Last Updated on November 29, 2023 by Louisa
Are you looking for a hunky, muscular NFL player book boyfriend? Then you might be in need of some football romance books!
Football romances are packed with heat, whether from the passionate protagonists or from the competitive nature of the game.
These American football romance stories are all about hot players, angsty storylines, and a lot of steam, both in and out of the steam room!
Whether after something tender and romantic or sizzling with heat, these NFL romance books should be on your reading list…
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What To Expect From Football Romance Books
Football romances are all about tough, athletic, and heroic NFL players navigating their desires both on and off the football field.
You can expect storylines where the intense nature of the sport mirrors the emotional turmoil of the characters.
With themes such as long-standing team rivalries, a passion for the game, and the grit and determination of the athletes, while also exploring the nuances of modern love and relationships – they promise to be a riveting read.
The Best Football Romance Books
Are you ready to read about hunky NFL player MCs and get lost in a romance story? Then here are the best football romance novels for you!
1. Play With Me – Kristen Proby
The third in a sexy romance series is Play With Me, which can be read as a standalone novel.
It’s an enemies-to-lovers story that will have every reader cheering on the sidelines.
Will Montgomery has it all: a successful football career, the fame that comes with it, and the girls.
He never gets a no, that is, until his sister’s friend Meg, far from being charmed by him, turns him down abruptly. Shocked and turned on, he sets out to prove her wrong.
Meg McBride isn’t impressed by Will, she doesn’t like his big ego, the shiny cars, or even his impressive contract. She doesn’t have time for a relationship because it means to love, and loving is dangerous.
But she can’t deny her attraction to him. Will she be able to open up to him, or will she lose the truest love that she has ever known?
With relatable characters and a storyline that’s as exciting as watching a real game, this is one book you won’t be able to put down.
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2. The Hook Up – Kristen Callihan
The first in Callihan’s Game On Series is The Hook Up, which is the perfect read for those who love the tension and competition in a football romance.
The story follows Anna Jones who’s just trying to figure out her life while finishing college.
She didn’t plan for Drew Baylor, the star quarterback, to waltz into her life. If only she could ignore his sexy star and chiseled body, but she couldn’t.
Football has given Drew a lot, but now what he really wants is Anna.
When the two collide in one wild night and have a hook-up that neither of them expected, Drew wants it to be something more, and Anna isn’t sure, so now he just has to convince her of his point of view.
But Drew is used to winning, so he doesn’t give up easily.
I loved how the romance developed alongside the football season, and how it was used as a metaphor for the highs and lows of the game.
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3. Steeling Her – Ashley Constantine
Steeling Her is a much-loved NFL romance book with angst and an enemies-to-lovers plot line.
Carter Steel is done, she’s had enough. As the only daughter in a famous football family, she is tired of getting her heart broken by the men who want to use her as a ticket to their favorite games.
As she heads to Ole Miss for school, she has one rule: no football players.
Enter the star quarterback of Ole Miss, Nick Jackson. Adored by the whole school, gets and gets with whoever he wants. That is until he meets Carter, who rejects his interest.
Determined to get to know her, he sheds his Playboy image. Will he be more than the sexy jock image he has maintained, or will Carter have her heart broken again?
The character development was excellent, with protagonists facing real-life challenges and emotional growth throughout the story.
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4. Enemies – Tijan Meyer
If you’re looking for a sports romance that combines the excitement of the game with a steamy and emotional love story, then Tijan Meyer’s book, Enemies, is for you.
A girl next door meets an NFL star, except this, isn’t their first time meeting.
Unbeknownst to him, they’ve been enemies since the 6th grade.
Dusty hates Stone Reeves and has hated him since the 6th grade.
She was invisible, while he became a football star: from D1 school to National Championships and finally being the first-round pick in the NFL.
He’s always risen, and each time she rises, something terrible happens to her. Each time. Now Dusty’s in Texas, and Stone’s there too.
When enemies collide, will there be anger, or will there be sparks?
This is a brilliant enemies-to-lovers story, a romance against the backdrop of the NFL.
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5. The Hardest Fall – Ella Maise
This is a sweet standalone football romance book with a clean plot, filled with adorable characters. A charming friends-to-lovers story is the heartbeat of this football romance book.
Usually, a meet cute is, well, cute, but when Zoe meets Dylan, it’s honestly awkward and embarrassing.
As usual, she kept talking, stumbling over her words and making a full of herself in front of a guy she’ll probably never see again.
Except Dylan Reed is the star wide receiver at school, expected to go to the NFL, so he’s everywhere.
Slowly, after many hilarious, ridiculous encounters, the two began to be friends. But how will Zoe admit that she wants so much more from Dylan?
If you are looking for a story that’s a whole lot of sweet and a little bit of sexy, this is for you!
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6. The Baller – Vi Keeland
A sexy standalone, the story of a reporter and a player who find sparks flying, even if their jobs clash with one another. A swoon-worthy story full of tension, and drama.
Her first sports interview ever, and it had to be with Brody Easton.
The famed quarterback decided to drop his towel right as she asked the first question. From then on, he started to screw with her, teasing her, until he started wanting to screw her.
But her only rule is don’t date players. She’d be fine with an athlete, just not the other kind of player.
But as a connection forms between them, it turns into something else that neither of them expected.
Despite the familiar storyline in the sports romance trope, the story was still fresh and engaging with complex characters and unexpected plot twists. This a tempting sports romance novel that any sports lover will enjoy!
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7. Until Friday Night – Abbi Glines
Until Friday Night is a moving hometown NFL romance novel where the girl on the sidelines catches the eye of the star football player.
West Ashby is the small-town hero. Football star, cocky, handsome, who leads the town to state championships.
