The Chase by Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: August 4, 2018
Plot: Everyone says opposites attract. And they must be right, because there’s no logical reason why I’m so drawn to Colin Fitzgerald. I don’t usually go for tattoo-covered, video-gaming, hockey-playing nerd-jocks who think I’m flighty and superficial. His narrow view of me is the first strike against him. It doesn’t help that he’s buddy-buddy with my brother.
And that his best friend has a crush on me.
And that I just moved in with them.
Oh, did I not mention we’re roommates?
I suppose it doesn’t matter. Fitzy has made it clear he’s not interested in me, even though the sparks between us are liable to burn our house down. I’m not the kind of girl who chases after a man, though, and I’m not about to start. I’ve got my hands full dealing with a new school, a sleazy professor, and an uncertain future. So if my sexy brooding roomie wises up and realizes what he’s missing?
He knows where to find me.
☆ Rating: 4.25/5 stars
The Risk by Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: February 18, 2019
Plot: THE RISK takes you back to the world of hot hockey players, feisty heroines, bro banter, and steamy scenes...
Everyone says I’m a bad girl. They’re only partly right—I don’t let fear rule me, and I certainly don’t care what people think. But I draw the line at sleeping with the enemy. As the daughter of Briar’s head hockey coach, I’d be vilified if I hooked up with a player from a rival team.
And that’s who Jake Connelly is. Harvard’s star forward is arrogant, annoying, and too attractive for his own good. But fate is cruel—I require his help to secure a much-coveted internship, and the sexy jerk isn’t making it easy for me.
I need Connelly to be my fake boyfriend.
For every fake date…he wants a real one.
Which means this bad girl is in big trouble. Nothing good can come from sneaking around with Jake Connelly. My father would kill me, my friends will revolt, and my post-college career is on the line. But while it’s getting harder and harder to resist Jake’s oozing sex appeal and cocky grin, I refuse to fall for him. That’s the one risk I’m not willing to take.
☆ Rating: 4.75/5 stars
The Play by Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: October 7, 2019
Plot: What I learned after last year’s distractions cost my hockey team our entire season? No more screwing up. No more screwing, period. As the new team captain, I need a new philosophy: hockey and school now, women later. Which means that I, Hunter Davenport, am officially going celibate…no matter how hard that makes things.
But there’s nothing in the rulebook that says I can’t be friends with a woman. And I won’t lie—my new classmate Demi Davis is one cool chick. Her smart mouth is hot as hell, and so is the rest of her, but the fact that she’s got a boyfriend eliminates the temptation to touch her.
Except three months into our friendship, Demi is single and looking for a rebound. And she’s making a play for me.
Avoiding her is impossible. We’re paired up on a yearlong school project, but I’m confident I can resist her. We’d never work, anyway. Our backgrounds are too different, our goals aren’t aligned, and her parents hate my guts. Hooking up is a very bad idea. Now I just have to convince my body—and my heart.
☆ Rating: 4.5/5 stars
The Dare by Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: June 16, 2020
Plot: College was supposed to be my chance to get over my ugly-duckling complex and spread my wings. Instead, I wound up in a sorority full of mean girls. I already have a hard time fitting in, so when my Kappa Chi sisters issue the challenge, I can’t say no.
The dare: seduce the hottest new hockey player in the junior class.
Conor Edwards is a regular at Greek Row parties…and in Greek Row sorority beds. He’s the one you fall for before you learn that guys like him don’t give girls like me a second glance. Except Mr. Popular throws me for a loop—rather than laughing in my face, he does me a solid by letting me take him upstairs to pretend we’re getting busy.
Even crazier, now he wants to keep pretending. Turns out Conor loves games, and he thinks it’s fun to pull the wool over my frenemies’ eyes.
But resisting his easy charm and surfer-boy hotness is darn near impossible. Though I’m realizing there’s much more to Conor’s story than his fan club can see. And the longer this silly ruse goes on, the greater the danger of it all blowing up in my face.
☆ Rating: 4/5 stars
MY THOUGHTS:
After completely falling in love with the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy, I had to immediately dive into the Briar U series. I needed more of this world and the characters that I came to know and love! Elle Kennedy is the QUEEN of spicy, swoon-worthy romance with touches of humor and friendships. Elle’s writing is absolute perfection, and it just makes the reading experience SO MUCH better. These two series have absolutely made it onto my list of comfort series! I cannot recommend this series enough!! 🤎🤎
THE CHASE
Everyone 👏🏻 Needs 👏🏻 to 👏🏻 Read 👏🏻 this 👏🏻 Book 👏🏻 Elle Kennedy has freakin done it again! It's official, I am now completely and utterly obsessed with hockey romance books. This book was like visiting an old friend, diving back into the Briar U world and checking in with the Off-Campus crew. I loved revisiting our favorite characters while falling in love with new ones.
