Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Offside

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Offside by Avery Keelan

26 reviews

koistyfishy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Stars ⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Based on looking at the rest of the reviews for this book, I might be in the minority of this, but I enjoyed this book. It made me giggle and smile! I also think I enjoyed it so much because there were a few similarities between my relationship with my husband and how Chase and Bailey act around each other.

This is a Dual POV following Bailey James and Chase Carter. On the night of her birthday dinner, Bailey's cheating boyfriend breaks up with her to focus on Hockey and not the distraction of a relationship. As a pick-me-up, Bailey's friends take her out to a new club where she gets roaringly drunk and hits it off with Chase Carter after a slew of terrible air traffic control innuendos. But she knows all about Chase Carter as he is a star hockey player on her school's rival team and so should be her enemy. She decides to leave with Carter, ends up puking on his shoes and all gentleman-y he takes her to his house... gives her a t-shirt and some place to sleep it off, and that's it! From then on the two form a friendship that blossoms into more.

So there are two things that my relationship shares with Carter and James. One - on one of the nights early in our relationship, I got pretty plastered and ended up showing up on his shoes. And two... never mind the fact that we have been married for almost eight years and I share his surname, he still calls me Ms Maiden Name as a nickname.

Bailey is very unsure of herself. She is timid and afraid to stand up for herself at the start. As a result, she tends to hide or run away from confrontation or any situation that could put her into something with conflict. But as she becomes closer to Chase and their friendship deepens, she starts to come out of her shell and pushes back for herself and stands up for what she believes. This is seriously needed because her initial "friends" and own brother treat her absolutely AWFULLY because of her friendship with Chase and completely isolate and alienate her - making it a very toxic environment to live in.

I love Chase. He is like an undercover cinnamon roll because he comes off as this cocky, arrogant man on the ice, but off the ice, he is a total and adorable sweetheart who is goofy, can make you laugh and is super protective. HJe is also extremely honourable and generous. He almost seems too perfect in everything that he does but my disillusioned mind didn't mind this too much as I was just enjoying the story and all the cute ways he was interacting with Bailey.

The one thing about this that kept the story from being perfect and it actually a detriment, is that it was too long. You could easily cut out 100 pages and it would still flow perfectly. At times was wondering when is this going to end? This was also split with a weird situation that sometimes it went into too much detail on some situations and not enough details on things I actually WANTED to see. (view spoiler)

However, I liked their dynamic and I like the way that their friendship developed, and I like that the two of them were able to grow together. I also really appreciated that she was able to find a "family" that valued her and appreciated her in Chase's circle. While there is a third-act breakup, it's not as a result of them being stupid. So I didn't hate it too much because I understood the reasoning behind it.

Tropes in this include:
▶ ~~Enemies~~ Rivals to Friends to Lovers
▶ Hockey Romance
▶ Ex's Rival
▶ Collage/University Romance
▶ He Falls First
▶ Cinnamon Roll
▶ Forbidden Romance
▶ Slow Burn
▶ Dual Pov
▶ Third Act Breakup
▶ Rich Boy Romance

Microtropes:
▶ "Mine"
▶ Forehead Kisses
▶ Nicknames
▶ Forearm's
▶ Takes care of her

Overall, if you want a sweet little sexy hockey romance, I would recommend picking this up because I really enjoyed Chase and Bailey's story.

Content Warnings

dreezy's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

Content Warnings

kassidypf13's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

sarahsbooklife's review against another edition

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emotional funny relaxing fast-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? Yes

4.75

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virgoabb's review

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lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

a palette cleanser

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underscoresyd's review

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

too much filler, could have been about 200 pages shorter & it gave me the ick whenever chase would touch bailey and instantly think of sex. like we get it. she’s hot. the spice wasn’t really well written either which is a disappointment since the book is so long & there’s so much of it.

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madlereads's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

"Do you have any idea what you do to me?
"No idea."
"There are no words."

🏒 college hockey romance
😎 reformed playboy
🥰 he falls first
😳 he's her ex's rival
❤️ (sorta) enemies to friends to lovers

This book was so darn cute! I ate it up. I actually didn't realize how long this book was until maybe midway but I'm not too mad at how long it is.

Bailey was dumped by her bf on her birthday of all days. What better way to get over him than being taken out with some friends to go dancing? Even better (or not?): at the club she meets her ex's rival and #1 enemy of her college's hockey team: Chase Carter.

I always always love the trope where they go from kinda dislike to friends to lovers. Especially that period when they're hanging out and being friends (with a little sexual tension hanging over them.) Ugh so cute. I think a solid friendship is a great foundation for relationships. And Chase and Bailey have a really good one.

Chase may have been a huge playboy with *quite* the past. But once he met Bailey, he was all for her. He fell first and hard! He's the perfect book bf. So respectful of boundaries yet helps Bailey expand her confidence, so caring, protective, and DEVOTED. He made me giggle and kick my feet. And he's pretty dang emotionally intelligent. That surprised me given his history 😛

I loved his goofy and lack of braincells mixed with Bailey's more serious and kinda anxious personality. There were so many moments that had me cackling with their banter. Chase's constant dirty mind meets Bailey's exasperation and semi-innocence. 🤣

Bailey was obvi so resistant to Chase's charm even as a friend because of her previous "loyalties" to her so-called friends. I enjoyed her growth. And the book, though long, really showed their relationship including the ups and downs with that natural insecurity. Especially if you're finally moving on from a toxic relationship.

Bailey's hockey friends were absolute shit. I'm still mad at them. I wished there was more *consequences* for her roomies being grade A bitches. Her brother too.

Sure Derek apologized I guess but meh. A real good big brother would've stuck by Bailey and protected her from the start. He was spineless.

Really I was looking for something more cathartic retribution on page for Luke too 😤 but I'll settle for how the book wrapped it up. This isn't that type of genre 🤣

Don't worry, Chase gives Bailey some new friends who got her back 😤 Siobahn and Dallas are fabulous.

Circling back to how I said this book is long, usually I get tired since it would feel like the plot is stretched out or things get repetitive. This didn't really have that feel too much? Could I have gone without some scenes? Sure. It's fine though. I can see this being a comfort read because it's so cute but I doubt I'd reread this in full 🤣

Anyways I can't wait to read the rest of this series and universe. I really did like Avery Keelan's writing! It's very comforting and cute.

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