Books Like The Fake Out: 5 Fake-Dating and Sports Romances

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The Fake Out gives Hazel and hockey player Rory a pretend relationship with a personal motive attached. Its appeal is not just that he is an athlete: it is the combination of a public performance, repeated contact and a relationship becoming more convincing to the people supposedly faking it.

These five follow-ups separate the sports setting from the arranged-romance element. The Right Move is the clearest overlap between those two ingredients. Other choices stay in Stephanie Archer’s world, move into a college setting, or leave sport behind while preserving the trouble caused by a romantic arrangement.

Choose your next read

• The Right Move by Liz Tomforde — fake dating with a professional athlete and shared living space.
• Behind the Net by Stephanie Archer — more vancouver storm with a different proximity setup.
• The Deal by Elle Kennedy — a practical bargain in a college hockey world.
• Play Along by Liz Tomforde — a marriage arrangement that has to function around a team.
• The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren — a convincing marriage under wealthy-family scrutiny.

1. The Right Move by Liz Tomforde

Try this if you want: fake dating with a professional athlete and shared living space.

Ryan and Indy’s roommate situation and pretend relationship make this the strongest direct trope match. The sport changes to basketball, but the gap between public agreement and private feelings remains central. Living together also gives the couple reasons to notice details that a staged date would not reveal. Choose it if your favorite part of The Fake Out was the arrangement turning into a believable everyday bond, rather than hockey being essential to the experience.

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2. Behind the Net by Stephanie Archer

Try this if you want: more vancouver storm with a different proximity setup.

Jamie and Pippa’s romance is the starting point for Archer’s Vancouver Storm series. It is the author-continuation choice if Rory and Hazel left you wanting more of the team’s world. The central setup involves a professional hockey player and his assistant rather than another identical fake relationship. Pick it for the surrounding setting and author, while letting the new couple’s work-related proximity provide a different reason they cannot simply ignore each other.

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3. The Deal by Elle Kennedy

Try this if you want: a practical bargain in a college hockey world.

Hannah and Garrett’s agreement links academic help with romantic maneuvering. It belongs on the list for readers who like a relationship that begins with explicitly stated practical aims and becomes harder to contain. The college setting is a meaningful change from established professional athletes, with different responsibilities and social pressures. Choose it if you want hockey and a deal between the couple, while expecting campus life to give the story its own context.

View The Deal on Amazon →

4. Play Along by Liz Tomforde

Try this if you want: a marriage arrangement that has to function around a team.

Kennedy and Isaiah’s impulsive Las Vegas marriage creates consequences for their working lives in baseball. This is the option when you want to raise the stakes from pretending to date to managing an actual marriage. The match is cooperation, performance and an arrangement becoming personal. It is not another revenge-on-an-ex premise, so choose it for the practical complications of keeping a shared story straight rather than expecting Hazel and Rory’s initial motivation.

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5. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

Try this if you want: a convincing marriage under wealthy-family scrutiny.

Anna and Liam have to present their unconventional marriage as real when family and inheritance conditions become pressing. There is no sports plot, which makes this the useful test of whether the arrangement itself is your favorite ingredient. A tightly contained family trip replaces the team setting and increases the opportunities for their performance to be observed. Pick it if you enjoy the social awkwardness and intimacy produced when a supposedly practical romantic plan has to survive sustained contact.

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Which one should you read first?

Choose The Right Move for the closest combination of professional sport and fake dating. Choose Behind the Net to spend more time in Archer’s Vancouver Storm world, or The Deal for a college-hockey variation. Play Along and The Paradise Problem work when you want the arranged-relationship idea to become a marriage problem. Each preserves a different reason the pretend relationship may have appealed to you.

Before you choose

Should I read Behind the Net before The Fake Out?

Behind the Net is the first Vancouver Storm book and The Fake Out is the second. They center different couples; publication order gives you the surrounding world in sequence.

Are all five recommendations about fake dating?

No. Some use a bargain or marriage arrangement, while Behind the Net is included for the author and series. The individual notes identify the relationship setup.

More reading guides

• Books Like Mile High & The Right Move — 10 Pro Sports Romance Reads (2026)
• Books Like The Deal by Elle Kennedy — 10 College Hockey Romance Reads (2026)
• Books Like The Paradise Problem — 10 Fake-Marriage, Billionaire Family & Island Romance Reads (2026)

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