Sidelined Love

Crestwood University #1

by Emery Paige

There’s one thing that Hailey Reed won’t do, and that’s become distracted. She doesn’t have the time for it. Between classes, her barista job at Brewed Beginnings, and being president of the chess club, Hailey must stay focused on her goals and keep her guard up. The last thing she needs is to get dragged into the drama that is Levi Jamison, the captain of Crestwood University’s hockey team.

On the surface, Levi has it all. As the son of millionaires and one of the Crestwood Red Wolves’ star players, he has a golden image to uphold. Struggling to maintain the façade of having a perfect life, he is crumbling under the pressure until he stumbles into Brewed Beginnings the morning after a long night of partying.

Levi can’t get Hailey out of his mind, but Hailey says she would rather scorch the earth than be dragged into the chaotic life of a star athlete. So Levi skates his way into chess lessons from Hailey, forcing them to face off in more ways than one.

Genres: Sports Romance, Romance, Hockey, Sports, Hockey Romance, College, College Romance

422 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 14, 2024

Reviews

[Eya · Rating 1 out of 5]

*sigh* 😞 this was not good. I was very excited for this one but there are lots of things I didn’t particularly like so i’ll just list it down.

- The FMC annoyed me. Her personality is her being annoyed with everyone and everything.

- Sad to say but Levi and Hailey don’t have any sort of chemistry between them and I didn’t find them cute or compatible for each other. I didn’t feel anything for these two, not a single butterfly in my stomach and as a reader, I wanted to feel that in a romance book.

- There were just so many unnecessary details in a chapter that it dragged on. Like I think everything that happened in 1 minute was narrated.

- Plot was bland, since this is a sports romance I expected to see more hockey game going on but eh there wasn’t much.

- The therapy scene like where she realized she wants to be in touch with her emotions felt “scripted” or forced.

- There’s just something about the writing of the dialogues that gives me an ick and it’s unrealistic in some way or another.

- I think the idea of the story is there it’s just that the execution of it was poorly done.

Thank you to love notes PR and Emery Paige for an ARC in exchange of an honest review

[Carly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had better chemistry with my fourth grade ex-boyfriend (he eventually came out as gay)

[Yousra ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!! I don’t think there is anything negative I have to say about it. It was a very cute slow burn college romance with very low drama. The communication between the characters was amazing and I absolutely loved that. Hailey and Levi both have childhood trauma that they are healing from so there was a lot of mental health and the importance of therapy represented in this book which I also loved.♟️🏒

- College setting
- Slow burn
- Hockey romance
- He falls first
- Black cat x golden retriever
- Found family
- Mental health representation

[Milo (if lost, return to hot fictional character) · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all: thank you love notes pr and Emery Paige for the arc🫶🏼

Guys…
Although this was a solid debut, it fell flat for me :(

actually very sad about it because A CHESS LOVER?! Actually really loved that part of the story.
But the rest :,)

The biggest problem i had was that i felt very formulated.
The author had a plan and wrote it, and that’s the reason why i felt like i was reading more of a self help book instead of a fun romcom.

It felt like she wanted to do much and thus it felt very forced and not that genuine :,)

The conversation was forced, which made for healthy communication but it’s not realistic. The trauma talk was forced, which once again is not realistic. Her going to therapy was nice, but once again it felt very formulaic.

Nothing went wrong and it’s just not what i look for in a romance. not that something should go wrong, but i want some problems to be dealt with before they have their big happy ending.

That having said, it was a solid debut, can’t wait what she’ll try to do next!

(review posted later due to respect to the author and not writing a “negative” 3 star review on release date as requested by LoveNotes PR)



rtc


thank u love notes pr for the arc! cannot wait to read this! <3

[julia]

book wasn’t bad by itself. i chose wrong time to read it. for the last month i was concentrated on school, exams and i physically had no time to read. therefore, i forgot every detail about this book and almost whole plot is lost.

`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹

i won’t rate this book, and hopefully will pick it up later because i don’t feel like reading right now.