First, let's talk about Fitzy, I am now totally in love with yet another fictional man. Colin Fitzgerald was the perfect man that none of us expected. He honestly doesn’t get enough love - he's a tattooed, computer-coding, hockey player for the love of God!! 🥵
And Summer—she's Dean's little sister from the Off-Campus series, so that made me love her without ever opening the book. So needless to say, we get the well-deserved cameos from Dean throughout the book that just made the story. I love that as the story progresses, we get to see behind Summer's facade to reveal a confident, kind, and passionate woman. I loved the way that Summer's ADHD was talked about and showed her determination to prove herself despite her learning disability. One of my favorite Summer quotes—“A woman isn’t defined by her boyfriends. She’s defined by her achievements, and her shoes” WE STAN A FEMINIST LEGEND 👏🏻
From the very first time Fitzy and Summer spoke to each other, I was literally BEGGING for them to get together already. Slow burns drive me CRAZY in the very best way, and it really did make the story that much better. I loved that Summer and Fitzy were both more than the other expected. THAT FIRST SCENE IN THE LOCKER ROOM 🥵😍 OHMYGOD. I was at a complete loss for words.
Favorite things about this book:
• Forced proximity
• THE TENSION
• The Slow Burn
• The friendship between Summer & Brenna 💕
• Grumpy x Sunshine
I loved so much about this book, but the discussions about harder topics are really what did it for me. They talk about rape culture, abuse of power, and misogyny, and we STAN. I adored this book!!
THE RISK
THIS BOOK ohmygod ohmygod!!! Jake Connelly is officially the Garrett Graham of the Briar U series, and I am in love with him. And on top of that, Brenna is the girl we all want to be. This book was SO good. Elle Kennedy put crack in these books I swear because Jake Connelly will be living in my head rent-free.
This book was entertaining from start to finish...the chemistry, the BANTER. Their sense of humor is similar so it makes the banter even better. Jake & Brenna were literally perfect for each other. And they were perfect separately too! The depth of their characters and the development of their love story was TOP NOTCH 👏🏻
The Risk has two of my all-time favorite tropes—enemies-to-lovers and fake dating. There is also a bit of forbidden romance since Jake is on the opposing Hockey team for Harvard. Jake and Brenna are a literal power couple.
Brenna's character was probably my favorite of all of the Off-Campus/Briar U girls. She went through IT, and it makes complete sense that she was hesitant to accept love. But it was so beautiful to see the growth in her relationship with her dad and how much that really healed her. It really just warmed my heart!
Jake was just UGHHH 🥵😍 The cocky attitude combined with the sweet, caring spirit just did it for me! Elle Kennedy brought the spice with this one, which we all know I love.
Hollis & Rupi's relationship was also a cute little nugget to see in this book too! They were so adorable.
Overall, Jake and Brenna. Brenna and Jake. That's it. Utter perfection.
THE PLAY
I loved this book WAY more than I expected! As a second favorite of this series behind The Risk, I fell in love with Demi & Hunter's story from the very beginning. As a devout fan of the Off-Campus series, it's not surprising that I fell in love with the story of Hunter Davenport, Dean's freshman buddy.
It almost doesn't seem like Hunter can be the same kid that Dean took under his wing all those years ago, but it was so beautiful to see the person that he grew into. Hunter Davenport is 1000% underrated when it comes to the Briar boys!!!
I SWEARRRRR. This couple doesn't get enough credit! I LOVED this entire book!!
Favorite things about The Play:
• Friends to Lovers 👏🏻
• When Hunter left the game to save Demi 😭😭
• The fact they kept the nicknames "monk" & "Semi" 😂
• Pablo Eggscobar 🥚🐷
• The jealousy trope 🥵
This scene 👇🏻👇🏻
*Demi kisses Con at a party in front of Hunter to take him jealous*
"We're leaving. You want your rebound? I'll give you your rebound. Let's go."
*her plan all along*
Overall, this book is extremely underrated!!! While The Risk is my favorite of the Briar U series, this book doesn’t receive the love I think it deserves. Hunter and Demi have this super cute, playful, banter-filled friendship that made me laugh and cry while I connected with the characters, while they were connecting with each other!!
THE DARE
The last book in the Off-Campus/Briar U world, and I am genuinely so sad that it’s over. While this isn’t my favorite overall book of the series, I adored how relatable it was. This book was a beautiful love story with a beautiful message.
Taylor felt like a real-life girl that at many times reminded me all too much of myself. Getting to see her story with Conor unfold was a beautiful way to wrap up this series. I adored the fact that there was so much body positivity in this book and messages of feeling confident in your own skin. There are times that I look in the mirror and struggle with what I see, and books like this remind me that I'm not alone in that. I really felt for Taylor and her struggles throughout the book, and I was rooting for her to love herself the whole book. I did like seeing her character development and seeing her accept herself more through the book and become more assured of herself.
And Conor...the Briar boy that I didn't expect to love. Conor treated Taylor like a QUEEN. He was patient and loving along the way too. He seriously surprised me more times than I could count (in the best way.) I liked how hard Conor worked to make Taylor feel secure about herself and to get her to see herself the way he saw her. He had so many moments in this book where he went out of his way to show Taylor he loved her, saw how beautiful she was, and he even had a few great grand gestures.
This book was EVERYTHING 🤎🤎
My heart is so full, and I will always have Garrett Graham, Jake Conelley, and all of our favorite Briar guys in my nerdy, book-loving heart. Thank you, Elle Kennedy, for writing a series that I stayed up WAY too late reading on WAY too many nights. I will always hold this one dear to my heart. If you haven’t read this series, stop what you’re doing & go read them now!
