we live in Tobacco Road territory–and have sorely missed the sport.
The Last Dance was great fun–Michael Jordan is notoriously unknowable so it was fascinating to see him–somewhat–open up. As I watched, I realized there aren’t a lot of sports romances that I could think of–big caveat–that feature a G.O.A.T. John Kowalsky in Rachel Gibson’s Simply Irresistible comes close. I’m sure there’s some composite of the football studs from Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars series that would be a G.O.A.T.
But really, who needs a G.O.A.T.? Many of the best sports romances are about athletes who are part of a team–romance tends to favor those who see a world larger than themselves. I miss live sports–although not as much as my husband and youngest son–because I love seeing people being extraordinary.
All of this is to say, I’m jonesing for some great sports romances. What have you got for me? I’m looking for your G.O.A.T.s!
Here’s another question I have: why are so many of the sports romances hockey stories. It’s nowhere nearly as popular as football, soccer, basketball, or baseball with the public.
@Dabney: I think hockey’s lack of popularity (in America) is the very reason some writers prefer to use hockey as a backdrop for their sports romances. Speaking only for myself, when I’m reading a hockey romance, I don’t get caught up in any of the technical details and I have no clue if what I’m reading sports-wise is accurate. I’m a big baseball fan so I’d immediately be distracted by incorrect technical details that showed up in a baseball romance; and I know enough about football and basketball to notice any major goofs. But I know next-to-nothing about hockey, so any mistakes the writer might make about the game go right over my head. At the risk of sounding cynical, I think some writers count on their readers not knowing too much about hockey and, therefore, they feel they can use hockey as a backdrop without worrying too much about pesky sports details. (This does not apply to Rachel Reid or Taylor Fitzpatrick, who both obviously love hockey and incorporate that into their books.)
That’s a smart take.
Also…hockey butt!
I think the audience might have something to do with it, too. I know a lot of women – and female authors in particular, are hockey fanatics. Perhaps more so than some of the other sports you listed? We’re a hockey watching family & I love stories set in this world.
One of my favorite sports docu-series is the 24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the NHL Winter Classic (https://www.nhl.com/news/hbo-sports-24-7-penguins-capitals-road-to-the-nhl-winter-classic-air-dates/c-545839) that aired in 2010/2011. It was such a revealing look at hockey players lives – on and off the ice. I know there are lots of players who fit the single, wealthy, player personae, but the series also showed so many players (from so many different countries!) home with their families, bonding as a team on long road trips, eating meals together, just hanging out… I LOVED IT. I have trouble identifying with the marquee names in basketball or football or baseball and their glam/paparazzi lives, but hockey players have such an almost ordinariness, its easier for me to slip into these fictional worlds.
#capsfan
I hear you. But. Hockey is at about 6% popularity in major league sports. It’s just odd to me.
I’m partial to rugby romance so I really like the series by Kat Latham, Amy Andrews and the collaboration between Penny Reid and L.H.Cosway. My favorite sport to watch is tennis, and I’m excited that Olivia Dade has an upcoming tennis romance, 40-Love.
Hockey romances are a huge part of the sports romance market, and entries by Melanie Ting, Kate Meader, Kelly Jamieson, Lynda Aicher, and Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy (writing alone or together) are always on my to-read list. Jaci Burton’s Play by Play series features a bunch of sports – I think the first few in that series are really good.
I have 137 books in my ‘sports romance’ shelf on Goodreads. Some of my other standout favorites are Ride With Me (cycling) by Ruthie Knox, Make Me Sweat (boxing) by Meg Maguire (a.ka. Cara McKenna), Intercepted (football) by Alexa Martin, Heart On (football) by Amy Jo Cousins, Once Loved (lacrosse) by Cecy Robson, Lessons in Gravity (climbing) by Megan Westfield, Lawless in Leather (baseball) by Melanie Scott, Level Hands (rowing) by Amy Jo Cousins, In the Fast lace (car racing) by Audra North, Crossing Hearts (soccer) by Rebecca Crowley, Anything but Minor (baseball) by Kate Stewart.
If your’e interested in the rest and you’re on goodreads, you can find the folder here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/29334580-maria-rose?order=d&shelf=sports-romance
(Possible duplicate/triplicate post. I’m having trouble posting. Sorry.)
@Maria Rose: I totally forgot that Meg Maguire (aka, Cara McKenna) published three books for Harlequin Blaze that revolve around a gym where boxers and MMA fighters train. When she republished the books a couple of years ago, McKenna gave them new titles. They’re all really good (and super hot!). They are:
ALL OR NOTHING (originally, MAKING HIM SWEAT): a boxer falls for the woman who has inherited the gym where he trains.
GOING THE DISTANCE (originally, TAKING HIM DOWN): an MMA fighter reconnects with a woman he briefly dated a year before.
TAKEDOWN (originally, DRIVING HIM WILD): a female MMA fighter gets involved with the electrician hired to do some repair work at the gym.
I especially like TAKEDOWN because it’s an m/f sports romance where the female is the athlete.
Thanks! I’d forgotten she renamed them!
I don’t know if this qualifies as a sports romance but I really enjoyed “Ride With Me” by Ruthie Knox. It’s about cycling the TransAmerica Trail. The two characters were funny and interesting plus I learned a lot about cycling.
I think that’s a stellar book. Ruthie Knox, when she was good, was very very good.
Agreed, this is a frequent re-read for me.
Alexa Martin is a fairly new writer to me and has consistently produced fun football romances. None are quite worth buying for re-reading for me, but none are duds, which is saying something.
Does pro wrestling count? George and the Virgin by Lisa Cach is about a pro wrestler who time travels to slay a dragon and it’s fabulous.
Lots of great recs here! Thrown Off the Ice just slayed me… I also thought of a few that I don’t think have been mentioned yet: From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata (m/f) (both figure skaters); Crossing the Touchline by Jay Hogan (m/m) (New Zealand rugby player and an A&E nurse).
I enjoyed Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Chicago Stars series featuring football stars for a Chicago football team and their romantic adventures. Very funny and endearing series that translated very well to audiobooks.
Sarina Bowen’s Ivy Years and following WAGs series, and the Brooklyn Bruisers got me started reading hockey books. Her Gravity series about winter athletes. And the hero of Penny Reid’s Elements of Chemistry books rows crew.
I read quite a lot of sports romance and for some reason hockey is my favourite book sport, even though I have zero interest in any American sport in real life (but nobody is going to write a cricket romance). M/M recs: Samantha Wayland’s Poetry in Motion and Avon Gale’s Empty Net. M/F recs: Kristen Callihan’s The Hook-Up and Elle Kennedy’s The Deal (the original is the best for those two authors; I started to see the same quirks book after book and I got bored, but those first efforts blew me away).
I’d add Samantha Wayland’s Home and Away to the list — my favorite of hers and just one of my favorite overall books.
I enjoyed these, too!
Despite being another reader not interested in sports, I have read a number of sports romances over the year—they were either recommended for humor or from auto-buy authors.
If you are willing to go the shapeshifter paranormal route, Shelly Laurenston has a lot of sports-playing shifters. For a GOAT, I would definitely count her character Bo Novikov (a polar bear/lion hybrid—hero of Beast Behaving Badly, secondary character in quite a few books).
I enjoy the Chicago Stars football series by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Very entertaining series which translated well to audiobooks and included a GOAT or too, lol.
This is an old category romance: Opposites Attract by Nora Roberts features a romance between two tennis players (M/F) who are at the top of their game. If I recall correctly, it features the second-chance-at-love trope.
I was just thinking there weren’t enough tennis stories!
oh thanks!
I too am not a sports fan and sports romances are something I would read despite the subgenera rather than because of it. Mariana Zapata’s _Kulti_ is superb and one of my very favorite romances, so much so that the sports aspect didn’t bother me.
I hate sports, and wasn’t that interested in reading books about them! ;) It’s not a genre I gravitate towards and “sports romance” isn’t enough to get me interested on its own, but I do pick them up now and again. Him and Us in audio (the narrating pair of Teddy Hamilton and Jacob Morgan is something of a legend in the audio world!), The Understatement of the Year (also in audio) and of course, Heated Rivalry (no audio for me on that one – I don’t care for the narrator) are all great. I also liked L.A Witt’s Rebound, a May/December romance featuring a hockey star and an older cop who both have difficult relationships in their pasts. Taylor Fitzpatrick is still on my TBR, but I hear such great things that I really must get find time to get stuck in!
I don’t like sports either, and have even less interest in reading anything about them. So you’re definitely not alone.
Yes, I had to rack my brain to even think of a sports related romance I had read and I only came up with some SEP books and some other ones where the hero was a boxer or MMA. And I tended to read those despite the sports angle. I think it’s also a case of familiarity taking the sparkle out it for me as I’ve known some professional athletes and I can’t imagine them as heroes that interest me.
