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Bexley U

Weak Side

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He’s the hottest hockey player in the nation, and I just agreed to be his fake girlfriend.

Theo Brooks is hard not to notice. With his coy smirk, rock-hard abs, and skilled agility on the ice, he’s the cockiest of all the jocks and, unfortunately for me, my new roommate.

When Admissions mixes up my first and last name and I end up living in the male dorms, I feel my perfectly tied schedule loosening with every string Theo pulls. And he likes to pull every single one.

It isn’t until I find out that my long-time boyfriend is sampling other girls that things get interesting. Theo proposes a solution to my problem—he helps me make my ex jealous, and I help him fend off the relentless puck bunnies that are doing nothing but distracting him from sealing his future with the best NHL team there is.

So, we fake date. We kill two birds with one stone.
The puck bunnies think he’s taken.
My ex is regretting his poor choices.

But the more Theo Brooks shows up by my side and places his hand around my waist, the more I realize that the lines we drew are blurring.

This may have started out as a fake-dating scheme, but with each misleading kiss, we may both get more than we bargained for.

Weak Side is a spicy fake dating/forced proximity college sports romance. It is a complete stand-alone.

364 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 20, 2023

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About the author

S.J. Sylvis

25 books1,908 followers
S.J. Sylvis is an Amazon top 50 and USA Today bestselling author who is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies. She currently resides in North Carolina with her husband, two small kiddos, and dog. She is obsessed with coffee, becomes easily attached to fictional characters, and spends most of her evenings buried in a book.

For upcoming info on new releases, join her Facebook reading group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/21537...

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorsjsyl...

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5 stars
9,671 (32%)
4 stars
11,865 (39%)
3 stars
6,886 (22%)
2 stars
1,391 (4%)
1 star
294 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,362 reviews
48 reviews
May 3, 2023
I liked the idea of the book, but not the execution.

Plot: The pacing was off. It took forever for Claire to find out her boyfriend was cheating on her and even longer for Claire and Theo to fake date. It was billed as a fake dating romance, but that didn’t happen until over half of the book. It seemed like a small plot point rather than an integral part of the book. Their feelings seemed to come out of nowhere. Claire’s family issues were glossed over and tied up too quickly.

OW/OM:

I wish it'd been done better because Theo was great the last half of the book. It does have great reviews, so maybe it's a me thing!
Profile Image for ellie.
171 reviews2,382 followers
December 23, 2023
one of my favourite sports romance books ever.

i love sj and there is no surprise she killed her first sports romance, it was everything. so well written, the plot was amazing, the characters were loveable, it was perfect !!!

if you want
- roommates
- fake dating
- college hockey romance
- best friend group
READ THIS !!!!

Profile Image for Christy.
4,216 reviews35.1k followers
August 16, 2023
3.25 stars

This book had so much potential. The writing was good overall and I loved the premise, but there were some things that didn’t work for me. I felt like some big things were unresolved … I also didn’t love that the main characters were with other people through so much of the first half. Just not my favorite thing. I did end up loving the hero and I would definitely try another book by this author. Hockey books are always a good time!
Profile Image for Ms. Mint.
96 reviews3 followers
May 28, 2023
Suffice to say, I wasn’t enthused. Here’s why, in no particular order:

1. Dislikable main characters and a cartoonish two-dimensional villain: Claire is a weak pushover and a disappointing heroine. Little to no character development there, since her internal conflicts are pretty much, and conveniently, resolved by the motions of the plot, instead of her actually learning anything at all. Theo looks down on puck bunnies, claims he dislikes them and has no respect for them, and yet he doesn’t seem to have any issues hooking up with them almost daily? Bruh, get off your damn moral high horse. Chad is a two-dimensional villain. There is no nuance to his cheating ass character that he almost feels like a Disney villain, and worse, Claire lets this dude walk all over her. Also, don’t get me started on the leech that Claire’s mother is. There’s only one word to describe that quick and easy resolution to the conflict between Claire and her mother at the end: pointless.

