New Zealand Sport

Have you ever faked a romance with the one guy who checks every box on your “absolutely not” list? I have. His name is Nick Zachary—New Zealand’s so-called “wild boy of rugby,” professional heartbreaker, and walking red flag. But desperate times call for mutually beneficial deals. He needs a reputation makeover. I need exposure for my struggling fashion label. So we strike a deal: I play his doting girlfriend in public. He plays nice for the cameras. We both get what we want. Easy enough… until it’s not. Because somewhere between staged hand-holding and fake kisses, I start ...

What happens in Fiji stays in Fiji. Except when it doesn't. Emma Martens and Nic Wilkinson have no history together except one perfect week. Nothing in common anymore except the most important thing of all. Getting together again would be messy. Complicated. Scary. And, just maybe, worth every risk....

Luka Darkovic has some tackling skills. He hadn’t planned on using them to bring down a runaway dog the size of a Shetland pony, especially not when his neck is already buggered. At 33, a rugby forward protects his vertebrae.... He’s even less happy when the dog’s incompetent owner turns up in his hospital cubicle the next day with a plan to fix those vertebrae. He prefers his life simple and his neurosurgeons drama-free. And definitely less distracting.

Hemi Ranapia isn’t looking for love. Fun, yes. Love, not so much. But a summer fishing holiday to laid-back Russell could turn out to be more adventure than this good-time boy ever bargained for. Reka Harata hasn't forgotten the disastrously hot rugby star she met a year ago, no matter how much she wishes she could. Too bad Hemi keeps refusing to be left in her past.

What’s it like to be the first All Black to come out while he’s still playing rugby? Luke has spent more than 30 years not wanting to find out, but hiding has become so hard. He’s a man who doesn’t get tired, but now, he’s soul-weary.

Marko Sendoa isn't a beach man. He's not an Auckland man. He's a hard man. Born Basque, raised in the heart of New Zealand's Southern Alps, and bred on hard work, discipline, and getting the job done. It's not easy for a rugby flanker to make it to age 32 at the top of his game, but he's done it. Next year is the Rugby World Cup, and he'll do whatever it takes to be on the field in the black jersey when the anthems are sung. He doesn't need a kitten. He doesn't need a pregnant cousin. He definitely doesn't need a too-short, distractingly curvy, totally unimpressed Maori barista.

Will Tawera doesn't do commitment, except on the rugby field. Moving to Las Vegas to become a kicker for the NFL would be a big change from New Zealand rugby, but then, he's ready for a change. And when he's asked to do a little modeling on the side? Thousands of dollars to hold a beautiful blonde while looking dark, dangerous, tattooed, and Maori? He could do that.

Eight smoking-hot rugby players. Eight partners. Seventeen kids. Beaches and barbecues and beer, salt and sand and sea. Family and good mates and no worries. December in New Zealand. One very pregnant, very tired Hannah Montgomery Callahan is playing hostess to it all, doing her best and wondering if her best is good enough. And one legendary All Black captain is willing to do whatever it takes to show her that when he promised to be there for her forever, he meant it.

Christmas means summer in New Zealand and All Blacks wedding season, too. Plans made and plans changed, because no matter how well you plan, life happens. Especially if, say, you’re marrying your late husband’s brother, you’ve got a couple of kids in the mix, and everybody’s talked too much about all that already. And then, there’s the rest of the family. A stepbrother who’s carried too big a secret for 30 years and needs to lay that burden down.

Everyone needs to be rescued sometimes. Everyone but Hannah Montgomery, that is. She just needs a vacation. Three weeks in New Zealand to sort out her life, figure out what she wants, seems just right. Oh, and to relax. She should definitely put that on the agenda. She certainly isn't looking for a fling with a professional rugby player, no matter how attractive he is. Hannah doesn't do casual. But maybe just this once.…

Steven Adams overcame extreme odds to become a first-round prospect in the 2013 NBA draft. From there he signed a major contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder - making him New Zealand's highest-paid athlete ever - and went on to forge a reputation for his intense, physical style of basketball. Adams takes you inside the draft process from the fascinating whirlwind tour of pre-draft workouts with dozens of teams to the draft itself where dreams are made or dashed and the Gatorade bottles on every table are glued shut.

