Top Ten Books Every Paranormal or Sports Romance Lover Should Read

(Images link to Goodreads, Titles link to Amazon)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish in which you make a list of ten to do with a certain topic.  This week’s topic is “Ten Books Every X Should Read (up to you! Examples: every history nerd, memoir lover, ballet lover, feminist, college student, etc etc.)”  We each chose a different X for our Top Tens this week.  Curly Carla’s bringing you “Ten Books Every Paranormal Romantic Should Read” and Lenoreo’s bringing you “Ten Books Every Sports Romance Lover Should Read.”

Curly Carla’s Top Ten Books Every Paranormal Romantic Should Read:

1. (Un)wise by Melissa Haag.  Great PR read. One of my faves.
2. Phoenixed by Anyta Sunday. I love this series like Rumple loves being the Dark One!
3. Brightest Kind of Darkness by P.T. Michelle.  I’ve been holding off on finishing this series because I don’t want it to end.
4. The Fairie Prince by Rachel Morgan.  I’ve re-read this series several times because I love it so much.  This one is a enemies turns to lovers theme.
5. Deadlands by Kayla Jo.  These titles are not currently available on Amazon, Nook or Smashwords. I don’t know when they were taken down which really sucks.
6. Blood Debt by Nancy Straight.
7. Truly, Madly, Deeply by B. Pandos.
8. Dysfunctional by Cynthia St. Aubin.  These short stories are some of the funniest, witty and sexy books I’ve ever read.
9. The Dark Ones by Rachel Van Dyken.
10. Goddess Legacy by M.W. Muse.

Lenoreo’s Top TenTwenty Books Every Sports Romance Lover Should Read:

Trying to come up with my X this week was hard…but I realized that lately I’ve been reading a lot of a new genre that I didn’t know existed — sports romance.  I’m not entirely sure what defines sports romance, I tried looking it up to no avail (just lists on Goodreads, but no definition).  But I define it as a book where a sport plays a significant part in the book — they may not necessarily play the sport during the book, but being an athlete is a large part of one of the characters make up.  Does that make sense?  I ended up with 20 books (some of which are the first in a series of sports romances), so I’m going to split them up a bit.

Hockey Romances:

1. Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros (or really the whole Flight & Glory series) — OK, so I’ve actually only read the first two, but LOVED these books.  They are military books as well, but the boys all play hockey and it plays a part in the story as well.  (also, just saw when I was posting the links that the first book is currently 99 cents)
2. Out of Play by Jolene Perry & Nyrae Dawn — In a twist, the hockey player in this book is the heroine, not the hero!  This is a classic YA novel, with the two main characters struggling with their own issues as the story goes along.
3. Center Ice by Cate Cameron (and Playing Defense from the Corrigan Falls Raiders series) — Discovered the second book first through NetGalley and thoroughly enjoyed both of these YA gems!  (and bonus points, it’s based in Canada, and so features the OHL, which I know a bit about)
4. Getting Lucky Number Seven by Cindi Madsen — I’m sure the rest of the Taking Shots series is also fantastic, but I have yet to read more than this first book.  But this book was just chock full of quirky characters and of course a hot hockey player…can you ask for more?
5. Him and Us by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy — Mmmmm…what’s better than one hot hockey player?  Two hot hockey players in love with each other.  *drool*  Seriously, I can’t even with this series…it’s just that good.
6. The Deal by Elle Kennedy (and The Mistake, also from the Off-Campus series) — Surprise surprise, one of the co-authors of the series I just listed (number 5) has her own series of hockey romance books.  There’s a 3rd book I have yet to read, but I really thoroughly enjoyed the first two in this series, particularly The Mistake (book 2).  And while many people will tell you how hilarious these books are, I found them to have a surprising depth to them as well that really elevated them in my esteem.
7. The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen (or really all of The Ivy Years series) — And here is the hockey series by the other co-author of the Him series (number 5 on my list).  It’s a series of 5.5 books, and surprisingly the novella, Blonde Date, was my favourite of the series (which is funny b/c it’s not a hockey romance, the hero is a basketball player).  What I love about the series is that the characters and romances in each book are so different, and there’s a lot of diversity represented in the books.