[bayan alrefai · Rating 1 out of 5]

thank you to love notes pr for the arc but imma have to unfortunately dnf this one @ the 60% mark. i didnt like the male main character and the writing felt like a wattpad story woops just didnt connect to the story at all ://

[Grace Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry this book is so bad. It came up on my recommended and I was needing a cutesy entertaining romance book so I thought oh perf! Fucking 10 pages in its so bad. He wants her the minute he sees her and she’s all “i wear a messy bun and ratty jeans everyday bc it’s my armor 🥺 I HATE dresses 🤬 I’m such a homebody I don’t do parties 😒 and I especially don’t like this boy because he plays a sport and I don’t ~get~ sports 😑” immediately I hated her! His genius idea to get her to talk to him is to ask her for chess lessons and they play twice. She tells him in return he has to help her with some chess event and there is no mention of his help ever again until he goes to the event. The dialogue is so fucking formal it’s unrealistic they talk to each other like coworkers 😭😭😭 at one point he goes “should we take my vehicle?” Your VEHICLE????? Sure grandpa. Let’s take your car. I didn’t know if I was going to finish. I hate not finishing books so I persevered but it took everything in me

[María · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hoy ando de buenas y esto ME ENCANTÓ. Levi es el tipo de stalker que me gusta, de los que se obsesionan de una forma sana. Y aunque Hailey es medio insoportable (y nos parecemos) le agarré cariño. Es cierto que le falta un poco de desarrollo pero en general es un libro súper bonito. QUE VIVA EL HOCKEY 🏒✨

[Duaa]

goodreads was down when i started reading this book and i can safely say that had it been working i probably wouldn’t have read it cuz the people would’ve warned me

[Danielle ♥ romcommoisseur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to lovenotes pr for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Quite frankly, this was not good. It was poorly written, the dialogue was awkward, and at times, super cringe.
There was no depth to these characters - Levi and Hailey barely had personalities or chemistry with one another throughout the book.

It sort of read like a bad Disney channel movie. The writing style overtly told the reader everything it was trying to portray, which doesn't really sit well with me.
People don’t speak and think the way this book was written, so it felt unnatural and icky to read. |

I had such high hopes for this one, and it honestly disappointed me ☹️

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not going to lie to everyone and say this was good. It wasn’t. The idea? Sure. The writing? No. Nobody talks like that. I wasn’t ever really engaged in the story either. There was no chemistry or feeling or really anything.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

📖 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙀𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙚

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘬."

♟️ Hailey is a college student just trying to smile through her shifts at the campus coffee shop, lead the chess club and graduate. The last thing she has time for is the hot shot hockey captain that keeps popping up.

⛸️ Levi loves hockey but has long since lost his joy for the game because of the constant pressure his father places on him to be better. He is drawn to the pretty barista from their first encounter and he makes it his mission to get to know her.

This is a sweet slow burn, low drama story. It deals heavily in the benefits of therapy. Hailey has to work through her issues with abandonment and Levi is dealing with the pressure his dad puts on him to be the best. Levi is seriously so freaking sweet towards Hailey, it melted my heart! 💕

I loved the strip chess scene! 🤣🔥
I am so excited for Asher’s book next!

Tropes:
🐈‍⬛ Black Cat FMC x Golden Retriever MMC
🥰 He Falls First
🫶🏼 Mental Health Rep
♟️ Strip Chess
🔥 Slow Burn (2🌶️)
🌻 No 3rd act breakup

💜 Sidelined Love releases on March 14th!

"𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵, 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘬."
"𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺?"
"𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭."
𝘐 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴. "𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯."

"𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩." 🫶🏼

[Kylie ve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a sweet slow burn, not much drama, steamy book! There is a lot of mental health and the importance of therapy representation in this book that I absolutely loved! Hailey has to try and deal with her abandonment trauma from childhood while Levi has to deal with the immense pressure from his father with his hockey performances. Levi is absolutely adorable and gives off such golden retriever vibes I love it. Hailey is very much and independent woman who takes time to warm up to people she first meets. Such a great book. Definitely will be reading the next book to this series.

