Nikki Lawson: Offside Hearts

 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/134097798-offside-hearts

Noah Blake is an NHL superstar, Margo is a woman on a mission she is looking for a job as a social media manager in a chance encounter the two get stuck in an elevator together and have an intense moment in time where Margo is afraid and Noah is happy to comfort her however she needs to be comforted.  

Margo thinking she will never see this handsome stranger again is so wrong since he is one of the stars on the NHL team where she is starting her new job as their social media manager... so she will be working with him a lot she can't mix business with pleasure (even if she wanted to) and she needs this job it's an amazing opportunity for her and nothing will get in the way of her career even a super hot shot hockey guy.

Noah has been a ladies man in the past (the past being very recent) but the moment he sees Margo things change for him she is "The One" he knows it... he just needs her to see that they would be amazing together and to do that he needs to convince her that she should give him a chance to prove he's worth her time and not a playboy like the tabloids say.

Margo briefly rejects his advances towards her only to very quickly give in and next thing she knows she is in a very fast paced secret relationship with Noah who is so much more than she originally thought him to be and just maybe she's falling a bit more for him daily... but what will happen if their relationship comes out to the public?  Is there a rule against dating one of the players?  She doesn't want to be seen as a jersey chaser or even worse be seen as "just Noah's girlfriend" she wants to show she is good at her job on her own.

While Margo's family is very caring, loving and welcoming Noah's family is old money and very all about appearances what if Margo can't live up to their expectations?  

Naturally secret relationships with someone very much in the public are hard to keep secret and when a bit of scandal occurs will their relationship last?  or will it be just a moment in time like their elevator encounter?  

*Hockey Romance *Sports Romance *strangers --> more  *golden retriever MMC  *Pierced 👇

*spice (lots of it) *family drama  *Scandal  *workplace romance *she falls --> he falls harder  *NHL

*book boyfriend *miscommunication/no communication  *3rd act break up  *insta lust/love *cheesy

My thoughts:  May contain spoilers:

Likes:   I loved Noah he was a super sweet guy and he really cared about Margo.  Margo's family was family goals very supportive and willing to stand up for her even against a pro athlete if needed.  Loved Noah's team mates and might check out the next book to see if it’s any better.

dislikes: : I love hockey romances I really struggled to finish this book like I started reading it in June of 2025 and just finished it today (1/8/26) I almost DNF multiple times but powered through.

*I didn’t like the FMC she was obnoxious at times and I was actively rooting for Noah to find a new woman throughout different parts of the book 

*I just don’t believe that a person can go from a player seeing different ladies all over the country to all in with a stranger in a matter of a few days

*the spice starts with these two strangers in an elevator and in the middle of a panic attack the FMC grinds herself on this mans thick thigh… seriously

*the spice just continues from there I began to skip past some of these scenes to get back to plot

*the FMC gets hired as the social media manager but they act like the team needs to find fans for their franchise through her efforts alone… they are a NHL team I’m sure they have plenty of fans… she also knows very little about Hockey and is new to social media management I don’t see how she beat out all the other competition for this job or why it’s portrayed as basically just her with her cell phone recording things some days? Big teams have bigger social media teams it wouldn’t just be one girl with her phone.

*At any little issue instead of talking our FMC blows things out of proportion and jumps to conclusions not even waiting for the MMC to be ready to talk about the issues.

*Margo tells Noah she loves Sunflowers when they are in the elevator together… he calls her this all the time sometimes multiple times on the same page.

*Noah is so sweet and perfect… like too perfect do you have any flaws at all now?  Of course you do handsome we love you anyways but be real 😉

*the book was at least 100-150 pages too long, padded out with a bunch of filler which was a slog to get through.

*I could go on about this but basically this one wasn’t for me, I’m not saying it won’t be a good book for the right person. 

  à  Possible spoilers

 

*Margo has a secret she stole 20k from her previous employer but justifies the embezzlement because the guy was a jerk and her sister needed the money to get out of a bad living situation (I’m sorry but the family was really supportive I’m sure that if she went to their parents and brothers they could have found out a different way to deal with this  à also someone has embezzled from me and my neighbors in our association (it was 40k… and it really sucks to be stolen from… she now has to pay us back at $60 a month me and my neighbors are going to die before we get our money back… anyways back to this story)    

à Noah is totally fine with her stealing she is a wonderful person, the best one he knows and she is so great at her job… His stuck up father later hires an investigator and finds out from a former co-worker of Margo’s that she stole the money… if the other employee knew about the theft how did Margo get away with it? 

•   I was ok with how this part was resolved at the end and how Noah stood up to his father.