*I received a free copy of Sidelined from Gallery Books via Edelweiss. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
Sidelined by Suzanne Baltzar Published by Gallery Books on 27 August 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss
When Connor McGuire loses out on his dream job of being the head coach of the local high school football team, he thinks life can’t get any worse. Then he discovers just who got the coveted position—it was a handout to the kid of a well-known, successful college coach. Connor’s sure this is just a publicity stunt, but the kid turns out to be not only a sharp strategist, but a driven and sexy young woman, too. Frustrated in more ways than one, Connor realizes that he might have to step up his game or risk losing altogether.
Coach Charlotte “Charlie” Gibb calls a flag on the play when she finds out that her very male, very attractive, but definitely-rooting-for-her-to-lose assistant coach resents her for taking what he considers to be his rightful position. But never one to back down from a little healthy competition, Charlie is determined to prove her worth—both on and off the field.
Sidelined is about an unconventional woman, who finally gets the job she wants. Only to be met by scepticism from the men already in place.
It was great reading about a female high school football coach. All the challenges Charlie faced in Sidelined are challenges women often face, too. Charlie was happy to finally be head coach, but the reception she got form her team was even colder than she had imagined. Connor wanted the job, and truly felt he deserved the job. He tried to tell himself that he didn’t hate Charlie because she was a woman, but because she had ‘stolen’ his dream job.
As Sidelined continued, it was clear that Charlie was more than capable. She turned the team around and helped them win several games. But she was a tough coach, and she didn’t take kindly players who didn’t give 100%. She also expected her players to act respectfully both on and off the field.
The romance was enemies to lovers in Sidelined, and it made for some very good bantering. Charlie and Connor were the last people to recognize that they had chemistry, because they were so busy antagonizing each other.
Sidelined was well written, but there were some issues, especially towards the end, that I wished had been dealt with more details for the readers.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
I’m here for the antagonizing that turns into love! Eeek! I love that! And yay for feminism!
Genesis @ Whispering Chapters
I haven’t read all that many hate to love stories, but this one worked very well in that department.
Well, I do admire a strong woman =D but I love more watching a guy squirm
LOL Ailyn. You definitely get both with this story!
I received a copy of this but forgot to bring it with me on vacation. It sounds like a fun book. I love that she’s a strong female coach and I love a good enemies to lovers! I’m glad you liked it overall despite some issues about the ending topics.
I hope you’ll enjoy this one, Nick. When are you going back to the states?
I found myself all in from the beginning of this book. I loved Charlie, grew to love Connor, adored the interactions between Connor and his family, and found their friend group to be stupendous. I will most definitely be reading more from Baltzar.
I’ll definitely read more books by her, too. I did enjoy everything, but I just wished there would have been more about that one player and his dad… 😉
I love that this story had a female football coach. Good banter is always one of my favorite parts in a story! I’m glad you enjoyed this story for the most part. Great Review Lexx 🙂