ARC Review: Offside for Christmas (Evergreen Cove #1) by Brooklyn Hart
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Series: Evergreen Cove #1
Author: Brooklyn Hart
Published Published November 10th 2025
Goodreads Synopsis
When NHL bad boy Cole Hansen gets exiled to Christmas Town, USA—population 4,200, Christmas excessive—the last thing he expects is to fall for Ellie Winters, the town's relentlessly optimistic physical therapist.
She's got six weeks to heal his shoulder. He's got six weeks to convince her that the grumpy guy who hates Christmas might just be worth keeping.
Cole Hansen's life is imploding.
A viral bar fight video. A career-ending shoulder injury he's hiding with painkillers. And a one-way ticket to Evergreen Cove, Vermont—the most aggressively festive town in America.
Six weeks playing minor league hockey in a place where Christmas isn't a holiday, it's a competitive sport.
Keep his head down. Heal up. Get back to the NHL. Easy.
Except nothing about Evergreen Cove is easy.
Ellie Winters believes in second chances.
She loves her small town, adores the holidays, and has built a life helping people heal. When a surly, injured hockey player walks into her clinic radiating "leave me alone" energy, she should keep it professional.
She really, really should.
But Cole Hansen isn't just another patient. Behind the sarcasm and scowls, she sees someone who's forgotten what home feels like. Someone who's convinced he doesn't deserve to stay.
Someone she's dangerously close to falling for.
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher, via BookSirens. This in no way impacted on my view.
Self appointed Grinch Cole Hansen soon finds himself thrown into the most Christmassy town in the US when his bad boy reputation leaves him with no team wanting him, and Evergreen Cove is the final chance. Recovering from an injury that isn't healing quite as well as it should be, Cole just wants to keep his head down, and get the heck out of dodge when the time comes. However, the PT for the team, Ellie Winters, knows he's hiding his pain, and she is not above forcing him out of his comfort zone.
I've been so in the mood for a proper Christmassy romance, and the added sports romance element of Offside for Christmas was perfect. Cole might've had a bad boy reputation, and the viral video of his latest fight - the one in which he was injured - has not helped. He's hiding the fact that he was protecting someone, though, and wasn't the instigator in the fight. And the rest of his reputation is more his reluctance to allow anyone get too close. His backstory was tragic, as was why he didn't like Christmas. I loved the way Cole and Ellie butted heads so much, but in doing so, their relationship was so much more realistic, and they were able to gradually tear down the walls both have built up to protect themselves.
Dates Read:
December 4, 2025
Rating
3 Stars
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