2. Creative liberty is one thing, but some stuff in this book make me wonder if the author actually had done any research at all? College hockey players don’t get to try-out for NHL teams. They go through a draft, and if the team that drafts them is not the team they want to sign with, well, tough luck. They have to either get that team to trade their rights away OR they need to quit playing college hockey and wait a certain amount of time before (or if) another NHL team will approach them.

3. Remember kids, if you ever get to rent your own place someday, major repairs like plumbing, water leak and floor damage are not your responsibilities to fix. They’re your landlord’s/landlady’s. Again, I wonder how much life experience does this author actually have that she doesn’t even know this?

4. Claire and Theo have unprotected sex even though Claire just broke up with Chad, who’s been cheating on her with multiple partners, and Theo has been fucking several puck bunnies. If you don’t see what’s wrong with this, then I don’t know what to tell you besides please educate yourself.

5. The fake dating actually didn’t start until the halfway mark in the book. I like slow burn—heck, Mariana Zapata is one of my fave authors—but only when it’s done right. This, right here, feels more like an over cooked, tough, chewy, dried out mess of a meat.
Profile Image for Jordan Leet.
164 reviews4 followers
May 30, 2023
2.25 ⭐️ They called Girls “females” I don’t need to say anything else about that
Profile Image for Christi (christireadsalot).
2,291 reviews904 followers
April 24, 2023
4.5 stars! Weak Side is a new hockey contemporary romance with fake dating that was so much fun and had great forced proximity when the heroine and hero accidentally become roommates in college! This was my first read from this author and I’m definitely excited to read more now!

“For the second time, our mouths sealed, but this time, the kiss was undeniably soul-wrecking, and that was when I knew that Claire Bryant was about to become my weak side.”

Claire is a 3rd year dance major at Bexley University and on move-in day she finds out there was a mixup with her name and she got assigned as a roommate in the boys floor of the athletic dorms! When no other rooms are available to move to, Claire has to kind of deal with her new living situation with hockey player, Theo. Theo, known as “Wolf” on and off the ice, is captain of the team and a senior. He first assumes Claire is a puck bunny who snuck into his room and can’t believe they have to be roommates.

I liked how they kind of start with animosity about their living situation but come to be friends and eventually more. I loved seeing Theo and his teammates be supportive and protective over Claire and their whole friend group was so great! The story does start off with Claire in a four-year relationship with her boyfriend (don’t worry, you’ll want him gone lol) and Theo does have lots of brief random hookups/puck bunny action (doesn’t bother me when the couple have side things when they aren’t into each other together like that in the book yet, but I know some don’t like it at all). But I loved the way things play out and they coming together with the fake relationship that leads to more. There is some drama with both her ex and her mom, borrowing money/having to work through college supporting her mom’s bills, and I liked the depth that brought to Claire’s character. The first half was definitely my favorite and I just had a good time with this one!
Profile Image for Jessica .
2,317 reviews15.1k followers
August 26, 2023
3.5 stars

I wanted to really love this book, and I was enjoying it in the beginning! There was definitely chemistry between the two characters even though they both had their reasons for not wanting to be together. This book, though, is marketed as a fake dating romance to get back at a cheating ex, but we wait over 40% of the book for the heroine to catch her ex cheating and then almost 60% of the book for the fake dating to happen. Even then, it's not really fake dating because they mostly hookup when they're alone. I felt like it took way too long for the heroine to realize her boyfriend was cheating on her when we knew from the start and the hero knew shortly after. And then there was some odd drama at the end with the heroine's parents that were brushed over and her mom was forgiven way too easily for what she did. I wanted to also know more about the heroine and who she was and what she wanted to be. The hero had an obvious passion, but nothing she did she really did for herself, and I would have loved more depth to her.

Overall, the idea of this one was great, but I was left wanting a bit more.
Profile Image for Jenn (The Book Refuge).
2,267 reviews3,515 followers
June 11, 2023
Fake Dating. What fake dating? This book was set up so weird. Nothing between them until 60% and then he's in love and willing to risk his future by 80%.

