Offsetting Penalties by Ally Mathews Pages: 202
Published by Entangled: Crush on November 6, 2017
Genres: Young Adult, contemporary, Romance
Source: eARC from Publisher
Isabelle Oster has dreamed of being a prima ballerina her entire life, so when the only male dancer backs out of the fall production, she’s devastated. Without a partner, she has no hope of earning a spot with the prestigious Ballet Americana company. Until hot jock Garret practicing stretches in one of the studios gives Izzy an idea, and she whips out her phone. But does she really want this badly enough to resort to blackmail?
All-state tight end Garret Mitchell will do anything to get a college football scholarship. Even taking ballet, which surprisingly isn’t so bad, because it means he gets to be up close and personal with the gorgeous Goth girl Izzy while learning moves to increase his flexibility. But Izzy needs him to perform with her for the Ballet Americana spot, and he draws the line at getting on stage. Especially wearing tights.
Disclaimer: This Entangled Teen Crush book contains a bit of blackmail, a lot of sarcasm, and an ending guaranteed to melt your heart.
Offsetting Penalties is a young adult sports romance by author Ally Mathews. Offsetting Penalties was a very quick, cute read. I enjoyed it a lot, but I do wish it was a little longer. It felt a bit rushed in terms of plot development because of the short length, but the storyline was adorable and the romance was smile worthy. Overall, it was a cute read.
Offsetting Penalties is told in dual narrative between our two main characters, Izzy and Garret. Garret is the star football player that suffered an injury sometime before the book started. He had to have surgery and his coach is a little concerned with his range of movement in his foot, so he signs him up for ballet lessons to improve his flexibility. Izzy is a self imposed school outcast, which she has her own reasons for (and we learn more about them as the book goes on, which I loved) and ballet dancer. Izzy was a surprisingly big personality for me; one that I really enjoyed. She is sassy and unafraid to go after what she wants. For example, from the very moment she saw Garret in the ballet studio her mind was spinning for ways that she could use him to get what she wanted. What she wanted happened to be a male dance partner who could help her with an upcoming dance show. Insert some light blackmail and you have the start of what turned out to be a beautiful relationship with Izzy and Garret.
That was both what I loved and didn’t love about this book. Everything happened fast. It was injury, ballet lessons, blackmail and then partnership…one right after the other. So, on one hand, it was great because the fast pace kept the book interesting and moving along, but on the other hand, I kind of wish that the book was a little bit longer. I was enjoying the characters and their interaction so much that I wanted more.
Bottom line: Offsetting Penalties was a quick, cute read. I really enjoyed both Izzy and Garret and their romance was adorable, The book was a bit too short for my liking and it did feel a little bit rushed in parts, but overall it was a fun read.
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About Ally Mathews
Ally lives in Texas with three kids, four dogs, two cats, a rabbit, assorted reptiles, and her husband. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading, binge watching Psych, Scream, Younger, and superhero movies, and letting dogs in and out of the house. She loves to cook but hates to clean up afterwards, and strongly believes that Disney World is truly magical. You can find Ally on her website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, though she makes no claims of using any of them properly.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Yes I do consider Ballet a sport – or at least it should be. I was a ballerina when I was 7/8 yrs old . My only regret was not continuing. I loved it. (also when I signed up for newsletter at the bottom , I copy and pasted wrong answer in the block (jovination2010@gmail.com) is the email I used)
I thought this was adorable, and I always like a good fauxmance. I liked the family dynamic and was glad with how Mathews let some of the family drama play out.