TITLE: OFFSIDE
AUTHOR: AVERY KEELAN
PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 8, 2025
SYNOPSIS: After being dumped on her 21st birthday, Bailey James rebounds right into the arms of her ex’s biggest competition…
Chase Carter: antagonizer, womanizer, and infamous left winger for her college’s rival team.
Following a string of scandals and substandard grades, Chase is on thin ice with his teammates and tyrannical coach. The last thing he needs is to have his focus and loyalty called into question by fraternizing with his team’s #1 competition, but a beautiful stranger who throws herself at him one night is too tempting to pass up… until she throws up on his shoes.
Caught in the midst of a bitter rivalry that extends far beyond the arena, Chase and Bailey are on opposite sides of the bench. He’s worked his entire life to secure a future in the NHL. She’s tagged along while her brother has done the same. Fraternizing with the enemy is definitely out of the question, but what if the enemy is impossible to resist?
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Sports is a dirty word to me. I admit it. I don’t like sports, but for some reason, I was staring at my TBR pile and Offside called out to me. Do I understand hockey? No. Do I watch it? No. But do I love a good use of tropes, and enemies-to-lovers is my absolute favorite.
Tropes are complicated and yet so very easy. It’s executing them right that makes all the difference. Not every author can execute on a trope in a way that makes you not want to put a book down, has you turning the pages, and suddenly, 540 pages later, you’re smiling because it was just that addictive.
Yes, there will be part of you – at least it is this way for me – that has you wondering if anyone feels like the things you thought were missing – were indeed missing. If you’re like me, you may be wondering if the author realized that they could have filled in those things, and this could have been two books (or even just a longer one).
But there is a part of you that appreciates that the author took the time to tie up some things – even with just a line in the book. However, even that makes you kind of frustrated, because you would have liked the details of how it was tied up. It would have been juicy drama.
Sports romance is gaining in popularity, and to a certain point, I would have thought that Avery Keelan was hoping on that trend. But this book was originally written in 2022. The thing i,s though, she doesn’t make any references that set it in a specific time period. You can believe it happened then, you can believe it happens now. Either way, Offside is a good escape from reality and will definitely have you questioning if you should try to like hockey and find yourself a hockey player.
Chase Carter is a hockey bad boy. He has one-night stands, not girlfriends. Other teams hate him. His team counts on him. And the rivalry between his team and the college that Bailey James attends – it’s legendary.
The teams hate each other.
But one night, at a party, Carter tries to pick up Bailey, and she rejects him. It’s only when she’s trying to get back at her ex that she back tracks a bit on that one. He takes her home but doesn’t sleep with her. She’s drunk and offered, but he couldn’t do that to her. He wasn’t going to sleep with someone and have them regret it in the morning.
A lot of us have gotten drunk and woken up the next day in a place we don’t recognize. If you haven’t, you are lucky. But Bailey does, and she’s mad at herself for where she is. Carter is trying to be a gentleman, but she’s not exactly trying to be kind. She thinks she would rather forget him and pretend that this never happened.
And she plans on it.
But the thing about plans is that just because you want something to be that way, doesn’t mean it is going to be that way. The best laid plans and all that.
She soon realizes that the ex who dumped her on her birthday is jealous of her hanging out with Carter. Carter sees her at a hockey game one night and saves her from her ex’s wrath. Bailey doesn’t get why he does it, and makes it clear that she doesn’t like him.
He tells her that he will be there when she needs him to bail her out (he hates her ex) and that all she has to do is text. When her ex shows up at her apartment and her friends don’t care that she’s bothered, she texts Carter, and he shows up.
The two have chemistry, but they are trying to deny their chemistry. Their relationship causes issues between the two teams, and for a while, that’s hard for Bailey to navigate. Not to mention that her brother hates Carter and is doing everything to tell her that she’s wrong for dating him.
Bailey’s ex is absolutely certifiable and wants to ruin her life. He’s so upset that she’s moved on and didn’t spend all her time pining over him. The drama is a lot to deal with for both of them, but they are persevering.
Until they aren’t.
And then… well, you have to read the book to find out.
It’s the scenes – and I am not talking the sex scenes – with Bailey and Carter really connecting and flirting that kept me interested and smiling. Keelan writes angst and pining well. The characters are fun and drama-filled, and there are a lot of them that grow, which is why a part of me wants more stories in this world.
While Offside isn’t perfect, it was spicy, drama-filled, and relatable. Bailey is all of us, as is Shiv. There were aspects of both of them that you can’t help but see yourself in and root for both of them.
I rooted for everyone, especially Carter and Bailey.
Pick it up. You won’t be disappointed.
