Series: Standalone
Release Date: August 3rd, 2014
I’m Thomas Malone, and I’ve seen to it that the world revolves around me.
There’s a new girl at school, and it’s just a matter of time before she gives in to my charm. This one’s just a little more stubborn than most – she won’t even tell me her name! She’s smart, too. Maybe too smart. I can’t let her in. I can’t let anybody in. I’m not too worried, but even I have to admit she’s interfering with my focus on the goal.
Dad’s not going to be happy about that.
Did I mention I love Shakespeare? Yeah, I know. I’m a walking contradiction, According to the Bard, ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Somehow, I got all three.
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
– Heroine drugged and then coerced into sexual acts which were then photographed
• Death of parent (off-page, memories)
• Domestic abuse (on-page)
• Suicide (on-page)
• Traumatic accident resulting in serious injury (on-page)
• Does have (light) OW drama
– An ex-hookup of the Hero’s spreads rumours about the Heroine because the OW is jealous
• Does have a descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
– Before the Hero meets the Heroine: one descriptive scene at the beginning of an OW giving the Hero a BJ
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
– They were separated for a couple of months
– Assumed they were both celibate but not confirmation
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Rating: 4/5 stars
If you love books that are told from an all-male POV and don’t mind the hero being an entitled playboy who thinks and expects the world to revolve around him, then read this book! No, seriously, this isn’t me being sarcastic–although I will admit, Thomas was sometimes really unlikeable (because at some points I was like, did he really just say that?). Offside touches on some pretty serious issues, only one of them being abuse.
At the start of Offside, I automatically assumed it will be like all the other contemporary books that revolve around a guy that has girls falling at his feet, and who meets the girl that doesn’t want anything to do with him. But this book was way more profound than that. You were shown the dynamics of Thomas’s home life, which, to be honest, was disgusting and unbelievable … and sad. Then there was the fact of how soccer played such a significant role in Offside. It was excellent being in Thomas’s head specifically for these reasons: it was incredibly entertaining reading the games from his POV.
At the beginning of the novel, Thomas comes across as one of those stereotypical bullies, that uses intimidations, money, and threats to get what he wants. But once you start getting into the book, you understand that once he meets Nicole, he begins to improve and honestly, even the slightest improvements were vast because Thomas was so bad off before.
What I really liked about Offside was that both Thomas and Nicole had troubled pasts (and in Thomas’s case, present) even though they looked and acted normal, like nothing was wrong. It was the relationship between the two characters that solidified the story because the plot line was mainly about meeting the one person who makes your life better and seeing how willing they are to change for them.
Offside also was slightly suspenseful, precisely due to Thomas’s dad. You just knew right away that the other shoe was going to drop because his dad was an asshole. And the reason for that … wow, did not see that coming. Also, there’s something in the past that affected Thomas and is one of the reasons why Thomas acts the way he does.
This was another hit by Shay Savage, and I believe that she really does excel at male perspective books. Also, the twist of adding a bunch of Shakespeare quotes here and there made the book even more enjoyable!
Nice review, well written!
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