"Wicked Serve" by Grace Reilly is a fun and engaging romance that perfectly mixes the excitement of professional hockey with a sweet love story. The characters are really well done, and the chemistry between the main couple is electric. Reilly does a great job capturing the fast pace of hockey, making you feel like you're right there in the rink. The story is easy to get into and hard to put down, even if some twists are a bit predictable. Overall, it's a great read for anyone who loves romance and sports.

Tropes:
🏒Brothers rival/ Teammate
🎀Secret relationship
🏒College Sports
🎀He falls first and harder
🏒Childhood trauma
🎀Healing

My thoughts:
This book was good at portraying a toxic free relationship where both characters fought to put the other first. I aalso loved the family and friendship bonds that appeared in the book.

I did like both Nik and Izzy's characters but I didnt fall in love with them or their connection. I did think it was cute how much Nikolai was with her, there was some very sweet romantic scenes form him. His past and family history were told well and added an interesting subplot to the book.

I thought Isabelle was a strong, yet sometimes insecure character, who knew how to stand up for herself and others. Although, I did find her frustrating at times and a bit immature.

Similar to some of the other books in this series, I feel like a lot of the conclusion of some key plotlines were very anticlimactic. Especially so when their relationship was revealed and the showdown with his dad. The book felt very long for what actually happened in it, with a lot happening, but not really adding much to the plot or story in my opinion. I also wasn't the biggest fan if the spicy scenes in this book, the further into the book I got, the more out of place they felt. The dirty talk felt forced and not true to the character's voices and it did put me off.

This was a pretty sweet book, with good side characters and a wholesome family dynamics. Although it easy quote long and low on plot.

Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC of this book, this is my honest review.

Reading the next book in this series felt like coming home. The Callahan family is so wholesome and I loved that we got to see them more in this book. An aspect I really liked, was how Izzy and Nick were already (kinda) together before the story started. That way we got to see how their relationship developed and how they learned to work through their past and insecurities. The middle part might have been a little bit long but I did not mind at all because it felt so cosy and wholesome. It gave me more time with Nik, Izzy and the rest of the Callahans. I'm sad to see this series come to an end and I can't wait to read more of Grace's work in the future.

Thank you so much to the author and netgalley for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

— 2.5 stars
⭐️⭐️💫

"When I'm around her, I can't focus on anything else. We could be in the middle of a hurricane, and I'd just stand there like a goddamn fool, cataloguing the raindrops on her face."

📖 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 448 pages
👤 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Grace Reilly
🏢 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫: Headline Eternal
📅 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: 13 August 2024

What you can expect:
— New Adult College Sports Romance
— Interconnected Standalone Series
— First Person X Dual POV
— Brother's-Rival-Turned-Teammate
— Grumpy X Sunshine
— Secret Relationship
— Second Chance Romance
— He Falls First
— Hockey X Volleyball
— Found Family
— Panic Disorder Rep
— Nicknames

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: domestic abuse (past/mentioned), alcoholism, disordered eating (past/mentioned), panic disorder & panic attacks (on page), minor violence & injury, cheating (past/mentioned), and sexually explicit content.

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:
Wicked Serve is the final instalment in the Beyond the Play series by author Grace Reilly. Hockey is Nikolai Abney's life, and he needs to make this last season count. But when he's forced to transfer to rival school McKee University for his senior year, Nikolai risks pissing off the captain, who happens to be the older brother of Isabelle Callahan: the gorgeous beam of sunshine he messed around with in secret this summer. Rekindling their fling could risk her brother icing Nikolai off the team—not to mention the fact that his scarred past makes having a real relationship impossible—and yet the moment Nikolai sees Isabelle again, all of his wild, burning feelings come rushing back. Isabelle Callahan have two goals for sophomore year: win back her old volleyball position, and forget she ever knew devilishly handsome hockey defenseman Nikolai Abney-Volkov. As the youngest and only daughter in a family full of athletes, failure isn’t an option. But when Nik crashes back into Izzy's life, she can’t stay away from his broody charm. Isabelle is determined to guard her heart this time, but between the furtive hook-ups and the heartfelt conversations, the lines between friends-with-benefits and more begin to blur. As Isabelle and Nikolai fall deeper into a place they can’t come back from unscathed, they'll have to make a choice: fight for a future together, or watch it go up in flames.