Football Romances:

1. The Playmaker by Jordan Ford — I managed to snag an ARC of this book and adored it, a classic YA!  I’m so looking forward to the next book in the series, The Red Zone, which is coming out in a couple weeks (and I have that ARC burning a hole in my kindle as well).
2. Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock — I’ve only read the first book in this series, and it was a while ago, but I truly adored it.  And it’s the heroine who’s exploring the world of football IIRC.  It had a really unique and interesting voice.
3. Rush by Nyrae Dawn — This was one of the first M/M romances I read that wasn’t leaning towards erotica.  I loved how it showed what it would be like to come out as a high profile athlete.  It was a seriously beautiful love story.
4. Secret Catch by Cassie Mae and Jessica Salyer — Loved this loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.  Sam and Tyler were fantastic lead characters, and it had everything from hilarity to heart.
5. #Nerd by Cambria Hebert (and actually the whole Hashtag series) — This series is AMAZEBALLS!!!  Loved the whole thing, and honestly can’t say enough about it!  My favourite books were the first and the last (5th) one — love Romeo and Rimmel so hard!
6. Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally — Another book where the heroine was a football player as well!!  It’s been over 4 years since I read this book, but I really remember loving it and Ms. Kenneally’s voice.  I keep meaning to read more from her, but haven’t gotten around to it yet!  I kind of want to reread this one now…

Miscellaneous Sports Romances:

1. Play With Me by Anna Katmore (and Ryan Hunter from the Grover Beach Team series) — There’s actually a lot of books in this series, and I keep meaning to get back to it, but I’ve only read the first two.  They all feature players on a soccer team, and each pair of books follows one couple, with the first book being from one POV, and the second book being from the other MC’s POV.  I liked this first book, but I LOVED the second book from Ryan’s POV.
2. Secret Girlfriend and Secret Life by Bria Quinlan (the RVHS Secrets series) — Another series of soccer books, and the first book has a similar premise to Play With Me: a heroine wanting a boy to notice them, so she tries out for the soccer team he’s on.  It was actually the second book, Secret Life, that truly got to me and blew me away by dealing with Body Dysmorphic Disorder.  Definitely a gem I recommend.
3. Fall Line by Tudor Robins — Another author I discovered through a NetGalley read (of a different series), and I had the privilege of reading an ARC of this book.  This one is from the hero’s POV, a rising skiing star.  Definitely a classic YA, his experiences felt very real and authentic for his age.  I can’t wait for the next book in the series!
4. #Junkie by Cambria Hebert — OK, so this is actually a spinoff of the Hashtag series I listed up in football, but this series looks at the world of car racing, so I figured it deserved its own spot.  This was one of my first 5 star reads of 2016, and I am DYING to finish off my current reads and get to book two (#Rev) which just released a week ago.
5. Choose Us by Caylie Marcoe — LOVED this book featuring a professional BMX racer participating in an Extreme Sports version of the Bachelor.  If you love Best Friends to Lovers stories, you cannot miss out on this one…Travis and Riley were da bomb!
6. This is Falling by Ginger Scott — I am NOT a baseball fan whatsoever, but Ms. Scott could turn that around with Nate Preeter.  The rest of the series is just as fantastic, though this book had the strongest sport component in my opinion.
7. The Locker Room by Amy Lane — This book is on my frequently reread list, I just adore both of my basketball boys in this M/M romance/erotica.

So those are our top ten (or twenty) for this week!!  What are some of your favourite Paranormal or Sports Romance reads??  Please share them with us!!  Or share your own Top Ten Tuesday lists — we’d love to come check them out!  Ohhh, and on a personal note, Lenoreo would LOVE any recommendations for books featuring male dancers (ballet or otherwise).  She started a list on Goodreads, but it still only has the 2 books she initially added, and a book that doesn’t appear to contain a male dancer despite the list’s title (which she should really just remove since it’s her list).  You can see that list here.