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Sideline Confidential

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#1 Amazon Bestseller

A young sports journalist soon learns the toughest hits occur off the field.

(Run Time: 7:53)

Fresh out of journalism school, Blake Kirk lands her dream job as a reporter for her hometown pro football team―the job sure to propel her to the sidelines on network television. But from the first day, double standards and old-school entitlement smack her with the intensity of a defensive line.

Blake's boss, Johnny, keeps her sidelined with rules that make it hard for her to do her job. He blocks her from interviewing players in the locker room even though other journalists have access. He encourages her to go with coworkers to bond, knowing full well they're taking her to a strip club. Worse still, Johnny may be the one leaving notes on her desk about how great she looks in pants.

Hit after hit, Blake forges on, determined to prove her worth to the team and her journalism peers. But in a world filled with boozy exploits and overblown egos, Blake finds her moral compass wavering after a celebrity tryst. Can Blake realign her professional priorities and expose Johnny's bullying before her dream job does her in?

Brooke Bentley is a former television anchor and award-winning sports reporter who graduated from the University of Southern California with a master's in journalism. Through Sideline Confidential, she gives us a glimpse into the challenges women professionals face in the male-dominated world of pro sports.

Included in your Audiobrary purchase: an interview between Julia and the author about the true stories that inspired the events in the novel. (Run Time: 0:56)

Brooke BentleyBrooke Bentley (Author) is a former television anchor and award-winning sports reporter. After graduating with a master's in journalism from the University of Southern California, she spent two years working for the Houston Texans as a media personality and over a decade working in sports journalism. Brooke now runs a Houston-based grassroots nonprofit, Homemade Hope, that provides culinary enrichment programs to at-risk youth. She and her husband are raising two young boys who dream of visiting outer space.

Julia WhelanJulia Whelan (Narrator) Dubbed "The Adele of Audiobooks" by The New Yorker, Julia Whelan is an author, screenwriter, lifelong actor, and acclaimed audiobook narrator of over 600 titles. Her performance of her own debut novel, the international bestseller My Oxford Year (coming soon to Netflix), garnered a Society of Voice Arts award. Her 2022 novel, Thank You For Listening, was a Best-of-the-Year pick at Amazon, Audible, and NPR as well as a Goodreads Choice Award nominee and winner of the Golden Poppy. She is the founder of Audiobrary, a new audio publishing company and app, and her latest books – the 8-part romance audio series Casanova LLC and the annotated Victorian poetry anthology The Poetry Of My Oxford Year – debuted exclusively on Audiobrary. She is also a Grammy-nominated audiobook director, a former writing tutor, a half-decent amateur baker, and a certified tea sommelier. jmwhelan.com

"Sideline Confidential provides a fascinating, insightful look at what it's like to be behind the scenes covering a pro football team. Brooke Bentley, a seasoned journalist who experienced the excitement and exasperation of covering a team, draws vivid portraits of the characters who make up a pro franchise. Bentley takes readers on a wild, behind-the-scenes ride from the beginning of training camp through a see-saw regular season that's both frustrating and inspiring. I can't wait for her next book featuring Blake Kirk." – John McClain, Retired Houston Chronicle writer, past president of the Pro Football Writers of America, Pro Football Hall of Fame award winner, and Texas Sports Hall of Fame media inductee

"Sideline Confidential is more than a page-turner. It’s a jaw-dropper. Brooke Bentley perfectly captures not just what really goes on behind the scenes in pro sports, but what makes it doubly challenging for women." – John Lopez, cohost of “In The Loop” on SportsRadio 610, coauthor of the Kerri Strug autobiography Landing on My Feet, and former sports columnist at the Houston Chronicle

“Intriguing and relatable from the start! Sideline Confidential authentically portrays the discrimination, bias, and obstacles faced by female reporters. This novel is a must-read for anyone who loves football and enjoys a riveting tale with all the excitement of a game day!” – Allison Williams, national sports broadcaster and sideline reporter

Customer Reviews

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Cassie Etter
out of my usual comfort zone, but I'm a fan

Ordinarily, my instinct would not be to pick something like this up. But with my love of Audiobrary and its mission to keep audiobooks real and compensate authors and narrators fairly, their company got it on my radar. The description intrigued me and Julia Whelan's narration sold me on it.

Blake is a sideline reporter for the NFL. She's graduated from USC and landed her dream job back home for the team she grew up watching with her dad. The problem is, as a female, she's constantly questioned about whether she's there "for the right reasons." Does she even like football? Is she here to distract and flirt with the players?

The experiences our main character has in this book felt so realistic, especially with more recent incidents in professional sports. I was surprised by some of the imagined scenarios, but actually not surprised at all by them. I can imagine what a tough gig it might be to enter this world as a woman. Blake makes her fair share of mistakes and missteps throughout the novel, but she learns from them and grows as a character. The worst of the perpetrators get their comeuppance. And I loved the way Blake interacts with her supportive and loving parents. Sometimes her dad seemed to question whether everything Blake faced was because of her gender or just her newness to the career; this made Blake unsure for a while as well. But I liked this about the book. Rather than a simple path, we get a nuanced support from her parents that felt more genuine than contrived.

With the meteoric rise of sports romance books, I should say, this is not one (although Sarah Adams's, The Rule Book, definitely had some similar themes. Go there for an adjacent story about a female sports agent with ALL the romance tropes.) What you'll find here is a story of a woman's fight to know herself and her worth in a male-dominated field.

I'd recommend the audiobook and highly recommend it from Audiobrary because who doesn't want an extra 45 minute interview with the author about her actual experiences with being a sideline reporter? (the book is fictional, but she compiled some of her own memories and those of colleagues as inspiration). There was even a little sneak peak about Bentley's next idea for a novel and I'll be here for it!

H
Heidi
Well Told Story

I appreciate that the author did not make this a romance -- she kept the story on the main character and her professional journey. More stories like these need to be told, as many women can relate to the workplace discrimination and treatment.

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Taylor Black
Captivating read & great listening experience!

Love that this was something different from other Audiobrary projects! I was immediately drawn into this story and loved the development of Blake's character. Always fun to follow a strong female lead who you genuinely want to root for. And of course, JW's narration for this cast of characters was perfection. Will absolutely recommend to friends!