The first time reading Grace Reilly and I would look into her back log of work. Although it’s a standalone in an interconnected series, I found the storyline easy to pick up. There’s a lot of characters from previous books interwoven into the storyline, I found it easy to keep track of who’s who. Which isn’t always the case.

The book was verging on a little too long but other than that I found the book enjoyable and Nikolai was the perfect mmc. He had his issues but never wavered from Izzy and sought out the help he needed.

It’s giving forbidden romance vibes but still a cute and fluffy read!

There was no extensive miscommunication or stubbornness and both went with their feeling rather than trying to convince each other not to do this. I loved how easy this was to read but I do feel like it could have been a bit shorter.

This book has definitely made me want to read the rest of the series as they are in my TBR list!

Thankyou netgalley for the ARC!

🌟🌟🌟🌟.5
🔥🔥🔥.5

I really loved this ending for the Callahans. Izzy is the perfect sister for the family. I loved her finding her place and what she wanted from life.
Nik is absolutely the perfect male specimen. The Russian in the book is such a brill touch. And hot too. I loved his story line with his dad and his MH. So heartbreaking. Such a healthy relationship and example of healing.
There is some really hot spice in there tooooo. They have flaming hot chemistry!
It was perhaps a tad too long in places, but otherwise well written and paced.

-Volleyball FMC
-Hockey MMC
-Summer fling
-Secret
-MH representation
-Family drama
-Scarred MMC
-Hurt/Comfort
-Brothers teammate

I was absolutely delighted to receive this book and it’s a credit to the series. The whole series is amazing and this book followed suite. I’d recommend this to any romance/hockey romance readers without a doubt!

Thank you so much to @netgalley for my copy

R E V I E W

Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly

☆☆☆.5

Advanced Reader Copy graciously provided by Headline Eternal via Netgalley.

Wicked Serve is the fourth and final book in the Beyond the Play series, with each book focusing on a different athletic Callahan sibling. However, I came to this story without this knowledge, and I felt that my reading experience was no worse for wear, though I probably will go and read the first three now, having been introduced to all of the Callahan brothers and their respective paramours through this story.

This book focuses on the youngest Callahan sibling, Isabelle, who engages in a fling with her brother's hockey rival Nikolai Abney-Volkov during a hot summer in New York City. After going their agreed upon separate ways once summer concludes and school begins, Nikolai finds himself suddenly expelled with only one place to go: McKee University. Forced to join a new school in his senior year and play on a hockey team that is captained by none other than Cooper Callahan, Nikolai quickly realises that there is a silver lining to his change in circumstance. His proximity to the girl he hooked up with all summer long. And without the miles of distance as an excuse, Nikolai sets out to ensure she doesn't slip through his fingers twice.

Wicked Serve was quite lengthy for a sports romance, and I will admit to finding the first half of the story, where Isabelle and Nikolai are sneaking around, a lot more enjoyable than the second. This book addresses some serious issues, namely low self-esteem, familial expectation and child/domestic abuse, which definitely impacted the mood in the later half, though liberal helpings of sex were included to try and lighten the tone. This book was unexpectedly filthy, with more anal antics than I had anticipated. Having not read the first three books, I'd be interested to see if this is common throughout the series or just specific to Isabelle and Nikolai's sadomasochistic dynamic.

A nice read and probably a great way to wrap up a series if you've been with the Callahan's from the start.

Release Date: August 13, 2024
Date Read and Reviewed: July 21, 2024
Ratings: 3⭐️

°

This was such a quick read for me. It was my first time reading from the author, and I think it went quite okay, which I am pleased.

I liked how it was quite a balance of a fluff and steam. The circle of friendship is fine as well.

Another part is that there's 2 sports being shown here, and I did like that as well.

I think my only issue is the fact that the characters act way older than their age. It was something that bothered me. They feel way older than being a character who's supposedly in their 18 or 19, a senior high student.

Overall, I think this was mediocre for my taste. Nothing special, in my opinion.


Thank you, Forever/ Avon Books, for the e-arc opportunity via Netgalley.

This book wasn’t my favourite in the series but I did enjoy it. I’d been looking forward to Izzy’s book since Grace was independently published. I felt slightly disappointed because the book felt a little too long and dragged. I felt like at times Izzy and Nikolai were a little immature for their ages. I don’t know if this is because I now prefer professional sports romances vs college sports romances.
I feel like it was a good ending to the Callahan family series and I loved the snippets of the previous characters.