Secrest dad and a mom who lied for 22 years and then just gets off the hook with 1 conversation... this story was full of holes.

And let's not even get started on Chad.

I did like that they were both athletes.

3 stats
2.5 on the spice scale
Profile Image for Yvonne.
1,216 reviews44 followers
April 21, 2023
I really tried, it couldn’t make it through. At 50% didn’t even get to the fake dating part.

Claire is weak and Theo, while getting better was eye roll worthy in most of this first half. Childish humor and behavior. 🙄
Profile Image for Neermboop.
221 reviews37 followers
April 23, 2023
Couple plot points that were, eh, but overall I really enjoyed this.

How does the office of a college "accidently" switch your name around (first/last) and think you area boy- for your 3rd year at the school..... 🤔🙄 yeah, no.

Otherwise, the story flowed well and I enjoyed all the feels.

F- Off Chad ✌️
Profile Image for Danielle (The Blonde Likes Books).
638 reviews409 followers
May 31, 2024
This one was a little tough to rate because honestly I hated the first 40% or so of the book. The premise starts with our FMC Claire Bryant mistakenly placed in a dorm with our MMC, Theo, because her first and last name were switched on the paperwork. The number of times the words “male” and “female” instead of “man” and “woman” were used was out of control! It felt so stilted too - who actually says “I’ve never lived with a female” instead of “I’ve never lived with a woman”? It just sounds super unnatural to me. I don’t know what it is, but it just comes across so cringy to me. Maybe it’s because generally men who refer to women as “females” often do it in a disrespectful way. Anyway, that was pet peeve number one.

Number 2 was that our MMC was constantly talking about all of the women he sleeps with, and continued to sleep with even after meeting the FMC. She walked in on him with other women twice in just a short period of time. I know they weren’t dating at that point but I prefer stories where there aren’t other men/women paraded around in front of the love interest. I end up thinking about them once they end up together.

At just under halfway through, the fake dating plot actually kicks in and from there out I enjoyed the book much more. Theo was so sweet to Claire and really helped her see her worth as a person, and stood up for her every single time. He was always in her corner, and I thought that was very sweet, especially since he talked about how he’d never let a woman (although technically he said “female” 😂) distract him from his career goals and would drop women the second they started showing interest in seeing him outside of the bedroom. He totally backtracked on that once he fell for Claire!

Anyway, because I didn’t like the first half but liked the second half of the book a lot, I ended up rating this one right in the middle at 3 stars. Also, Claire’s mom sucks, even though they tried to make her redeemable. That is all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Medollga.
511 reviews104 followers
April 27, 2024
DNF @ chapter 15: this was shockingly bad🤡👀💀

from the unbelievability of the premise and weird pacing to the unprofessional Coach's behavior, and lack of chemistry between the main characters... this story gave me NOTHING except boredom and irritation 👉👈🤬
Profile Image for abba.
85 reviews
May 7, 2023
2.5 stars

the amount of time i spent hating this book is fairly equal with the amount of time i spent enjoying this book

i almost gave up on it multiple times, but it got consistently good at around 70%

i have to say, i’m really not here for her mom’s redemption arc.. like i know parents make mistakes too but the mistake being her leaving her husband/bf whom she’s about to have a child with because he was paralyzed and then proceeding to fill said child’s mind with the idea that he abandoned them and that jocks are the root of all evil for 20+ years is CRAZYY

and then there’s the part where she relied on her daughter to pay her bills whilst the daughter was paying for her own college?????

that woman was the villain of this story, more so than chad bc chad wouldn’t have been an issue if it weren’t for the mother!!!

then little miss villain got a happy spotlight in the epilogue???? DID WE READ THE SAME BOOK?? why is this women not begging her daughter and ex for forgiveness???

i think i could’ve gave this book 3 or 3.5 stars if the mother would’ve gotten her ass ate up
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Kylie.
608 reviews793 followers
September 29, 2023
4.75/5 ⭐️
2/5 🌶️

Tropes:
~ College hockey romance
~ Fake dating
~ He falls first
~ Roommates/forced proximity
~ Slow burn

Ohhh the way I fell so hard for this man!

