What to read after “Irresponsible Puckboy” by Eden Finley & Saxon James: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.
Jamie and Ryan were best friends at hockey camp until Ryan cut him off four years ago. Now they meet again as college players and take summer jobs coaching at the same camp. Working together forces Jamie to question what he wants, while Ryan tries to hide the crush he has carried since that last night.
Casey Hicks, a cheerful young hockey star who talks to everyone, shares a house with Landon Stackhouse, the quiet, prickly backup goalie newly called up to the Calgary team. A season of games, small routines and slow trust turns the unlikely roommates into something neither of them expected.
Ballet dancer Bree has been secretly in love with her best friend Nathan, a football star, for years. When a publicity plan calls for Nathan to have a girlfriend, Bree agrees to play the role, risking the friendship she cannot imagine losing.
Corey arrives at college in a wheelchair after the accident that ended her hockey plans. Across the hall lives Adam Hartley, a hockey player with a broken leg and secrets of his own. Their friendship grows through shared meals and video games, then shifts into something neither is sure the other wants.
Hockey captain Garrett needs a passing grade, and quiet music student Hannah needs the courage to approach her crush. They strike a deal: she tutors him, he pretends to date her. Studying late into the night, the fake arrangement deepens into trust and a real attraction neither of them expected.
Anne Rollins is deep in debt when Mal Ericson, the wild drummer of the band Stage Dive, offers her money to pose as his girlfriend and repair his party-boy image. A cheerful man with no filter, Mal turns the arrangement real long before Anne is ready for it.
Vanessa spends years as the assistant to Aiden Graves, a silent, demanding football star, and finally quits. He then turns up at her door to ask her back and follows it with a bigger request: a marriage of convenience that helps his immigration case. The practical bargain and the time it forces them to spend together wear down his reserve.
Anna Jones is focused on finishing college, not on the star quarterback who keeps staring at her. Drew Baylor has fame, trophies and a clear plan: persuade prickly Anna to give him a chance. A no-strings arrangement suits her better, but neither of them is prepared for feelings that refuse to stay casual.
Jennie Beckett has always been off limits: she is the younger sister of Garrett Andersen's best friend and teammate. When Jennie moves into Garrett's building, their easy friendship turns into a secret arrangement, and Garrett must decide how much he is willing to risk for her.
A rink scheduling clash forces competitive figure skater Anastasia to share the ice with the hockey team and its captain, Nate. What starts as irritation grows into friendship and then something more as she chases a national title and he tries to hold his team together.
Stand-up comic Farley and her grumpy manager Meyer have been best friends and secret crushes for years. When a television opportunity requires a stable image, they fake a relationship, and the line between performance and real love disappears.
Olive Taylor has been infatuated with Jason Thorn since he was her brother's best friend and the boy next door. Years later Jason is a movie star and Olive a novelist; when his career needs a clean image and her book becomes a film, a fake marriage brings them back together.
Georgie, the party clown her family never takes seriously, has loved her brother's best friend Travis for years. When the injured former baseball star needs a respectable image and she wants to be seen as an adult, they fake a relationship, and the act starts feeling far too real.
Poppy and Alex have been best friends for years, spending one week of every summer travelling together, until one trip ends in a falling-out. Two years later Poppy suggests one more holiday to repair things, and a week of shared rooms and old memories forces them to face what they never say.
Stuck in a hotel elevator together at a wedding, Alexa agrees to be Drew's date for the weekend to avoid awkward questions. The pretend couple keeps meeting up in their two cities, and what began as a convenient arrangement becomes something they are both afraid to name.
Olive, a third-year biology PhD student, kisses the first man she sees to convince her friend that her dating life is fine, and it turns out to be the famously severe Professor Adam Carlsen. To keep the story convincing, the two agree to fake a relationship, and their staged arrangement slowly becomes real.
Harriet and Wyn broke up months ago but still have not told the friends they spend every summer with. Sharing a room at the Maine cottage for one last week, they pretend to be the happy couple they used to be, hiding their split while old feelings refuse to stay buried.
As teenagers Macy and Elliot spent every weekend trading books in a closet and slowly falling in love, until one night tore them apart. Eleven years later they meet again in San Francisco, and the friendship and heartbreak they buried come rushing back as they decide whether to try once more.
Laurie locks eyes with a stranger through a bus window and spends a year searching for him, only to meet him again as her best friend's new boyfriend. Across ten years of friendship, missed chances and other relationships, the two circle a connection they are never free to act on.
Stella, a successful econometrician with autism, finds dating and physical touch bewildering, so she hires escort Michael to tutor her in intimacy. The arrangement is meant to stay businesslike, but their lessons turn into genuine feeling, and both must work through the past before they can trust it.
In college, Matt and Grace were inseparable neighbours in their NYU dorm who fell in love, until lost contact after graduation pulled them apart. Fifteen years later, a missed-connections post brings Grace back into his life, and the two have one chance to understand what happened and decide whether their story is really over.
Jasmine's pairs figure-skating career is nearly over when her former partner leaves. The only skater willing to take her on is Ivan Lukov, her longtime rival, and she has no choice but to accept. Months of gruelling shared training force them past years of resentment and into reluctant trust.
Stevie takes a job as a flight attendant on a hockey team's private plane, determined to keep her distance from players. Evan Zanders, the team's most disliked star, seems equally determined to provoke her. Long road trips and shared flights blur the line between irritation and attraction, even though both have reasons to stay away.
Glenna Dobbs is already the town pariah after taking the blame for her father's exposé of the local sheriff. When the backlash turns threatening, Cash Wall—the loud, cheerful man who bullied her in school—offers to be her fake boyfriend, and Glenna has to survive the arrangement with the town's most popular man and his stubborn, gentle heart.
Start with “Him”, “Time to Shine”, “The Cheat Sheet”: they are the closest to “Irresponsible Puckboy” in tropes and mood. Under each book in the list you will see what exactly it has in common.
How are similar books chosen?
We compare tropes (for “Irresponsible Puckboy” these are Himbo, Sports Romance, Friends to Lovers), genre, plot, era and tone. It is not “readers also bought”; it is similarity in the content itself.
Are there recent books in this list?
Yes. Among the newer ones are “Him”, “Time to Shine”, “The Cheat Sheet”. Switch the “Modern” filter to keep only books from 2000 onward.