But he’s battling quiet grief as he watches his father die of cancer. One night, at a post-game party, he tells the one girl he knows won’t talk.
Maggie Carleton’s life fell apart two years ago when her father killed her mother, and since that day, she hasn’t spoken. Even moving to Lawton hasn’t brought her out of her shell.
But when she meets West, she speaks. Slowly they start to form a bond and neither one wants to let the other go.
The author’s writing style was engaging and easy to read, with descriptive passages that helped to bring the games and the characters to life.
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8. The Quarterback and The Ballerina – Anne-Marie Meyer, Maggie Dallen
Want to read a book where two worlds of intense, physical sport collide? Then check out The Quarterback and The Ballerina, which is about two people who feel out of water find each other and find love in the process.
Colette has always tried to be the perfect dancer, but she can’t do it anymore. She’s tired of dieting and trying to fit into a perfect mold.
Ethan and his team have been forced to take a ballet class, Coach says it will teach them discipline. He doesn’t have time for something else on top of everything he is trying to be.
When he sees Collette, he immediately falls for her. But how can he show her that she deserves to be loved?
This is a perfect, sweet football romance book that will have you squealing and swooning.
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9. Team Hate – Rebel Hart
A darker take on the football romance book is Team Hate by Rebel Hart. The tomboy and a quarterback, what is there not to love?
Jane Panesse started playing football to honor her dad once he died, and now she’s trying to prove that she belongs on the field.
The men around her are all players, misogynistic, crass, and rude, but the worst is John Scepter. He doesn’t believe women belong in sports, and he’s trying to push Jane out.
But how does he make her heart beat so fast?
A love-hate relationship grows on the fields and off, what is not to enjoy?
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10. The Wall of Winnipeg and Me – Mariana Zapata
One of the most popular books in the football romance genre is The Wall of Winnipeg and Me.
If you are looking for a rags-to-riches story, with just a touch of tempting romance, this is the book for you.
Vanessa Mazur is quitting. She spent too long working as the housekeeper/ assistant to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization, she shouldn’t feel any guilt about quitting, it was supposed to be a temporary job.
But after she leaves, Aiden Graves shows up on her doorstep, the man they call The Wall of Winnipeg, who never gave her the time of day. Now he’s asking for this?
A ride of a novel, this is a story you won’t want to miss.
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11. The Revenge Pact – Ilsa Madden-Mills
Another delightful read from the queen of NFL romances, Ilsa Madden-Mills, is The Revenge Pact. The classic story of the invisible girl and the football king.
River Tate is the campus bad boy and football star, and he only has one Achilles heel.
Anastasia Bailey is a quiet lavender-haired girl, and the only chink in her beautiful armor is her boyfriend’s brother, the football player who hates her.
But when her life falls around her, River is the one who steps in. Together they make a revenge pact and something begins to form between them.
The first is charming, sexy series about football stars, this is a book you won’t be able to put down.
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12. The Second We Meet – Maya Hughes
Tempting enemies to lovers romance, The Second We Meet is set on a college campus and tales of the budding romance between two neighbors.
Elle Masterson has a new neighbor, Phoenix “Nix” Russo, the big man on campus who lights every girl who sees him on fire with want, and he knows it.
But to Elle, he’s mostly a big pain in the ass. But when she calls the cops on one of his parties, he gets arrested.
Punished with a community service project, he works alongside Elle. And she’s not anything like he expected.
A story that is both sexy and sweet, this is one of the best football romance books set in college out there.
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13. Fumbled – Alexa Martin
The second book in the popular Playbook series by Alexa Martin is an edgy, fun take on the football romance novel. You can read each book in the series as a standalone.
Poppy Patterson, a single mother, moved across the country when she was sixteen and pregnant to make a new world for herself.
After years of struggle, she has the life she loves, which spans from nightclubs to kids’ games, no matter how messy hers is.
No one can ruin it except for T.K. Moore, the starting wide receiver for the Denver Mustangs.
His world is that of parties, sports, and women, though sometimes he dreams of his high school love, Poppy.
When the two cross paths again, everything that happens between them comes rushing back.
But there are also secrets that lay between them that they will have to learn how to navigate.
A tantalizing romance that takes the worlds of football and real life and beautifully combines the two.
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14. Sweet Fall – Tillie Cole
Another addition to the bestselling Sweet Home series is Sweet Fall, which is a story of secrets and love and finding someone who makes your burdens easier to carry.
Lexi Hart is a senior at the University of Alabama, and her life seems to be going as it should.
But under the skin, demons lurk and put everything she has at risk. Austin Carillo is the starting wide receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
He has to get picked for the NFL draft, his family needs it. But when tragedy strikes, and he is pulled back to the world of gang violence that he knew before football, he returns to the darkness.
In a twist of fate, another troubled soul finds him, Lexi. Will they find peace together or fall into the depths?
A caring NFL romance story where two people find precisely what they need, with this story, you can expect a happy end.
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15. Stud – Michaela Scott
This a hot new story you won’t want to miss. With a college track backdrop and a fake relationship plot line, Stud is a sexy fake dating romance novel that takes all the twists and turns that make a good football romance.
Logan Wolfe gets what he wants, he’s cocky and full of himself. But for now, he has to pretend that Taylor is his girlfriend, or he will get kicked off the team.
But he starts to want her, more than he thought he could want a nerdy freshman. But will she be able to resist his charms, can she hold out against him?
The romance was the heart and soul of the story, with well-developed characters and a heart-warming storyline. A funny, spicy story that will have you begging for more!
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Final Word on Football Romance Books
So there you have it, those are my best American football romance books and as you can see, there are many great options to choose from.
I hope this list gave you some inspiration for what to add to your reading list.
If you can think of any other great NFL romance books to add to this list, let me know in the comments!
