It started with an Offside…
Lately I’ve found that the longer/thicker the book, the more I tend to enjoy it. And this is coming from a girl that the longest book I’ve read is 720 pages. My go to is roughly 350 or less.
However, recently I have found the books with more character depth/growth and a more meaningful storyline I connect with tend to be about 400+ pages at minimum and honestly it’s something I’m craving.
An example of this is my recent read Offside by Avery Keelan.
Keelan is a new to me author who I just happened to stumble upon after another read that was narrated by Gabriel Spires. Initially I was weary of this book, it was giving Warner and Elle Woods Legally Blonde vibes at first and I wasn’t sure if there would be anyway to do one of my favorite movies justice in book form.
But as with Elle in Legally Blonde, Bailey met Carter, her version of Emmet. Well sort of. Chase Carter exudes f*ck boy vibes and an arrogance at times you just want to smack the shit out of. But somehow these two balance each other, a true ying and yang. And our Warner of this book, Luke. To be honest though I think is disingenuous to allow Warner to be on the same level of Luke. While the book starts out with similar vibes of a fancy place for a date and misleading the girl on, I can at least give Warner a little more credit that he never attempted to ruin Elle’s life, or at least it doesn’t appear to have taken place.
Luke is just a mother loving prick who doesn’t want her but sure as shit wants no one else to have her, this is where Chase Carter enters. Meet our hero who not only taught our heroine a thing or two about confidence but had me laughing at nearly every page, when his ego took a smide of a backseat. This mans just wants to love on Bailey and for her to see herself the way he sees her. This of course comes from that one time back in April and this is where Keelan elevates this book. Touching on a topic that is taboo/stigmatized, but in a tasteful way.
I mean how could I end up not devouring this book and loving the fuck out of it. Truly the second it ended, I ordered a copy for my Kindle as well as a physical copy and even tracked down the OG Indie cover because I loved it that much. The only other book(s) I’ve done that with is my beloved boys of summer The Ravenhood Trilogy and Ravenhood Legacy.
All of this to say, I’m craving less predictable path, and more depth. More story. More relatability. So if you have any recommendations that tugs at all the feels, with an immense amount of relatability somehow, hook a girl up would ya?