I had no trouble choosing Heated Rivalry as I’ve only ever read 5 sports romances – HR and then 4 other hockey books! I’ll follow Rachel Reid’s series and probably read a few more books but I’m not really interested in sports either. It’s just the backdrop to the relationship for me.
I thought the narrator of Heated Rivalry did a good job, particularly with Ilya. Also with the next book, Tough Guy, but I thought Kip’s voice was wrong in the (much weaker) first book. He was new to me as a narrator.
Yes to all of these recs!!
Mariana Zapata – the wall of Winnipeg and me. Also love Kulti as well
I like that title just because I live in Winnipeg!
Not very many recommendations with straight, older athletes. I don’t read male/male romance–hadn’t known it was so big in sports stories.
ethics of real person fiction AKA rpf aside, i can tell you that fanfiction involving sportspeople is a huge thing online. the homosocial nature of gender segregated sports probably contributes to this. in sports anime/manga, m/m ships are also insanely popular-again, the close relationships between team mates can be read through a queer perspective quite easily
I’ve found a couple of straight athlete romances. Haven’t read them and don’t know if the athletes are “older,” but Kim Findlay wrote a couple of hockey stories Harlequin Heartwarming. But I seem to recall that you like romance with sex scenes, which Harlequin Heartwarming doesn’t allow so, probably not what you’re looking for.
Also, Carina Press has a sports category on their website here: https://www.carinapress.com/shop/category/sports.html. There are currently 41 titles, but I don’t know how many of them are m/f. Hope this helps!
There are lots of straight athlete romances–but it’s interesting that here there are so many readers who love m/m ones.
Totally anecdotal based on my own reading, but it seems to me that many m/f sports romances generally involve one athlete (usually, but not always, the male character) falling in love with someone else (usually, but not always, the female character). This other person may be connected to the athlete’s team (for instance, a physiotherapist, an agent, a publicist, someone who works in the front office, etc.) or may be a person who has nothing at all to do with the sport and/or team. So the emphasis in m/f sports romances is often less on the sport than on situations outside of the sport. In m/m (or f/f) sports romances, both main characters are generally involved in the sport so there is more emphasis on the sport itself, the training, the travel, the games, aiming for the championship, having a winning season, etc. As I said, this is just based on my reading and I’m sure we can all come up with exceptions to my theory, but if there are a preponderance of m/m pairings in the sports romances listed here, it’s probably because those are books where the sport is emphasized just as much as the romance.
That’s a smart assessment. Thanks!
Yes!
Great observation! (I was wondering why I didn’t really include SEP’s Chicago Stars books in my list of favorites but did include m/f See Jane Score by Gibson. Jane is a journalist covering the team, so travels with them.)
The Brooklyn Bruisers series is a well-written F/M hockey romance group of novels. They can be read as stand-alones, but they all interconnect, too. Brooklynaire, which is about the team owner, is my favorite of the series; I’ve listened to it a dozen times at least! It was my first book in the series, too, and it works just fine on its own.
I know nothing about real-life sports, but sports romance are lots of fun. They usually capture the camaraderie of a team bonding with one another while the various teammates are trying to figure out love. The guys are often horn dogs, and have spent their entire lives from grade school on playing and practicing, so social skills are often somewhat lacking. They finally meet someone they want to actually get to know, but they are at a loss as to how to do that. Which creates room for both comedy and pathos.
Catching Caden is another F/M sports romance (baseball) that I really like. It’s a light-hearted story, not too much angst, a perfect beach read. It’s the first of a trilogy, but it is also the best imo.
If you are ever interested in an MM sports romance, I highly recommend Him, and it’s sequel Us. It’s a pretty gentle intro into MM fiction, it’s a charming love story, and it doesn’t hit you over the head with LGBT+ issues, which can be a problem for some readers new to the genre. There is some political stuff, but it doesn’t overwhelm. This is another hockey romance.
I just read Brooklynaire, the last book in the Bruisers series, and enjoyed it.
There are 2 or 3 more books in the Bruisers series beyond Brooklynaire, but I do think they have been given a different umbrella title. But it’s the same team, same characters, same rivalries, and they are really fun, too. I’ve listened to all of them, but I still like Brooklynaire best!
Have to agree with others here about Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid and Thrown Off the Ice by Taylor Fitzpatrick. Both excellent m/m hockey stories. In addition, See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson is a “funny” hockey story. (She’s assigned to cover the team for the local paper so travels with them – as well as being the writer of a popular sex/dating column that everyone on the team reads, but no one knows is her. Tigers & Devils by Sean Kennedy is an m/m soccer story set in Australia. Closeted player falls for artsy/independent film events producer. Very much a favorite and too often overlooked here in the US on lists of sports romances.