Rhys Fletcher is not in love with his sister-in-law. That would be a very, very bad idea, and he doesn’t entertain bad ideas. He also doesn’t lie to himself. Both of those things can’t be true, so he’ll do what he’s done since the long-ago night when his brother, Dylan, turned up in an Auckland bar after a brutal rugby match between their two teams, and introduced his new girlfriend - a dark-eyed, much-too-young girl named Zora. He’ll lie. Now, his brother’s gone, and Rhys is back in New Zealand and settling into his new job as the head coach of the Auckland Blues

Nic Wilkinson is a responsible, organized, disciplined rugby player at the top of his game. Emma Martens is a sometimes-scattered, often-emotional, and always-broke would-be designer with a big chip on her shoulder where Nic's concerned. They have no history together, except one perfect week. Nothing in common anymore, except the most important thing of all. Getting together again would be messy. Complicated. Scary. And, just maybe, worth every risk.

There's no place like home... For teacher Jenna McKnight, nothing spells "heartbreak" like finding her husband with somebody else--in her bed. It's clearly time to reinvent herself. A new body, a new city, and a new job later, she's done just that. The beautiful Auckland villa isn't really her home, though. Finn Douglas and his kids aren't really her family, however much she wishes they were. And playing house can be a dangerous game. Rugby star Finn Douglas is just looking for a temporary nanny and housekeeper. Not a girlfriend, and definitely not a wife. He can't resist Jenna's cooking, it's true. Who knew he'd have so much trouble resisting her? He wants to do what's right for his kids. But waiting is so hard... Note: This romance, like New Zealand, contains a bit of steam. If that isn't your cuppa, maybe visit some other country... er, audiobook.

Nate Torrance has a job to do, and the biggest rugby boots in the world to fill. He can't afford to lose his focus, especially not to a brown-eyed Canadian who pushes all his buttons and looks much too good in a climbing harness. Allison Villiers may not know what she wants to do with her life, but she's clear about one thing. She's not impressed by the new captain of the All Blacks, however big a deal he is to the rest of New Zealand.

Anna was never anything like those "real" runners on telly, but when she read about New Zealand’s 3,000-kilometer-long Te Araroa Trail, she began to wonder...perhaps being a "real" runner was overrated. Maybe she could just run it anyway? The Pants of Perspective is a witty, colorful, and at times painfully raw account of a journey to the edge of what a woman believes herself to be capable of. It is a coming-of-age story that will lead you on a roller-coaster ride through fear, vulnerability, courage, and failure.

Hugh Latimer's coping with a few problems just now. A broken hand, missing the European rugby tour... and a half-brother and sister who are playing havoc with his love life. Instead of packing down in the scrum, he's driving the carpool to ballet - or forgetting it's his turn. When he hears his neighbor wailing out bad pop in the wee hours, it's the last straw.

Lots of young women dream of being a princess. Nina Jones isn't one of them. After escaping from her palace/prison by burying herself under sacks of fertilizer, she ends up in a beach cottage on New Zealand's South Island. She's meant to be looking after a cantankerous widower. Too bad she doesn't know how to boil an egg.

Kevin McNicholl may be a brutal force on the rugby field, but off the field, the star New Zealand All Black is a famously nice guy. His new tenant, though, arouses more than his protective side. She sets him on fire. Pity he's evicting her. Every woman deserves her dreams. Chloe Donaldson can't afford dreams, though, so she's given them up. Marriage, her ballet career, and now, her beautiful tower apartment with its view of the sea. Her new landlord is kicking her out, along with her three-year-old son, Zavy.

Kate Lamonica isn't Koti James' type. Too small. Too dark. And heaps too much work. So it's an easy bet that he can be her friend for six weeks without making a move on her, no matter what his mates would have said. Kate can't believe she's made the bet at all. New Zealand had seemed like the perfect escape from the stalker who'd threatened first her peace of mind and then her life. She certainly doesn't need any more trouble. Why on earth has she agreed to spend time with a Maori rugby player who's far too handsome and charming for his own good - and knows it?