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲:
As somebody that has only read Breakaway from this series and rated it five stars, I was beyond excited to read about Isabelle and Nikolai's story in Wicked Serve. Unfortunately this book has not worked for me at all and I feel really gutted and disappointed. Reilly's writing is an ease to read and follow along with as we are swept into a whirlwind romance whilst addressing difficult real life topics, but unfortunately in this case the book itself felt entirely too long which had a negative impact on my overall reading experience. I found the conflict and other moments to feel repetitive and too slow to be resolved, and I really believe making the book 50-100 pages shorter would've helped pull the book together and feel more concise. The pacing was too slow and I struggled to feel engaged with the story and the development of the characters. This story and its format just wasn't a hit for me, unfortunately.

𝐏𝐥𝐨𝐭:
I'm not sure if it's just me but I really struggled to actually grasp what the point of this story was? I understand that we follow two young people in their early-20s on their journey to love as they set out to accomplish their dreams and discover themselves in the process. But it all felt a touch one-dimensional and overall lacked any real depth which could help me feel engaged and eager to read more. Wicked Serve was filled with many smut scenes which, as a romance reader, is a non-issue from me as long as it isn't used as a crutch to overshadow the main plot. Unfortunately in my experience, this was the exact issue with this story. Just when I thought I was going to see some story progression, it would immediately come to a halt and feel overshadowed by intimate scenes between our main characters. The plot is essentially two just young people trying to figure out what direction they want their lives to go in whilst denying the possible future they could share together. It's nothing notable or unique, so I struggled with feeling any sense of excitement or anticipation when it came to the overall plot. Nothing really starts to move and progress until the 80% mark of the story, and yet outside of a few scenes we're not really granted a frontal view to the growth and development.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬:
Nikolai Abney-Volkov is a broken and confused young man that is desperately trying to do right by the people in his life, and as a result often places the priorities of others before his own. I really enjoyed Nik as a romantic partner for Isabelle as he was her perfect opposite. The calm to her storm. He was patient and unwaveringly loyal, and at no point in the story did he allow Izzy to doubt his commitment to her. His trauma and struggles with anxiety and PTSD broke my heart, and I really wish we'd gotten more time with his path towards healing and learning how to put his own needs first. I personally found Nik to be the most mature within the relationship dynamic, but there were still moments that it was clear just how young he is. He reacts immaturely during certain altercations and struggles with standing up for himself, and doesn't always thinks his words through before he says them. I honestly wish that Nikolai was written more accurately for his age, as instead it seemed as if he was trying to behave like a man in their late-20s as opposed to his very early-20s. However whilst the journey getting there was long, I was proud of Nik for finally putting his own needs first and wanting better for himself. His friendship with Cooper and his team were an added addition that was greatly needed and appreciated. I'm so glad that Nik found a chosen family that loved and accepted him fully within limitations, and I believe these relationships played a pivotal role in his character development.

I adored early series cameos with Isabelle Callahan as she came across as a spitfire and feisty character that would go after what she wanted without apology. Unfortunately this was not the character that I followed in Wicked Serve, so perhaps it was me that got it wrong in previous books. Whilst I wanted to root for Isabelle and I sympathised with her struggles and insecurities... I can't help but feel like was an inherently selfish character throughout the majority of the book. She never seemed able to make a definitive decision and stick with it as one moment she's convincing herself that her relationship with Nikolai cannot happen, before quickly jumping into his arms and being intimate with him, just to then swiftly feel upset act out towards him. Isabelle displayed a complete lack of maturity that is necessary for a lasting adult relationship, and I really wish we had been given time with her as a single character who prioritised herself before jumping into a relationship. On multiple occasions she completely disregarded Nikolai's clear emotional boundaries when he explicitly stated not being ready to discuss something, and then she in turn would become upset when he would snap back. Isabelle and Nik clearly struggled with healthy communication and understanding when to pull back in respect to boundaries, and as a result I often felt frustrated as a reader. Also, in case you've read the book and aren't yet aware... Isabelle loves pink. So much so that it's mentioned on (too) many occasions throughout the book. I overall felt Isabelle's character to come across as juvenile which was a shame, as despite all this I understand that none of it is due to ill-intent. When Isabelle loves, she loves fiercely and without abandon. She wants the best for the people in her life and unfortunately tries to take matters in her own hands with good intention and poor execution. Izzy displays some growth nearing the end of the story, but I wish this is something that had been further explored and expanded upon within a book that had the space for it.

𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭:
The relationship between Isabelle and Nikolai should have been the saving grace of this story had I actually felt the development and chemistry between the pair. Unfortunately the beginning of their relationship is established off-page prior to the beginning of the book, so I felt like I was missing a fundamental aspect of their relationship to better connect with the believability of their love story. I wouldn't even describe the relationship between both characters as 'insta-love' because they clearly had spent time together and had the opportunity to get to know one another... we as the reader just weren't able to see it. I struggled to connect with Isabelle and Nikolai's relationship due to the frustrating amount of miscommunication and overall immaturity displayed between the pair. I cautiously accept miscommunication between characters such as Izzy and Nik as they're young and therefore still learning and developing. There was a lot of "we shouldn't be doing this but I can't stay away" moments which in my opinion was dragged on for too long. And in complete honestly I forgot the reason why their relationship was considered forbidden? Was it just because Nik was Cooper's ex-rival-turned-teammate? If so then that just adds to my frustration with the miscommunication. All Izzy would've had to have done was sit her older brother down and explain that she is a growing young woman who is capable of making her own decisions, and she hopes that he will support her and her relationship. Cooper isn't unreasonable, nor is he the cliched protective older brother who tries to fully dictate how his sister lives her life. He's a concerned older brother who wants the best for Isabelle, but ultimately he would've been supportive and understanding. I also would have been more accepting of the the miscommunication had it not been for the context within their intimate scenes. I admit that it made me feel a bit uncomfortable to read as Isabelle and Nik seemed to settle into a kind-of sub/dom dynamic? Which don't get me wrong, I do believe these scenes were well written with clear and enthusiastic consent every time, however due to the immature nature of both characters it just didn't blend well within the overall story? I would've found it much more believable had our main characters been five years older and a more mature approach to romantic relationships. I was just left with the constant reminder of just how young these characters are, so I wish they had either been aged up or the approach to their intimacy was handled with more maturity.

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
I'm truly gutted that in the end I haven't been able to enjoy Wicked Serve. There was simply too many issues and factors that I couldn't overlook which impacted my reading experience as a result. As I read and adored the second book within the series, I'm still going to go back and read books one and three in the hopes that it was just this book alone that didn't work for me.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰.

5⭐️
I was so excited about this book after reading the others in the series and oh this did not disappoint. Izzy and Nik were perfect. This was just a heartwarming, funny read with a little bit of angst. I just could not put this down. The plot was brilliant. I just fell in love with Izzy and Nik and there relationship. Nik maybe one of my favourite book boyfriends now. I just loved him so much. This book while being heartwarming isn’t afraid to touch on the harder topics and was done in such a well done and respectful way. Kudos to Grace Reilly for that especially. Thank you for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love this book!!! Grace Reilly is extremely talented and such a queen of sports romances.
I’ve had the absolute pleasure of being a beta reader for this book last summer and I love so much how it turned out in the end!!!
This book is cute, fun, romantic and spicy all at the same time. And even though the book is long, you get SO addicted to the story and the characters that the pages seem to fly by.
Izzy and Nik are so absolutely perfect together!! And I love how their relationship focus on dealing with their insecurities and their trauma before they can be happy and together.
And, like in all Grace Reilly’s books, we have the most amazing found family trope ever. I’m so sad to say goodbye to this series. But so happy with their stories!!

read this one if you love:
sports romance
hockey mmc x volleyball fmc
brother’s rival turned teammate
college romance
found family

I absolutely love this series, this is the fourth book of the Callahan siblings. I loved getting to know Izzy, her and Nik are the cutest. They’re so head over heels for each other and I loved their story. I LOVE a good sports romance, bonus for me that it’s both characters that play a sport!

Read if you like: sports romance, brothers rival, hockey romance, friends with benefits, secret relationship, he falls first, Russian MMC, close proximity, grumpy x sunshine, opposites attract, tortured mmc

The miscommunication (or just NO communication) was high in this book, which I found was its biggest downfall. In saying that, they’re very young MCs so it’s understandable they’re not mature. Throughout the entire book there were secrets and a lot push and pull - which was so frustrating 😭
A lot of the time the timeline felt jumpy and the book was way too long imo. The author put a lot of unnecessary scenes in just to fill the book up - I ended up skimming a lot

The writing is great though, the steam is good, and I enjoyed how the characters were flawed because they had depth to them

I LOVED the koala conservatory part, as a brissy girlie, I Iiterally squealed in excitement because nobody ever mentions Brisbane in books

Unfortunately a miss for me which I’m disappointed about. If you like the tropes maybe give this book a go though

a fun quick sports romance !! very easy to read and a good palette cleanser, really enjoyed it and would recommend !

This took me a loooooong time to get through and it took me about 3 weeks to get to 40% which is so slow for me! I ended up reading half way and then just skim reading the rest.

I didn't love it and I struggled to feel any chemistry between the two leads which just made it difficult for me to get into. The spice was good but other than that, I just wasn't feeling it.

I enjoyed the authors style of writing and would read her books again but it was the connection between the two main characters that put me off.

I think this might be my favorite one in the series, I think I have a thing for morally grey traumatized men. (This sounds horrible)
I loved Nik and Isabella (also how he calls her Isabella and not Izzy, love it so much) they’re adorable even if they had a lot to go through before they could be in a good place together. I loved all the brothers getting involved in this story, I found it so adorable. The Callahan family deserves everything good in this world, they are genuinely adorable and the best.

I maybe thought that Isabella’s and Nik’s relationship could’ve been just a bit more, I’m not too sure how to explain but as much as I loved that you were fully thrown into their relationship from the beginning I just thought there was something missing. But other than that I loved it.

Thank you to netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

And here’s another sports romance for my list of favorites of the year!! In this book we follow the story of Isabelle and Nikolai in a kinda forbidden romance bc he’s her brother’s rival, I really loved their relationship and thought it was super well developed. It was a super fun and quick read, for me the only flaw was that the book could’ve been a little shorter but it was still very good!!

Nik and Isabelle enjoy a summer fling, but that's all it can be. They go to different colleges and he is her brother's rival. It would never work.
But when Nik ends up transferring schools, he can't keep himself away from Izzy.

I loved reading about the other Callahans from the previous books and their whole family bond. However, Nik doesn't have a family like the Callahans, he doesn't have that bond they have. The book touches on mental health issues and panic attacks, and I think it's done well.

Although overall I did like this book, I didnt love it. It just didn't hook me, or make me want more after every chapter. I found myself beginning to quickly skim some pages as they didn't feel totally necessary to the story and felt the book could have been shorter.

However, I would always recommend reading this entire series as I really enjoyed the previous books!

This is one of my favourite romance series and I’m so very sad it’s over. If I could live in a family I would pick the Callahan family.

I love that there is no toxicity in the relationships in any of the stories it feels like a warm hug.

Oh my god this book was so cuteeeee 😭 I loved this one so much! Their relationship honestly was just adorable and they stuck by each other through everything which was so lovely! And the spice was SPICY. Trying to keep this spoiler free but highly highly recommend this one when it’s out!!

3,75

This was a really nice college-sports-romance! Loved how both main characters had their respective sport and how it was portrayed in the book. I felt like it was a good mix of sports + romance + plot.

There were way more sex scenes in the first half, and generally in the book, than I would have expected (I’m not mad, just surprised). Which later on made sense, because the second half focused more on the plot and the characters.

I haven’t read the other books in this series yet, but this book can definitely be read as a standalone. However, I do think it makes sense to read this series in order as it will provide a better understanding of the Callahan family dynamics and the relationship of the siblings and their respective partners.

I really enjoyed Cooper’s and Nik’s friendship and its development throughout the book! There were even moments when I enjoyed it more than the romance, as in, I was excited to read scenes between those two. I wouldn’t have minded having even more scenes with only them to be honest.

There were a couple things, which to my surprise and delight, took a different turn than I am used to from other books. Two that come to mind are, as mentioned above, Cooper + Nik’s friendship. I really expected them to not get along for basically 80% of the book but they as (best) friends made so much sense.
And the other one is the non existing breakup between Isabelle + Nik. I feel like there was an attempted 3rd-act-breakup at the 50% mark, but…is it really a 3rd-act-breakup when it doesn’t happen in the 3rd act? I will also not count it as a breakup at all, so that’s that. But the vibe was definitely giving (3rd-act) breakup.

There were no overly dramatic fights between people or generally no drama, but a lot of really great conversations and emotional bonding between family members, friends and romantic partners!

I caught myself several times thinking that this book might be about 50, maybe even more, pages too long. Especially with Nik’s past and resulting traumas keep coming up without any kind of resolvement up until basically the very end.
I also felt like the main characters, who were supposed to be 19 and 21 (I think), acted older than their age.
I also wasn’t vibing with all of the russian, but this a me-thing. я люблю тебя vs the usual я тебя люблю (eng: I love you) was a choice I guess. I eventually got somewhat used to solnishko (eng: sunshine) but I wasn’t really vibing with it in the beginning.

I was hesitant throughout the book about reading the other books in this series, but now after finishing 'Wicked Serve', I do plan on reading the other books!

Another Grace Reilly Masterpiece!!

After falling in love with this series last summer, I've spent the last twelve months counting down the days until I would be reunited with my dear Callahan family and more importantly get to know Isabelle and Nikolai as the secret romance heartthrobs that they are. Grace magically captures a whole summer of love through her flashback mentions, making me feel like I lived and experienced it right there with them.

As the story flowed into the present, it was like watching magnets reading scenes between the two characters, the way she painted their love and their feelings so transparently on the page, I was hooked from the first page and never wanted it to end.

What Grace Reilly does so wonderfully though is tell whole stories, ones of love and life, the good and the bad. In the way she tackled not only self worth and feeling seen in her family with Izzy's character but also that impact of trauma for a child with Nik, it was so masterfully handled and delicately threaded through the story. Never feeling out of place but continuously growing these characters we got to know page by page until you feel real. Izzy's admittance of not feeling good enough and feeling lost in her life around her uber-focused family hit particularly home.

Finishing this book was the worst part, because as I got closer to the end, I was already in mourning for the story being over and having to say goodbye to these wonderful characters, who across the four books of the series, have welcomed us into their homes and their lives and their minds, making us the reader feel heard and seen so often. I can't wait to see what the author extraordinaire takes on next, but I already know that I'll instantly feel at home in whatever world she creates.

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline Books for the early arc in exchange for an honest review 💖

This was a really sweet but steamy read, I enjoyed our two main characters - their chemistry was off the charts and I had a lot of fun with the storyline.

This series has been a major flop for me. I was looking forward to Izzy and Nikolai’s story but it just missed the mark for me. I could not get into it and after 25% I just had to DNF.

I liked the idea of the story but it felt like the writing was very forced. It had so much potential to be a good story, but it missed the mark on the execution. 3/4 of the books in this series now have been a miss for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Omg, I absolutely adored this ending of the callahans.
I very much enjoyed reading about isabelle, finding out about her and nikolai.
One better than brothers best friend, brothers enemy!