Strong female character. Nice read. Some things were predictable but I liked the concept of the book and the characters were very well developed and interesting. I liked a woman coaching a position a man thought was his and the tension that stems. Charlie was an amazing character and the book was written well.
⭐️ ⭐️ 🌟

The premise in Sidelined by Suzanne Baltsar was exciting for me, I was finally going to read about a strong female lead that inspires me to be more confident and fight for what I want for myself. There's so much satisfaction in reading about a female surrounded by a bunch of sexist males and watching as she stomps them into the dirt. Hooyah! But instead, I get an annoying character with a poor me complex that constantly whines and cries about how life is so unfair.

The romance isn't much better in my opinion, because not only is Charlie, the new head couch of the local football team unlikable, so is Conner, who is too busy running away from feelings and being a decent human being to understand that he's just a jerk in need of a huge attitude adjustment. Characters aside, I did enjoy the pace and the author's writing. Suzanne Baltsar seems to love and support strong women just as much as I do. I'm interested to see if she'll have books out in the future that I might click with better.

This book is really good. The characters were described well. The pace of the story is good. I will definitely recommend this book to everyone.

Sidelined is a cute romantic comedy about Charlie, the female head coach, and Connor, the assistant coach. It is a love/ hate relationship, with a definite “meet-cute.” After some introspection, they realize hate is not truly the opposite of love, but apathy is. The book was a fun read and I would love to read other books about the supporting characters!


(Will review on Amazon/ Goodreads once the book is published.)

I really enjoyed this book. It's a football themed romance featuring a female head coach as she navigates her new role and develops feelings for her assistant coach. It was nice to read about a female in a leadership role that's not a cheerleader or massage therapist in a sports themed novel. The books was funny and engaging. I liked the characters and felt like there was a real connection between the them. I would recommend this to friends and am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGallery for providing me a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

I received this book in an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Very sweet love story about a female football coach and the assistant coach she falls for. Between the banter, side stories and sports I really enjoyed this book!

Funny and had me wanting to keep on reading. Loved the characters and the story. Suzanne Balstar wrote a great book.

I definitely liked this one more than Trouble Brewing even though I ended up giving both books 4 stars. Suzanne Baltsar takes Feminism to the next level with Charlie Gibb, the first female HC of a high school football team in Minnesota. I cannot wait to see what Baltsar has in store next because I need more Kick-ass main characters like Charlie and Piper in my life. Please tell me that the next installment has Sonja as a main character.

I loved Suzanne's first book and was thrilled to get an advanced copy of Sidelined. I thoroughly enjoyed Charlie's journey as a female football coach in a world that made assumptions about who she was because of her career choice. Lets be honest, this book has a strong female character but is also a delightful and enjoyable romantic comedy. It takes a stance and makes you think, but it's also fun and witty and full of great chemistry. Because as Charlie shows us - a girl, and book can be whatever they want to be! Definitely will be adding this to my collection.

Connor was in line to become the head football coach, when his dream job is handed to a GIRL. The chemistry and rivalry between Connor and Charlie is unreal from the very beginning, and Baltsar creates characters so 3-dimensional it feels like I know them. When what feels inevitable plays out, it doesn’t feel contrived because of the depth she has given to her characters and their stories. My only complaint was that I wanted to get to know the side characters better, but to my surprise I finished Sidelined only to realize that Baltsar has already written a novel about Piper and Blake! I can’t wait to read it and stay in this world for a little while longer..

Sidelined had everything I want in a contemporary romance - a strong female lead, an engaging love interest, as well as enough trouble and misunderstanding to keep things interesting. This book was well written and the dialogue made me laugh quite a bit. The characters were well-rounded making me feel like I already knew them but I still wanted to learn more. I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down.

3.5 Stars.

What I love most about this book is Charlie. The position of power, all the work she did to get there, and how she persists through all the crap thrown at her. She's strong, but still expresses her emotions. She pretty much defies being categorized, and I absolutely love that too! She's just a very real character. I was even annoyed with her at times, but her realness is what makes the story. Connor is slightly redeemable, but I could take him or leave him. I do like the friend group Connor has though. The story also has some relevant social justice issues that I appreciated. Overall, it was a cute romance read.

Cute book. A nice, realistic look at what women have to overcome to thrive in male-dominated sports. The female friendships were really special. Looking forward to Bear and Sonja's story.

I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

I knew I had to read this, given the football theme. I've loved football my whole life so I know the struggles of even just being a female fan. Charlie is an amazing character. I loved her enthusiasm for and knowledge of the game. Charlie reminded me a lot of Sarah Thomas, the first female NFL ref. From a representation point of view, this was a slam dunk for women. It was actually a really wonderful cast of female characters all around.

The reason I didn't give this more stars is because I didn't feel a strong connection to the events and people. The emotions that resonated were the frustrated, pissed off, ballsy, anguished, incensed, irate ones. I couldn't connect to the lonely, loving, warm, supported, romantically passionate moments. And I think that's because they lacked depth. Parts seemed to be glossed over or resolved too quickly.

I enjoyed the ride but it turned out to be more of a palate cleanser than I had thought it would be.

I would recommend this to anyone who:
- enjoys football
- loves strong, dynamic female characters
- needs an easier, relaxing read

A romance about a newly appointed female high school football coach and the guy who's mad at her for taking "his" job? Thought this one would be a great book to feature on my ROMANCE NOVELS FOR FEMINISTS blog. Alas, the characters and story did not a feminist battle-of-the-sexes romance make. The book starts out strong, with Charlie (Charlotte) Gibb clearly demonstrating her knowledge and skill with her coaching staff, including the abovementioned jealous guy, Connor, who just KNOWS hiring the first female high school football coach in Minnesota is only a publicity stunt. But when sparks fly between the two, instead of dealing with it like adults, they go back and forth about whether to do anything about it, then go into a physical affair that they try to keep a secret. Not a big fan of sleeping with your boss stories, even if the boss is a woman. And especially if said boss spends a lot of time crying and being protected/rescued by her subordinate/lover. We also have a disabled sibling used primary to show that the crabby, emotionally closed-off Connor is really an upstanding guy, another big thumbs down. And to top all the bad off, we have a contrived ending that allows both Charlie and Connor to get what they want, profession-wise, without ever having to make any tough choices or adult decisions or compromises. A big disappointment.

I really liked the premise of this one, and had high hopes for it. I enjoyed their idea of a female coach and breaking down barriers, etc., but at times it came across as heavy-handed. And I found the ending of the book to be very rushed. Wish I liked it a bit more!

I liked the enemies to lovers and their banter but I wish they had more chemistry. Charlie was a little rough around the edges and I think at times she really didn't need to be. Connor's backstory just seemed thrown in for filler. Ending was a little too neat and we never really get any resolving with the Spencer situation.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical during the first few chapters of this book. A female football coach in a high school? That's pretty risque even for a liberal school district. As a teacher, I really don't see a school district making that leap--not because a woman can't coach football but due to opening themselves up for a sexual harassment lawsuit if the coach walked into the locker room at the wrong moment which isn't an issue in the novel due to all the assistant coaches being male.  I commend Baltsar for tackling the issue of women entering careers and jobs that are socially labeled for men. Part of me wants to go out and read the two books about Charlie's two female friends within male dominated jobs--beer distillery and MMA fighter. Actually, are becoming more common job for women unlike the female football coach. 

Putting aside my doubts for the district--I enjoyed the novel much more than I thought I would. Perhaps even I held underlying prejudices against her for being raised by a single father college football coach. Charlie or Charlotte has been battling those same single minded issues since she began playing football in high school and later in college and a women's pro team until taking a job with her father's college team. She knows what she's doing. To change from college to high school ball, is where Baltsar almost lost me. If Charlie didn't have the sweetness and girlie personality mixed in with all that football strategy--I would've been done. Charlie is a charming character that people are drawn to even her rival--the assistant coach who thought the job was his. 

At first Connor McGuire hates Charlie for the mere fact she has his job as head coach. Nevermind, the fact that Charlie is more qualified that the social studies teacher who only played for a few years in college before injury ended his career. Or that his circle of friends love her or that he can see her softer side. He defends her to the handful of players who make inappropriate comments--even if he's ticked about losing out to her doesn't give the kids a right to comment like that about any woman. It's becoming increasingly hard to keep his lips off of her. Connor doesn't do relationships. He only hooks-up with older women. No attachments. Charlie will want a relationship if the start something.

Can Connor get over his own hangups about relationships to commit to Charlie?

Will the community accept Charlie as the coach?

Can Charlie get the others to see how much of an impact she's making on the team to keep her job? 

Is there a way for her to be with Connor and not feel like she's being used?

Sadly I didn't like this one as much as I hoped. The romance was not believable at all for me. I didn't feel like the characters connected in the slightest. I also feel like once the two did start to become friends, it was too much too fast, therefore making it feel unbelievable and genuine. I was hoping to like this one a lot more than I did. It just wasn't the book for me.

Charlie is in your typical sports mans world. I liked her character. I thought she handled the small minded men fantastically. She also took the coaching job spot from Connor, a big time ex college football player who didn't make it into the NFL, so the coaching job was something he was looking forward to getting. But he sees Charlie Gibbs getting the job as being a publicity stunt, but she really is great at her job.

This book was good, the only thing I couldn't feel was any chemistry. They seemed more like friends than anything. Co-workers....There just wasn't any tingles or deep looks or anything like that. But overall, it was good.

The heroine kicked butt in her job! She knew all of it, owned her status, owned her position, and doled it out!