The fourth and final book in the beyond the play series! I can’t believe it’s over! What a beautiful way to wrap up the series!

This book follows the youngest Callahan sibling, Isabelle, the passionate volleyball player and wedding planner, and Nikolai, the emotionally broody Hockey player who happens to be her brothers viral.

This book was a beautiful end to the series with the precious couples sprinkled all throughout, which is my favourite. Izzy and Nick definitely have their own flaws but mesh together so well to create a raw love story. This book captured many hearts. Reilly did a wonderful job at painting a realistic relationship with realistic problems that is not picture perfect.

I have been a loyal Grace Reilly fan since the beginning of this series. Cooper and Penny’s story in Breakaway was my favorite and I honestly didn’t know how this would measure up, but I loved it just as much!

Isabelle’s character was so relatable. She had depth that wasn’t seen in the other stories and her struggles with wanting to be successful in a family full of athletes were so real and made so much sense.

I loved that Nikolai was a bit tortured and had trauma, but he was still so sweet and caring with Isabelle and he was a good friend to all the guys in his team.

Their chemistry was off the charts and the spicy scenes were so hot! I loved the development of their relationship and that family members were supportive and accepting.

This was the perfect college sports romance and it works well as a standalone, but is also a great end to the series!

Isabelle and Nikolai had a summer romance but ended as they went to separate colleges. When Nikolai takes blame for an incident after a hockey practice, he is expelled from his school. His grandfather, who is extremely wealthy, gets him into the same college as Isabelle and on the hockey team (where her older brother, Cooper, is the captain) on the condition that he works for him after graduation instead of playing for the NHL. Isabelle and Nikolai rekindle their romance but decide to keep it quiet due to Cooper. With Nikolai’s complicated past and Isabelle’s drive to be perfect in everything, the couple must decide if their relationship is worth it or should they go their separate ways.

I absolutely loved this book. It was extremely easy to get into and romantically spicy too. The characters were likable and made you want to root for the couple. This is the fourth book of a series but you do not need to read them. The author gives the necessary background to understand. I liked the book so much, I plan to go back and read the previous books.

The book does cover some heavy topics but the author did a wonderful job conveying it throughout the story.

Thanks you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 ⭐️

I couldn’t wait for Izzy & Nikolai’s book and it was amazing. Brothers rival, secret relationship let’s gooo 🤪 I like how Izzy and Nik had a fling over the summer and we got little glimpses of their fling while we’re in the present when they see each other again. If you’ve read breakaway then you know Cooper and Nikolai aren’t the best of friends, especially after Nik made comments about Penny (coopers girlfriend) and then Izzy. Izzy doesn’t want Cooper or any of her brothers to know she had a fling with Nikolai. She thinks they’ll never need to know since summer is over now and they’re going back to their schools and won’t see each other again….. until they do because Nikolai has no choice but to transfer to McKee where Izzy and Cooper go to school.

Now Nikolai has to get along with Cooper since they’re on the same team. And although he tells himself to stay away from Izzy he can’t. So they start sneaking around and I just love a secret relationship 🤭 They may have had a fling but Nikolai knew more about Izzy than Izzy knew about Nikolai. So it was nice to see Nik slowly start to open up to her about his childhood and his dad. Nikolai also struggles with panic disorder and seeing him go through that alone was breaking my heart. Izzy never gave up on showing him that no matter what she’ll always be there for him. She never stopped proving to him that he was not his father.

I adored these two and it was so great to be back with all the Callahan’s and see what everyone is up to. It’s always so bittersweet when a series is complete. Can’t wait to see what Grace releases next 🫶🏻

This is my first book by Grace Reily, and I really wish I had enjoyed it more. The story had so much potential but ultimately fell flat. It felt like some scenes were rushed.

Nikolai gets kicked out of his school and ends up attending Mackew University, where he runs into his summer fling, Isabelle. Now, he has to play alongside her brother, Cooper, who is his biggest rival.
Nick suffers from panick attacks due to childhood trauma.
I love mental health representation with Nik; it was refreshing to read.

Isabelle is a Volleyball player who tries to overcome her insecurities. Nick affectionately calls her "Solnishka".
The extravagance Nik showered on Izzy, such as buying her a Cartier diamond necklace for her birthday was swoon worthy.
The FMC didn't really click for me ~ she was kind of annoying.
I did enjoy the sibling interactions and role of family in this story.
I wish we had gotten flashbacks of the MCS getting together during the summer, as I would have loved to see the development of their relationship.

