Offside by Alison Hendricks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars (4.5 here, rounded up on Goodreads)
*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*
They’re both looking for a fresh start, but can they ever truly leave their pasts behind them?
Lance Harper knows how much the limelight can burn. A rising star who found all his NFL dreams coming true right out of high school, Lance crashed hard, pulled down by a string of bad decisions. Now, hiding from the media circus in Eastshore, Lance wants nothing more than to be left alone. But that all changes when a chance encounter brings him to the Tigers’ practice field.
Beau Woodridge figured out early on that being forgettable gets you nowhere. With a little bit of liquid courage and a willing audience, Beau’s managed to climb to the top of Eastshore’s social circles, but the field is another story. After an awful season, Beau’s NFL dreams seem barely in reach, and the lack of an offensive coach has left him directionless. But when a meeting with Lance leads the pro star straight to the Tigers payroll, Beau suddenly finds his path forward.
Desperate to escape his troubled home life, Beau convinces Lance to mentor him. What starts as hero-worship quickly grows into a strong attraction–one Beau is shocked to discover isn’t as one-sided as he thought. And when the spark between them finally ignites, coach and player are pulled into a secret romance.
But it’s only a matter of time before Lance’s celebrity status forces their relationship into the spotlight. The sudden attention may be more than either can handle, and if they want to stay together, they’ll have to take on the prying eyes of the whole world–and the demons that still lurk in their pasts.
Offside is a steamy, standalone gay romance novel with a HEA ending and no cliffhanger.
Though it is an Eastshore Tigers book this can be fully read as a standalone.
This book is about Lance, a former NFL-pro player and forced to retire because of his ugly past and the football player Beau, who is a college student and trying to build a carreer in pro-football.
Both character were charming, I really liked Beau, he gives me a strange ambivalence. One time he is fierce and self-confident then he is the little boy, intimidated by his father or in better words: under the hand of his father. It is heartclenching and heartbreaking that he suffers this much and he is slowly destroying himself with several actions.
Lance on the other hand – only a few years older than Beau – is a former pro, forced to retire and divorced to his wife who blackmailed him. It is hard to see what he has to suffer from, it isn’t really nice to see how the other think high or low of you whenever they will and when they please. It shows perfectly the caprice of the media, when they decide to love or hate you.
The media influence is Beau also experiencing – the hard way.
The book contains also hot steamy sex which is well balanced in my opinion. It isn’t the biggest part but it isn’t really over the top. Also the chemistry and the tension is from the start between Beau and Lance. You can read the book perfectly seperated from the other books of the series.
I give this book 4,5 out of 5 stars, rounded up on Goodreads.
The other books of the series:
- Strong Side
- False Start
- Trick Play
ESC Mavericks
Mikku-chan 