A review by galleytrot
Playing Offside by Jax Calder

  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

READ: Feb 2024 
FORMAT: Digital 

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 3.25 / 5⭐ 
TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 3.25 / 5⭐ 
FINAL – OVERALL: 3.25 / 5⭐ 

In this book, Aiden is nearing his rugby career goal of breaking 1600 points before he turns 29, but nipping at his heels is a brash, young, overconfident upstart gunning for Aiden’s position on the New Zealand team. Tyler has the world to gain and just as much to lose, and the only one in his way is his rugby hero – and secretly, his teenage crush. Attraction sparks, and forced proximity leads t a mutually beneficial hotel-roommate arrangement, but with so many outside forces working against them (i.e.; a very public rivalry, systematic and internalized homophobia, geographic roadblocks, etc.), any relationship between them is effectively doomed at the outset. Tyler is a fighter, though, and as stubborn as they come. He’ll get what he wants if he has any say at all.

This book was honestly pretty average for a queer sports romance, although it does a decent job of setting itself as distinct from the dozens of other ones I’ve read. Homophobia is naturally a pretty common trope in the genre, but boy oh boy, does this one ever focus on it almost singularly. I know many readers prefer to read romances set in a world where non-hetero sexuality is so normalized it isn’t even mentioned, so if characters living in constant fear of homophobia and the judgment of others isn’t your thing, then this book won’t be the right fit for you. 

For a good chunk of this book, my interest flagged and it didn’t really feel like the story was getting anywhere, but I pushed through until it kicked back up again and managed to get things rolling. Aiden and Tyler were one of those rare couples where I thought they would be better off separated; where the ends never justified the means. The pressures and expectations they were piling onto each other were completely unfair, and their goals were never in alignment. If someone were to ever try pushing past my boundaries the way both of these men push through each other’s. I’d wind up stepping back and saying, “Yeah, I don’t need this. This isn’t going to work out,” and then maybe try to find someone more compatible. Unfettered attraction does not a healthy relationship make. 

This book has representation for gays and hints at rep for bisexuals. There is some Pacific Islander representation. 

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.
This book contains:
homophobia (general, familial, systematic, internalized, etc.); alcohol use; mention of animal death (big game hunting for sport); bullying; past traumatizing death of parent, survivor’s guilt, grief; past physical abuse of a teenager; toxic masculinity; mention of past death from cancer; sports-related violence, injury resulting in concussion; and, public outing through social media.
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