The book felt overly long, with 74 chapters that didn't all feel necessary. I prefer books that *focus on emotional connections rather than numerous smut scenes.* Unfortunately, this book was repetitive and dragged on at times, making me feel like it could have been at least 100 pages shorter.

There were TONS of smut scenes and some were even low-key cringey I started skimming or skipping them.
Just when I thought there might be some progression, it would be halted by an intimate scene. After a while, it felt like they were having s*x again and again. I wondered when they had time to study and practice with how busy they were with each other.

I wanted to love this book, but it wasn’t for me. I struggled to get through it. Unfortunately, this book did not work for me at all. Reily's writing is easy to follow, but the story didn’t resonate with me

Thank you @valentine_pr_ for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review .

I loved and hated this book in equal measures. The main characters are both so likable but also infuriating. The story itself was good and flowed easily.

We finally get an Izzy story!

This entire series has been up and down for me. But this book has been a high. The rivalry of Nik to Izzy's brother adds a flirtatious amount of forbidden love to the series. Add in that Nik transfers to McKee University and is not her brother's teammate! The dynamics of Izzy and Nik, navigating their fling into their real world was engaging. While this one wasn't my favorite of the series (Breakaway is hard to beat), it is not on my bottom fandom.

I love the intermingling of the reset of the Callahan family and their lovers (and yes, Tangy is here!)

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

My first read by the author and series and I’m a fan. Izzy and Nikolai characters have so much going on and the drama that surrounds them made for an emotional romance story that doesn’t disappoint. The sports genre with all the fun characters brought the story to life with just the right amount of heat level that ends with a HEA.

Wicked Serve by Grace Reilly

Thank you to Valentine PR, NetGalley and Grace for the ARC of this book.

This is the 4th and final instalment in the Playing to Win series. We get to finally see little sister Izzy and her summer romance with Nik, rival of Izzy's brother Cooper.

After Nik gets transferred to McKee, tempers flare, tension rises and emotions take over. From stolen moments to spicy secrecy and all the hot headed hockey players along the way.

We get to find out what the Callahan brothers are all up to as well, including an appearance from Tangy the cat! 😍

This was not my fave of series, but I really loved the back story of Nikolai, his history and family were very intriguing. I especially liked the relationship between him and Cooper and the moments we see between Izzy and Seb too.

If you've loved the rest of this series, this is a great way to round off the world.

3.5 rounded up to 4

This was a great way to wrap up this series! I really fell in love with this family. I was personally really into this book until Nik went ghost at the end. I COMPLETELY understand why he did it BUT he literally talked to everyone but her. I felt like he should've distanced himself from her family as well. I don't know... It just didn't sit well with me. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and loved the epilogue to wrap everything up!

3.5 stars

An adorably cute ending to this series. I love Grace Reilly’s writing and style and the family that she created throughout this story. I enjoyed that she made this book more than just a sports romance.

I will say my biggest disappointment was how many mistakes there were about volleyball. I would have thought she’d do more research on the sport before writing about it. But I did enjoy having a sports romance books featuring it, which is so rare.

Wicked Serve is the new hockey romance from Grace Reilly. The story follows Nikolai and Izzy. Nikolai is a college hockey player who is determined to make the most of his senior year. When he’s forced to transfer to a rival college, things get messy when he realizes he had a secret summer fling with the younger sister of his new team’s captain. Nikolai knows that rekindling his fling with Izzy would not go over well with his captain, not to mention he’s dealing with scars from his past that make a real relationship impossible. As soon as he sees Izzy again though, all bets are off because he can’t deny he’s still attracted to her.

Izzy, for her part, is solely focused on two goals this school year. She wants to win back the spot she lost on the volleyball team, and she wants to forget that Nikolai even exists. Just like with Nikolai though, as soon as Izzy sees him again, she can’t resist the attraction she still has to Nikolai. They begin a friends-with-benefits arrangement that soon morphs into so much more.

I honestly have mixed feelings about this book. I really like Izzy and Nikolai and thought Nikolai’s journey of healing as he worked through the scars of his past was really well done. I liked Izzy and Nikolai as a couple but would have liked a bit more depth to their connection, which felt mostly sexual and surface level to me. I also thought the pacing was a little slow at times. I still very much enjoyed the story overall but did catch myself checking a few times to see how many pages I had left to read. 3 1/2 STARS

This was cute but maybe I’m too old for it? It read slightly immature. Felt like the relationship was more physical than anything

I enjoyed this book, but it took me a long time to get through. It felt like it could have been about 100 pages shorter and gotten to the same conclusion. Both characters were great and I'm glad Nik gets therapy by the end of the book, but I just got bored. I enjoyed their chemistry and the spice was SPICY, but some of it felt like another sex scene to fill pages. I might go back and read the others in this series, but it'll be a while.