[isa · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was so so so excited to read this book. sadly i’m quite disappointed…the progression and pace wasn’t really consistent in my opinion. and their relationship didn’t have enough depth to me…i also kinda hate the nickname rook. oops!

i also feel like that one scene where he needed her was just. it was like up played when asher called. i thought it was gonna be like a panic attack situation but he just drank too much.

also in general. while some of the things levi did were cute. THEY weren’t cute. all in all this just wasn’t my fav and while it was a fast read which i always like about a book it probably wasn’t one i’d read again. i’m not particularly interested in asher’s story so i probably won’t pick that up but i’d love to read wilders story when it comes. 2.3 stars.

[perri !! · Rating 1 out of 5]

no offence but this book was really crap lol

[Amy Braid · Rating 1 out of 5]

may have only read like 2 1/2 chapters but i’m still counting it as read as payment for my suffering.

[laura &#x1f9f8; · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5★

Emery Paige ofrece un libro deslumbrante y alegre, un romance lento con alta tensión entre los personajes principales.

¡Esta fue una novela debut tan linda y adorable! Un libro dulce, sin mucho drama y apasionante. Hay mucha salud mental y la importancia de la representación terapéutica en este libro que me encantó.

La autora hizo un trabajo maravilloso al reunir una historia romántica alegre con los aspectos deportivos del Hockey por Levi y el amor de Hailey por el ajedrez.

El punto de vista dual funcionó muy bien entre las respuestas sarcásticas de Hailey y la determinación de Levi de ganársela. Leví me gustó bastante. Es dulce, paciente, atento y sobre todo, muy respetuoso y comprensivo. Realmente encaja perfectamente con Hailey. Considero que Hailey es infinitamente identificable; sus inseguridades son reales y definitivamente puedo verme en ella. Realmente aprecié la visión positiva que se mostró sobre la terapia y cómo Hailey trabaja muy duro para hablar de lo que siente.

Disfruté cómo Paige evolucionó hacia temas más pesados, ya que Hailey y Levi tenían problemas de salud mental y su interpretación me pareció muy realista y sobre todo, creo que se tocó el tema con bastante respeto y muy bien representado.

Me encantó la conexión que tuvieron a través del ajedrez y la picante escena del strip ajedrez. ¡Los personajes secundarios también fueron divertidos! Sidelined Love es un sólido debut de la autora.

Thank you, Emery Paige and Love Notes PR, for the e-ARC.

[laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️

Emery Paige delivers a swoony and lighthearted book, a slow-burn romance with high tension between main characters.

This book follows Hailey, who wants to stay focused on her goals between classes, her barista job and being president of the chess club, and Levi, the captain of Crestwood University’s hockey team. Levi can’t get Hailey out of his mind, but the last thing she needs is to get dragged into the chaotic life of a star athlete. So Levi skates his way into chess lessons from Hailey, forcing them to face off in more ways than one.

This was such a cute and adorable debut novel! I found myself drawn to the story since the first chapter and, even though, the storyline felt a bit repetitive to me towards the end, I still couldn’t have enjoyed it more. Both main characters, Hailey and Levi, have their own issues but it’s admiring how they, somehow, find their way to communicate and talk through their worries and find comfort in each other. The side characters are also worth mentioning because they add a bit of sharpness to the story, especially Jade and Wilder (I can’t wait for their book).

Read if you like:
♜ college romance.
♖ black cat x golden retriever.
♜ hockey player x chess player.
♖ he falls first.
♜ found family.
♖ no third-act break up.

Thank you to the author and Love Notes PR for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Sidelined Love by Emery Paige will be coming out on March 14th.

[Maria Clara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a debut novel from the author but what a great job she has done 🫶🏻

Hailey, our main character, was such a sweetheart. What I loved most about her was the fact that she had such a heartwarming character development, becoming a strong and confident woman 🥹

Levi was a sweetheart. He was incredible and a fantastic friend and boyfriend to Hailey. He had his struggles too but fought them and of course, the fact that he had Hailey by his side helped even more.

