Beyond the Play book #4, Wicked Serve, is a sweet secret lovers story. Izzy and Nik find themselves at the same college and continuing a fun summer hookup, keeping it a secret from family and friends for several reasons. Nik is a transfer and just joined a new hockey team. Izzy is Nik's mom's summer intern. As things between them heat up, they both develop unexpected feelings. Divorce, childhood trauma, and obligations to family make Nik believe he's not good for Izzy and her All-American family. Eventually these two work out their issues and become an official couple. They work together to overcome past mistakes and trauma.
I enjoyed this spicy, sweet couple. They were kind and patient with each other. The HEA ending was a good one with enough details for the reader to feel like the story came full circle.

I'll be honest - the characters were annoying as hell. Spoiled, rich college kids who have that kind of a sex life? Not remotely realistic. A bit deeper than your typical rom-com and definitely on the left wing/liberal side of the camp.

You’ll love this book if you like sports romance, sunshine heroines, realistic depictions of PTSD/panic attacks, spice with tons of praise, found family, and almost no third act break up. I give the author a lot of credit for making me love Russian diminutives and sweet nothings in a way I never expected to.

This is my first read from Grace Reilly but I hope it isn't my last. I gather this may be a family series and will have to check the rest out (though it does stand well on its own).
Love me a dual POV, spicy, secre relationship, hockey romance.
Can Isabelle and Nik's secret summer fling become the real thing when he ends up at her college? What about with him playing on the team captained by her brother, his formal rival? Family complications, his future in the NHL, and ooh spice :)
Thanks to the publisher and Netgally for the eARC.

After a secret summer together, Isabelle and Nik find themselves attending the same college with even more reasons to keep their mutual attraction under wraps. Their blossoming relationship forces them to challenge their own past traumas and decide whether to trust each other or move on.

Isabelle and Nik are perfectly matched and it's rewarding to watch the two of them mature into themselves and their relationship.

It's easy to tell that this is an entry in an ongoing family series, yet it totally works as a standalone. Good solid read and has me wanting to check out the earlier books in the series.

There is such a beautiful romance in this story. The plot was just beautiful. The characters are fantastic. I loved that both characters had their own sport that they excelled in and had to find their self-worth one and together. Nikolai honestly is going to live rent free in my head for a long time. He is an absolute gem of a book boyfriend. A Russian hockey player that whispers, sweet and sexy Russian words in your ear. He was absolutely swoon worthy. I recommend this to anyone who loves a balanced sports romance book—a balance between spicy scenes, mental health awareness, and relationship development.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.



First off, thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was my first time reading a book by Grace Reilly. This is the fourth book on a hockey family romance series, but it’s a standalone, and I don’t feel like I missed much by not reading the first 3, so you can definitely jump right into this one.

For starters, don’t let the cartoon cover fool you—this book is SPICY. This isn’t my personal preference, but the story itself was still good.

The story follows Isabelle and Nikolai, two college students who end up at the same college after having a summer fling. The book follows their love story, but also the personal growth of each character, which I loved. Isabelle comes from an all-American athlete family and feels a lot of pressure to be as good as everyone else, even though her passions lie elsewhere. Nikolai has a traumatic past that has led to some mental health struggles that he realizes he needs to deal with in order to be a good partner and a healthy person.

I enjoyed seeing each MC come into their own person and follow their own paths instead of the ones laid out by their families. I did find them to be quite immature at times (but they are 19 and 21), but they definitely matured as the book went on.

Overall, I think college romance books aren’t my favorite now that I’m in my 30s, but I still enjoyed the story.

Such a good ending for the Callahan siblings. I was hooked straight from the first chapter. I loved seeing how Niks and Izzy’s relationship progressed through out the book. This book had a lot of deeper topics brought up yet there was absolutely nothing toxic about their relationship. This shows you what a healthy relationship should look like. They were the cutest couple ever and I was kicking my feet throughout the whole book. This book has a lot of spice so if that is your thing definitely check this out. I do love the short chapters but I will say it was quite long for a sports romance book. I still enjoyed it tho.

Read if you like:
- sports romance
- Brothers teammate
- Secret relationship
- No third act break up

I really enjoyed reading The Wicked Serve. I liked the pairs and the friendships and the plot was good. It was a while since I read this but I was super happy when I received it and it did live up to my expectations. It was a five star rating.

This was a good conclusion to one of my favorite series, Breakaway is still my favorite in my series but I loved all the Cooper moments we got in Wicked Serve. I thought the pacing of their relationship in the book was done really well. In some secret relationship romances, it seems like the first portion before the reveal goes on too long and the conclusion is rushed. With how intense Nik and Izzy’s dynamic is, I felt like their relationship getting revealed to Cooper came at a good place in the story and there was enough time left to see how they navigate their relationship out in the open.

This book is one for those with daddy issues since Nikolai and Isabella’s are both pretty relevant to the plot of the book, and at some points I think they clash against each other. Nikolai agrees to his grandfather that he’ll stop playing hockey after college and forget about his NHL contract. All of this is being done as some sort of penance for being the son of his abusive and alcoholic father and fears that if he plays hockey he’ll end up like him. Izzy has grown up always feeling lesser than her retired NHL player father and three older brothers. When Nokilai finally seeks help to work through his trauma, she takes it as almost a rejection since he does it in a way she doesn’t agree with which I did not love.

Like all the books in the Beyond the Play series, their romance is filled with alot of spicy and dirty talk. This series is perfect for fans of Elle Kennedy and I’m always shocked with how under hyped it is. Thank you Avon, William Morrow, and NetGalley for an arc of Wicked Serve!

It was cute. I didn't realize this was a part of a serious when requesting it, but I think it can be read as stand alone easily.

Grace Reilly is so good at writing steaming sports books. This one follows our main characters as they navigate their relationship, toxic families and other things. This can totally be read as a standalone but there are character's from previous books.

Thanks NetGalley for the Arc copy.

Wicked Serve
This was book 3 in a series but most definitely can be read as a standalone. I requested this on NetGalley because I was in my sport romance era and this one was pretty interesting in that both main characters were very into their college sports with dreams of success. Izzy is trying to earn a spot as setter on her volleyball team and Nik is trying to prove his worth and get called up to the NHL.

Nikolai and Isabelle had a summer fling but both left eachother wanting more. When they find themselves at the same school they cannot stay away from eachother. They try to hide their romance from her brother since they were rivals now teammates but I will say Cooper is one of the best characters. He handles it with maturity and grace and respect for his sister. Nik is super wealthy but dealing with childhood abuse trauma and under his controlling grandfathers thumb. As the relationship progresses they really bring the best out of each other. I will say this felt a touch long and with all the sexy times happening idk how they got anything else done honestly. But I loved the found family for Nik and really felt like this was his book more than Izzy’s.

This also dealt with mental health, childhood abuse and family dynamic. I feel like Izzy’s family was too good to be true and Nik’s family mostly the worst. Overall a good read but not one that will stick with me. Many thanks to the publisher and NG for my arc. 3 ⭐️

DNF at 60% with over 3 hours left. This was just boring and slow. Character driven story but I really don’t like the characters. Both are rich athletes. FMC is mad at her coach because her coach called her spoiled and her spot on the volleyball team was bought. MMC team spot was actually bought. He had an abusive dad who was horrible, but he didn’t cut him off at all. Couple was together at 60% and I’m calling it good. I took a 3 day break to read something else and completely forgot all the characters and plot.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager Publisher for this digital ARC.

I have been on a hockey rom-com kick this year. So that’s what I was expecting when I started reading Wicked Serve. While, I enjoyed the book overall, it was a lot deeper than I anticipated.
Nik and Izzy deal with a lot more than just steamy hook-ups. At times, the story seemed to drag and I admit to skipping pages here and there. I also didn’t love some of the more “liberal” storylines, but I’m ultra conservative so take that with a grain of salt.
Overall, it was nice to branch out and read a hockey romance that had substance….and a happy ending.

