Books Like Rewind It Back: 5 Sports and Second-Chance Romances

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Rewind It Back brings Hallie and Rio together again after their first love and years apart. A new life in Chicago and a renovation project put their history into the present, while Rio’s hockey career connects the story to the Windy City world. A follow-up can keep that world, or keep the second chance while leaving professional sport behind.

The three Tomforde picks below each center another couple and a different setup. The two outside authors are selected for the reunion rather than the athlete. That distinction helps you choose between another team-connected romance and another book about whether a relationship can work the second time around.

Choose your next read

• The Right Move by Liz Tomforde — more windy city, with roommates and a fake relationship.
• Caught Up by Liz Tomforde — a sports romance built around a single father’s household.
• Play Along by Liz Tomforde — an impulsive marriage with workplace consequences.
• The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce — former partners with practical reasons to keep meeting.
• Every Summer After by Carley Fortune — first love revisited through an adult reunion.

1. The Right Move by Liz Tomforde

Try this if you want: more windy city, with roommates and a fake relationship.

Ryan and Indy’s arrangement combines living together with pretend dating. It is a useful next step if you liked the way proximity prevents a couple from keeping their feelings abstract. The sport is basketball, and their relationship does not begin with Hallie and Rio’s first-love history. Choose it for the interconnected social world and the accumulation of everyday contact, especially if you want a different romantic premise within the same series.

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2. Caught Up by Liz Tomforde

Try this if you want: a sports romance built around a single father’s household.

Kai’s baseball career and parenting responsibilities shape the time he spends with Miller, who temporarily cares for his child. This is the recommendation when you want more Tomforde but are ready to trade a reunion for a relationship developing under a time limit. The family dynamic changes the emotional center of the book. Pick it for responsibility, closeness and the question of staying, rather than expecting another childhood relationship to be revisited.

View Caught Up on Amazon →

3. Play Along by Liz Tomforde

Try this if you want: an impulsive marriage with workplace consequences.

Kennedy and Isaiah’s Las Vegas marriage puts a team employee and a baseball player into a situation they have to manage together. The shared Windy City setting makes it an easy move if you want more of the surrounding world. The central tension is maintaining an arrangement in the present, rather than repairing a first love. Choose it when the pleasure is watching practical cooperation and a supposed plan create room for feelings neither person can neatly control.

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4. The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

Try this if you want: former partners with practical reasons to keep meeting.

Georgia and Eli’s responsibilities around a friend’s wedding force them to work together after their breakup. The match is the collision between unresolved romantic history and tasks that will not wait for the couple to sort themselves out. It leaves professional sport behind, making it useful when the second chance matters more than hockey. Choose it for the difference between remembering how a relationship felt and understanding what would have to change for it to work.

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5. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Try this if you want: first love revisited through an adult reunion.

Percy and Sam’s early summers and later reconnection make this the closest option here if Hallie and Rio’s youthful history was the attraction. The lake setting replaces Chicago and the sports career, while the past-and-present structure lets the earlier relationship remain active in the reading experience. Pick it when you want to follow both the creation of a bond and the consequences of its rupture, with years apart changing what the couple bring to the reunion.

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Which one should you read first?

For another Windy City couple, choose The Right Move for roommates, Caught Up for a single father, or Play Along for a marriage arrangement. For the strongest change-of-author second-chance route, choose The Ex Vows. Every Summer After is the better match when first love and the passage of time are the essential ingredients. The right choice depends on which part you want to revisit.

Before you choose

Where does Rewind It Back fit in Windy City?

It is the fifth book, after Mile High, The Right Move, Caught Up and Play Along. Each novel centers a different couple within an interconnected world.

Are all these hockey romances?

No. The listed Tomforde books include basketball and baseball. The Ex Vows and Every Summer After are included for their second-chance relationships, not sport.

More reading guides

• Books Like Mile High & The Right Move — 10 Pro Sports Romance Reads (2026)
• Books Like Heated Rivalry: MM Hockey Romances to Read After the Show (2026)
• Books Like The Deal by Elle Kennedy — 10 College Hockey Romance Reads (2026)

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