Things that I loved the most were the fact that both of them had their own struggles and found their own solution to solve it but also relied on each other. They were each other’s lifeline 🥹 Also, I love the chess setting (even though I don’t know anything nor play it), it was a great way for them to connect and then fall in love 😍

I loved the bonus scene but what I loved more was the epilogue. It was perfect to me 🫶🏻

Very excited for Asher’s book but I want a book about Jade and Wilder 🤩

Thank you so much to Emery Paige and Love Notes PR for the opportunity to read this as an Arc 🫶🏻

[Kylyn Mondor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC. While it was an entertaining read and truly a great debut, the story line was a basic sports romance. This is a slow burn, sometimes it almost felt too slow, hockey romance between Levi and Haley on their college campus. The fmc’s interest in chess was fun, and I loved her relationship with her roommate/best friend. I also truly appreciate the mental health awareness that is presented in this book as well. I do look forward to giving Book #2 a chance to see how the side characters are developed.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Tropes:
• slow burn
• hockey romance
• opposites attract
• he falls first

[Helene Svendsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an ok book. But nothing special.
The timeframe confused me, I am still not sure if the whole book were just a few weeks or more.
Some cute moments absolutely, but it felt as a whole kinda bland.
A lot of scenes felt forced, and not realistic.

It’s not the best writing, a bit repetitive and the formulation of sentences sometimes annoy me somewhat.

Also. I like Taylor Swift and I listen to her music, but I feel like she has been a part of every single new romance novel I’ve read. This makes it unpredictable and predictable, and I feel it’s just too used now..


I recieved this book as an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[steph ⋆˙⟡♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i had a really good time reading this!! i loved the black cat x golden retriever dynamic between hailey and levi!! it was so so cute and reminded me a lot of my boyfriend & i at times!! also the mental health rep!!!!! her issues with abandonment hit HOME to me.

also… if you weren’t sold on it already… it’s a slow burn with no third act breakup 👀

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[RoroReads (Free Palestine)]

if i ever read this, its going to be because my school is called Crestwood too

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay first, thank you Emery Paige and Lovenotes PR for sending me an ARC. I am so happy I got to read this book before its release.

Read if you love these tropes:
- college hockey romance
- grumpy vs sunshine
- he falls first (HARD)
- no third act break up

Overall I really enjoyed reading this. It was a slow burn for sure and not as spicy as I was hoping. It was nice to have minimal college drama! Levi is a hockey star and Hailey is our chess player.
The banter between Hailey and Levi was perfect.
I adored Levi right away. When she says he works his charm - boy does he ever. He melted my heart for sure. She was definitely your black cat FMC. I genuinely enjoyed that they both had their own side stories and were both working on their own struggles.

I would love to have a book about Asher. I don't know what it is but I kept wanting to know more and more about his character. I cannot wait to see what else we get from Emery!

[Megan (sporadic hiatus due to law school) · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Over-narrated and lacking chemistry.

[Karli Jost · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book. Was kinda slow, especially in the beginning. I would have liked a bit more to the storyline and it seemed a little bland at times. My expectations weren’t met as highly as I would have liked. I don’t think the story was as good as it could have been.

[kiki ૮꒰ ˶• ༝ •˶꒱ა · Rating 1 out of 5]

First and foremost, I would like to thank the author and the 'Love Notes PR' team for sending me the arc of this book, I highly appreciate it, and here is my honest review:

As an avid hockey romance reader and lover, especially when it's set in a college space, and allows you to bond with more characters is always exciting for me. However, I have to admit this was a disappointment to me. Going into this I was excited to see a cute romance, but around the half of the book, my interest was decreasing with every page.

The whole thing just fell flat on me. I felt no emotions, but my decreasing interest as I read further into the story. There are some things that bugged me more than the other ones, but there are probably two things that made it be an issue for me to even focus on the book:

1. While there are plenty of hockey romances, especially the ones set in a college environment, I feel like you either have to come up with something new and exciting plotwise or make the characters interesting enough for the readers to be captivated enough to be excited about getting to know them. The story was lacking in both spheres. The plot was bland, focusing on a lot of unimportant things that could've been completely erased in my opinion. Characters were not interesting at all: Levi reminded me of a knock-off Troy Bolton in a hockey gear with his father issues and trying to "live out his dream through his son" kind of vibes. And Hailey? At first, I thought I would be able to relate to Hailey in the "being snarky and sarcastic", but she was getting more annoying with each page. We all understand you're an introvert and parties and hockey and college boys are not your scene. No need to remind us with every chapter how "different" she is. While Levi wasn't a bad character, he was blander than an unseasoned chicken, and Hailey was overwhelmingly annoying with her pick me energy.

