Welcome to Valley Falls! A complete collection of 5 books all centered around the Valley Falls Strikers professional soccer team. Late Tackle When Cooper Holland, soccer star extraordinaire, needs a date for his sister's wedding, he enlists the help of his teammates. Set-ups aren't his style, but he's desperate. He's looking for a sweet, homey, girl next door type. Only Mae Nelson is anything but the girl next door. She's loud, talkative, and asks so many questions that his head is ready to explode. And not the good head. First Touch Shane Bradley took over the Valley Falls Strikers after the death of his father. His dad was beloved by all and living up to the man he was, is something that weighs on Shane day and night. Especially when he finds out his dad had another child. Even after meeting his new sister, he's torn up about the news and hits a bar to try and drink away to pain. He never expected that one night to change everything about his future. Allana Payne is on the hunt for someone to help her with a problem. She'd made it to the ripe old age of thirty-one without ever having certain things when it came to the bedroom. She knows there's more out there and she wants it. What she wasn't expecting was her lessons to be taught by the one and only Shane Bradley, owner of the hottest soccer club around and best friend to the guy her own best friend just got engaged to. She isn't about to say no when he offers to help and he isn't a fool who would leave a woman like Allana hanging. Give & Go When Ruby Mullen took the job as the public relations director of the Valley Falls Strikers, her only concern was working with professional athletes. She despised them. Turns out, the guys on the team were amazing. Well, except one guy. Dallas Ramos. He irritated her. Drove her crazy. His partying ways and womanizing were exactly why she hated athletes. Nevermind that it seemed like he'd made a change in his life. Tigers didn't change their stripes. As the star midfielder for the Strikers, Dallas was used to hard work. He had no problem knocking a guy out of the way, or sliding to take the ball away. His life off the field was different. He could walk into a bar and he'd have women flocking to his side. He didn't have to work for them. Or at least he used to have them flocking to his side. That was before. Before he decided he wanted more out of life than one night stands and women who didn't understand him. Enter. Ruby Mullen. She was constantly on him about something, yelling and arguing with him whenever they were in the same room. Somehow, that turned him on. He wanted her and it was time to do something about it. Narrowing the Angle Edwin Boyle has been in love with Hannah Temple since the day he met her. She was smart and funny and sexier than any woman had a right to be. As a pro soccer star, he had his pick of women most of the time. The only problem was, he didn't want anyone but Hannah. After five long years of pining for her, he was done. Finished. Until one night, everything changed. He's A Keeper Being the new guy on the team is hard enough but when Benji Melton, the Strikers new goalkeeper, walks in on one of the physical therapists completely naked in the locker room, things go from bad to worse. Now all he can think about is Cassidy naked in his bed, which would be fine if she wasn't giving him the cold shoulder at every turn. Oh, and did he mention that Cassidy just happens to be the owner's sister? Yeah, this is not a good start.

Hooked Barrett Beckmeyer lived his whole life knowing what he wanted. He wanted to be outside, on the lake at his family's resort. Fishing was his life. In the summer, in the winter, it didn't matter. He loved it. He didn't know anything was missing. Until Eden. One night with her and nothing was the same. Eden Craig wasn't looking for more than a night of fun. That was all Barrett was supposed to be. One night and then forget him. Only forgetting him was impossible. And when she's asked to be the lead architect on an addition at Maple Ridge Resort, she knows avoiding him will be inevitable. She was hooked from the second he sat down next to her, but did he feel the same? Sparked Nina Beckmeyer had been in love since she'd been sixteen. There was just one problem. The guy had no idea. After spending two summers and countless weekends with her family, Donovan Stewart was gone in the blink of an eye. All these years later, she's doing just fine, even if all her dreams are of a man she knows she can never have. Until he shows back up. Donovan has loved Nina since the moment he saw her thirteen years ago. It happened in a flash and has never gone away. But she's his friend's sister, and there is no way Emmett would be okay with them together. Or would he? When he arrives in town as a favor to Nina's family, the same spark of awareness that had been there so many years ago is even stronger. Donovan knows it's now or never, and he's not willing to settle for never. Is the love they each secretly felt all those years ago a love that is real? Shocked Emmett Beckmeyer had always been what most people would call stable. He came to work every day at his family's resort, did his job, had just the right amount of fun, and gave good advice. That all changed after a small fire in the newly added spa where his sister and the electrician were trapped. Since that moment, nothing has been the same. Maybe it was the fire telling him life was short or maybe it was the gorgeous, sexy electrician, Morgan, who he couldn't stop thinking of. He wanted her badly but knew from past experience that women weren't looking for long-term when it came to him. Something that had held him back long enough. Morgan's life was a mess. She'd moved to the small Wisconsin town of Lyden to meet her real dad, and from there, her life had been twisted every which way but up. After the fire, she was having a hard time sleeping and dealing with all that was on her plate. The very last thing she needed was to be having dreams about Emmett Beckmeyer, the man who saved her from the fire. He despised her, or at least that's what she thought. Until a party at his parent's house, where that all changed. Kneaded Decker Beckmeyer has a great life. He loves his family and his job. But every day, he remembers the past and how he almost gave it up for the wrong woman. He's vowed to never let another woman into his heart again, even though he yearns for love and a family of his own. When he does his sister an innocent favor, that all changes. Natasha can't believe her life has come to this. An ex-boyfriend is harassing her, and her once-perfect life is now in shambles. Enter Decker Beckmeyer. He's gorgeous, sexy, and has hair that any woman would be envious of. And he wants her to come work for Maple Ridge Resort and Spa. The timing couldn't be more perfect. There's just one problem. He spends his days ignoring her, while she spends all of hers obsessing over what it would be like to be with him. That is until she's had enough and confronts him, only to find out that maybe he's not as immune to her as she thought. Take one last ride with the Beckmeyer Family as Decker finally gets his happy ending.

When Chip Hilton learns the reason for the animosity shown him by two other members of the baseball team, he finds a way to overcome the problem.

Spending a week with her family over Christmas was the last thing Eve wanted to do. Her only saving grace is that no one else in her family is great at skiing, which means she gets to spend a lot of time by herself on the slopes. Sounds like a great plan. Until she collides with another skier, falling over him. When she gets her first good look at him, she starts thinking falling might not be that bad. Theo is visiting his brother’s ski lodge for the holidays. He loves skiing but hates people. He’d much rather spend all his time secluded in his room or alone on the slopes in the early mornings. When reality crashes into him, literally, he starts to think differently. Now all he wants is for Eve to be his forever. She might have been the one to fall over him in the snow, but he was the one who’d fallen head over heels in love with her.

This history of American sports fiction traces depictions of baseball, basketball and football in works for all age levels from early dime novels through the 1960s. Chapters cover dime novel heroes Frank and Dick Merriwell; the explosion of sports novels before World War II and its influence on the authors who later wrote for baby boom readers; how sports novels persisted during the Great Depression; the rise and decline of sports pulps; why sports comics failed; postwar heroes Chip Hilton and Bronc Burnett; the lack of sports fiction for females; Duane Decker's Blue Sox books; and the classic John R. Tunis novels. Appendices list sports pulp titles and comic books featuring sports fiction.

Clutch Hitter - While playing baseball for the steel company where he works during the summer, high school star athlete Chip Hilton comes up against professionals participating illegally in amateur sport. Pitchers' Duel - During his senior year at Valley Falls High School, Chip pitches in the state championship baseball tournament, runs for student mayor, and fights a drive to force Coach Rockwell to retire. Dugout Jinx - After graduating from high school, Chip is invited to join the Parkville Bears as a summer intern and he manages to save the Bears' season--and his own baseball future--from being spoiled by the schemes of an unscrupulous man.

When Ruby Mullen took the job as the public relations director of the Valley Falls Strikers, her only concern was working with professional athletes. She despised them. Turns out, the guys on the team were amazing. Well, except one guy. Dallas Ramos. He irritated her. Drove her crazy. His partying ways and womanizing were exactly why she hated athletes. Never mind that it seemed like he’d made a change in his life. Tigers didn’t change their stripes. As the star midfielder for the Strikers, Dallas was used to hard work. He had no problem knocking a guy out of the way, or sliding to take the ball away. His life off the field was different. He could walk into a bar and he’d have women flocking to his side. He didn’t have to work for them. Or at least he used to have them flocking to his side. That was before. Before he decided he wanted more out of life than one-night stands and women who didn’t understand him. Enter. Ruby Mullen. She was constantly on him about something, yelling and arguing with him whenever they were in the same room. Somehow, that turned him on. He wanted her and it was time to do something about it.

What happens when one neighbor likes to decorate their house for Christmas and the other neighbor hates it? A scorching holiday that neither will ever forget, that's what. Tate Frost hates that Caroline Hyatt has millions of lights and decorations on her house. What he hates more, is that he can't stop thinking about her. She's too friendly, too happy, and just too appealing for him. Caroline isn't trying to drive her new neighbor crazy with her decorations, but she does want him to notice her. Because she'd sure as heck noticed him. So much so that he's all she thinks about anymore other than her cookie business. Will these two ever figure out that it's a thin line between hate and love?