Margins
Southern Sports Sweethearts book cover 1
Southern Sports Sweethearts book cover 2
Southern Sports Sweethearts
Series · 2 books · 2024-2025

Books in series

Caught Stealing book cover
#1

Caught Stealing

2024

Charlotte Clarke’s life revolves around numbers and facts. But when life throws her a curveball, will she rely on her brain or her heart to guide her? Love is the last thing on Charlotte’s mind. She’s too busy teaching uninterested high school students mathematics to make time for dating, despite her best friends’ protests that she needs a man. They seem to forget that the breakup with her long-time boyfriend shattered her heart. When Charlotte’s friends discover a new dating app, they sign her up, surprising her with a list of men interested in stealing her heart. Not wanting to disappoint them, Charlotte chooses the first name on the list, preparing herself for utter humiliation and rejection. What she doesn’t know is the app is a cover for athletes looking for serious love. And one thing Charlotte doesn’t need is another athlete breaking her heart. Andrew Rossi is sitting out with his second injury of the season. At his age, he’s beginning to worry his career with the Savannah Sharks might be coming to a close. What’s worse is he has no one to share the rest of his life with. Sick of superficial dating and flimsy relationships, Andrew decides to sign up on an elite, super secret athlete dating app. The second his eyes land on a gorgeous, brainy redhead with a deep love for dogs, his heart leaps in with cautious optimism. The only problem? His sunshiny, sweet date despises athletes. Keeping his athletic stardom a secret gives Andrew the chance to get to know Charlotte. As the two grow closer, he knows it’s only a matter of time before he has to come clean. But how do you tell a woman you’re falling for that you’re the one thing she hates? Caught Stealing is a sweet, secret identity baseball romance with light faith elements, a side of comedy, and two show-stealing pups! This is the first book in the Southern Sports Sweethearts series and the first in the Savannah Sharks baseball mini-series! The books in this series can be read in any order, mixed and matched, and moved around!
The Interception book cover
#2

The Interception

2025

When the opportunity of a lifetime knocks on your door, you probably shouldn’t slam it in his face. Chef in training Layne Rossi is determined to prove her personal twist on popular foods can build a successful restaurant. She only needs to convince investors to take a chance on her. But with each failed attempt to impress, her dream of becoming a popular chef loses a bit of its sparkle. When Layne enters a cook-off in Charleston, she doesn’t hold out much hope that it will be her big break. After all, she is going against five-time champion, Ender Langley. The Charleston Timberwolves running back Ender Langley is in deep trouble. Between practice, games, and helping his widowed sister and her daughter, he doesn’t have enough time for sleep, let alone the cook-off. But winning again means providing a home for his sister and niece, so he pushes through the exhaustion. He doesn’t anticipate one of the other contestants attempting to murder him with seafood. Then again, he also doesn’t mean to knock her unconscious with a bad throw. And he definitely doesn’t mean to kidnap her. The Interception is a sweet, meet disaster, “rivals” to lovers romance with light faith elements and a side of comedy!

Author

M. J. Padgett
M. J. Padgett
Author · 14 books

M. J. Padgett is first and foremost a mom. Her free-spirited daughter has quite the vivid imagination, and her antics sometimes find their way into her mommy’s work. She is a lover of all things chocolate, a Grimm and Dickens addict, a self-proclaimed smarty-pants, and an introvert to the core. Writing is her true passion (after raising her daughter, of course), and she writes as often as possible. One of her favorite things about writing is creating a world where people can escape reality for a little while, maybe even walk away feeling hopeful about the real world around them. When it comes to reading, she loves a book that can make her forget where she is no matter the genre. If she can get lost and feel like the characters are her real friends, she’s a happy reader.

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Southern Sports Sweethearts