Review: Offside – Juliana Stone

When hockey phenom Billie-Jo Barker returns home and decides to play in the local Friday night hockey league, all hell breaks loose. Not because Billie’s talent is in question, but because Billie is a woman. And though these are modern times, some of the local guys still have a problem letting a girl into their ‘men’s club.’

Soon, Billie is at the center of a small town battle of the sexes, with everyone choosing sides. Her sisters. The townsfolk. Her friends. And yet, the only person whose opinion she cares about doesn’t seem to care much at all. Logan Forest, the man who broke her heart when she was eighteen and the man she now shares the bench with ever Friday night.

She’s got a lot to prove and though Billie Jo Barker scores on the ice, will this girl ever score with the man of her dreams?

Series:  Barker Triplets #1
Release Date:  October 1, 2012
Publisher:  Juliana Stone
Source:  Provided by Author
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

In case you aren’t aware….I’m a HUGE hockey fan.  So with my boyfriend locked out from displaying his gracefulness for me, I have to turn to hockey romances to get my fix.  Juliana Stone gave me what I was looking for.

Billie Jo Barker was forced from playing the game she loves by a concussion and a league unwilling to stand behind one of the only female players.  When she discovers a Friday night league starting in her hometown, she runs to sign up.  She doesn’t care what anyone says about her playing as long as it means she back on the ice…the one place she feels at home.  What ensues is a town divided and a woman caught between being what others expect and who she really wants to be.

I loved Billie Jo.  She was a woman who learned to be just as tough as a man in the competitive world of hockey.  That toughness worked out well for her when she was on the ice thousands of miles away from her family.  But what we found was a very lonely woman who, despite loving hockey to the very depths of her soul, was made an outcast by it.  Despite her tough exterior, Billie Jo was a woman who longed to be loved and wanted for who she was.  The one person she found who truly did like her for who she was, hockey and all, was Logan Forest…the man she had a crush on when she was a teenager.

Logan was an interesting man.  He balked at following in the family’s footstep and became an engineer designing motorcycles and cars rather than a veterinarian.  And when it came to Billie Jo Barker, he had her back each and every time she truly needed it, despite what his head was telling him.  He saw past the pads, fancy stick handling and hot shot goal making to the woman Billie Jo was.

Juliana Stone’s contemporary romance is a wonderfully entertaining and, at times, heart-wrenching read.  She’s created a cast of outstanding characters that leap off the pages at you with their big mouths and big egos.  You’ll either love them or hate them, but they will keep you riveted and desperately wanting the next Barker triplet story.