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A review by abidavisf
Offside by Avery Keelan
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
An enjoyable and funny romance with characters you like straightaway. Chase is an angel, and I want to wrap Bailey in cotton wool and treat her like the queen she is.
The book is probably a little long for what it is. The plus of that is that you get a good amount of actual hockey time. This isn’t just a romance where one of the love interests happens to play hockey; you actually get the ins and outs of the games and what happens in each period which is what I live for.
There were elements of the story that I think we could have explored further, including Chase’s father and the way he processeshis death . Because of the length of the book and the time between finding out about his dad and then determining the day of the party, it took me longer than it should have to realise why the party happened in the first place. Had the book been shorter or we been reminded more of his dad, the significance of that night would have made sense much sooner.
There were also several sub-plots that were fairly brief and therefore now feel unnecessary as they didn’t add a great deal to the plot or at least set us up for a sequel, e.g.Derek’s relationship with Jill. It just ended and that was that. No repercussions? Did she break up with Eddie? Who knows?!
Another thing that, now that I’ve finished, feels like it was unnecessary if it wasn’t going to be explored more isSophie’s pregnancy . We never heard about it again after that one scene so it feels like it didn’t need to happen. Either that or we should have gotten at least one other scene explaining what the outcome was. (In general, I’d actually very much like to hear the confirmed outcome for all of that group: Luke, Kristen, Amelia, Jill and Paul. I hope Eddie got out.)
I’d also like to know thatNikki is okay. Luke blew up her life and potentially her relationship. We never got to hear about any of her involvement (if any) so, from the information we were given, it is clear that she was as much a victim as Luke.
The book is probably a little long for what it is. The plus of that is that you get a good amount of actual hockey time. This isn’t just a romance where one of the love interests happens to play hockey; you actually get the ins and outs of the games and what happens in each period which is what I live for.
There were elements of the story that I think we could have explored further, including Chase’s father and the way he processes
There were also several sub-plots that were fairly brief and therefore now feel unnecessary as they didn’t add a great deal to the plot or at least set us up for a sequel, e.g.
Another thing that, now that I’ve finished, feels like it was unnecessary if it wasn’t going to be explored more is
I’d also like to know that
Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Drug use, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism