The best books featuring alpha heroes with a secret soft side

Why are we passionate about this?

We have always loved to read about the bad boy with a secret soft side and when we started writing together, we decided to jump on this genre as well. Writing in dual POVs gives us an opportunity to explore how the bad boy is perceived by others as well as show exactly what the bad boy is thinking…and we love it! There's nothing better than a misunderstood alpha who hides his true feelings because he doesn’t feel worthy. And when he finds that amazing woman who just gets him…magic! We hope you enjoy our very own bad boy with a secret soft side in our book Complicate Me.


We wrote...

Complicate Me

By Claire Raye,

Book cover of Complicate Me

What is our book about?

Reid Bowen has been in love with his best friend’s sister, Sienna Parker, for as long as he can remember. Once friends, these two have drifted apart due to family circumstances and Reid’s incessant need to keep every guy away from Sienna. After all, if he can’t have her, then no one can.

After a family tragedy forces them back to their childhood home, Reid and Sienna embark on a reluctant cross-country road trip. While the first few days on the road are tense, over time, these two slowly find their way back to the friendship they enjoyed as teenagers, before eventually taking a chance on the feelings they’ve both been secretly harboring. As their love for each other is finally revealed, their arrival back home threatens to destroy everything.
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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Wicked Sexy Liar

Claire Raye Why did I love this book?

This is the fourth and last book in the Wild Seasons series and in our view, the best. Featuring a player who’s just looking to hook up for a night of fun and a girl who likes to avoid the drama, these two get thrown for a loop when they cross paths. It’s hot, it’s steamy and it’s also pretty sweet. The banter these two shared was great and their chemistry felt so real. Plus, we loved watching Luke own his past and his mistakes and seeing London finally admit she was falling for the guy. 

By Christina Lauren,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Wicked Sexy Liar as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When three college besties meet three hot guys in Vegas, anything can-and does-happen. Book Four in the New York TimesWild Seasons series that began with Sweet Filthy Boy (the Romantic Timesbook of the year that Sylvia Day called "a sexy, sweet treasure of a story"), Dirty Rowdy Thing, and Dark Wild Night.


Book cover of Five Ways to Fall

Claire Raye Why did I love this book?

We’ve been long-time fans of KA Tucker, who can pretty much write anything and make it amazing and this book, the last in her Ten Tiny Breaths series is no different. We’ve followed Ben for the whole series and while he’s always appeared to be the typical alpha bad boy just looking to get laid, his story shows a whole new side of him. Underneath that cocky exterior is a total mama’s boy who will do anything for his family and, when he finally admits it, the girl he falls for. Watching him and Reese fight their attraction, then try to deny their feelings, before ultimately giving in, was great. And even though Ben turns into an adorable marshmallow, he keeps enough of his cheekiness to make him even more adorable.

By K.A. Tucker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Five Ways to Fall as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Purple-haired, sharp-tongued Reese MacKay knows all about making the wrong choice; she's made plenty of them in her twenty-odd-years. So when her impulsive, short-lived marriage ends in heartbreak, she decides it's time for a change. She moves to Miami with the intention of hitting reset on her irresponsible life, and she does quite well...aside from an epically humiliating one-night stand in Cancun with a hot blond bouncer named Ben. Thank God she can get on a plane and leave thatmistake behind her.

Football scholarship and frat parties with hot chicks? Part of charmer Ben Morris's plan. Blown knee that kills…


Book cover of How to Date Your Brother's Best Friend

Claire Raye Why did I love this book?

We’ve always had a soft spot for a broken bad boy and this book creates an amazing example of that in Dean. A former marine who grew up in a foster home, he’s completely unaware of the secret crush his best friend’s younger sister, Holly has harbored on him for years. When circumstances allow them to explore that crush, things go from secret to oh-so hot and we were so on board for it. We loved watching Dean finally start to feel like someone saw and understood him and even when tragedy strikes, Holly never gives up on him. The final scenes were freaking adorable…there’s nothing better than a bad boy who is all in with his girl!

By Julie Kriss,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked How to Date Your Brother's Best Friend as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

I can’t date Dean Madden. He’s a bad boy and my older brother’s best friend. So what if I pretended he was my fake boyfriend in high school? That was a long time ago, and he never has to know. We’re both grown up now. It’s never going to happen.

Until one hot weekend when everything happens.

Now Dean has made a bet with me: four weeks of dating, and whoever gets dumped first loses. In order to win, I just have to date him. And the more dates we go on, the more I see the things Dean hides…


Book cover of Breaker: A Brother's Best Friend Standalone Romance

Claire Raye Why did I love this book?

We have serious love for those brother’s best friend romances and this one doesn’t disappoint. Grady is the perfect broody male lead with all his flaws and wants so much more for Sutton than he feels he can offer her. But omg, when his moody and broody nature finally disappears, he is the perfect mix of vulnerability and love when it comes to Sutton. The push and pull and all the angst had our hearts breaking, but then swooning with happiness by the end.  

By Harloe Rae,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Breaker as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A TOP 15 AMAZON BESTSELLER!

“Tell me a happy something, Sutton.”

I was only seven the first time Grady Bowen whispered those words to me. Cloaked by the black sky under a blanket of stars, it was easy to get lost. He didn’t have any good memories of his own and needed to borrow mine. I would willingly give him anything.

Being infatuated with that boy was a beautiful curse. What could have been special didn’t get the chance to bloom. He’d never see me as more than his best friend’s kid sister. That was a hard lesson to learn,…


Book cover of Over the Moon

Claire Raye Why did I love this book?

A sports romance and opposites attract? Sign us up! But then toss in the mouthy rebel of a professional football star who is rarely told no and we are all in. Kingston Scott is the bad boy who chases the good girl and it plays out in epic fashion. Despite Kingston’s playboy reputation, we couldn’t help but root for him to win the girl. Because underneath it all, he’s a total softie, especially when it comes to his girl Silver. 

By K.K. Allen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Over the Moon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A charming and steamy small-town romance between a mysterious woman struggling to protect the safe haven she's created, and the reckless man determined to break down her walls." HEA Book Babes

“My secrets have always kept me safe…until he saw my truth.”

Kingston Scott is the most eligible bachelor in professional football, a charming rebel on and off the field. He’s also in desperate need of an attitude adjustment.

After a reckless night puts him behind bars, he’s sentenced to coach football at a sleepaway camp in the middle of nowhere. He’s not sure he’ll survive an entire month of…


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Love, Sex, and Other Calamities: 15 Stories and a Poem by Ralph Hickok

By Ralph Hickok,

Book cover of Love, Sex, and Other Calamities: 15 Stories and a Poem by Ralph Hickok

Ralph Hickok Author Of Vagabond Halfback: The Saga of Johnny Blood McNally

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in Green Bay and my dad was the official scorer for the Packers, so I was immersed in pro football history even as a child. During my careers as a newspaper feature writer and editor and as an advertising copywriter, I also became a sports historian. My magnum opus was “The Encyclopedia of North American Sports History,” 650,000 words. But my favorite by far is my biography of Johnny Blood. I was 12 or 13 when I decided I wanted to write it, 33 when I began working on it, 38 when I finished it, and 78 when it was finally published.

Ralph's book list on the history of pro football

What is my book about?

From Kirkus Reviews: "This debut short-story collection paints the wistful life of a newspaper journalist as seen through his sexual and romantic encounters...

Throughout, Hickok writes in an assured style, pulling readers along. The narrow sexual focus results in a distorted picture, yet other aspects of Art's life emerge at the edges—his intelligence, his career as a journalist, and even the sincerity with which he gives in to his male urges and construes sex as love... 

Subdued yet alluring; a pensive reflection on the male psyche."

Love, Sex, and Other Calamities: 15 Stories and a Poem by Ralph Hickok

By Ralph Hickok,

What is this book about?

A man arrives in a new city, hoping to start a new life, but he’s still haunted by memories of past loves…
A 12-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl have a brief romantic encounter when their families are vacationing in neighboring lakeside cottages…
Two teenagers enjoy sexual experimentation when she babysits for her little brother while her parents are out drinking…
A high school boy has a crush on an older woman who identifies with Molly Bloom…
A college freshman falls in love with a high school freshman and is amazed at the depths of her passion…
A guy wins…


5 book lists we think you will like!

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