2. There was absolutely no chemistry between the two of them. None. Zero. Not a single tingly feeling. Their conversations seemed scripted, as in a way that no one actually talks this way. They both obsessed over each other after having casual conversations with no interest explicitly stated towards each other and they got more excited about it than Italians get over Charles Leclerc. Also, Hailey tells him to take whatever it is going on between the slowly, yet their first kind of official date they're gonna smash?? Talk about taking it slowly. Some of their interactions sounded like you were reading a manual on conversating

I hate to say it, but this highly reminded me of one already existing and quite popular hockey series and while I was willing to overlook the small similarities it got completely nailed towards the end with coach Johnson and his daughter that will star in second book having romance with a hockey player (sounds a lot like coach Jensen and his daughter that also had the second book and romance with hockey player).

While I’m not fan of 3rd act break up, I feel like in this case it would at least add a little bit of angst to spice up the book, but instead we got Levi’s father having health issues and miraculously having a wake up call with heartfelt conversation about how proud he actually is of his son. Yeah… it was just bad overall.

I wanted to give this 2⭐️ but then this man took her to a collage cafe to propose and I just couldn’t do it. Sentimental value and stuff is nice, but I would prefer to be proposed in a bed while watching cartoons than in a campus cafe where I worked.

I hate to say it, but this was not a book for me. I do believe there are people who would enjoy this and if you’re an avid reader of romance maybe you should give it a try, but for me this was not it.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hate to do this, but I have to DNF (at 46%) this book. I genuinely hate not finishing a book — it always feels like I’m leaving something incomplete, and I feel that without reading the entire story, my opinion might not be entirely fair. But when I reach the point where I dread picking the book back up and have zero motivation to continue, I know it’s time to stop.

So, why didn’t this book work for me?

First, I struggled to connect with the female main character, Hailey. She came across as always being irritated — it felt like everything and everyone annoyed her. And while I can relate to getting easily annoyed at times, Hailey took it to another level. She never seemed to smile, and her constant rudeness made it hard to root for her or care about her.

Second, the connection (or lack thereof) between the main characters was painfully weak. I kept waiting to feel even the slightest spark, but the chemistry just wasn’t there. Not a single butterfly — their dynamic felt hollow and unconvincing.

Third, the chapters were filled with unnecessary scenes and moments that added little to the plot.

Lastly, the dialogue felt awkward and unnatural, making it even harder to keep going.

All in all, I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t for me. And that’s okay — when a book becomes more of a chore than an escape, it’s a sign to put the book down.

[Acacia Mainville · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC Review. No Spoilers.

If you loved Icebreaker, you are going to love this.

Sindlined Love By Emery Paige is an absolute 5⭐️ read. The relationship Hailey and Levi have is amazing. Talk about a man who will do just about anything for the woman he loves. Their dynamic and banter is as hilarious as it is relatable. They both help each other with their insecurities and are better people because of it. The support the get from their families and friends in the end are so helpful and the support every college student needs to have. Not only do they help each other, but they help the community by bringing it closer to students in the best way.

I would 100% recommend reading this book when it is released. I cannot wait to read the rest of this series and seeing where the rest of the Crestwood world leads to.

Tropes:
♟️He falls first
🏒 Found family
♟️ College hockey
🏒 Black cat FMC × Golden retriever MMC
♟️ Hockey player × Chess player
🏒 No third act break up
♟️ Dual POV

Trigger Warnings: (This is not a dark book but does touch on a few topics)
🏒 Mentions of child abandonment
♟️ Touches on parental emotional abuse
🏒 Mental health representation (therapy)
♟️ Mentions loss of a loved one (death not on page)