4🌟
This book was predictable in terms of the direction it was going to take but to be honest, I didn't have much of an issue with it. The 2 main characters are both loyal and fiercely protective, and Nikolai seemed really sweet to be honest. It had a good amount of drama and added some dimension through the family issues and ending up in the same college. I always love reading a sports romance and this one was enjoyable!

I adored this so much. Being back in this world with the Callahan siblings was just perfect and Grace has written yet another smashing sports romance.
What I loved so much about this was the mental health representation, the struggles both Nik and Izzy faced were difficult and dark, but the author handled the topics with empathy, and grace.

I really loved these characters, the plot, the romance and the spice... oh the spice was perfect!!

If you loved the first three, you are going to adore this one!

So grateful to have read the E-Arc of this book because I LOVED IT!! I sped through this book and finished it in two days, loved Isabelle’s personality and the relationship between her and Nikolai :)

Perfect mix of romance and emotion and humour like so many of Grace Reilly’s books. Reading this series has been so fun, I have loved the brothers books and so happy to have finally read Isabelle’s!

Thank you again for allowing me to read this!

Wicked Serve is the fourth installment in Grace Reilly’s Beyond the Play series. It follows the last and youngest of the Callahan siblings, Isabelle. Isabelle feels under pressure because the rest of her family is so passionate and successful (most of them within a sport). Meanwhile, Isabelle’s Volleyball career at university hasn’t been as successful as it should have been and even though she loved her internship with a wedding planner over the summer, she feels like she didn’t deserve that because she initially received it through nepotism. To add onto all of that, she spent her time off during last summer’s internship with Nikolai, her brother’s biggest hockey rival. Of course, no one knows that the two of them spent all that time together and it should be fine since they’re going back to different universities… Right? Turns out, Nikolai transfers. to Isabelle’s university at the start of the semester, meaning he is now part of her brother’s team and the two of them keep running into each after, which brings up memories of last summer.

It’s been a while since I read the other books in the series, but I don’t remember them to be quite as long and as spicy in terms of volume. Personally, for me this book contained too much smut. It ended up getting boring. The book also is just too long, sitting at 450 pages. In the end, Wicked Serve isn’t revolutionary. It’s a decently written Ice Hockey romance with two likeable main characters and it ties into a series of sports romances with likeable main characters. Like so many of these books, the plot can be a little drawn out and dramatised to the point of silliness. And also like so many others, it’s just a tad too long. But I still had a great time reading it and it’s definitely a fun continuation of the series. I’m excited to see what more comes from Grace as she continues gathering experience.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advanced copy of Wicked Serve in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Grace Reilly read, I saw ice hockey player and thought 'that's right up my street' and I'm so glad I did because I really enjoyed this.

I know I say this about all my book boyfriends but Nik is just lovely. He was always straight with Izzy, and did what was best for her and the relationships in the book (their own and those she shares with her family). It was heartwarming to see him create his own little family after his tragic past and I love that Izzy was able to help give him that and stand in his corner fighting for him.

I was expecting something more from where his dad was concerned, but that may just be because I've read too many dark romances. This doesn't detract from the story or my rating though.

A great read that I will recommend to friends and family.

We’ve reached the end of the line for the Callahan siblings and I’m sad about it. Nikolai and Izzy were a great couple and left the series on a high note.

The relationship between the two was healthy and so charming, I adored it throughout my read. I really enjoyed Izzy as a character in the second and third books and i enjoyed reading from her perspective.

Nikolai is also a complex character that we don’t normally get from an MMC. He had a tough childhood and we see him come to terms with it through the book and choose to heal.

I found this story followed the same kind of pattern as the other books in the series, which made it slightly predictable but that isn't a bad thing at all. I was so glad we finally got an epilogue that was set in the future and I think it was a lovely way to sum up the series. I’ve enjoyed the Callahan’s and am excited to see what else the author releases.

i absolutely loved the free and easy feeling of this book and it took no time at all to hook me with the banter and cuteness izzy and nikolai displayed!

the characters ―୨୧⋆ ˚
i found both izzy and nikolai characters i loved spending the book with - they were funny , had such great communication and were generally such a cute couple to read about . i loved how they supported each other and continued to fight in each others corner despiste a tiny 3rd act break..

plot ―୨୧⋆ ˚
the plot in wicked serve felt very easy to follow and enjoyable .. i must admit i was a lot sceptical of the direction as i didn’t love first downs ending however wicked serve absolutely delivered and i could tell this was grace reilly’s later book in the series!

overall, a cute easy romcom that i really enjoyed

I’m sorry to say that this was just a mediocre romance novel for me. I enjoyed it but it was nothing to remember, if I’m honest.