The premise and prologue of this book immediately captivated me. I loved how it simply set the situation up and jumped right in. After finishing, I can definitely say that this is my favorite book of this series.

Izzy and Nik were amazing from the beginning. I could immediately see how well they balanced each other out. Nik’s blatant adoration for Izzy was one of my favorite parts of this book. I also like that they had individual issues that they worked through. It added depth to them as characters and kept the book from feeling tropey or surface level. There were a couple moments where I felt they were almost out of character maturity wise but I really loved them overall. They felt real and thought out.

The secret relationship part of this book was the perfect length for me. The reveal felt natural and left room for their relationship to grow. I felt that the book length was good. I could’ve done with some of the smaller plot points being drawn out more over one or two of the spice scenes, but it flowed nicely overall. I was never bored or wanting to skim. I wish there was a bit more communication at the end, but I also understand the circumstances and I wasn’t really that hung up on it. The adorable epilogue made up for any small issues (though I’ll be patiently waiting for a possible bonus scene of a certain event!)

Overall, I really loved reading this. It had all the aspects of a sports romance that I want, but it also felt solid as an individual story. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

MINI PLAYLIST 🌅🏒💗
Dress - Taylor Swift
Save My Life - Niall Horan
Disconnected - 5SOS

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! :)

Grace Reilly knows how to write a steamy sports book. Wicket Serve follows our two main characters while they navigate toxic families, anxieties and relationships while trying to figure out their futures. It was a lot of the steam aspect, but the writing flowed well and it was nice to see characters from the previous books.

thank you netgalley for an arc of Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly

Wicked serve was a cute, emotional book. I cried! I loved how strong Izzy was even though she had her own insecurities. Nik was amazing. He was so supportive. There were a couple things I didn't care about (toxic families give me the ick) but I think it was handled well and resolved well.

ARC Review-

I was so thrilled to receive the email saying I was selected to be an advanced reader for this book. I read a loved all previous books in the series, and was very excited to see where Izzy’s book would take us.

It is always fun to read the final book in a series that you have been following for a while. I loved seeing glimpses into the casts of characters that we already know from the beginning of the series, and I absolutely loved seeing Isabelle finally get her Callahan tattoo. Izzy and Nik had me rooting for them from the first page, as we jump right into their summer romance. I was happy to see them reconnect early in the book, as their chemistry was undeniable. Even when they weren’t officially together, Izzy kept showing up for Nik to support him through his, then, undiagnosed panic attacks. Regardless of what her feelings were to him at the time, she still placed his, and all of her friends, well being first. She was such a sweet character to read, and I am happy she got her own book because I originally was not sure of how much depth she had from the glimpses we got of her in the previous book, but I was glad to see her as a well rounded character with challenges of her own in her own story.

Grace Reilly always does a really great job of writing about mental health and all different types of family dynamics, so I was happy to see her handle the issues in this book with the same care and attention. I also loved the conflict resolution between Cooper and Nik, especially when they got to the point of a true friendship where Cooper could support Nik through his trauma and help him handle his emotions in a safe environment with no judgement from those he loved.

My only critique was that the book seemed a bit long, as a whole. About half way through the book I thought that everything was coming to a close, only to realize I still had like 2.5 hours of reading left on my e-copy.

Other than that I thought it was a really enjoyable close to the Callahan sibling stories. I will be super interested to see where Grace Reilly takes us next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Wicked Serve is my favorite book out of the Callahan series. Grace Reilly did a fabulous job with Izzy and Nik. Their forbidden relationship and banter was so well done throughout the book and the spice scenes were 🔥. I loved that there was no third act breakup and how the book really focused on their relationship and the ups and downs that are experienced within a relationship. 5⭐️ highly recommend!