How Not to Fall in Love

By: Karla Sorensen

A bad-boy NFL star meets his match in a feisty single mom with this sweet, steamy, and emotional novel about second chances and breaking the rules of romance.

Raising my ten-year-old son, running an animal rescue, and caring for my grandfather leaves zero time for complications, let alone cocky athletes who get under my skin. Too bad the universe didn’t get the memo.

Because a big complication just crashed into my life—literally—in the form of towering NFL quarterback Archer Evans, sentenced to community service at my shelter after a scandal. Despite his mistakes, I try not to judge. He’s got demons of his own, and even though he’s made it perfectly clear he wants me, the last thing he needs is a wary single mom seeing the vulnerable man beneath the muscles and the attitude.

Though I’ll admit, I’m tempted to look.

Not that I’d cave. With his notoriety, Archer would never make it past date two of my eight-date rule. I want simple. Safe. He’s too successful. Too arrogant. Too everything. The definition of complicated.

But as the walls around Archer start to crumble, so do mine. And this complication feels suspiciously like love.

I made the rules. Maybe it’s time I broke them.

©2026 by Karla Sorensen. (P)2026 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.