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Off Course
Not yet published
Expected 4 Aug 26For 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?
Kit Schuster has been bombing downhill on skis since she was two-and-a-half, and becoming the most decorated woman on the slopes has made the decade of competing across multiple continents and grueling race schedules worth it. She doesn’t look anywhere but straight ahead of her—on the racecourse and in life. But a younger rival now has her looking over her shoulder. To solidify her place in history, Kit decides to enter in the newest Olympic event of ski mountaineering, giving her eighteen months to prepare for the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina, Italy.
Asher McClendon grew up dangling from rock faces in Yosemite, and he stuns his followers with daring climbs up the world's most remote peaks before skiing down their steep ridges. He lives for the high-stakes thrills that come with ski mountaineering. When he agrees to coach a legendary alpine skier at his home outside Lake Tahoe, he's more intrigued by the paycheck than the woman. That is, until she arrives to stay in his guest cabin.
Far away from the perfectly groomed ski slopes of European resorts, Kit’s routine and laser focus get a major detour—by Asher's training regimen and their growing attraction to each other. Before she realizes it, everything in Kit’s life is veering off course. Faced with an insurmountable hurdle and no ski lift in sight, they must both determine what they’re willing to risk for love—even if it’s their careers.
Kit Schuster has been bombing downhill on skis since she was two-and-a-half, and becoming the most decorated woman on the slopes has made the decade of competing across multiple continents and grueling race schedules worth it. She doesn’t look anywhere but straight ahead of her—on the racecourse and in life. But a younger rival now has her looking over her shoulder. To solidify her place in history, Kit decides to enter in the newest Olympic event of ski mountaineering, giving her eighteen months to prepare for the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina, Italy.
Asher McClendon grew up dangling from rock faces in Yosemite, and he stuns his followers with daring climbs up the world's most remote peaks before skiing down their steep ridges. He lives for the high-stakes thrills that come with ski mountaineering. When he agrees to coach a legendary alpine skier at his home outside Lake Tahoe, he's more intrigued by the paycheck than the woman. That is, until she arrives to stay in his guest cabin.
Far away from the perfectly groomed ski slopes of European resorts, Kit’s routine and laser focus get a major detour—by Asher's training regimen and their growing attraction to each other. Before she realizes it, everything in Kit’s life is veering off course. Faced with an insurmountable hurdle and no ski lift in sight, they must both determine what they’re willing to risk for love—even if it’s their careers.
- GenresSports Romance
284 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication August 4, 2026
5 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I picked up Off Course for one reason: romance with the promise of competitive ski mountaineering, newly minted as an Olympic discipline. Now, that sounded like a refreshing premise—high stakes, extreme environments, the psychological grit of elite athletes. Unfortunately, that promise is never fulfilled.
The opening didn’t inspire much confidence. It leaned heavily on insta-attraction, sprinkled in tired clichés (yes, the veiny arms make an appearance almost on page one), and lingered far too long on lengthy explanations about gear that drain all momentum from the opening chapters. Still, I went on.
Before long, the snow-covered world and the thrill of mountaineering fade into the background as the story channels most of its energy into a romance bordering on erotica. The pacing doesn’t benefit from the frequent detours into meticulously detailed food restrictions and routines either, the repetition becoming hard to ignore (yes, the diet is strict, message received). After a while, these passages read more like filler than meaningful character or plot development. Not to mention that the imbalance in detail is increasingly frustrating. Pages are devoted to meal menus and discipline while Asher’s supposedly extraordinary mountaineering experiences are brushed past in a couple of lines like an afterthought. Adventures in Chamonix, Denali, even Antarctica, that should immerse the reader are reduced to mere mentions, creating a persistent sense of distance and missed opportunity.
And the love story? Let’s just say the phrase “I love you” works overtime (twenty-one times, but who’s counting), a reliance on telling rather than showing. Declarations of love arrive long before the characters know anything meaningful about each other. It’s not the speed of the romance that strains credibility—readers can accept whirlwind love—but the lack of emotional groundwork. We’re told the characters share a profound connection, yet rarely shown the specific moments that would make it believable. I mean, come one, Kit herself admits, “He can’t love me — he doesn’t know me,” which is always an interesting moment: when the protagonist starts voicing the reader’s concerns, something has probably gone structurally astray. Because no, you can’t reduce a relationship to attraction and lust. Readers don’t want the autopsy. We want the heartbeat. And when Kit says that it’s “one step away from Stockholm syndrome.” Ha, OMG! This is intellectually clever, granted, but isn’t it, like, emotionally distancing?
Even the big dramatic beats feel preloaded. Avalanche? Of course there’s an avalanche. Rescue taking “hours”? Convenient, if not entirely convincing for such a well-serviced Alpine area. By then, surprise is no longer part of the experience.
I kept reading — truly, I did — because I was waiting for the skiing and Olympic storyline to finally take center stage. After all, how cool is it to read about a brand-new Olympic event before it even happens? But that long-awaited thread is relegated to a brief, oddly muted epilogue, as if the novel suddenly remembered its own premise at the finish line.
In the end, this is a story we’ve all read a thousand times — only many versions have done it with more depth, more tension, and far greater emotional credibility. What could have been an adrenaline-charged, immersive novel settles instead for a very conventional romance with a scenic backdrop. Not terrible — just profoundly forgettable.
The opening didn’t inspire much confidence. It leaned heavily on insta-attraction, sprinkled in tired clichés (yes, the veiny arms make an appearance almost on page one), and lingered far too long on lengthy explanations about gear that drain all momentum from the opening chapters. Still, I went on.
