Obsessed with Heated Rivalry and Off Campus? 7 books you need to read

Lyssa Kay Adams’s Bromance Book Club has been one of the most delightful and refreshing concepts I’ve found in romance books in some time: a secret book club of alpha male professional baseball players. who read romance novels (which they call “the manuals”) to better understand women and save their relationships.

The first book in the series follows Gavin Scott, whose wife, Thea, has asked for a divorce after revealing she has been faking her happiness… in lots of ways. 

In the hopes of getting Thea to change her mind – and discover why she hasn’t felt comfortable being honest with him – Gavin recruits his teammates to read the fictional regency romance called Courting the Countess, and help Gavin learn how to woo his wife back.

My favorite thing about romance books, aside from the Happy Ever After, is getting to see Main Male Characters (MMC) behave in ways we desperately want to see in real-life men, and watching as this book club learns how to dismantle their own toxic habits and become emotionally vulnerable hit all the beats.

A Female Main Character (FMC) who has sworn off athletes? Enemies to lovers? He falls first and harder? Hockey player MMC? Plus-Size Representation? Liz Tomforde’s Mile High – the first in the Windy City series – has everything I love in a sports romance.

Stevie Shay is the new flight attendant on NHL team the Devil’s private jet. Professional, independent, and thoroughly unimpressed by hockey’s favorite bad boy Evan Zanders, Stevie has a personal vow to never date athletes. 

She is also working through her own body image insecurities, and Liz’s top-tier romance writing ensures it is handled sensitively as Evan becomes a down-bad simp for Stevie in quick time, allowing her to find her way to him in her own time.

“You don’t have to love your body every single day. That’s unrealistic to expect, but I’ll be here loving it for the days you can’t.” — Evan Zanders.

Brb re-reading immediately.

Elle Kennedy is the original hockey romance author, debuting The Deal in 2015. 

The Deal became the first of five books in the Off Campus series, but I recommend book three, The Score, especially if you like top-tier banter, sex positivity, and the reformed playboy trope.

If you’ve seen Prime Video’s Off Campus, you’ll know that the show has already given tons of insight into the dynamic between Allie Hayes and Dean Di Laurentis, but be prepared to get your heart torn out of your chest while reading The Score, as the real world interrupts their friends with benefits situation in ways that will change them forever.

I can’t imagine anyone who has watched Heated Rivalry hasn’t yet read the book it was based on to discover just how brilliantly Jacob Tierney adapted the source material for the screen. 

But Rachel Reid’s sequel to Ilya and Shane’s story, The Long Game, is hands down the best book in the Game Changers series, asking – what happens when your decade-long situationship is now your boyfriend and you have to decide what is more important: protecting your hockey career or finally being together openly?

As the secrecy begins to wear on Ilya, and the stress of living a double life threatens to break them, The Long Game is an intense and angst-filled sequel which places the importance of found family, mental health representation, and communication at its heart.

Is the gym a sport? I don’t know, but I’m including Amy Lea’s fabulous Set On You in this feature anyway. 

Mixing the body positivity of Mile High and the witty banter of The Score, Set On You follows Crystal Chen, a plus-size fitness influencer whose favorite squat rack in the gym is stolen by drop-dead gorgeous firefighter Scott, sparking an intense, silent war.

Of course, in classic romance fashion, an unexpected real-world encounter between the pair forces them to realise they’ve both misunderstood the other, and Set On You becomes a slow burn as cinnamon-roll-shaped Scott helps break down Crystal’s barriers at the same time as he comes to understand the true toll of the dark side of being a visible plus-size woman on social media.

Kennedy Ryan’s basketball romance is beautifully written – and heavy on the angst.

Fashion designer Lotus is fiercely ambitious, but past traumas have left her with her walls fully up. When she meets professional basketball player and devoted single dad Kenan, Lotus attempts to establish firm boundaries despite their explosive chemistry. But through a slow-burn friendship, patience, and kindness, both learn to trust again.

Please be aware that this book, and the entire Hoops series, deals with sexual violence against children and women, grief, suicide, domestic violence, and divorce.

If you’re looking for something deliciously sweet and with a closed-door romance, The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams is the book for you. 

Bree Camden is a ballet dancer and is hopelessly – and secretly – in love with her best friend, NFL superstar Nathan Donelson. When Bree spills her secret to a reporter after a few drinks, their publicists come up with a plan: fake dating for three weeks to capitalize on the viral moment.

But with a dual POV story, Sarah cleverly brings the friends-to-lovers trope to life in unexpected ways as we discover that Nathan is equally head-over-cleats for Bree, with the dramatic irony keeping me turning the pages.