“Good girl, Isabelle. So perfect for me, like sunshine after a storm.”

Isabelle and Nikolai are hot AF! They spent the summer together knowing there can’t be a future between the two of them. They go to different schools and Isabelle’s brother is Nik’s hockey rival. But when Nik is forced to transfer to McKee University all the reasons they can’t be together just doesn’t seem as important. They can’t deny that the attraction is still there and their chemistry is just too strong to ignore. Can they figure out a way to be together or are the odds that just stacked against them?

The youngest Callahan finally gets her book and I couldn’t be any happier. Isabelle puts so much pressure on herself especially coming from a family like hers. When she’s with Nik, somehow it just doesn’t seem to
matter as much, he has this way of making her feel like she’s enough.
Nik has his own family struggles that is holding him back from fully going all in with Isabelle and his future.
Together these two can overcome anything, they just have to make sure to get out of their own head.

Lots of swoon, spice and sneaking around! There’s also some very emotional moments so be ready for those as well!

A hockey player and a volleyball player, in a secret relationship and he’s her brother’s rival? Say less!

I must admit it. I'm not one for hockey romances, but Grace Reilly has made me a believer. The inclusion of volleyball and hot Russian MC with a softness really did seal it for me. Give it a read asap. I'm about to start with her first book.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Wicked Serve

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“ Nikolai
Hockey is my life, and I need to make this last season count. But when I’m forced to transfer to rival school McKee University for my senior year, I risk pissing off the captain, who happens to be the older brother of Isabelle Callahan: the gorgeous beam of sunshine I messed around with in secret this summer.”

I really enjoyed the latest in this series of books. I thought it was a little long for the story line but really loved the story line when it got going towards the last third of the book. Love that author included the epilogue 5 years later with the update on all the characters from all the books because we always want to know what happened after the book ended. I would recommend this series to anyone but be warned it’s spicy.

i ended up reading this so late but it was absolutely worth it, i love this book!! it was amazing and such a fast quick read. from the moment i started reading it i could not stop. i had such a soft spot for nikolai and everything that has happened to him but i loved seeing him learn how to talk through his emotions and talk to isabel. they are such a cute couple i could not get enough of them. it’s safe to say i would 100% recommend this to anyone and everyone. i read it as a standalone and i’d like to thank Valentine PR and Grace Reilly for letting me read this book!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you, to NetGalley as well as Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read this book.

“He’s my brother’s biggest hockey rival… but he’s bringing the heat for me.”

The Callahan family is back and I could not be more pumped! Cooper Callahan made me fall back in love with romance books again so of course, when I saw this book available as an ARC, I had to RUN to snag it….and I was NOT disappointed. Izzy’s love story was the perfect addition (and ending) to this beautiful series about this family and the loves of their lives.

I’ll be honest, I was unsure about Nikolai at first. But oh my goodness….I just fell in love with him alone with Izzy throughout this novel. He works so hard to overcome his circumstances and has such a huge heart that does not get to be shown near enough in his life.

This book has it all: suspense, heartbreak, family betrayals, spice, tension, and a happily ever after. It also combines even more of the stories of the other Callahan siblings with brings me so much joy. The use of the Russian language throughout the book is so sweet and even a little spicy at some points. I love that Nikolai calls Izzy “Solnishko” which basically means “little sun” and it is swoon-worthy. I am a sports romance girlie through and through and this is the first one that I have read surrounding volleyball which added to the uniqueness of the story for me. As a former volleyball player, this transported me right back to those days and brought forth a fun sense of nostalgia.

I definitely will need to go back and listen to the audio on this one since it’s the only one that I have not read as an Audiobook. I bet the narration for Nik is just so good.

This book was such a cute concept and I was sooo excited to read it but sadly it wasn’t executed properly for me! I think this might be because I haven’t read the other books but since it can be read as a standalone I feel like i should’ve enjoyed it. It felt very rushed, didn’t really scream college romance to me - very little of the college aspect was included. The characters also seemed WAY older than they were supposed to be. It was just odd character development.

I really enjoyed reading about Nik’s past and watching him open up, I wish we got to see more of it and see more of how they supported each other.

The spicy scenes were very anticlimactic. Everything kind of felt rushed. The way the author explained the orgasms was honestly very very odd- orgasming because you crawled ?? Weird. It felt like the author was trying to include some type of dom sub relationship but didn’t really do a good job.

I will def trying reading the whole series and hopefully it’ll make this a better rated book.