[Review] Ally Mathews - Offsetting Penalties

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Author: Ally Mathews
Title: Offsetting Penalties
Series:
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Teen Crush
Release Date: 06. November 2017
Edition: E-Book
ISBN: 978-1-64063-338-4
Price: $2.99 USD 

Description
Isabelle Oster has dreamed of being a prima ballerina her entire life, so when the only male dancer back 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 doesn 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.

Quotes
"He was an all-state football player. He should be able to do this. Toddlers were more flexible than he was." (Pos. 403)

"It's about telling a story, pulling the audience into what I'm doing and transporting them into my world with me. Making them forget whatever's bothering them for a while." (Pos. 1154)

"I can't control anyone or anything else, but I can decide how something will affect me." (Pos. 2400)

Review
I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Discovering this book on NetGalley I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis. I was immediately drawn in by the Enemies to Lovers trope and wanted to know how the author would realise the blackmail factor. 
Starting the books I didn't have any high expectations but I was still happy that it wasn't difficult to find my way into the storyline and I quickly noticed that this book was going to be a very quick read. I didn't even realise how many pages I read in a short amout of  time and within 20-30 minutes I probably had read about 15% of the book. 

The story and the course of action weren't something entirely new. What I really liked was the combination of a ballet dancer and a Football player because thats something I haven't seen yet in a book. Even though I've never read about a Football player and a ballet dancer before the book was very cliché-ridden but that never bugged me in any way because it was done in a very great way and didn't leave me bored. Even though the book was quite predictable and I always had the feeling that I knew what was going to happen next I always felt very entertained. Unfortunately I felt like the storyline went off a little too fast at some points and that it could've been more developed. Sometimes a scene ended so sudden and we switched to another that I had a few problems to orient myself for a moment. Towards the end I also believe that the story was a little rushed and that it definitely could've needed a few more pages to wrap things up more smoothly.

The characters were absolutely likeable and well developed but unfortunately they were also clishé-ridden. There is nothing wrong with that and you still were able to like the characters. What bugged me the most is that I didn't feel the chemistry between Garret and Isabelle. Only at the very end I started to feel some chemistry but otherwise they were just really good friends in my opinion. It aso didnt feel like an enemies to lovers kind of relationship. I had more of a feeling that the both had nothing to do with each other until Garret turned up in the dance studio and from then on everything started to develop, so it felt like strangers to friends to lovers. 

Conclusion
Overall I really liked the book and it was fun to read, even tho I had some critique on it. I can definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quick and light read and who doesn't mind clishé-ridden books. I definitely will consider checking out more books by the author (if she has any) or the publisher in the future.


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