For fans of Tessa Bailey comes a steamy debut sports romance following an Olympic downhill skier and the sexy risk-taking ski mountaineer she hires to train her for a new event. But when their chemistry threatens to disrupt her carefully planned life, will she stick with her schedule or let her life veer off course in the name of love?
Title: Off Course
Author: Julie Cook
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Expected Publication Date: August 4, 2026
Review:
Thank you to Turner Publishing Company and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I love a good sports romance. And I've not read one about skiing. I will admit, I don't know a ton about the sport, though I did some light skiing when I was younger. So I was excited to read a different kind of sports romance. Plus it is compared to Tessa Bailey, who I love. And I really wanted to enjoy this, I did. But there just wasn't much substance to it for me to really get into it and like it much.
I think my biggest problem with this book wasn't necessarily the plot, but the characters. They were just so flat and immature. I in no way was convinced they were the ages stated in the book. I didn't feel they grew during the book at all. I really didn't like them at all. Their personalities didn't make me want to read about them or their relationship. I liked Kit less than I liked Asher. He definitely had more personality. And I know part of Kit's personality is that she is cold and aloof. But you spend time in her brain as this is dual POV and even that time didn't hook me on her.
The romance was meh for me. It was a bit of insta-love, which is not necessarily bad for me if it's done right. But none of the interactions made me feel that attraction before they finally got together. The build up was lacking. The chemistry was lacking. I didn't understand why they were even attracted to each other. They didn't seem to have much in common besides being athletes.
The side characters were mostly Ashe's friends and they just struck me as frat boys who never fratted. These men did not seem like they were in their thirties or even older. And there was so much sexualization of Kit by a few of them. And Asher just ignored it and Kit brushed it off. I felt like this was a missed opportunity for Asher to step up and show how good of a guy he was.
As for the plot, it didn't seem like it really was going anywhere. I wasn't sure what the conflict was for this book or what the story was trying to solve. And then the Olympics seemed like such an afterthought, even though that was one of the reasons Asher and kit were training together.
Finally, there was so much technical talk without explaining any of it. It seemed like the author just assumed the reader knew all about the sports of skiing and mountaineering. News flash, I know zero about mountaineering and the technical talk totally lost me and pulled me out of the story. I kept skimming parts because I just didn't know what they were talking about.
This book definitely came off as a debut novel for me. It could have been longer, so the conflict could have actually unfold and the relationships had time to grow and change. The writing itself wasn't bad, I can see Cook's promise as an author. But overall I feel like this book needed more editing and a bit more thought put into exactly what the story was about. Honestly, I was just bored throughout reading this story.
Don't get me started on the repetitiveness of Kit's routines with her eating and alarms. How many times can the author refer to this before you just don't care about it anymore. It becomes Kit's entire personality, which is not saying much. That's just some of the telling this story did rather than showing.
Lastly, her brother makes a comment about her nipples and...no...just no. Plus I won't even bore you with how poorly the sex scenes were written and how it seemed like the author was using that to try and create romance. That just does not work, there has to be connection and chemistry for the characters to mesh and fall in love.
I see quite a few great reviews for this so perhaps others will enjoy it more than I did or I just missed something major and it went right over my head. This one felt like a young adult story with the ages adjusted and some spice thrown in to make it an adult romance.
1.5 stars rounded to 2
Author:
Julie Cook writes about food and music, then remembers she’s writing a romance novel and cuts most of that out.
A South Carolina native, she moved from Southern California to Rochester, New York, which is not south of anything except Canada. With her husband, three kids, and dog, she thrives in the summer, survives in the winter, and writes early in the morning.
Find her on Instagram and tell her your favorite Sandra Brown novel, sports documentary, New Yorker cartoon, or SNL sketch.
Julie is represented by Juliana McBride at Rebecca Friedman Literary
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