I like Rachel Gibson’s Chinooks series. I’d give all but the last one four to four and half stars each.
I read and enjoyed several of the Chinooks books too, but See Jane Score is the only own I’ve kept on my shelves and occasionally reread.
And see I love the much maligned <b>Any Man of Mine</b> best. The rest, I like all of them.
Just to nitpick, Tigers & Devils is about Australian Rules football. For anyone who’s never seen it, the game is nothing like soccer, rugby or NFL.
I had no idea . . . now I have to go figure out what game they were playing! I pictured “soccer” the whole time I was reading. Thanks for clueing me in. :-)
I’m a big fan of Elle Kennedy’s “Off-Campus” series featuring hockey players at the fictional Briar U. The first book in the series – “The Deal” – is my favorite, and after a few titles I did detect a bit of a formula. But overall they are fun, escape reads for me.
My Favorites:
The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan
The Deal by Elle Kennedy
The Score by Elle Kennedy
The Hot Shot by Kristen Callihan
I haven’t read many sports romances over the years though the ones I have read usually concerned football – that is American Football as opposed to Football outside of the USA, e.g. soccer. I lived the first 29 years of my life in California and was practically brought up in Dodger Stadium and my high school football team took the state championships more than once. However, trying to explain these two sports to most people in the UK is an uphill battle. American football is getting more popular but I doubt many women reading romance here in the UK would know what “first and ten, do it again” means or are interested in knowing. I’ve tried explaining baseball to my English husband many, many times, trying to get him to understand it’s nothing like cricket. I gave up in the end. However, I do absolutely adore Rugby Union with a passion. Real men playing a truly rough and tumble game positively reeking of testosterone. Can’t recall seeing many Rugby romances.
I think Amy Andrews has a rugby series. We gave a DIK to Playing by Her Rules.
Dabney I just checked and I read the whole series. It must be quarantine fever but I honestly don’t remember them. The good news is but I now have something to reread.
Rosalind James has a fun rugby series Escape To New Zealand. I think they are on Kindle Unlimited!
Penny Reid and L H Conway also have a series out about Irish Rugby players.
I super duper love sports romance and have quite a few faves.
Standouts include: Long Shot, by Kennedy Ryan; Team Player and Bench Player, by Julianna Keyes; Thrown off the Ice, by Taylor Fitzpatrick; Heated Rivalry, by Rachel Reid; Him/Us and Good Boy, by Sarina Bowen/Elle Kennedy; The Game Plan, by Kristen Callihan.
I’ve enjoyed the Ryan, both Keyes (especially the second one), and the Callihan.
I wanted to thank you for your recommendations. I have read some of these books previously and am making my way through the rest of the list. I have to say Heated Rivalry and TOTI are absolute gems. The last one left me GUTTED, but also in love with romance again; I didn’t think the were any good books left in the genre.
I second Rachel Reid’s HEATED RIVALRY, an m/m romance which covers a decade in the secret relationship between two hockey players who have been rivals since their junior league years. It was my favorite book of 2019. However, I just finished Taylor Fitzpatrick’s COMING IN FIRST PLACE which has a very similar set-up (two rival hockey players who become secret lovers) but a completely different (if equally good) writing style. COMING IN FIRST PLACE ends somewhat abruptly on an HFN rather than an HEA, but I understand that’s because Fitzpatrick intends to make the players’ story a trilogy. I’ll also add be more book I just read (apparently “m/m romances between sports rivals who become lovers” is catnip for me): Elyse Springer’s very good HEELS OVER HEAD, about two high divers training for a spot on the Olympic Diving team.
No thought needed at all about this one!
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid.
It just blew me away……………….
I haven’t a clue if this has a G.O.A.T. in though as I don’t know what one of those is!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Greatest of all time =GOAT which of course everyone knows is Tom Brady. :)
In football, I am inclined to agree with you.
Current G.O.A.T.s:
Serena Williams
Simone Biles
Rodger Federer (although that really is to be decided–good arguments can be made for Nadal and Djokovic)
Michael Phelps
Mikaela Shiffrin
Tom Brady
Any others?
Christine Sinclair. Most international goals scored by male or female soccer player world wide.
I didn’t know that! Thanks!
I added the definition into the post. We have GOAT discussions at my house every damn day so it never occurred to me someone might not know the term. But then I remember back to my pre-sports-obsessed-husband-and-kids life and I realize I HAVE CHANGED.