Before long, the snow-covered world and the thrill of mountaineering fade into the background as the story channels most of its energy into a romance bordering on erotica. The pacing doesn’t benefit from the frequent detours into meticulously detailed food restrictions and routines either, the repetition becoming hard to ignore (yes, the diet is strict, message received). After a while, these passages read more like filler than meaningful character or plot development. Not to mention that the imbalance in detail is increasingly frustrating. Pages are devoted to meal menus and discipline while Asher’s supposedly extraordinary mountaineering experiences are brushed past in a couple of lines like an afterthought. Adventures in Chamonix, Denali, even Antarctica, that should immerse the reader are reduced to mere mentions, creating a persistent sense of distance and missed opportunity.
And the love story? Let’s just say the phrase “I love you” works overtime (twenty-one times, but who’s counting), a reliance on telling rather than showing. Declarations of love arrive long before the characters know anything meaningful about each other. It’s not the speed of the romance that strains credibility—readers can accept whirlwind love—but the lack of emotional groundwork. We’re told the characters share a profound connection, yet rarely shown the specific moments that would make it believable. I mean, come one, Kit herself admits, “He can’t love me — he doesn’t know me,” which is always an interesting moment: when the protagonist starts voicing the reader’s concerns, something has probably gone structurally astray. Because no, you can’t reduce a relationship to attraction and lust. Readers don’t want the autopsy. We want the heartbeat. And when Kit says that it’s “one step away from Stockholm syndrome.” Ha, OMG! This is intellectually clever, granted, but isn’t it, like, emotionally distancing?
Even the big dramatic beats feel preloaded. Avalanche? Of course there’s an avalanche. Rescue taking “hours”? Convenient, if not entirely convincing for such a well-serviced Alpine area. By then, surprise is no longer part of the experience.
I kept reading — truly, I did — because I was waiting for the skiing and Olympic storyline to finally take center stage. After all, how cool is it to read about a brand-new Olympic event before it even happens? But that long-awaited thread is relegated to a brief, oddly muted epilogue, as if the novel suddenly remembered its own premise at the finish line.
In the end, this is a story we’ve all read a thousand times — only many versions have done it with more depth, more tension, and far greater emotional credibility. What could have been an adrenaline-charged, immersive novel settles instead for a very conventional romance with a scenic backdrop. Not terrible — just profoundly forgettable.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A stunning debut with great writing and so much detail on skiing that I feel educated.
It's really well-written, both in terms of the language itself, and the general structure of everything. These characters live and breathe different types of skiing and it shows in their way of thinking or speaking, which is a level of detail I'm jealous of being able to write. And everything is so well-described it feels like a textbook sometimes, in a good way. The whole premise is also very fresh and executed flawlessly.
I had no trouble sympathizing with the characters and enjoying how different they were. Kit's craving for normalcy was heart-breaking at times, and Asher's openness and communication skills were disarmingly adorable. I need more people who just say the things they're feeling right as they feel them.
I liked the whole cast of side-characters, but especially the fact that the parents weren't some villains, as they so often are in books, instead being shown as people who can make mistakes as well and ultimately just want what's best for their children.
The 'smaller' things I enjoyed were Kit's thoughts when they finally got to the hardest part of her training (nothing made her more human in my eyes than those), the conflict near the end (both sides are perfectly valid and understandable to me), and the second epilogue (especially the Quinn-related stuff).
Overall, if you're looking for something fresh in the sports romance world - Julie Cook's got you.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for letting me read the ARC!
It's really well-written, both in terms of the language itself, and the general structure of everything. These characters live and breathe different types of skiing and it shows in their way of thinking or speaking, which is a level of detail I'm jealous of being able to write. And everything is so well-described it feels like a textbook sometimes, in a good way. The whole premise is also very fresh and executed flawlessly.
I had no trouble sympathizing with the characters and enjoying how different they were. Kit's craving for normalcy was heart-breaking at times, and Asher's openness and communication skills were disarmingly adorable. I need more people who just say the things they're feeling right as they feel them.
I liked the whole cast of side-characters, but especially the fact that the parents weren't some villains, as they so often are in books, instead being shown as people who can make mistakes as well and ultimately just want what's best for their children.
The 'smaller' things I enjoyed were Kit's thoughts when they finally got to the hardest part of her training (nothing made her more human in my eyes than those), the conflict near the end (both sides are perfectly valid and understandable to me), and the second epilogue (especially the Quinn-related stuff).
Overall, if you're looking for something fresh in the sports romance world - Julie Cook's got you.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for letting me read the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Kit Schuster es la esquiadora más exitosa de su generación y está acostumbrada a ganar sin levantar la voz ni mirar a nadie a los lados. Cuando la presión mediática y la aparición de una rival más joven empiezan a cuestionar su lugar en la cima, Kit acepta un entrenamiento poco convencional que la saca de su rutina y de su zona segura. En Lake Tahoe conoce a Asher McClendon, un montañista experimentado que vive lejos del ruido, de los rankings y de la necesidad de demostrar algo. Lo que empieza como un acuerdo estrictamente profesional se convierte en una convivencia intensa donde Kit debe enfrentarse no solo a nuevos retos físicos, sino a todo lo que ha dejado de lado por vivir enfocada en ganar. En la montaña, bajar no siempre es lo más difícil y a veces perder el control es la única forma de encontrarse.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I was lucky enough to get an advance read of this novel and can’t recommend it enough to others when it comes out. Julie Cook’s writing is phenomenal - full stop. Wildly entertaining, definitely has the full pay off while also being intellectually stimulating. I felt like I learned the ins and outs of competitive skiing and mountaineering while also falling in love with the characters. Well done! Can’t wait to read more of Julie’s work!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
An incredible debut novel! Highly recommend to anyone looking for a spicy, sweet, fun story with a lot of heart.
January 29, 2026
Fun fun FUN way to get in the mood for the Winter Olympics. Congrats on the debut, Julie!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews