3.5 ⭐️

Here we have the 4th book in the Beyond the Play series, focusing on our very athletic Callahan family. We finally got to see the full story behind Isabelle, the sole Callahan sister. While Wicked Serve is technically the last book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone with no problem (though I do recommend reading them in order for super fun and cute glimpses at some of the other siblings!).

Isabelle and Nik's relationship starts off as a summer fling, but becomes so much more. This book is filled with many spicy scenes, so don't be fooled by the cutesy cover 🤣 This book was a fun and quick read (many many short chapters), and is a bittersweet ending to this series.

The one thing I would have changed about this book is the length. Personally while I felt like there were a lot of unneeded chapters, I still wanted to learn more about some of the family dynamics.

Read this book if you enjoy:
🏐 Sport romance (hockey AND volleyball)
🏐 Brothers rival (sorta)
🏐 Forbidden romance
🏐 Summer fling
🏐 College romance
🏐 Dual POV

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me an eARC for an honest review!

I have been waiting patiently for Izzy’s story and I loved every word of it. “Wicked Serve” is a heartfelt, steamy and romantic college sports romance that was a fantastic conclusion to the “Beyond the Play” series.

Hockey has been Nikolai’s entire life and the outlet he needed when things were not going well in his life. Despite being drafted, it’s the last year he’ll play hockey because of an agreement with his grandfather. Even with that hanging over his head, he still has the sunshine he needs by the name of Izzy Callahan. Izzy and Nik met when she was interning with his mother in NYC and spent a lot of time together. Izzy is a sophomore, has been playing volleyball at McKee and failing in sports is not an option for her. And she’s shocked when she finds out that Nik is now playing at McKee on the hockey team with her brother. The connection they had that summer is still there and despite their lives going in different directions, they can’t stay away from each other.

I loved Izzy and Nik’s story so much and it is easily my favorite of the series. Izzy is smart, caring and wants to be the best she can be at whatever she sets her mind to. Izzy was relatable to me because she set the bar high for herself and never wanted to fail. She unfairly compared herself to her brothers but grew so much through this story and was a better version of herself. I loved Nik from the beginning and he just made my heart swoon so much throughout the story. His past with his father broke my heart and it definitely shaped him as the man he was in the present. He wanted to be a better man and being with Izzy was exactly what his soul needed. I loved their flirty banter between them and the steamy scenes were full of all the delicious spice. These two grew so much emotionally as individuals and as a couple. Grace Reilly wasn’t afraid to touch on some more emotional issues in this book and I loved that. The ending was perfect and the epilogue made me so happy.

Thank you Avon/Harper Voyager for the ARC!

This was another fun read from Grace Reilly! It had some tropes that I love and Reilly executed them well! I loved that the MCs were both athletes, giving them a common ground and unique perspective into each others lives. I also love a MMC with a rough past, it just makes me want to love them and hug them into happiness 🥺 this book also delivered on the spice! 🔥

I read the first of this series and enjoyed it! This one was good.. but i felt like it was repetitive and dragged on a bit. I will be sure to read the other 2 books on the series!

Every new book in the Beyond the Play series I finish and swear it’s my favourite, I truly believed nobody could top Seb and Mia but… Nik and Izzy 🥹

🏐 Secret romance
🏒 Brother rival (or maybe not 😏)
🏐 College Sports
🏒 Tragic past
🏐 Found family
🏒 Dual POV

Izzy was a favourite of mine as a side character in her brothers book and she didn’t disappoint as a main character. She’s kind, funny and bubbly, but she’s also very mature and understanding.

Nik 🥹 poor boy had such a traumatic past and struggled with the ongoing panic that caused him. I enjoyed the realistic way he handled his emotions and how well his character developed.

The siblings popping up in each others books is always exciting but I really loved how important they all were to Izzy’s story… especially Seb 🥰 his big brother moments were my favourite!

Reading the epilogue in the last book of a series like this always make me so emotional 😭 sad to see them all go, but happy with how it all wrapped up for them.

Thank you to Netgallery and Valentine PR for the ARC. And big thank you to Grace for having me on your ARC team and writing such wonderful books 📚

Izzy is a volleyball player whose whole family is filled with highly skilled athletes. For her summer internship, she works for a wedding planner whose son is her brother's biggest hockey rival, which of course leads to a summer fling. Nikolai gets kicked out of his college before his senior year because he covers for a teammate who made a very stupid and illegal choice, and his grandfather pulls strings to get him into the school where Izzy and her brother go, leading Nik and the brother to be teammates. College is college. Drama and crazy amounts of sex scenes happen.

This was just as poor as Icebreaker, so I'm sure it's going to go viral on Booktok. This is smutty just for the sake of smut. Daddy issues abound, for both main characters, honestly. And it was just... kind of boring.

I'm a BIG fan of hockey romance. But I think this might have almost used the sport of hockey as a crutch to give the rest of the story a real storyline so people who read this week just grab this because the cover is pretty or something. I would have appreciated a little more talk about hockey...

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

Dual POV, Spicy, Hockey, Brother's Teammate/Rival, Secret Relationship, Summer Fling, Possessive MMC, Care Taking, Panic Attacks

Reilly delivers an angsty and emotional conclusion to the Beyond The Play series. Izzy and Nik's romance starts out as a summer fling but turns into so much more. Both of them are struggling to navigate their place in their respective families and how sports will play a role in their futures and find solace in each other. College sports drama, family dynamics, tender care taking, and spice off the charts.

I’ve been impatiently waiting on Izzy’s story! I love the Callahan Fam and I always love the sneak peek you get into the precious characters lives after their books concluded. I LOVED Izzy and Nik together! Nik might be one of my favorite MCs this year! And my first volleyball book! ❤️🏐

Thanks NetGalley/ Valentine PR for the arc!

After having a summer fling, Izzy and Nikolai never thought they would see each other again, especially after Nik left without saying goodbye. Never in a million years did they think he would find himself at the same university as her, and quite literally running into her everywhere they go.

I love how Izzy and Nikolai rekindle their friendship and start spending more time together, even it’s just for ‘stress relief’ at first. And I especially love how they both are supportive of each other and their struggles, even if they argue at times. This was so much spicier than I expected and I LOVED it! We get some hot and heavy scenes, right away and let’s just say Nik has a filthy mouth and I’m here for it! I quite literally read this all in one day because I just love a good hockey romance, especially with some spice!

🌸Hockey player x Volleyball player
🌸Brother’s rival
🌸Secret relationship
🌸Friends to lovers
🌸He falls first
🌸Mental health rep
🌸Found family

Thank you so much to Grace Reilly and Valentine PR for the ARC of this book via Netgalley. All opinions are my own and honest!

To start I enjoy that this is a sports romance where both of them play sports. We don't see a little of female athlete representation and that is appreciated. With that being said this book is very long. 74 chapters is too many for a sports romance. We also start this story with the characters already being pretty deep into their romance so as a reader we have missed a lot of their connections. Due to this it is hard to buy into there relationship. There are also a lot of difficult family dynamics that felt maybe unrealistically contrasting with each other. Overall, I liked the concept but the follow through was not there.
Thank you to NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own

Ive never read a grace reilly hockey book but I enjoyed this one. I found their journey to falling in love so beautiful and I had fun with the sports aspect too.

Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly has so many of my favorite tropes/elements- sports, forbidden romance, he falls first, family relationships, etc. Such a cute, fun read!
Thank you NetGalley & Avon and Harper Voyage for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The first three books of the series really set this book up perfectly, and Grace went in with the kill with Wicked Serve. For sure my favorite of them all.

I think Grace has successfully managed to weave the competitive nature of elite college sports with a sweet (and hot!) romance, all wrapped up in realistic coming of age challenges.

WS is fun, emotional, quick-paced, and will definitely have you rooting for Izzy and Nikolai!

Read if you love:
-Dual POV
-College sports (hockey + volleyball)
-Brother’s rival turned teammate
-Secret summer fling turned romance
-Found family
-Nicknames in another language (he’s Russian)

CW: child+domestic abuse/violence, panic attacks

This was a fun hockey romance. It's the first book I've read from this author and I definitely should have read the others first but I still had a good time. I do think it might have benefited from a little less sex in the book so if you're not comfortable with that, I'd skip this book cause it was like every other chapter. Overall, I had a good time.

Review to Come

Love the cover ❤️
Description intrigued me…
Author is new to me.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC

If you like brothers best friend buckle up for brothers rival/enemy turned brothers teammate/best friend…what started as a secret summer fling continues when MMC loses his spot at his school and is thrown into his old rivals team and FMC school. There chemistry rivals no other and they can’t stay away from each other as they continue their relationship behind closed doors, well most of the time. This story highlights both main characters playing a sport which I loved and haven’t read before. This book really takes you on a rollercoaster and it’s really lovely to see the growth in the characters. Loved the found family dynamics.

(This book is part of a series, which would probably be better read in order as there are some relationships and events that aren’t well explained here.. It’s not necessary, but I think it’s helpful.)

Collegiate NY volleyballer Isabelle didn’t give her coach the best impression in her sophomore year between partying and her performance, so she’s been relegated to a position she doesn’t care for. When she approaches her coach to give her a shot at playing setter, she’s warned that she must go over and above to prove coach she’s worthy of the position.

At first, Izzy decides she’s going to actively avoid Nikolai, the guy she’s spent the summer with, sneaking around and getting naked at every opportunity. Their hookup is definitely forbidden, as he’s (been) on one of her brother’s rival hockey teams, and their one upsmanship and dislike for each other is widely known. In fact, Izzy’s entire family is essentially professional and collegiate sports royalty, so there’s added pressure for her to perform at her peak at all times, and to be loyal to her family and their respective teams.

Nikolai begins the new hockey season expelled from his college in Massachusetts due mostly to the actions of others around him. When his scheming grandfather strikes a bargain with him to finish his degree in NY, he’s of course on the same team to whom Izzy’s brother is captain, and more importantly, Izzy will be in his orbit: Isabelle, the girl who he wants to have something more than a fling with even though her brothers wouldn’t stand for it, the one who’s plagued his dreams and thoughts.

How will this pair fare with all the circumstances they must confront or overcome? Can there be an HEA?

There were a lot of steamy scenes in this novel, which I appreciate. What stuck out more than anything was the writer’s choice of the FMC acting her age: she may be worldly in lots of ways due to her privileged background, but she’s still painfully impulsive, exactly what one would expect from someone who’s all of twenty. Having said that, her predilection toward the color pink became grating and overdone as it seemed it was mentioned nearly every chapter from her POV. A color preference is not a personality trait anymore than strong feelings about pineapple on pizza.

Likewise, Nikolai’s past trauma, his corrosive relationships with his grandfather and his father have contributed greatly to his shaky mental health. Isabelle is his balm, his soft place to land, and I love that as well. Hockey is my absolute favorite sport, and I live for a good hockey romance, especially when he falls first.

I received an advance reader copy from the author and NetGalley, and I’m sharing my honest opinion.

I was thrilled when I received access to the arc for this work. This story perfectly encapsulates the energy and excitement of Grace Reilly’s past books with the heart of a new relationship. Although I felt that the story focused less on the sport of volleyball than I thought it would, it was still a rather enjoyable piece. My complaints were definitely minor and have more to do with my expectations for the work.

I wish some of the tropes marketed for this story were explored a little more as “my brother’s biggest hockey rival” and “the only daughter in a family full of athletes” weren’t prevalent through the entire piece, rather just sections. It definitely includes a lot of hockey focus as well, almost more than the volleyball time, which felt like a disservice to Isabelle’s character. While Wicked Serve wasn’t my favorite in the series, it was a great ending piece and allowed the fruition of other relationships like James and Bex as well as Cooper and Penny. I felt like Nikolai’s family problems got a lot of attention in similar ways that the Callahan brother’s relationship with their father did, but I was hoping to see more of that for Izzy.

The relationship and intimacy between the two athletes was intense and started off early in the book due to their pre existing relationship, which was nice. While the story might have some violence or abuse triggers, the interactions between Isabelle and Nikolai are all healthy and appropriate. I loved that each character had their own personal growth to focus on, Izzy with her volleyball struggles and Nikolai with his future career and family dilemmas. This allowed readers to learn the characters on their own rather than as a couple.

The series as a whole felt rather wrapped up in this piece as the epilogue saw all four siblings get a final glimpse into the future at a hockey game. It felt purposeful and proper for the series.

Grace Reilly has really outdone herself with Wicked Serve, the finale to her Callaghan series. While Reilly has proven herself adept at handling difficult topics in the past, such as grief around the death of a parent, sexual assault, and more, she still handled the topic of domestic violence with just as much care. In addition to the issues more at the forefront of her characters lives, she delved into the insecurities they’ve grown into, and managed to create those struggles in such an astute way throughout the story I was often brought to tears. Nikolai and Isabelle are some of my favorite characters in a story now and I find it difficult to move on from their story. For fans of Reilly’s Callaghan series, or sports romance in general, Wicked Serve is a perfectly paced, compelling, and lovable book that will have its readers hooked from the very start.

Grace Reilly is that girl 👏🏼💃🏼
Wicked Serve was so much more than your average hockey romance. It was a perfect representation of overcoming past trauma, and destructive mind sets with healthy and loving relationships. A real testament to finding your family and surrounding yourself with people who will not only make you a better person, but stand by you when life isn’t perfect.

I loved Nik and Izzy, together they were amazing, and the spice was spicing but even without all of that they were layered, thoughtful, and purposeful in their actions. I thought that Reilly gave a great representation of facing your past trauma and coping with aftermath of escaping situations that leave scars deeper than what’s just on the surface can look like. I also appreciated that both characters had flaws and even though they had vastly different childhoods they both had their own hurdles to get over as they entered into adulthood, neither of them were perfect but they were perfect for each other. 🩷

It was only supposed to last the summer. No feelings and no expectations. Isabelle Callahan has a secret, one that nobody was supposed to find out, especially her older brother. You see Isabelle spent her summer not only interning for his mother but also having a summer fling with no other than Nikolai Adreny Volkov, her brother’s biggest hockey rival from an opposing school. When they go their separate ways at the end of the summer Izzy never expected to see Nik again, especially not on her college campus when he is supposed to be hours away at his own.

Nik has only ever wanted to play hockey, and he will agree to anything to keep that dream alive as long as possible. When circumstances lead to him having to change schools in order to continue playing he jumps on it…. Added benefit? He will be attending McKee University and while their fling was only supposed to be for the summer, he can’t quite get Isabelle Callahan out of his head.

I was gifted an advance reader copy by the author and Valentine PR in exchange for an honest review.