Offside: An Ex's Rival Hockey Romance (Rules of the Game)

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The entire feud between the two of them was so drawn out and felt so insane that I rolled my eyes every time it started. Also, considering how fast they start getting to know each other, I don’t understand why this book is so long, it’s very unnecessary. This was so much fun, spicy and an emotion college hockey romance that pulled me in, and I devoured this book, I could not put it down until I finished Chase and Bailey’s story. Those things saved the book for me, but there are definitely some developmental issues for me, which would make you think I would maybe DNF or not read another book but something keeps me holding out hope that the story telling will get better because I really enjoy the style and characters she creates.

Though the more time she spends getting to know her new roommate, the more it becomes apparent that Ethan is the exact type of guy she could fall for. I picked up Enforcer by Avery Keelan and really enjoyed the writing style and characters, so I decided to pick up Offside as well. At the beginning we see Bailey and Chase, who go to two different colleges and their hockey teams are rivals. Avery Keelan is an award-winning author of sports romance and contemporary romance, a lifelong hockey fan, and a diehard coffee lover. Another thing was that I really wanted to see Christmas at the James family house, considering how that was a plot device 2/3’s into the book, but again I haven’t read the bonus chapters yet so it’ll probably be in there (fingers crossed).Despite the rivalry between her brother’s team and Chase’s and the total embarrassment of a first night together, these petty Betty’s end up striking up a friendship that ruffles a lot of feathers. It was the opposite of slowburn, it moved too fast for my liking, and before I knew it the main characters were together before I really got to know enough about either of them. This book is hot, and definitely intended for mature audiences (yes, I know you’re probably not 18 and reading this, but I’m forewarning you), and I found myself swooning on multiple occasions because of the hero.

Caught in the midst of a bitter rivalry that extends far beyond the arena, Bailey and Chase are on opposite sides of the bench. Fraternizing with the enemy is definitely out of the question, but what if the enemy is impossible to resist? Caught in the midst of a bitter rivalry that extends far beyond the arena, Chase and Bailey are on opposite sides of the bench.

SLIGHT SPOILIES] a pregnancy that isn’t talked about beyond that scene, the whole house/money situation, any of the plot lines surrounding her writing for the school publication, her giant mysterious injury (which literally isn’t actually brought up until the last 5% of the book and it’s done in such a ‘oh yeah this is what happened’ sort of way). The conflict is external to the couple, which I loved, but it is something very similar to happen in one of my favorite other hockey romances of 2022.

I saw this one on KU and being a sports romance junkie, especially hockey, I had to read it immediately. Rebounding after being dumped on her 21st birthday by a very red flag waving boyfriend, Bailey meets Chase one night at a party. I still enjoyed it because I really do like character driven novels focused on the couple, and I’m down to try the next book in the series when it comes out. They were very mature when something happened and they reflected on how to do something differently going forward.It’s not perfect - it’s self published so there were a few spots where the wrong word was used (‘it’ instead of ‘if’) but I was obsessed with our couple. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. bailey was treated terribly by everyone from her school's hockey team, including some of the team girlfriends who were also her roommates and i loved how he was never shy to stand up for her.