Off Sides

By: Sawyer Bennett

Narrated by: Charlotte North, Matthew Holland

Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

"I'm not sure what possessed me to do it. Maybe it was the impossible expectations I faced, maybe it was my own self-loathing. But I just knew I needed something different to happen. I needed someone...something...to derail me from my current path. Otherwise I would become lost...a hollowed-out shell of a man. So I did it. I approached her, then I pursued her, then I made her mine. And my life was saved...."

Ryan Burnham is the privileged son of a US congressman and captain of his university's hockey team. While he is on the verge of fulfilling his dreams to play in the NHL, his parents want him on a different course. One he is expected to accept for the sake of his family's public image.

Forced to abandon her music career after the heartbreaking death of her parents, Danny Cross exists on the opposite side of the tracks from Ryan. She is struggling to make her own way, working two jobs, attending college part time, and volunteering in a homeless shelter. She is on a mission to build her own success.

With a chance meeting, their vastly different worlds collide, causing each to evaluate whether they are truly on the correct path to self-fulfillment and happiness. Can their relationship survive? Particularly when others are against them every step of the way? A lot can happen in just 10 short days....

©2013 Sawyer Bennett (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"When Ryan Burnham, a wealthy college hockey player, meets struggling Danny Cross, who works as a waitress to pay for college, it's a meeting of polar opposites. Narrators Charlotte North and Matthew Holland deftly present the alternating chapters from each character’s perspective. Supporting characters, frequently changing action, and emotional highs and lows are realistically portrayed in this contemporary yet old-fashioned love story. Ryan's incredulous friends and his social-climbing mother are nasty and critical to Danny, hoping to break up the relationship. Hearing Danny's backstory is heartbreaking; when both of her parents died, she relinquished her scholarship to Julliard. Yet she remains optimistic and kind, even to her detractors. The standout creation is fiery Paula, Danny's older friend and roommate who loudly challenges anyone who's malicious to Danny. Listeners will enjoy hearing how Danny and Ryan work to overcome the countless obstacles between them and a happy handing." ( AudioFile Magazine)

Like The Characters, I Took A Chance!

This was my first Sawyer Bennett story, and while it didn't WOW me, it didn't disappoint either. I will definitely be listening to more from Bennett. It's a quick feel good romance, with mild sex scenes, and low on angst, and drama. While I wished the story was longer, Bennett did a great job with the plot and characters. I particularly liked there weren't too many characters to keep up with.

May contain some spoilers;
Off Sides takes place in the college environment with frat parties, drama, and mean girls, but the adult content and writing gives it more of an adult feel. Alternating between Ryan and Danny POV's, these two are from different social classes. Danny's a quick-witted waitress, who's strong, independent, with a heart of gold, but also has a heart-breaking past. Ryan's sexy, the captain of the college hockey team and comes from money. These two have an intense connection, but Ryan's afraid Danny will get hurt because she doesn't fit in with his social class, friends or family. Danny proves herself capable of standing up for herself; however, his family disapproves of their relationship, and conspire to break them up.

I enjoyed both Charlotte North's and Matthew Holland's performance! It was a case of "the more I listened, the better it got!" I would definitely listen to more audios by either of these narrators. (I've listened to well over 600 audios from various platforms and have learned there is no perfect narration but have a tip I use that helps me to enjoy just about anyone's narration, others may find it useful. I adjust the speed. If I find the narration is too slow or monotone, I adjust the speed to 1.25x or 1.50x. It shortens the words and the pauses between the words and sentences, making the narration sound more lively. The new speed may sound weird at first, but after a few minutes and you adjust, you may find you like it. I listen to 95% of all my audios on 1.25x speed and love it! I will adjust as needed, but rarely listen to any audio at the "normal" 1x speed. There are only a few audios in my library I didn't finish or enjoy due to the narration.)

This was a really good story, and great performance. I'm definitely looking forward to listening to more audios in the series. It was an awesome whispersync deal!

Argggg the Narrators

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better Narration.. I couldn't listen to more than five chapters. They were just bad.

Would you ever listen to anything by Sawyer Bennett again?

Yes, I love this author and I'm disappointed that I wont be listening to this series.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

They were BLAND and LACKluster.. monotone.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I think the book had lots of potential if given different narrators. Christian Fox and Kate Rudd, maybe?

Good Story BUT... Timing was OFF.

Short audiobook of a sweet new adult love story. Characters were well developed, though a longer book would've made it better. A longer book would've allowed for more development of secondary characters too. Flirty conversations and tender interactions really made this love story special. What didn't work was the timeline. While I believe in love at first sight, too much happens for this couple in the first week. It could've simply been solved by just allowing a few days to pass here and there. And the story would've felt more believable.

Liked it enough to move on to book two.

Sweet, sexy story!

This audiobook was just lovely listening! This story was about an orphaned girl from the low income side of life who meets a rich hockey playing College student who is a Senator's son at the diner where she works. It's instant attraction and he asks her out on a date. Much to his surprise, she takes him with her to serve dinner at a homeless shelter for their first date. Intrigued by this girl who is like no one he's ever known before, Ryan falls in love with her more each time they meet and she's head over heels right away. The world intrudes on their relationship in the form of his snobby friends and family who look on her social status. Can he stand up to everyone in the name of love? I enjoyed the ending very much. Great narration!

I wanted sports romance!

I went in open-minded thinking OOO we are going to get a sports romance YES!
I feel sad, he might have been a sports guy but we didn’t get any actual hockey scenes. :(
I kind of felt like I have read this book before over and over again it was all very predictable. Not to say it wasn’t good it just wasn’t unique.

I guess I just wanted something more.
I enjoyed the narration!

nah

Thugs and crip wannabes....no thank you. I'm going to pass. there are better ways to articulate yourself than this.

Sweet romance with a short time frame

Where does Off Sides rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Midway, it's a sweet romance for the younger listener. A bit implausible in parts.

What did you like best about this story?

Not too much drama, and takes place over a short span of time.

What does Charlotte North and Matthew Holland bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

their inflections, emotional intonations.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Ryan's "rescue" of her emotionally after learning about his mother's efforts to torch the relationship.

Any additional comments?

I just finished book two, where these two characters are continuing to grow and thrive, and book 2 is better in a lot of ways!

Well Written Young Adult Fiction

I didn't realize that this was young adult but kept listening because it was exceptionally well written and entertaining.

You Are My One And Only

This was a delightful romance about two young people from different social classes overcoming certain social stigmas to be together. This serves as a really good first book for a new series. I must confess up front that I absolutely love Sawyer Bennett and greedily devour anything she writes. With that disclosure being made -- I really like the love story between Danny and Ryan, even though they fell hard and fast in less than 2 weeks. But I guess love has no time line. I usually try to stay away from too much college drama and fortunately the college drama was kept to a minimum. I like how the different relationships develop throughout the story and the characters are introduced for future story lines. Can't wait to see how they develop.

The narrators were perfect for this story -- they were able to portray the youth and maturing qualities of young adults. I look forward to hearing them narrate other books.

Definitely worth the credit. I've already purchased most of the other books in the series, this will be an interesting week for me.

Typical college/ YA story

Off Sides is a quick and cute listen. Danny is a poor college student who meets and falls Hockey captain Ryan. The main conflict in their story comes from Ryan being from a wealthy family with wealthy friends while Danny has a beer humble background. overall both characters were likeable and the story was believable. I only have 3 stars because it didn't really stand out for me. While Danny had an interesting backstory, the rest of the story was a but predictable. I also thought their relationship moved a bit too fast at times.

No complaints about the narrators

🎧 Danny and Ryan 🎧 UNBELIEVABLE

Literally, unbelievable plot.
The whole book spans 10 days, and in that time they meet, she loses her virginity to him and they fall "deeply" in love.
He also shuns his family for her, saves her from a sexual assault, beats her attacker unconscious, is acquitted of charges and proposes marriage.
To note, their first date took place on day 2 and he didn't contact her again for 5 days, so all of that happened in 3 days?!

Not this author's best work, by a long shot.

I think the narration was decent but I had to listen at x1.45 just to avoid a migraine from all the eye-rolling. 🙄

And there's still 30 minutes left! 🤣

boring sorry

the first audio book that im giving up. Can't listen to any more of it

Light easy story

A wonderfully written coming of age college drama that confronts first love full on. The story, told in dual POV follows the son of a US Congressman and captain of the hockey team Ryan Burnham, as he unexpectedly falls for struggling waitress Danny Cross. Divided by class and living in two different worlds they struggle to find their way when snobbery and contempt threatens their future. Thankfully neither of them take any bull, they both know the facts and they know what they are up against, that is until Ryan's cow of a mother decides to really twist the knife in a very open wound and play completely on Danny's emotions and love for Ryan. Quite emotional in places with some pretty strong characters, I've got to say I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into the rest of the series.

enjoyable read

The start of a series and a very enjoyable first book.
The romance between Ryan and Danny is sweet and steamy.
There is a bit of angst and violence but nothing that didn't make me not enjoy the story.
Ryan and Danny are opposites in every way,he comes from money and Danny has not she works a job to get her through college .Ryan doesn't have to want for anything but his mother is very controlling,and basically a horrible woman.
But just because they are from different backgrounds they just fit together perfectly and fall for one another fast.
They are great together.
But there are obstacles that they have to get through,especially with Ryan's family and this could cause them to fall apart.
I loved listening to this audiobook it was a fantastic listen and the narration was wonderful Charlotte North and Matthew Holland did an Amazing job at telling this story.
Loved it.

Enjoyable if not slightly annoying

I haven’t read this book so the audible was a true new to me experience.

I enjoyed the story, found the concept interesting and well written with enough to keep me engaged and hoping for the hea.

My main issue with this was the male narrator. A new one on me I think I just didn’t click with him as the character. I just heard overconfidence and the main character came over as smarmy at times, not sure I’ve heard him before but it’s a personal thing to me I’m sure, I could hear him narrate 20 other books and love them possibly, it just didn’t work for this character for me.

I loved the FMC narrator and thought she delivered a fab performance in this one.

Not sure I’d go for any other books in this series but I did enjoy this one.

Meh

Very unrealistic plot for the time frame. Didn't like it much, so overall I'd say below average.

A really enjoyable listen 👍

This book was included, so decided to try something by this author, who is new to me.
Whilst the theme of the book has been done before, I really liked the characters and story.
Nicely written. Very well narrated.
Would definitely recommend. Also, the rest of this series is included too, so am off to get them in my library now.

Loved it

I loved this book, kept me engaged the whole time. Great story line with a little bit of spice

5 star charming, flawless and delightful!

Charlotte North and Matthew Holland brought this lovely story to life with flawless, natural and endearing characterisation! The story was completely charming. I completely recommend this to anyone who wants a love story with romantic rather than vulgar steam. The couple, despite obstacles, completely adored each other and it was just happy making from start to finish.

Good story

This story is about 2 people getting together from different classes and what love helps them do.