The college ends up screwing up with the FMC's name and thinks she is a guy because they switch her first and last name around and mistakenly put her on the men's floor in the dorms. Her roommate ends up being the captain of the hockey team - Theo.

Claire ends up finding out that her boyfriend was cheating on her so as her and Theo become closer friends/roommates they form a plan for revenge and decide to fake date. This not only is a ploy to get back at her cheating ex but also helps Theo in keeping the puck bunnies off of his back.

These two had tons of banter and the tension was at an all time high!

I really loved this one and highly recommend it.
Profile Image for ↬ Ⓛ.
377 reviews547 followers
March 3, 2024
I think I just got played, this book didn’t have no fucking where he put his dick inside of her at all. Overall this is cute still & I’m surprised as myself I can still read platonic flirty books without sex, but it was a struggle finishing.
Profile Image for s.
41 reviews
May 26, 2023
theo’s a sweetheart but this is so boring 😭 losing faith that its possible to write new adult romance without misogynistic undertones

phrase puck bunny/bunnies used 63 times btw
Profile Image for anna. ׂׂૢ.
649 reviews13 followers
July 6, 2023
˗ˏˋ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ´ˎ˗

﹌﹌﹌
3.5 stars!! I was annoyed that the fake dating didn't happen until much later in the story. Despite the fact that it was implied throughout the book that it would revolve around fake dating, nothing of the such actually occurred until perhaps 60 or 50 percent of the way through. The turmoil between Chad and Claire was another item that really irritated me. Although it was obvious that Chad was cheating on Claire, the fact that Claire was so dim-witted and blind as to not see this enraged me even more. It was as if the author had created her out of fragile glass. I had some limited sympathy for Theo. He was ok and romantic at moments, and I wanted to punch him in the face at other times. I can't wait to learn about the other hockey team members, who were all very outstanding. I don't know what else to say about this book, but I was caught off guard when it was revealed that Tom was Claire's father. Anyway, farewell.

﹌﹌﹌

Profile Image for Kiki Garrod.
197 reviews97 followers
April 18, 2023
THIS… This is a hockey romance👏🏼
Theo & Claire are everything in this story, I loved how supportive Theo became and Claire’s character progression was incredible. How she realised that you don’t have to be a people pleaser. That it’s ok to slow down, It’s ok to put yourself first. Her journey realising her worth was everything.

I loved all of the side characters here too. Who doesn’t love it when the whole hockey team falls in love with the FMC & gets protective “our girl” 😏

The banter, the tension, the sweet moments, the friendships built and the love they find. I loved this book.

~ Forced proximity
~ Fake dating
~ He falls first
~ Protective MMC
~ Slow burn BUT THE GOOD ANGSTY KIND!

I can’t wait for ICE BET. Aashers story is next and I have a feeling it’s going to be just as epic🔥
Profile Image for Ana | SheSaidYestoBooks.
1,722 reviews131 followers
May 25, 2023
I’m going through a hockey romance phase right now and this one did definitely not disappoint. Theo is so darn yummy! 😏

The slow-burn was full of swoony moments that melted my heart. I absolutely loved how they both were so fitting for each other. I'll probably never get over that locker room scene!!!🫠

However, I did not like how so easily Claire’s mom was forgiven. And I hated how the ending was so abrupt. We have SSSSOOOO much build up... then....BAM it's over. I finished this wishing I could have seen more of these two together as a couple when things got real to them. The epilogue was also not much of anything. I'm super unfulfilled by the story. But would still recommend for everyone in their hockey romance era. It was a great read.
May 2, 2023
the only thing that made me wanna cry was the amount of run-on sentences and grammar mistakes
Profile Image for Tolly.
12 reviews
May 30, 2023
This book is the answer to the question: how many times can you fit the word ‘male’ into one book?
Profile Image for siyuan ༊*·˚.
31 reviews13 followers
March 6, 2024
Super cute and fun hockey romance 🥰🫶🏼 the ending was so cute😍

Just like any other hockey romance books I’ve read but I eat it up every single time🤭

Quotes 🛐:

“You don’t have to be mine but I’m yours.”

“My dreams and goals mean absolutely nothing if you leave this room thinking I wouldn’t give up every last one to show you your worth.”
Profile Image for Aarya.
92 reviews
June 29, 2023
if you dance i’ll dance and if you don’t, i’ll dance anyway
Profile Image for Mayitabooklover.
178 reviews282 followers
May 4, 2024
4/5⭐️ Definitivamente estoy en mi era de hockey romance y este libro es una lectura obligatoria para todas las amantes de este deporte!

Este libro fue muy divertido de leer! no podía parar y todo lo que quería hacer era seguir leyendo por lo bueno que era la verdad Dios mío✨✨

Theo Brooks es el popular jugador de hockey conocido en el campus, mientras que Claire Bryant es una bailarina de ballet que está tratando de sobrevivir en el campus mientras mantiene un trabajo y ayuda a su madre. ¡Cuando las admisiones arruinan el nombre de Claire ahora está viviendo en el piso de hombres y adivina quién es su compañero de cuarto el único e incomparable Theo Brooks!

Theo y Claire obviamente no empiezan con el mejor pie, ambos no se soportan, sobre todo Claire que odia a los deportistas pero cuando ocurre una situación entre Claire y su ex novio. Theo se enfrenta a convertirse en el novio falso de Claires para cabrear a su ex👊🏻
Y cuanto más Theo y Claire están cerca el uno del otro, más se dan cuenta de que sus suposiciones sobre el otro son erróneas.

꧁༒☬𝓣𝓡𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓢☬༒꧂

🏒 hockey player x Bailarina
🏒Él cae primero
🏒Fake dating
🏒Roommates
🏒Proximidad forzada
🏒Haters to lovers


꧁༒☬𝓜𝓘𝓢 𝓟𝓔𝓝𝓢𝓐𝓜𝓘𝓔𝓝𝓣𝓞𝓢☬༒꧂

Me enamoré de estos dos cuanto más me succionaba en su historia. Claire es fuerte, decidida y la mejor amiga que una chica puede tener, ella es una girls girl💘
Theo Brooks lo es todo! Es determinado, dulce, cariñoso y me encantó su química con Claire. Su conexión fue increíble y la forma en que él la protegió tanto y haría cualquier cosa por ella es lo mejor del mundo🥹
El grupo de amigos es increíble y sus bromas entre ellos me hicieron reír tantas veces, estoy deseando leer la historia de los demás chicos!!!

Profile Image for Mary Allison Page.
481 reviews19 followers
April 19, 2023
Weak Side — 4.5 ⭐️

The perfect combination of fake dating and sports romance!!

Weak Side is a he-falls-first, college romance about a dancer, a hockey player, and Admissions accidentally putting them in a room together.

What starts as a seriously frustrating inconvenience turns into so much more. After Claire discovers that her current, long term boyfriend is cheating on her, her and Theo create a scheme … to fake date 👀

What does Claire get? The chance to get under her ex-boyfriend’s skin.
What does Theo get? The puck bunnies thinking he’s taken.
It’s a win-win situation. Right?

But what happens when the lines start crossing and the feelings aren’t feeling so fake anymore?

🏒 I LOVED this book! It was slow burn, well written, and the characters were great. I loved the ballet x hockey dynamic too! I loved how it featured romance (spice and emotion), sports, and their own personal hardships.

I am definitely looking forward to the rest of this series!

Thank you Greys Promotions and SJ Sylvis for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
Profile Image for Sarah Louise.
33 reviews
May 25, 2023
Im definitely a little obsessed with sports romance at the moment and I actually enjoyed this book,it was a good little palette cleanser
Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,362 reviews

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