Top Ten Tuesday: Sports Romances

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Genre freebie (Pick any genre you’d like and build a list around it. You can even narrow the topic if you’d like, such as: thrillers with unreliable narrators, fantasy romance with fae characters, or historical romance with suspense elements.)

This week I thought I would focus on sports romances. Now, I wouldn't say I read a lot of these any more, but back in the day I read a lot of Jaci Burton's books which all featured men with bare chests on their covers. Part of the reason for doing this topic is also because I have read a couple of books recently which have more unusual sports than just ice hockey or American football. This is a mix of old and new books. 

Head Over Wheels by Leonie Mack - I really enjoyed this book which features two professional cyclists who fall in love. Can't wait for the next book set in this world. (my review)

Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy - I read this one years ago now. This is a m/m romance where one of the main love interests is a professional Australian Rules Footballer. (my review)

Wicket Maiden by Chrissie Harrison - The main female character in this book is a professional cricketer. (my review)

Breaking the Ice by Amy Andrews - The main male character in this book is an injured ice hockey player who is working in his late grandmother's bookstore while he is recovering. (my review)

A New Dawn at Owl's Lodge by Jessica Redland - The main male character in this book is a former Olympic gymnast (my review)

Clean Point by Meg Jones - This is a tennis romance. It's on my kindle but haven't read it yet

Red Dust Running by Anita Heiss - One of the main characters in this book is a rodeo rider! I heard Anita Heiss speak about this book at Melbourne Writers Festival and it sounds like so much fun.

The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton - Given I mentioned Jacy in my intro I couldn't imagine not including one of her books in my post.

It Had to be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips - SEP was writing hockey romances when they were hot the first time round. I have to say though....can you imagine a book getting published with this cover now?

Double Play by Jill Shalvis - I used to love Jill Shalvis' books a lot but I haven't read one for years now and I have no idea why. 

Do you know of any sports romances which feature unusual sports?

Six Degrees of Separation: Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret to Her Fearful Symmetry

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best.  The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links.  I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

I was very excited when this month's starting book was announced as being Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume because, well, I am a Margaret. I remember being thrilled when I read this book as a teenager because there just weren't many girls my age with the name Margaret.

Given that I am Margaret, I have decided to start with the fact that this is all about me and then stick with those kind of his, hers, them, us kind of words.

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos - I read and loved this book more than 10 years ago and even now just looking at the cover still makes me smile. 

It Had to be You by Susan Elizabeth Philips - Funny story. Last month I said about I must, I must increase my bust, and this is the book I thought of, well for obvious reasons. I decided very early on not  to go down that route, but then when I was looking for a You book that I hadn't already been used, this is one of the titles that came up so I guess it was meant to be.

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar - I read this for my old book club about 9 years ago. I rated it really highly but I don't think I remember a lot about it!

When We Were Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal - This is one that I read last year so I do remember!

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman - It has been way too long since I read a SKPl novel. I am about 3 behind so I don't really have any excuses, especially because I love her books when I read them

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger - My preference for only using books I have read often leads to old books making an appearance. I read this book so long ago I wasn't even on Goodreads at the time!

Next year's (!!!) first book is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell