Can I be cheesy for a second? Wicked Serve was WICKED GOOD! I don’t say that lightly. I have read many and I do mean many hockey romances. So, I know my stuff.

Wicked Serve was everything I needed it to be. Brother’s rival doesn’t always hit, but this one did. Sometimes authors depend on the “we shouldn’t do this” mentality, but that’s not the case here. This book was cute and spicy.

I loved this books! I would give it a solid 4.5⭐️ This story I felt was perfect to wrap up this series. I think I would rank this book tied with second for my favorites of the series! (Breakaway #1🫶🏻) I loved the dynamic of Izzy’s and Niko’s relationship. It was so refreshing to watch them grow together and support each other. I personally don’t think their was a 3rd act break up which I appreciate! I can’t even remember how many times I cried reading this book 🥹 I definitely recommend! Also the spice was also sooo good but like not unrealistic and in your face which was just *chefs kiss* 💋

Grace Reilly knows how to write a sports romance. While Elle Kennedy will always be my queen of hockey romance, Grace Reilly is my next choice. And I love that she writes about other sports as well. This book was a cute yet spicy romance that I really enjoyed. It had one of my favorite tropes, which is force proximity, and I loved that is was dual POV so we got both Isabelle and Nicolai's view. I think this is the last in the series, but I hope she starts a new series with similar vibes!

Loved it! The author writes sports romance so well and it always makes me want more! Niko and Izzy were amazing!

I love sports romances! Nikolai and Isabel were great characters even though the stubbornness got to me a few times!

4⭐️ 2🌶️

Some Tropes:
🏒 Possessive MMC
🏐 Brother’s Teammate
🏒 He Falls First
🏐 Emotional Scars

🚨 SPOILERS AHEAD 🚨

Pros:

It was nice to pick up a book that didn’t have a wild scene where the couple split because of someone else’s opinion. Very refreshing!

I have been in love with this series since the first book and waited, impatiently (lol), for this book to release. I always loved Izzy in the other books and wanted so badly for her to get the love story she deserved 💜

Cons:

It was a little slow at parts, but the story didn’t lapse and the order of events in the book set up a great mental visual.

I was angry for Nikolai before I even realized what happened to him and his mom. I wish the backstory was revealed a touch sooner to give the characters more time for resolution and growth vice waiting so close to the end.

My Opinion:

This book, just like the rest in the series, were totally worth the read, worth the wait, and worth the late nights I spent up not wanting to put the book down 😂

It took me awhile to finish because life and work got in the way, but I was so happy with the ending 🥹

We’re back in the Callahan’s world; this time with our favorite girl, Izzy! Izzy and Nik spent a whole summer cozying up and getting to know each other, but when the school year came to be, Nik left without a word, thinking that would be easier for the both of them. In an unfortunate (fortunate?) turn of events, Nik had to transfer to McKee and play hockey with Izzy’s brother. Silly, sexy, and secretive activities ensue.

This was such a fun read, and I am so thankful to @gracereilly and @valentinepr for sharing this ARC with me!

Things I liked: I really liked the relationship between Nikolai and Isabelle. They obviously had feelings for each other from the very beginning and their relationship grew and only became stronger over time. I also liked the Callahan sibling dynamics was great - I do love the found family aspect of this book.
Things that I was not so wild about: the novel was way too long and should have been edited down. Lots of repetitions and rehashing of the same thing. I did not love the “break” from the relationship towards the end - it really felt forced and unnecessary. The way bilingualism was portrayed was just wrong. As a native Russian speaker who went all the way through high schools and grad school in a Russian speaking country, I do not think in Russian now that I have lived in the IS for a while. Nikolai is even less bilingual having permanently moved to the US at 13 and having an American mother so I have a hard time imagining him thinking in Russian on a regular basis. Also “my favorite” on the back of the photograph was grammatically wrong in Russian - little things but if you can’t do it right, don’t do it at all. Finally there was way too much spice for my taste (but this is a personal preference not a fault of the novel).
I received an e-ARC of this novel from netgalley.com

This is the first book of the series I've read (I know I'm late discovering the Callahan family) but it won't be the last book i'll read from this author.

Izzy thinks she is less than her brothers so when her volleyball coach won't give her the position she wants she thinks her family won't be happy. But thanks to Nik, who has a summer fling with her and now is on the same university as her, she start to work harder but in the end it's not for her family but for her because she loves the sport.

Nikolai was drawn to Isabelle (Izzy) since the first time he saw her but her brother was his rival, and now that he is on the same team he has to befriend him, so he'll keep his relationship with Izzy.

This book is a journey about growing up, believe in yourself and try to overcome past traumas. But all that with spicy moments.

This was a light and fluffy, forbidden romance story. I loved seeing their relationship bloom. Nik and Isabelle were so adorable. Isabelle was cute and shy and Nik was strong, and outgoing. They went well together and rounded each other out well.

what you will get:
* college hockey romance
*forbidden love
* brothers rival (opposite hockey teams)
*he falls first

This was the last in the Callahan Siblings stories, but it was a sweet ending to a fun series. Can't wait to read more by Grace Reilly

was lucky enough to get an arc of wicked serve <3
- i think cooper & penny will forever be my favorite but nik & izzy were definitely cute!
- i loved getting to see all of the callahan family together, especially during the moments where james, cooper, or sebastian would help nik w tough love or phone calls 🥹
- forever admiring nik for recognizing that he needed help if he wanted to make his relationship with isabelle work 😭 & him making sure that when he comes back, it’d be for good 😪!! brb crying
- at times i do feel like there were some parts that weren’t really necessary for the plot but it wasn’t happening SO much that it made me want to stop reading the book or anything! the book itself was just a bit longer than i think it needed to be
- i will say, we get it isabelle. you like pink. 🤣
- there were some of the 🌶️ scenes that i wasn’t that into just because it sometimes didn’t make sense but nonetheless, overall i enjoyed the book :)

i'd probably give it a 3.5 ⭐️!

This is another one that’s marketed to be a light rom-com, but is a way deeper and more nuanced tale than that. If this wanted to be a romcom, it would have ended half-way through; instead it stayed and dealt with the complicated nuances. Large sports family, late-college setting, where they are considering next steps, family drama, etc. Loved it.

Thank you, Harper Collins/Avon, and Net Galley, for the arc.

I absoutley loved this book so much! One of my favorite series I have read and a great way to wrap up the series.

Loved this story of two athletes finding each other. The characteristics of each MC is very realistic per their sport.

On the surface, I did like this book. It was entertaining and the characters were likable. I appreciated that the relationship felt like it progressed naturally without any super overdone drama. Both Izzy and Nik have personal challenges they were working to overcome as they faced their final year in college. The hockey player aspect was a lot of fun as I am a huge fan of the sport. Because of their ages, this is YA and does read as such. That being said, the intimate scenes felt a bit outlandish for college students. This probably reads well for someone closer to their ages but I couldn't help but find some of it a bit of a stretch for how young they were. Nik's background had some truly dark aspects to it. I appreciated that Reilly acknowledged that this was something that wasn't easy to work through and that there were healthy conversations and therapy coming into play. The book was a bit too long for me but was overall entertaining.

Thank you to Avon for an ARC of this book. The opinions here are my own.

This book was so adorable. I love hockey romances so much and I loved how this one took it a step further. You get into such serious topics in this book and it created such a heartwarming and impactful story. It was just amazing. I loved the romance and how the two characters interacted. They have such great banter and such great chemistry. This is such a great book!

Wanted to love. Truly I did. But it was a little cheesy for me. A little too insta love and all that. But if you like an insta love cheesy book then go for it!

Thank you for this book. Grace Reilly thank you for giving me new characters to obsess over and a new series to fall in love with.

I was unaware this was part a series, the last book in fact 😅. I should have done my homework before hand, but I definitely don’t regret signing up for this ARC.

Nikolai and Izzy have a summer fling. Unknown to Copper, Izzy’s brother and Nikolai’s hockey rival. But summer is over and so is their fling…or is it?

I fell in love with Nikolai 🖤 He’s so sweet, he watches and remembers everything when it comes to Izzy even if she doesn’t always notice. He’s the type of player that’ll settle down for her and only her. Calling her sunshine and little sun.

Izzy is the cutest! I love all her quirks and the names she’s calls Nik when he’s being sarcastic with her. Their banter and the way they are with each other is amazing. They support each other and lift each other up when they’re at their lowest or thinking too critical about themselves.

The romance, characters and plot pulled me in, but the SPICE kept me coming back for more. If there was little to no spice in this book I would most definitely still read it. The romance, fun, and banter these two have is cute and will leave you giddy. Nik and Izzy have difficult moments/situations and mental health matters that come up. They handle each situation in the best way that they can and support each other no matter what.

I loved the writing, the pacing, everything just flowed. Grace Reilly didn’t it rush this story and I am grateful for that. I have read books that have fell short because of the faster pace and rushing of the story; it leaves out too much and I find myself lost, confused and unwilling to continue. I want the story, the details, the 400 page count if need be.

Beyond the Play series is over, but for me this is the beginning. As I previously said, I was unaware this was a series so I will backtracking and reading the three books before Wicked Serve. Each on is about Izzy’s brother and their romance stories.

Just by reading this book I have high hopes for the others. Looking for a cute, lighthearted, spicy romance? Then this is it

2.75 stars / 4 flames
This book was more than okay, I liked it, but it took me longer than it should have to finish it.

Hockey romances are one of my favorites and it had a lot of great tropes: college romance, brother's rival secret relationship, and he fell first. It was cute, spicy, romantic, without any of the miscommunication / misunderstanding stuff to build angst. What I really loved was the positive mental health representation. There is off-page domestic abuse and I loved that the author normalizes getting therapeutic help for mental health, especially in the realm of professional sports, which seems to still suffer the stigma of toxic masculinity and not asking for help when needed.

I found Izzy to be rather immature at times and juvenile, which yeah, she's young, but it still irked me a little. What I didn't care for was the length of the book. It felt too long with too many scenes that did little to move the plot forward. It was heavy on the spice (4 flames) and light on substance, which was disappointing given that the substance of the plot has real weight to it. The overabundance of these scenes meant I ended up skimming a good portion just to get on with it and made it easily put-downable. It was something to do when I had a few minutes, but I wasn't overly invested in the characters or the plot.

If you're looking for a sweet, easy read with a healthy relationship at the focus and a lot of spice, you'll probably like this book.

Just another not-great story jumping on the hockey romance bandwagon. I’ve enjoyed plenty of these stories, but I think I’m ready to move on.