It is a perfectly alright book for anyone looking for an easy sports romance though.

I will still be reading another book by this author because it might just have been that this one wasn’t for me. 😊

The 4th book in the Beyond The Play series is HERE and we finally got Isabelle’s story! I really am a sucker for sports romance books and have enjoyed all the books in this series to date, I knew that I would enjoy this one just as much

Starting with Nik’s nickname for Isa 😭 ‘My sunshine girl’ in his native language was just so perfect. Every time he said it felt so wholesome and made me kick my feet, completely swooning over him!

Something that usually comes with a lot of forbidden romance books is the sense of regret or misunderstandings. The characters will sometimes turn around to each other and say “we shouldn’t do this” or “we can’t do that again”, and whilst Wicked Serve had a couple of those scenes, it didn’t feel overpowering and I actually really enjoyed the way that the two protagonists dealt with the whole forbidden romance thing.

I loooved seeing Bex and James from book 1!! It felt like the best full circle moment as their story was the one I read first, and seeing them happily married with a baby was like someone was giving my heart a high hug!!

A hockey and volleyball crossover?? Sign me up! I’ve never read a volleyball romance before but if this book was anything to go by, it certainly won’t be my last.

Something that I wasn’t too keen on was the length of the book, I don’t think it needed to be as long as it was. It just didn’t feel super necessary to the story and the pacing sometimes felt a little off because of this. There were a few moments where I felt myself zoning out because there wasn’t too much happening in the scene or chapter. I really enjoyed the story and love Nik and Isa, but I found myself getting a little bored at certain points.

Overall, I really loved this and will definitely be continuing to read Grace’s books as they’re released. Grace also never fails to write some of the best spicy scenes so this is one for those who love reading about characters with sexual tension, and also smutty books, of course!

I have always loved Grace Reilly and have really enjoyed reading the Beyond the Play series.

This has to be my fave of the series, I was obsessed with the sunshine and dark trope with Nik and Isabelle.

They are such a gorgeous pair and i loved how there was elements of dark romance within the smut in this but it was not dark outside the bedroom. This was the perfect combo for me

I adrore thi oneeee.
Pure love all the way. If I could gave this a ten stars I would. Love every little thing about it.

I just loved this book, I wasn’t too sure at the start but once I got more into it I found that I couldn’t put this book down and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I would highly recommend reading this book if you like a a spicy romance.

I would like to thank Headline Eternal and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book early.

Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly is book 4 in the Beyond the Play Book series. This is an interconnected sports romance series about the Callahan family, however, this book can also be enjoyed as a standalone. This spicy hockey forbidden romance is perfect for fans of Hannah Grace and B.K. Borison.

I found this book very frustrating at the beginning. In the first couple of chapters it's very clear Nikolai and Izzy are already head-over-heels with one another. We get fleeting references to the summer they spent in New York doing all the sweet relationship things I wanted to read about; going to farmer markets, watching TV during a thunderstorm, days on the beach, midnight dim sum, museum visits and "slow mornings wrapped in daisy-patterned bedsheets". Unfortunately, second chance romances are really not my favourite, especially when the reason the first "break-up" took place because the MMC simply ghosts the FMC. I felt like I was missing a big part of their journey as a couple as a clear connection had already been established and therefore I wasn't particularly invested in their relationship. I think that's why I found the pacing to be a little off too. We didn't get the "I love you' scene until 80% of the way through when it was clear that's were they were heading from the very first chapter.

I did appreciate how Nikolai's panic disorder and childhood truma was slowly unpacked. It was done so in a really sensitive, emotional and relatable way. It explained and justified his reasoning behind a lot of his previous behaviour, however, I do wish Izzy had more of a backbone when it came to the way he treated her, as well as her overbearing brothers.

I also didn't appreciate the repetitive pop culture references as they really pulled me out of the story. Were 5 New Girl references really necessary?! I feel like this book was aimed at an audience a lot younger than myself despite how explicit the sex scenes were.